There once was a land where dogs prosper. Hidden in place where reality is but a dream. Where lush valleys of food and honey, all the riches a dog or man could ever dream. Peace, tranquility, and brotherhood all across. Equality was their religion. No one was their leader. No one was their master.
Occasionally, the dogs were visited by people. They gave them safe passage to their lands if only they abide by their three rules. Take only what the lands can give and if it is what you need. The payment is our hapiness to be of help. And the most important rule of all: Never leave any of your belongings inside the land.
This formed a bond between men and the dogs. A brief period passed, the third rule was forgotten, and men started to build homes inside the land of the dogs. As a sign of brotherhood, the men and the dogs built a tower in the highest mountain of the land to solidify ties between them and swore an oath to keep the two rules the dogs, themselves made. The dogs didn't know it was a trick and greed overtook the men.
By the two rules, the men created a vile and cruel interpretation of it. They needed every bit of what the land can give and more. They built mines and transformed the beautiful paradise of the dogs into an industrial area and turned their dog brothers into slaves. Years passed and a third of the land became desolate and poor. The dogs that roamed freely across the once open feilds were captured or killed by the greedy men they thought of as brothers. While a few that survived took arms in rebellion.
Pretorian. The first king of the dogs led the armed struggle against the greedy king of men. The battles were endless as the dogs have the strength and speed of an animal, while the men had their weapons made from the lands the dogs themselves call home.
After years of strife, Pretorian and his allies won back the land that was took from them. He killed the king of men and took his leg bone as his spoils of war. With it he claimed rule and created a kingdom where only dogs would lead. He made sure to crush the other parts of the king of men's bones into ashes.
The family of the king of men pleaded to Pretorian to give back the only remains of their ancestor but he refused saying it was necessary to continue his rule. Pretorian banished the family out of the lands, fearing they would rise up against his kingdom. Before leaving the lands, the wife of the king of men placed a curse upon the bone. "Tis be the crown on ye head and sword through ye heart" she said then falling dead to consumate the curse.
Freedom has a price and eventhough the battle was won, the dogs never lived the same way as they have a decades ago. Now they are ruled by a king and freedom is but an illusion. No men were allowed in for they would corrupt the lands and brotherhood was just a fading word.
There were those who tried to bring back the past by destroying the bone only to be destroyed by their own greed. The king himself, fell ill to the chaos the kingdom has been wrapped in. After a few weeks of torment, he killed himself by laying down on his crown and letting it peirce through his heart. The dogs fought amongst themselves, deciding who would be the next king for King Pretorian did not have an heir.
Finally they decided on the next king but another killed him while he was given the symbol of kingdom's power. The same could be said of every king that succeeded King Pretorian. Until, the knights of the kingdom took the bone and hid it. Fearing it would be the end of the dog's inhabitants.
And as it was written in the early annals of the dog kingdom history, the bone never left the kingdom and its influence only grows stronger with each passing years. Guarded by the King's Knights, in a tower once made for the sake of peace. A symbol of the unquestionable rule of King Pretorian the first and the others after him who perished. They killed everyone who wanders too close at its gates and await the one who will break the curse and rid themselves of the evil that befallen their lands.
"So what happened to the kingdom of the dogs?" asked young Vladimir as he sat up from his bed and pulling down his covers. His eyes filled with awe from the tale that was told. His mother laughs as she gives him his worn down blanket that fell from his bed due to his enthusiasm.
"No one can tell, no one has ever been there for millenia. No one could even remeber where those lands are." she said as she pulls up the cover of his bed to his shoulders.
"Why don't they remember?" he asked. His eyes starting to fall but won't let them.
His mother got up and kissed him goodnight. "I'll tell you when you get older. For now sleep my little one."
"Mooom...." he said while yawning.
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Is the story true?"
