(Q&A at the end of chapter. No music this time lovelies. This chapter is a little messy, but what can you do?)

Ruy threw punch after punch at Zuberi and Doreah, each of them masterfully dodging out of the way of his attacks. The new Dunmer kingdom, which King Dorian named New Zarathustra after his dick of a father who started the whole Mephala war in the first place, was enjoying the lovely summer day. They had just built the new walls around the northern residential district, despite the broiling summer heat. The farmer's market was in full swing, where Ruy's people enjoyed the goods of above-ground living, such as tomatoes and bread. The food below ground was mostly only foraged or harvested creature bits with mystery glowing mushrooms on the side.

Ruy had just spent an awful long and awkward date with Henrietta in the gardens. She seemed surprisingly calm and even expectant about the marriage, taking the time and care to get to know him better. Ruy saw his father giving him an awkward thumbs up from a distance. Ruy gave his father a nasty middle finger, which Henrietta luckily didn't see.

"If it is any consolation, I had no clue my sister was to be your betrothed." Zuberi explained calmly, sidestepping Ruy's uppercut.

Ruy rolled out his shoulder, "Can we not talk about this right now? I wanna train, not think about getting married."

Doreah dove from above, planting a solid foot into Ruy's back and making him fly across the training arena.
"You clearly need the training." Doreah remarked as she landed on her toes. Ruy rose to his feet, launching to the sky to avoid Zuberi's blast of energy from his staff.

"No powers, damn it!" Doreah snapped at Zuberi, who just lifted his staff and shrugged, "It is my staff, not my own powers."

Ruy barreled through the sky, spinning out of the way of Zuberi's blasts to fling a disk of blue energy, his force field crackling with energy as it seared the spot in front of Zuberi.
Zuberi grimaced but stood straight and shook himself out. His eyes went pale for a moment, his mind blank.

Ruy held up a hand to stop Doreah, and they both waited for Zuberi to finish. His visions have been happening more frequently, but they tend to be insignificant. As if his powers were at a stalemate.

Zuberi wobbled as he came back to, grabbing Doreah's shoulder for balance.
"You alright?" Ruy asked. Zuberi took a moment before nodding, then smiling up.

"They have returned." Zuberi breathed warmly.

"Uncle Ruy!" Ruy spun as Hakan, Mansi, and Alvar entered the arena, looking a little jet-lagged.

Ruy smiled and kneeled down with open arms, "There he is!"

Hakan jumped into his arms, smiling as Ruy spun him around. Hakan grabbed Ruy's face and rambled, "Uncle Ruy, I saw Chief Massasoit again! He blessed me for good fortune as a birthday gift and even the Wampanoags from the other villages came to join us for the party!"
Hakan looked exactly like his mother. He had her dark brown skin with red undertones, a straight and downturned nose, and a big smile. But Hakan had Alvar's eyes and hair color, along with Alvar's naturally loud voice.

"Is that so?" Ruy smiled between Hakan's chubby hands.

Hakan glanced over his Uncle's shoulder and smiled bigger, "Zuberi! Doreah!" Hakan flailed a bit in Ruy's arms, barely waiting for Ruy to set him down before sprinting to the royal mystique and royal captain.

Ruy turned to Mansi and Alvar, "How was the trip? Alvar, did you manage to visit your family?"

Mansi groaned, "It was exhausting, but Hakan needed to see the village for his birthday. Massasoit said he needed to get all his blessings, and if we missed another one of Hakan's birthdays without the rituals, bad luck would follow. But the road there is so dangerous now, we have to space out the trips!" Mansi explained, removing her shoes to massage her feet. Alvar carried the heavy luggage with a tired smile, "My family actually decided to visit the village with us to celebrate. It was their first time seeing Mansi's side."

Ruy frankly couldn't imagine the Vacker family roughing it out in the village for even a few days. The Wampanoag Vatarians take everything from the Earth, never letting anything go to waste. The Wampanoags are one of the most advanced when understanding and dissecting Vatarian abilities, but sometimes are a bit overwhelming for outsiders. However, during his tour around making alliances and other political nonsense, Ruy found the Wampanoag to be one of the kindest and level-headed. It was hard to believe the fiery Mansi came from them.

"Well at least you got to see everyone. Did my escort not keep you guys safe?"

"No, they kept us wonderfully safe. Plus, I think we can take care of ourselves. It's just so much more dangerous now, especially in the neutral territories on the way over." Alvar assured.

"Prince Ruy!" Ruy recognized the oncoming soldier as one of his father's two head spies. Ruy never had seen either of them break a sweat, but the approaching soldier was out of breath from running so fast.

Ruy straightened, "Another Neverseen siege?" Things have been so much worse ever since the assassins fell apart, despite the rumors of them doing what they can in secret. Nothing but hopeful rumors, Ruy figured. Sieges, crime, and banditry have been a regular thing now.
The spy shook his head, swallowing down his bile in apprehension.

"Spit it out man!" Mansi barked.

The spy sighed before slowly saying, "Amalia Hera Morretti has been spotted, your highness."

Ruy felt his world start to spin.
After four fucking years, Sophie's face had actually been seen.
Mansi spoke in Ruy's stead, who was dumbfounded into silence. "Where was she spotted?!" She pressed, her voice wavering as well.
"She was taken into custody yesterday by the Inalian Senate. There is talk of execution."

Sophie whistled a bawdy little tune in her cell, still dazed from her ship crash. Her hair was slicked with dirt and leaves that had snuck in through her single-barred window too high for her to reach. She tried to jump and grab it, and after three hours of trying, she wrapped a weak hand around the thick iron. But the bars were wet from the same storm that had crashed her ship, so that was a dead-end until the bars had fully dried.

Sophie glanced up at the window. A shadow cut through the light beams. A small funny-looking bird chirped and cocked its head at her. Its feathers were so small that it looked furry, and you could barely see its beak. Its body was too big for its small head, which coked as it scanned Sophie.

"Hey." Sophie sighed, tiredly raising a hand in warning.

The bird squeaked before fluttering in the room and landing atop her head. Sophie froze in mostly shock, not really knowing what to do with a weird bird on her head. It then yanks one of the leaves out of her hair and a few blond strands. Sophie yelped in pain, waving away the bird and flipping it off as it darted out the window.

Sophie groaned, sliding down the wall and covering her face with her hair. She plucked out a few eyelashes from her left eye, a habit she had started again, much to Maria's dismay.
"You'll pluck, pluck, pluck until you have nothing left!" She chastised once.

Sophie's heart hurt. Would Sophie have to be the one to tell her aunt that her son is missing? Or possibly even worse...

"Rise and shine." Sophie limply turned towards the cell door, where four guards waited to escort her.

Escort her to where was the question?

Sophie didn't bother to fight. At least not yet.
The halls got repetitive after a while. The Senate is all about elegance and decadence to an absurd degree. Sophie could've gotten lost between the polished marble, stained glass windows, gilded velvet furniture, and sky-high windows. However, she did see a lot of correlation between the old guildhall and the senate building. Sophie did have a taste for the rich things in life not that long ago. Now, the mere thought of a velvet-lined chaise sounds like a distant dream.

The guards shoved her through massive birch doors, slamming them behind her. Guards upon guards lined the walls leading up to the raised podiums. The Senate reminded Sophie much of the Council. But instead of beautiful decadent thrones for each body, the thrones were clean backless marble seats with velvet pillows of each family's main crest colors. Vincenzo Esposita glared down at her with a vicious smile. Senator Arturo looked at her with plain curiosity, fiddling with the silver ring on his pointer finger. Senator Fausta was looking anywhere but Sophie.

There were 20 senators in total, all of which leered upon her. Sophie hated the Senate with every fiber of her being, but she felt suddenly underdressed. Her feet were muddy, her hair a rat's nest.

The Senate crier started, "Amalia Hera Morretti, Former Mentore of the Cyevan Guild of Inalia," Those words had a sting. They were true. Her organization was nothing like her guild before. Is that for better or worse?

"Crimes include murder, thievery, treason, impersonation, arson-"

"The fire was not my fault." Sophie bit, gritting her teeth at the memory. No, the fire that ruined her life that day was not her fault.

"But everything else was?" Senator Arturo probed.

Sophie kept her mouth shut. Arturo rolled his eyes, waving away the crier, "We'll be here all day if we list off everything she is suspected of and what she has done."

"So then why am I here?" Sophie sighed.

Vincenzo started, "Simply put, you were banished after the truth of your misdeeds came to light-"

"You would know all about my misdeeds, wouldn't you, Vincenzo? Hell, most of them were caused by you. Did you tell you dear Senate companions about your sponsorship of-" Sophie coughed against a vile cloth clamped between her teeth, kicking off the squire tying it behind her head.

Vincenzo just glared at the now gagged Morretti before continuing, "Your excuses for justice are pitiful, Amalia. You have taken to vigilante justice instead of letting the Senate, which has been appointed by those far more intelligent than you take care of it," Those with more money, Sophie wanted to interject, "And it is only shameful. Yes, shameful! You are following in your barbaric father's footsteps instead of helping the people at our side. Following our rules, regulations, and laws that are meant to keep Inalia on top!" Vincenzo argued.

Sophie tried to spit words back, such as "Yet none of you seem to follow those very laws," or "The people seem to be on my side."

Fausta cleared her throat, "Amalia, your efforts have been for the betterment of the people, but they have been poorly executed. I mean, assassination? Blackmail? thievery? These are not the Inalian way!"

Sophie finally managed to wrangle the rag out of her mouth, awkwardly shoving it down her chin, "So what is?"

Fausta's eyes flared in alarm, "Excuse me?"

Sophie took a step forward, "What is, then? If you fools are exemplary Inalian citizens, then explain your cruelties before attacking mine!"

"But you admit your acts are cruel," Vincenzo asked.

Sophie shoved down the feelings of guilt racking up, "Everyone has to be cruel to survive. But unlike you, my acts have helped people. All you fools have done is sit on your asses."

Arturo rolled his eyes and leaned to another Senator with a big bushy beard, "This is going nowhere. The woman will keep sidestepping our questions." He grumbled, Sophie barely able to hear him.

Sophie realized she may not be able to go all accusatory right now. She doesn't have an out of here, at least not yet. This is a trial, a poorly and quickly assembled one, but still serious.
She opened her mouth to defend herself, hoping to use a more gentle tactic, but instead, a chill ran down her spine like the delicate kiss of an enemy's stare.

She turned her head to scan the room, feeling like there were a hundred eyes on her. But she felt like that all the time.
The Senate felt the uneasiness, too, a few of them rising to their feet. Something glinted in the sunlight from above, slowly falling. Sophie watched as a gold coin dropped from the domed ceiling above. It clattered against the perfectly polished floors. Sophie leaned over to observe, despite the protests from the senators.
Scrawled on the metal with red paint wrote...

Boom.

Sophie gasped as the buildings around her rattled for just a moment, the senator's water and wine glasses falling off their armrest and the chandelier above her shaking. And as quick as it came, the rattling stopped. Everyone in the building stared and questioned, Vincenzo the most loudly.
Sophie's eyes met back with the coin to the red letters scrawled on the metal.
She felt a primal sense tugging at her, and her hearing heightened as her Pancras form took hold.
Tick... tick... tick...
Sophie darted her head to the east wall, her words not exiting her mouth fast enough.

Boom.

The land was brutal, the blast sending Sophie flying across the room. Her shoulder collided with the marble, her head knocking against the hard rock too hard for comfort. Dust and debris flew about her head, embedding into the wallpaper and shattering the stained glass windows. Screaming and alarms echoed through the building, Sophie groaning as she pushed herself to her feet with her bound hands.

In the hole blown through the east wall were three figures. One had a white-haired woman holding onto his shoulder, smiling gently.
And one approached her with a knife, leaning down.
Sophie spat out the dust in her mouth and smiled, "I thought you were dead."

Alexios smiled, "Sorry, I was busy taking care of our aunty dearest." Kassandra was leaning against one of the soldiers helping Alexios, weak but awake. Alexios used his knife to leverage between the metal plates of her fancy cuffs, pulling the wires out and smiling when the power weakening his sister sizzled out.

After Alexios ran past them, there were two more figures who met head-on with the guards, who were beginning to recover from the blast. She knew those men; she used to fight them!
"The Undergrounds?" Sophie inquired as Alexios cut her bindings and helped her to her feet.

"Who do you think has been leading the resistance in Inalia?" Her brother answered.

The Ringmaster, with his down-turned top hat and rich Inalian-made vest and coat, peeked through the hole and snapped, "Let's move it, I got a match I need to ref!"

Hey everybody, it's Q&A time!
First off, I would just like to thank everybody who submitted questions for Knowledge bear and I. This was so much fun! Most of the questions were submitted to my dms and prefer to be anonymous, so let's get started!

We are starting with the man, the myth, the legend Knowledge bear!

Wow, I didn't expect to get this many questions, this is exciting! I want to start by saying Mallory is giving me too much credit, I'm just a dude who wants to help his friend out. She's the true mastermind here. That being said, I've seen all the thank yous in the last few chapters, and I appreciate everyone single one of them! It's hard to say in words alone how much they meant to me.

"How did you and Mallory meet?"
Mallory and I met in school, she was relatively new to the area, and we just started talking. We have some shared interests (we're both nerds in different ways), and we both talked about writing. She showed me Guild of Moonlit Shadows as it was being written, which I fell in love with! Then, she started asking me for help with Dawn of the Aurous Blade, and the rest is history. TLDR, it turned from "I'm reading a cool thing from a friend :D" to "I'm *helping* my friend make a cool thing!"

"Can you tell us about any of your projects?"
HMMMM, Nope! Sorry, but most of my projects are private for now, they're not ***nearly*** polished enough to even think about posting. They're just a bunch of little things I've started throughout the years and never finished. Besides, the spotlight ain't on me, it's on Mal and her amazing stories! (Thanks for asking though! ^_^)

"What is Mallory like in real life?"
In a word: **chaotic**. Mal has a lot of creative and emotional energy that she lets loose in all different forms. Be it making on the spot DND characters, or getting giddy about shapes. One thing is always constant though: she has a killer sense of humor and can always make me laugh! She's a blast to hang out with, that's for sure too (~~She's sassy as frick~~)."

"Mallory says you do DND. Does she play with you,and if so, is she a good player?
"Ah, yes she does! We had a campaign a while back where she played a funny, half drunk human Monk who doesn't play by the rules. As for being a good player, that's subjective. Nothing truly defines being a good player in DND, it's all these little things like roleplaying and understanding basic mechanics. All I can say is that she knows how to get into her role well, and can make a world come to life! I'd say that classifies her as a good player.

"What's the story behind your nickname?"
So, there's an age old story to this: I'm Korean, and my middle name is actually my Korean name Jiung. Traditional Korean names like to take two words and mesh them together. Ji = Knowledge, and Ung = Man, but can also be interpreted as bear or large creature. In truth, the name is supposed to mean "intelligent man" (can you see what my parent's wanted from a young age?), but I like to interpret it as Knowledge Bear. The name just clicked with Mal, I guess.

"Who is your favorite character Mallory has written and which o e is your favorite that you've written?"
Ooooh, asking me all the hard questions, aren't we? I tend to gravitate towards characters for simpler reasons compared to most, and for Mal that would be Maha because she is and I quote "a bundle of sunshine incarnate" and I love her to death! She's also the reason why the scene with the sirens happened, which was one of my favorite scenes that Mal has written.

As for me, that's like asking me to pick my favorite child, it's too cruel! I'll admit, I haven't written very many OCs. Many of my writings are either fanfics, AUs, or one shots, and the characters I have written are mainly DND characters. For now, I'll say my Wood Elf bard, Mossi Turkey Turner! She's from a remote village in the woods, and is on a pilgrimage as a rite of passage from her village. She's also a bit of a hippie and talks with a Southern accent. I played her in a campaign with Mal, and I had ***way*** to much fun!"

Thank you again for all your questions! This was fun, and I hope you got the answers you were looking for, in some way, shape, or form. Until next I get a chance to speak, enjoy the rest of Dawn of the Aurous Blade!

Thanks Knowledge Bear! Now, my turn :)

I'm going to start with the anonymous questions then go to the public ones!

What were some things that were cut out?
-Anonymous
Sophie was originally going to be covered in feckless and had fluffy princess curls like Annabeth. While in the lost cities, she would straighten her hair and cover her freckles because she didn't look like the all other other elves. She would meet Ruy and he would say they are beautiful. But I didn't want to start from Shannon's version TOO far (which is kinda out the window now but yk)

Ruy and Soph actually met as friends in the forest of Havenfield, and would sneak off to go be silly teenagers in love in the forest. They would start as friends then fall in love, but then she would get mad at Ruy when's she realizes who he was. But then they make up lol. I just couldn't figure out a way to figure it out.

Plus a bunch of other things that I, frankly, have forgotten.

Can you tell us a bit of yourself IRL? You say you struggle with mental health, and I enjoy hearing you talk about your own fight-it makes me believe my own fight is fightable.
-Anonymous
This is so sweet. I'm not kidding, I almost started tearing up.
Well, I can say bits and pieces, and I'll still talk about my life and try to keep it a bit lighthearted. My parents split when I was little and went to two different states. I lived with my mother in the first state, which I consider my true home. My life with my mother was so much fun, but my mother struggles with her own mental health issues that caused our relationship to be complicated. She eventually kicked me out of the house at the end of my junior year, and my dad took me in. My mother kicking me out wasn't the typical screaming match, but rather her trying to say she doesn't think me living with her is a good idea anymore. Very... weird, to say the least.
My father was't really present in my life beside me being with him for a handful of weeks during the summer and maybe a Christmas if I was lucky. Despite my step father's and distant father's efforts, I didn't have a very stable perception of a male figure in my life.
My mental health issues caused my school life to be absolutely awful. I can't bring myself to do homework, care about lessons, or take certain classes seriously. I have a lot of undiagnosed disabilities that I am simply too lazy to go get diagnosed, so I just say I wasn't made for school and leave it at that. My school work is the main reason my mother kicked me out, unfortunately.
There are a few other things in my life that I feel aren't appropriate to talk about when there are possible young readers on this app and on my profile. But my life is made so much better with you all in my lives. I don't know where I would be today if I didn't have my writing and my readers :)
~
Now onto the public submitted questions!

"In the entire journey from the first book to now, do you feel proud or do you feel like you should have changed things in the past?"
Of course, I started the series when I was in my freshman year. It was my first real fan fiction, and first large writing project. There are certain things I really wish I could redo with the first book, both with the writing itself and the plot. But what can you do?

"How do you create the plot, what process do you have for coming up with what comes next?"
It's kinda a mix of detailed planning and making it up as I go along. I have certain scenes in my mind that serve as kinda goals in the plotting of the book. Everything else is kinda filler to get to those points, but the I add more to that filler which in the end makes it own arcs which then leads to the book. But actually this book is much more plotted through and carefully crafted than my previous ones mostly because of Knowledge Bear and also I'm just a better writer now then when I started.

"Which character did you put the most thought into?"
Probably Mephala. He has a lot of stuff going on about him that you guys are going to discover during this series. Ancient evil god type stuff. But if not him, then the main girl Sophie.

"Which character do you feel like you relate the most to?"
Probably Ruy, actually. Shit just keeps happening, yet he takes time to grieve and find a way to make the best with his second chance at life.

"Do you still live in the states?"
I do! I just moved to a different state actually, but I dream of moving to the Mediterranean. But for right now I'm staying in the States.

"Face reveal?"
Not for a little while. Sorry, but I kinda like the anonymity of my online persona, and I'd like to keep it that way for a bit. But if you look on my insta, you'll find a self portrait I did.

"How do you find the time to write and work, and do school?"
I'm going to be completely honest with ya'll. I'm not the best student. I struggle to pay attention and complete my homework. Working is easy, I actually really enjoy working. Like Sophie, I'm a bit of a workaholic and find the mindlessness of it very calming. But for writing, I actually don't do it that much. I'm just able to write really fast in the sessions I do grant myself.

"How did you get the ideas for AAD?"
History and my favorite books and video games. AAD is kinda a melting pot of all my favorite franchises mixed into one story of my own imagination at this point.
-ThatRandomBookNerd12

"What inspired you to start writing this series?"
As stated above, so many different hobbies of mine including history, video games, and books.
-sofsof008

"How many generations of Morretti's are there?"

SO. MANY. Most of them have been hunted down by now :( But there are so many generations dating even past Kassandra. I'm actually considering writing a one shot of the original Morretti's and how the Cyevan Assassins started. But we would need to get a bit further into the story so I can reveal certain aspects of the Morretti history before I can write a good detailed one shot.

"What are the exact ages of Cato and Kalem?"
Kalem is 21 and Cato is 18 in DotAB

"Do you think we as readers will like Henrietta?"
It... depends. If you guys like strong women, which are the only women I write, then yeah. But we all have some, uh, toxic behavior sometimes. I can't say much more without spoiling. But Henrietta is someone that genially enjoys spending time with Ruy and cares about him, and has learned to look past his title.

"On a scale of 1-10 how much do you utilize your evil author senses?"
Just observe the next couple chapters guys and you will see how evil I can really be.

"How long did it take you to plan out the series when you first started?"
tbh, I was only planning for AAD to be a really small book. But I have no chill and kept adding more and more and now we are here. So planning is mostly something I DO spend time on, but it is pretty sporadic. A lot of my best stuff comes straight out of thin air as I'm just writing.

"Do you plan the story out and edit as your go along, or write and plan along the way?"
I already answered this question above with ThatRandomBookNerd12
-bubblekissed
~
AND NOW, THE WINNER OF THE Q&A COMPETITION IS.... @ThatRandomBookNerd12 !!!!!!
You'll get a private DM from me in the next few hours to give you your prize!
Thank you everyone for your questions and I'll see you next time!
Please remember to vote, comment, share, and follow!
_Sibylline_