The Chieftain held his sword high, ready to strike. Just as he was about to bring it down, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body wracked with pain. He fell to his knees, which made me panic. I was too scared to move, watching in horror as the scene unfolded before me. The Chieftain clutched his stomach, blood continuing to spew from his mouth. He looked at the blood in his hand and spoke, his voice weak and strained.
"P…oi…son, h…ow?" he stammered, turning to look at his wife. She immediately averted her gaze, her expression indifferent.
"You brought this upon yourself, not me. The moment you brought that slave into our home, married her, and treated her the same as me, you lost my trust. You left me no choice but to support my father," she said coldly.
The Chieftain looked on in surprise, unable to believe what he was hearing. I stood there, too shocked to move or speak, feeling as if my world was collapsing. Blood flowed from his nose, mouth, and eyes as he gritted his teeth in disappointment. He looked at me, his eyes filled with sorrow. I raised my hands slightly, trying to reach out to him, but then I saw a sword protruding from his chest, leaving me even more stunned.
I tried to run towards him, tears streaming down my face, but a hand grabbed me. As I turned to see who it was, a heavy slap landed on my face, knocking me to the floor. Looking up with reddened cheeks, I saw it was the Chieftain's wife, Luna. She looked at me with contempt and hatred.
"This is all your fault. Do you hear what I say? It's all your fault. You killed him. If you hadn't come into our lives, maybe he would still be alive," she said, slapping, punching, and kicking me as if I weren't a woman. I endured the pain, having grown used to beatings like this when I was still a slave. I looked at my husband, who lay in a pool of his own blood, a sword stuck in his chest. His eyes were lifeless as he gazed at me one last time, smiling weakly as he spoke, using the last of his strength.
"A…a.m s…o…rr…y," he whispered, his eyes suddenly closing shut. As if losing my mind, I pushed the Chieftain's wife away and rushed to where the Chieftain lay dead. Despite my injuries and the blood from the beating, I didn't care what happened to me at that moment. I just wanted to get to him. I still can't understand what that feeling in my heart truly was then, but I didn't care about anything else. I just wanted to hold him.
I reached out, holding him tightly as I wept loudly, calling out his name. Suddenly, laughter echoed in the grand hall as Zic spoke.
"You did well, my daughter. You have finally made your old man happy," he said, laughing out loud again before continuing. "Indeed, he was quite a strong man, more than I thought. I think I'm starting to understand why Father chose him as his successor instead of me. A medicine that was meant to kill a normal human in 30 minutes actually took 2 hours to take effect. I was starting to think that the poison, which could even kill a lion, wouldn't work on that bastard."
He smirked and turned to the barbarian chief, who had recovered to some extent. Walking towards him, he smiled, wanting to thank him.
"I'm really grateful for your help. I will keep my end of the deal. As promised, half of the lands owned by the Zest Empire will be given to you."
The barbarian chief gave a malicious smile and spoke, "No, I should be the one thanking you instead."
Zic laughed with Yara, the barbarian chief, for a while, then spoke again.
"There's no need to really th…an…k…" A sharp sword was thrust into Zic's belly, leaving him in shock and surprise at what had just happened. Yara, with the sword still in Zic's belly, came close and spoke up.
"No, you have misunderstood me. I'm not thanking you for doing anything, because you Zest people are weak and useless without your leader. So, I have to thank you for helping me kill that bastard, and second, I have to thank you for giving me the entire territory of Zest. I mean, why would I take half if I could take it all and nobody can stop me?" He burst into laughter, laughing like a madman who had gone crazy.
The entire grand hall fell into silence as Yara's actions sent fear and desperation through their bodies, making them realize their mistake. Yara, bringing out a whistle-like object from his clothing, which was mostly made from animal skins, blew on it forcefully, and a loud noise echoed through the hall. The sound of the whistle, which was very loud, put every member of the court in a state of anxiety, as if they knew what was coming. I, myself, didn't pay much attention to my surroundings and only held the already dead Chieftain, still shedding tears.
Before we knew it, an entire army of barbarians rushed into the imperial grand hall, holding all sorts of weapons. Without any notice, they were ordered to kill every single one of us in the hall, and so began a grand massacre. The cries, shouts, and screams of people could be heard everywhere. Just then, the Chieftain's wife was running away from an approaching barbarian who was chasing her. In order to protect herself, she wasted no time in running towards me, gripping my hands and pulling me in front of her. I was crying for the loss of the Chieftain and could not really understand what was happening in front of me. I saw people running away, blood splattering around, and people screaming in fear. Finally, the last thing I saw before my eyes shut was a blade heading towards me and a voice behind me saying,
"Just die in my place. If you love him that much, then die with him."
In my last thought as my lifeless body fell, I wondered, "Love… did I really love him?" I didn't know what was going on around me, but I smelled something burning before all my senses went off finally.
I didn't know how long it had been since I died. I suddenly woke, taking in a deep breath as if resurrecting from the dead. I couldn't understand what was happening around me as I thought I should already be dead. I looked at my surroundings; it was like nowhere I had ever seen before. It was like a void, completely empty, devoid of life, and an embodiment of darkness. Within this space, there was hardly a glimmer of light around. I floated around, surveying my surroundings in confusion, wondering to myself what was truly going on here. All of a sudden, a ghostly dark silhouette appeared in front of me from nowhere. I was so scared by what I was seeing that I trembled in fear, my heart beating steadily as if wanting to burst out of my chest. The unknown silhouette, shrouded in darkness, made me tremble in fear as he spoke.
"Indeed, as I thought, you are a death slave. I have to say, I haven't seen one of your kind before. It only exists in legends among beings like me, but here you are, a death slave." I looked at him in confusion, still not understanding what he was saying and what was going on here. He continue
"There's no need to be afraid. I'm not here to harm you, and even if I wanted to, I couldn't." I looked at him with visible skepticism as I spoke.
"Who are you? No, I mean, what are you?" The ghostly figure shrouded in darkness responded.
"What am I, um…," he said, as if thinking of what to say. I looked at him with an even more skeptical and cautious gaze as he continued.
"You can call me Kefaa. As for what I am, I'm something that you humans would commonly refer to as a ghost ripper, grim reaper, or death anchor." I was so stunned by what I heard that I retreated a little before asking,
"You are a death anchor? Does that mean that I am dead?" The glowing eyes of the ghostly silhouette looked at me as he spoke.
"Dead… how should I put this? You are dead, but you are also not dead." I looked at him, clearly confused by his words, and spoke up again.
"What do you mean, I'm dead and also not dead?"
"Okay, to put it more simply, you are a death slave. A person who, after death, due to a lot of suppressed emotions, displeasures, grievances, and desires, becomes a being that even death can't suppress. They can't be put to rest until they achieve what they need to achieve and are willing to sacrifice for that." I looked at him in surprise, asking,
"So, you are saying that I have become a death slave? But how is it possible? I don't remember having any piled-up feelings in my life. Does that mean I will become one of you death anchors soon?"
"One of us? No, you are something far different from us. You are like an undead, unable to die no matter what, forever immortal. As for the part about not having any piled-up feelings within you, you are lying to yourself. Even I can sense the emotions, longings, grievances, and dissatisfaction that you have piled up within yourself throughout the years of your life. It's even making me shiver in fear. As for how a mere human can have so much going on within them, I have no idea." I looked on in shock, bowing my head down. It's not like I didn't know what he was talking about because, throughout my life, I have been through a lot and over the years have accumulated a lot of grievances and hate. But I didn't expect it to be that exaggerated.
"Does that mean I will stay here for the rest of my life?" The ghostly figure turned back, heading into the endless darkness. As he turned back to me, part of his body began dissipating as he spoke.
"You don't belong here. You are a living being, not a dead one like me, so you can't stay here with us. I'm quite sure we will meet again someday." He completely dissipated into the darkness, leaving just the lone silhouette of me floating in the endless void.
All of a sudden, the space around me began to break apart, and as if being pulled by a force, I woke up back in my original body. I looked around, surprised at what had just happened, or perhaps I had dreamt it all. My surroundings were haunting: the once grandiose Grand Hall was now charred and blackened by a devastating fire. The blaze had mercifully died out, but the lingering smoke hung heavy in the air, obscuring my view and casting an eerie gloom over the scene. I immediately realized that it wasn't a dream. I stood up, my vision obscured by the smoke, and frantically searched for my husband's body. I finally saw a figure that looked like him. Rushing over, I removed all the debris that had fallen on top of him, only to see his lifeless body, burnt to a crisp by the fire. I placed my hands on his body, trying to touch him, but my hands were burnt by the heat. I immediately pulled them back, whimpering in pain from the burns.
To my surprise, the pain was gone almost as soon as it came. Looking at my hands, I discovered that all the burns had completely healed, leaving me even more stunned. I thought to myself, "So this is what he meant by forever living, forever immortal." I later managed to bury my dead husband. Looking at the scene in front of me, an entire city filled with corpses and fires burning rampant everywhere, I said to myself,
"You can rest well now, Chieftain. No more will I be that naive girl who was always treated like a commodity, sold and used at will. No more will I be that timid girl who can be bullied at will, always afraid to speak her mind. It's time that I begin to let out all these emotions that I have piled up until now. No more will I be stepped on. I promise you, Chieftain, I will avenge you and the innocent people of Zest. I will be the strong girl you always wanted me to be." I thought to myself as I turned back, walking away, about to create a new path for myself, one that would change everything now that I have the power.
At age 34 in the year 1044 CE, almost a century after the fall of Zest, the political structure of the Northern land of the Festo Continent had changed significantly. New powers had emerged, and old powers had fallen. Within that century, several wars broke out, altering the power structure. New empires like the Lion Empire, Bigen Empire, Great Hibba Empire, and Ochra Empire rose, as well as new emerging barbarian clans like the Siri tribe, Cider tribe, Sun tribe, and the Maharani tribe, which had become dominant forces in the Northern lands. The Grey Barbarians, for example, fell one year after they destroyed Zest. The injuries Yara, the Grey Barbarian chief, received from the Chieftain of Zest during their battle were too severe to heal, greatly reducing his combat power and leading to their eventual fall at the hands of the Marcus Empire of the North. The past century came to be known as the Period of Great Change in the North, a time when power dynamics shifted dramatically, and new empires and kingdoms rose. This upheaval was all a result of the fall of Zest, which had been the main pillar supporting a vast structure. Once the main pillar fell, the other pillars couldn't bear the weight, and new pillars were needed to support it. I had been in the shadows for the past century, preparing for what was to come.
At the age of 36 in the year 1046 CE, also known as the Year of Conquest, I finally made my move. Over the past 13 years, I had built an invisible army, which launched an attack on all the powers in the Northern lands, sweeping them away one by one. My conquest was riddled with blood. The whole Northern lands were in a period of great chaos, affecting small and large clans alike. Empires like Marcus, Hibba, Olujin, French, and more were among the first to fall by my hand during this period. I had spies everywhere in the form of slaves kept by the empires and barbarian clans. These slaves became my eyes and ears within these empires and clans. Every empire or clan I captured, I decreed the abolition of slavery, which made the slaves in other empires and clans help me easily.
At age 40 in the year 1050 CE, I had conquered the whole Northern and Southern lands and became known as the Eternal Mighty God of War.
At the age of 43 in the year 1053 CE, I had conquered the whole of the Festo Continent, unifying the North, East, South, and West lands under my rule. Slavery was abolished throughout the continent.
At the age of 246 in the year 1256 CE, I had conquered almost half of the entire world, and my name, the Eternal Mighty God of War, was known by the whole world.
At the age of 247 in the year 1257 CE, I had stopped my expansion and began exploring the whole world instead by myself ,tired from the constant war ,which became boring to me .
At the age of 420 in the year 1257 CE, I have explorerd the whole world ,and discovered that their are really extra ordinary people in this world not just me .I had increased my influence to the whole world , without the need of conquest,and over the past years I have gone by serval elios , traveling the world, only few and powerful families in the world knows me , because I made them who they are ,and they pledged their loyalty to me, to the end .
At the age of 546 in the year 1383 CE, I had explode all parts of the world and have experienced almost everything possible , including the rise of science and Arts .I had being am actor , musician, teacher and other know professions in the world .
"At the age of 620 in the year 1457 CE,I had become bored of this world ,and went into secluded living even if I was still in touch with the occurance in the world through the use of phones and other mediums.
I don't know why but after all this years I haven't being able to get that feel ,I got whenever I was with the chieftain then ,I have had many admirals over the years ,who pursued me but not one of them have ever picked my interest for once ,I don't no why ,maybe am looking for a man that can make me feel the same way the chieftain made me feel back then .
This is a very brief narration of my life to help you understand who I am and how I really became how I am today ,my journey and story so far untile now .