The Glory of an Empire, Chapter 3
#4 of The Glory of an Empire
Hallo Kamarade und welcome to the third complete instalment of The Glory of an Empire, No copy please. I would like to take this time to recognise a dear old friend, who had inspired my to write this, you know who are. : 3
Chapter 3:
I suffered; the guilt had eroded me those very long two years that Krys was gone. Having the burden of my actions was enough to turn me to the bitter, cruel, and hateful person I came to be. As I was, I think back to it now, I became of much like my Father, Dietrich V. My case at least was not as severe as his, I didn't even notice any change in myself, but my friends, they felt the full force of my new self.
"Brother Kiro, how goes the investigation on the rebels?"
"Well Dietrich, from what I have discovered from loose paperwork and petty weapons receipts, they are rooted in or near the city of Qui, if any even exist. All I can tell is that a large requisition of lever action rifles and steam-pressured bullets were purchased at several ammunition and gunsmith shops around the city. If they are planning something, once again if they do exist, it will most likely be some sort of uprising, not terror tactics like we originally assumed."
"Well, what do you intend we do, brother?"
I frowned, took my reading monocle from my eye, and placed a cigarette in my muzzle, carefully lighting it. I took one drag and then blew smoke back at my brother's face.
"Dietrich, if I was in charge, I would seize every weapon that the wolves there would own, on a door to door check and set up the city as a weapons free zone, then branch the de-arming process from there."
Dietrich VI's face was hot with anger.
"Have you gone mad, brother?! You know very well without weapons the wolves of the Southern Colonies would all perish from the attacks of the wild animals that live there, not to mention the pirates! They are desperate for self defense as it is, they don't need to be disarmed, they need to be rearmed!"
"Then what do you suppose we do, dear brother?"
My patience was at an end; I was tired of trying to come to peaceful accord with these, savages.
"If you could give us the permission, we can maybe meet the demands of these rebels, quell the uprising with peace, instead of more laws, and more violence. Kiro, Father is sick, he has left you in charge of the Southern Colony expansion movement. You can stop this; you can allow us to approve the order for blue eyed wolves, to be able to return home to their Fatherland. So we can have peace."
I was furious; the streets of the mainland were cleaner than they ever have been, not crowded by the lowly beggars, who were mostly all blue-eyed wolves. The Empire was finally prospering; the goods shipped here from the Colonies were highly prized and expensive, thus bolstering our treasury from increased taxes. In time, we could expand again!
"Brother are you blind! They have deceived us all! These rebels care not for our talk of peace; they want only to return the Empire to the dirty failing country it was before all this! I refuse to take a step back for these savages! I will only step forward, for the Empire, and for my Kaiser!"
I took another drag on my cigarette, and blew smoke into the room. Dietrich's face fell with sadness; he was broken by my harsh words.
"Kiro, what has happened to you? Do you know what you are doing? The wolves you are causing to suffer? Can you even remember that one was our dearest childhood friend? Don't you know who you have become?"
I shook my head and thought for a minute, Krys, deep down I missed him. But in truth, he already made his own death sentence, he condemned himself to death! I care less what happenes to them now.
"You have no authority to instruct me or lecture me brother! I know very well who I am!"
I stood, crossed my right arm across my chest, and clicked my heals together.
"I am a loyal servant of Die Größere Wolfish Riech, and I will serve her greater interest till the day I die!"
"Then you are lost, consumed by your own hate. You may be able to hide your feelings form everyone else, but you can't hide them from me, you grief, your anxiety, and your love. I knew how you felt toward Krys, I have always known. Even now, you miss him don't you?"
"Get out."
Dietrich picked up his belongings and strode to the door, then turned to me.
"You know, there was a time that you had said that you longed for the day when peace would come to the Empire, when hate would be defeated by peace and love."
"Dietrich, get out of my sight!"
He slammed the door on his way out. The loud noise and the arguing caused a massive headache, one that just wouldn't leave. I sat back down in my chair and propped my feet up on my desk. Maybe things are different; maybe I have changed for the worse? The headache worsened. I closed my eyes, and massaged the pressure point between my eyes. Nonetheless I knew my duty, don't I?
~/*~ {3} ~/*~
As I figured my brother did nothing, he would rather not make a move, rather than make the wrong move, or defy his Kaiser. But the Southern Colonies had only worsened anyway. Guards found murdered at their posts, their wounds were covered in water, and there was no evidence of a weapon found. Soon enough, the violence escalated, and brother's platoon was called to the colonies, under the orders of "search and destroy".
As my brother arrived, with him came 98% of the Royal Airship Navy. Dietrich VI led his soldiers into the City of Qui armed with Dopplesieg Mark II Armor Suits and MG 54 automatic guns, but not a shot was fired. For as soon as they saw their enemy, they laid down their arms. Before them the rebels, they were just wolfish foresters, the poor, the helpless trying to survive. But there was something that Dietrich VI didn't know; the Kaiser had boarded the flag ship of the Imperial Navy. He had seen his son defy his orders again and again, but Dietrich VI refused to forgo his morals for mere orders. So the Kaiser did the next best thing, using a newly constructed bomb made from ancient elven technology, he burned the entire city of Qui. His words echoed throughout the entire Southern Isle.
"Let this be a forewarnment! All rebels are treasonous traitors, and all are to be executed on sight, no trial will be necessary! Long live the Fatherland!"
When brother returned home and told me that the city was gone, I gave in, my hate had finally been sauntered, and anguish sadness corrupted my insides. I gripped my chest as I fell to the floor, crying, for I feared the worst, Krys had died. I screamed out for mercy, whatever to have created us, to please show mercy on us. Forgive my action, forgive my evil deeds, and just bring them back from the great here after. Bring them back to our loving arms. But mercy is not common is Fury, no mercy is quiet and absent in our small world.
~/*~ {3} ~/*~
"Father, I am here."
I grip my unofficial father's paw in mine as he is on his last breaths of life. While on his voyage to the Southern Colonies, he had contracted a fatal heart disease that erodes his heart from the inside out, a cruel way to die, even for the ruthless Kaiser.
"Kiro, my son... I have not been... always there for you as I should have..."
"You had your duty father."
"No Kiro... I have been cruel and wicked... I have shammed the throne..."
"Father, we all have done wrong. It is the nature of every living being."
A tear ran down my face, catching the individual stands of fur.
"But not to my extent... Not for what I have done... Kiro, listen close... Your mother..."
His coughs were showing signs of his vitals falling.
"She was beautiful... She was everything... But she was my opposite..."
"What are you saying father?"
"Kiro, I was hate, she was all that is love... Even with my gun pointed at her... She still loved me... You are her son, I am not your true father... You must carry out her purpose... You must bring love and peace to this Empire..."
My tears turned to a trickle, he had never spoken to me like this.
"I will father, I will try."
"No Kiro, you must! Forgive me son... Forgive me... Forgi..."
His last breath was unable to finish his final plea for forgiveness. I knew then my purpose, I had to stop this rebellion. I had to end the wars; I had to somehow bring peace. I had to allow the wolves to be free again. I had to avenge my father.
"I forgive you father."
~/*~ {3} ~/*~
The coronation ceremony was beautiful. The entire courtyard was decorated with the rarest of flowers and in vibrant colors. The sky was a little cloudy, but the sun still managed to make an appearance My brother's banners were hung over the railings and archways, signifying his rise to the throne. I sat at my balcony, my feet up on the railing as I customarily do, smoking a cigar, and viewing the spectacle bellow. The band was playing the hymns of the Empire, a set of songs deemed part of our pride as Imperials. But I feel that our pride is about to change, Dietrich VI will bring peace to the Empire, finally a hope. He stood in his white and red Kaiser's robes, all freshly fitted just for him. They flowed in the mid day breeze, giving off a display of a serene setting. He looked to me on the balcony, just before the ceremony began, and he just smiled and nodded. I nodded back, giving him my congratulations and as a sign of "good luck".
"Subjects, of Die Größere Wolfish Riech! War and hate has plagued our lands for so long, we have suffered. Our friends, comrades, our beloved family have all died under the banner of imperialism, no more! I had seen with my own eyes what atrocities can be committed given the power to do so. Is still shed my tears for those who were lost in the fires of Qui. But that is the past, and we cannot dwell on things that have been, we must live to the future. The future of the Reich and the world of Fury will be great and strong, wide and vast, rich and prosperous. Many words can be said about the future of Fury, but one word can be its path, and that word shall be PEACE!"
The crowd cheers and chants the word peace, followed by the customary "Sieg" and "Heil". Prinz Dietrich VI kneels before the wolves of the Empire and the crown is placed upon his head, and he rises, Eisen Kaiser Dietrich Von Dorchester VI.
"All heil the Kaiser!"
"Sieg!"
"Heil!"
"Sieg!"
"Heil!"
"Sieg!"
"Heil!"
The crowd has never been this excited before, but why shouldn't they? Finally they had a chance for peace, for true peace. I was clapping, lightly, I didn't want to make a scene, but under the visor I had covered my eyes with, I was smiling. Glory to the New Reich.
But wait, someone in the crowd doesn't fit really. That wolf there, he is heading opposite the crowd. He is hooded in a brown cloak of some sort; I can't make out a face. It looks as if he is heading toward the monument. But why would he do that? The Kaiser is the other way. I stood to get a better look. The figure was climbing the monument! He was now faced with the Kaiser! The crowd had stopped cheering, they had noticed, the courtyard had fell silent. The figure now stood tall, and upright, as if it was death himself. He drew forth a single paw, and pointed to the Kaiser, and as if his voice bellowed an otherworldly tone, the court yard was filled with his one word as it echoed.
"Traitor!"
The crowd gasped. How could this figure utter such a profanity, after what the new Kaiser had just said? Dietrich looked at him with confusion, and then spoke.
"Who would come before the Kaiser of Reich and say such a treasonous offense?"
"It is I, the voice of the people!"
"Why would you do this good voice of the people?"
"Why? Ha ha, HAHAHAHA! Well, to declare war of course."
"I will ask again, strange figure, who are you?"
"Can you not recognize me old friend? No? Well then, I shall make the blind see!"
He tore his cloak from his body, revealing a naked wolf that had dyed his fur blue, as black tattoos trailed from the imperial symbol for ice on his chest to his head, to his arms, and to his legs.
"Behold! The rebellion you had thought you had vanquished! We cannot be silenced so easy, old friend! You lies have extended far enough, now you and all the imperial oppressors must pay with their life!"
No it couldn't be, Krys!
"Herr Krys Wolf, stop this nonsense! Have you any idea how much pain you have caused me in your absence? You were like family to me! We had thought you dead! Krys, do you know what pain you have placed my brother in? How he has longed for your return? We had mourned your death, time and time again. But this entire time, you were off playing soldier! When you should have been here with us, your family! Do you even remember that your own father is an Imperial?"
"Be silent Imperial fool! That life is dead! My family is dead! All I have left is the cause, the revolution for the common wolf!"
"Then you are lost, guards seize the traitor."
"You think you can apprehend me? I am no physical being; I am the will of the people! With fire you sparked the rebellion, and with ice, I shall smother your life from this world. For the lost of Qui! Let the revolution begin!"
Krys pounds his paw into the monument concrete, and cracks spread from the point of impact. The monument cracked and from the cracks was shot large ice-sickles, slicing through the crowd tearing victims' limb from limb. Blood and body parts scattered across the courtyard. A jet of ice shot from the top and lifted Krys. Just then I noticed the airships that had descended from the clouds. A board dropped from the sky and Krys had jumped atop of it, recloaking himself. He flew to one of the airships and boarded it. Then from the airships dropped wolves, wearing all leather armor and glided on what looked like shoddy gliders. They landed on the ground, all of them with their fur dyed blue, wielding shortened lever action rifles, as they began firing into the crowd of wolves.
I grabbed one of the ropes to the balcony and jumped down from it to the ground, and landed with a thud. I took my sword and pistol from their holsters and began firing back at the rebels. Then from the wall behind me, crashed through Sergeant Wolf and his new squad of soldiers in Dopplesieg Mark II Armor Suits. I smiled to him as he smiled back, and I cut into the ranks of rebel soldiers with my short sword, reloading magazines and then firing with my pistol again. Ludwig's squad was mopping up remaining soldiers as I saw brother being backed into the palace.
"Finish up here Ludwig, then meet me in the palace!"
"Ja wool mien Prinz!"
I saluted to him and then leaped over the remains of the monument and headed into the palace. I stepped slowly inside, only to hear the click of my boots on the floor and the occasional explosion from outside. Then I heard what sounded to be the clang of metal coming from the throne room. I raced to meet whatever trouble there, before it met a sad end. I entered to find Krys and a few rebels fighting the Kaiser, who stood atop of the throne wielding two long swords.
"You have no chance Kaiser, give in."
"Never, you can have it when you pry it form my cold dead paws!"
"Then we shall have it!"
A rebel sliced down with his sword, cutting down my brother, from his throne.
"Brother no!"
"You idiot! You weren't supposed to kill him! Look what you have done!"
I turned to Krys, with blood rage in my eyes.
"You bastard! This is your fault! You'll die with him!"
"Nooo!"
I raised my pistol to him and fired just as he jumped out of the way and through a window. The rebels blocked my following of him. Just then Ludwig came through the opposite window with his squad and engaged the rebels.
I ran up to my brother who lye bleeding out on the throne.
"Brother, I am sorry for this it is my entire fault. I am so sorry."
"No Kiro... You do not have to apologize to me, you are my family... Kiro... You are Kaiser now... Lead the people to peace, I know you can..."
"I will brother, I will... You have served us well..."
"I have done my duty... I now am at peace... Good bye brother..."
"Sleep well, Six, sleep well."
My eyes welled with tears, I have been so tortured. So many have been taken from me, so little has been given back to me. But my time for grieving is over; the time for action is now. I must work to bring this war to an end as soon as possible. I must honor their will, of my father and brother, I must bring peace. For I am the Kaiser of Die Größere Wolfish Riech, and I will lead my people to victory and peace, no matter the cost, for now, I have nothing left to lose.
Votes and comments please Kamaraden!