The Dawn of the New World

It was like looking at a hero from some children's storybook. He arrived in the nick of time to save the princess in distress.

And she would be lying if she said her resolve wasn't shaken for a brief moment. With just a few words he managed to instill a sense of surety and safety as if everything was going to be alright.

But Princess Ceni wasn't the naive child the original owner of this body was and quickly snapped out of it.

"Father sent you?" she asked skeptically.

The entire capital city was under siege and yet this man that should have been at the forefront of the battle against the invaders looked like he had just woken up from a beauty nap. There was not a drop of blood or a single mark anywhere on his shiny new armor.

'No matter how naive she was even this little girl would have seen that. He is obviously hiding something and maybe even working with the invaders. But do I have any other choice? It's not like I can change the outcome of that day.'

After briefly going over all the options at her disposal Princess Ceni chose the one that would make these events move faster.

'I should just do what she would have done. Since she knew and trusted this man then the chances are she missed all the obvious signs and fell right into his trap.'

"Yes!" she put on a flowery smile and scrambled towards him.

Seeing as how easily she fell for it the other guardsmen openly laughed at her. The captain got back on his feet and held out his hand while maintaining that gracious attitude, teetering on the very edge of the cemetery.

Princess Ceni was already prepared for the worst. Since the third dial was pointing directly at the captain that meant he was the successor and either he had betrayed the Luna Empire from the beginning or decided to run away amidst the chaos.

But when she was about two meters away from him something unexpected happened.

The leaves suddenly rustled loudly and a fifth figure appeared with a strong gust of wind that sent the princess tumbling back.

The guardsmen immediately drew their weapons while the captain remained unfazed although his previous warm expression was now gone. He turned around halfway to peer towards the new arrival, "You're here."

Princess Ceni lowered her hands to see who he was talking to. It was a knight in plain old grey armor.

He was about the same height as the captain but since he too was wearing full-body armor no other details could be made out.

And yet his armor spoke volumes.

It was covered in cuts and scratches, some new but mostly old. There was fresh blood on his unsheathed black sword and even more dripped from the chest piece that was smeared with it.

He had obviously come from a battle and a deadly one at that.

"How did you find me?" the captain inquired.

The 'grey knight' gestured towards the three guardsmen, "Your new recruits are quite chatty."

The captain scoffed, "Tsk, that's what I get for picking men from the great houses. All bark no bite, they couldn't even injure you huh?"

The guardsmen took the hint and stepped between the captain and the grey knight. They needed to prove themselves here.

"Vice-captain, please drop your blade!" one of them shouted.

'This is the vice-captain of the Royal Guards? I almost forgot he was meant to come here too but is he not with them?'

After listening to them talking anyone would be able to tell what was going on. The vice-captain was not included in the captain's plan for whatever reason and he had even gone as far as trying to kill him.

"VICE-CAPTAIN!" the guardsmen screamed again while pointing their swords at him but he did not move in the slightest. Instead, his gaze was fixed on the captain.

"Why did you do it?"

The captain shrugged innocently, "Do what?"

"Why did you betray the empire? Why did you betray the king? THIS IS OUR HOME!"

Hearing the words made the captain's face contort in anger as he finally lost control of his emotions, "No it's THEIR HOME! IT WAS NEVER OURS NOR WOULD IT EVER BE!"

A heavy pressure fell on everyone present as slivery moonlight congregated around the captain's body.

"HOW LONG DID WE FIGHT FOR THEM? HUH?" he caught himself in the moment and lowered his voice a tad bit while grinding his teeth.

"One war after another, from one battleground to the next without rest, how many have we killed for the glory of the empire in the last decade alone? And what has it done for us?"

"The nobles get richer and fatter while we, the ones doing all the work are left to fend for ourselves. How many of our brothers can barely afford to feed their families in these times? We live from one month to the next and for what?"

Princess Ceni who was silently listening from the side couldn't help but shake her head.

'So the great Luna Empire was also littered with problems. I don't really blame him if that's the case.'

But what the vice-captain said afterward made her change her mind.