The prince had been left to hang for weeks for all to see. His legs swayed in the winds. While the hungry crows and unforgiving sun would peel his face like a rotten plum. It was a far cry from what he used to look like.

His current decrepit body looked nothing like what he used to. Golden locks of hair, a beaming smile that could that made many noblewomen swoon. A delicate chin. A slender, yet muscular body.

The Sun of the Country. The Flame Prince. Those were some of the names he was called.

But those might as well have been curses. The Prince, so proud, had been blinded by hunger for the throne. He was different, he thought. He would do what no other Prince or Princess would do.

Take down their Mother. The Eternal Queen.

But like all who went against the Queen, he had failed. And so, his body would soon be moved to the Promised Gallows, where he would just be a line in history in the long and bloody history of this country. Another grave in the cemetery, where he would forever hang, along with his siblings. Another failure in the Queen’s thousand year rule. A reminder to their failed attempt at the one thing they truly wanted.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Their right to the throne.

After a week, a storm finally broke, covering the sun and granting the body a respite. The howling wind and heavy rain battered the body until the rope snapped.

And the body fell.

The guards that usually patrolled the grounds had taken shelter in the cabin. Drinking whiskey and playing cards. From their boisterous conversation and laughs, they did not notice from the window a glimmer of light in the distance.

The prince had revived, standing up in his own two feet. He covered his eyes to look up at the heavens. His mouth opened to taste the sweet morsel of water in his dry throat.

The prince scanned the area. An attempt to understand where he was. Seeing the graves marked by the scaffold and rope. On each scaffold was a name written in a language he did not know. Something he would find out later.

Crossing his arms and tilting his head with a frown, he wondered out loud.

“Where am I?”

This wasn’t Japan, was it?