ARC I: The Betrayal

All it takes for someone to betray you is a second, believe me, I know. And it's not about the time it takes, but the person who stabs you.

For me, it was my friend, a friend who I held as dear as my life.

As a king, the privilege of friendship is limited to a few. Unfortunately, I chose wrong. As I now wound up on the streets of hell.

A hell that I had built.

As I strove on the streets of Zoria, I saw a man near starvation approach me. I flinched as my mind filled with disgust as I was in the presence of a horrible, vile peasant. With a silent drought voice he asked, " Sir if you may, could you please give me some water?" I moved forward ignoring the peasant. By the 5th step, the peasant grabbed my leg begging, "Sir just one glass of water. Not for me but for my dying daughter." I kicked the man away violently as I yelled, "Move you wretched swine!" I understand as a king this was not the right thing to do, but now I was no longer the king I once was. The rules of this world had now seeped into me. I had to act as a noble to prevent the hostility of the crowd.

As a king, I never once was in the presence of a crowd. I inherited my father's throne with no obstacles in my way. Even towards the end of my rule, as my so called 'friend' kicked me out of my kingdom, I faced no disputes nor was I reprimanded for my actions. For I was king. The one and only true ruler. I never had the will to show my face in public and so I had nobles deal with the tedious ordeals. No one recognised me because of this reason. This now proved useful as the people had seen me walking out of the palace doors.

In a world where the king reigns supreme, only nobles had the rights to walk free. Looking at my clothes, none doubted that I was a noble. Thus, I walked as a free man. But now the question arised, what I was going to do? A king who had it all, did nothing for himself and nothing for his kingdom. I required nothing in life, yet now, circumstances brought me to a situation where I now have nothing. The only things I had now were the royal clothes I was wearing, the 5 gemstones embroidered on them and a ring valued in the thousands. Thus, I decided to walk in the nearest gem store, 7 kilometres away.

As I was walking in the store, I realised that my clothing was drenched in sweat. From my instinctive behaviour, I immediately demanded a fan. The storekeeper complied by bring a variety of exquisite fans to my table. I refused to buy the fan with the excuse that they weren't matching with my glamorous clothing. The storekeeper was a pompous yet tall man with black hair, short but neatly combed. He had a diamond ring in each finger and each ring was worth in the hundreds. Considering his attire, I decided to sell my ring to him in judgement of his wealth. He set the price equivalent to two thousand and I roared, "Two thousand! For two thousand I could have your head chopped!" I could tell he was displeased by this comment but was now more hospitable, "Surely sir. The price I was offering was merely a jest. How about ten thousand?" The actual price of the ring was fifteen thousand, but I could argue no further as I had no power backing my name anymore. I agreed with the price of ten thousand (which was enough to buy a mansion next to the palace). With this large amount of money, I then walked tirelessly to a merchant nearby to buy a few items.

The merchant was bulky with barbaric muscles and scars ranging over his body yet he wore the clothes of nobles. Astonished at the merchants sight I asked, "Aren't you a bit too strong to be a merchant?" He laughed with a deep voice, "I was a warrior when I was young. Now at the age of 50, I decided to settle down." Yet again I felt surprised to hear of the merchant's good health. He didn't look a day over 30. "I see. I am currently planning an expedition, so I was looking for a horse. Do you mind showing a few of your finest?" The old merchant replied, "Of course young man, I'll walk you right over to the stable beside the shop."

We walked into the stable and I noticed 12 horses, all well maintained and sturdy. "As a hobby, I ensure to take these horses on a ride so I assure you they are all well and fine", said the merchant. I quickly picked a dazzling white horse which was known to be calm yet fast as proclaimed by the merchant. "A fine choice by a fine man." As the merchant said these words, I headed out on the horse with a thank you in 50 gold coins to the merchant. With a ride and a bag of gold coins, I set out to rest in an inn as the first day of my journey to re achieving the throne had come to an end.