• Chapter Four

    In the solitude of his room, Cloud was viewing the terms and agreement for the treaty. He yawned loudly turned his chair towards his bed. He got up and walked over to his bed only to fall flat on it without even getting undressed from his royal robes. He was tired but didn’t want to fall asleep; his dreams since his brother’s death were all about the war and the loss of his comrades. Without warning he fell asleep and woke up after a few minutes only to slip into his memories once more.

    The next day had come; the counter attack of the Ikara against the Tristain Kingdom. The army assembled he along with his brother went out to meet them. Cloud however noticed Zenaku was nervous as he was sweating lightly.

    “Nervous Zenaku?” Cloud queried.

    “A little bit I have never been in actual combat.” He had replied shakily.

    “You’ll do fine, just calm down before going out to fight.”

    Zenaku merely nodded and went ahead of Cloud slightly as to meet the army first. Cloud quickly caught up as they reached a balcony with the other four Generals that were selected. Zenaku looked at each of them confused having only met the former generals of the army. Each man that stood there was adorned in an armor of different color but the same design as Cloud’s and Zenaku’s. The colors from left to right were blue, red, jade green, and gold. Cloud having arrived behind Zenaku looked at the man in gold confused.

    “Who is he?”

    “His name is Saito,” A familiar voice had rung in Cloud’s ears as the king had followed Cloud and his brother. “I decided to add him as a back up plan.”

    “Ah, Thanks.” Cloud sarcastically replied.

    Marakov exhaled as he walked past each General and up to the podium to address the army of 2 million.

    “My soldiers you are gathered here to attack the Tristain Kingdom for assaulting Kouketsu. I have personally selected your Generals from the same ranks that you all hold. The first on my far left is Sion Nox of the Frozen Tundra. Selected for his mastery of Ice and fighting skills. Next to him is Roan Mayfall of the Red Forest. Selected for his mastery of Fire and Wood magic. Raven Gekko of the Green Valley. Selected for beating the old Generals in combat and magic. The man in Gold here was hand selected by me after showing his mastery of Metallurgy magic, Saito Mizukami. The next general is the Crown prince of Ikara; Zenaku Ikara. Finally the one who will make all the decisions will be Second Prince Cloud Ikara of the Calm Sky. Every one here knows without a doubt why he is the leader of the Army; Known throughout the kingdom for his mastery of combat skills and every magic this empire has to offer. Go forth! and show the enemy why we are the world’s reigning superpower.”

    Each of them looked at Marakov and nodded all except for Cloud that looked at his father with a disapproving expression.

    “Father until I get Saito’s history he will not take part in any fight.”

    “I hand picked him isn’t that enough?”

    “No,” Cloud responded as he walked to the podium to address the army personally.

    “My fellow soldiers, I hope everyone of you will stake your life on proving that the Ikara shall not ever be messed with. Each general will be assigned 500,000 of you save for myself. I will travel with each general to ensure that they are doing their job. Everyone will know who they are going with in an hour giving myself time to acquaint myself better with the generals. Until then standby for further orders.”

    With that Cloud turned around and walked down from the podium. Cloud closed his eyes and motioned every general to follow him back inside the castle to go over the initial plan of attack.