Espen's Story

 "How could this happen?" Espen thought as he ran his shaking hands through his long silver hair. The city was on fire. He could hear his people screaming. Their wails echoing through the halls of his empty palace. His mind had been racing all day, but he was calm now. Aside from the fear nagging the back of his mind. But what was the point? They were in the city now. Everything he planned, all the soldiers he forced to fight, the citizens he told to stay in their homes. Gone, destroyed, killed. The balcony he stood on seemed to tremble with the force of Claude's army. Or maybe that was all in his mind. He couldn't tell anymore.

Espen closed his eyes for a minute. Shutting them tight against the heat from the fires and the smoke that billowed in the air around him. Suffocating. Black. "They warned me," he thought, his fist tightening as he filled with regret. "They warned me Claude was coming, and I did nothing." Espen wasn't worried when he heard that King Magnus was targeting his fair kingdom next. Claude has been moving from small kingdom to small kingdom. Killing all who did not bow down to him. But the city was protected by its walls. Safe and secure. Espen had been through many sieges in his 450 years on this planet. What was one more? He would bunker down, gather resources, and if he had to meet them on the battlefield, his well trained army would defeat them.

He reassured himself that nothing would come of this "King in the East'' but here we are. Claude's army, though small, ripped through Espen's like they were made of pure moving steel. No arrow penetrated them, they moved like water. Uniform, and beautiful. Killing every soldier they touched. It was impossible how they moved. Like they were one mind. One of his soldiers was worth 20 of his, and they mowed down the front lines like Claude had crumpled a paper in his hand. One Thousand lives gone. Blown away like a feather in the wind.

Espen was pulled from his thoughts when a sudden BOOM came from the palace gates. "They're here," he whispered aloud, panic gripping his throat and his thoughts. He moved with a purpose that he didn't even know he possessed. His body turning suddenly and running towards his large open room. He moved the flowing sheer white curtains out of the way with one hand as he moved into his room and across the great marbled floor. His footsteps seemed loud as they hit the perfectly polished marble. As he exited the room and entered the long white hallway he began to panic. The hallway, like every room of the palace, was tall. Tall enough to fit a half giant at least. Espen had been raised in these halls, and the simple beauty of them never really registered with him. He had become numb to the simple designs that had been carefully planned by his ancestors thousands of years ago. On either side of the hall was a thin beautiful river fueled by small water fountains. The room was closed off to the outside, but there was always a gentle breeze that moved the air and calmed anyone who walked in it.

Espen didn't feel calm. He felt afraid. For the first time in his life he was truly afraid. "Haira!" He shouted. "Eliza! Xaier!" Where could they be? His face was panic stricken as he looked around. His body shaking with the adrenaline which was now filling it. He took off into a sprint down the long giant hallway, searching for his family. He didn't have any rhyme or reason as to where he was searching, he just knew he had to find them. They needed to escape. They were the only hope. If he died, they needed to live. He suddenly saw his wife Haira and stopped dead in his tracks. She was running, leading the small children down the hall. "Haira!" Espen yelled, but his voice was drowned out by the explosions from the front gate that echoed in the once calming halls. The palace shook with a force he had never felt before. The narrow peaceful river began violently trembling and sending water onto the walkways. Espen breathed rapidly as the realization that they would be through the gate in a matter of minutes fueled his anxiety and panic. Haira, unknowing of her husband's presence ran down the hall, Espen could hear his children crying. She led the children to a set of giant gilded doors at the end of the long hallway where the Herem was. Espen felt a sudden pang of guilt wash over him. He hadn't even thought of the Harem. His other children who would die today. The women he had grown to care for.