In the middle of an exquisitely aesthetic floral garden, there was a well-made ivory pavilion – a luxurious, relaxing place.

  Overlooking the pavilion was a huge tree in its prime, filled with fruits that resembled blue, chicken eggs.

  The artistry behind the creation of such serenity didn’t end at the lush trees nor the exquisite pavilion nor the gentle grasses – it extended towards the small, beautifully crafted twin ponds beside the walkway, which bore the same color as the pavilion.

  A glance was all it took to see the life- long efforts of the brilliant creators, clear as day.

  No mere person could match the overwhelmingly artistic surroundings, and yet, in the pavilion was a young woman that seemed to be far more graceful and elegant than the said garden, itself.

  She was a young woman in her in her early twenties but her lavishly smooth skin and her slender nose bridge made her a lot more youthful contrarily to her mature, dark eyes.

  However, the most eye-catching part about her glaring allure was her silvery, silky hair, half-covering her flawless face, that seemed to flow down towards her slender waist like a deep waterfall.

  Despite being in her comfortable attire and casually reading a book, her action and her aura were arrogantly giving her royalty aura away.

  After all, she was indeed the princess of Eurona Empire, Alyxia Evenrun.

  Moreover, there was a neatly sheathed, graceful sword leaning next to her seat. Seeing how the beautiful scabbard was crafted intricately, one could only wonder how magnificent the sword, the royal princess herself wielded, would be.

  Placing the sword next to her even in her own sanctuary, could mean a thing or two, as well – she loved her blade too much or that she had trust issues.

  Though she seemed exceedingly calm and nonchalant, a small frown on her brow was revealing she was intently focusing on her book.

  That focus was broken shortly after, by her most trusted bodyguard, Hamnet.

  “Your highness, the royal advisor has arrived.”

  She closed the book with a noticeable snort and lightly sipped the tea in front of her.

  “Let him in. Tell him to take off his shoes.”

  “Yes, your highness.”

  After some moments, a tall man was accompanied by Hamnet and slowly approached Alyxia.

  Although he bowed respectfully in front of the princess, his domineering stature didn’t falter and a light smile on his face further complimented his standing.

  As a royal knight of his Majesty, Hamnet had a well-built physique that was tempered by his arduous survival through countless battles.

  With his inhumane strength, he could easily crush and subdue an ordinary human in a matter of moments even if he didn’t use his "Beliefs.”.

  What’s surprising was that this battle-rich man was in fact, being wary of the tall royal advisor who had nothing to do with the physical battles.

  The only thing that stood out was his inhumane height and his creepily charming smile – everything else was plain and ordinary.

  Nonetheless, he couldn’t shake off the vigilance in his heart whenever he was in the presence of this man.

  Sensing the gazes of the worried guard, the advisor glanced back at him and smiled genuinely, but unfortunately, the gesture wasn’t returned.

  The tall man put his right hand onto his heart and greeted the princess in an extremely polite tone.

  “Good morning, your highness. The garden is quite lovely but it has yet to truly accommodate your beauty.”

  “Good morning and thank you, Amos. Now, Ham, will you excuse us?”

  Hamnet nodded sharply and glanced at the tall man before leaving the both of them.

  Alyxia gestured the man called Amos to sit in the chair, in front of her. She kept sipping her tea while staring at her beautiful garden but funnily enough, she never offered him the tea.

  Amos was smilingly sitting still in his place, not uttering a single word.

  “Today, you are here alone, it seems.”

  The silence was broken by the princess.

  “So, it seems, your highness.”

  “How’s father?”

  “His Majesty is slowly regaining his health and now, he’s able to conduct his own duties properly.”

  “Good.”

  Amos was maintaining his gaze towards Alyxia while the princess kept hers on her beloved garden.

  Then, through the fluttering of her silvery hairs with the chilling breeze, she met the gazes of the man in front of her.

  His name was Amos Mordane, a trusted Royal Advisor of His Majesty, a renowned strategist of Eurona Empire.

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  His origin was kept in the dark and being a princess didn’t help her in finding out more about him. All she knew was that he once came from the borders of the two kingdoms and that, he had once saved her father when he was young.

  His actual age should be around mid-forties but it was exceedingly hard to discern his age just by looking at his face.

  At one gaze, he looked as masculine as he can be but the next moment, his appearance seemingly shifted to that of feminine beauty.

  It wasn’t just his appearance, everything about him was unexplainably hard to deduce of, which made Alyxia grew wary of him.

  Sometimes, she felt that such wariness was unwanted since all he had ever done was nothing but bring endless glory and countless victories for their Empire.

  It could well be said he was the major reason that Eurona held such overwhelming upper hand throughout these years.

  Nonetheless, Alyxia could never shake this weird feeling off her heart whenever she met those emerald green eyes of him.

  Even now.

  “Tell me, why are you here?”

  Alyxia instantly asked but Amos didn’t fluster in a bit.

  “Princess, have you ever heard of a kind of bird called Pletha?”

  “Birds hatched from the eggs above our head, aren’t they? Of course, I know.”

  Amos slightly looked at the blue eggs hanging on the tree and continued talking in a confident tone.

  “Yes, did you know they are also called Storm Riders due to their survival against the harshest storms? When these brave... birds reach adulthood, they form a pack and similar to us humans, they appoint a leader of sort.”

  Alyxia kept listening to him with an indifferent expression.

  “The leader is the most important in their pack’s survival, whether to go through the storms or to go into hiding. To advance or retreat it, all comes down to the leader’s decision. The rest has to follow him no matter the decision. It was their iron clad rule. The leader guides and they follow, simple.”

  “Holding everyone’s dearest lives in its hand, the leader must never waver, hesitate nor be indecisive. Thus, the appointed leader while holding the absolute authority, also holds immense burden on its wings. And yet, they never fail.”

  Amos had a solemn expression on his face now and his smile, similarly solemn.

  “Once in a while, even through the iron clad rules of these proud birds, there come several birds that will question the authority of the leader bird, believing that the leader isn’t cut out to lead or his skill lacking or so on. The usurping birds believing they are intelligent and knowing what’s good for their packs, so they decide to go against the leader bird. But, princess, guess what happens next?”

  The already cold enough gaze of Alyxia turned into a bone-chilling one. She wasn’t even hiding the murderous intent in her eyes anymore – she was glaring straight at him.

  However, Amos was still maintaining his light smile, unperturbed by her animosity.

  “As animals, as primitive creatures, as proud survivalists, these birds only have one thing in common. That is to follow and to survive. Being led by the same leader times and times again towards their successful survival – the idea was already instilled into their bones and thus, no better idea will triumph over them. Why do you think it turns out that way, your highness?”

  After some moments, Alyxia answered in a suppressed voice.

  “These birds are, in the end, conservative animals which ultimately led them to murder the new bird.”

  “Correct, your highness. As expected of his Majesty’s daughter, you have sufficient knowledge and intelligence to be able to predict of the outcome of the unfortunate bird. Regrettably so, we as humans can learn from these stories of birds, don’t you quite think so as well, your highness?”

  Now, his gaze sharpened slightly but enough for both of them to notice.

  Alyxia took some moments but with a mocking snort, she promptly replied while folding her arms in front of her.

  “Surely enough, we indeed can learn from the animals. But if I were the bird, guess what would I do, Amos?”

  Amos’s gaze turned to that of a curious one seeing her spreading her palm slowly. The moment she did that, a blue egg hanging from the tree above their head, presumably an egg of Pletha, instantly appeared in her slender hand with a whirlwind of illusory lights.

  Unlike ordinary eggs, this one gleamed beautifully – untouched and untainted – and will eventually hatch to become a proud Storm Rider one day.

  However, with a sudden crush in Alyxia’s hand, the lovely egg’s hopeful growth ended permanently.

  “I would try to murder any bird that comes my way and even if I get murdered along the way, so be it. The last thing I would do in my life is letting my ideals be buried under such conservative and spineless creatures who don’t even have a thought of their own.”

  Streams of yellowish white fluids were slowly dripping from her tightly clenched fist, on which her blood veins were faintly visible.

  Amos’s eyes widened slightly before his light smile slowly replaced it again. Alyxia maintained her eye contact for a considerable amount of time before she opened up her palms and said dejectedly.

  “Only if I were a Pletha, though.”

  Amos lightly chuckled. The next moment, all the disgusting liquids on her hand were gone – seemingly vanishing into thin air.

  It was as if the fluids weren’t even there in the first place.

  After that, she asked the royal advisor, this time in a stronger tone.

  “Now, tell me why you’re here aside from generously imparting such wisdom for me. You didn’t come here a long way just to tell a child’s tale, don’t you?”

  Amos expressions hardened a bit and his eyes sharpened with a glint of light. Then, through a smile that resembled crescent moon, he replied,

  “No, I didn’t just come for that. I have come here to personally inform you that...”

  He paused deliberately and continued, this time, in a suppressed voice.

  “We have already found a fragment of Death.”

  Alyxia’s light smile suddenly froze and her hands trembled uncontrollably in excitement before it was slowly replaced by nervousness, anxiety, confusion and a little bit of fear.

  “How... how did you...”

  “Now, your royal highness. I believe I have overstayed my welcome. If you’ll excuse me, I shall leave now. I just remembered I have to attend a meeting. Enjoy your tea in peace. Such peaceful times are rare, after all.”

  Seeing his mistress reaction, Hamnet instantly came to accompany Amos back to the outside, however was politely rejected. He slowly left on his own.

  Staring at Amos walking away, Alyxia was still left speechless from his final words.

  Death.

  Hamnet silently stood beside her – her emotions seemingly spread to his eyes already.

  “What happened, Alyx?”

  “He knows, Ham. He knows we’re onto Death. He’s here to warn us that he knows.”

  Hamnet was shocked to his core.

  “But how?! Only two of us know about this. I was being exceedingly discreet about it and didn’t even let anyone know. I apologize, Alyx. I believe it's my fault. I...”

  “Don’t, Ham. I know it’s not your fault. It’s just the guy’s creepy, is all.”

  Alyxia glanced at her most trusted bodyguard’s worried face and reassured him.

  “Don’t worry. We still have time before the war.”

  They wiped away the uncertainties from their face and dazedly watched Amos enjoying the view.

  The tall man was walking bare feet but he seemed to be enjoying it.

  Right then, all of a sudden, a shadow of a certain object, circled in the air before slowly descending onto his shoulder.

  It was a bird. A black bird with a blood-colored eyes.

  It was a crow.