"Empress of fire,
In the reign of the lion,
Eclipsed in the eye of
The empire of we Orlesians.
Empress of fire,
What season may come,
We fight for the day
You'll restore our heart
And bring us to glory.
We are forever
In your graces.
Empress of fire,
Save us, everyone.
The nation reviles,
The course is but run, and end has begun.
Empress of fire,
Believe in us all.
Embrace us with arms,
And dress us with swords,
And light up our hearts with blood so bold.
We are forever
In your graces.
Empress of fire,
In the reign of the lion,
Eclipsed in the eye of
The empire of we Orlesians.
Empress of fire,
What season may come,
We fight for the day
You'll restore our heart
And bring us to glory."
- Song: Empress of Fire, National Song of the Holy Orlais Empire devoted to Flame Empress
***
Present Time, Four Years Later
"You are late again..."
She grinned at him, because Ciri knew very well that Kordillus wasn't really that much fond of physical exercises and did them solely because he needed to. The Royal Magic Corps was trained in a manner foreign to Thedas, as he forced the Mages to acquire some basics of close-quarters combat and physical capabilities.
Additionally, they were being paired with the Knights that were tasked with the protection of the Mage in case someone bypassed the lines and wanted to attack them. Of course, even though Kordillus wasn't fond of it, he was a rather decent swordsman and fighter.
"You are just early..."
During the past four years, Kordillus and Ciri grew really close.
She found out that due to Fade, she was essentially safe in this world, because Wild Hunt couldn't basically pass through the fate without being killed or attacked, and even then, they would encounter the Veil.
And that was something that was impossible to pass through without having Legendary-Tier might.
Even then, it would be mainly on the accident and a great deal of luck.
When they brought Ciri to the Val Royeaux, Vanderin Drakon cast some analysis spells on her, and with a bit of Blood Magic, they managed to find out that the dormant Elder Blood was partially awakened.
That was the reason why she got the elven features and some of the traits of the ancient elves, like their prolonged lifespan and Magical might. Even right now, the Elder Blood isn't completely awake as it was awakened only to the half, and yet, she was already stronger than he was.
The Elder Blood was really a wondrous thing... even though Cirilla was Silver-Tier and at the Complete Stage, essentially the same stage as him, she could draw so much Magic that she would put even Supreme-Tier Mages of Tevinter to shame.
The only thing that was holding her back was her physical body that couldn't possibly withstand the quantity of Magic that belonged to Supreme-Tier Mages, but even despite that, she could draw our Magic almost indefinitely.
Not to mention her Magic was more pure and denser compared to the other Mages, which was also the result of the Elder Blood.
Kordillus also wasn't born without a special Bloodline, as the Dragon Age System that he had was showing him that he had an unawakened Bloodline called First Flame Blood.
[Name: Kordillus Drakon
Race: Human (First Flame Blood - Unawakened)
Class: Battlemage
Sub-Class: Pyromancer
Rank: Silver-Tier (Complete)
Mage Rank: Senior Enchanter
Elemental Affinity: Fire
Magic: Pyromancy
Spells: Fireball, Fire Orb, Great Fireball, Great Chaos Fireball, Firestorm, Fire Tempest, Chaos Storm, Combustion, Great Combustion, Fire Surge, Fire Whip, Chaos Fire Whip...
Uniqueness: Pyromancy Flame
Skills: Swordsmanship (Proficient)
Items: Grimoire of the Izalith Pyromancy]
The First Flame Blood was reminding him of the First Flame concept of Dark Souls, together with the other things that he had from the Dark Souls universe; it was rather suspicious, but he was too weak right now to ponder over such a thing.
Right now, what he could see was that the First Flame Blood, even unawakened, made his Fire Spells around five times stronger and hotter than those of the ordinary Mages. His grandfather was especially pleased with his progress as a Mage because it meant that the Drakon Family wasn't a failure like his fellow Tevinterean Lords insinuated.
With Kordillus, the future of the Drakon Family would be bright, far brighter than anyone imagined, and that was the reason why Vanderin Drakon wanted to be part of the future.
"Less excuses, more sparring."
Without waiting for his reply, Ciri warped through the space and appeared in front of him, slashing toward him with her sword. The Elder Blood allowed her to perform Warping, which was a form of Spatial Magic that allowed her to teleport at short distances with incredible speed.
Warping was also pretty hard to defend against or counter during the fight, and if one wasn't trained for it, then there was a very small chance of successfully defending against the Warping.
Kordillus learned this hard way, and even when Ciri sparred with other members of his family, it was the same. She managed to outrun even his grandfather, because even he was very surprised when he first encountered the Warping.
But now, he was already pretty used to it as he raised his sword and blocked her slash.
He wasn't lying when he said that he understood Ciri very well, and he even managed to predict her attacking pattern with little to no problem. Even though she was a rather unpredictable fighter with her fighting style, she was having a hard time countering someone who managed to crack her pattern and adjust to it.
In a certain sense, it was as much training for her as it was for him, as the two of them clashed with their swords. Certainly, Ciri was faster and was appearing all around him, attempting to land a strike, but he already knew how she fought and how to counter her best.
This also forced her to be more creative with her attacks and try to adjust her strategy.
Much to his delight, she was becoming increasingly creative in her attacks, as she realized that she couldn't just keep whipping around her opponent; in a normal fight, she would be using something she had avoided her whole life.
Magic.
Ciri learned Magic together with Kordillus from her grandfather, and she was very good at it due to the Elder Blood flowing in her veins. Vanderin Drakon was delighted to teach such a talented student because it meant that he, as a Mage, could pass Legacy.
His first son, while being a Mage, wasn't particularly special, but he was very hardworking, and his uncle Orsted Drakon was a fairly powerful Mage. Though his talent in Magic wasn't really heaven-defying, his true skill laid in the combat.
He was a combat genius who managed to perfectly combine the ancestral style swordmanship of the House Drakon with Magic, and his combative nature only further polished his style and power.
Kordillus and Ciri would spar using only their swords and sometimes maximally supportive Spells practically every day. She was far better at swordsmanship than he was, so through this, he was polishing his combat capabilities.
Usually, after the end of their close-quarter spar, they would then fight using Magic, which was the area where Kordillus was shining.
His mastery over his Spells, especially over the Pyromancy and Battlemagic, was unparalleled among those of the same age, as his skills in the arts of Pyromancy were no less refined than some First Enchanters and Gold-Tier Mages.
This was something that he was especially proud of because it was a really incredible feat.
He trained a lot, more than others, because of the responsibility that he bore, and when he was training, he was reading the Lore of Magic. This was the reason why he was convincing his grandfather to merge the Ciriane and Tevinter branches of the Drakons together.
Even though the Drakon Family was a declining Noble House in the Tevinter Imperium, they still possessed enormous lore on the various Magics and the Fade. In Thedas, there were several Types of Magic.
The most general division was into: Elemental, Blood, Creation, Entropy, Primal, Spirit, Force, Arcane, Force, Nature, Necromancy, Fade, Healing and Shapeshifting. All of these Types of Magic had their further division, with Elemental Magic having the most division, as every type of Element had its own spells and specialization.
The House Drakon focused most on the Blood Magic, like most Tevinter Mages followed Fade Magic, and Elemental Magic, with more focus on Lightning Element and Fire Element. Because of his affinity for the Fire Element and Sub-Class Pyromancer, he was focusing on the Fire Elemental Magic the most.
After around twenty minutes of their spar, Kordillus already felt a certain degree of fatigue in his body as he wasn't used to fighting with just his physical capabilities, especially without the help of rejuvenation Spells to recover his stamina.
As Ciri appeared behind him, he flipped to the right side, as he kicked her with his leg, causing her to lose her balance for a bit. But that tiny window of opportunity was all that he needed to pin her down as he tickled her.
"Wait!!! That's cheating!!!"
She shouted amid the laughter as she had lost the exchange.
"Everything is fair in love and war."
Though this wasn't a war, love could be said. They were very close, and their affection for each other wasn't anything that was hidden. Not to mention, he considered himself rather lucky, because Ciri wasn't against him having more women as long as she gave him her approval on the woman to be brought to their bed..
He gave her a kiss on the cheek as she blushed slightly and wanted to kick him off, because she wasn't used to showing affection in public. For the tomboyish princess of Cintra, this was rather...
Not really the most comfortable thing.
And they were also being watched by the Royal Guard of the Orlais.
The Royal Guard was established by Kordillus's mother, the Queen, while Kordillus established the Kingsglaive. An elite unit that he personally trained according to his wishes, and they were basically Mages that were trained in close combat.
They were created after he had seen Ciri fight for the first time, which led him to the idea of creating an elite military force of close-quarter combat Battlemages that would combine fighting with weapons and Spells together.
Even his uncle Orsted and grandfather were interested in the idea, and the establishment and creation of the Kingsglaive was a family-like project of the Drakons. At the same time, what he wanted to give them was the warping ability that Ciri had... that would make them literally overpowered.
But with their current resources, it was not really possible in the short term.
Kordillus also planned to establish the Templars and Circles of Magi, like in the canon of the Dragon Age, but both of these organizations would serve the monarch directly, and their purpose would be different from that of the canon.
"Now on, can we stop this charade, or would you like to continue?"
Ciri looked at him with a teasing expression before he released her as both of them stood up and dusted themselves off from the sand.
"Maybe later... and in private."
He told Ciri as they went to their Magic lesson. Cirilla never received a complete Magic education previously, and she was never really a good student as she found studying and reading old tomes rather boring.
Only after arriving in this world, she was taking the studies at least partially seriously, but even that was only because Kordillus's grandfather Vanderin actually knew how to teach students with zero love for studying.
"I can't understand how you can bear reading through those old dusty books for so many hours..."
She almost pouted as she pondered while they walked through the corridors of the palace fortress that was under construction. Right now, only a part of the bastion was constructed, rather, only a tiny part of it.