Gilded In Gold

Episode 1: Dark Beginings

It was midnight when Varian heard the first shouts.  He jolts awake, head jerking towards his window.  A warm light flickered, dancing around his room, making his heart sink.  Getting up, he rushed to the window and opening it, not caring that his bare feet were touching the icy cold wood floor.

It was as he had fear.  Fire.  The house across the street was already engulfed in flames.  He scanned the grounds, seeing if the whole family had escaped.  As the mayor's son, it was his business to know everyone in Old Corona.  To his relief, everyone was safe.  Even their dog was with them, spared from the unfortunate event.

Varian shoved on his boots and threw a coat on as he ran down the stairs.  His father was already about to rush out the door as Varian grabbed his gloves.  He didn't want his hands to go numb while trying to work.  It would slow him down.

Everything was a rush and a blur.  They managed to take out the fire, but it was unfortunately too late to save anything.  Varian passed the family a sympathetic look, but they weren't looking his way to notice.

He handed the bucket to one of the villagers before starting to head to the house.

"What are you doing?"  Quirin asked.

"I figured I'd set them up some beds," Varian answered.

His father nodded and gave him a small, tired smile.

The next morning, Quirin left early with the father of the family to visit Corona to pick up supplies.  Varian took charge of his father's duties and was grateful for the wife and two kids who took care of the house chores and cooking for him.

Ever since his mother's death, Varian he had taken over a lot of the house work.  A war had also started since her death, which caused Quirin to be more diligent and teaching Varian on how to be the village leader.  If anything were to happen to him, Varian would have to take charge.  A thought Varian wasn't ready to truly think about.

He stopped by miss Leah's house.  She was an elderly woman who lived on her.  As far as Varian knew, she had always been an independent woman who never married.  He wondered if she was ever lonely, but she seemed quite happy whenever he saw her.

"Morning, miss Leah."

"Ah, Varian.  You dropping off the milk for your father?"

"Yes, he's away at Corona again to help the Meyers after their house burned down," Varian explained.

"Oh, yes.  I heard about that.  How dreadfully unfortunate," she said sadly.

"It is... all these fires, in the middle of winter.  I don't understand.  The houses are gone before we can so much as move a hand to take out the fire..."

"Must be the coal," the old woman remarked.

Varian shook his head, but he didn't bother arguing with her.  He highly doubted that it was the coal, but it wasn't like they had anything else to blame at the moment.  Although, it was highly possible that they were using wood logs to keep their house warm.

"Whatever it is, I hope we can fix the issue."

"Ever since the Der Sonne family were taken off of the throne, things have been dark.  Queen Arianna, she was such a wonderful ruler.  King Fredric did well enough.  No one deserved their fate..."

Varian recalled the memory of hearing the news for the first time.  The castle had been under siege and suddenly, the enemies won.  They murdered the Royal Family and imprisoned those that were a threat if they didn't murder them too.

"We didn't have to worry about random taxes and whatever crazy plan Queen Zhan Trii has up her sleave," Varian agreed.  "I'm glad we live in an overlooked town.  We barely gain the attention of the officials."