Prologue

Twelve years have passed since the conquest of Rostov. The rising empire of Belomas was no longer considered a looming threat — it was now considered a well-established empire. Belomas had accomplished their goal of retaking the west.

The coalition of Ugrics held out for nearly a decade, but their push to prevent the expansion of Belomas into their territory was put to a halt by none other than the Young Illya, who became known as ‘Ugriccarious’. In other words, the young boy was known as the ‘devourer of Ugrics’. A nickname he despised, but it was a name that was well-earned.

The young Illya had reached his twenty-eighth year. He was happily married and a father of three children. Two of the children were identical twins. They were the first children that Diana and Illya had.

After their marriage, Diana became pregnant with the twin sisters quickly after. They were the most beautiful girls of the empire, and the twins could never walk the streets without being approached by boys, who tried to win the heart of the twins.

However, one of the twins had inherited the ideology of the old Stalavat, which led them to more than often break the hearts of their potential suitors. Diana had to constantly reprimand her daughter, finding her behavior to not be appropriate as the daughter of the young Illya.

The names of the twins were Artemis and Apollo. As for their younger brother, he was the pride and joy of Diana. The boy possessed a smile that brought warmth to all those who came across it.
At the age of ten, he was proving to be a promising warrior. In some instances, the elder Illya, his grandfather, could not help but admire the boy. The young boy possessed greater potential than his son, who did not show this much talent at his age.

The boy’s name was Illya, named after his father and his grandfather. The Elder Illya could not help, but feel joy in seeing his son’s future heir to be quite the spark. However, time and age had brought the Elder Illya to a harsh realization: the young Illya and his son were not of his  blood.

Ugriccarious was his adoptive child. He did not have his blood and this bothered him to some degree. He loved Illya from the moment that he saw his mother carry him in her arms. She was a beautiful woman.

A fine beauty that was not seen around these lands. The woman could not speak his language, but he could understand that she was a refugee, who had fled her country with the clothes that she had on her back.

As the years passed, the Elder Illya had the opportunity to see his blood sons grow into men themselves. The two eldest were Iziaslav, at twenty-one years old. Iziaslav was an extraordinary warrior, but he lacked the intuition his elder brother had for politics.

The other son, Bogandu, seventeen years old, had proven himself to be quite an asset. He has the intuition Iziaslav lacked, but he lacked the talent for warfare his elder brothers had. It troubled the Elder Illya that his two promising blood sons lacked the talent that their elder brother had.

The young Illya had created a reputation of renown and fame that made him feared in the east. People had heard the stories of the young Illya, who brought an end to armies on his own. In terms of combat, it was said that nobody could rival him.

Illya’s prowess for battle was proven. Three years ago, he began to conquer the countries eastwards to Iberia. In fact, he currently found himself occupied with the endeavor of taking all of Iberia for the Belomas empire.

With the rise of the young Illya, the elder Illya was able to enjoy the fruits of his labor at home. His adoptive elder son had grown to be quite the heir, and Fedor and Stanillo proved to be quite able men on their own.

In all truth, the Elder Illya was living a man’s dreams. He had great men around him — men he could trust.

However, a looming resentment and rivalry was building between his sons. The young Illya and Iziaslav were at odds with each other. While the young Illya continued to build his fearless reputation, his younger brother was left in his shadow.

Iziaslav hated the fact that his elder brother was the first in line to the throne. He did not have blood ties to his father — so how could he inherit the empire? The Elder Illya, at the age of forty-four, was beginning to grow ill.

The constant years of warfare had taken a toll on his body. The emperor sometimes coughed continuously at times. Whenever he attempted to spar, he found himself growing fatigue at a rapid rate.

The emperor was declining at a rapid rate. There was no physician around that could heal him. Not even the application of healing via soul energy was enough to contain the disease. This frightened his close circle: the young Stanillo, Fedor, and the young Illya.

Their emperor was slowly declining. The decline of their emperor was concerning, to say the least. The young Illya had become the face of the empire, but the head of the operations was the Elder Illya.

If their enemies were to learn of the decline, they could force an all-out war within the empire. Many of their subject countries had accepted Belomas as their rulers, but there were many that continued to be at odds with Belomas.

The death of their emperor could be the catalyst for a new war. A war that would not bring anything beneficial to Belomas, who was finishing their thirteen-year-long quest of putting all of Rus under one banner, their banner.

Belomas accepted that they could never become the old Rus Kingdom. They were something new entirely. The kingdom of Rus was lost to history, but the empire of Belomas was just reaching its peak.