Kush was up that night, walking up to a mirror he saw his reflection and thought “Did I grow taller?? Was it during the time I was in the black pod like thing? Sigh…” this was the first time since the tortoise episode that he got a good look at himself. Reminiscing about today, he could not fall asleep, so he wanted to visit the beach, he felt better whenever he was near water. Heading out, axe in hand, he realized again the lack of people which was weird for what should have been a large city.

Walking up close to the beach he found a spot near the ocean and peered into the murky darkness of the ocean, thinking about his family. This was his first quiet time alone and now that he realised he might not see them for a long time he missed them “Sigh… the restaurant food doesn’t seem as good as dad’s barbecue”. He brought out a packet of chips and grumbling “the shopkeepers here are looting people in broad day light, how can a 300 gm packet of chips cost a whole swarna coin. Fucking thieves!!”

“Son; it’s not their fault for selling these things to you at such a high price” Kush turned to look at the old man with greying white hair sitting there like him who had just spoken up. “Yeah, I know… still it pisses me off” replied Kush offering the old man some of his chips. The old man was looked at the pack of chips and then at Kush and then at the bag of chips in his hand and then back at Kush; he then took a few and started eating the same. “Say old man… I have heard of the condition of this island…” he said looking at the man “you look like you are a well off person” Kush pointing towards the gold the man was wearing “Why do you stick around this country when you know you are doomed? Do you have major capital investment? Know some secret which others don’t know? Expecting a bailout from some other country?”. He asked half expecting the old man to not answer or ignore him entirely, but the old man looked at him, his blue sapphire eyes containing not even a shred of doubt or cowardice. He said with mirth in his voice “I had a friend who lived here, he loved this country more than his own life…”.

“So you trying to save this country for him or something?” asked Kush

“That too and for his daughter as well. He raised her up like a princess, the apple of his eye. She really loves this kingdom and says she will not let anything happen to it… heh… heh… kids these days… Sigh… the kid she had to grow up a bit faster than rest of her peers” now a bit of regret in his eyes

“??” Kush “You seem to love this kid a lot” said Kush trying to diffuse the tense atmosphere.

The greying haired man looked towards the ocean now, as if ignoring Kush entirely, then after brief pause “My son and her are the only thing I live for now”

He then lost himself into reminiscing his past…

In this memory of his there was a bare chested handsome man, he was tall about 6 feet in height, fair skin golden hair. He was not adorned with any jewellery, in his hand was a short sword. The man was in a duel with a burly man, who had a long sword in his hand. The burly man too was fair skinned, huge muscles, the length of his blunt sword was about 2 m, seemed more like a club than a sword, each swing would take him straying with the swing if he did not hit anything. The burly man was almost as tall as the sword. The bare chested man kept on dodging the burly man’s sword, by the breadth of his hair, with each swing the burly man thought he got his opponent but each time he swung the opponent moved at the last minute. They were polar opposites of each other, one performed the most minimum of movements and the other had tremendously wild swings, when the first moved even the leaves in air next to him did not move from his path and each of other man’s swings would send winds capable of uprooting trees. But the bare chested person never attacked the burly person even when he was open. He just stood there; his sword in his hand and his other hand behind his back. After missing the umpteenth time, the burly person smashed his sword on the ground in a hissy fit and then sat down, crossed his arm in front of him, puffed his face and looked the other way from the bare chested person, like spoiled child in anger. The bare chested person them came up to him and put his hand on his shoulder “Cmon Brutus, lets back home, it’s time for dinner anyway” saying so he extended his hand to Brutus in a gesture to help him stand up.

Like a spoiled child Brutus harrumphed at the gesture, turned his neck to look in another direction and kept mum.

“Cmon dude, mom said she would be preparing something special for the two us”

“Hmph, you always say such things to assuage me. I don’t want to talk to you”

Just as they were talking, in came another young man, dressed in formal wear, adorned with clothes and jewellery befitting a noble. His sapphire blue eyes looked peaceful and calm like an ocean, when he approached them and saw the condition of the clearing where they fought, realization dawned on him about what could have happened here, he lost all the calm in his eyes. His eyes squinting, teeth gritting, anger replacing all possible emotions in him. He hurled his fist at the two men getting them square in their face “You two idiots are the princes of our country, why the fuck would you be using weapons against each other and from what I can see, you did not seem to even hold back”

Both people who were hit stared at the new entrant like idiots, “You know Marcus, you are not supposed to hit princes as well” said bare chested person to which Marcus replied with gritting teeth “I know prince Julius, but I really wanted to smack you today”

“Hmph, you really believe if brother would not have wanted, you even would have been able to touch a hair on his head?” said Brutus

“Hmph” replied Marcus annoyed by the obvious being pointed out and sat on the ground facing in the direction opposite to Brutus.

Julius on seeing this started laughing “Heehee hahahahaha”

“oi… old man. You ok there?” asked Kush but got no response

“Oi… old uncle you fine in there???” he asked again

“You are kinda rude, shutting up like that, considering you were the one who started the conversation…” said Kush before shutting-up, standing from his spot on the beach and dusted off his clothes and travelled back to his room.

“People in this country are like fanatics.” It was already past mid night and there was almost nothing to Kush them went off to sleep.

‘Knock, knock’ came of the sound of the knocking on his gate. He was asleep and ignored the knock on the door. Door was knocked again ‘Knock knock’ Kush once again ignored it and continued his slumber. After 10 secs the door was slammed down ‘BAM’. Kush tried to leap up from his bed to grab his axe when suddenly a dark shadow flew in and made the distance from the door to the Kush, before Kush could even lift his torso off his mattress. Kush saw his neck in the hands of his assailant who was straddling him in her long cocoa brown legs around his broad chest and her ass on the his powerful abs with nary a fabric to cloth between them. She was wearing a cloth similar to what she had yesterday only it was golden today. Kush held his fist back when he realized who it was. Tara said “The next time you don’t open the door when I knock, I wont stop with hands around your neck”

Kush didn’t give overt reaction to the intruders and said “Hi, please take a seat” to the second person to have entered the room.

She was like angel descended; the golden hair, fair skin, voluptuous breasts, covered solely by means of two bands running from behind her neck to the breasts, then were tied behind back. Her stomach was naked and she wore a form fitting skirt so short that they extended a little below her butt. Kush tried not to stare.

After she took a seat in one of the chairs of the room, Tara got up from her position on his torso and took a seat next to her and said “This here is my friend, Sylvia Rheinland queen of Bhasmachal, slayer of foes and the one who survived”

Kush on realizing who she was got up from his bed and said “I am sorry I have not been taught how to behave in presence of royalty, please excuse me for my indiscretion”

Both Tara and Sylivia were surprised at the reaction and Tara asked “You are not surprised that my friend is the queen?”

“Well… the things Tara was talking about weren’t mundane things like scarcity of food or such things. They were about trade, fiscal things… so I thought your friend must have been a noble. Though I did not expect her to be the queen”

Sylvie thought to herself “Tara??” but did not talk.

“Ma’am please educate me how I should address you”

“Puh…” Tara snubbed her laugh at the overtly respectful way Kush was talking to her.

Sylvia too a little embarrassed did not let the topic continue “Please… I am here to request for your help. Hence please call me Sylvie”

Kush relaxed a bit and noticed he was a bit under dressed for his guest “Please excuse me for a moment” he said and changed in his bathroom and came back.

“Please tell me” he said “I never turn down a request for help” he said taking a seat so that he facing the two beauties.

“Before what I ask of you, please listen to the recent history of our country”

Kush nodded in acknowledgement and Sylvie began her story “Tara told she has explained to you our current condition”

Kush nodded

Sylvie nodded and continued “The previous king of Bhasmachal was my father Julius Rhienland. He was a king liked by all and rightly so, for even when we prosperous he never let the kingdom stagnate. Even though he had many able ministers like uncle Marcus and others, he was innovative in his thinking. Example he was the one who came up with the idea of interconnection of ocean on different end using canals” A small smile full of pride appeared in her beautiful face accompanied by melancholic eyes filled with longing. The view was enough to tear through a person’s heart.

“On the day of his coronation his father August Rhienland stepped down from the throne…

“I August Rhienland am really proud to announce to you that my son Julius will assume the position as the king of the Bhasmachal in my stead, I have faith in my son that he will take our kingdom to new heights… cough… cough… cough…” he started coughing loudly Julius stepped up to him and supported him and laid him down on his bed comfortably. The gathering of ministers that day like most days at the time was held in the chambers of the king. Though a lot smaller than court, seats were arranged for everybody. The king in his later years at the time, suffered a major injury to his lungs fending off the galleys of pirates in the Sarayu Ocean. The attack was laced with poison of highest calibre. One of the few mistakes the king made in his life was not getting himself checked by the physician and simply took the regeneration potion to fix his wounds up. Over the next few months, he developed no symptoms and continued the governance well. The first fishing trip since fending off the pirates, during first exertion he made, he was exhausted beyond reckoning, panting like a dog on all his four, his face pale gasping for oxygen as if trapped in a tank of carbon-mono-oxide. He was rapidly breathing so after an initial diagnosis, the doctors use milk of poppy to knock him out and cut him open and part his rib cage. The first thing that assailed them was a pungent terrible smell, the insides of a human smell really bad but this was unbearable, it was like death and decay had filled the atmosphere. When the chief doctor, saw it he surprised beyond measures. The only reason the king did not feel it before was because he did not have to exert at all, his cultivation level made it so that no symptoms were visible before the king reached this stage. It was really weird, the only source of poison could have been the pirate attack, but how could a pirate have a poison which could go undetected for so long? how could a pirate have a poison potent enough to damage someone who has the cultivation level of the king. It was really weird to say the least. The physicians then declared, that even the best of the currently known concoctions couldn’t save the king and too much tissue around the lung has decayed to warrant a transplant. The king on realizing that he did not have long to live became a despondent. He should have been able to enjoy another hundred years easily had it not been for this poison, but such was his fate. Seeing that he had but a few years to live he trained Julius to be his successor even more desperately. Julius was already a graduate of Nalanda Uni, smart and fierce. His strength was unmatched among his peers and even in the older generation very few could out-class him. The king over a period of time, regained clarity in his mind and accepted his fate. Not long after the diagnosis, the king found himself unable to leave his bed and was living on pain killers and suppressants for his symptoms. While all of this was happening Julius fell in love with and married a common farm girl.

Julius on taking his throne re-shuffled the ministers of the court, making a young Marcus the head of his cabinet of ministers and Brutus his younger brother the minister of finance among other reshuffles. Though the ones who lost their positions were dissatisfied with the decision and wanted to revolt, but Julius’s popularity and successive years of his rule gave them no scope for retaliating against him in any way. Julius later had a child at a young age, a beautiful daughter he named Sylvia. Due to his awe inspiring popularity and their similar looks, people started referring to Sylvie as little Julius or Julia. It was a cute and happy life. Julius was popular even in world forums and never delayed his tribute to the parent nation of Bharat. The king of Nanda dynasty, the ruler of Bharat acknowledged his governance and held his advice in running his own nation in high esteem. Such was the comradery between them that the worldwide phenomenon of the allotment houses being built for the poor, Bhasmachal was one of the first few vassal kingdoms to get it.