Bloodlines-Chapter 1:The weight of the crown

Member of the Month · #1Subject: Bloodlines-Chapter 1:The weight of the crown Fri Feb 17, 2017 4:54 pm

The Emperor was fast asleep,he shook and tumbled on his large bed,tearing some of the soft silks with his claws.He shook his head in denial as he was gripped by the same nightmare he was plagued with for years now.

It was always the same......The dream would begin at his childhood home in Old Serpentum.He was still but a hatchling as he watched his father sifting through thousands of holograms of machinery and buildings,the tiny emperor would stand next to his father whom towered over him.He would softly pull on his tunic to get his tired eyes away from the holograms.His father would turn with a disgusted gaze but soon replace it with a strained smile. "Hey there little one". The father would bend down to one knee to match his height with his child. "You know you are not supposed to bother daddy while he is working." He would look around the room before looking back at the hatchling. "Where is mommy?"

Little Sagess would shake his head as he did not know. "Well then" he picked up Sagess and turned back to his work.The little emperor would hold a tiny unclawed finger out to one of the holograms and that is when the dream fades into another scene.

He would wake up in his room,the little emperor would climb out of his bed in the middle of the night to find his mother and father looking at the large monitor in their living room.Little Sagess peeked to see imagery of great war machines tearing away at faraway worlds,he was too young to understand what the news monitor meant with "war escalates to Confederate Space". He had no idea how much those words would shape his future.

The dream then fades to a battlefield,he is running with several shadows shaped like Varanus soldiers.They yelled with distorted voices "Down with the aggressors!" They charged across a blasted field littered with corpses and destroyed machines. "Victory for the Conf..." his squadmates words were cut short by a swarm of bullets from the darkness,he was all that was left until a explosion tore his right arm apart,throwing him into the bloodstained field.

Then......well sometimes he forgets as he wakes up shaking,eyes slitted with fear.

"Not again" the old emperor said wheezing for breath.

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Emperor Sagess would look down to his right arm,sighing with pained relief.

"By the five" he says as he gets out of the torn bed.He walks to the one of the metallic walls and taps his claw on it,the wall becomes transparent and is replaced with a view of the night sky. "Beautiful" the emperor would smile as he watched the stars and the purplish nebulae along with the twin moons lighting the Serpentum night.He would then walk to his armoire and dress himself into a comfortable red and gold embroidered tunic.He left his imperial sceptre on hanging from the manniqun-like statue as he opened the steel double doors to the hallway.

The two guards assigned to him were half-asleep and were stunned to find their emperor standing between them.

"My liege?" they said as they bowed. "Forgive our lack of awareness" The remained with their heads bowed awaiting some form of punishment. "Don't fret guardsmen,I did not see anything" the emperor smiled.

The guardsmen looked up to their lord with smiles beneath their golden helms. "My lord won't report this to the High Imperator?". The emperor smiled "why my guardsmen are still doing their duty are they not?" An awkward pause followed. "Now continue your duties,I am going to take a stroll in the inner gardens,I wish not to be disturbed or escorted" the emperor said as he continued down the hallway.

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The Emperor trekked towards the doorway of the Citadel's inner garden,the metallic doors seemed so welcoming to the old Varanus,he would open the doors to be greeted by the smells of his old home.With a crack he would unfurl his wings and take flight to a nearby platform.

He landed and it took great effort to bring himself up to watch the garden in the limelight from the fortified duraglass cupola.The Emperor took a seat on the stone bench on the platform as he watched the flora of a dead world thrive.He would cough once every minute while wheezing for breath.

He was enjoying the silence,being away from it all.....But then he heard a whisper.

"Sagess" the whispering echo would say.

The Emperor would stand and with a renewed vigor his head turned searching for the source of the whisper.

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Sagess would unfurl his wings and fly to an open plaza on the garden floor,immediatly as he landed the whisper echoed once more...

"Sagess....."

The Emperor couldn't determine where the whisper is coming from as it echoes across the large enclosed garden.He circled around himself as he watched the thick foliage filled with bamboo-like trees and colocasia-like shrubs,he would watch for signs of movement but in the dark patches where the limelight was thin,it was near impossible to determine.

"Show yourself!" he commanded.His stance defensive for any sudden attack.

But an attack never came,and the echoes soon stopped.There was only one exit from the garden,so Sagess stood guard for almost a hour.

"Nothing?" he thought.He opened the doors back to the hallway to find the same two guards outside.
"My lord! If my lord wishes we shall gladly escort you back to your bedchambers." One guard said with a salute.

"Search the gardens immediately and report back to me,I shall remain here.....Go both of you!"

"Yes my lord!" both of them scurried into the garden,their pike's ready.

40 minutes passed before they returned with news that concerned the Emperor deeply.......

"Our search is complete my lord......We found nothing and no trace of anyone else that was in the gardens besides you your majesty."

"Good.....good I am ready to be escorted back to my chambers" The Emperor said pondering.

As he was escorted down the hallway his mind was restless......Who or what whispered to him?
As he clambered back into his bed and covered himself with the torn silks he couldn't wrap his head around the thought.....

"Am I becoming insane?"

{End of Bloodlines:Chapter 1}

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