Tyrant of the Ruined Sun

It's been a couple of days since the incident with Hasdrubal and Anastasia in the imperial gardens, and now I was seated in an overwhelmingly lavish horse drawn carriage heading towards the infamous Free City of Qayan.

And though I call a carriage, it would be more apt to call it a mobile fortress due to it's sheer size alone, that required more than a hundred Diomedes warhorses to pull and was so massive it was partitioned into a large kitchen, a master bedroom with two additional guest rooms, two bathrooms and even a dining hall, equipped with all possible necessities to ensure both comfort and protection.

It was in the master bedroom of this architectural marvel where I was reading the awaited reports of the Archpriest Adam, when suddenly I heard a loud knock from my door, followed by the adolescent voice of my little brother asking "May I come in brother?"

This was obviously Nizam, who after a lot of convincing, arguing and no small amount of begging either finally convinced our mother to grant him permission to come with me.

Quickly ushering him in, I asked with a kind smile "Did you finish unpacking?"

"I did brother, but how come I've never heard or seen this carriage before? It's absolutely astonishing!" He replied with a little childish excitement escaping his usual mask of maturity.

"Ardaanin." I simply replied.

"...What?" He confusedly asked.

"Ardaanin. That's it name." I responded as I lightly touched the wall to my right, before continuing as I sat on the chair facing him "And the reason you've never heard of it is because it's been sealed and collecting dust in the third vault for nearly a thousand years now."

Beneath the Imperial Palace and unbeknownst to most, lies three enormous vaults that hold all the riches of the ancient Eclipse Empire. The first vault, also known as the Golden Vault; houses the yearly tax revenue of Darr the empire collects.

This vault in only accessible to the the royal family, the Grand Vizier, the ministers of taxation and commerce as well as a select few others.

The second vault, also known as the White Vault; holds the royal family's art and jewelry collection, whose contents if sold would equate to more than what the first vault could ever dream of seeing in all it's existence.

This vault can only be entered by a few members of the royal family and the Grand Vizier.

And last but certainly not least, the third vault, also known as the Black Vault; which can only be entered by the emperor himself, imprisons the empire's greatest treasures and it's darkest secrets, such as entire libraries worth of books detailing long forgotten history, dozens of one of a kind books penned by ancient sages and sorcerers possessing unspeakable knowledge, thousands of shattered blades and rusting crowns of defeated rivals, fully showcasing the empire's long and glorious history.

And finally, the crown jewel of this hidden mausoleum was of course Ardaanin, the gigantic behemoth I'm currently in, who even after centuries of slumber, only needed a few simple repairs to return to it's prime, as if no time had passed! A testament of the skill of it's creators.

"Third vault? There's a third vault?!" Nizam asks in shock, since he's only ever heard of the first two vaults.

"I'll tell you about it later." I lightly reply, before seriously continuing "But I suggest you have your fill of Ardaanin during this trip, since it'll be most likely the last time we ever ride it."

"Huh?! But why?" He asks in disbelief, obviously having greatly liked this mode of transport and not wanting to lose it.

"Because it is to be a gift to the lord of Qayan." I said with a smile.

"Wait, it's to be a gift to that rebellious city? Brother, no matter how much we require the aid of their industrial might in these times, I still can't help but feel that such a gift would be too precious for that." He replied.

"Usually you'd be correct, but my plans for Qayan go far past making use of their industry alone and for that purpose, returning Ardaanin is the least we could do." I calmly replied.

"Returning Ardaanin? Do you mean that it was Qayan's to begin with?" Nizam's sharp mind quickly latched on to the key word in my sentence.

Seeing this I maintained my silence for a moment, before asking "Tell me Nizam, what do you know of the history between our empire and Qayan?"

Not expecting this question, Nizam took a few seconds to collect his thoughts before studiously answering "Qayan and it's masters', the descendants of the god of the forge were once the center of a vast and mighty kingdom, that ruled with an iron fist over it's neighbors due to not only to the size of their armies, but also their superior weaponry that were a cut above the rest at the time, as well as the tyrannical strength of their kings, who were rumored to be monstrous.

Eventually our nation, which was still known as the Eclipse Kingdom at the time, established itself as a mighty nation equivalent in strength to the ancient kingdom of Qayan, and obviously it wasn't long before they began vying for the position of overlord of these lands, which started a long series of wars that spanned the course of nearly three hundred years that finally ended in our nations victory."

Clapping my hands slowly, I say "Excellent! But these are all common knowledge you can gain by simply reading a few books on the subject. Do you know what happened after that?"

Shaking his head he replies "No, I don't. I tried consulting my history teacher but he denied knowing anything, and even when I went to find the answer by myself in the imperial libraries, I still couldn't find much information about that.

All I could surmise was that the relationship between us was very peaceful and harmonious during the reign of our great grandfather Azrael the second, but something seems to have happened after, that ruined this, but I have no clue as to what it could be."

Chuckling I say "You want me to give you a hint?"

"It's because of Ardaanin, isn't it?" He instantly answers.

Nodding my head I explain "Indeed. As you already know our grandfather was a man who detested war and all it entails, though I wouldn't call him a pacifist since he did fight when the time called for it, although begrudgingly.

And sadly at the time the aging master of Qayan, Forge Lord Baalthour, had just finished the final touches on his newest creation, a passion project that took him nearly a full five decades to complete, a project he so endearingly named Ardaanin, the Earth Dragon." Pausing here for a moment, I ask "Can you guess what happened next?"

"Our grandfather forcefully seized Ardaanin upon it's completion, fearing it as a weapon that could tip the balance of power in our favor which would likely lead the world into a second Age of Tarnished Steel." Nizam cleverly replied.

"Exactly!" I happily said.

"But brother, wouldn't giving that infamous city such a weapon be a grave error on our part, if it's so powerful our grandfather was willing to ruin our relationship with Qayan over it!" He stated.

"No it won't." I said, while shaking my head.

"How won't it?!" He exclaimed.

"Do you really believe that we've had this thing for well over a millennium and never once studied it? We could've built an entire armada of them if we had wished to do so." I replied.

"...Th-Then why didn't we?" He asked confusedly.

"Because our grandfather's hatred of war had clouded his judgement. Since if he had looked at Ardaanin objectively, he would've immediately realized it's ineptitude as a weapon of war. Ardaanin might be big and intimidating, but it has a fatal weakness, which is it's mobility.

Even if you outfit it with the finest cannons, and man it with the most skilled archers and mages the empire can offer, it wouldn't matter since if you simply target the horses who pull it, it would be rendered utterly useless in the battlefield, only acting like target practice for the enemy." I informed.

"But you could simply station soldiers around it to defend the horses." He reasonably argued.

"We could indeed do that, but it would be more trouble than it's worth, after all not all battles occur on large open fields, often they occur on steep hills, or marshy grounds, and even on rare occasions the tops of mountains.

Tell me, would weapons as cumbersomely large as Ardaanin be worthwhile then?" I said with a voice that seemed to carry the bloody and brutal experience of centuries of conflict behind them.

"...No. It won't." He said, after processing all my words.

"Exactly, so don't worry your silly little head over this and go tell the cooks to start making dinner, I'm famished." I smirkingly said.

"Right away brother." He enthusiastically replied.

Little did I know at the time that all I had said today would be so utterly wrong, as the future I once knew would be so thoroughly changed by my unconscious actions, since even I can't guess the outcome of the meeting between a talented Forge Lord and a mad genius.

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