Horizon before dawn

POV Sun King Avad 

Passing the former Daytower was a bittersweet moment, the once mighty Carja fort that stood dividing the Savage East and the Sundom now was in Nora hands, or better, the Phoenix Kingdom hands, a new force had arisen in the turmoil of the chaos my father and the sun priests created. 

"Your Radiance, you look troubled?" Says Blameless Marad my trusted advisor 

"Should I not be? this situation is troubling, to say the least." 

"We got this, they don't seem so bad." Ersa the captain of the Oseram Vanguard reassures me while looking at the soldiers that escort our royal caravan. 

"Maybe... they stop their attacks for now, but if they want they can continue this stupid war, we can't," I say to them. 

"Then we just have to make peace, i think that's what they want to, otherwise they wouldn't even talk to us," Ersa says looking at me.

"Hope so, how long till we reach Mother's Light?" I ask Marad 

Q

"Just a few more hours, we will be there shortly." He answers me while also looking at the soldiers King Noir sent to escort us. Soldiers, not hunters, armor that was better than that of Oseram crafters, and weapons I had no idea how they worked. 

After a few hours of traveling, we reached the Mothers Light, the place where peace talks would happen, vast fields were being used for farming and livestock something the Nora didn't do years ago, watchtowers to guard the camps, and the people stood tall, the new Capital of the new Phoenix Kingdom was impressive, they didn't use bricks like the Carja but some strange dark rock that could be molded to their needs, houses look beautiful and practical, stores and forges looked impressive and full of people and new building I had no idea of what purpose they served were also impressive in size and full of kids, their soldiers were way better equipped than ours, new weapons and armor I never saw, only the vanguard stood a chance of fighting them if it comes to that, it seems the Sundom was far behind the Savage East for now. 

To receive us at the gates of the new palace stood a beautiful woman with dark long air and golden eyes that gave me the chills, Albedo it must be her, the 'Ice Demoness' as my people have been calling her, it seens She like to use childwater to frerze people and them shater them with her spear, next to her a bulky man with Banuk paintings, Orlok the General that gives no mercy of the Phoenix kingdom for sure. 

"Welcome to the 'Savage East' Sun King Avad, please follow me inside, my King waits." Albedo the demon goes straight to the point while smirking at me. 

"Thank you for the warm welcoming, and there is nothing savage about your lands, I find them quiet beautiful. please lead the way." I tried to regain some authority becoming of a monarch. 

Entering the Oval Office I was again impressed by the beauty and size of the palace. 'how is this possible? they were supposed to be a tribe of gatherers and hunters' I couldn't stop thinking to myself how they achieved such things while fighting a war. 

"Welcome Sun King Avad, how was the travel?" King Noir asks me 

"Thank you, King Noir, easy to travel with such good roads, and thank you for the escort." 

"Good, we put a lot of work into our roads, they are the lifeline of our good relations after all." 

"Should we begin then? Please take a seat." 

Beside me stood Ersa and Marad my trusted advisors, while I was thinking about how to address the situation King Noir took the initiative. 

"So, the Sundom wants peace? After taking so many lives and more than ten years of fighting..." 

"The actions of my father and sun priests were unforgivable I know that, but continuing to fight now will only bring more casualties to our people, I hope for peace and good relations between our people, maybe even trade." 

"Casualties? Our people are ready to fight and our soldiers still carve for blood." The general Orlok says 

"The war was with the former Mad Sun King, not the current one, surely you can see the difference?" Marad intervenes. 

"We can, but words are not enough, we demand fair compensation for our losses and pain you have caused our people." The Demon says 

"What kind of compensations you want King Noir?" I asked the man directly

"One million shards, ten tons of food every year for four years, machine parts and salvage for four years, twenty miles of land after the former Daytower and Sentinal Dawns that will serve as a no-man zone, and those former forts are now ours, they will not be returned free movement from our people into Carja lands while salvaging and exploring ancient ruins, oh and also data from the old world.." He simply says the hard terms to my face like it was nothing.

"That's unreasonable King Noir, one million shards? and the food and materials? I can agree to the land and the forts but for the rest..." I tried to play my cards. 

"We can always leave our people in your land and get it that way, if you want peace you will have to compromise, otherwise we will just take it for ourselves, we have the power to do that, we could march to Meridian now if we wanted." 

Damm, he's right, with the so-called shadow Carja and my soldiers still weakened by the war with four tribes at the same time I had no chance to fight him and he knew it. 

"We don't produce that much food and materials, we can't give what we don't have... one ton of food and materials for three years and 5000 shards." 

"Marad there is not the only one with spies, you can pay our price, these are the price for peace, you can't put value on human life, right? I think is quite cheap." Rhea his spymaster adds 

"Let's continue discussing terms, if we give you all that the shadow Carja may grow stronger, that's something we all do not want to see." 

"Very well, let's talk then." King Noir gives me amused look.

This is going to be painfull....

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Thank you for the suport. I just change my job, just today worked 14 hours straight and Im currently traveling half my country. Im very tired but at least now i have some money, this to say i will most likely slow the updates of chapters. Thank you for understanding. Love you all.