Sacrifice

Footsteps echoed through what seemed to be a palace hallway. They stopped after reaching a door.

The man opened it and after taking a few steps he got down on one knee.

"My lord, we have finished commemorating the dead of the war..." said the man with a broken voice.

"Well... Take a break, I have heard that your brother was among them." replied Safwane, who was sitting on a throne.

"Thank you very much..." said the man letting tears flow.

The man walked sobbing towards the door and after saying goodbye he closed it.

Silence filled the room.

Safwane, who had tried to maintain a strong composure finally gave in with a sigh.

The young emperor placed his fingers on his forehead.

'Hundreds of people have died again... Once again I have not been able to keep my promise' thought Safwane clenching his teeth.

The young man sighed again.

He slid the imperial kimono to the side revealing a huge cut on his chest, which was still burning, reminding him of the fierce battle.

'I must not show weakness... The people depend on me.' thought Safwane, getting up from the throne.

The young emperor walked to a window.

The sky was grey and it was raining, the citizens on the other hand were crying in the streets for the losses. Their cries reached where Safwane was, who looked at them sadly.

'We have managed to defend the empire again, but the losses have been too high...'

The door opened forcefully.

"I said to take a break." said Safwane without looking away.

"Forgive me my lord, but it is urgent. The ruler of Zhongyuan is on the outskirts of the empire." said the man urgently.

"I guess the war will never stop..." Safwane muttered. "Okay, tell all citizens to go to the shelter," he ordered.

"At your command, I will also notify the army."

"..."

"No... I will go and solve this alone, the army is not yet recovered."

"My lord, you are sentencing him to death!" the man shouted worriedly.

Safwane looked at him.

"It's an order." he said as he passed by him.

The streets were still filled with sadness, after all they had no knowledge of what was going to happen.

"Dear citizens of the empire, please go to the shelter!" shouted the butler.

The people began to look at each other in confusion as they wondered if the war had not ended yet. But everyone put their confusion aside to watch the emperor leave the palace.

"My lord is going to start another war!?" shouted a woman.

"No, this is just a test, the warriors will also go to the shelter after all." Safwane replied with a calm smile.

The citizens let out a sigh of relief and calmly headed to the shelter.

Safwane on the other hand quickly headed towards the exit gates of the empire.

'I can't let more people die.'

"My lord!" shouted a voice coming from near the gate.

A young man ran up to Safwane.

"My lord... A large army is approaching on the outskirts, what are we going to do?" said the exhausted young man.

"Don't worry, head towards the shelters, quickly."

The young man looked at the emperor for a few seconds, and after regaining his breath he ran towards the shelter.

Safwane walked towards the gate and began to forcefully push it open.

The sound of wood filled the tense silence and the air that entered through the gap that Safwane created when he opened it was thick.

When the emperor could see in front of him, a large army was present.

Safwane walked towards them.

"Hello... I have heard that you have just ended the war, Emperor Safwane." said what seemed to be the leader.

Safwane did not give an answer.

"...I still can't believe that you were able to defend yourself from the attack of two empires, you are incredible. But today you will suffer your fall, you don't even bring your army." said the man again.

"They need to rest." answered Safwane.

The leader began to laugh.

"...You care too much about your citizens to be the person who has killed the most."

"Yes, that's because I only care about those who follow me." answered Safwane unsheathing his katana.

The citizens were waiting in a dimly lit place.

"Why would the emperor do a test today?" asked a man.

"It's probably because wars are increasing, this time we had to defend ourselves from two empires." answered another man.

"Mom I'm scared, I don't want any more wars..." said a child while sobbing.

"Calm down child, our emperor is the strongest person, no one else will want to have a war." said a soldier with a smile.

The child wiped away his tears and looked at the soldier with admiration.

'It's a secret I have with the emperor, I can't tell anyone... But that was a full army...' thought the young man while holding his head in worry.

"What's wrong Joshua?"

"Nothing." the young man replied upset.

"Come on, aren't you going to tell your wife?" the woman said.

"..."

"Come on..."

"The emperor is actually fighting an army! But don't tell anyone..." Joshua said.

Silence filled the place and the young man realized that he had been heard by everyone.

'I'm sorry my lord, I couldn't keep my promise' Joshua thought sadly.

The place began to stir, from the citizens to the soldiers heading to battle.

'How did this young man know?' The butler thought nervously.

The soldiers ran at high speed towards the door.

"Let's protect our lord!" the soldiers shouted.

The soldiers saw the door getting closer and the metallic smell of blood was more noticeable, which increased their concern.

They finally reached the door and could see the outside. But they found something more terrifying than they expected.

Some soldiers could not hold back their vomiting, others looked on in disbelief.

Safwane had won the war on his own and he was sitting on hundreds of piled up corpses. But it was strange.

The emperor was known for his clean way of killing, however those corpses were destroyed.

Safwane, who was facing them with his back turned slightly and looked at them with that red eye while he was stained with blood.

"He's a monster..." said the soldier with a face Terrified.

Safwane began to slowly open his eyes.

The young emperor remained silent as he remembered the face of that soldier.

"You're finally awake!" shouted Arthur who was sitting to the side.

"The reserve food has run out and now there is only food for one more day!" explained the young man with concern.

"You are useless..." said Safwane as he tried to stand up. "When can we have more food?" he asked.

"In three days we will be able to send the soul stones, so the food should arrive in five." explained Arthur.

Safwane sighed.

"But even if we send the soul stones we currently have, we won't be able to feed the people for a month." he added.

"That's why we're going to go get more." said Safwane as he walked towards the door.

"Both of us? I mean you know how the ruins work..." said Arthur trying to excuse himself.

"I can go alone..." Safwane replied, causing Arthur to draw a smile on his face. "But people will be disappointed to see that you have finished their food and on top of that you do not try to get it back." he added

Arthur stopped smiling.

"Okay man... By the way, what is your name?"

"What?" Safwane replied confused.

"With everything we have been through you won't remember either, but now that I think about it I don't know your name." Arthur said as he walked towards Safwane.

The young emperor sighed.

"My name is Safwane."

"I see, my name is Arthur." he introduced himself by shaking his hand.

"I know." Safwane replied turning around without returning the greeting.

"Huh? How do you know?" he asked as he followed behind.