The Art of Tyranny

000 - Prologue

In the country once known as Alveria once upon a time, a mother and her young boy huddle in the corner of an abandoned house. Dusk was starting to embrace the world, and they lacked a lantern to stave off the darkness that would come.

“Mama…” the boy murmured, looking up at his mother.

He didn’t have to say a thing for the woman to know what was in her son’s mind. She gathered what remained of her strength to smile at him. “We’ll find something to eat tomorrow. Once the monsters are gone.”

She had no choice but to say the same thing she’d been telling him these past three days. And at this point, her words were a prayer to whatever deity was listening.

But the goddess has abandoned us. After what we did to her champion…

The woman felt a pang of guilt when she remembered what happened. It had been just a short few years ago but the events that followed made her feel as if decades had passed. If her son did not stand as living proof that it had only been five years since The Forsaking, she would have lost all sense of time.

Feeling a tug on her ragged clothes, the woman looked down to see that her son was still looking up at her. “What is it, dear? I know you’re hungry but try to sleep for now. Save your strength.”

“But mama…” her little boy whined. “I’m not sleepy yet.”

“Oh dear. What will I do with you…”

“Tell me a story. Please?”

So this is what he was aiming for. The little rascal.

The woman could not help but giggle despite their depressing situation. The boy always loved listening to her stories. And the woman would have loved to tell him one every night, but was oftentimes too tired to do so.

At the moment, she was guilty of not having any food to give him so she was a bit more motivated to try, despite feeling her consciousness waver.

“Which story do you want to hear tonight?” she asked.

The boy’s eyes lit up the darkness as a smile bloomed on his thin face. “I want to hear about the Dragon King!”

“Th-the Dragon King, is it…?” The woman hesitated.

Why did I ever tell him about that story…

On a certain day when they were particularly weary from roaming the wastelands, she’d run out of stories to tell him. And on a whim, she had told him the story she least wanted him to know.

And then he went and loved it.

The woman wiped her forehead and spoke softly to her son. “Why not hear another one of my stories…? Like the Fairy of—”

“NO!” The boy yelled with surprising vigor. “I wanna hear the Dragon King again!”

The woman almost jumped out of her skin as she did her best to cover the boy’s mouth. With fearful eyes, she looked toward the nearby window, checking if anything was there. Only once a full minute passed did she finally heave a sigh of relief. 

“I thought I told you to be quiet after dusk?”

The boy looked down in guilt, realizing his mistake. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay, dear. Just be quiet. We don’t want anything to know we’re here.”

“Yes, mama…”

Seeing her son bite his lip in dejection, the woman sighed in resignation. “I’ll tell you the story of the Dragon King again, but you better go to sleep straight afterward, okay? We have to get up early tomorrow if we want to reach the next village by sundown.”

Her boy’s face brightened up as he nodded furiously.

She couldn’t stop a giggle from escaping her lip again. “Alright. Listen closely…”

The woman then began to tell the tale of the Dragon King Lucian, the last ruler of the Great Alveria Empire.

Once upon a time, in the heart of a small nation in the northernmost reaches of the world, young Prince Lucian was born to one of the king’s many concubines.

It is said that at the moment of his birth, the clouds parted to shine a pillar of light on the palace of Alveria. Far and wide, tales of the events spread. And all who heard them were convinced that Lucian was destined for greatness.

The young prince quickly disappointed those around him though. He was not particularly wittier than other children, nor was he faster or stronger. In the eyes of everyone, he was just an ordinary boy born to an extraordinary status. 

Still, he was the king’s favorite child. This was because of his kind heart. 

The young Lucian was quick to lend a helping hand to those in need. Even going so far as to admonish his own father!

This convinced the king that Lucian was the most fit to be king, instead of the other royal children.

Lucian solidified this belief even more when he showed tremendous talent in swordsmanship. To the extent that he left his peers in the dust. In a matter of years, he accomplished what most men took decades to achieve.

And soon enough, he shook the world when he became a Swordmaster at age fifteen. The youngest in history.

But the world was not a kind mistress. Soon enough, tragedy struck, and his father passed. 

Fulfilling the late king’s dying words, Lucian aims for the crown. Despite his siblings’ efforts to stop it, he pushed them aside with strength and sat on the golden throne.

His rule would not go unchallenged, however. Along with the kingdom, Lucian also inherited its many enemies. But his valor could not be matched. Bravely, he sallied forth to defend the realm.

Years stretched into decades, Lucian fought on the front lines for his people, pushing all invaders away. His power and valiance grew renowned across the nine kingdoms, and his name inspired fear in his enemies.

Lucian was a god of war, and victory seemed to follow him wherever he fought.

But every Hero had a Villain to face.

And for Lucian, that was the Evil Dragon, Zormandeen.

The evil dragon had been asleep for thousands of years. But it has suddenly awoken to terrorize the realms once again.

The Dragon was a truly insurmountable foe, easily burning down a small county. The overwhelming odds caused many to simply raise their arms in surrender, awaiting their doom.

But Lucian was not one of them.

He rallied the nine kingdoms, convinced them to set aside their conflicts and unite against their common foe.

With the armies of the nine kingdoms leading the charge against the Evil Dragon’s subjects, Lucian was now free to engage Zormandeen in single combat.

In a fight that lasted for seven days and seven nights, Lucian triumphed.

The nine kingdoms cheered at their victory — the victory of “good” against “evil”.

With King Lucian at the helm, a new era of peace began. One where the world could sleep peacefully knowing that Zormandeen’s vicious flames would never come.

The woman took a deep breath after she finished her tale. In all honesty, she was not proud of her storytelling skills and she would not have wanted to make a fool of herself if it were not for her son.

But seeing the smile on her little boy’s face whenever she finished always made it feel worth it.

“King Lucian was amazing…” her son whispered excitedly. He then looked up at her with innocent eyes. “If we had a king like him, we wouldn’t have to run away from monsters. Right, mama?”

“Yes…” She nodded, trying to silence her guilt. “I believe so too.”

“Thank you for telling me the story again, mama.” Her boy hugged her a little tighter, apparently very thankful for the effort she took.

The woman gently stroked her son’s hair and held him close. She knew that if it weren’t for her little boy, she’d have broken down in despair and let one of those abominations devour her whole. But soon enough, it seemed like whether to be eaten or not was no longer their choice.

Forced by various circumstances, their long journey had brought them all the way to the west of what was once Alveria. Going any further than this would lead them to the open seas—which was a veritable nest of monsters. Any attempt to go back using the paths they’d traveled was a futile endeavor too, since the horde they’d been running away from should have caught up by now.

In conclusion, she and her son did not have long to live.

If only we hadn’t listened. If only we hadn’t betrayed the king…

Feeling the crushing anxiety of her and her son’s impending demise, the woman couldn’t help but cry. She wished she could go back in time. To warn the world—or even just herself—to have faith in the king who spent more time on the battlefield than on a bed.

All for their sake.

I am so sorry, my king. Please forgive me for not believing in you…

The woman thought back to where it all began.

After Zormandeen was slain, peace really did reign throughout all of the realms. But this was not because of some sense of camaraderie between the nations. Nor because of some common understanding.

It was all because of fear. 

Fear of the man who could slay a dragon by himself.

The neverending wars on the borders of Alveria finally ended, and King Lucian could return to his home after decades of fighting. He fathered numerous children and made many changes that bettered the lives of the people.

And for a time, everything was right.

But soon, a string of calamities arrived to torment Alveria and its people.

Plagues, drought, famine, and even a rise in banditry within the borders.

King Lucian addressed all of these issues soundly, but he could not stop tremendous damage from befalling the nation.

And one day, war broke out between two of Alveria’s allied nations. King Lucian, the compassionate man that he was, could not leave them to quarrel with each other. Both nations had been stalwart allies since before King Lucian’s time, so his concern was not unfounded.

However, grumbles of discontent still filled the people’s hearts. To them, it did not matter that the king did what he could. It did not matter that the two warring nations had sacrificed their soldiers to defend Alveria in the past.

What mattered to them, at that very moment, was the peace and prosperity they enjoyed were rapidly vanishing.

And there was no better person to blame than the king.

The nation had so many problems, and yet, their supposedly wise king was going forth and joining another war.

In hindsight, the King did all that he could. Food was already scarce in their nation. So if the war between their neighbors were prolonged, his own nation would suffer as well because part of their food came from those two nations.

But the people did not understand this. They did not want to understand this.

And the woman lamented that she’d been one of those people.

“Mama?”

“Hm?” The woman was pulled out of her despair by her son’s curious voice. She did her best to force a smile on her face. “Yes, dear?”

“What happened to the Dragon King? Is he dead?”

“The Dragon King…” she bit her lips and thought about it for a bit before giving an answer that she felt truthful enough. “He’s dead, dear. Slain by… very bad people.”

“Oh… I wanted to see if we could ask for his help.” Her son dejectedly looked to the floor. “If he could come and make all the monsters go away, maybe Mama wouldn’t be so hungry and tired all the time…”

The woman couldn’t help but genuinely smile this time. She pinched her son’s thin cheeks and said, almost as if she were consoling herself for the sins she’d committed.

“It is said that when King Lucian died, the Sun became completely black.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes. And legend says that during those times, the numerous worlds in the sea of the gods become connected.”

Her son tilted his head. “Connected…? So what if it’s connected?”

The woman giggled. “Well, some say that it’s possible that the Dragon King’s soul journeyed to another world. It is there that he will do amazing things just as he did in our world.”

“Whoah…” The little boy marveled, his eyes lighting up. “That’s great. I hope he helps a whole lot of people there too.”

“I… yes. I hope so too.”