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nThe pendant that Roki was pointing at was one that had been gifted by Ray's mother, he had worn it every day since. He thought nothing of it, until now. The fact that Roki noticed it had brought back what his mother had said to him the last time they had met.

nShe had told him that one day the necklace would come in handy for him, or bring him more trouble depending on how he saw it. Originally, his mother was from the Empire. All these facts, he had only learnt the last time he had seen her.

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"It was a gift from my mother,

" Ray replied.

"She told me it might be helpful one day if I was to get in trouble.

"

nRoki looked to be deep in thought.

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"Maybe that would have been true a while ago, but not now. How much do you know about the current situation of the Empire?

" Roki asked.

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"Not much at all,

" Ray replied.

"I never used to bother with politics as much until of late. We have had our own problems with the shadow to deal with, to care about what the Empire does. It was you who attacked us first.

"

nRay said a little aggressive and displeased, he liked Roki, but Roki was still part of the Empire at the end of the day. He had to be careful how much information to divulge.

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"Ray please, let me tell you I am very much on your side in all of this. The Empire itself at one point, was originally a kingdom. In the past, there were many smaller kingdoms and more than exist today. There was no shadow plague to worry about. The biggest threat was either each other or legendary beasts such as Dragons if you believe the tails.

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"These smaller kingdoms were no match for the larger ones, and as tensions raised, they could see soon they would end up being consumed by these larger ones, forced to work as slaves. So thirteen of these smaller kingdoms came together and formed the 13 parties that exist within the Empire today.

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"Trade between these 13 kingdoms was opened up, and they were able to share great resources. People were free to travel between borders, and because of all this, they began to thrive and gain great wealth. One of the advantages was most of these kingdoms were located along the coastline, allowing them to dominate trade.

n

"Another factor was how the thirteen parties worked. Decisions weren't made by an overall king or single ruler, but instead on a voter. A Leader who represented each of these parties.

"

nIf what Roki was saying so far was true, something had changed. Yet, he said the thirteen parties still existed today, but there was clearly one ruler.

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"As time went on, the people's loyalties to their old kingdoms eventually disappeared, and they started to see the place as one. Support for the leaders diminished, and these thirteen parties eventually dwindled down to two for the public.

n

"The thirteen parties still existed, but they had to choose to support one side or another. The two sides saw that their policies and such significantly differed and if they didn't do anything soon, there would be a Civil war break out between the two.

n

"The other kingdoms were watching closely, they thought such a system would soon break down one day and were ready to pounce when it did, but the Empire of the old weren't fools. So the decision was made to crown one person the emperor but with a condition.

n

"The condition was that the thirteen parties still had the power. The emperor would have to win over seven seats to be elected, and at any point and time, this could change. So the emperor wasn't able to do as he wished, and the real power remained with the original thirteen.

nBecause the leaders accepted it as so, so did the people, and the conflict between the two sides started to die down. In order to stay on their good side, the emperor would listen to their suggestion that each of them would bring and take their advice.

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"However, there were two major events that changed all of this, the first. One day, a strange ship that no one had seen crashed on one of the shores' border. Technically the borderlines still existed within the Empire, so what happened to the ship and the people inside was down to one of the parties.

n

"What the others came to find out later, was this ship was not from one of the continents of Bronzeland but one far away, one belonging to the dwarves.

"

nListening to this, Ray was thinking it was starting to sound similar to Randin's tail, of how he had first arrived, but he said he had split up from his group, and he was still looking for them.

n

"The leader in charge treated them well, gave them a place to live and looked after them. In return, they had agreed to build him something.

n

"Later on, one of the kingdoms finally couldn't wait any longer, seeing that the old Empire was getting its act together, they decided to strike while small conflicts were still happening within. It was the new Empire's first battle, and they were in shambles.

n

"They had learnt that it was hard to coordinate thirteen different armies, even if they were under two different banners. Only the leaders knew their men well, and if it continued, they would lose. That's when the dwarfs' invention had come into play. They had built a weapon that no one had seen before. It had changed the flow of the battle. The war was won thanks to this.

n

"The leader who owned the item was not on the side of the current emperor. The emperor tried his best to gain favour, but it never worked. So in the end, he tried to abuse his powers, forcing the item to his side. As long as he had seven people who agreed with him, it would not matter if he further upset this leader.

n

"However, the leader was smart, he had made it so, only he knew how to start the special item only he had the key. In the end, a new emperor was crowned due to this. The people wanted revenge and using the new item the dwarfs created they started to take over kingdom after kingdom, growing the Empire.

n

"As emperor changed the dwarfs eventually were forgotten about for their deeds they had done. Later on, the leader at the time didn't agree with conquering the continent. So they took the key and hid the weapon. Ray, the Empire didn't stop and make a truce with the other kingdoms because of the shadow, they stopped because the key to this item was lost.

n

"Long had they become reliant on the item's power, and they feared to start another war without it. The emperor had changed once again, and it had gone back to the old.

n

"Then, the second biggest event in the Empire's history happened, and that is the introduction of the black-haired man named Sera. Somehow, Alexander, who was a leader who never obtained any seats before had obtained nine of them.

n

"I don't know how, I don't know why, but it all happened when that man was by his side. I found out a few things, some strange things that weren't possible for a human to do. Which led me to the conclusion. The man was either a god or a demon.

"

nRay already knew the answer to the last one. Listening to the story, there were a few important points Ray had picked up. The old Empire had a weapon built by the dwarfs that was strong enough to deal with other kingdoms and not worry about the shadow as a threat. However, the key was lost.

nThe leaders were worried about their lost powers. Perhaps this god took advantage of that, promising them all new things, showing them things humans were incapable of.

nAs Ray thought about it more, he was getting frustrated with these so-called gods. It was as if they were all kids, wishing to beat each other, and the humans were their tools in doing so.

nThe Divine being, trying to control the six contestants and now the Redwings, Sera, controlling the Empire, and whoever was behind the shadow.

nWhatever was the case, Ray didn't care if they were gods or not, he wouldn't let them have thier way. If they were the gods of humans, then Ray would have considered himself the gods of dragons.

n'Let's see who will win this little game.'

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"Ray, do you not understand?

" Roki asked, interrupting his thought.

"The reason why I'm telling you this. My family has been loyal to one of the leaders from the beginning, but one day, our current leader had run off disappeared. My family were the ones who initially held the weapon and the key, we have been keeping it a secret for generations.

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"But when our leader ran off, they took the Key with them. That pendant is the key to the item. Whoever gave you that, has chosen you to be the next leader, which I fall under. So I promise, whatever you need me to do, I will do it.

"

n'Did this mean, Ray's mother was the old leader?'

n*****

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