Golden Storms | #Wattys2020

5. I N T I Z A A R

There are times when you feel you are turning into stone. Sinking into the depths of your thoughts, hurting at the impossibility of that life which you yearn for. Bringing back a lost soul. Requiting unrequited love. Whatever it may be, such is the tragedy of a sacrifice that you understood you had to make.

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Even as the day brightens I feel that the world is still as bleak and dark as a winter night. My senses extend to the blood of my enemies but never to my soul. I have won the battle against my very heart and now it is dormant, devoid of the emotions of light: love, happiness, joy. There is nothing I fear. At least, not until now.

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"You were born into what was once a mighty kingdom ya Falaq Aulaad-e-Khalifa. It is still mighty today, but lacks the greatness it was once known for. The city wells in despair that a lack of faith brings. Their are strange toxins the Tridarians are fed, and it keeps them subdued and depressed. Any hint of rebellion is crushed within seconds. The disparity between the average man and the eleven royal families is larger than can be filled.

Long before you were born, even before my birth or the birth of my brothers, Tridari's century old rule under the House of Bakhtiar was overturned by Tawil Akram, the first born of the generation of the House of Akram. Tawil had been sent to the Persian lands for his education. He had returned a Hashshashin (assassin) blood thirsty and hungry for control.

When Tawil overthrew Sultan Bakhtiar he made sure to finish all of his kin. And so Tridari's twelve ruling Houses became eleven in just a matter of few horrendous days. This sent a ripple of horror throughout the rest, and before they knew it Tawil was too strong to be resisted.

Tawil began the tradition of sending firstborns males abroad to learn the vile arts of whom he was a master. The firstborns of the noble families were princes who would lead the regiments, while the highly skilled were their Right Hands. A more well known name for them perhaps in these parts is Generals.

The firstborns returned and taught the next cohort, on and on until Tridari's royal armies and navy was replaced with an army made of nightmarish realities. Tawil ordered his new army to spread terror across the lands surrounding his kingdom. And spread terror they did. Blood soaked the soils of the middle eastern lands. The blood even reached our wells, tainting the water a sickening colour.

I was unfortunate enough to become the first born of my family. Though we were not nobles, we were respected for the men in my family were great warriors, their skill the pride of the Hashshashin Army. When I attained manhood, I too was held along those distinguished warriors.

I was made Right Hand to His Lordship, your father when Tawil's heir, the now king, Haroun decided to launch his first conquest. Your father and I won many battles side by side, and we quickly gained recognition and respect within the wretched courts.

His Lordship had always been troubled by the darkness that had settled in Tridari. The noble families had converged to Haroun and his father with utmost loyalty- after all, under their reign they were permitted to take part in haram activities without reprehension, so long as they remained loyal- so loyal they remained. Their sons became Hashshashin soldiers and their daughters married the many princes of the Houses, and so Tawil and his son had ground their reign in iron.

You remember I mentioned the tradition of sending first borns abroad. Soon after the army had been created Tawil put a halt to this practice, fearing spies and disloyalty. Long after Tawil had passed and well into Haroun's reign, your father proposed this idea once more, using his respect as leverage. He put forth the proposition before the court in the most eloquent manner. He said they were losing the essence of the assassin arts, and that the royals ought to be more skilled lest there be any simmer of revolution. Haroun liked the idea and ordered that each royal family send forth an untrained son. Of the eleven families, seven sent forth a child. Four did not, as they did not have untrained children or daughters. They were the Houses of Akram, Hammad, Hashmi and Ibrahim.