- 517 ʙᴄ -
| ʀᴀᴋᴇᴇᴍ |
It only took a couple of moments after the king and prince left the Badlands for the vampires to begin scavenging for a new meal, something that became stressful for them over the years ever since they were casted away.
They were no longer welcomed on the "brighter" side of Egypt after being the reason for multiple deaths. Aziz tried to compromise with them, only allowing them to feast on animal blood but of course, things don't always go as planned.
"You imbeciles are pathetic."
Vitani suddenly removed her fangs from the dying goat she had forced herself to devour. She, along with the rest of the group, looked up to see who had the audacity to insult them like this.
Rakeem slowly approached them on the damp, muddy grass. "I send two helpless little kids over here, and none of you idiots could even complete one simple task by killing them."
Vitani stood up to her feet while giving Rakeem a suspicious look. "Who are you?"
Rakeem let out a grimacing chuckle as he took a stance before the creatures. "I am the person who can help all of you out of this..." He eyed his surroundings in disgust. "Revulsion."
"Oh yea?" Luca snickered. "How exactly are you going to do that? You look like you're barely making it yourself." He laughed as he examined Rakeem's clothes and aura of unhappiness and distress.
Rakeem mentally rolled eyes and held back from saying anything that would potentially ruin his chance of getting the vampires on his side.
"Wouldn't you rather be in a place more ravishing than this?" He began pacing around them in a slow motion. "A place where you are able to do whatever you please, with no rules and no one to limit your needs? A place where you will never starve, especially."
Vitani sighed, closing her eyes briefly as she imaged the thought of going back to a time when things weren't so rough for her. She opened her eyes, now glaring at Rakeem with her bright green orbs. "That sounds nice and everything, but the question still remains - how are you going to help us?"
Rakeem's mouth formed into an evil grin as he glanced down at the now lifeless goat laid out in front of Vitani. "We're going to kill the king."
•••
"My father was pretty upset with me the other day for going to the Badlands." Divine explained in a tone that was opposite from his natural cheerful persona, while he walked beside his uncle. "We talked it out, though. I apologized and he forgave me, but it's still bothering me. I've never seen him so mad. I just hate that I was the cause of it."
"Ah, don't beat yourself up." Rakeem gently patted his shoulder. "Aziz is just scared to lose you, that's all it is. You are his only child, after all."
The two finally stopped walking once they arrived in a hidden gorge.
"What are we doing here?" Divine asked Rakeem.
"This is where your father and I used to come to 'battle' each other when we were your age. Our mother hated when we would we would play fight in the house, so we would come out here and challenge one another to see who was the strongest." Rakeem chuckled lightly at the memory.
He looked down at his nephew with a grimacing smile. "And now it's your turn." He stated. "My brother won't have to worry so much about you if he's confident you can defend yourself during hard times. You do want to be as strong as him, don't you?"
"Of course!" Divine perked up with his eyes filling with joy.
Rakeem was internally rejoicing, knowing that the young boy was so naïve and easy to manipulate.
"Great. I'll be right back with your opponent. You'll probably even make another friend after today, other than that Oshun." He turned on heels and walked off while Divine practiced his fighting skills by throwing jabs at the air.
Rakeem's eyes slowly emerged above him, spotting Vitani at the top of the cliff with the hood of her cloak thrown over her head. He sent a head nod her way and continued to walk out of the gorge.
Vitani looked behind her, where Luca and Rocco were standing with two cages filled with crows. She went over to Rocco's cage and unlocked it. "Fly down to the boy." She spoke lowly to the vicious birds before stepping out of the way and watching them leave the cage in a hurry.
She did the same with Luca's cage and soon, the three vampires stood at the edge of the cliff with their eyes glued on Divine, who struggled terribly to fight the crows off.
Back at the palace, Aziz was in the middle of handling his royal duties when he was suddenly interrupted by a 'distraught' Rakeem.
"Aziz, hurry! Man-eating crows are attacking Divine in the gorge!"
"What?!" Aziz stood up from his seat and sprinted out of the palace.
The brothers ran as fast as they could to save Divine. The king soon spotted his son and the deadly birds creating multiple wounds on his small body. "I'm coming, son! Hang on!" He shouted, hoping to give Divine some sort of relief by hearing his voice.
Aziz slid down the cliff without a care in the world about injuring himself. He bolted over to where Divine was, smacking a few birds out the way. He got a hold of Divine, swiftly picking him up and bringing him to the side of the cliff.
"Climb up." The king instructed as the birds were now attacking him.
Divine frantically shook his head. "But father-"
"Climb up, Divine!" Aziz demanded one last time as he swatted the crows away.
Divine did as told and began to climb his way to the top off the cliff. His father attempted to follow behind but the crows continued to take bites out of his body. He suddenly lost grip while climbing and fell back on to the ground. Divine glanced back down behind him, with his eyes widening.
"Father!" He cried out while the birds were crowded around his father's weakening body.
Aziz kept up a good fight as he tried to crawl backwards and maneuver away from the crows. He soon backed up into a figure that was hidden behind a large stone. He looked up behind him, seeing his brother now dressed in an all black cloak with the hood over his head.
"Rakeem." Aziz breathlessly called his brother's name as he attempted to stand up.
Rakeem squatted down, placing both of his arms under Aziz's underarms to lift up his bloody body. He quickly slid out a knife from his right sleeve while the birds continued to pick at the king's skin.
"Long... live... the king." Rakeem chanted quietly in his brother's ear before stabbing the knife in his back, turning it left and right a few times before pulling it out.
Rakeem threw his body away from him and stormed off, allowing the crows to enjoy their feast.
Divine rushed down the cliff, picking up a few medium sized stones along the way and ran towards his father. "Get away from him!" He dashed the stones at the birds, and continued to do so until they finally flew away.
He brought his focus on to his father, who was laid out in front of him with blood pouring from his arms and a huge puddle forming on the ground from his back. Of course unbeknownst to Divine, he did not know the actual cause of the wound from his back. As far he as knew, it was the vicious crows that did all of this.
"Father, please wake up." Divine fell to his knees with tears forming in his eyes. "Please. You're supposed to be strong, remember?"
"And indeed, he was." Rakeem appeared out of nowhere, no longer wearing the black cloak. "You see what you've done, Divine?"
Divine wiped his tears and sniffled. "What?" He looked up worriedly at his uncle. "W-what did I do?"
"You killed him!" Rakeem yelled, causing Divine to jump. "Had you not been playing around with animals and just stayed put like I told you, none of this would have heppened."
"No." Divine shook his head and got up. "I-I didn't mean to, I promise! I was waiting and the crows just came-"
"Shhhh." Rakeem held up his index finger. "What's done is done."
"But-"
"You know what you have to do now?" Rakeem questioned, putting his finger down and arm back to his side. Divine stood there quietly while tears continued to roll down his face as his breathing became more intense.
Rakeem bent down to his nephew's ear level. "Run."
"No. Why?" Divine whimpered.
"Do you know what everyone is going to say once they find out the prince killed their beloved king? They will never forgive you. Oh and your mother. Let's not forget your dearest mother. She will never be able to look at you the same. So you better run now, Divine. Run away, as far as you can!" Rakeem demanded while Divine began to back up away from him.
"And don't come back."
That was the last time Queen Sarabi, Oshun, Horus, the people of Egypt, and Rakeem seen or heard from Prince Divine.
For now, anyway.
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