He raised his head from the book in his hands; the sound of the giant bell ringing echoed through the Last stronghold as the realization went through his mind.

‘Three rang’ Gorbach thought, oddly calm as the bell went on and on, ‘Something happens to my father.’

He pressed his book on his bed; pulled open his curtain and let the afternoon light entered his bedchamber, and then stretched his own body to give it more possible movement.

“It seems that I had finally become the supreme leader,” Gorbach said out loud, a little disturbed for the nothingness he felt from his father's death.

There was a knock on the door, and Gorbach gave it permission to enter.

“Sir” The servant outside the door of his room said, all humbly “I don’t want to interrupt you, but, your father had…passed away.”

“Yeah, I had heard the bell.” Gorbach replied, “It is, quite hard to miss.”

“The council had also invited you to make an arrangement for your father’s funeral and your coronation.” The servant added.

“I suppose that is to be in order.” He replied, and looked at his current simple garb of black jeans, green jacket, and grey shirt. “Tell them that I will be in the council room in about half an hour.”

The servant nodded and retreated away “As the supreme leader command.”

‘I need to get used to that.’ Gorbach decided solemnly and went through his closet. He picked an outfit that was plain, yet fancy, which was preferred in a council meeting. The innermost was a green collar shirt with a black tie, covered by a black trench coat that only reached halfway to his thigh then again with black side cloak with gold inlaid, fastened together by his treasured silver medallion, for the pant he decided for a dark green trouser, inlaid with gold linen, coupled with black leather belt coupled with a silver buckle of a simple shape, and a pair of polished black leather shoe.

“This ought to do,” Gorbach said to himself, then instinctively reached onto his desk and grabbed a silver pin in the shape of a smashing fist, the symbol of the designated heir. But he suddenly realized that he wouldn’t be using it anymore.

‘I suppose I had to pin this on someone.’ He thought, it was the tradition to name one’s closest relative as the heir, but the problem was that…he didn’t really have any at the moment since he was, quite frankly, the last of his line. Gorbach sighed and slid the pin in his coat’s pocket, and then with one more check on his cloth, he stepped out of his bedchamber.

Another servant, a girl this time, greeted Gorbach in front of his cellar “Will the supreme leader be attending the council now?”

“In a moment” Gorbach replied, “Have servants moved my essential belonging to the leader’s chamber, have it done in two hours, and here.”

Gorbach handed his book to the female servant “Deliver this to the archiver, see whether or not they had its following volume, and make sure that it been made into a paper copy.”

She nodded “It will be as your leadership said.”

“One more thing” Gorbach continued, taking notice of her “You are new here, correct?”

The girl nodded, her long brown hair fluttered as she does “Yes, I had been picked to be a servant 2 years prior and had complete my training a month ago. I served at the Heart Holdfast now.”

“I see” Gorbach replied, slowly looking up and down her body “After you finish your tasks, go wash yourself and wait for me in the leader’s chamber tonight.”

She startled and backed away “Your leadership, I am only a servant; surely a courtesan is better for such…”

Gorbach gave her a devious smile “But no courtesans are like you, I wager.”

The servant girl blushed “If the supreme leader wishes it.”

“And see that no one sees you entering my cellar as well, it is best to keep it a secret.”

She nodded once again, all humbly, and Gorbach started his journey for the council room.

Waiting along the hallway was two royal guards; distinguish from the watchmen out in the city by the gold inlaid in their white body armor. The two saluted to Gorbach as he went passed, noticeably more stiff than the day before. So he told them to act normally and gestured them to follow.

The council room was quite a long walk from the part of the Last Stronghold Gorbach resided in, and it was no coincidence, though luckily to him this will be the last time he had to walk this path, as he would be sleeping in the leader’s chamber now, which if he remembered correctly, was about half a minute walk from the council room, and that was no coincidence either.

As they walked through the hallway of Heart Holdfast, Gorbach observed the place around him, long corridor with polished marble flooring and painted stone wall in the color of cream and gold, lit up by beautifully crafted chandleries hanging from the roof. There were a few windows too, made of stained glass and silver banded, giving the view of the courtyard outside the Last Stronghold. A ravishing place, and he owned it now. The thought put a smile on his face.

A lot of people passed by him, servants in their plain black drabbed, hurrying through the stronghold to run errands for such and such, royal guards in their white and gold armor, helmet, and solar gun, to keep the peace in the castle, courtesan in their colorful flowing fabric, giggling sweetly every time he went passed them, and last were nobles, cladded in expensive dresses and suits, made of velvet and silk, they were a selected group, the people who had proven their loyalty to the supreme leader through their action, and was given the hospitality of the Last Stronghold, for them and their children and grandchildren, to live a luxurious life inside the wall of the castle. Yet all four groups saluted to him all the same.

After halfway through his walk, Gorbach encountered a large balcony that gave had a nice view of place beyond the Last Stronghold’s wall, so he gave the order for the guards to stop, for he wished to take a long look to the city he would be ruling.

At the horizon, he could see the eighty feet concrete wall of the city, marking the reach of his dominion. Twelve spires created a glass circle that was the railroad system his ancestor, Maoss, ordered to be built, in front of the Last stronghold gate was the gathering yard, and through a large street, it met the trading square, which it split again into four more main roads, reaching for the three main gates that led outside the city, and dividing it in to many districts known today. He could saw the great building too, the grand church to his left, and in his right, the great barrack and the bump in the ground that was the execution pit. Though there was more beyond it that he controlled, the misery crossing, Adol’s dam, the farmland across the weeping rush and that odd mountain off to the west that was too far for anyone to properly control, this was all he ruled over.

“Everything you see, is our domain.” His father once told him; back when they were still on good terms. Gorbach nearly chuckled at the memory, the more appropriate line would be “Everything that is beyond that wall is a desolated wasteland, all you see here is our domain and that is all it is, lad.”

But unlike most things Gorbach didn’t like about his father, he couldn’t fault him for it. For all everyone knew, they were the only people left, and hundreds of years of sending out scouts around the land, they could not find any city that was not turned to ruin.

‘I look enough at the city, I think.’ Gorbach thought, always referring his dominion as ‘the city’, as it had no name, for there was no reason to differentiate it as there was no one else to compare to. He turned around and finally made his way to the council room.

Before the gold inlaid wooden door of the council room, Gorbach ordered the two men who followed him to stand guard outside, and he entered to meet his advisors.

“We have been waiting for you, the supreme leader.” Lord Corlius said, and saluted to him, the other two lords in the council room did the same.

“My apology, it seems that I had taken my sweet time walking here.”

“None need, your leadership.” Another advisor, Lord Rubos said, standing up, his grey cloak flustered when he did, “The council awaited your pleasure. We are all very sorry for your loss; it must be hard on you.”

“My father’s untimely death will grieve me till the rest of my day.” Gorbach lied, his voice had more sarcasm than he intended “Pray, how did he die?”

Lord Corlius sobbed, which would have felt genuine if Gorbach didn’t know that his tears were all fake, “I afraid the fate sees fit to give him a death no fit for the man like him. Supreme leader Musol was hosting his favorite courtesan alone in his cellar when he choked on his food and took his last breath.”

“The poor girl was terrified.” The last advisor, Ptis continued the story “And ran away to call for help, but alas, it was too late.”

“Such a terrible death for such a great man.” Lord Rubos finished sadly.

Gorbach nearly had to hold back his chuckle ‘He died as he lived, eating and whoring.’

“We can save the grieving for later, my good advisors.” Gorbach said, lied again at both part of the sentence “Let’s us discuss the matter at hand.”

Lord Rubos nodded, the thing that he did best “The supreme leader had decreed, and it is our duty to advise them.”

They sat down around the council table, a round wooden board with once again gold inlaid, carved with the scenery of the past supreme leaders in a commanding position. Gorbach looked at the three much older men around him.

‘A legacy of my father’ He thought, Gorbach would be fine with just the city, but he supposed that not everything would go the way he wanted.

“There is a lot to attend to, I believe.” Lord Corlius said, his golden teeth and bald head sparked up every time he opened his mouth, which Gorbach often found distracting “We must pick a proper uniform for our glorious leader Musol to be worn in his funeral.”

“He had always liked to wear his grey trench coat if I remember correctly.” Lord Rubos pointed out.

“Not to mention, we must arrange an escort for the hall of leaders, a large number of nobles will be wanting that honor, I would wager” Lord Corlius continued. “There is also the matter of picking the right men for your coordination and arranging the commons for the gathering as well. We had to rally up the courtesans too. The woman who tends to the leader’s need in his life must also tend to his need in his death.”

Lord Ptis nodded, drawing attention to his long hair and incredibly muscled built “They are a good lot, I will miss them gravely, especially that red hair one, Tristy, if I remember correctly.”

‘Is it her that you miss, or her cunt, sir?’ Gorbach thought Lord Ptis was known to enjoy hosting courtesans as much as his late father was.

“Let’s us rally them with the least force as possible.” Gorbach said instead “I had heard that there was quite a large problem on the courtesans when my uncle died.”

“There is, supreme leader.” Lord Ptis spoke “A few of them had tried to escape the stronghold in the guise of a servant, but we manage to capture all of them back before they passed the gate. Rounding them up peacefully is a perfect solution, your leadership.”

Gorbach nodded, he had planned for the courtesan as a whole in his mind, but sadly the many who had once laid with his father will have to reside in his father’s tomb for the time being.

He then noticed that the council room had fallen into a noticeable silence.

“Ahhh…” Lord Ptis exclaimed as he sipped the wine that the servant poured for him “Talking about past thing reminds me of Supreme Leader Musol. Do any of you remember all the grand decrees he made?”

“Do you all remember the ‘Yellow dawn’ Rebellion?” Lord Corlius spoke up “Near two thousand rebels unite at the Bleaked Mountain, the biggest one I ever seen. Luckily, there was a traitor in their rank, and he told the Supreme leader the rebel’s location. And a day later, the mountain was decimated by a raining explosive ordered by our glorious leader! Remember that, Lord Rubos?”

“I remember” He replied and smiled “I am that traitor, after all.”

All three of them laugh, while Gorbach sighed under his breath, old men loved to talk about the past.

“And that time…” Lord Rubos continued “Remember when a servant stole Leader Musol favorite wine glasses, the richly ornate one in the shape of a snarling wolf? He commanded for that servant is feed to the tiger, and afterward decree that all theft shall be answered with death henceforth.”

Lord Ptis smashed his wine cup on the table, laughing harder than before “I could still see the shock in the common’s eyes like it was yesterday!”

“To be true though…” Lord Rubos added, “The crime rate drop-down by nearly three quarters, so we are doing something right.”

Gorbach frowned, which none of the advisors didn’t seem to notice. ‘Drop by fear, the way it was for generations.’ Part of him thought, while the other part astonished on the sick enjoyment these people seemed to be currently having.

The council’s meeting went on for near two hours, of which time many preparations were made for the coming few weeks. In the end, the advisors bided their farewell and left to attend their own business, leaving Gorbach in the room, void of any company.

“A council of selfish, lickspittle and degenerated, and all of them an old head.” He said to himself, trailing his finger across the carved image of the council table, sighing down all along the way “I really really need to work on that.”

Being a supreme leader didn’t mean he had the full control, he had known that for quite a long time, there were still people he needed on side, plot he had to uncover or made, and major factor he needed to gain to advance politically, otherwise, he might found an assassin slipping into his room one night, the fate that a few of his predecessors had ended up with. One thing is clear now, achieving what he had vision will be a long process.

Gorbach raised his head, his eyes fixed on the large portrait of his father, drew on the time he recently took on the role of the supreme leader after his brother died without any children. Gorbach found it quite uncomfortable how much he and his father looked alike.

“I had never loved you, father.” Gorbach told the representation of his decreased forbear “But rest assure, your dominion is in good hands now, a better hands even. And changes…will be made.”