To the east.
In the past few months, many things had started to change in the Kingdom of Arafell.
It had all started on one fine day, when the Queen had sent out a message saying that she was expecting a visit from someone, and that things might get messy.
In this Kingdom, it had always been a custom that the Queen's word was absolute, and no one had the gall to question her, or even ask anything more than what was necessary unless it was absolutely needed.
Hence, even in this case, no one had ventured out to enquire just who the Queen was expecting, but still, tensions began to run high, as the Queen has started to become more and more irritable.
It started to become that this might be because the visit that she was expecting was getting more and more delayed, and at one point, it started to get so bad that she would snap at people all the time, even if there was no reason to do so.
With that, everyone began to pray that the visit would happen soon.
Of course, they all knew that they might not even find out whether it had happened or not, because many of the things that the Queen did were kept secret and private, but in this case… It did not turn out to be so.
On that day, many had seen that very special individual walking into the throne room of the Queen, and they hadn't been able to believe their eyes.
What was the King of Lanthanor doing in their Kingdom?
This question was on everybody's mind, and the first thing they were reminded of was the conflict that the two Kingdoms had been embroiled in during the time when the loyalty of the fringe settlements of Angaria had been up for grabs.
They knew that it had ended with the loss of the Queen, and they also knew that for many days after that, the Queen had not accepted any audiences, and had kept to herself, as if it were something that had hurt her so deeply that she needed time to recover.
So…what would happen now?
It was not a small number of people who expected that it would result in a battle that might erupt into a full-scale war, but surprisingly… On just the next day, the Queen called for a Kingdom-wide festival, and when asked why, she simply said that a celebration needed to be made.
When they did not dare to question important things, why would they be so foolish as to ask for the reason behind something good?
Shelving their surprise, and seeing the pure smile on the Queen's face which had been absent for quite a long time, the entire palace, and then the entire Kingdom had entered a joyous mood, which had somehow continued to prevail for quite a long time.
The Queen spent a lot of time alone, and even though there was no one who could tell what she was doing, they began to pray that whatever was happening would continue.
That was because with each week, she would introduce more and more plans and laws that benefited people in all phases of life. The Queen had always been a benevolent ruler, but she had also ruled with an iron fist. But this ceased to be so - she was slowly turning into a much more kinder version of herself, and even though the ministers could hardly believe it, it almost seemed as if the care that she was now showing for the people was genuine, and not meant to prolong the collection of wealth, and the stability of her power.
That was not to say that these two things were what the Queen's actions had been directed at for all these years, but they had been quite important, and now, they began to take a back seat, and it seemed like it was too good to be true.
After that, though… That event where the Kingdom of Axelor had had to separate from Angaria had happened, and that had resulted in a very panicky atmosphere.
The news of the war had become public with the announcement of the King mainly due to the display trinkets which had proliferated to almost each and every nook and cranny of the Kingdom, and the people had started to fear for their future.
This had thankfully been swiftly followed by a reassuring recording from the Queen that reached each and every village, city and town of the Kingdom, and her message was simple, but also shocking: 'Heed the words of the King, but do not fear: the Queen of Arafell believes in him, so you should, too.'
This was a move that had shocked even the dignitaries in the palace, and if they were braver, or stupider, they would have started to voice their suspicions about what had happened in that meeting.
Had the King taken on a mistress? Or had the Queen been defeated and forced into servitude?
If so, why was she so happy now, then?
What the hell was going on?
None of these questions had any answers, but a few days ago, the Kingdom's mages who were in charge of checking the general atmosphere around the Kingdom for warnings that could be gleaned from the movements of elementary particles had found out that there was a great disturbance from the East.
This was reported to the Queen, who had said, "Oh, so he's finally making his move? Hmm, the Fortress is first? Well, it stands no chance. Everyone, keep your ears tuned: something is coming, and when it does, Arafell has to be ready. Tell the people. A great change is coming- and Arafell shall ride the crest of that wave."
These dire words had struck fear in the hearts of the bravest of commanders, but the belief and adoration they felt for their Queen, which was something that had been inculcated in them since their very birth, managed to keep them standing.
Her words were spread throughout the Kingdom, and it was the same in most places. The Queen had such a unique place in the hearts of all the people, especially with her good deeds in the recent times, that everyone seemed to be ready to fight in her name for the continent, when it came to that. Of course, there was still fear, but one thing was for sure: there would not be many deserters.
A few days after that, the Queen had interrupted a discussion in the throne room with some very startling words.
"Ha ha, what a great show! The Sect of Hedon is down! Now there's just two more to go!"
As if laughing at an inside joke, she had continued to chortle throughout the discussion, and only a few hours after that, she had stood up with shock and stopped the meeting again before saying, "The Goddesses fell so soon?! How? Oh, I wish I managed to put a spy in there, too!"
It almost seemed as if she had forgotten that they were there at that point, and as she began to pace around, they decided to file out silently so that they wouldn't disturb her.
But just as they were doing so, she turned to them and said, "He's almost done. I don't know about the last one, but that change I talked about should be coming soon- make sure that there is some form of communication or the other connecting all of the people in our Kingdom, whether it be those Network Trinkets, or something else."
The dignitaries had been perplexed, but they had listened, and her orders were carried out.
And finally… It was on the next day that it finally came, and it was accompanied by a silence that seemed to stretch throughout the entire continent.
…
To the west.
A merchant was making a trip between the Kingdom for Eldinor and the Black Raven Kingdom.
Until a few years ago, he had just been a common trader who was hunting for an opportunity to make profit by transporting goods between Kingdoms.
He was someone who had always had an acute eye for business, but had never really been lucky. Many things which should have worked out would always end up failing due to multiple factors, but even then, he hadn't lost faith in himself.
Hence, when he had sat down one day a few years ago to look over the general situation in the continent, he had noticed a pattern.
He had noticed that the King of Lanthanor seemed to have connections with more and more forces in Angaria with each passing year, and even though there was sufficient evidence at that time to prove that this might not amount to anything, he had made the bet that at some point in time, even though it seemed crazy and completely impossible, there would be an Empire of some sort forming.
He had dumped his life savings on this bet: with the assumption that it would all be one force, he had started to create all sorts of resources that would be necessary for anyone who wanted to tie these forces together strongly through trade.
He had mapped out perfect trade routes which assumed that there would be no bandits as it would all be governed land, he had drawn up plans for building infrastructure between the forces, and he had even started preparations to make teleportation formations that would connect various cities across the landscape.
All of this would seem completely mad, as at that time, the Kingdoms were all separate, and it did not look like they would band together in a way that would give value to what he was doing. After all, everyone also knew of the policy in the Central Continent where large forces would not be allowed to exist, but even then, this man had trusted his guts.
And year after year, he saw, with wonder, that he was right.
Slowly but surely, everything started to come under the King, and when the Alliance came to be… There was only one emotion on everyone's lips.
"Fraklin, you're a genius!"
"Oh, I should never have doubted you, Franklin! Can I join you now? I'll give you all that money you asked before, and more!"
"I knew you would do it! I was just kidding when I ridiculed you! So… How about a partnership?"
Franklin was directly taken under the wing of the Alliance and given the responsibility to handle many things between the forces of the Alliance, mainly due to his experience of setting everything up over these past few years.
In one stroke, he rose to be one of the most influential people in the entire Alliance, but the success… Did not get to his head.
And that was because another gut feeling had come to him, and this one was directly related to the war that was coming.
On this day, Franklin had gotten wind that something was afoot. The King would soon be announcing something that would change the whole continent as they knew it, and once again, he was ready.
He was ready to do whatever was necessary to rise in this world, but as the announcement came… Even he, who prided himself on being able to expect things before they happened, had no option but to stop where he was, and listen with his mouth agape.
…
In the center.
With the departure of the Kingdom of Axelor, Lanthanor had geographically, and even economically become the central force in the continent.
They were the ones who heeded the words of the King the most, and they were also the ones who signed up the most for the war, after the King's announcement following that event.
But after doing that, they had all been going about their lives, which had improved a lot in recent times due to all of the schemes of the King.
However…everything changed with the announcement.
It was heard here first before resounding in the east and west, and as each word spoken in the royal voice of the King resonated throughout the continent, Angaria, itself, came to a standstill.
"PEOPLE OF ANGARIA! WAR IS HERE! IT IS TIME! I CALL ON EVERY ABLE-BODIED MAN AND WOMAN TO HEED MY CALL, AND GATHER! IF YOU CARE FOR YOUR CHILDREN, IF YOU WISH FOR THEM TO HAVE A WORLD TO LIVE IN, DO NOT DALLY! GET READY TO CHARGE TO VICTORY! FOR ANGARIA!!!!!"