Chapter 12: The Broken Pride (Part 1)

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The King walked the marbled hall with the clicks of his heels echoing off of the porcelain expanse

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The King walked the marbled hall with the clicks of his heels echoing off of the porcelain expanse. He always thought this castle was too cold and empty, but now it felt even more so.

He looked up towards his family's portrait that hung against the sterile walls. Being the last portrait painted before the Invasion, it depicted the last moments when Kasim's family was whole. It loomed over him as a reminder of what he had to sacrifice under the weight of his crown. Since Faria's death, Simba was the only candle of warmth he could hold against the insurmountable numbness. The day Kasim learned that Simba couldn't succeed the throne was the day that his last spark of resolve was snuffed out.

Kasim wished he had told Simba to run far from the castle the day of his coronation. Yet, how could he explain to the boy why he couldn't be King, why he had to run at all, or why it wasn't his fault. He had no way of knowing the family's darkest secrets. But Kaism knew even If Simba had run away that day, Davu wouldn't leave him be. His father had no tolerance for unfinished business.

Davu crossed the Great Sea to the west, leaving his birthplace behind to cleanse the new land of the affliction. It was his Family's noble goal to be rid of the Witches' magic and save humanity from certain extinction. There is a stringent criteria to inherit such a burden. In a cruel twist of fate, Simba could no longer meet the benchmark for such responsibility. It wasn't Simba's fault, but it didn't matter. His son couldn't succeed the throne, and an unfit heir could shed doubt on the entire family line, sowing discord among the masses. Generations of fighting the Witches' magic could be lost if Kasim acted as a father and not a King.

In the reflection of the polish on the wall, Kasim looked at the stranger staring back at him. This castle had cost him everything. It was so hard to make noble sacrifices when they deprived him of the very people he made them for in the first place. Soon, there will nothing left of himself but an empty husk filled with fleeting memories. 

Davu was waiting next to the throne as Kasim scaled the stairs to meet him

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Davu was waiting next to the throne as Kasim scaled the stairs to meet him. A man with a lion mask dangling from his belt knelt before him, one of the many servants he had sent to all corners of the city in hopes of smoking the missing boys out of hiding.

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