System Change

The young man and woman staggered inside the Throne Room as they were pushed forward by Finn. Derek eyed each one. Both siblings took after their father, and it seemed that each had the same dark ice affinity that Tevarian, Terrin, and Traven had. Derek had half expected the girl to have some sort of poison related class like her mother had, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

Both siblings looked to be confused, angry, and afraid. The confusion probably came from the fact that one of the high nobles they knew was giving them commands, and the anger and fear was obvious—they were angry at those now in front of them, and they feared at what was likely to happen.

“I’ll kill you all!” the young man, who couldn’t be much older than twenty, let his anger win out when he heard Diana’s announcement. Finn no longer had to push him forward, as ice crept up his hands and stopped just past his wrists as he shot forward.

“Tyler! No, stop!” the young woman cried out as she watched her brother attack a room of quite possibly the strongest people on the continent, if not the planet. She reached forward to grab him, but her hand found nothing but empty space—he had already left her range.

Derek blinked as the young man drew close to him. A quick Identify as the man rushed forward showed Derek that he was only level 145. He was actually surprised that Tyler was such a low level for his age—it showed that either he, or his father, cared more about skill levels than actual levels. Unless his skill levels are also low, then he could just be lazy.

It took a second, but Derek finally realized that the prince was actually heading straight toward him—he was the target. Obviously, the young man wasn’t thinking straight, and he chose to go after the closest person to him.

Derek let out a soft sigh as the man arrived with his ice covered hands. Tyler lunged forward with both palms open. Derek, on the other hand, simply raised his arm to block—he’d fought against Tevarian, and knew exactly what the man was going for. Unfortunately for Tyler, Derek wasn’t much scared of his father’s ice abilities, so why would he be afraid of the same skills, but from a person who was just over half his father’s level?

The young man’s palms fell over Derek’s armor covered forearm, and he squeezed. Derek’s Dark Wyvern Armor was well insulated, and even though water vapor from the cold ice the young man applied rose from his hands, Derek didn’t even feel the least bit cool underneath.

Finally, Derek looked around, but saw that nobody had bothered to do anything about the young man’s attack. Having had enough, with his free hand, Derek pushed his own open palm forward and hit the man in his midsection. Tyler let out a loud gasp and his grip loosed from Derek’s arm as the rest of his body flew backwards half a dozen feet before he landed on his back on the ground. Tyler then rolled over onto his knees and abruptly lost his lunch.

It was a light strike, so no real damage should have been done, but it did come from someone as powerful as Derek. Even though his strength and dexterity stats still weren’t through the next threshold, they were more than enough to completely overpower someone at the prince’s level.

“Tyler!” the young lady yelled and rushed forward to her brother’s aid.

“Like father, like son,” Marrick commented from beside Derek. “Acting with complete disregard for the consequences. He’s a spitting image of his grand… late grandfather.”

Both siblings soon raised their heads up to look at the old elf. It seemed that after a literal gut punch, the prince had come back to his senses. It also seemed that they finally began to realize the direness of their situation. Derek wasn’t even actually sure that they knew that the rest of the royal family was gone. Tyler could have been acting out of impulse solely based on the fact that he knew someone in front of him was responsible for his father’s demise.

“So,” Diana spoke from her position near the center of the table. “May I ask what it is you wish to do with them?”

“Bah!” Marrick snorted. “Better to send them to their father—make it a clean sweep. They’re old enough that we needn’t lose any sleep over it. The grudge has already been set. Take it from someone with experience. That’s not something that will go away with time. Besides, this continent will be better off with the surname Sinclair disappearing from it.”

Derek found the words a little harsh, but he had been under no illusion when he came to Astrus that any member of the royal family would survive. If they were children, that could have been another story, but the two were well into adulthood. Actually, they weren’t much younger than he was according to his status page. Besides, whether to let them live or not wasn’t up to him. It was a decision for the rulers of the kingdoms to make.

Edward looked over to Osian, but the elven king shrugged—leaving the decision completely up to the crown prince. The crown prince frowned and scratched his chin. He had just pronounced that he planned on going easy—or at least being less harsh—on the current noble families. Now he had to make a decision about the remainder of the noblest of families, the royal family.

“Please,” Tevara stood from her position beside her brother and walked forward. “Allow me and my brother to live. We have had no say in anything our parents, grandfather, or Titus have done. Forgive my brother for his outburst. You may believe father, mother, and grandfather are evil, but they are still family and he is grieving. Allow us to live and we will swear oaths that we will never go against Cydaria or Indria, nor will we try to spread dissent into any children we may have.”

Derek raised his eyebrows at her plea. It looked like she had given thought to what she planned on saying. He wondered if that was something she had planned beforehand, just in case something happened, or if she made it up on the spot. She was also very composed and, though he could see the sadness in her eyes, she held herself back from shedding any tears.

“Hmph…” Marrick snorted, then finally turned his head to look at the young woman. “Seems you have some intelligence in you, after all. I never expected someone from a rabid family like House Sinclair to beg for their lives. Did you know that your grandfather never once pleaded for your lives? Not even when he realized there was no way for him to win as I held his life in my hands—even after I told him I would destroy his entire family line.”

“I…” the young woman opened her mouth and closed it multiple times, but no words came. Instead, a single tear rolled down her face, and she quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand. Her brother, on the other hand, clenched his jaw and balled his hands into shaking fists, but he chose to stay on the ground.

“Her mother care deeply for her children. I don’t believe the care she showed for Titus to be any less than what she would have shown for Tyler and Tevara.” on Derek’s other side, Alanah finally spoke. “But she was too blinded by grief and rage to properly show it. I fought her, I felt it. Even in her anger, she allowed some of her people to retreat from the fight and promised not to harm their families.” Alanah then turned her head and met eyes with Marrick. “It is not necessary to provoke the children after what they’ve just learned they lost. I believe that is beneath you, Mr. Marrick.”

The old man glared at Alanah, then looked at the young woman who was doing her best to keep her composure, before turning back to Alanah. With a sigh, he said, “You are correct, Miss Swan. It seems my old bones can still find themselves riled up after a fight with such consequences.” Then, he looked down the table at the others. “Edward, Osian… do what you wish with the young ones. I will not object.”

The room went silent for a long minute or two before Edward finally spoke. “I cannot make a decision this minute. It is no surprise that I also have a bit of a personal grudge with House Sinclair, as it was their older brother who took my arm from me,” he said. “Under those circumstances, I will try to make the best decision I can. Titus Sinclair seemed a cruel man, and I would like to know if these siblings have the same character. It seems that we will have no problem finding that out if Miss Swan would be so kind as to help.”

What Edward was talking about was the fact that the two siblings were currently staring off into space after hearing the words from Alanah. Because of their low levels, they could not withstand the passive effects of her voice, so they were currently in the same trance that so many others had been in before.

“Very well,” Alanah said with a shrug. Then she turned to the two siblings. “Both of you, come stand before me,” she commanded.

Tevara arrived before Alanah almost instantly because of how close she was, and Tyler quickly shot to his feet and followed in turn. The two siblings stood before Alanah like the statues on either side of the hall.

“Tevara,” Alanah said, and the young woman’s glazed over eyes moved down to look at Alanah. “Did you consider your older brother cruel?”

“Yes,” the young woman answered mechanically.

“And what about him was cruel?”

“He enjoyed causing and watching the pain and suffering of others.”

“And are you the same? Do you enjoy watching the pain and suffering of others?” Alanah asked.

“No.”

“Did you ever try to stop Titus from hurting others?”

“I did not.”

“And why is that?”

“It was not my place to do so. He was much stronger than me.”

“How do you treat your servants?” Alanah switched her line of questioning.

“I believe I treat them fairly,” Tevara answered mechanically.

“And why do you treat your servants fairly?”

“Because I do not want to be like my brother.”

“What about your parents? How did they treat their servants?”

“They treated them like servants. Not good, but not badly.”

“I see…” Alanah said. “And what of the war? What did you think about it when you learned of it?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Alanah asked in surprised. “You had no thoughts about it? Why? Answer completely.”

“It was none of my business. I had no part in it. I had no thoughts of it other than I hoped Astrus would win.”

“Okay…” Alanah said. “Do you consider yourself a good person?”

“I…” Even in the trance, the young woman hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you know?”

“I try to be good, but I am also selfish and conceited,” she said.

“And your other brother, Tyler,” Alanah said. “Is he a good person? Explain clearly.”

“He is better than me,” Tevara answered. “But he does have a temper and sometimes acts without thinking. I do think he is a good person. He tried to stop Titus once by telling father, but was ignored and later beat up by older brother.”

“Tyler.” Alanah shifted her focus to the other sibling. “Do you agree with what Tevara has said? Explain clearly.”

“I do, but I am also selfish and conceited,” the young man answered.

“Is there anything that you want to ask?” Alanah turned and asked Edward, and the crown prince nodded. “Answer Edward as you would me,” she said to the siblings.

“Will you truly be able to put your hatred of us behind you and go on with your lives? Would you be able to if you didn’t sign a contract or swear an oath?”

“Yes,” Tyler answered first.

“I will try,” Tevara answered. Surprisingly, it seemed that the young woman who was so composed earlier had more hatred in her heart than her brother who attacked Derek did.

“That is all,” Edward said.

“Go stand by Finn,” Alanah commanded the two.

With the questioning finished, every waited for Edward to make his decision. Soon, he did.

“I will allow the two to live for now. We will have the oaths and contracts, and I want them to stay in the palace to support the next king and queen.”

Everyone nodded along, and like Marrick said before, he didn’t object.

“Now, on that topic,” Edward began. “Who shall be the new rulers of the kingdom?”

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