“You will use no weapons other than your pulseblades, aegis and your training in decoria.” Marianne announces the rules to our spar.

My brother and I stand in the centre of a beautiful courtyard. At my feet, pale-white marble spreads like the sea, unblemished and unbroken even after milennia. Twelve pillars stand watch over our contest; each patterned with beautiful mosaics depicting a thousand years of rule, prosperity and conquest. Colours splash like blood on the walls behind, each splash and artistic masterpiece of weaving patterns, dragons and wolves and lions hunt, while people build civilisation behind them, every panel looking more sophisticated than the last as the crescendo is reached just above the archway leading into my family’s home. Darker than the others, the crescendo is a lone man holding a pulseblade as he looks out into a sea of darkness.

A fitting representation of my father’s time as Champion of the Emperor.

“Begin,” Marianne snaps, and Eleusius and I sing our song.

My brother is a year younger than myself, the prime old age of fourteen. His dusty blonde hair goes to his shoulders, an errant strand falls before his green-gold eyes. He is lithe, preferring his teachings in strategy, history, art and philosophy to any physical training other than what our family requires of him.

I am stronger, quicker and better trained. He always has referred to me as our family’s blunt instrument.

It is not in his nature to be patient when instead he could act, and he proves this once again. Eleusius’s pulseblade ignites as he lunges forward and his arm stabs towards me. I only just swivel to the side as my aegis thrums responding to my will.

For an instant there is a warble in the air as his pulseblade connects with my aegis, and then his pulseblade is gone. A dying crimson set within a blue sea, my brother’s weapon is a hideous thing when it comes to life, shaped by his own will.

His blade would have taken my left eye if not for the aegis that protects the left side of my body from the crown of my head to the shins of legs. The shield closes, the energy retreating back to the small golden sheath on my elbow. The air shimmers and a thin trail of white smoke flows from where the aegis energy heated the very air until it burst.

I shift backwards, creating distance between myself and my brother. I still haven’t ignited my pulseblade yet. I can hear the low hum of his own, and beneath that, the soft sound of water as it flows in the stream beneath the ground we stand upon.

Eleusius’s blade shifts, elongating and becoming a whip at his unspoken command. He sweeps it, the tongue burning against the marble and licking at my feet. My eyes stay on his torso, watching for the inevitable tension created just before the offensive.

He is a second quicker than I was expecting, lashing out before his sweep has been completed. The pulseblade twirls upwards, the air hissing as my aegis takes the blow that would have split me into seven different chunks.

He darts to my right as the fork of his whip glances off the aegis, and just as quickly it’s back to being a blade, humming as it retracts into slender, meter long curved sword.

When he stabs again, I pivot, activating my own pulseblade and swivel, the aegis takes his blow as my arm moves with my body, my puleblade reaching full length as my arm extends.

The sound of hissing flesh greets me as I find purchase, a glancing blow off his right shoulder, unprotected by his aegis.

My brother growls in frustration, his body swerving just a moment too late. I spare a glance to Marianne, she watches without expression, her face a clay mask of neutrality.

I’m brought back to the moment by a shift of movement. My brother bolts forward, aegis activated and his body hunkered behind it. His pulseblade whips out, feinting to my left and then cracking back to strike at my right.

His blade is a whip for only a moment, and by the time he’s raised his arm back, his pulseblade has taken the shape of a burning trident. He plunges forward as I retreat backwards, blade snapping out to form a fist in response. But he keeps coming, my right arm sizzles as the aegis burns up the underside.

Flow. Like a tree bending in the winds. Always circle, never backwards, no openings are ever created by heading backwards.

I dash to the left of my brother, feet pivoting as I bring my blade up and prepare for a slash at his neck.

The spar will only end once one of us lands a killing blow on the other. Almost everything is allowed, aside from decapitation. Not even our medici can bring someone back who has a severed head. Well, not cheaply.

A third blade whirls at me from out the corner of my eye, Lelliana’s pulseblade curls around my extended right wrist as she smiles at me. With a blown kiss, she takes my right hand off at the wrist.

Eleusius wastes no time with bringing his own blade against me, stabbing up through my stomach and out through the lumbar vertebrae.

I groan as I slump forward, and my brother catches me as he disengages his blade.

“God this will never not feel unpleasant,” I rasp. My brother laughs at me.

“You get used to it after the first few hundred times,” he says, he spares a look for Lelliana; “That was uncalled for.”

“Not at all,” Marianne interjects, “I forbade you from using weapons other than the most basic. We are not swaggering duelists, we are preparing you for war. The only weaknesses you’ll have in war are those you bind yourself.” She smiles at me from across the courtyard. “If Kaldratos had someone to come to his aid, I suspect the outcome would have been different. Let this be a lesson for you, then, being surrounded by those with a vested interest in keeping you alive is a powerful weapon.”

Lelliana sticks her tongue out at me, petulant as always. “I only felt the need to intervene because you kept beating Eleusius’ arse. He gets sulky afterwards and I find it incredibly dull.”

My brother scowls at her as the medici fuss over me. A cool sensation enters my body and I feel my spinal column being regrown and reconnecting. It is a quick, if odd, sensation. There is a thick substance applied to my wrist as my hand is gently held against it. The sinew and bone and skin reattach together, and the burns on my underarm knit themselves back as the burnt skin is shed and fresh flesh grows in its place.

I breath out a sigh of relief, and Eleusius helps me to my feet. I almost slip and grip him closely. I truly will never get to used to the feeling of my spine being vaporised.

I look passed him and see my father walking through the shadows of the archway. He’s dogged by Osena, the captain of our House Guard and four knights wearing cloaks so dark that look like they’re made from the wings of ravens when the light touches. Death is everywhere. Eleusius and I share the thought as his lips tighten.

My father has appeared more paranoid the last few months, but he has not told us what brought about this change in him. Gone are his easy smiles and quick laughter, replaced instead by the stern determination of a man at war.

“Father,” I call to him. He looks at me and the ghost of a smile chases his lips.

“You got stabbed, didn’t you?” I nod, “You need to be mindful of your surroundings, or else someone like Lelliana will come and kill you while you think you’re having an honourable duel with an enemy.” He raises an eyebrow at me. So you were watching us.

“I couldn’t abide the sulking any longer,” Lelliana justifies.

He graces her with a smile, but when he brings his eyes back to Eleusius and I, we feel the full weight of his being.

“Continue training, I’ve been called to our forward defence centre due to an anomaly near Amoridale. I will return shortly.” He turns to Marianne, “Whilst I am gone, Kaldratos will hold the authority. He is your charge.”

She salutes, right fist thumping against her chest. “Yes, Lord Sovereign.” She bows her head.

He turns away, sparing no more thought for us as he delivered the news he deemed necessary.

I share a glance with my brother, he shrugs and we head back inside.

We stalk the halls of our home, greeted by a large aquarium. Inside, a twisted creature that looks to be half mermaid-half eel slithers around a stone statue of my grandfather, his face green from algae and age.

The estate is warm to look upon, dark browns and calming whites flicker across walls and ceilings. Few rooms are grotesquely grandiose, it has never been my family’s style.

We head out to onto a veranda, overlooking the deep mountain ranges to the north and lush forest between us and them. If I strain my ears I can hear the song of birds as I step through the archway. Aged, but beautiful, columns flank us either side. They are a deep maroon, crowned by a relief of twisting snakes snapping at snarling badgers.

“I’ll never get tired of this view,” Lelliana purrs. Eleusius shares an amused glance at his betrothed. Many of our peers are married off for political advantage or to secure a military alliance between two Houses. My father laughed at me when I asked whether we would be committed to the same fate. When Lelliana’s father came and requested that Eleusius be betrothed to Lelliana, it was at Lelliana’s insistence. Our father, for all his gloomy disposition and stern composure, asked for Eleusius’ blessing before he accepted the arrangement. That was a year ago.

He is about to answer her when suddenly guardsmen burst from the door way, with Marianne at their head.

“My lord,” she bows her head to me,” I’ve just been informed we have an unidentified ship heading towards the estate’s shield boundary. If you’ll please come with me.”

An anomaly and now this? What has happened? What isn’t father telling us?

From the look on Eleusius’ face, he is wondering the same thing.

We are led brisquely through the winding hallways, passed paintings and statues of our ancestors, passed whirling holo-feeds of great battles and duels that spark with colour and life as if they were happening just in front of us, even though some of them were recorded centuries ago.

Marianne leads us to a dark, grey room. Green and red lights flicker above us. She grabs my hand and levels it against the wall. I feel a warmth from the wall, almost burning, but then it is gone.

The wall in front of me vanishes, sliding up into the ceiling. What lays before me is a room of calm chaos. Men and women chattering and demanding direction.

“1500 meters from shield barrier,” a onyx warden calls out, staring at the blip on her screen that shows the vessel. “Do we have a reading on its weapon capabilities?”

“Negative commander, the ship is equipped with scanjammers. We think that’s why they only popped up on our sensors now, whoever is in that ship decided to let us see them.”

Marianne gently pushes me forward, and the room turns as one, all men and women snapping to attention at once. “Acting-Lord Sovereign,” the woman who was referred to as the commander salutes me, right open palm held horizontally against her left breast.

“Situation,” I say, in as authoritative a tone as I can put on.

“Unidentified vessel is now 700 meters from the shield barrier. Turrets are activated and we’re waiting on your order to take it down.”

“Has there been any attempt to contact the vessel as of yet?” I’m scrambling to figure out why they’d think this was a good idea. The only thing keeping that ship alive is our unwillingness to open-fire on a random ship that may not mean us harm. But we cannot let them breach the shield barrier or else we’ll be vulnerable if they have weapons.

The commander shakes her head, “Not as of yet, we’ll attempt it on your order.”

A man leaps up from his desk, “No need, mam,” he turns to me and bows his head, “My Lord. In the last three seconds that ship managed to hack through our communication defences. We’re receiving a feed now.”

My commander’s eyes widen, as a House that has the privilege of being considered part of the High Nobility, and as my father is a member of the Pinnacle Order, we have an almost endless amount of resources. My House was not sloppy on ensuring our defences were the best they could be.

She shakes her head, “Figures, I guess, if they’re able to stay a ghost to our sensors it just figures they’d be able to cut through our software defences.” She sighs to herself, “Just my damn day, I guess.”

I spare a smile before trailing my eyes to the screen. What I see before me has every man and woman in the room going still.

The personal sigil of Emperor Kauldian Malcarn greets us. But when the screen fades and a man stares back at me, it is not the Emperor I’m looking at.

A code appears on the screen before me and with a beep it confirms the identity of the man before me.

“Direct him to the main landing bay, I’ll meet him there.” I walk away, followed by Marianne.

I turn to her, “Put the House Guard on high alert. I want a century there waiting for us on that pad.” Why has he come here?

She nods and speaks into her comm, we’re back in the hallway, heading to see my father’s greatest friend.

The shuttle is sleek, narrow and slender. It’s four wings shift and the thrusters whine as it slowly descends and lands. A ramp hisses down from the centre of the ship, landing with a whisper against the metal.

The first man to walk out is one I’ve not seen in seven years. He has cold features, his face is that of stone, set to a constant admonishment of disapproval. His eyes a swirling mix of brown and gold. A pendant on his left breast signifies what he is, but if I hadn’t seen it, his cloak would have told me well enough. A dark swirling blue and grey, forever shifting and changing like a rolling thunderstorm.

Callaius Tulari, the Knight of Storms and Third Principaic Knight to His Majesty Emperor Kauldian looks passed me to the century of guardsmen arrayed behind me.

Behind him, two dozen men and women file out after him. Their armour is a hideous bronze and purple, juxtaposed by the pure darkness of the capes that fall from their waist. Pulseswords lay magnetically attached at their hips, and on their backs each and every one of them has at least two weapons to use at a moment’s notice. The Imperial Guard of Emperor Kauldian Malcarn.

“Where is Magnus?” Callaius asks me, ignoring everyone else on the landing pad.

“Why are you here?” I deflect, refusing to answer his question.

“Attempting to keep an oath I made long ago.” He frowns at me, he is not used to others disrespecting him. “I assume you know the proper address for a Principaic Knight?”

“Yes, Your Highness, I am well versed in etiquette.” The Imperial Guardsmen behind him stand at attention, each of them having their face covered by a shimmering grey-steel helmet that seems to mold itself into their armour passed the neck.

“Good, so I’ll ask again. Where is Magnus?” He looks down at me, a glimmer of animosity burning in his gaze.

“Lord Sovereign Magnus Tenebrius left for the forward defence centre due to an anomaly detected on Amoridale. We have not heard from him since.” The voice that answered him was not my own, and to my right I see Eleusius wading onto the landing pad backed by Knights with whining pulseweapons in their hands.

Tulari closes his eyes, and for a moment a look of pain flashes across his face.

“You will not accompany me if I were to ask it of you, would you?” His voice almost sounds pained for all his earlier animosity is still there.

Why would we follow anything you ask of us? It is our planet.

“No, we wouldn’t” I reply, “I’m sorry.” I find that I mean it, for while I cannot explain why he looks so mournful, it feels real.

The Knight of Storm sighs, and turns his back on us to make his way back up the ramp. He hadn’t even taken six steps on Saldeth and already he was leaving.

“The Universal Collective has a fleet inbound for Saldeth. Fifty-thousand ships, approximately half a billion soldiers, and the hatred of an entire civilisation backing them. Flee, if you can, die well if you cannot.” He shakes his head, “I’m sorry, Magnus.”

He walks back up the ramp of his ship, the Imperial Guardsmen following him. With a hiss the ramp flows back up into the ship, and air thrums as their thrusters ignite and the ship steadily rises above us.

Marianne turns to me, saluting as she does. “We need to leave, now. If he is right, then we’ll all be dead within a day if we don’t escape this planet.”

I scoff, “The Equinox Guard would not fall so easily, Saldeth has not been attacked in over two-centuries, they will not fail us now.”

“Brother, that may have been true when the majority of our family’s fleets guarded our home. But most of our fleets, and those of our vassals, are on the frontlines. If the UCAPS Armada is already here, then it is a safe assumption that those same fronts have already been breached.”

I wheel on him, “No,” I disagree. “If the Primus Wall had fallen, we would know, at the very least father would know and he wouldn’t keep us in the dark about that.”

Eleusius opens his mouth to continue arguing, but Marianne interjects.

“Stop wasting time. You can debate the logistics and possibilities later, for now you will do as I command.” She brushes a strand of hair from her face, and once more I see the scars that criss cross her face, the melted skin from an old wound when her troop transport was blown apart.

She taps the side of her skull, and her irises light up as she views a comm screen only she can see. “This is Lady Marianne, Knight Praetor to Lord Sovereign Magnus Tenebrius. Identifier Alpha-Echo-Echo-Lima-Four-Foxtrot-Eight-One. Confirm.”

We do not hear the response, but a moment later she blinks. “My Sovereign, we had an unexpected visitor in the form of the Knight of Storms. He claims that -“ She closes her mouth. A shiver of worry passes through her eyes.

“As you command, My Sovereign.” She blinks again and the light in her eyes dies.

She’s about to speak, but Eleusius and I both wave her off. The disembodied head of my father floats in my vision. He looks exhausted.

“Father,” I say, “What are your orders?”

“Flee,” he hisses at us both, “The Equinox Guard will be broken in the span of a few hours, unless I can change the paradigm. Our defences are sturdy, and it will take time for them to break through the atmospheric shield, but after that they will make landfall, and should that happen, none in our family will be allowed to live.”

“Father, surely we should take command of the planetary garrison? Or the defence cannons to organise a response to their fleet.” Eleusius requests we do more than simply run and hide.

“You do not understand me, Eleusius.” My father sighs in exasperation, “The question is not if they will make landfall, but when. I have already taken command of the planetary defence and the remaining ships in orbit. I will do what I can, and what I must.” His gaze turns back to us both.

“I cannot allow for my past failures to ruin us. I will not allow my children, Irene’s children, to perish here because of me.” The name is like ice water being thrown on me, my father has not spoken my mother’s name since her death. As if he’d forgotten who she even was.

“Kaldratos, you will head east, through the Thermic Tunnels to the doomsday bunkers on the other side. Marianne will have the code to grant you entry. She has been authorised to enact all necessary defence protocols to ensure your survival, all restrictions have been lifted. Save for those under the Exitio Obliteratio directives.”

“Eleusius, you and Lelliana are to head to the fortress bunkers in the Cicadian Mountain Range. You will be safe there until you are contacted by Kaldratos and Marianne.” He breaths out.

“I am a sword,” he whispers to us, the simple and ancient motto of our House’s founder. “I love you both, so hear me and obey, live.”

The transmission cuts.

Lelliana grabs Eleusius as he stares at me. I grab his hand, bringing him for an embrace. “I will see you again, brother.” He nods at me, for once mute. His usual smiling eyes are absent of all mirth.

Lelliana drags him away, followed by their little coterie of knights they’d gathered earlier. My heart thumps in my chest as I watch them rush off.

It is unseemly for a noble to pray. Religion is not something we hold ourselves to, we do not wish for change, we make it happen.

Marianne taps my elbow, nodding her head to the side. “Come, my lord, we need to leave.”

Forty minutes later I am watching my house in the distance as we speed across valleys towards the Thermic Tunnels. My home, the estate I’ve lived in all my life, getting smaller and smaller in the distance behind me.

I shiver, and wonder if Eleusius feels just as cold as I.