My Empire

Chapter 3: An Encounter

                                      ~~~Rei Rain of Viidakko~~~

The rain dripped through the leaves, evaporating in the humid, near boiling jungle heat into a fine mist that drifted through the boughs and branches, wreathing the port city in an aura of quiet and silence, everything muffled by the rain and everyone staying inside to avoid the wet.

I stopped at the trunk of a tree, peering down at the ground a ways down from me. The upper part of town, up in the trees with winding paths and bridges between the houses and the trees they were perched on, and the lower part of the town, at the base of the same trees, nestled by the river and along the scant open ground where the trees had been cleared to make space for the town, Havaseki. My town. My home, the city from where I ruled my empire.

We didn't seem to be in any danger of flooding from the rain; the river was still its normal size and not swollen with rainwater and spilling over its banks like it did sometimes when especially long rainstorms came through.

The bridges swayed, a sudden gust of wind blowing through, rattling the bridges and send solid drops of rain flying through the air, the cool water pebbling against my face and rolling down into my dark fur, making me shiver slightly at the cold it spread in contrast to the wet heat surrounding me.

Best to get inside. Even with my fur to protect me from any true cold, I didn't want to catch a cold or a fever from the cold rain and wind.

I carefully made my way to the closest bridge leading to the ground, pausing to check for wind gusts before walking down. I definitely did not want to be on the wood-and-rope bridge if a strong gust came and flipped it over, as it occasionally did when the winds were strong enough.

If the bridge was empty, it'd just roll back around to its normal shape once the wind died down, but if someone was on the bridge? The fall to the ground wasn't far enough to be completely fatal, it was rare that someone died from a fall, most just broke a bone or got a concussion from the drop. Still, I couldn't afford to get injured, not with everything I had to do and especially not with this new demon threat around.

When I reached the ground, I had to take shelter from the suddenly too powerful gust of wind and torrent of rain, much stronger than what was normal. That sort of weather was like a violent winter storm, not a summer rain shower. The base of the tree had a small door built into the massive trunk, and I ducked into the hollowed base of the tree, designed for extra storage but also making a great shelter from the rain. It was also a good hiding spot for children playing hiding games, I remembered with faint fondness for that long-ago time.

I hadn't been the one meant to take the throne, just one of many half children of the Rai, or king as the empires outside the jungle called it. I had a claim to the throne, but my older half-brother was the crown prince, raised for the role. However, when the time came for him to take the throne, he revealed his contempt for me and his other half-siblings and tried to do away with us. To protect both myself and my younger siblings Helmi, Eveliina, and Mika, I challenged him for the crown, as was my right as a royal and an heir to the throne.

He didn't like that, predictably. But he couldn't refuse the challenge, and I won the fight, making me the Rei of Viidakkokissan Valtakunta, or just Viidakko, as most outsiders shortened it to. After he lost, he had left Havaseki in disgrace, and no one had seen or heard of him since. I had won the crown fair and square against him, so I wasn't worried about him coming back to challenge me again, but I did keep an eye out in case he tried to get revenge for losing the throne to me.

Once the wind quieted, I slid out of the hollow and hurried to my home, opting to head to my personal home closer by instead of the official royal manor where the royal family lived and worked. Sometimes I just needed some peace and quiet, some time away from the bustle and politics of the throne and the court, and this was my 'home away from home' as they say.