Side story 4: How did the Monster of the forbidden come into existence? (Read part 1)

Emperor Batang IV P.O.V

My name is Batang IV. I am the Emperor of the Batang people. I rose to power at the age of forty years old after my father, Emperor Batang III abdicated because he was very old and sick. He was almost eighty and had lost his vigor due to diabetes and other diseases related to aging. When I became the new Emperor, my father's legacy put so much pressure on me. He was a great conqueror and had annexed Okala and Okunde who were under the reign of two cruel warlords who terrified their populations and extorted their wealth by using extreme brutality against those who rebelled. After the troops under the command of my father defeated the enemies, our territory became bigger and peace reigned upon the region for a long time. My father was acclaimed for being an on-field Ruler and people venerated him like a half-god if not a god himself. The empire thrived under his impulse and commenced arousing the envy of not only Rulers of neighboring land such as the Batumba empire but also the lust of some evil spirits such as Edimo, the god of ruin. The bad divinity who had been expelled from the heavens by the ancestors because of his stubbornness and penchant for having pleasure at seeing humans suffering vowed to take over what the good divinities cherished the most on earth: the Batang empire. So Edimo, the god of ruin, thought about inflicting pain on our land through his creatures. At first, he sent the witches of evil but they were too weak for my father's army whose Oracles had concocted a magic potion with the water from the fountain of Ebuka, the god of purity, and gave it to drink to the men in uniform. The imperial forces exterminated them. Only one out of the hundred witches of evil that had come to confront my father's army was able to run away but her Master Edimo, the god of destruction, ultimately killed her for her outrageous incompetence. Then for five years, the Batang empire was the most peaceful place to live in. There was no war or no attack from any too-ambitious foreign Ruler or any bad spirit. However, if the population enjoyed the trouble-free land, my father was extremely worried about the apparent resignation for further calamities from the god of ruin notably. Even the Oracles of the imperial palace could not see him in their magical mirrors. They kept telling my father that he had maybe repented and understood it was better to live in the heavens among the ancestors than to dwell in the hot flames of the kingdom of pain. One day whereas the day was going on hitch-free as it had been in the past five years, a sudden earthquake shook the ground and caused frail infrastructures and houses to collapse, killing the unlucky inhabitants that were inside at the time of the sad event. It was the first time that the empire experienced such a calamity. Hence everyone was confused as to how to react. My father first. He asked the Oracles for an explanation but they were unable to provide one. As the days passed by and nothing else happened, my father, who was advised by the honorable members of the congress, concluded that the earthquake was a natural event, though it had generated the unfortunate loss of human lives and vital material. So normal life resumed for the next decade during which no major misfortune struck the empire. My father was now very old and diminished by illnesses. He renounced the throne to allow the young, fresh, and bold forty-year-old Crown Prince that I was to lead the nation. The day that he signed the abdication decree, I was standing by his side. He was lying on the bed and his right hand was trembling like a leaf. The moment was very emotional but I retained my tears. I didn't want to start my reign as a weak crying Emperor. My first act as the new Ruler was to elevate my father to the pantheon of the Greats. I thus demanded that he be mentioned henceforth as the Great Batang III. My second act was to proclaim my union with my childhood love, Duna, and elevate her to the dignity of Empress. Three months after our marriage, Empress Duna got pregnant and I expected it was going to be a boy, that was to say my heir and the next Crown Prince. I invoked the ancestors and they heard my prayer. Nine months later, Empress Duna gave birth to our first child, a boy, Crown Prince Dida the first. He was the most handsome infant that could ever be and changed me as a man but also as an Emperor. I was more compassionate when I made certain decisions. For instance, on some trials, I said to myself what if I were in this man's shoes and were separated from my loved ones? So instead of condemning the man to one or two years of prison as per the law, I commuted the sentence to general interest work along with a small fine. One year later, I became a father for the second time. Empress Duna gave birth to another boy and I named him Bila the second. The first decade of my tenure went on relatively calmly. I succeeded in avoiding wars with neighboring empires. I signed pacts of nonaggression and brotherhood with the Rulers of the Batumba and Damba empires. The Batumba land was the immediate neighbor on our west border. The Damba land was situated right after the Batumba empire in its western frontier. My two sons Dida and Bila were growing up fast and it made me a proud father. The feeling was just indescribable. They were now respectively ten and eleven years old. The elder Dida started his initiation to become the next Ruler after me. He was smart and strong. He learned how to wield a sword and strike with a bow and arrow. I authorized him from time to time to go to the bushes escorted by imperial sentinels and hunt antelopes. The kid was very good at it. He carried his prey to the lunar palace and ordered the cook to grill it. Once it was ready, he brought it to me pretending he did it all by himself. I knew the truth but as a father, I preferred to appreciate his good intent, which was to make me proud of him, and I was. Time flew by even faster and my two sons were now fifteen and fourteen years old and had joined the imperial army as reserve soldiers. There was going to be a one-month youth military camp in Okunde village during which the young reserve staff was going to be trained and taught the army values and principles. So I sent my two sons over there to take part in the camp. They were accompanied by their close-knit guards. It took them one day and a half to make the journey from the imperial palace in Ekule to the army barracks in the north of Okunde. Upon their arrival in the morning before noon, they were welcomed by the Commander of Okunde's regiment. The camp was going to start the next day and before that the reservists were permitted to go for a stroll around the area. Bila was exhausted by the long voyage they had just completed, so he declined to go outside the barracks and preferred to rest to be in great shape for the beginning of the youth military camp the following day. As for Dida, he was subjugated by the beautiful landscape of Okunde and couldn't miss the only chance they had to visit the village. The Crown Prince went for the promenade with the close-knit guards and suggested that they reach the magnificent mountain they could see from a distance which was about three kilometers away. Though the sun was a bit too hot, it didn't deter my first son's determination to visit and contemplate the hill. With the close-knit guards, Dida arrived at the foot of the mountain. He was impressed by its size and thought about climbing to the summit and having an overview of Okunde. Though the guards warned him that they would be back late to the barracks, he insisted on going to the top and used his authority as Crown Prince to force the guards to come with him. Once at the top, Dida was happy with his decision. The view was indeed breathtaking, even for the guards who tried to dissuade him to not climb. The time to end the hiking arrived but when they were about to go down the cliff, the Crown Prince went to have a look at the flank that was opposite to the one by which they ascended to the summit, and noticed something strange at the bottom. There was a massive cavity that looked like the result of an earthquake. Without telling anything to the guards, Dida took them by surprise and began to descend the mountain to go to check the big hole. The guards tried to follow him but they realized that it was too risky. So they stayed on the summit while glaring at Dida advancing toward the cavity. The Crown Prince finally touched the ground and walked through the grass till he reached the big hole. He bent to sneak inside and was out of the blue slapped by an enormous wing. Dida fell into the cavity and that was his end. The close-knit guards were baffled and weren't sure about what had just happened. They began to shout the name of the Crown Prince but he wasn't answering. And suddenly, a huge and terrifying howl emerged from the cavity. The decibels propagated way above Okunde and went to the imperial city of Ekule and the western village of Okala. Intimidated by a monster yet unknown, the close-knit guards ran away as fast as they could. They returned to the barracks, took the new Crown Prince Bila, and immediately traveled back to Ekule where I was worryingly waiting for them at the imperial palace. I was devastated when I saw my second son alone without his elder brother. The guards recounted to me the story of the death of my first son. I proclaimed a one-month national funeral for my first son and forbid anyone to ever hike again to the mountain in Okunde.

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