The Ascension - Prologue

Roses; the insignia of my royal family and kingdom, but now trampled by the feet of the enemy. It is now disgraced under the boots caked with dirt of the consecrated grounds. Our pride is shattered under the vicious onslaught, the relentless merciless mass murder. The kingdom that took six generations to build is now on the brink of destruction in just a week’s time. Our soldiers were not able to even slow the enemy down; all were cut down with the swift blades tainted with greed.

It was my fault for not seeing through the eyes of my most trusted knight. I failed to see the glimmer of traitorous intent when I first saw him, dragging an old worn-out blade into the training chamber of the castle years ago. His skills with sword made him entitled as the finest warrior in the kingdom. I gifted him the sword forged by the hands of my father long before his death. It was meant to protect the kingdom yet he uses it to stab me from behind instead.

There was a message from him relayed through a dying soldier, who had walked a distance from the battlefield to the gates of the castle with sharp blades stuck deep in his flesh. His body was carrying the wounds of torture. In his hand was clutched a letter, written with blood, informing me that the Knight would come to claim the throne from me. The soldier told me that the entire battalion was no more. All of them were either dead, or in captive awaiting brutal, painful execution. With the last of his breath, he declared his faith in me to protect the kingdom from destruction brought forth by the fallen Knight.

For now, I locked myself in the seclusion of the throne room. Not of cowardice though, I spent nights reading through the manuscripts left by my ancestors, each detailing the process of brewing a potion that is supposed to grant eternal life. But it does not come without a price. It is said that the potion will also rob the light out of its drinker, corruption his heart with darkness.

These manuscripts are forbidden artifacts passed down from generation to generation in the royal family. Their existence are only known to few; a closely guarded secret that is put above the life of the king himself. None has ever possessed the courage to brew the potion in fear of the said price. The ingredients are scribbled in riddles, where one can easily misinterpret and end up with lethal elixir instead.

All of that will change tonight.

I will take a step up the stairs to God, and challenge death by the time the Knight arrive to claim the throne meant only to one that carries royal blood within his body.