Tyrant of the Ruined Sun

Happiness so vast I felt slightly suffocated with it shot through my body, as if it were a tsunami being herded and crammed into the small crevices of my heart, making me feel as though it were about to rupture under the unrelenting ocean of joy forming in my heart.

Yet before I could even enjoy this blissful warmth for a few seconds, it suddenly became scorching, as if a blazing inferno had suddenly erupted within me, instantly devouring the ocean of glee that had formed in my heart, pushing it's might to immense degrees before suddenly beginning to spread to every fiber of my being, as if my very blood had turned to something more akin to liquid fire in my veins, before suddenly dissipating in my muscles giving me such terrifying energy that I felt I was back in the prime of my previous life, able to single handedly bring kingdoms to their knees and empires to the brink of despair.

It was excitement. Excitement that was so fierce I felt I needed an outlet for it immediately. So I quickly dismissed my brothers' guards, before unhesitatingly drawing Dark Majesty from my hip and started training as my aura, a light grey that was closer to white than black, stuck to my blade like a second skin.

I didn't even bother to grab my training halberd to train with it at the same time, as I often did.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

For the next two hours I never once stopped my training even for a second, until I suddenly felt something click, as if a barrier that previously stood before me had suddenly been lifted, and my strength quickly multiplied, my strikes became more precise and my paper thin aura suddenly flared out, instantly doubling in size. I had broken through to the second rank of saber martial arts.

"Congratulations, sire." Horus' and Abraham's words echoed out instantly from behind, yanking me out of my stunned silence.

"Thank you." I replied calmly, hiding my inner disbelief.

I had initially estimated that I would need another year and a half before I could break through in my martial arts, yet surprisingly I had just accomplished just that. Sparing me so much time and effort training.

Ecstatic by all that has happened this night, especially after all the trouble of yesterday, I decided to stop for now and go back inside, knowing that breakfast was fast approaching, and after missing yesterday's lunch and dinner, I knew that I could no longer be absent from anymore family meals, or I'd risk facing the might of my mother's sadness.

So I swiftly arrived at the dining hall, only to be surprised at the sight of my lone mother, sitting at the table, quietly eating her meal.

"Good morning mother." I said as I made my way to my seat.

She replied enthusiastically, as her face lit up with a warm smile at my presence "Oh sweetheart! Good morning. I thought you'd be busy today, so I started without you. Quick, bring another set of plates and utensils, and order the chef to prepare a fresh batch of eggs and bread." She finished by instructing the maid staff to serve me.

"Where are the others?" I asked, after sitting down.

"Cyrus and Nizam both said that they had no appetite for some reason, and wanted to go horse riding around the palace. The twins are still fast asleep." She paused momentarily before continuing "... As for Alisar, she didn't have the best night's sleep, so she's also still asleep with Kira watching over her." Continue reading on empire

Frowning at this, I ask gravely "Wasn't she getting better?"

Sighing tiredly, she helplessly replied "She is. She absolutely is. Her episodes are far less frequent now, but they still occur and they're not getting any easier. Though last night's attack was the worst by far." Her face was calm, yet her eyes betrayed the pain she felt at this moment. They were eyes only a mother could ever show, eyes I've seen countless times before in my past life. They were the tortured eyes of a mother whose child was suffering and they could do nothing or very little to help it.

Though we came to Wahagen under the pretense of my mother wanting us to enjoy a small vacation away from all the stress and constant work we are subjected to in the capital, in actuality we had another purpose that only I, my mother and a few trusted doctors and priests knew of. Which was that we had come here in the hopes of healing my sister.

It was very clear to us all that ever since the assassination attempt Alisar has developed a fear of the outside world. A thing non of us wanted to see ruin or even affect her life, so for the past few months my mother has been consulting the empire's finest to come up with a solution. Some ideas had helped while others were utterly useless, but nonetheless the issue was never truly fixed no matter what we did.

So finally after much thought, my mother along with the other doctors and specialists decided on implementing a form of exposure therapy, where in my mother would occasionally start taking Alisar outside the palace walls, every time venturing just a little further than the last.

And for a while it looked like it was working, she slowly began to recover her prior spirit, yet another unexpected problem soon began to rear it's ugly head. Alisar began to suffer night terrors, waking up nearly every night in a cold sweat screaming and crying, and these episodes seemed to be especially brutal after she went out of the palace with our mother and siblings.

So our mother again began to wrack her mind to discover a solution, any solution for her daughter's condition, when suddenly she remembered one of Alisar's favorite places in the world, Wahagen.

Believing she had finally found the answer she'd been searching for, she quickly called me and the doctors for a sudden meeting, where she explained her plan to go there where she would hoped to reassociate the outside world for Alisar not with terror but with happiness and joy. Which in turn might finally allow her to have a full night's rest without anymore nightmares.

I and the gathered doctors agreed to this plan and wholeheartedly supported it, and at first things seemed to go according to plan, yet here was mother now telling me that it had in fact backfired on us and Alisar had just had her worst episode ever.

"Should we head back to the capital?" I asked cautiously.

"No, not yet. She's been having less episodes lately, so this might just be a one time thing." She replied confidently, not willing to give up just yet.

"... Very well." I said after a moment, deciding to trust in mother. who I knew would heaven and earth if she must for us.

It was then that the maids brought me my food and I started to dig in, until my mother suddenly asked with a concerned tone "Sweetheart... I wasn't going to ask at first, but was in the letter his excellency sent you?"

I looked at her in shock for a moment, since my mother hardly ever concerns herself in political matters, knowing that if she did, what remains of my opposition might use it as an excuse to start rumors of how my mother is the actual leader of the empire, and I her obedient puppet.

But though I had told and assured her time and time again that if any dare say that I would deal with them, and even if they did spread those tall tales, simple rumors could no longer jeopardize my power.

Yet she never budged and remained stubborn on this issue, believing it better to not give them even the slightest chance to attack.

"Why do you ask?" I inquired, curious of her reasons to finally breach her own rules.

"You vanished for the whole rest of the day and Haytham suddenly erupted in a fit of rage and stormed off a few hours later. How could I not be worried?" She answered, her worry now even more pronounced in her voice.

Nodding, I quickly explained the whole situation to her then waited silently for her to organize her thoughts. Which didn't take long as she said with an unmistakable air of grace and authority around her, having entered her empress mode as a force of habit "Seems like someone has dug a truly abyssal trap for us this time."

Smiling, I ask "Do you have any council for me mother?"

Yet before she could answer the dining hall door swung open and Abraham entered saying that "His excellency, Archpriest Adam Sekhmet has arrived."

A statement that froze both me and my mother solid in a mix of shock and worry.

Yet unbeknownst to any of us at the time, an insignificant beggar in worn out linen clothes, with sun kissed skin and eyes as dark as his unkempt, shaggy hair arrived at a small, nameless town on the western cliffs of the Jurren De Yachi mountains with a report that would change the empire and the world for many years to come.