another conquered kingdom. More precisely, after looting it, he simply leveled the overseas kingdom to the ground, seemingly leaving no trace. Like Emperor Zhol did with Forsia once. When he returned after this war, the people in Illyrion greeted him again with cheers, but I’m not sure if they were the same cheers and ovations for victory as four years ago. Still, everyone unquestionably feared and respected him. This time, there was no festive celebration. And now, I am finally approaching my uncle, accompanied by guards, a couple of servants, and my chief teacher – Magister Lemna.
As I reach the gates, my teacher tells me not to contradict him under any circumstances, and the guards open the doors to the throne room. Before us stood military commanders and some wealthy citizens of the city. Perhaps they were engaged in an active dialogue with my uncle, but as soon as I entered, everyone fell silent. My uncle, the emperor, with a serious expression, surveyed these people, me, and those who came with me, and said, “Leave us!” It was amusing; everyone immediately disappeared, closing all doors behind them. Then I became a little scared and bewildered. There were too many thoughts in my head. And then he said, “What have they taught you while I was busy? Have you become strong?”
And I replied, “I was taught the art of war, sciences, and the basics of magic.”
He asked, “In what have you excelled?”
And I said, “I enjoy history and astrology.”
He responded, “I didn’t ask what you like. I asked, ‘What are you good at?’ ‘What are your accomplishments?’”
Out of confusion, all I could blurt out was, “Why did my parents die?” This question had haunted me for too long.
“Well, I see you were taught nothing, or you learned nothing,” he replied with a menacing tone, then rose from the throne and said, “I killed your father right here. And your mother… It seems she’s also dead, as there has been no news of her for a long time. But I didn’t see her corpse… Anyway, by my order, enough people throughout the empire were killed who could have helped her. They all went against the empire, against their own people – and paid for it with their lives. The entire empire was horrified. It’s a pity I personally couldn’t enjoy all those moments – I was busy with the war.”
By that moment, being a young boy, I was almost in tears. I knew the “great schism” didn’t happen for no reason, but part of me, due to my young age, tried to deny it. My worst suspicions turned out to be true. Emperor Megal, my uncle, was the murderer of my parents. It literally blinded my eyes. And rage overwhelmed me.
In anger, I grabbed the smallest sword from those displayed in the throne room for decoration. This sword was as long as my height. It was monstrously heavy to lift. Despite being a royal Raidarian and training with a sword since the age of five, swinging the sword towards my uncle was the most challenging sword swing of my life. I swung, and he drew his sword from the sheath behind his back, effortlessly parrying my strike. By that time, I had already heard about his excellent swordsmanship and his legendary sword – Dark Harvester. I never understood the point of naming swords. Childish amusement. Even in my childhood, I didn’t give them names. But some people do… Royals and nobles especially love it. I never understood that.
So, what am I talking about?.. He parried my strike and said, “They did teach you something after all…”
This only infuriated me more. I swung, trying to reach him with the sword somehow. Doing everything my combat mastery teacher – Master Chiron – taught me. But the Emperor-uncle again blocked my strike. I was nine, but I believed and desperately hoped that I could defeat a man who crushed kingdoms.
“I understand you; like no one else, you have the right to be angry with me, but I would recommend you to conserve your strength. You will have a chance to seek revenge…”
When he said that, I froze. Just stopped.
“I’ll tell you like it is… I wanted to kill you even in your infancy, but your father, with his last wish, decided to spare your life. Could I go against my brother’s last wish? I could! But I didn’t. Because it was the right thing to do. But I couldn’t just let you live… I still have many enemies. And these… enemies… crave to put someone else in my place as the ruler. I can understand them… but I won’t hand over my empire to them because they are not worthy of this empire, and if they are worthy, they’ll prove it… But they won’t, because the ruler of this empire is me. I will fight with you on the day you turn sixteen. You will be full of strength and energy, like me when I defeated my brother – your father. And if you study and train well, you will have a chance to defeat me. And if you win, you will seek revenge and become the ruler of all Raidarian lands, rightfully.”
“And what if I lose?” I asked, but he remained silent. I asked again, but he stayed silent again. With each new question about my potential defeat, I raised the tone of my speech until I started shouting, but he remained silent. In rage, I ran, took the sword with one hand by the hilt and with the other by the blade. The blade cut my hand to the bone, but I was too angry, and this anger extinguished all the physical pain I felt. I ran straight at him, the man who killed my mother and my father. In a leap, I tried to thrust the sword into his heart, as if it were a spear…
But he simply struck the nine-year-old boy with the blunt side of the sword, and I probably just flew in an unknown direction. And I woke up in the infirmary with a head injury and a white cloth bandage wrapped around my hand. Well, it was white until they wiped away all my blood.
It scared me a lot. I exerted all my efforts, and still couldn’t do anything. Ha-ha. Now, I look at it with a light touch of irony. That’s what gave me strength. It angered me. I no longer wanted to meet with my uncle. I just wanted to become stronger, so that when the time comes, I could defeat him and seek revenge. Despite everything.
I started studying everything with tripled strength. At the age of nine, I already knew quite a lot. Mathematics. Not that I was good at counting, but I understood the principles of this science perfectly. It developed in me areas of thinking that often lie dormant in people. History. Relying on the past experiences of anyone, I could learn something as good as if it had happened to me personally. Reading and languages allowed me to develop intellectually possibly more than anything else I studied. Philosophy. It helped me understand the world, answer questions that tormented me, but not all answers I could find only with its help. The art of warfare. All I understood was that it is an art that teaches you to take everything you know and use it skillfully against your enemy, whether your enemy is an inconspicuous person or a whole legion, a state, or a God. I don’t know about gods – I haven’t seen them – but it definitely worked against states. At least, judging by what the Raidarian history says. I’ll let you in on a secret – mostly, it’s about war. I studied everything bit by bit. Even things that wouldn’t necessarily help in a one-on-one battle with Megal. I knew you could never know what would be useful to you tomorrow. Astrology, alchemy, geography, and so on. I even studied magic, like many in Raidaria. Usually, they only study the basics, so they understand how to fight against it. Only a small part of basic knowledge. But I am the nephew of the emperor. It was my duty to learn everything about this, from small to great. Honestly, it was harder for me than for anyone else. I didn’t see the point in such a deep study, as throughout history, magic had only submitted to one Raidarian – General and Magister of Sciences named Basaro. But I studied everything, despite all the pain and suffering that studying magic caused me.
Now, knowledge of magic is gradually fading from my memory due to the lack of opportunity to apply
