The light of the sun, newly liberated from the moon's shadow, fell upon a chamber through the many open marble stone arcs above. Spaces larger than a typical door between the wall and the ceiling welcomed the whistling of the heavy wind.

Crimson curtains adorned with Jupiter's emblem waved wild and the emblems of the other cities under Jupiter's rule, whether they be long dead or newly risen to power, adorned their small golden borders.

The floor of the hall was pitch black, as opposed to the white walls, but displayed flowing colours from white to bronze within. There was a throne laying at the back of this hall, many doors to the left and right of it, and a single massive entrance to the front. An elderly man plagued with a look of paranoia and disdain sat the throne.

Guards wearing armour that seemed to radiate a frost-like smoky aura adorned the hall two to every door. The main chamber opened, a woman dressed gold walked into the hall. The elderly man looked upon her as she bowed before him, her monarch, her Sovereign.

This woman was eighteen years of age and dressed in fine garments signifying her status; she was the Sovereign's grandchild and by that merit also Jupiter's princess, Lucretia. The Sovereign, Julius, waved his hand lightly and straightened his aged back to escape his slouching posture.

"Rise," He said, and so Lucretia did. She met her Sovereign's gaze, even that was a liberty only she, as fellow royalty, could get away with. "Inspect the territory of Venus, specifically this Sanctuary, and secure the Beacon if it truly lay within."

"Yes, Lord Sovereign," Said the girl, who then opened her eyes with a slightly hesitant air, "and the person who possesses it?" She asked him, her tone betraying just how unsure she was about whether or not she would like the answer.

"Take her alive," Said the Sovereign in turn. Lucretia's brow betrayed a mix of surprise followed by relief then, but she hid it well enough that only The Sovereign, who knew her well, could even notice. Her surprise did not in turn surprise him, this was not a decision he would usually make but his heart was clear on the weight of that woman's, of Beatrix', life.

General Avance loved that woman and Venus City's people had gone out of their way to protect her, she was worth more to him alive than she was dead.

"By your will," Lucretia replied, and the Sovereign then waved his hand to dismiss her from his hall. The Princess bowed a second time and turned on her heels as she rose to her feet. The guards held the door for her then, and she was relieved to be permitted so swiftly to leave. Yet fate would not have it, it seemed, for she set only one foot outside before the Sovereign seemed to think of something. His voice then once again called out to her, pausing her steps in turn.

"One moment, girl," He said, and the princess' clapping boots stopped to sound against the ground. With a hidden disatisfaction, she turned, walked back the way she came and then knelt once more before him. "Your partner in marriage has been decided upon," Said the Sovereign with a nod. The girl did not raise her head, perhaps that was for the best. She had long known to expect this announcement, it had in fact come far later than she would've ever guessed.

The people of this world held a great power, they relied on this power just to survive. However, to their great dread, this power had weakened slowly and surely with every new generation, it did not take a genius to realise that one day it would truly be gone for good.

Lucretia was a strong possessor of this power, no doubt due to her royal bloodline. Her children therefore would be just as strong and if not then they would be but a tiny bit her inferior.

Naturally she knew that her grandfather had his own reasons for doing this as well, since unlike most powers of this world Jupiter's royal line actually did not favour one sex over the other. They were in this sense a relic of the past, the age of Platinum that had come to its end.

Jupiter always saw the oldest child seize the throne, as for the younger children, they were almost always married away for political cause. This was, after all, preferable to letting them become a problem later on for the would be monarch.

Julius was aged into the late seventies, he was dying fast. Thus the Sovereign had to make plans for his successor, Lucretia's older brother, to take up his throne. Lucretia naturally understood that she was in the way, she was a loose end which had to be removed from the equation, yet it would be wasteful to simply kill her. Thus it was to ensure that the family she weds into inherits her great power and that she would forever be out of the new Sovereign's way that she was condemned so.

Those two reasons were more than good enough, yet even they were not the whole story. Lucretia creased her brow hard when she learned that the city she'd be sent off to was the City of Mars. Among the many, this city was one of the several that Julius did not wholeheartedly trust at present. She realised then that she was not only being married off for the above two reasons but also to act as a leesh. She begrudged it, but accepted it, after all whether she approved of this or not would change nothing in the end.

_______________________________________

Lucretia Jupiter stepped outside of the royal hall and breathed in the air of the capital's Platinum District, where she and the other true nobles of the city dwelled. She set her gaze forward then upon the courtyard where a gathered force of a thousand men stood ready to greet her.

Nine figures stood at the front, each one clad in regal garment. Behind them stood a hundred and ninety soldiers clad in uniform and that alone. Behind them stood three hundred men clad in minimulistic armour and finally, stood at the very back, were five hundred men clad in all encompassing suits of heavy plate.

"This is quite a force," She said at the sight of them as she turned to face the man who now stood beside her. This man resembled her greatly, were there to be any differences of note they would only be traits brought on by being members of the opposite sexes. This man was her older brother, the Sovereign's would be successor, Prince Erus of Jupiter. "Isn't this a bit much for one woman?" She asked him, her tone somewhat teasing in turn. The prince turned to face her, but he did not share her humour. Indeed she was stunned to find his gaze full of worry.

"Nothing should be left to chance," He said and Lucretia was moved to a smile by the gesture. Though they were somewhat estranged because of the politics that always stood between them, this man was a good brother at his core. When he had heard that this matter involved a Beacon, and thus the God who created it, this brother of her's had unhesitantly granted for her an army ten times larger than what she personally felt would be necessary. "Be careful," He said to her.

"Always," She answered back to him. The Princess stepped forward then and took charge of these troops, troops gifted by her brother, but loyal enough to her. Erus watched for a time, but could not dally long, a prince was not free, after all, and he too had to depart before long to handle the other matters which demanded his attention.

However, even with that said, his gaze still paused for but the briefest of moments upon the figures of five men in particular who blended in perfectly among the thousand. These five men brought him doubt at first, though he could not place the reason why. However as they carried out their duties without any sign of unfamiliarity, nor any show of being out of place, the nagging feeling in the back of his head slowly faded into silence.

Erus alone could not be blamed for the oversight, indeed nobody else even noticed the smallest hint that there was anything even remotely wrong with those five men. Had he only the time or mind to investigate further into the cause of this momentary suspicion then perhaps things might have changed, perhaps several tragedies would simply not have taken place. Alas he was tired and propped it all up to mere paranoia.