Chapter 1: The King

The King. Oh what a mighty soul he was. He was bowed to by all the men who he controlled. His name was King Haluin Kepper, he had been King for the last 38 years and was getting old by now, he was 54. Nonetheless, he was still one of the strongest leaders in battle and had an equally strong since of politics. He kept all his men happy as well as settling his enemies’ problems with solutions that were appropriate. He always sought a peaceful solution and hardly deemed war an answer.

As a boy, the King grew up happily, as a prince, receiving whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it. Then things took a sharp turn down towards destruction and ruin. At the age of 9 he watched an assassin try to murder his parents in front of him, the assassin was successful in killing his mother but only wounded his father, Tellias. Tellias told him that if he died he would take the throne immediately no matter the age because Tellias knew Haluin would make an excellent King.

Then 8 years later while out at training in a field on the outskirts of town, a courier rode up to him and handed him an urgent message to return home. Haluin quickly traveled back to his home castle and saw a large crowd outside the palace doors. He entered the palace to see his father laying in his bed with his royal guards and medical staff at bedside. Tellias called the boy over with a struggled voice and said “Son… I won’t live to see tomorrow. You will begin training to take over as the King in an hour’s time to take over for me…” Tellias was barely able to mutter his last words before losing consciousness and dying.

            The King shook his head a little and looked up from his balcony. He had been daydreaming again about his childhood. Haluin left his room and walked through the palace towards the dining hall to get a little bit of food before going about the rest of his day. As he was talking to his personal chef, he was approached by one of his vassals with a scroll note that had a red ribbon seal. The vassal told the King, “Someone of upmost importance gave me this note to deliver to you. My liege I believe this may be what you were expecting.” Haluin slowly grabbed the scroll and unrolled it. The scroll read;

 

“Dear Haluin, King of Lopovell Kingdom.

I regret to inform you that I must deny your offer of safety as a vassal under your rule. I have high respect for you but I must see to it that I become my own king and I must not allow myself to be controlled by someone I wish to become. You have a very mighty army and navy so I fear hardships between us in the future but please allow me to grow my own power and we shall have no problems. By the time you receive this message I will have already grown my own army and possibly captured my own fort and village. Hopefully you will respect my decision as much as I will respect yours.

-James Sage”

 

The King chuckled and rolled the paper back up and stuffed it into his pocket. “Thank you my loyal vassal, this is exactly what I was waiting for.”