Chapter 75: The Fortress of the First Dawn
When Mia finally returned with Oliver, who had spent the last minutes standing guard like an idiot in front of my completely empty room, the upset look I received from him was entirely expected.
I had to assure him at least three times that I would not attempt to slip away on my own without his knowledge ever again before he finally accepted my word and agreed to move out.
Truthfully, it was understandable. He and Mia had been personally handpicked by Arges to protect and watch over me. His frustration likely stemmed from a sense of loyalty and the great responsibility that came with bearing the crest of a Royal Guard.
Regardless, the matter was settled. Eleanor, Leilah, and I moved forward together, tightly flanked by Mia and Oliver. We had not bothered to wake Alan and Elric; dragging them along would have simply been too much. They were almost certainly asleep by now, and I preferred they remained so.
"Where exactly are we heading, Your Majesty?" Eleanor finally asked after a long moment of silence.
Until now, the group had merely been following my lead through the winding, cobblestone streets without a single question.
"We are heading to the Fortress of the First Dawn," I replied.
Her eyes widened in immediate surprise, a reaction perfectly mirrored by the two guards beside us.
The Fortress of the First Dawn was exactly what its name implied, though its history stretched back even before Apollina’s birth. In those ancient days, a forgotten noble had ruled the stronghold, governing Helianth back when it was nothing more than a crude, sprawling village.
However, following the slaughter of the Thirteen Moons and the subsequent destruction of the original keep, Apollina had emerged victorious. The ruins of the Fortress were granted to her as a spoil of war. She rebuilt the massive structure from the rubble, residing there for several years while she laid the first foundations of the Helios Kingdom.
Tragically, during the devastating invasion of the Lunarian Army, the Fortress was razed to the ground once again. The defeat forced Apollina to abandon the site entirely, leading her people on a desperate exodus until they finally settled in what is now the modern Capital of Helios.
After her ultimate triumph over the Lunarian Empire, Apollina did eventually return to the site. Yet, she refused to rebuild the keep a third time, decreeing that a unified Helianth would never again require such a bloody monument to war. Consequently, the Fortress was left completely abandoned. Over the centuries, it slowly crumbled into a set of historical ruins, much like the Colosseum back on Earth. However, unlike the Colosseum, these ruins were strictly guarded by the state, protected to prevent looters, vandals, and scavengers from desecrating the sacred grounds.
"Your Majesty... I believe the perimeter of the Fortress will be heavily guarded at all hours," Oliver pointed out after a brief moment of hesitation.
"Well, I had every intention of slipping inside secretly. But since none of you were willing to let me out of your sight, I no longer have that option. We will just have to convince them," I replied with a casual shrug.
"Convince them, Your Majesty? Even if we reveal our identities as Royal Guards, they are under strict orders not to allow anyone inside," Mia argued, her tone tinged with skepticism.
I silently agreed with her. Unless you were a high-ranking noble with an impeccably documented reason, the local garrison would never allow you past the gates, especially in the dead of night. It was suspicious as hell.
And obviously I had no intentions of revealing my identity. I couldn’t trust random guards to keep my presence here secret.
"We will see," I said simply, dismissing their concerns for now.
We continued our silent march through the sleeping town for perhaps another ten to fifteen minutes before finally exiting through the eastern gates of Helianth.
The ancient ruins of the Fortress awaited us, looming darkly against the eastern horizon.
The final stretch of our journey forced us to walk through a steep uneven rocky path. It was so treacherous that even the sturdiest of royal carriages would have found it entirely impossible to pass.
I raised my gaze to the horizon. Ahead of us, the crumbling, skeletal remains of the Fortress of the First Dawn stood silently, bathed in the eerie, silver illumination of the moon. Even though it was technically considered part of Helianth, the isolation and difficult terrain made it feel entirely detached from the bustling town below.
After a few more minutes of uphill climb, we finally spotted what we had anticipated: a contingent of armed guards stationed before the main entrance of the ruins.
"What do we do now, Your Majesty? You cannot truly be thinking of revealing your identity here..." Oliver whispered.
"Not at all," I replied as I prepared to break away from the group. "So, I am counting on the two of you to hold their attention while I slip inside."
"Y—Your Majesty?" Mia gasped, dumbfounded by the sudden shift in the plan.
"That is a direct order," I cut her off sharply, leaving no room for argument. "You insisted on coming with me, and so you came. I am merely entering the ancient halls where my ancestor once lived. I will be perfectly safe, and I will return in a matter of minutes. Just keep those guards occupied while I scale that outer tower."
They stared at me in stunned silence, and before they could voice another protest, I had already melted away into the surrounding shadows.
I swiftly separated myself from the group, circling wide to ensure I remained completely hidden from the guards’ line of sight.
Thankfully, Oliver, Mia, Eleanor, and Leilah quickly gathered themselves. They walked awkwardly toward the checkpoint, immediately drawing the full, suspicious attention of the stationed garrison.
I used their distraction to rush through the darkness until I reached the base of a massive, crumbling watchtower that flanked the perimeter wall.
"Time for another climbing session," I smirked, reaching up to grip a protruding stone. Without hesitation, I began my ascent.
The tower itself loomed nearly a hundred meters into the night sky. I did not need to scale the entire structure to breach the Fortress, but I needed the high vantage point to map out the chaotic layout of the ruined interior.
I continued my rapid climb until I crested the shattered battlements. The ancient stone groaned under my weight, giving me the distinct feeling that the entire tower might collapse at any given moment.
Pushing that thought aside, I steadied my footing and peered down into the sprawling ruins, relying on my enhanced vision to pierce the gloom.
The hidden entrance should be located within the royal quarters, specifically, inside the former throne chamber.
"Oh..."
My gaze quickly fell upon a massive, collapsed building in the center of the keep. The architecture was entirely unique, far grander than the surrounding ruins, and I could faintly spot a path that seemed strangely cleared amid the rubble.
That had to be it.
I immediately began my descent, launching myself from the high walls and using the drops and collapsed masonry of the inner courtyard to descend much faster than I had climbed.
Once my boots hit the ground, I rushed toward the royal quarters. I went through the cleared, collapsed pathway until I finally breached the vast, open-air expanse of the ruined throne room.
The throne itself was long gone, perhaps stolen by looters centuries ago, or reclaimed by previous Kings. Regardless, the missing seat of power did not interest me in the slightest.
What truly interested me lay beneath it.
I knelt on one knee upon the raised stone dais where the throne had once rested. Reaching out, I swept my hand across the ancient floor, clearing away decades of accumulated dust and debris to reveal a series of breathtaking golden carvings.
Finding golden filigree inside a royal throne room was not inherently strange, but upon closer inspection, the truth became obvious. These were not mere aesthetic decorations; they were complex runes. And judging by the precision of the cuts, these runes were distinctly more recent than the rest of the surrounding ruins.
I pressed my bare palm against the cold stone, recalling the exact, hidden words I had remembered from the Game.
"By the blood of the first Queen, I claim the fire of kings."
For a long moment, there was silence. Then, without warning, the golden runes flared with blinding brilliance. The ground beneath me violently rumbled, and a massive ring of roaring fire erupted in a two-meter radius around me, instantly engulfing my entire body in searing flames.
Reacting purely on instinct, I summoned the innate Flames of Helios, forcing my own sovereign fire outward to clash with and extinguish the dangerous, ancient blaze.
Any ordinary man would have been instantly incinerated to ash. But I was not an ordinary man.
This trap had clearly been designed to ensure that only someone possessing the true royal blood of Helios could possibly survive the trial.
As the deadly flames finally died down, the runes glowed even brighter than before. The stone dais rumbled under my boots, and then, right before my eyes, the solid floor split apart, revealing a dark, descending staircase plunging deep into the earth.