A carriage soon pulled up in front of the Imperial Palace. It was a pleasantly warm, calm day and a well-dressed, middle-aged couple got out of the carriage. The lady had shoulder-length brunette hair and wore a long but unusually airy dress in saffron yellow. The gentleman wore a well-groomed moustache and a traditional suit that looked very expensive. As they were climbing the countless steps to the centuries-old seat of power, they looked down at the ground, not because they didn't want to see the building, but because the sun was shining directly into their faces. Once they reached the top, one of the guards escorted them inside. Eventually, they arrived in a large room with a lot of expensive furniture, including the sofa on which they settled down. A few minutes passed, then a girl entered through the door. When she saw the two of them, she rushed over to them and flung her arms around the man, who wasn't particularly tall. "I'm so glad you're okay!" she said in an emotion-filled voice as the first tears began to run down her cheeks. "Me too, my darling!" the man replied. The two remained in their embrace until the lady lost her patience and separated them with her own hands. She also wanted to hug the girl, which she subsequently did. "You can't imagine how worried we've been about you, Amalie!" the woman said in a tearful tone.

  When everyone had calmed down again, they sat down and started chatting. She began to tell them what had happened. This conversation was interrupted by Wenzel when he entered the room, accompanied by three Crown Guards. Amalie immediately asked him to join them and said: "May I introduce you to Wenzel? He's the one who saved me." The young man wanted to shake hands with the guests, but they began to bow to him. They had already recognised who he was from his clothes and they had also heard many rumours circulating around the country. Everyone already knew that a new Chosen One had appeared. Wenzel was embarrassed by this treatment and immediately asked them to stop. "I want to have normal social interactions with my friends' parents, if at all possible," he said. The two introduced themselves as Harald and Bothilde. Then they all sat together for a while and talked about all sorts of things, with the events of the past year naturally taking centre stage.

  They also learnt that Amalie's parents had gone into hiding after the outbreak of the revolution for fear of becoming victims of the rampant violence throughout the country. A wise decision. They also talked about some more pleasant topics, but always maintained an overly friendly tone. This finally began to bother their daughter, who remarked: "You don't have to pretend! Nobody is going to do anything to you here. Wenzel is a good-natured person." She was right about that. He and Amalie had started to get on a little better. They were both relatively quiet and rather reserved people, which meant they got along well. Her parents took notice of this fairly soon.

  After getting to know each other, the couple were first billeted in one of the many unused rooms in the palace. However, this incident had reminded Wenzel of something, his own parents to be precise. No, not his biological parents, but Hildegard and Bertold. He wondered how they were doing. So, the next day he went down to the prison to pay them a visit. Accompanied by Brahm and two other guards, he marched down the street to the building, which was not far away. He went in through the portal of the massive stone building and greeted the man working at reception. "Greetings! I'd like to pay the two Althuns a visit." The guard looked at him first, then went to the back and pulled out a thick book. Through the door you could see the man leafing through it, looking for their names. His companions just stood there in boredom. It went on and on, but the guy didn't seem to find them. Now Brahm got impatient and called to the back: "What's taking so long? Can't you read?" Wenzel felt a little bad about what his friend had just said, so he tried to help. "I think the last time they were in cell 125, if I remember correctly."

  A little more time passed, then the man came to them again. He said: "I, er,.... the inmates you're looking for are no longer here." A puzzled look crossed everyone's faces. Wenzel asked: "What do you mean? Have they been moved somewhere else?" The prison guard nervously replied: "As far as I have it in my records, they were picked up here on the tenth of April by soldiers of the Martyrs. There's an X in the book." Wenzel didn't say another word. He already had an idea of what that meant. But Brahm asked straight out: "And what does X mean now?" - "You can probably guess, can't you?" it came back from the man. Now the bodyguard made a very disgruntled face. "Are you serious!" - "I'm afraid so." - "That's completely unacceptable. I want to know who gave the order and who carried it out, or you're all in for it!"

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  Before his friend could really start his tirade, however, the mage grabbed him by the wrist and squeezed it tightly. Brahm immediately interrupted his rant and looked over at Wenzel. He was bent slightly forwards and was leaning on his other hand, which he clenched tightly into a fist. He exhaled and said something very quietly, that no one could hear. "What?" the man enquired. Wenzel repeated louder this time: "Out. Everyone out. Right now!" Then he let go of his hand. Brahm had understood what was going on and ordered all the prison staff to leave the building as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the boy remained exactly were he was. He was livid! Now they had killed his parents after all! It was exactly what he had been afraid of and what he had actually tried to avoid at the time. Who had done it? Who had done the deed? And why more than a month later? Had they waited until Wenzel was out of town to get rid of them? That was most likely the answer. The Chosen One's whole body tensed up. He had never felt such anger before. It boiled over inside him.

  Laszlo and Erszebet were visiting their new flat. It was gifted to them from the nobles loyal to the regime, who no longer lived here. Laszlo was a soldier who had joined the Old Believer resistance under Theodor's leadership in Kasharovar many years ago. Now his life had turned around and after all those years of sacrifice he finally had the opportunity to lead a more peaceful existence. The warm sun shone in through the window and he decided to open the balcony doors to let some air in. He opened both doors and stepped out onto the balcony. Leaning on the railing, he took a deep breath of fresh air and savoured the beautiful view of the city from up here. Everything was great. Until suddenly the huge building in front of them blew up with a tremendous bang! Smaller and larger pieces of debris flew over like projectiles against the walls and in some cases through the windows! He turned round to his beloved. Fortunately, she was unharmed. What in God's name had happened here?

  The answer to the man's question was Wenzel. His outburst of rage had blown up the entire city prison. He climbed back out of what was left of it over the rubble and walked over to his three Crown Guards. All but Brahm stood there with their mouths open. Wenzel addressed his friend: "I want you to find the culprits and punish them accordingly!" It was the first time that Wenzel had ever been so enraged. But the time he had spent with the Martyrs' Brigades had, of course, also changed him. Anyone who betrayed the organisation had to die, those were the rules there. This way of thinking had now seeped into Wenzel's mind as well. Of course, this case was also "special" because it affected him personally, but the point still remained. Brahm agreed with Wenzel and soon devoted himself to this assignment. A few days later, there were two Martyrs fewer. However, they were unable to identify the one who had given the original order. Wenzel said nothing about it, but in his heart he suspected that it had been August. He just couldn't prove it.

  This took its toll on the lad and he hardly showed his face for the next three days. Alone in his room, he reflected on himself and his life so far. It wasn't as if his parents had loved him dearly, but they were the ones who had brought him up. They had always favoured Aurel and yet, despite all this, Wenzel loved them after all. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Can I come in?" Amalie asked. He permitted it. She came in and enquired whether he was all right. She had already heard from Brahm what had happened. The girl obviously wanted to cheer him up a little, but he wasn't really in the mood to talk about it.

  So now they were talking about other things, like the future. "And you're really going to be emperor?" - "Yes. That was the Martyrs' plan from the start." - "Do you think you are able do that, though? Isn't that too much responsibility for you?" The young man pondered for a moment and then replied: "I'm prepared to take on the responsibility that the others want me to take on. To be honest, I used to be scared of it, but I've accepted it now. So far, my life has sent me on a wild up and down ride anyway. If I have a duty in life, then at least I know what to do." Then he paused briefly. "Even if I'm not good enough for the role, of course." - "Why is that?" Amalie asked. "Because I don't know much about how to govern a country. The only thing I understand is that people's lives need to improve. I've seen so much misery on my travels around the country...." But Amalie contradicted him: "As far as I know, he only qualification an emperor must have, according to your people, are magical powers. You'll be able to learn the rest over time. So don't worry too much, okay?" - "Okay."