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The Wastelands have always had a king, and the history of kings has always been bloody. The Wastelands are a bit of a misnomer at this point, considering under the rule of Tokiwa Sougo there's been flourishing of the land in the five years since he has taken over whereas before, the people scavenged.
Tokiwa Sougo is one of the first kings to ascend with major fanfare and little bloodshed. How one ascends is set between two alternate paths: challenging the king to a trial by combat, or the law of bloodline is invoked in which the challenger to the throne has familial precedence ruling that allows them a claim - in which trial by combat is the next obvious step in changing of the kings.
The people still scavenge, as what is learned is hard to disregard, but the new kingdom under the reign of Sougo has seen a lessening of the cruelties. What once was a landlocked country with zero trade policy has expanded to friendly dealings with neighboring countries such as the Isle of Stars - so named because of the surrounding water being so clear and pristine, one could see the stars reflected back.
Sougo does none of that, but the rest of the kingdom doesn’t know that. No, what Sougo has is a lot of luck, the handy knack of being in the right place at the right time and an antique pocket watch. In events that leaves even the court historian is baffled, the old king - a man who was never seen - passes and Tokiwa Sougo is named his successor. The boy doesn't exist with records of being at the kingdom - neither does his guardian, his uncle Tokiwa - but one wonders if that was done out of security and safety, considering the king of the Isle of Stars is a man named Schwartz who was looking to expand the border of his country by marrying his sister off. The rumored marriage between his sister, Alpina who's beauty was rumored to rival the sun, and the old king of the Wastelands fell through when Alpina had disappeared from the proceedings with one knight.
Sougo and the old king's advisor, Woz, work with the citizens of the Wastelands to find areas of need. The infrastructure needs repair, and it needs money. They don't question further the contents of the war chest being filled with trophies from other old countries that have gone missing. They melt it down and trade them for supplies to further countries up north in order to rebuild the Wastelands once more. Woz focuses on the espionage aspect - the old king used to survey his own people, but Woz and Sougo have been keeping an eye on the Isle of Stars, and Alpina and her wayward knight.
Sougo has no issue with the Isle of Stars or any rumored marriage with the missing princess - despite Schwartz's insistence of the marriage transferring from the old king to the new one. There would be no further issue, except for the fact that Schwartz sent spies into them first. Two kids, no older than extremely small young adults, are caught. The kids are younger than 18, but reveal themselves as citizens of the Wasteland. Schwartz had offered them a position within his espionage team at the Isle of Stars in order to report on everything the previous king had done in exchange for food that Sougo can't help but look distraught. It's not in the king's nature to kill, but he feels the urge to do so against Schwartz. The young spies look at him and Woz, where they reveal that further past the Wastelands, in No Man's Land, Alpina is rumored to have set up encampment with her wayward knight. She has also killed two of her brother's guards meant to capture and return her back.
The two of them confer, knowing that if word has reached them, that Schwartz undoubtedly knows and is after them. Sougo offers to gives to them of the the king's decree of safety, as and two pouches of gold coins to disappear after they misreport the truth to Schwartz. Woz advises his king that leaving now when the kingdom is finding its stability is a poor move, even if they believe the spies will follow through on their word.
Sougo goes to visit No Man's Land within a fortnight after the spies have left, leaving Woz to act in his stead. He doesn't know much about the man, despite his enthusiasm being a breath of fresh air as well as a marked difference from the citizens of the Wastelands when he ascended. What he does know is that Woz's reputation as spymaster is unparalleled, with the man having eyes and ears in every surrounding country. The man has taken the time to give him a traveler's pack and makes sure to send him word if anything changes.
The journey to No Man's Land takes weeks but he arrives, a lone iron gate standing where one would enter, and the surrounding gate the only thing that managed to stay at level ground whereas the surrounding terrain is steeply inclined into the earth - enough to give a wandering travel a broken leg if he is not careful. He is met with a sword to his throat and a knife seconds from his heart before he holds his hands above his head. His heart lurches as he tries to give them a placating smiles.
"Did my brother send you?" Alpina snarls as her knight, who hasn't spoken has wrestled his bag of supplies to twist his arm against his back.
"I'm not with Schwartz," Sougo grunts, "I'm here because I want to help. That's really good work holding my - ow, okay, tell your knight to not break my arm."
"I'm not going to break your arm," the knight whispers into his ear, where Sougo's heart always leaps into his throat. "Yet."
"Geiz."
"Fine, I won't break your arm, at all."
Geiz lets Sougo go, and the three of them stare at each other. Alpina and Geiz stare at Sougo more intently, ready to disarm and kill if need be, whereas Sougo feels the exhaustion of his nonstop trek finally reach him.
The three of them sit around a fire, where none of them speak. Sougo does, but the other two simply stare as he passes him rations
"I don't know what your uncle is trying to do, but it's probably not good," Sougo begins. "He kept trying to marry you off to me when you're not even in the country which is super not good in any way, and then he sent child spies into my country. They did however know where you were, and were kind enough to tell me that you killed the last guards trying to bring you home, so I put two and two together if you don't want to go home, it's probably because your brother, the king, is not the man he tells to everyone."
"Is that why we got this?" Alpina says as she holds up a letter. Sougo recognizes the spymaster's neat scrawl. Shit's fucked. Army trying to invade Wastelands. Spies were a ruse, don't kill the king.
"That's not what I meant when I asked him to keep me aware of the country, but okay," Sougo takes the letter.
"So my brother literally told you where to find me, and you went, so he could take over your country?" Alpina's voices rises higher.
"I thought you guys needed help..." Sougo's voice trails.
"Rookie mistake," Geiz scoffs. "Are you sure you're fit to be a king?"
"I wasn't really trying," Sougo laughs, "I just found a watch that could turn back time and well, the Wastelands wasn't exactly a great place before I took over, but surely it could be better than this." He pulls the watch from his coat pocket.
"Did you say clock that turns back time?" Alpina says. "Can I see it?"
"Sure," he hands it over.
It's at this point that Alpina realizes that the watch is nothing special outside of it's well maintenance. She remembers that when she stumbled upon her brother's journals while exploring the castle that he had done experiments on kids, seeing if time travel could work. She also realizes that she was amongst the kids - they were step-siblings from different parents, where her mother was the queen while his dad was a nobleman, but a mysterious accident had killed both their parents and had destroyed countless court records with his own ability to change history. He renamed her Alpina from Tsukoyomi and took away the memories of the kingdom before Schwartz ruled - hence her runaway.
"You can turn back time too," she breathes out too. The three of them sit up into the late hours of the night up until the sun begins to rise to find a way to undo the damage Schwartz had done to all their kingdoms.
"How do we know we can trust him?" Geiz asks as he yawns, their plans wrapping up. Sougo will sleep here and then go back further - as he can go back years whereas Tsukoyomi's requires more tuning, as she can go back hours.
"Because I just want to be the best king I can possibly be," Sougo yawns back in response.
"That's lame. But you're still way better than Schwartz or that other guy who called himself Grand Ruler."
It takes Sougo a faster time to arrive back; out in No Man's Land, Tsukoyomi had two horses - one white and one black that she lets him use to return back to the Wastelands.
Woz merely grins when Sougo gives him the order, as they jump back in one year where he is sent to enter the Isle of Stars in the dead of night.
Schwartz is found dead by his court advisors in the morning.
Tsukoyomi marries Sougo in record timing - a fortnight. The marriage causes a stir amongst the mourning period, but the citizens of Isle of Stars weren't exactly following the mourning protocol either. No, the real stir is when they reveal Tsukoyomi's trusted knight Geiz as also entering. It is, unbelievably, a love marriage. The three of them share a secret smile when the union of the Wastelands and the Isle of Stars is cemented.