Chapter 29: [Its Begining]
The Royal Court of Velmora
The Court of Velmora was not its usual self. The stained glass windows let in soft rays of morning light, but no warmth came with them.
The hall, vast and echoing, felt like a tomb.
Shadows gathered in the corners, and silence hung over the court like a funeral veil.
King Halric Velmora sat upon the high throne of carved obsidian and darkwood, aged more by grief than by time. The crown rested heavily upon his silvering hair, and his eyes — once sharp with vision — now drifted with the weight of regret.
Arrayed before him stood the pillars of the realm.
Four dukes, silent and grave.
Duke Drenlor of the West — tall, austere, and hard-jawed — stood as if he were carved from the same stone as the throne dais.
His eyes were distant, fixed somewhere beyond the court walls. He had not spoken since the survivors returned.
Duke Thamric of the North, father to the fallen Adam, was a shadow of his former self. His cloak was deep mourning black, and his voice cracked when he finally broke the silence.
"Only eleven." The words trembled from his mouth. "Seventy-two of our kingdom’s finest... and only eleven return."