The Gilded Parade

*"They say that seeing is believing. But what if what you see is nothing more than an illusion, a gilded cage meant to trap you with promises of glory? As a child, Nathaniel saw the Imperial Family as gods, paragons of virtue and strength. How wrong he was. Beneath the shimmering facade lay a nest of serpents, each vying for power, each ready to strike down anyone who dared to challenge their claim."*

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**The Fourteenth Legion: Scraps of the Dragon**

The *Fourteenth Legion*, derisively nicknamed "The Dragon's Scraps," was everything Nathaniel had imagined—and far more. It was a cauldron of hardened veterans, conscripted peasants, and disgraced nobles, a motley crew thrown together to hold the line against the encroaching Solaris Coalition. Discipline was brutal, training relentless. For a boy barely past his thirteenth year, it was a baptism by fire.