by Brandon Chen
“You are the heir to a grand throne,” Cambyses began, and saw the prince roll his eyes, prepared for the same annoying speech he knew his father would give him. “Oh, listen to me, my boy. I won’t lecture you on how you should act, because I expect that at fifteen years old, you already know what’s expected of you as the prince of the largest empire of Dastia. Our prosperous nation is flourishing. It is all thanks to your father’s great leadership that our empire is in a better state than it has ever been. But even your father has flaws.”
“Flaws, uncle?” Darien repeated, raising his eyebrows. His father was doing something wrong? But how could he be, if the nation was doing so well? The young prince walked beside his uncle down the hallway, past lines of statues that represented ancient Persian kings and ancestors who had long since passed away.
“Your father is greatly opposed to war and is against fighting altogether. However, our empire’s military is by far the strongest and largest of all the empires in Dastia. With it, we could easily be consuming other nations and bringing them under our control. We could share our wealth with the rest of the continent by making them a part of us.” Cambyses sighed. “I believe that an ideal dream would be to unite the entirety of the continent, so that everyone would be able to live in our wealthy nation and have the same opportunities that all of us do. However, such a dream would require several years, or perhaps decades, of sacrifice. My brother does not have the heart to sacrifice what is necessary for the better of our nation and all of Dastia. What do you think?”
Darien stared forward, thinking hard on the subject. “I believe that the whole idea of having one united, peaceful nation without conflict is great. Then people wouldn’t have to suffer like Tetsu did. But the path that you’re suggesting is going to bring about several decades of war where many would suffer. It would be causing the same pain that we’re seeking to prevent. If I were to make a decision, I would search for a solution that results in a united continent without having to resort to war.”
Cambyses sighed and smiled. “You truly are your father’s son. The two of you do think alike. But it is that kindheartedness that might be your downfall one day. Make sure you keep your eyes open. You never know who might take advantage of your weaknesses, my boy.” He placed his hand on Darien’s shoulder, and nodded to two Persian soldiers that stood at the end of the hallway.
The guards, wearing black cloaks and sheathed scimitars, elegantly pushed open the door at the end of the corridor for the two oncoming members of the royal family.
Darien walked through the large doors with his uncle following close behind, into a gigantic feasting room. There was a long table that ran through the center of the room, blanketed by a large white cloth. There were dozens of seats on both sides of the table but the only occupied seats were on the far side of the table where Darien’s father and mother sat. The king sat at the head of the table with the queen on his right.
The king had curly brown hair, sapphire blue eyes, and a grizzly brown beard. A small golden crown sat upon his head. He wore rich robes of crimson that draped down to his ankles. Dangling from both his ears were large sapphire rings that jabbed through his tender lobes. Golden necklaces embedded with assorted colored gems shone around his neck, though most of them were hidden underneath his beard. His fingers all wielded rings that were made of gold and embedded with diamonds, making his hand gleam like starlight. He was middle-aged, and was a bit chunky from all the exotic foods that he stuffed himself with every day. But he could afford to. After all, the country was flourishing because of him. Why wouldn’t he treat himself to the greatest delicacies in the continent?
The queen had long, blonde hair that draped down past her neck. She had a small golden crown as well, and wore a lengthy blue dress that touched the carpeted ground. A necklace of shining pearls curled around her neck and drooped near the top of her breasts. She pursed her thick lips together as she addressed Darien with a slight nod.
“Remember, not a word of our conversation to anyone but us,” Cambyses whispered to Darien. The uncle walked over to his seat beside the queen, nodding to a servant who pulled out a chair for him.
Darien sat on his father’s left, spreading a napkin gracefully over his lap.
“The food is taking a lot longer than usual,” his father murmured. “I heard that there was some trouble in the kitchen. There’s been a lot of mischief going around lately, hm, Darien?”
“Y-Yes, father.”
“And would you happen to know anything about why Hassan is delaying the meal by several minutes today?” His father’s unwavering stare bore straight into Darien’s soul. The prince refused to meet the king’s eyes as he spoke.
“No.”
“I don’t like when you lie to me, son.” His father sighed. “When it is finally my time, Darien, you will need to gain the peoples’ trust. For this country to prosper, the people are going to need to be able to believe you. They’ll look to you to solve their problems, and will revolt and protest when you don’t. You need to be ready to make the right decisions when it’s finally your time to take the throne and….”
“I understand,” Darien murmured, looking to see Hassan and several other chefs come out of the kitchen with platters of steaming hot food in their hands. They set down several superb dishes that gave off delicious aromas that made Darien’s mouth water.
“I apologize for my son’s disturbance in your kitchen, Hassan.” The king gave his favorite chef a friendly nod.
“It’s alright, milord. It only took a moment longer to make another meal for you. I do hope you enjoy it,” Hassan said, bowing with his entire body.
The king smiled warmly. “You prepared delicious beef with your infamous sauce. Why, it’s my favorite. Of course, I’ll enjoy it.”
Hassan stood up and beamed proudly before promptly returning to the kitchen with his staff.
Darien and his family enjoyed a silent dinner. The prince could tell that his father wasn’t so much annoyed by Darien’s mischievous behavior as he was irritated by the prince’s blatant lie. The king burned Darien with a few powerful glares that made him tremble, but thankfully, there was no other punishment. It felt like lengthy hours before he was finally released from the torturous confinement that was the dinner table. In reality, it was probably less than thirty minutes.
Patting his bloated, full belly, the prince stormed through the castle’s many hallways. An amalgam of thoughts exploded through his head, but one emotion stood out from the various thoughts that conquered his mind. Anger. Why was it that he had to worry so much about being king? Was a single lie going to set the entire Persian Empire crumbling? Trust. The people need to trust me, huh? Darien narrowed his eyes as he trudged forward through the hallway, past several servants who were dusting the windows. His father was still relatively young for a king, and would rule for many decades before it was finally his time. So why did they keep saying that Darien was going to have to prepare himself so soon? He was only fifteen. He didn’t even want to think about having such a responsibility. In fact, he didn’t even want to be king.
Being king meant that all the freedom he currently had would vanish in an instant. His free time would be replaced with work, analysis, and deep thinking on how to better the nation. Darien knew from watching his father work day and night to solve the empire’s issues that there was never a moment of rest for a good king. He even noticed that the king had begun to grow a few grey hairs as a result of the immeasurable amount of stress that he endured every day. Darien didn’t want to endure such hardship, and he knew that he would never live up to the incredible legacy that his father was leaving behind.
Leaning up against the sandy brick walls of the castle, Darien sighed heavily as he looked through one of the tinted windows. He moved to the window and pushed it open, the view becoming clear as the glass panes vanished from his line of sight. The prince gazed through the opening at the grand city of Persepolis, the capital of the Persian Empire. The king’s castle sat
upon a hill that overlooked the rest of the city, letting everyone know that they were of lesser status than those who lived in the castle. The king also kept his close advisors, friends, fellow nobles, and important workers living in the castle with the royal family, for he believed in keeping close to his allies.
Stretching across the city were thousands of homes made of brick, stone, solidified mud, and marble, creating a vast variety of buildings and architecture in the city. Some buildings had flat roofs, while others had dome shaped ones made of smelted bronze that gleamed in the descending sun’s light. Torches were being lit, preparing for the oncoming night, and Darien watched as the sun begin to vanish over the horizon, releasing its last dazzling surges of warm light into the sky.
Staring past Persepolis and the city’s grand, towering walls, Darien saw the endless wasteland in the distance, just outside of the city. Those were the Lost Sands, a forsaken desert. There was no information regarding what the Lost Sands was like, because no one had ever entered it and come out alive. Supposedly, the desert spanned three hundred miles wide and three hundred miles long, but that was only an estimate. It was said that creatures of ancient lore and mythology, that would slaughter any intruder, existed within those dangerous lands. There were also rumors that said that the desert itself was alive and could deceive any journeyers that ventured into the Lost Sands. Darien was almost positive that within that perilous desert, there were priceless treasures. That was why explorers kept disappearing into the Lost Sands, never to return.
Darien sighed. No one had ever seen any of the creatures from the Lost Sands so no one actually knew if they existed. Now, sending criminals to the Lost Sands had become a form of execution. Rather, the king claimed that it was merely “banishment.” But the exiles that were forced out of Persia were tossed in the Lost Sands, doomed to their ultimate demise. The prince, however, was interested in seeing some of the creatures that he had read about in tales. Pharaohs, Sphinxes, Core-Diggers, undead mummies, and many more were rumored to plague those lands. If they did exist, the prince hoped that he would be able to see them someday. Without dying, that is.
“And here we have a royal prince, dramatically staring in deep thought at the grand empire that he will soon rule!” Tetsu mocked in a deep tone, surprising Darien by jumping from behind and wrapping his arm around the prince’s shoulder with a friendly grin. “What’s got you in such a grim mood, Darien?”
“Yeah, is everything alright?” Yuu asked, stepping to Darien’s side.
“Of course everything’s alright,” Darien murmured. “It’s just, you know, all this talk about becoming king and preparing to rule the empire already. My father isn’t going anywhere soon so I don’t know why everyone’s hyping me up for the throne. I don’t know the first thing about leading a country, and no matter how much I study the economics of the empire, the agriculture, and the military strategies that I’ll need to know when I’m a leader, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready. That type of responsibility … it’s way too much for me to handle.” He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled. “Man, look at me. I’m a mess.”
Tetsu gave Darien’s shoulder a good squeeze. “Hey, man. Don’t sweat it. If there’s ever a problem, I’ll always be here to steer you in the right direction. And I’m sure the nerd, Yuu, will be here to toss you some advice too, right?” he called to the noble.
Yuu’s face reddened. “I-I’m not a nerd!”
“You’re a nerd.”
“Then you’re a brute!”
Tetsu laughed. “And I don’t mind that at all!”
“Seriously, Darien. There’s nothing for you to worry about. We’re going to be here to help you out when you need it.” Yuu smiled reassuringly. “I mean, we’re your best friends. Obviously we’re not going to let you shoulder the throne’s responsibilities by yourself! We’ll do whatever we can to help. But that’ll probably be really far in the future anyway. I’m sure your father is just preparing you to give you a head start. I mean, if you have the whole ruler mindset early on, in a decade you’ll be more than ready for the throne. Right?”
“I guess….”
“Man, what’s with all this depressing talk! Let’s go do something fun! Want to go pull a prank on Yuu’s older brother?” Tetsu guffawed.
“N-No! Don’t do that!”
Darien looked between his two good friends and laughed. Man, I wish things could just stay like this forever. With the three of us, happy, together, and free.
Betrayal
The next day, Darien adventured through the streets of Persepolis with several guards escorting him, along with Tetsu, Yuu, and Cambyses. The three boys walked through the prosperous streets, marveling at how populated the city was. There were people walking everywhere, and exotic animals that Darien found fascinating were being led throughout the city. Creatures like giraffes and monkeys were scampering about underneath the supervision of their owners.
Darien had a ruby-red scarf tightly curled around his neck, and he wore a golden, short-sleeved shirt of fine linen along with silver shorts. A civilian showed Darien his camel, which was the goofiest animal that the prince had ever seen. The prince personally found the camel’s humps outstandingly amusing, though he wasn’t sure why. He patted the animal’s snout but the creature returned his ecstatic gaze with an apathetic stare.
“Hey, Darien! Look at this!” Yuu exclaimed, pointing to a street performer who was tossing flaming torches through the air. At the same time, he was somehow spewing a jet of fire from his mouth like a dragon. Groups of lower-class civilians, wearing slightly tattered clothing, were cheering in awe at the performer’s rare talents.
Darien’s attention diverted from the exotic camel to the gifted street performer. “Say, uncle, how does he shoot fire from his mouth like that? Surely that can’t be real.”
“Oh, but it is,” Cambyses said. “It’s magic.”
“Magic, such a thing must be myth. It’s told in stories for children, nothing more,” Darien said, unconvinced.
“Nope,” Tetsu said. “You’d actually be surprised at how many people have somehow obtained magical powers. Don’t ask me how they do it, but there are plenty of people who have it. You can tell that this guy has magic. The way he breathes fire out, it’s being conjured from inside his throat. He’s creating the flames. I mean, that’s impressive enough but people don’t seem to really notice. They just see his juggling and how he’s spitting out fire like a circus act. He should be using that magic to serve a better purpose.”
Cambyses nodded. “You should already know that your father has a mage who answers directly to him. Powerful mages who have absolute control over their magic are known to work for kings of nations. They’re called Magi. Your father has a personal Magus that fulfills his wishes. And that mage will work for you when you take the throne.”
“Huh,” Darien muttered, watching the fire performer for a moment longer before moving onward. He had heard of Magi, but he had always thought that they were just religious leaders, not sorcerers. He couldn’t believe that magic actually existed.
His party eventually stumbled across a group of lower-class civilians who were bowing and praying to a stone statue of one of the Persian gods. The statue had the head of a dog and the body of a man. Hundreds of copper coins were tossed into a fountain underneath the statue as tribute. The currency gleamed from underneath the calm fountain waters. Darien looked at the supposed deity with an emotionless gaze. He pitifully watched as several citizens bowed to the statue, pressing their foreheads to the ground. Groveling in the dirt before a statue. How foolish.
Darien’s face twisted into an annoyed scowl. Personally, he didn’t believe in gods. He thought that it was absurd that there was even the idea of a powerful deity floating somewhere in the universe amongst the stars. The gods never showed themselves and nothing proved that they existed, so what reason did Darien have to believe in their existence? And here these people were, humiliating themselves for the sake of praying to some
thing that they didn’t even know existed. Darien just didn’t understand how people could put all of their faith, all of their hope, in something they’d never seen.
The prince suddenly spotted several tanned slaves, all collaborating to carry a large plank of wood, trudging past the statue. It was clear that they were drained of energy from the way they dragged their feet across the dirt. They were so skinny that it looked their stomachs were actually caving into their bodies and their ribcages were clearly visible. Darien stared at the starved men with shock as they slowly dragged themselves past the prince and his party. “Why are they so starved? Do their overseers not feed them?” the prince asked his uncle.
“Slaves are not treated as human in our empire. Surely you know that,” Cambyses said, almost frowning at Darien. “They are the same as working animals.”
Darien watched as one of the slaves tripped and fell over, causing the wooden plank to clatter to the ground. Several of the well-clothed civilians that walked by glanced at the struggling slaves in disgust. The prince could see the distaste in their eyes, which were dark as a blackened void.
A shirtless man stormed forward in annoyance, dragging a whip across the sandy earth. The man’s body was tanned to a crispy brown after so many days in the hot sun and his lack of shirt exposed his rippling muscles, which bulged so much that he looked like a walking hunk of meat. This was clearly the overseer, one of the men who watched over the slaves. The overseer raised his whip and snapped it down on one of the weak slaves, flaying the man’s flesh with a relentless crack. Blood splattered onto the ground as the sharp whip rent deep into the slave’s back. The laborer cried out in agony as he collapsed forward onto his hands and knees, his jaw clenched tight as tears streamed down his dirt-caked cheeks.
“Please, spare me! I-I’m tired! It’s hot and I just need some water! Please!” the slave pleaded, but the whip slapped down onto his back once more, creating yet another slash mark ripping across his scarred back. More screaming. More pain. Yet civilians just walked past as if nothing was happening. This was just another common occurrence to them.
