Chapter 9

"They want all of our lands west of the Rutguard river." Poh tells Samasan

"That bastard will pay for his treason." Jutwaso growls.

"I am a fool for not seeing this before." Samasan chides himself.

"What are we going to do about it?" Poh asks.

"I doubt Ref Fara will release our New Iridan citizens back to us." Samasan sighs. "They'll likely become slaves, but if we fight..."

"If we fight, Farans will regret the day they are born." Jutwaso states.

"Can the dead have regrets?" Emperor Samasan asks.

"We'll cut out their tongues to keep them from speaking to the gods." Jutwaso brandishes her knife.

"We will not." Samasan speaks with authority.

"What is your plan, Emperor?" Poh asks.

Samasan slips deep into thought, while chewing on his cheek like it's somna. He paces around the throne while staring at his golden scepter.

"Heavy is the crown." Samasan sighs.

"We destroyed the crown." Poh tells him.

"It's just a saying from my lands." He tells Poh.

"You never tell us where you're from." Poh retorts.

"I come from the far lands. Is that not enough?" Emperor Samasan asks him.

"Why won't you say the name of those lands?" Poh questions Samasan.

"Because..." he sighs. "I don't know if it still exists. It's so far away, the memory feels like a dream now."

"We need to act quickly against Fara." Jutwaso brings Samasan back to reality.

"A punishment is necessary." Poh adds.

Samasan holds his hands over his guts in pause.

"Raise the war flags." he commands Jutwaso.

The Xaji war wasn't simple, like Emperor Samasan had hoped. The fewest casualties possible was planned for, and now Ref Fara was spitting in Samasan's face. The New Iridan generals in Fara were taken as prisoners of war. Samasan felt death was always looming in his shadow, and slept with many candles burning. Somna could treat insomnia, but not the night terrors of countlesss deaths. Emperor Samasan called for Jutwaso late in the night.

"What is it, my Emperor?"

"These are the lands we are claiming from Fara." Samasan hands Jutwaso a map.

"You're leaving them alone?" Jutwaso questions his decision.

"No. We are taking Xaj for New Irida, our lands west of Rutguard back, and no prisoners or slaves."

"How will we recover war costs without slaves or invasion?" She asks him.

"Ref Fara will kneel before me, or die with his nation." Samasan scowls. "We are cutting them off at the quick."

The New Iridan lands and Xaj are taken by the New Irida Empire, but no soldier treads into Fara. No one from Fara is allowed entry into New Irida, nor the annexed lands of Xaj. Jutwaso's soldiers kill everyone who tries to cross the Faran border. Soldiers, refugees, and merchants all fall to the sword. No mercy is shown to those whom enter the no mans land. The foolish and unlucky are burned in piles, and their bones are crushed for fertilizer.

King Ref Fara was expecting an easy win against Samasan, who was rumored to hate war at all costs. Few Faran soldiers had died in against the New Irida Empire, and only those who've attempted invasion into New Iridan claimed lands were killed. The most difficult part of fighting the New Iridan Empire for King Ref Fara was the trade embargo. No merchants from the former Xaj nor New Iridan Empire would go into Fara. They would be killed if they tried, and at worst the Piron trade to the south has little reason to enter Fara.

Piron has chosen to play a neutral position in the war between Fara, and the New Iridan Empire. Although the empire accounts for a major proportion of their trades, Piron has many other nations to trade with across the Sea of Shadows. The nation of Fara has begun to starve after one hundred days. All resources given to King Ref Fara by Emperor Samasan had been used up, and the crops in Fara haven't yielded enough to feed its citizens. The invasion of a large number of giant rats from Xaj into Fara have decimated crops.

"Is this the wrath of the Reaper?" King Ref Fara asks himself.

"Perhaps we can ask for leniency." His aide tries to comfort the king.

"I have mistaken the Reaper for a coward." Ref Fara laments.

"How will we surrender?" The aide asks.

"There is no way to surrender." Ref Fara sighs. "We are not at war with the Empire. Emperor Samasan has already released my nation, and only kills my people that invade his land. He is claiming war with Xaj, and preventing all interaction with Fara. How can he claim to be at war with a nation he only sends gifts to?"

"When will we send a diplomat to the empire?" the aide questions his king.

"I've already sent thirteen, and none have yet to return." The king hunches in his throne.

"The Empire of New Irida has truly abandoned Fara?"

King Ref Fara doesn't lift his gaze from the floor.

"We can only cull the weak to save the strong..." the king mutters.

A genocide against three million serfs took place over two-hundred-fifty days in Fara. Faran soldiers dressed in New Iridan Empire uniforms attacked their own citizens during the five months. An army of one-million citizen soldiers was roused in Fara. They marched as one into New Irida, and died as one. King Ref Fara's last hope died with those people. There were no longer enough Faran soldiers to protect every border. The king could only abandon protecting the border to New Irida, and hope Samasan doesn't invade.

"We should attack while they are weak!" Jutwaso demands

"No." Samasan replies.

"The lands of Fara belong to the Empire of New Irida." She tells him.

"Fara wanted to leave." Emperor Samasan answers Jutwaso. "And we will leave them alone."

"Someone else will lay claim on Fara, if we don't act."

"It's not our problem to worry about." Samasan retorts.

"New Irida needs to take more to be stronger." Jutwaso snaps.

"No!" Samasan yells at her. "This empire will not be known as greedy. New Irida is a free nation. Every citizen shares equal rights. We will not kill to take what isn't ours."

"We took Xaj." Poh adds into the conversation.

"Xaj would be lost without us." Emperor Samasan tells him.

"Saving the weak, and shunning the strong is the wisdom of fools." Jutwaso scolds Samasan

"Leave!" Emperor Samasan dismisses Jutwaso.

"The food storages are below fifty percent." Poh tells Samasan.

"How long until the Xaji farm lands meet production goals?" He asks Poh.

"Three to four months." Poh states.

"We're going to be running low on food storages for a while then." Samasan tells Poh.

Emperor Samasan calls for Wesro, and tells her to stop sending food aid to Exa in the forbidden lands. She understands the meaning of her emperor's decision, New Irida could no longer support Exa. A city of two-hundred-seventy-thousand would starve. It took fifty days for Exa to run out of food, then twenty more days for cannibalism to take hold. When Wesro checked on the city of Exa after two months of one-hundred days, nine-thousand people remained living in constant struggles. They were hunting each other for the few remaining resources.

A great wall of concrete was built around the forbidden desert twenty meters high, one kilometer thick, and four-thousand-five-hundred-kilometers long. Eighty percent of the wall was filled in with dirt. It took five-hundred-thousand people from New Irida puting in thirteen-billion man hours over two years of one-thousand days to complete the massive project. The tributaries of the Yipur river were dammed up by the project, and a two-hundred-million cubic meter lake of fresh water was formed. The flooded mountains around Exa were renamed to the isle of hope.

Waterton held a celebration one month after the Yipur river began flowing into the chasm again in honor of lake hope. Nearly ten million homes were displaced by Lake Hope, and fifty million former Xaji citizens moved deeper into the Empire of New Irida. Emperor Samasan was forced to reopen trade routes with Fara to import food at ten times the normal cost. There was a very unstable peace between the two nations. Fara and New Irida needed food, but only the Empire of New Irida could afford it. It was now the fifteenth year of the Empire of New Irida.

During the passage of the years, Jutwaso and Wesro grew close. Samasan would often notice them spending time to talk with the other. Emperor Samasan was only concerned by Poh's relationship with a priestess, because he didn't want the church trying to interfere with his rule. Jutwaso and Wesro married a year prior to Poh and the Priestess. Samasan did not take interest in romantic relationships. He did not find people very attractive. Although he did get lonely when left alone in the throne room, and would often invite dozens of visitors during the day to always have company around.

Samasan expanded the fresh water systems from Lake Hope into many New Iridan cities via aqueducts. Public open-air hot showers were always running. Many people used them, because public nudity was not seen as taboo. Rather than digging and maintaining an underground sewer network, public streets were constructed concave, which allowed for sewage waste to wash down the center of streets. Specially designed large water basins were built at city crossroads to fill with clean water, and periodically flush the streets via bell siphons.

The rush of water would flood the whole street, before lowering the water down to the center third of the street again. Algae quickly grew over the streets, and shoes became spike treaded to help animals and humans keep traction on the slippery surface. Instead of street sweepers, city guards would guide horse drawn wooden scrapers through the city streets to remove excess algae. The collected material would be composted, and then used to fertilize fields. The Empire of New Irida gained a second name of the Green empire as a result of its green city streets, and roof top gardens.

Emperor Samasan mandated roof top gardens to promote self-sufficiency while preventing easy theft of produce. The thick layer of soil also helped houses stay cooler during hot days, and added nutritional variety to the nation's diet. A mass starvation due to moon-wheat blight was avoided, because of the roof garden mandate. Fara was not as fortunate. The citizens of Fara revolted against King Ref Fara as a result of hunger. King Ref Fara and the family royals were publically executed by burning, and cannibalized to feed the hungry citizens.

The Faran revolt did not satiate the nation. Nobles of Fara were constantly killed to avoid public revolt during the moon-wheat blight. Jutwaso was pushing harder for Samasan to expand the empire into Fara with during the weakness of starvation. Emperor Samasan would not allow for needless war against a weakened people. Jutwaso with the help of Wesro staged Faran attacks against the Empire of New Irida. This staged aggression motivated Samasan to invade Fara. Jutwaso helped Emperor Samasan justify the war deaths as being better than the numbers from starvation.

Jutwaso was appointed by Emperor Samasan to be the leader of the council controlling over the Fara territory. His reasoning was to help Jutwaso alleviate her hatred against Fara by forcing her to help the Faran people. Each territory of the empire was lead by a council with a leader reporting to Emperor Samasan. The territory of Fara that Jutwaso controlled was twenty-thousand square kilometers in size, with a populace of eighty million. The difficult point of being council leader of Fara were the elven citizens whose cities did not believe themselves to be ruled by Emperor Samasan.

Avoidance of hostility with Elvish nations was Samasan's reasoning behind allowing Elven cities to act as independent free states. This decision was met with opposition from other non-human citizens wanting self-governance. Jutwaso quelled rebellion in Fara by holding public executions against suspected liberalists. Mandated conscription of Fara children into the territory of New Irida for education was used to create patriots of the Empire of New Irida. Separating the Faran children from the adults was necessary for the indoctrination process.

The first children from the five year conscription returned to Fara as nationalists for the empire, and were allowed by the Council of Fara to hold higher political positions than non-conscripted Farans. By the fifteenth year of the New Iridan Empire, Fara was completely incorporated into the empire without revolt. Around this time Samasan learned of the false flag attacks orchestrated by Jutwaso and Wesro. Emperor Samasan was unable to punish the two without releasing the information about their crimes, and decided against punishing them. Samasan felt guilty for attacking Fara in mistaken retaliation, and granted them a tax free year.

"Why would you do this?" Wesro asked.

"I should be asking you that." Samasan responded.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Fara did not initiate the seven year war."

"I... uh." Wesro was speechless.

"If I could punish you both, I would."

"If..." Wesro sighed in relief.

"This is why I decided to abolish taxes in the Fara territory for a year." Samasan told Wesro.

"How will we pay our soldiers?" Jutwaso burst into the room.

"That isn't my problem." Samasan responded. "You'll just have to rely on reserves."

"The reserves are exhausted." Jutwaso answered him.

Samasan rubbed his face in frustration. "Where did it all go?"

"Necessary expenses." Wesro told Samasan.

"The Iridan territory will loan one month of reserves to the Faran territory. If you can prove that the Fara territory reserves were spent responsibly within a month, I will grant an additional eleven months." Emperor Samasan told the two.

"If we can't?" Wesro asked.

"We will gather a proper report." Jutwaso interjected before Samasan could talk.

Jutwaso and Wesro left the room.

"Is she lying?" Poh asked.

Samasan gave a slow nod.

"Will you punish Jutwaso?"

"Temporary abolishment of taxes was the punishment. Now I don't know what to do." Samasan kicked over a bucket filled with somna leafs in frustration. "Damnit!"

Jutwaso returned within the fifty days of a month to deliver the account of territory expenses.

"The Fara expenses look legitimate." Poh stated.

"Are you sure?" Samasan asked. "Let me see them."

Poh handed over the papers, and Emperor Samasan glanced over them.

"How did they make this up so quickly?" Samasan threw the papers on the ground.

"What are we going to do?" Poh asked.

"Hah..." Samasan sighed. "I'm sticking to my word. They proven their expenses, and I will grant them an additional loan for eleven months of expenses."

The thousand day year came to pass, and a parade was held in Fara to honor Emperor Samasan's benevolence. Faran soldiers marched in the parade in front of Samasan's palisade as onlookers threw flower petals.

"The Emperor has saved us."

"Long live the Emperor."

The crowd cheered while slamming their crossed arms on their chest as Emperor Samasan passed them. It all felt like too much to Samasan for a once country that suffered an unjust war against the Empire of New Irida. He wanted to slouch over in frustration, but kept smiling at the crowd while waving. There seemed to be many children and pregnant women in the crowd. The parade route came to a turn, and half of the soldiers split off.

"Where are they going?" Samasan asked his guards.

"Their at the end of their march." The lead guard told him.

"We've only traveled an emerald-rod of length. How can they be done? Follow them." Samasan ordered.

"The Emperor should not stray from the path." The guard warned.

"As your leader, I order you to follow those soldiers."

Emperor Samasan broke off from the parade to the crowds disappointment. The soldiers he followed were cheering when they saw their Emperor following them.

"We will follow the great one into death." They roared.

Samasan was overwhelmed by the statement. The side tracked solders queued into a lot in front of a large building.

"We should leave now your eminence." The guards warned.

"No."

Emperor Samasan was suspicious at this point. He wanted to know why his guards were trying to dissuade his curiosity. Samasan left his palisade, and entered the building. The sound of ticking bombarded him like cicadas upon entry. He looked around as his ears rang, and followed the line of soldiers to its end. Workers dressed in waxed leather uniforms were escorting naked soldiers to a pool of liquid, and dipping them into it before pulling their limp bodies out. The leather clad workers would

rinse of the unconscious soldier's body, and pass them to more workers.

These workers would take the limp body, and carve into the liver with a sharp knife. Samasan gagged at the sight. Once the liver was impaled, the ticking would commence. The worker would shove their hand into it, and pull out a spirit stone. Thus stopping the ticking. Three gold coins and one silver would appear in the hand once the spirit stone was removed. The stones and money were placed into different baskets. The deceased body was then processed into parts. Skin for papyrus. Flesh for food. Bones and guts for pig fodder. The heads of the soldiers were pickled in brine in glass jars.

"What is the meaning of this?" Samasan's hand trembled as he pointed towards a jar.

"This is how we honor the soldiers' commitment to you, my Emperor." The worker spoke.

Samasan's face paled.

"The Faran families receive the head as a trophy to prove their commitment to you." He continued.

"Honor?" Samasan asked.

"The greatest honor for a soldier is to die for their Emperor."

"This isn't even a fight. It's a massacre." Samasan responded.

"It is our duty to live and die strong." The worker looked puzzled.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"A Faran citizen of the Empire of New Irida must lay down their life by the age of twenty-five. Otherwise they become a burden and a coward."

Samasan shuddered. "...We are leaving immediately."

"Your presence honors us." The worker crossed his arms over his chest and bowed.

Emperor Samasan left on his palanquin nauseated, and transferred over to his carriage.

"Did you know we are killing innocent people?" Samasan asks.

"What are you talking about?" Poh responds.

"The Faran soldiers are being slaughtered like cattle." Emperor Samasan states.

"Their lives are worth less than ours." Poh spoke.

"They chose to betray you. They are less than dogs." Jutwaso added in.

"What gives us the right to treat them like this?" Samasan responded while throwing up his hands.

"We are their leaders." Jutwaso answered.

"We are monsters." Samasan growled.

"No. We're human." Poh corrected him.

"That is worse." Samasan sighed.

It took almost two months for the royal carriage to return to Waterton. The ninety-three day trip was exhausting. Samasan learned from Wesro that the Faran genocide was planned over twelve years ago. The populace needed to be strong to fight, which is why the weak and elderly were killed off. Living beyond the age of twenty-five became a dishonor to a citizen of Fara. This was thanks to forced conscription of Faran children into New Irida being taught that soldiers becoming weak brings shame upon the empire.

"They are humans. Not meat shields." Samasan yelled at Jutwaso.

"They will all die for the empire!" Jutwaso yelled back while drawing her short-sword.

"Hah!" The group of fifty child soldiers thumped their crossed arms on their chests.

"Have you forgotten your empire?" Jutwaso's words struck hard.

"I am the Emperor."

"An emperor must be strong for the empire. You are weak." Jutwaso growled at Samasan, and kicked a child to the ground before holding her sword to the girl's throat.

"What are you doing!?" Samasan held his hands out to stop Jutwaso.

"There is no room for the weak!" Jutwaso plunged her sword into the calm girl's neck.

The girl vomited blood while trying not to show any distress. She looked at her emperor with strength behind her eyes. Dying for the empire was the greatest honor for a soldier.

"Are you to too weak to do what needs to be done?" Jutwaso asked Samasan while holding up her sword with the hilt towards him.

"I am not weak..." Samasan took the sword with shakey hands.

"You are weak." Jutwaso shoved a child in front of Emperor Samasan.

"I am not weak." Samasan answered while looking at the child with a sadness in his heart.

"Weak!" Jutwaso yelled while forcing the child's chin up to expose his neck.

" I am not..."

Emperor Samasan swung the sword, and was covered in a shower of blood. He fell to his knees and held the child as it wheezed for air.

"What have I become?" Samasan asked while the life left the child's eyes.

"Stronger." Jutwaso answered while sheathing her sword.

Samasan wiped the tears off his face. "I will be strong."

"Hah!" the children thumped their chests.

"Every knee will bend to New Irida." Samasan growled.

Jutwaso severed the two heads completely from their bodies, and held them up. "For the strength of the Empire!"

"For the Emperor!" The children shouted back.

"Death to the weak!" Emperor Samasan struck down his golden staff towards Jutwaso.

Jutwaso rolled forward to dodge the strike, and held her dagger to Samasan's throat. "Death to the weak."

Their eyes locked, and then they separated slowly. The crossed armed chest thumping resonated in the court yard.

"Hah!" "Hah!" "Hah!"

"Weakness poisons strength!" Jutwaso shouted at the group.

"There is only one cure!" Samasan yelled unsteadily, while Jutwaso held up her short-sword.

"Which of you is strong!" Jutwaso pointed her sword towards the children.

"Hah!" They all stood at attention.

"Which of you is willing to die for the Empire." She went on.

"Hah!"

"Weapons!" Jutwaso shouted, and the children held daggers to their own neck.

Jutwaso walked around the children, and stopped. "Prove your strength."

"Hah!" The child buried his dagger into his throat, and stood until the world turned black.

"Prove your strength!"

The girl's face paled, and she looked scared.

"Prove your strength!" Jutwaso yelled again.

The girl dropped her dagger, and looked towards her Emperor for help.

Samasan averted his eyes.

"Death to the weak." Jutwaso plunged the dagger into the girl's heart, and spat on her face.

Ten more children were killed before the ceremony of appointing new soldiers was completed. It was twice as many as usual, but the cowardice of the girl had pissed off Jutwaso. This was Samasan's first time attending a soldier graduation ceremony. He held his stomach in until leaving the ceremony. Samasan vomited all his regrets into the night. The next day, all the mirrors were banned from the castle. Emperor Samasan couldn't look at himself. He called for a cloaked messenger. The messenger nodded after Samasan whispered in her ear, and left quickly. A week later, a feast was being held in the castle.

"This Empire of New Irida has grown beyond my expectations." Emperor Samasan addressed the audience. "We cull the weak, and gather the strong." Samasan held up his glass in a toast. "Long live the Empire!"

"Long live the Emperor!" Everyone answered back.

Samasan placed his drink down without taking from it. He looked at everyone, and then the guards who stood in front of the doors.

"I wanted a better world for all of you." Samasan spoke to the quiet audience.

"When I came here, this world was wretched by evil and suffering. I brought food and invention to better your lives," Samasan looked around.

"And you clung to death." His voice fell while looking at Jutwaso who stared back at him.

"I built Lake Hope to usher in a kinder world." his hand pointed towards the window.

"A better world for everyone." Fire burned in his eyes. "And you all destroyed it."

"I believed you could change." Samasan threw his drink in Jutwaso's face.

"I thought I could trust your judgement." He looked towards Poh sitting quietly.

"I gave you all a life worth living for!" Samasan shouted towards everyone.

"You pissed it away!"

The guards brought in a different drink, and began pouring it into the people's mouths. Tears rolled down the helpless people's eyes.

"If you just listened..." he sighed.

"If you..."

Samasan walked to the window and looked to the sun ring. It was the seventh star of daylight. He gazed upon the Yipur river. It was roiling ,and churning, and muddy, and full of debris. The messenger had gathered sorcerers at lake hope to destroy the embankment. Lake Hope had emptied into the Yipur river, and destroyed many towns before reaching Waterton.

"Death to the weak."

Samasan toasted with the new liquid, and drank it quickly. He fell to the ground screaming in pain. The first drink that everyone drank was a muscle paralyzer, and the second which Emperor Samasan drank and everyone was fed was a pain inducing potion. Despite being helpless to move, everyone could feel every agonizing effect of the potion. Only Samasan was able to vocalize his pain at this point. The guards began to panic. They didn't know what was happening. They went to the doors to call for help, and were shoved back by a wave of water forcing them open. The Empire of New Irida washed away.