The Emperor and the Servant: A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 2: The Empire

Previously: The story has begun, with a Hero’s birth and triumph. Now explore his Empire.

Main quote: “For Glory, For Liberty and For Empire!” (Imperial motto recited by Marcus)

  A storm was brewing. April 4, 1205 AD.

  Guarding the Palace could not be more pressing than it is now.

  The Emperor and the Princess join together in prayer. The Chapel was empty, as were the Royal Quarters. Outside, Proximo and the other servants mourn the deaths of their fellows killed in what became known as the Blood Raid. A total of fifteen people were killed by those mysterious intruders. Three servants were declared dead after a full day of treatment in the Palace Infirmary. They would join their two bond brothers in a funeral for the ten soldiers that guarded the Northern Gate with their lives.

  Marcus and Lync were among those who attended the wake. Their friends were the ones who died.

  The two young men were filled with so much grief and hate…that their nights became restless and they would often go out and stare at the moon, wondering why all these things had to happen in the moment when the Empire had reached the peak of prosperity and peace, when their lives would be at their most blissful. Christian watched these two men all throughout their ordeal for he felt responsible for not having acted sooner. He approached Marcus and nodded his head, signaling him to join him, leaving Lync alone.

  “Marcus, you have done well enough on your own. You saved the Princess and…”

  “I did nothing. I was too foolish, Constantine. I just…don’t have the real power to do anything.”

  “Yes you do. Your desire to save lives is more than enough resolve to get you this strength. Come.”

  Later, they stood on that old arena, where two shadows danced…

  They were the shadows. They put on their masks and clashed once again.

  After dancing with swords, they sheathed them for long-ranged combat, throwing knives, shuriken and oddly, kitchen utensils, at one another. Discarding this for three minutes of a clear stalemate, they returned to their swords, this time wielding one per hand. They showed great skill in dual weapons.

  “Your swordsmanship has improved to a point but…” Christian overwhelms the young man with superior strength and puts him on his knees. “Your resolve has wavered. Stand up!” But the older man was too strong for him. Marcus struggles to stand up. He looks at a butterfly passing by him. It was the same one that caught his attention and froze him in that one moment, the same moment when the Princess bumped into him after tripping on a small rock. When his eyes moved to what was really in front of him, he took the girl with his strong arm before she could fall down on her face. That same strength…was what he displayed when he rescued her. Realizing this now, he decides to push on and push on he did, with his strong right arm pressing his blade towards Christian and overwhelming him, putting him down. His two blades fall to the ground nearly broken after that. Marcus points his swords at him. Christian takes off his mask, admitting defeat…for the first time. “We have done it. Training is over for today.”

  Night came. Birds fly away from the arena…but a strong wind moves them northeast towards an ancient castle, dark and cold, located in a swamp where death played its song. Skeletons of men and beasts were to be found in this murky, desolate wasteland where fog and mud were everywhere.

  Then the sounds of horse hooves shake the ground. Those were black horses. And their riders were dark.

  They enter the creepy and ancient castle with bags that brought light into this damp and damned place.