Visions Of The King (On Hold)

1. King Fizayer

A gong resounded, signaling that all the courts had opened.

A silence fell over the moment I entered the hall. Occupants on both sides stood up and inclined their heads in respect to their king. I looked ahead at my Impartial throne. It was specifically painted white to symbolize the purity of my decisions. Sewn-in the finest white fabric, it was the softest, yet the most unforgiving chair to sit on.

I took the seat and focused ahead at Emyst, the spinning ivory stone, peacefully sitting in a puddle of Holy water. God Emyst had ruled our courts for eternity.

Emyst had always placed itself opposite the ruling king and watched over every king's judgment.

When the stone glowed, I gave a nod to proceed.

Today marked the thirtieth anniversary of my coronation but I forbade any kind of celebration when I took the throne as a tribute to my deceased warriors.

Though the thought didn't meet any initial resistance, later on, it was asked of me to relax the ropes. I didn't of course. Whatever I say should be taken as the last word. My father was in this sense more lenient.

I could still see the silent request on the majority of expressions but I ignored them. My senior counselor, Remifa, stepped forward and congratulated me on behalf of the people present. I smiled.

"There is a celebratory dinner arranged by the cooks for you, my king," Remifa humbly said.

"Celebratory dinner is reserved for our freedom day, Remifa. Why then did you arrange it for today?" I asked coolly.

Swallowing, he replied, "Well as you know, my king, thirty is a holy number. It is favorable for new beginnings and change. Perhaps this small dinner to ease into a lifelong tradition."

"Did I give you any authority to take on such decisions? You're not fooling anybody Remifa. Your devious nature should only restrict to matters of law. See to it that the dinner is canceled," I ordered firmly.

Sweat trickled down the side of his face and I enjoyed his uneasiness. "Y..Yes, my king," he stammered and turned.

"Turn around," I ordered loudly. He hurriedly turned and lowered his head.

"This is your first mistake. That doesn't mean I'll let it slide. For a week, you'll assist your apprentice and follow his amateur lead. This way, you'll also get to know how you've trained him so far. This mercy shouldn't be taken lightly Remifa," I warned and then dismissed him.

My eyes regarded everybody and landed on my father standing in the corner. His narrowed eyes conveyed displeasure and I sighed.

Great. Just great.

* * *

If I had known, I would be sitting on my arse for the rest of my life, solving cases of people who secretly intended no reconciliation, I would have escaped to a more hospitable planet.

I breathed deep and closed my eyes. The life of peace was definitely a boring one. My hands missed the weight of my battle sword every day and my body ached for a good fight.

The day passed by slowly as usual. I welcomed the quiet evening by simply basking in the scent of the lush valley from my balcony.

From this significant height, the Blood River looked small and utterly unimpressive. It flowed unashamedly, the memory of countless floating bodies long forgotten.

Thirty years had come and gone, still, the imprint of The Great Battle of Blood River had not faded away from my psyche. For a decade, we fought with our neighboring planet, Behishah, over a very rare gem, 'ku', whose power to influence weather made it an exceptional weapon.

In our quest for vengeance, neither one of us backed down and gradually we turned our beautiful pale rivers into an awful shade of crimson.

One day of realization was all it took to realize how much we both had already suffered and will continue to suffer if we did not come to some mutual agreement.

At last, a decision was taken to give peace a fair chance with a hope of a better future relation. The latter, though, was too far-fetched at that time.

Initially, when the idea came into my mind to build my tower in this God-forsaken war zone, I dismissed it far too quickly. However, slowly and gradually, it turned into a pressing thought.

After a month of my crowning, I signaled my planner to start building it immediately. My father was not happy and my mother looked at me like I was mentally sick.

Many counselors thought the war had darkened my soul and conscience. Others were surprisingly supportive of my lunacy and understood me on a deeper level.

Torturing myself was never my goal. Not forgetting the history though was. As the next ruler of Ohnah, I didn't want to lose sight of my purpose.

Many a time, the old blood thirst for retribution came back. Those times, I stared at the Blood River and reminded myself of those dreadful times. The path which shouldn't have been taken.

Now though, I could safely say that Ohnah had matured into a peaceful planet under my rule. Yet, in my heart, there was anything but peace.

I yearned for something but what I didn't know. The days looked all alike. Amidst all the activity, a stillness had taken root which was not present before. And I wasn't sure if I liked it.

A knock at the door interrupted my musing. I knew even before the person entered with a determined expression.

"Father, I was waiting for you." I prepared myself for a long lecture.

He simply sat down and silently waited for me to take the opposite seat. I settled myself and eagerly awaited the old record to play.

"You know, you're not making any allies with your firmness over an easily solvable subject. I purposely attended court today and it was my idea of the dinner as well. But you, as usual, shamed our old counselor who meant no harm. Why do you keep on dragging the old tale? Wars happen. Death is inevitable. You cannot be stuck on that forever Fizayer," he admonished.

I sighed and answered calmly, "You're right. Wars happen. Death is an inevitable consequence. But it shouldn't be written off so easily just because it's a rule of nature. It's inconsiderate and I don't want to be remembered as an uncaring king. Every death is important to me. Every death is a tribute to this planet. And now when we are finally enjoying peace, everybody wants to easily forget those deaths."

I stood up in anger and went to the window.

"They would want us to rejoice the peace as well." My father quietly insisted.

"We do rejoice our freedom day. Don't we? Isn't that enough?" I demanded.

"They want to celebrate you as their king. They love you. You've given them stability. You are their new hope. Under your rule, not even a friendly duel has happened. They want to celebrate you, son! Don't take that away from them."

I remained silent and looked down at the blood river. The white flowers of Perikotey Trees along the perimeter of the blood river glowed in the night.

They were planted to symbolize the peace treaty between the two planets. The white flowers with little red droplets signified peace after the war. Very apt for the cause. But whenever I saw them, I remembered only bloodshed.

Narrowing my eyes I repeated, "No celebration will ever happen on this day. That's my final word, father."

Heavy silence enveloped the room for a moment.

"Then I would like to say on behalf of all the people of this planet that I'm thankful to the Gods who chose you as the next ruler of Ohnah. Happy thirtieth, my son. Your reign will usher more peace, prosperity, and joy to this beautiful land. Always know that I'm proud of you." He praised just like he always did.

But the quiet closing of the door indicated another crushed hope. And I immediately felt bad.

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