Staurakios stood on the balcony of his palace watching the once beautiful capital his ancestors had built. The city was now on fire engulfed in flames. His face glowed with a light. His golden eyes were fixed on the city gates.
"This is how it ends… a thousand years of rule" he whispered.
He. Looked around his rooms. His father and grandfather would have been disappointed in him.
At this moment he did not care.
His mentor's words echoed in his mind.
"Trust is a blade. Both sides must hold it carefully."
The old man had been right.
He felt tears in his eyes. He did not know if it was because of the smoke or because he had lost the one thing he truly loved.
Behind him the man who had protected him all his life stepped forward.
His voice was calm but urgent.
"Your Majesty we must leave the capital."
Staurakios lifted his chin. Closed his eyes. For a moment he remained silent before turning to face the man.
"To where Leo?" he asked quietly. "The empire is ruined. Half of it wants me dead. The rest have lost faith in me."
"Regardless my liege" Leo replied firmly. "We must leave before they reach the palace. We can regroup in the North and..."
Staurakios raised his hand. Cut him off.
"And what?" he asked bitterly. "How long do you think your family can resist them?"
His voice cracked.
"My liege…" Leo said softly. "You have lost a son. If you die the empire loses its future."
Staurakios said quietly. "My son was our future. He was the brightest light our sun had ever given this empire… and now he is gone."
For a moment the mask of the emperor shattered, revealing a father drowning in grief.
Then it was gone.
"This city is all I have left now" he continued. "I will not abandon it. If the empire must die then it will die with it's emperor standing beside it."
"I will die defending what my ancestors built " Staurakios said firmly. "What my son died to protect."
He walked past Leo without another word.
Leo sighed.
Then he followed the man he had sworn to protect.
***
At the other side of the city, rebel armies poured through the broken gates.
The strong walls had crumbled under constant bombardment. Trebuchets hurled boulders that exploded upon impact. Ballistas fired lances of magic that tore through towers and battlements.
Within the streets imperial magic knights clashed with infantry and rogue mages. Fire and lightning tore through alleys as the battle raged closer to the heart of the capital.
Behind the advancing army rode figures in shining plate armor.
Nobles.
Lords who had once knelt before the emperor.
"We are there " one of them said, his eyes fixed on the palace rising above the burning city. "He has not shown himself."
"Perhaps he is still mourning his boy" another replied mockingly.
"No" the last one said calmly urging his horse forward. "Staurakios is not weak."
His deep blue eyes remained fixed on the palace.
"The man I know would never surrender."
He gestured toward the city.
"Take the palace. Kill the imperial guards."
He smiled coldly.
"The emperor will come to us."
***
The gates of the palace burst open not after.
Out from the burning courtyard rode a group of imperial knights clad in gold and white armor. At their head was a man wearing a crown blackened by ash.
Staurakios.
The emperor did not shout.
He did not make speeches.
He simply took his spear in his grasp.
It's long shaft was carved from wood and wrapped in ancient script the blade glowing faintly.
He raised it slowly.
The air trembled.
A golden radiance burst from his body like sunlight breaking through a storm.
"Traitors!" one rebel knight shouted.
"Kill him!"
The battlefield erupted.
Imperial knights crashed into the lines like a falling star. Spells collided in flashes of light. Steel rang against steel as men were thrown from horses and crushed beneath hooves.
Staurakios fought at the center of the storm.
Even exhausted, even grieving the emperor was a monster on the battlefield. His spear carved arcs of burning light through the rebel ranks. Each thrust struck like a bolt of judgment piercing armor and flesh alike.
Men fell in clusters around him.
They were too many.
***
They had prepared for this moment.
The noble with the blue eyes watched carefully from the rear.
"Now " he said.
A circle of hidden mages raised their staffs.
A forbidden sigil ignited beneath Staurakios horse.
The emperor felt it instantly.
A crushing weight pressed against his limbs. The air thickened, dragging at his movements like chains.
Leo saw it.
"My liege!" he shouted.
Staurakios understood immediately.
They were binding him.
He drove his horse forward. Leapt from the saddle before the magic circle could fully close. The emperor landed hard upon the stone of the courtyard his spear striking sparks as it scraped across the ground.
For a moment he stood surrounded by enemies.
Flames roared behind him.
The palace burned.
The emperor of a thousand-year empire realized there would be no escape.
So he chose ruin.
He planted the butt of his spear against the ground. Raised the blade toward the sky.
His voice rang across the battlefield.
"O the spear of radiant sun that crowns the heavens throne! Bear witness to thy servants plea. Let earth awaken crimson-breathing stone. Drink the blood of those who treacherous be. By crown! By throne! By empire's dying flame! Let spears arise and carve my foes in agony!"
The spears runes ignited like gold.
Staurakios drove the weapon downward.
The spear struck the earth with a crack.
For a heartbeat the world went silent.
Then the ground screamed.
The courtyard shattered in an eruption as cracks tore across the stone like veins splitting open. Blazing magma burst upward through the fractures glowing red beneath the night sky.
From those burning wounds in the earth spears began to rise.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Jagged pillars of stone surged upward in a storm of impaling spikes thrusting toward the rebel ranks with unstoppable fury.
Soldiers screamed.
Horses were torn apart.
Entire formations vanished beneath the rising forest of burning lances.
The spell would have annihilated them all.
If it had finished.
The noble with the blue eyes stepped forward calmly.
He dismounted his horse. Walked toward the raging eruption.
His hand rested on the pommel of his blade.
He spoke quietly. His voice carried clearly through the chaos.
"Sacred relic bestowed upon mine blood. O breath of ancient sovereign. Attend thy servant in this hour. Let frost devour the flames that rage within..."
He drew his blade.
The moment the steel left its sheath the air froze.
A violent gale exploded outward from the noble roaring across the courtyard like the howl of a dying world. A storm of razor winds and pale frost swept forward crashing against the erupting magma.
The burning spears froze.
Molten stone turned black and brittle as ice devoured the heat within them. The rising pillars cracked apart mid-ascent shattering into fragments that rained across the battlefield.
The ground itself stiffened.
The very few remaining rebellions soldiers. Survived.
Staurakios stared in disbelief.
Then the binding sigil, beneath him completed its circle.
Invisible chains tightened around his body.
His spear slipped from his grasp.
Leo cut down three attackers trying to reach the emperor. There were too many.
The blue eyed noble walked toward the fallen ruler slowly.
"So this is the end of the Sun Emperor " he said.
Staurakios looked up at him.
For a moment the flames of the burning city reflected in his eyes.
"You killed my son..." the emperor said quietly.
"He chose to sacrifice himself." the noble replied calmly. "That foolish ritual saved humanity from the demons…. It left the empire weak."
He leaned closer.
"Weak empires fall."
Staurakios laughed.
A tired broken laugh.
"You believe this is victory?"
The noble frowned.
"The demons were not our enemy..." the emperor whispered.
"The biggest enemy was always here."
He poked the nobles chest with the point of his spear.
"In the hearts of people."
The noble's face turned serious.
He pulled out his sword.
"Then let me show you I am right."
The sword came down as emperor finished his last whispers.
With it the thousand-year empire came to an end.