Chapter 2: Visitors
The royal palace of the Pelistal royal family, for generations this grand home of the emperor and his family has been a beacon of prosperity to the people of this small yet great nation. Never has a single enemy set foot in the great halls of the castle, it’s corridors filled with armor of old, armor of an ancient order of knights that still exist today, having traded their suit of steel armor for the cockpit of giant battle mechs known as war machines. One of those very knights was the young Lord Commander Telion, a member of Pelistal’s elite Special Forces, the Screaming Legion, a unit known for their psychological tactics with their missiles that scream thanks to their specialized fins that create a loud whistling noise that creates fear among their enemies. Fear tactics were not uncommon in the battlefield, but were always controversial as many tactics that use fear as a weapon would involve many atrocities.
The newcomers who had arrived the day earlier were now walking through the front courtyard that granted them entrance to the royal palace, inside his war machine Lord Commander Telion watched with the six figures pass by the massive mech that stood nearly four to five stories high. Its massive frame and weapons intimated the guests as the many red eyes in its head looked at them. The Gropho’s pilot saw two of those figures, a woman of bright golden hair that resembled his own and a man brown haired man slightly taller than her that had his blue eyes, if his suspicions were correct, those two were his…
[Commander, are you there?]
“Hmm, what?” the blonde was broken out of his musings as he heard a voice through the battle net.
[Sir, are you alright?]
“I’m fine.” Telion insisted, “I didn’t get much sleep last night, that’s all.”
[Very well sir, the emperor would like to know if you would be able to join him and the empress to meet with the foreign delegates.]
“Tell him…” he took in a heavy breath and exhaled slowly, “I will be there.”
~oOo~
The emperor of Pelistal stood up from his throne and raised his arms in a welcome manner, “Welcome, esteemed guests! Welcome to the Pelistal Empire!”
“We thank you for welcoming us.” The leader of the group who wore regal green and brown clothing that looked like something from the old ages bowed to the emperor in greetings, the woman beside him also bowed and it gained a look of curiosity from the emperor as her golden hair resembled that of one of his Lord Commanders.
“This is the first time that people of the lost lands have come to our continent.” The emperor said, he scanned the people with the male brunette and the blonde woman to see that two of their men were most likely an armed escort as they carried early black powder weaponry, and they seemed to be at bolt-action rifles if he was not mistaken.
“If you mean by our nation of Lesseyth, then yes, this is the first time our people have ever set foot to lands our people have never been to.” The blonde woman replied, “We are here for diplomatic purposes, and to also explore lands we have never been to.”
“Indeed your grace, my name is Andraste Glimdreth and this is my wife, Haneya Glimdreth. We are ambassadors on behalf of our nation Lesseyth.”
“Once again, we welcome you to our nation and to my home.” The Empress said, “I am Meliandra, wife to the emperor.”
“We thank you for your hospitality.”
The empress raised her left hand and pointed to a doorway, “Please follow us, we have lunch ready and it would be wonderful to have you all join us.”
“We would be honored.” Andraste said with giving them another bow.
~oOo~
Lunch was out in the gardens of the palace at the back, where it overlooked a beautiful valley that led to the eternal blue ocean. Flanking the emperor and the empress was their two children, Crown Prince Xander Pelistal and his younger sister who is two years his junior, Nalianna Pelistal. Surprisingly their food was not that different to, steak and mashed potatoes were after a common type of food, at least with the discussions would be much easier now knowing that there are similarities between their people.
Nalianna looked around her to see that there was still one more person missing, “Where’s Telion?” she whispered to her mother.
“He will be here my daughter.”
And here he was.
“Ah, Telion… you’re late.” Xander said with a snicker.
“Apologies my prince, I had to make sure security wasn’t lax.”
Andraste and Haneya looked at the young man no older than twenty walking to the table where they were seated, their eyes widened at the look of the young man, his face and eyes bore a resemblance to him while his golden hair was as bright as Haneya’s. But it was his eyes, his bright sky blue eyes that shined like a gemstone when facing the sun, his eyes were exactly like Andraste’s.
“Ah yes.” The emperor stood up and placed a hand on the young blonde man’s shoulder, “This is Lord Commander Telion, commander of one of our elite military units in the empire. Telion, these two are Andraste and Haneya Glimdreth, and the rest are their advisors.”
“Good noon to you all,” the Lord Commander greeted with a short bow, “I apologize for my tardiness.”
Andraste waved his hand at him, “I-It’s no problem at all.”
“Is there something on my face?”
“N-No!” the brunette shook his head, “You just look very familiar for some reason.”
The Lord Commander’s mouth made an ‘O’ shape as he nodded, “I get that a lot.”
The emperor then led Telion to his seat that unsurprisingly was right next to a flushed Pelistalian princess, “Now please Telion, sit down and eat before your food gets cold.”
~oOo~
Telion let out a sigh of relief, as if a huge weight on his shoulder had left him. He sat in the hangar where his war machine resided and saw that his right hand was shaking with anxiety. He could not stay calm at all when they were around those two, he knew them, he definitely knew them and he feared that he knew why he knew them. He was scared, he was scared that if they really were his parents he would be forced to leave Pelistal, he was scared that he would leave the place he called home. On his left hand was a bottle of beer that was half full or half empty depending on one’s perspective.
“You look like ***.”
The blonde turned to see his childhood friend Xander standing a few metres away from him. “Not now Xander, I’m not exactly in the mood.”
“That we all know,” the prince said with a snicker, “you were a bloody wreck when you left the meeting.”
Telion sighed and leaned onto the crate, “I can’t seem to calm down Xander, everytime I look at those two people, I can’t help but feel that I know them. What if they really are my parents?”
“What do you think?” the prince asked.
“I’m scared.” He answered, “I’m scared that if they really are my parents, that I’ll be forced to leave and go with them to god knows where.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Xander reassured him with a serious look on his face, “You’re a Lord Commander, and not to mention a commander of the Screaming Legion. Do you think my father is just going to give you up?”
“No…” the blonde breathed out, “no he is not. God I feel so stupid now.” He was about to reach for another bottle when Xander suddenly grabbed it.
“You’ve had enough,” the dark haired prince told him as he dumped the bottle into a bin, “can’t have our Lord Commander hungover after all, not to mention Nalianna will be furious if she sees you like this.”
“I’ve never been so confused in my life.”
“That will pass, Telion.” Xander took his friend’s arm flung it over his shoulders, “Let’s just get you to bed, you’ve had quite a day.”
~oOo~
“I have no doubt that he is the one you seek.” The emperor said while pouring tea into three cups, across the table were the husband and wife Andraste and Haneya Glimdreth.
“Then why-“
“You must understand that he grew up here.” He interjected, “He has no intention of leaving nor am I intending to let him go, he has proved to be an extremely valuable soldier and I have had the honor of fighting alongside him during the war against the Nuimqolians a year ago. He is one of our best brightest soldiers and a master tactician. He has excelled in areas where very few could attain at such a young age, he is also a Lord Commander, a knight. So you must understand the ramifications of him suddenly leaving, not only that but it would break my daughter’s heart.”
Both husband and wife receded into their chairs, all the words the emperor had said was true, they cannot risk destroying their son’s happiness for their own selfishness, it was not what a parent would want.
“But…” the emperor continued, “you are always welcome to come and visit him, I am sure he would like that.”
“Thank you, your grace.” Haneya said, “We thank you for watching over him, our little Kyle.”
“To have watched him grow into a fine man, was a great honor.” The emperor said with a smile on his face. “I know you wish to go to him now, but please give him some time, today was very stressful for him.”
~oOo~
Thanks to Xander taking away his drink he wasn’t as hungover as he would have expected next morning, at first light he was already up and soon got into his Gropho for the next shift in border duty. He and two other mechs were down at the Great Pelistal Shield, a massive wall that circled the country. Weapon and communication installations were placed all across the inner wall, watching the outside with great vigor, nothing gets past them.
“Morning, commander.”
“And a good morning to you as well.” The blonde responded to the greeting with his own, “Anything on the watch today?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary, it gets really boring with no war going on.”
“I would rather have no war than a war that would devastate our empire.”
“Indeed.” The old veteran said, he was older than Naruto, probably around 30 years his senior, “Although all has been quiet as of late.”
“Remain vigilant.”
“As you command sir.”
Border watch was one of the many duties a soldier of Pelistal performs, even if it may be less tedious than most jobs it can also be the most stressful, for one may never know what lies beyond that wall, whether it be creatures of the wild or a hidden enemy waiting to strike. Telion then sat down on a wooden box and took out his binoculars, he scanned the horizon and saw that all was quiet as usual.
“Here you go sir.” The veteran gave him a cup of hot chocolate, it was the beginning of autumn and the temperature had dropped to single digits.
The Lord Commander took the cup and nodded to him, “Thank you sergeant.”
“I don’t mean to pry sir, but I hear that your real parents are from the lost lands.”
“Aye, they are.” The blonde took a sip from his cup before sighing, “I don’t intend to leave the very country I call home, even if I did would I really fit in? The lost lands have been known to be a chaotic place and to them I would be some price because I have the knowledge of technology far more advanced than theirs.”
The sergeant nodded in agreement, “I hear you, them lost landers can be a greedy people, I saw one of them yesterday, one of their guards I think, I saw that certain look in his eyes when he looked at our war machines, like he wanted them. Never a good thing when someone has that look.”
“That they are…” Telion chuckled and took another sip of his hot chocolate when something in the horizon caught his attention. He stood up and narrowed his eyes before widening them in horror, “oh god… SOUND THE ALARM! WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!”
The sergeant did as he was told and pressed a button to his right, an extremely loud siren was heard all across the wall as soldiers gathered to the top of the wall. “The Nuimqolians are coming!” the sergeant barked out, “Get your *** in gear boys!”
“It’s a full invasion force, how did they get passed our security net?” the blonde asked as he took another look at the massive army that came out of nowhere.
“I don’t know sir, but that is one big army.”
“Get to the comms, tell the palace we are under attack by the Nuimqol Union.”
Outside the wall and almost a hundred kilometres out, a massive army of blue war machines, soldiers and vehicles were heading towards the wall with one objective, and that is to crush the Pelistal Empire.