Amara

Inside a luxurious palace the size of a stadium, painted white with black accents, stood a middle-aged man with blond hair, a golden beard, tired-looking blue eyes, and a medium build. He wore a full suit of grayish-white armor with a black velvet cape and a crown adorned with jewels like rubies and sapphires.

In front of him stood a beautiful woman at the end of her youth: her black hair pulled back; smooth and silky, a sharp and symmetrical nose, almond-shaped purple eyes, and a splendid figure, though she had a slight abdominal swelling. She wore a white wedding dress with detailed embroidery, and on her head, she had a veil that covered part of her face. She had just gotten married.

The couple seemed to be arguing about something.

"Seriously, there's no other solution?" the woman asked.

"No, we tried to negotiate with them, but it didn't work. They even wiped out members of a noble family," the man replied.

"I know, but there has to be another way, without having to go to these extremes. I also can't bear the thought of the possibility of losing you."

"Amara, please understand. I wish there was another way too, but there isn't. They've started killing innocent people; children are being taken by them, who knows what horrible things they'll do to them."

"As a king, I can't just stand by and watch my people suffer day after day," the man said as he walked towards the door, ready to leave the room.

"And as a husband?" the woman asked him, her voice on the verge of breaking, seeming to beg him to stay.

The man paused for a moment, but seconds later, he resumed his walk and left the room.

...

In the middle of a green pasture field, hundreds of men gathered, divided into two sides.

On the first side, they wore gray helmeted armor, carrying swords that radiated a peculiar yellow aura, and were mounted on horses. While on the second, they wore green military uniforms with rifles in their hands and cannons beside them.

At the front of both sides stood two figures face to face. A man wearing a crown on his head and another with a red sash and two knives forming an X on his right arm.

"If you agree to submit to us, swearing eternal loyalty, this massacre can be avoided," said the man with the red sash, his expression serious.

"And agree to you enslaving my people? I'm not stupid enough not to know what that means," said the crowned man, his expression disgusted.

"So that's your final answer?"

"What do you think?"

"You'll regret that choice."

"Fire!" "Charge!" the two figures shouted in unison.

The soldiers began firing indiscriminately as the warriors charged at full speed on their horses.

One, two, three... several warriors fell to the rifles and cannons. Nevertheless, some managed to reach the enemy field, dismounted their horses, and their bodies began to radiate the same yellow aura as the swords.

Suddenly, the warriors appeared behind the soldiers, killing them one by one. Despite this, the soldiers had already managed to take out many of them, and although they were caught by surprise, they began to mow down the few warriors who infiltrated their ranks.

One of the warriors who had stayed beside the crowned man, who was watching everything with a grim expression, said to him:

"Your Majesty, I know this will sound hard, but we have to retreat. We can't allow them to capture you."

The man looked at him with an expression that seemed to refuse, but thinking better of it, he decided to heed his words and withdrew from the battlefield with the warrior.

...

At the entrance gates of a city, two guards saw two horses approaching at full speed in the distance.

"Stop! Identify yourselves!" one of the guards shouted.

The horses slowed down until they stopped completely. Two figures dismounted and approached the guards.

"Do you need your king to tell you who he is?" said the crowned man, his expression stern.

"Y-your Majesty! I apologize for my offense!" the guard replied, utterly ashamed.

"No problem, you did well."

The king entered the gate with the warrior following behind him.

The king said to the warrior:

"Evacuate the people from the city, the Albaria army will come and indiscriminately kill the people, we must prevent that."

"Understood, Your Majesty."

The king hurried to the palace. When he arrived, he noticed that there was no one, not even a guard, which seemed strange to him. However, he was more worried about his beloved, so he ignored it and ran into the palace.

"Amara! You have to leave quickly and get out of the city with the rest of the people!" the king shouted as he reached his and his wife's room.

No sound came from inside, which worried him greatly, and he quickened his pace even more.

When he entered the room, he saw a scene he could never forget.

His beloved's white dress was stained red, with a sword embedded in her chest.

The king approached her, still harboring hope that she was alive, but it was too late.

Tears began to fall down his face, and he let out a heartbreaking scream that was heard throughout the city.

Amara was pregnant.

The king took his sword and, with a hatred that threatened to extinguish the eternal, headed back to the battlefield. He knew this had been orchestrated by the enemy.

On his way to the battlefield, he spotted the Albaria army and saw something he never expected. The guard who gave him the advice to retreat was accompanying them. He didn't seem to be their prisoner.

The king's hatred grew stronger, and he ran at speeds impossible for a human. He charged against the troops.

For every tear he shed, he killed a soldier.

For every angry scream he let out, he killed a dozen.

And for every time he regretted it, he killed a hundred.

He regretted wanting to be selfish and escape with Amara, leaving the kingdom to its fate.

He left only one man alive, the warrior.

"Why did you do it?" the king said with a terrifying scream.

"They gave me a deal! They told me they would let me live if I betrayed the kingdom, and I accepted! I knew from the start that there was no chance of winning this war!" the warrior replied.

"Then why did you kill Amara? It couldn't have been anyone but you!"

The warrior said with a broken voice:

"It was part of the deal, I didn't want to do it either! She gave me shelter when I had nowhere to go..."

The king didn't let him finish speaking and ended his life.

The king's revenge didn't end there, and he headed to the kingdom of Albaria. He blamed them for his misfortunes.

...

In the middle of the corpse-filled battlefield, just after the king left for the kingdom of Albaria, a figure materialized out of nowhere.

He wore a green military uniform, a black beret, and a red sash with a symbol of two knives forming an X on his right arm, along with various medals of different colors on his chest on the same side. The figure looked around and slowly a grin spread across his face.

...

In the kingdom of Albaria.

The king ended the lives of dozens of people: mothers, fathers, brothers, grandfathers, children. He planned to kill everyone.

However, just as he was about to end the life of a little girl, the girl looked at him. The same look he had while indiscriminately murdering the people of the kingdom. That's when he understood, none of those deaths would bring his beloved back.

The king disappeared from the kingdom and threw his crown to the ground, he was never heard from again. At least, not by anyone from his kingdom or the kingdom of Albaria.

These events lasted weeks; the king learned through gossip that his kingdom had plummeted.

Upon losing its ruler and not having a fixed successor, disputes began.

The nobles began fighting for the throne, ignoring the plight of the people.

Due to the previous attacks by the kingdom of Albaria, they were experiencing food shortages, and merchants and nobles hoarded all the food, leaving none for the middle/lower class people. People began to die of starvation one by one.

When he learned of this, he knew one thing.

The man failed not only as a husband and father but also as a king.

He lived with regret until the end of his days.