Prelude

The next three months seemed like they would breeze past in the blink of an eye. Norland continued to remain normal on the surface, but every major noble was paying attention to the impending Archeron attack on Faust.

This was a special event. Richard had already made it clear before that he was withdrawing from the Sacred Alliance, and for the sake of pride every powerful family would bar his path back. Even those with no grudges against him would participate.

Richard himself left Norland once he informed Julian of his decision, returning to the ancient library of the primal celestials. He had managed to unseal the book on their history, but most of the language was still a mystery to...