Her husband Cerceux, clutching his silvery rounded-bullet gun, as the vanguard stood forward arrogantly. While, the king of Moonatoria seat comfortably on his golden chariot. "I can't bear watching his slaves... lifted it...agonizing due to his obesity... how such an oppressor!!!" Her voice laced with heavy tone like bearing a giant boulder.
"You, bearded vanguard! Step back or I won't hesitate to fire a gun!" The King of Thallerion declared, poised, holding his holstered pistol. The vanguard meticulously plucked dirt from his nails with a hint of a grimace, then spat, and stood arrogantly, counting the lives of every Thallerion soldiers.
Then, the King of Moonatoria coughed sarcastically. "Ye forsaken folk, and chieftains of craven blood! If ye desire to preserve thy lives—Surrender!"
A unison clang of Thallerion's shields resonated from its umbilical formation, clanking loudly! Forming a solid defensive wall with spears protruding!
We don't need your wretched Protector!" the Queen's words cracked like a whip. Her eyes gleamed with venomous amusement. "Surrender? Ha! You dress your tongue in the dust of Cepheus, thinking an old guardian's voice will make you mighty. But tell me, Moonatorian—when steel and fire speak, will that borrowed tongue save you from ruin?"
The king of Moonatoria only stretched his fat cheek with a stoic calm, unmoved. But before he could answer, a voice thundered from behind him.
"Queen of Thallerion," the vanguard rumbled, their tone heavy as iron. "Why waste such venom on our king? Ask that question of your own bloodline. It is they who know the weight of ruin—and the ruin yet to come."
"Have you lost your mind?" the Queen's voice rang out, cutting through the Moonatorians like an arrow through flesh. "You speak of surrender? Hah! In Thallerion, that word does not exist. Perhaps the other nations whisper that we are weak without Orion's hand—but weakness is not in our blood. You will not hear us bow, not today, not ever!"
The King of Thallerion rose beside her, his voice booming in support. "She speaks true! We will not surrender! And if the King of Moonatoria mistakes our defiance for weakness, then let him know—Thallerion does not crawl, it stands!"
The vanguard roared back, indignant, their voices like clashing steel. "Enough! Bow before our king—it is your choice!"
But the King of Thallerion's reply came sharp and unshaken. "We vow to no throne shadowed by an unknown Entity. We are not afraid! Orion's bloodline runs within us, and fear has no claim in Thallerion."
"Hahah, really?" The Moonatorians chuckled insanely, their laughter chilling. "Are they weren't afraid?" The vanguard said in his mind.
The queen and king of Thallerion noticed the king of Moonatoria signaling his slaves to move the chariot forward then, the queen of Thallerion's lips with a line of pride, spoke. "King of Moonatoria, looks like you're willing to bully us...but, if you don't mind...why we don't talk about alliances? Or... let's negotiates first."
"My king, need no time for negotiation...it is a waste of time!" The vanguard scoffed.
"I will tell you, Moonatoria... Thallerion will not surrender!" The king, authoritative manner lace with grim. Then he tried to recall the name of Moonatoria entity on his mind. "I hardly speak of their Constellar's entity...It feel like, the name of their entity seemingly in an edge of my tongue."
"If 'tis so, then shall we not in earnest fray declare the veritable well of our spirit and flesh?" The King of Moonatoria spoke in his archaic, comfortable accent. Then, the king of Moonatoria declared.
"ASSAIL!!!"
Without any a do, he then, declared a war. The vanguard and the frontier soldiers ran towards the Thallerion soldiers' formation. The swoosh of swords begin, and the burst of a gun shattered the air.
"Wait..what!? Instantly!?" The King shocked.
Her husband drive the chariot as fast as he could, they were now hurrying in the safe place, as they moved away in the chaotic borderline, the queen saw them, shooting, and swooshing, and thrusting, all were in chaos, and then, here the vanguard, shouting and laughing at them like a barking dog.
"Hahahha, why are you running?"
"My king, we must act! The Moonatorians are ruthless—they scorn peace and mock every call for diplomacy." The queen's voice faltered as she sagged within the chariot, the borderland dust swirling around them.
"We are powerless in this," the king answered, his tone heavy with resolve. "Their oppression is plain to all. They will never treat for peace, not while they draw strength from the Constellar Protector." He snapped the reins, urging the steeds to greater speed, his pistol rattling at his side.
The Moonatorians stepping into Thallerion like kicking an anthill, unleashing a maelstrom of violence. "Destroy their defenses!!!" The vanguard said. If Moonatorians thought, Thallerion will be threatened, they were gravely mistaken.
"Thallerion, fight with all your might!!!" The Chief Commander shouting. Thallerion were not coward! When threatened by oppressors, they were not simply avoiding them—they will destroy it!
"I've never been expected this to come, at this very morning, the Moonatorian's soldiers run in our defensive barriers, reckless moves, untrained, somewhat—unskilled soldiers?" The queen pondered. Yet, they are still strong mob that clang against metallic shields.
'"Hmph, did King Hedromus really think, our soldiers are weak? He only commanded the front-unskilled-pawns to attack?" The king said, snorting with volcanic grumbled.
"Look, they were just standing there, behind, watching, like an audience?" Her eyes gaze at the distance wherein the Moonatorian's warriors stood behind king Hedromus.
"Huh, if that so, Moonatoria, don't ever try to blink, whoever spat on our unyielding heart would find arrows diving like a peregrine's spotting prey!" The queen bellicose growl hinted with intent anger.
Her husband, ordered to all Thallerion soldiers to attack. "FIRE!!! Release all the cannons .... Shoot them with your guns!!!"
Flick! Thunk! Thunk!!!! Boom!!!
As long as death had mercy, their soldier's knees would not tremble.
BANG!!! A continuous shot of guns tore through the air!
She heard her husband, uttered the unyielding principle of their ancestors before: "If you take blood from our lives, we will also take blood in return."
"Hahahha," the vanguard laughed upon hearing, what the king said. "We already did, it's your turn now! Take blood, if you can!!!" The vanguard was commanded by the king of Moonatoria to summon all the front pawns to unleash their powerful attack, using their arsenal weapons. The king of Moonatoria, smile brutally, watching the war, as if, it dancing infront of him.
Queen Xurien leaned back, her tone edged with quiet resignation. "No mortal wishes to remain bound to a dismal past. Yet here in Thallerion, we cannot escape it. The truth is already etched into our palms."
King Cerceux glanced at her, frowning. "You mean the bitter truth—that no Protector may ever return to dignify us?"
She exhaled, her gaze distant. "Yes. If Orion's blessing still walked with us, no one would dare call us weak. If only we could awaken our full potential, our enemies would tremble."
Cerceux's hand tightened on his knee. "But we cannot. The farthest we've reached is the second stage—weapon summoning. A pale shadow of what our ancestors bore."
Xurien's lips curved into a grim smile. "And so the world sees us as easy prey."
The King's eyes darkened. "An orphaned land, abandoned by its guardian. Invaders come as if to pluck fruit from a dying tree. Too many have fallen, too many bled… yet still, we breathe. Still, we hope."
Xurien's voice softened, though steel lingered beneath. "Hope that Orion will return. That his guardian strength will awaken within us again."
***
"Fortify the defenses! Those, front pawns of Moonatoria, no match against you with experience, you elite warriors, and soldiers. Don't be afraid if they were so many!" The king of Thallerion shouting. while, the Moonatorians tried to break the barrier like a deluge water surging strongly, unable to stop them, but Thallerion soldiers still holding their glowing weapons to fight.
"Reload all firing weapons, sharpen all blades, resupply the cannon balls!" The queen added. All the soldiers hurrying in organized , systematic, and active.
"Yes, your Majesties." They replied courageously.
The queen stood in the corridor, waiting for her young boy. "Where is he now?"
Queen Xurien stood rigid, her eyes fixed on the chaos below. The clang of steel and cries of the wounded rose like smoke, and her voice was low, edged with weariness.
"Perhaps this is the time to accept reality. Human life depends not on Orion's design, nor on the whims of other Constellar entities, but on the ugly lines of our palms. Believe it or not, every soul born in Thallerion is nothing more than a pawn in the endless game of war."
Beside her, King Cerceux's face tightened as the field roared with blood and dust. He muttered darkly, his voice half a growl.
"Aye… this is the truth our children inherit. Whether we wish for peace or not, war will explode upon us. The world already sees Thallerion as a foe too dangerous to ignore."
Her gaze lingered on the Moonatorian king, seated high on his bulbous chariot like a bloated idol, unmoving. Xurien's lips twisted in scorn.
"And still they whisper we are Orion's chosen. The heirs of the Hunter. Yet where is he? Forgotten us. Neglected his responsibility."
Cerceux raised his arm, pointing toward the battle, his mouth running hot and unrestrained, words spilling like a flood.
"Abandoning us! Like a tattered vessel, broken and discarded! Our people die, our walls burn, and still no Protector answers!"
***
"Did you send word to Cypriox?" the Queen asked, her voice trembling between command and desperation. "If anyone can save us now, it must be them. Only the Cyprioxians can rebuke Moonatoria."
King Cerceux bowed his head, his hands tightening on the arm of his seat. "Yes… the messenger rides even now. And I pray—pray with all I have—that their holy Crux will not turn his face from us. If Cypriox does not answer, then who will?"
While the king of Moonatoria seated, he thought: "Although, they were acting, like...they were still empowering by the Orion. Proving that their hearts beating, like the Constellar Orion, who once never been shaken, and defeated. They still can't defeat my front pawns...I'm just giving them a good fight."
"Your Highness, when will the time you are going to let us fight against this Thallerion people?" The warriors on his back, asking. "Our front pawns, almost outnumbered."
But the king of Moonatoria just give him a hush. "Not yet!" He replied silently.
The Thallerion warriors surged across the battlefield, striking like maddened berserkers, their blades flashing like darts in the storm. Steel clashed against steel, shields splintered, and the air shook with the roar of war.
From the ramparts, Queen Xurien's voice tore across the chaos:
"If fate has condemned us to stand here and testify, then hear me, Moonatorians! Our ancestors were born to slay beasts and demons—what are you compared to them? Even if our blades rot to rust in our hands, Thallerion will never surrender!"
The soldiers below answered her cry with a ragged chorus:
"Thallerion! Thallerion!"
"We bleed but we do not kneel!"
"Strike them down!"
The King of Moonatoria scoffed, his fat cheeks stretching in disdain, while his chubby-bellied warriors growled, gnashing their teeth, eager to unleash their hidden powers. But with a single raised hand, their king kept them at bay, his stare cold and calculating.
On Thallerion's side, grief had long since calcified into something harder. Their tears had dried years ago, their hearts weathered by countless wars. Their oath was carved in stone, etched in blood: never flee, never bow.
King Cerceux turned grimly to his queen.
"The Mintaka District has fallen." The captain in Mintaka arrived in the Betelgeuse district. The gates in Mintaka District lie in ruins, and the Moonatorians harass their citizens like wolves tearing lambs. "If we cannot hold the line there…" He clenched his fist. "…then Thallerion will be carved apart, piece by piece."
Before she could answer, a captain stumbled forward, blood streaking his cheek.
"My King, my Queen—their vanguard pushes harder! But our men still hold the wall. They swear by Orion's blood, they'll drag the Moonatorians into the dirt before yielding an inch!"
"We bleed, but we do not bow!" And the battlefield thundered anew, the Thallerion soldiers were willing to face the Moonatorians, even if their lives were sacrificed. Even a driving force, might hinder until death. "Even if countless beasts, might stride across the Thallerion's wall, the sword would stand still. Even the Moonatorian soldiers might scuffle Thallerion's freedom and continue, we will not cower!" Thallerion soldier shouting at the Mintaka District.
Moonatoria and Thallerion were now like two stones engraved by war, with a blazing bond never to be broken.The queen worried as she heard the news about Moonatorians in the district Mintaka.
Both embraced the fangs of war! This inescapable bite of the battle they faced now was bloody, like a woman giving birth and suffering.
"Moonatoria, how long will you understand, violence brings nothing good to mortal beings?" The queen said, she knew that other nations gambled their lives too in death's game; whenever the roulette of war spun, then, she saw everyone shouted with intense anger—was vengeance the true companion? "Yet, here you are, gnashing in wrath against us."
Clang! Crink!!!!
"My king... We have to add soldiers in the other districts... Or else, all district border gates will be destroyed like the Mintaka." The Queen said, her eyes lit with greasy sorrows as she think about the situation in the Mintaka District.
"Yes, your majesty...some of our soldiers in every district were slain. Only here on Betelgeuse will remain strong." Chief Commander reported.
With every clang, so many soldiers were slain. "My heart ache when this unbearable truth, blew a venomous omen: we are haunted by so many ferocious nations with Constellar entity back then, and now the Moonatorians, I don't know what Constellar entity they were hiding from us?! But even so, we will not stop, whatsoever! Even hatred begot more hatred!" The king of Thallerion sagged on the throne as he plan a new tactics."
"Why the Mintaka District soldiers let the Moonatorians destroyed the gate border? If so ...tell all citizens to add barrier and fight against Moonatorian. We can't send soldier from the Betelgeuse district.. It's dangerous, if we deduct the number here."
"But my king..." Her guttural voice was deepening hinted with understanding.
Even if they were wipe out as numerous as sand or stars, this blazing war would not become dew. This is like, their eyes gazed at the sun to come, a mere illusion of the hope, that the Thallerion soldiers continued to fight for, towards the abyss prepared by Moonatoria. "Where are you, Orion? Did you really abandoned us?" The queen said on her mind.
No inscription could reveal, where he is? This war, an unexpected war, when will the clashing shields would end? but as long as no one losing between the two opposite sides, the chaos will continue. " I hope the Cyprioxian will response quickly." The king said.
***
"Haha, don't ever retreat, kill, and kill, as long as the Thallerion still alive! " The vanguard, shouting.
"Queen of Thallerion, are you just watch there? I heard you know how to sing, why don't you sing up there for us." The vanguard stared at the queen.
"Hmph, he's crazy!!!" She mumbled with a bitter gazed at the vanguard. "Our people, warriors, and soldiers, can take advance against the front pawns of Moonatoria...that sounds relief."
May the day never come when a glass is overturned! Folded like a tectonic fault collides!
It had been thousands of years since beasts, entities, and miracles had emerged through the mortal world, But, that was the time, Orion, came, rescued her ancestors too. Thallerion people became dependable to their own protector. All wars, huntings, and survival, triumphantly done with the Great Hunter— Orion.
Until one day, the very heart of abyss, disappeared, many people believed, Orion sacrifices himself to kill the abyssal power. The Gifts of Orion, became powerless, useless, and so, they thrown it away, after so many years had passed.
The legend said, Thallerion—the abandoned one, seemed to merely circle in the desert's whirlwind. There seemed to be no longer any glimmer to clarify the future. A place without hope forever!'
Thallerion people stop, when the king Hedromus, begin to move in the center, and her husband lead his men to confront the king again. The king of Moonatoria seated in the bulbed-onion chariot, lifted by his slaves.
King Hedromus, the master of archaic accent, now moved forward, and gazed upon Thallerion people, his belly, his golden chariot lifted by his groaning slaves, and his warriors stood behind him, underestimated the very essence of the Thallerion's defenses. After so many hours of standing, ignoring the Moonatorian front pawns —the rioters—to create unexpected chaos here in Thallerion.
She wondered, why they are not fighting? "Is King Hedromus come here to watch his pawn to be killed? Yet, they were still smiling? What are they planning?"
The king of Thallerion now stood in front of the Moonatorian's leader, while the queen at the back, observing and listening to the feasibility of their confrontation.
"How long shall thou realize that thou art no match for me and Moonatoria?!" King Hedromus, the King of Moonatoria, just watched the battle like a referee together with his special warriors, with enormous muscular shapes. The King of Moonatoria, just scratched his head at the Thallerion's resilience.
"Hahaha....what? Just stop talking with an archaic accent, but watch your front soldiers… almost outnumbered.... look…. My soldiers are still alive!" The King of Thallerion scoffed.
"These are but scum of the soldiery, devoid of Moonatoria's true nature!" The king of Moonatoria fat lips stretched. "Hmm, the king of Thallerion face was perfectly shaped like a boulder, and his chest was intimidating." His eyes rolled from head to chest, as he thought.
"What do you mean?" Thallerion King, flustered. "Is he referring to their ability?" His eyes deepened. As the king of Moonatoria moved out in the chariot.
"Hahaha!!"