Dark Iris

1~ Red Raven

"Once upon a time, Ayrithia controlled the entire Olea. Then along came the Solarforge Knights, and all that got messed up. I want things back the way they used to be. And as soon as my army clips the heels of the Solar... they will..."

The soft but menacing voice echoes throughout the chamber, its possessor sitting upright and regal in her throne, addressing her top generals who are standing before her.

The two large doors open suddenly, every head turns to the entrance and observes someone walk towards the centre of the room. "That would be my pleasure, my Empress." The soldier kneels and looks up after he speaks; his piercing blue eyes staring up at his leader.

"The Red Raven... So glad you can join us," the Empress praises from her seat in the centre of the room; she smirks at her most favoured commander.

He stands up straight in his place in the rows of the highly-ranked soldiers and listens intently to what his Empress must say.

"You all know the reason why we are here. The world was taken away from us and we need to get it back, but it will not happen if the missions I assign you are reported back as failed," she reprimands the soldiers while shooting daggers with her eyes.

The Red Raven screws up his face in annoyance. He used to be the most powerful and undefeated warrior in the whole Olea; but ever since the new age of Solarforge Knights were banded, he would continually lose to them. It leaves a bitter taste in his mouth and his heart drops whenever his queen glares at him after a failure... He used to be her prized fighter. Now he's just like any other soldier, and he hates it from the depths of his soul.

He closes his eyes as he tries to compose himself but an irritating sound interrupts him... An incompetent soldier speaks out of turn.

"It's not our fault Empress! They're just too good and spoil our plans by playing dirty tricks, we can't beat them!"

The room is silent after the sudden outcry of stupidity. The other generals stand there as still as they can and just watch their queen with fear in their eyes. Red Raven opens his eyes and watches her also, only after shooting the soldier a death glare.

The Empress closed her eyes and tapped her fingers on the armrests of her throne while he spoke, irritation evident. The soldier realises what he had done and begins to apologise, "I-I'm sorry m-m'lady..."

"Silence!" she yells and with her eyes still closed, her right hand reaches out and an aura of energy surrounds the poor soldier, lifting him off the ground slightly. She stands up and walks towards him slowly. "We are not giving up soldier! We are not going to let the Solarforge defeat us completely! It's all ours, we just need to get it back and YOU need to try harder. Don't you dare raise your voice at me and humiliate me again, or else I'll feed you to the beasts guarding the dungeons. Am I clear?!"

The soldier nods furiously. Frightened for his life, he bumbles out, "Y-yes Empress C-Cardea..." The aura leaves and he comes crashing down onto the hard throne room floor, but he wasn't high enough to create any major damage.

The Empress continues to stand and she addresses the rest of the men in the room, her eyes narrowing at all of them. "We will not stop until we regain back what is ours! And if anyone decides that they will not head to my will, speak up now," she waits and watches every general in the room look away awkwardly, not wanting to meet their leader's eyes. She notices, smirks, and strides back over to her throne, "Good!"

The soldiers turn their heads back to their leader.

"Dismissed."

The room clears as quickly as anyone could blink, one remains. The Empress watches the commander intently. He walks slowly to her, his crimson eyes never leaving hers. The Red Raven swiftly takes her hand and brings it to his lips, softly kissing her knuckles. The Empress doesn't flinch and her hardened composure doesn't quiver; he kneels quickly at her feet with his fist over his heart. He does this every time a whole group of them are dismissed from the throne room, he makes sure he stays back to express his utmost respect and love to his Empress, something no one else has ever done for her before. Her blank expression never changes.

The Red Raven bows his head once more and sighs before standing up and silently pacing out of the throne room.

The Empress watched the back of her right hand man as he walks away from her, no doubt wondering why he was so silent.

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Hello reader! Thanks for reading, there's going to be a good balance of action, drama and romance in this story. I'm sure you've seen from the tags aha! But yes there will be more if I get some feedback! Have a good one lovelies xoxo