The King's Game

“The king is a coward!”, people of the empire shouted as they mourn the loss of the empire’s hero, Uqueion. The king prances back and forth inside his office, biting his nail.

“Your majesty, we need to appease the people’s concerns,” the king’s advisor, Ruswer, begged. “Ruswer, if my tyranny is the only key for this nation to prosper. I’d gladly offer myself up,” the king stated.

“But ignoring the people will-,” Ruswer was stopped by the king. “I’m gonna declare war with Trulenton,” the king demanded stubbornly.

“We can’t! Your majesty, our kingdom will perish!”, Ruswer cried out. “Ruswer, Ashquin is my kingdom’s name. I threw away who I was decades ago, I have a plan so I demand you, as king, to follow me,” he spoke loudly as he sat down.

“I do not have my own name, I am my kingdom and my kingdom is my people,” the king reminded himself. “Your majesty, our people will die,” Ruswer intervened once again.

“Do you not trust me? Ruswer?”, the king demanded an answer. Ruswer’s head hung low, “I do, your majesty,” it was the first time he’d ever felt defeated.

“This is the only way, I must avenge my people,” the king chanted again and again as he picked up the king’s chess piece. He abhorred chess, he didn’t like how the king wasn’t able to move more than what the queen was allowed to move. Because of this, he never took in a queen.

He is the sole king without a queen, with an heir born out of a one night stand. He was known as a heartless and careless king, the people called him a monster and demanded the empire’s hero to become king.

And now the hero had died, he was the king’s best friend. The king never felt jealous of his achievements, the empire’s hero was the only person to know the king’s real name besides the late king and queen.

The king was called a tyrant, the worst king of them all. He was ruthless in his decision-making but never tolerated injustice, this was the reason the people of lower standing were living better lives. This, however, was not liked by the nobles.

Nobles worked day and night, tarnishing the king’s royal reputation. He was previously accused of committing acts of sodomy with the empire’s hero, killing his own parents and even usurping the royal throne.

The king didn’t care, he wanted what’s best for the people. However, one decision was the root of what was happening right now. The noblemen wanted more than what they were getting. The trade between a neighboring country, Trulenton, was deemed unsatisfactory by the noble faction.

This resulted in a civil war with the said neighboring country, causing them to shut off trading completely, blocking off the river of Ghure. This was the empire’s only source of raw materials especially for their crops. The empire’s hero was furious and asked permission from the king to personally visit the neighboring country.

The king was reluctant, but eventually agreed. This was something he’d regretted, his only confidant had died, he felt empty. That’s when he decided, he’ll work on never regretting decisions he has made. This caused a headstrong decision of waging war with Trulenton.

“The people are being starved, while the noblemen are sitting at home eating just fine,” the king stated with immense anger. “I will ruin this system,” he promised to himself.

A few days later, the king announced to the people about declaring war against the neighboring country. The people were not happy, to say the least. They begged and cried out, bruising their news and bumping their heads to the ground.

“We are all going to die!” ”The king has no mercy for us!” “Our people are starving!”, these were only a few of the people’s cries. The king ignored them, he knew this was wrong, he knew his beloved people could possibly die, but he was already set on this.

“Your majesty!”, Ruswer cried out to the king as the king just ignored him. “Train all the soldiers we have and give our soldiers the best armors and weapons we have,” he told the general as he gave him his order on paper.

“Your majesty, we need food,” the general reminded the king. The king looked at Ruswer, “You, sell all valuables here and get food for the soliders,” he ordered nonchalantly. ‘The king has lost it’, Ruswer thought.

The king continued drowning himself with documents and books, all in relation to war. The king was serious, Ruswer just shook his head and headed out to do as he was tasked. What the king has ordered him was impossible, to say the least, selling royal properties is absolutely forbidden. Ruswer was forced to find a way out.

“Hyta is a good strategic wall for-,” the king mumbled to himself. “Your majesty,” the chancellor called out as he had been waiting for a little over two hours now. “The people are begging you to give them seeds for their crops, they have no more to eat, Your Majesty,” he informed the king.

“Oh, is that so? Don’t worry, after this war, we’re going to have some food to eat,” the king replied uninterested. The chancellor looked at him, concerned, “But-,” the king shushed him and ordered him to get out.

The king’s second advisor finally spoke out, “Your Majesty, we can’t continue on like this. Our kingdom will get conquered,” he spoke quietly. He knew he was an advisor that was put up for no purpose at all, a puppet position.

“Oh? Igor, you were there?”, the king was shocked, nevertheless, he ignored all what was just said. Igor frowned, he knew he was there as a puppet but he couldn’t get himself to watch their kingdom fall into ruin.

“Your Majesty-,” he called out but was interrupted, “Shut up Igor, I heard you loud and clear. Now don’t talk to me, I have a plan to make,” the king stubbornly refused any advice coming his way.

“Your Majesty, you know this is wrong. So why-?”, he was interrupted once again, “It’s not wrong Igor, this is vengeance for my people.” Igor sighed, “Your Majesty, this is not for the people. If I can be so impolite, I see this is only for Uqueion.”

The king frowned, “You, get out, now!”, he demanded. Igor flinched but stood his ground, “When did you get the confidence to disobey my orders?”, the king asked. “Your Majesty, I’ll help you,” Igor conceded to his king’s wishes and instead decided to take part in what he had been doing.

Days passed and the Trulenton has also prepared their forces, more efficiently than the kingdom of Ashquin. The king saw this and had become paranoid, “We need more-,” he stated as he pranced back and forth.

“We need more troops! Igor, tell them to recruit all commoners and all the first-born sons of the nobles,” he ordered Igor. “But Your Majesty, this can cause a coup de etat!”, he cried out begging the king to retreat his order.

“I don’t care, do it now! They can’t disobey this order, hunt everyone down!”, he ordered strongly. Igor sighed and ran out as he prepared to do his task. The king knew the risks, this wasn’t new to him. He promised to never regret and so he never did, he thought this would be what his late friend would want.

Another set of days passed, the king ordered for the troops to march towards the Ghure river, conquering the Hyta defense wall for them. This earned a big advantage for the empire, but the people were to hungry to celebrate this advantage. No one was happy, everybody had their sons, fathers and friends stolen as troops for the war.

The king knew of the noblemen’s plans for a coup de etat, so before they even got near the palace walls he set out to join the war. He was on the run, he knew he’d die but he never regretted a single order he set out.

Igor and Ruswer ended up coming with him, they knew that they’d die too. The moment he waged war and sparked the possibility of a coup de etat, they were doomed. Their master dies, they also offer up their own lives, this was the harsh reality of the kingdom.

The morale of the troops were no good at all, they were all depressed. They knew they had no chance, they were stripped away from their starving family and they were forced into harsh training. Even the soldier camp had lacking source of food.

The soldiers were lined up as their king stood in front of them, every one of them hated the king. The king was a real tyrant to them, a nightmare. The king held his head high, “If you don’t win, you’re going to die. So what other choice do you have really?”, the king asked the soldiers, he was mocking them. It was the opposite of raising their morale.

He was threatening. “I may be a tyrant, I may be the reason for the fall of this kingdom. But I have the power to demand all of you. Do your best and you can live,” he ended his speech with these last few sentences after threatening them for a whole 30-minute speech.

And so the war started, the king ordered 50 000 troops on the front line with the wall and 2 sections of 25 000 troops to infiltrate the kingdom. The king wanted to kill innocent people, it was evident. Everybody disapproved but was left with no choice.

The king was ruthless, he stationed all the noblemen’s son in front. Knowing all too well they would die first. He laughed maniacally as he thought of the noblemen’s lineage getting cut down. The commoners stayed behind the wall as a countermeasure for when the enemy’s troops killed all the noblemen in the front line.

The king hummed a tune as he waited for a while. Then 10 000 troops were left with no choice but to retreat, the king smiled. “10 000? That’s way too many,” he stood up and looked over the wall. “Archers! Shoot!”, he shouted.

He laughed as he saw horrified looks from the noblemen’s sons, “You guys lived a good life, I hope you get a better life next time.” The king laughed as all 10 000 troops died and so did the enemy’s troops. They never really did need to go beyond the wall.

The wall’s geographic location was enough for them to win, even with only a thousand troops. “The noble’s have perished! Let’s rebuild this nation!”, the king shouted enthusiastically as the people cheered, never really knowing what happened.

Suddenly, there was an arrow shooting right through his heart. He turned around to where the arrow was from and was looking at his one and only son, Elta. “My son,” he coughed out blood as he called out to his son.

“I win this one, dad,” Elta said as he smiled to his dying father. “You did, but I kinda predicted this,” the king laughed holding onto the wall. “What? No fair!”, he shouted and crossed his arms.

“I wanted this anyway, by the way I got rid of the noble’s faction for you,” he squeezed out the last air in him. “Yeah, I’ll become king dad,” he said as he held hands with his father.

“We have the same name, son,” the king finally revealed to his son what Elta was always curious of. Elta cried in his hands and nodded, “This was what you wanted dad.”

Elta then sat as the king of the kingdom with people of equal standing. The nation became famous for being a nation where anyone can prosper with only talent and determination. Elta worked on ending discrimination for the people.

His father had worked hard to get rid of the noble’s faction, the faction which opposed of Elta’s coronation as king with all their heart. The king loved Elta more than anything, he predicted what was all to come. But this wasn’t the previous king’s game.

This has always been Elta’s game.