Chapter 1: - Allendrie: Loss of an Empire

The tutor droned on, but Allendrie didn't care. He never paid much attention to them anymore. After 14 years of strict schooling, he was just sick of it all. As the Prince-Heir of the Dewvron Empire, he had been trained since birth to become the next ruler, whether he liked it or not. Allendrie had always felt that his brother would make a better ruler than him.

At least, that's what he used to think. Over the past few months Selphrin, his brother, had been acting unusual. Allendrie had noticed that his brother had abandoned his old friends and taken up new ones with hardly any care at all.

Selphrin had also begun to slack on his duties. As Prince-General he controlled the small standing army that was kept by Dewvron in the unlikely event of an attack by a neighboring nation. This, of course, was fairly pointless, as Dewvron and it's neighbors, Omerta and Gerran, had been at peace for almost three hundred years. Nevertheless, a standing army had always been kept, and it was the job of the Prince-General and his officers to train and maintain this army.

For the two years since command had been given to Selphrin, there had been three generals who had loyally and intelligently helped command and train. These men were suddenly relieved of command and position and replaced by two men who came from near the border: A tall, cocky, blonde-haired man named Issin, and a slender, quiet man named Damien. The two had immediately set about recruiting villagers and expanding the ranks of the army.

A sharp jolt of pain across the back of Allendrie's hand brought him out of his thoughts. The tutor slipped his ruler back into his breast pocket. Allendrie rolled his eyes as the tutor turned his back and walked towards the blackboard. He pretended to work on the problem that was soon written on the board, figuring out how much longer he had until his classes would end for the day.

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Doskrin sat at a wide table, staring at the chessboard intently. He fell deep into his thoughts, searching out every possibilityfor his next move. He knew there was a victory there somewhere, if only he could find it. This continued for several minutes until an annoyed cough from his opponent brought him out of his trance. Finally noticing what he had been searching for, he made his move. Doskrin's opponent studied the move extremely carefully, then shook his head and sighed. "Checkmate."

Doskrin began to slowly return the granite and ivory pieces to their velvet pouches. "That's three losses in a row, Selphrin. I had hoped that the commander of my army would have a more... tactical mind." Doskrin signalled a servant to take the board and pieces away.

Selphrin laughed politely. "Perhaps I was merely distracted, Father. There has been something weighing on my mind that I need to discuss with you."

Doskrin absently drank from a glass of water brought to him by a servant. "What would that be, my son?"

"It is about your successor, father."

Doskrin's expression changed to anger the instant the words hit his ears. Standing, he placed his hands on the table and spoke with an edge to his voice. "Have we not talked of this before? The law states that Allendrie will be my successor, regardless of your feelings on the matter."

Selphrin rose and spoke with equal anger. "Why can the law not be changed? You have the power, father! You know that I would be a much better ruler than that pitiful little brat!"

"You are wrong on both counts, my son. Changing a centuries old law would create a rather large distrust of us amongst the people." Calming himself, Doskrin returned to his seat. "And though you do possess several of the qualities befitting a ruler, you lack compassion and personality. Your brother, despite all his flaws, is incredibly dependable and well liked by the people. You, on the other hand, have developed somewhat of a short fuse since your mother died."

Selphrin, enraged, slammed his fists on the table. "Foolishness! Pure and utter foolishness! You are the ruler! You command these people's lives! You should not care what they think of you!" Selphrin's eyes now flared with lust and rage. "They are nothing but pawns to you!"

Doskrin was on his feet in an instant. "And that belief is the main reason why you will never be Emperor! You have to learn that it is the people who control the government, not the other way around."

"You are wrong, Father!" Selphrin flared his cape behind him and turned towards the exit. As he reached the door, he turned his head and said one last thing before he left the room. "One day you will see that the truth of the world is that the strong rule and the weak serve. On that day you will wish that you were stronger."

Doskrin simply shook his head as Selphrin left. Rubbing his head in a futile attempt to rid himself of his headache, he took another drink. Looking up, he noticed the small team of servants standing with horrified and concerned expressions on their faces. "That boy will be the death of me."

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Hours later, Allendrie appeared in the dining hall to meet his father. Doskrin greeted his son with open arms. "Ah, there you are, my boy! And how were today's classes?"

Allendrie grimaced. "Annoying as usual, Father. It all seems so unnecessary."

Glowing with a warm smile, Doskrin put his arm around his son's shoulder. "It is unfortunately necessary. Don't lose hope, my boy. Your schooling will be complete in barely a month."

Allendrie scanned the room. "Where is Selphrin? Shouldn't he be here by now?"

His father shifted uncomfortably. "We had... a misunderstanding. I do not expect him to show up. We may as well start without him." They both were seated and were quickly waited on by servants, who brought them wine, bread, and cheese. Allendrie especially enjoyed the wine. He had only been allowed to drink it regularly for the past year, since he had turned 18. Previously, it had only been allowed on special occassions. He drank from his glass, enjoying the warmth in his throat as it went down.

As he set the glass down, his brother entered the room. What was strange, though, was that his generals were with him. They marched single file into the room, with Selphrin at the lead. Issin followed close behind, practically strutting. Damien followed slowly behind. As always, Damien carried his kama, a long-handled weapon similar to a sickle, at his belt.

Doskrin nodded to his son as he entered. "I had hoped you would show up, my boy. You should have told me we would be having guests for dinner."

Selphrin calmly walked towards his father. A servant accidentally stepped in his way and was thrown to the floor with a yell. Doskrin rose to confront his son. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I'm not here for dinner father. I'm here for something much more important. Your life." From a pocket inside his cape Selphrin produced a small pistol and aimed it point-blank at his father's head. "Now is when you learn that it is the strong who rule, and the weak who suffer." Selphrin took a second to savor the look of pure fear and confusion on his father's face, then pulled the trigger. The round tore through Doskrin's skull spraying blood and brain matter all about. Doskrin fell forward, his head slamming into the table. The white tablecloth quickly became red as the Emperor's heart beat for its last few seconds.

Allendrie almost fell out of his chair. Quickly standing, he tried to speak, but his mouth refused to work. He wanted to talk, wanted to know where his brother had gotten a piece of forbidden weaponry, wanted to ask him why he had done this, but all that came out was senseless stuttering. Selphrin took mild pleasure in this as he noticed that the guards stationed in the room were charging him. "Damien, guards. Issin, subdue Allendrie."

Damien's kama came forth in an instant. Charging forward, he caught the first opponent off guard as he was unsheathing his sword. A quick slash to the gut by Damien and he quickly found himself kneeling on the floor, attempting to keep his innards in.

Damien found the fighting stance of his next two opponents to be pitiful. Standing with a fairly solid stance, they held their swords with both hands near their upper bodies, leaving their legs exposed. The two guards rushed him stupidly. Damien blocked an overhead slash by the first with the lengthy handle of his weapon. The second attempted to take advantage of the situation by thrusting from Damien's left. Damien quickly rolled to his right, slashing out with his weapon at his first attacker and shearing off his left leg about six inches below the knee. The man fell to the ground screaming in pain.

With one annoyance out of the way, Damien now focused on the second. The guard was quickly joined by the fourth guard who had been posted. This man seemed to be having trouble removing his weapon from it's sheath. Damien ignored him and slashed downward and across at the other guard. The guard blocked this easily enough, but was too slow to react to the puch from Damien's left hand. It struck him in the face and knocked him to the floor. The kama quickly pierced his lung and he was soon choking on his own blood. Damien walked slowly towards the nlast guard standing. As he approached, the guard struggled harder and harder with his stuck weapon. Damien saw true fear in the guards eyes as he slit the man's throat. Finally, he returned to the one who's leg he had severed. A quick and powerful slice removed his head. All that was left was the servants.

As this was happening, Issin walked towards Allendrie. Grabbing two dinner knives off the table, Allendrie prepared to defend himself. Issin chuckled at this and held his hand out, as if grabbing something. There was a crackling sound through the air as a white blade quickly formed in Issin's hand. Issin charged with an overhead chop. Allendrie quickly rolled over the table putting some distance between him and Issin. Allendrie brought his hand back and, though he knew the knives were not weighted for it, he hurled one of the knives. Issin barely noticed in time and the blade grazed his right cheek, leaving a deep cut. Enraged, Issin leapt over the table and sliced down with all his strength. Allendrie instinctively raised his left arm to cover his body. The white blade severed Allendrie's arm cleanly just below the elbow and sent a wave of cold throughout his entire body.

Issin raised the blade for a killing blow, but just before he could strike, a hand grabbed his own and stopped him. "I said subdue, not kill. I want him alive." Selphrin walked to his brother's form. Allendrie looked up from the groung wearily. He took in a breath and tried to speak, but Selphrin kicked him in the stomach, taking his breath from him. "You little brat. I should kill you here and now. God knows, I've dreamed of killing you myself, but I think that life as an outcast will be a much more horrible fate." Allendrie tried once more to speak, but was once again assaulted in the same manner. The last thing he knew as unconsciousness took him was the horrible burning taste in his throat as he vomited.

Damien joined his two comrades after finishing off the servants. Selphrin nodded to him in satisfaction. "Damien, cauterize my brother's wound and give him a sword. Then leave him in the middle of the woods to the east of the city." Damien made a slight bow and set off to work. "Issin, inform the residents of the palace that an assassin entered the palace and killed my father and brother. Arrange a public annoucement by me to that effect. And find someone to clean up this mess." Selphrin headed. for his quarters to find a change of clothes. His father's blood had ruined the ones he was wearing.