White Dragon Stories

All these lives

When he heard that they had conquered Balbadd, he felt sorry for the people there. Not because they were conquered, but because of the way it had happened. Of course, Al-Thamen had helped. To make it easier and to have an excuse to invade the country, they had stirred up the internal conflict between the royal family and the people of the slums. He didn't want to image how many people had starved to death, how many people had been killed by the conflicts, how many people had been arrested and maybe even tortured – some of them were probably just innocent bystander, who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. With a foolish king like Ahbmad there was no reason to use such dramatic methods. Kou already had most of the economics of Balbadd in their hand and without that, the country was dependent of Kou. Yes, there was a marriage planned, but because of a contract which would make the people of Balbadd into slaves – every single one. Balbadd would became a slave breading, slave selling country – the country, which was once known for their economics would turn into this. Another sad truth. However, the wedding did not happen, but the contract had been signed. Soon after the news of the conquering of Balbadd, the news of king Sinbad's visit arrived. And this was his chance to take another step to achieve his goal.
To reach his goal – the destruction of Al-Thamen and regaining the Empire from the usurper – he also had to be ruthless and make sacrifices. He was aware that his plan also meant the death of innocent people, but there was no other way to stop this madness inside Kou. No, he had no greater good to justify himself, he only had his revenge – his desire to fulfill Hakuyuu's last wish – and his wish to bring back the Empire to its former glory. One may now think he had no right to judge his family, when he was willing to do the same as them and create a war. However, he just wanted one war and therewith end all the wars and the suffering of those, who now suffered under his home country. No, he didn't do it for the people. He did it for himself and what he thought was the best for the Empire. It was a little bit strange to feel sorry for the people and hope they would soon find peace, while at the same time preparing for a war, which would only involve the Kou Empire, that would cause death and suffering to the citizen. Yet there was no other way to get rid of the witch and the false ruler, especially not when no one seemed to care at all.

The saddest about his empire was their love for war and how proud they were about their doing. As child he had looked up to his brothers and was proud to have such great people as older siblings, he even felt somewhat honored to be their little brother. Now he did not feel that way anymore. Of course, he still loved them and wished they would return, but he now knew what they had done and what it meant. How could a child understand the true meaning of war and death? Both things were so far away from him. War was a thing that happened somewhere else, but not in front of his door. Moreover, he only heard the stories of the soldiers and his brothers and in those the Kou people always were the good guys that had to protect themselves against the other countries. Maybe this was true back then, maybe it was not. He had no intention of judging it, because there also was no way for him to either confirm or deny. In case he asked someone like his teachers they would only tell him the same stories all over again. They believed them. So, why shouldn't he believe as well?
Sometimes he heard people talking about "Hakutoku's will", this will was often used to justify the soldiers' doing. Hakuryuu wondered every time, whether his father's will really was to conquer the whole world by force and kill as many innocent people as possible. He wondered, if his father would have worked together with an organization like Al-Thamen to fulfill his dream. Probably not, since Hakutoku had been killed by said evil organization. Yet, those who used his father's will did exactly that. To a certain extent he understood, why they did not oppose the current emperor and the empress. The witch was dangerous and one wrong move could cost one's life. Still they did not even plan on opposing her, they lived their lives like nothing had happened and even dared to use his dead father's will to justify themselves.
Whatever his father's will truly was, throwing innocent people into suffering, was unacceptable. He most likely felt that way, because he also had been one of those innocent people. Back when his brothers died in the fire, he was a small and naïve six year old child. He hadn't done any wrong – yes he did not always listen to his parents and also lied sometimes, said something mean to his family members, when he was angry, did not go to bed, when it was time to do so, and tried to sneak away from activities he did not like – and still he had been thrown into a fire, was attacked by Kou soldiers and some strange people, who hid their faces behind white clothes. He had almost died. His survival was a little wonder, but the only way for those who had died to get their revenge. Besides his brothers and their attackers, some servants and nobles had also died. What had they done wrong? Were they also enemies of Al-Thamen? Or were they just at the wrong place at the wrong time? Most likely. If he had understood his mother correctly then she had no intention of killing him as well, since it was not of any importance to her, whether he was alive or not. Like others he just had bad luck back then. And he had a lot of good luck to survive. So he was quite lucky under this circumstances.

Did they know how many lives they had destroyed until now? Did they even know that they were destroying lives? Or did they think they were saving everyone? That they think they were the good guys? Or did he fail to see how genius they were? Was he in the wrong? No, he was not! People who willingly sacrificed the lives of others without being willing to make the same sacrifices couldn't be right. People who did not listen to those at the bottom couldn't be right! People who worked together with an evil organization like Al-Thamen couldn't be right! They hadn't thought about the lives they were taking. They hadn't thought about the present, all they "cared" about was the unknown future, in which they would rule the world and oppress everyone, who thought differently than them. They weren't the good guys, neither was he. All of them were just selfish bastards that walked down their own path and were ready to do whatever was necessary to achieve their goals.