This is a side story, One that focuses on Captain Valerius, the relentless Royal Guard hunting Ash, right after Ash and the others vanished into the hidden passage leading into Veilstone Keep in Chapter 5.
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> "The truest faith is not in what you see, but in what you believe must be purged."
> — Royal Decree of King Theron IV, The Purifier
>
The air on the mountain pass was thin and sharp, biting at Captain Valerius's face. Below him, the swirling mist still hugged the ancient stones of Veilstone Keep, a ghostly shroud over secrets he intended to uncover. His men, a seasoned detachment of the Royal Guard, moved with practiced efficiency, sweeping the narrow cleft where the fugitives had vanished. But even their sharp eyes found nothing.
Valerius felt a knot tighten in his gut, a familiar mix of frustration and cold, burning resolve. He was a man of order, a weapon forged in the King's relentless campaign to cleanse Aerthos of the Crown's lingering taint. He believed utterly in King Theron's vision: a world free from the chaotic magic and corrupting whispers of the shattered artifact.
"Report!" he barked, his voice echoing sharply in the quiet morning.
A burly sergeant, his armor heavy with the dust of the pursuit, emerged from the cleft. "Nothing, Captain! The passage simply ends in solid rock. It's too tight for us, and too dark. They must have slipped through some hidden crevice known only to... these mountain rats." His tone was dismissive, almost weary.
Valerius walked to the cleft, peering into the inky blackness. He could feel the residual magic in the air, a faint, metallic taste on his tongue that made his teeth ache. This was not the raw, destructive power of the Crown's bigger fragments, but a subtle manipulation, a trick of shadow and stone. He knew the priestess, Selene, was involved. Her kind always dabbled in such dark arts, cloaking themselves in mystery while spreading their forbidden knowledge.
"Mountain rats," Valerius muttered, a grim smile touching his lips. "Perhaps. But one of those 'rats' carries a piece of the Crown itself. A shard of Dominion." His pale eyes, usually cold and calculating, held a fierce, almost personal fire as he thought of it. "That boy, Ash. A boy, yet a beacon of chaos. It always begins subtly, Sergeant. A glow. A whisper. Then, a slow poison of the soul, twisting, warping, until only a monstrous hunger for power remains."
He remembered the tales from his youth, hushed whispers of villages consumed by sudden, strange magic, of men driven mad by unseen forces, their bodies changing, growing monstrous, all because they had touched a remnant of the Crown. His own sister… he pushed the memory down, hard. His resolve hardened. He wouldn't let that happen again, not on his watch.
"They cannot hide in these mountains forever," Valerius declared, turning away from the impassable passage. "They seek answers within Veilstone. Very well. Let them seek. The Keep is a labyrinth, but it is also a cage. Every entrance, every exit, every forgotten path, we will map it. We will flood its lower levels with patrols. Its upper reaches with scouts. Not a single rat, not a single 'scholar' hiding in its shadows, will escape our notice."
He gestured to the vast, mist-shrouded fortress looming above. "The King believes Veilstone Keep holds a key. A final piece of information on how to fully, utterly eradicate the Crown's influence. And if these fragments are drawn to it, then so shall we be. We will not rest until that boy, and that shard, are in our custody. Dead or alive, Sergeant. Preferably alive, so the Crown's secrets can be unwound, its dark spell broken for good."
"Captain, the terrain is treacherous," another soldier ventured, looking up at the sheer rock faces. "And these old passages… there are rumors of things that sleep in the deep earth."
Valerius's gaze was unwavering, piercing. "Rumors are for peasants, soldier. We are the King's Blade. We cut through rumors and superstition. We find the truth. And we bring order." He took a deep breath, the cold mountain air filling his lungs. "Re-deploy. Set up a permanent watch on every known entrance to the Keep. Send runners to the nearest garrisons. We need more men, more resources. Tell them Captain Valerius requests it. And tell them… the Crown has stirred. And we will be there to quell it."
As his men moved to follow his orders, Valerius stood alone for a moment, staring at the ancient walls of Veilstone. He wasn't just following orders. He was fighting for a world free from the horrors he had witnessed. Ash was just a boy, yes, but he was a boy holding a spark that could ignite total ruin. And Valerius would stop him, no matter the cost. He was the King's Blade, and his duty was absolute.
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