Side story 5: How did Emperor Batang V rise to power? (Read parts 1,2,3,4,5)

Emperor Batang V - P.O.V

My name is Batang V. I'm the Emperor of the Batang people. At my birth, I was the second in line to the throne behind my late elder brother, Dida the first who was killed at the age of fifteen years by the Monster of the forbidden mountain during a promenade. I grew up in the imperial palace as Prince Bila and after the passing of my big brother, I became Crown Prince Bila. I was fourteen years old back then. My father, the Great Batang IV, began to initiate me to the duties of an Emperor and insisted that I should always be righteous but firm and severe when the circumstances commanded to be so. He was extremely popular for being the Ruler under whom the greatest enemy that our land had ever faced, perished: the Monster of the forbidden mountain. After the giant bird stole the young life of my senior brother Crown Prince Dida the first, my father Emperor Batang IV signed a decree to proscribe anyone to hike to Okunde's mountain where the beast resided. Believing it was just a matter of time before Edimo, the god of ruin, was going to instruct his evil creature to attack the empire, my father ordered the troops of the regiments of Ekule and Okala to back up the imperial forces in Okunde. However, the Monster stayed in its hideout and didn't emit a single howl for five years to the extent that there were famous legends about its possible death that were divulged. One was saying that the giant bird was dead, eaten by its creator Edimo, the god of ruin. Another one came up and spread the news that the ancestors had silently handled the problem and set the beast's cavity ablaze, killing it consequently. And out of the blue, when no one expected to hear about the Monster again, on a calm night, it powerfully screamed and the frightening sound went way above the mountain. By doing so, the villain announced a looming attack on the empire. The imperial palace and the troops in Okunde that had long stopped the military exercises that simulated various ways to defeat the villain, were in total panic. Two days following its warning cry, the villain left its fortress, marched toward the north gate of Okunde, and decimated the imperial sentinels standing over there with a flapping of wings. It then advanced to the inner side of the village where two hundred imperial warriors were lined up to deal with it. But very quickly the giant bird outpowered them with its windy attack. One blow of the wings that exponentially increased the speed of the wind and turned it into a weapon that propelled any human or object on its path to the air and provoked a life-threatening landing on the ground. My father, Emperor Batang IV was now sixty years old and weakened by sicknesses. The Governor of Okunde at the time, a cousin to my father, Kola I, who was leading the troop on the battlefield alerted the Emperor. They needed additional forces because the units that had been formed to annihilate the Monster of the forbidden mountain had failed to do so. The beast was described as invincible and of a different nature of power that had never been witnessed before. Okunde village was seriously damaged and many people succumbed to the windy attack. The devilish animal was moving now toward the imperial city Ekule. With three hundred men in uniform left and that was deemed to be an insufficient number, my father signed a decree calling on all the men of the land without exception, military or civilians, to head to the imperial city east gate and end the conquest of the Monster. The call of my father was heard and the courageous men of the land took with them all sorts of weapons, notably swords, and vowed to fight the beast till their last breath. There was one among these brave subjects of His Majesty that had something special in him, a divine gift that he had received from the ancestors and that was unbelievable power like no one in the empire. His name was Babida, an apprentice lumberjack of seventeen years old who lived with his uncle in the south of Ekule. The Monster with its windy attack had though succeeded in taking down the fighters including Babida who was seriously hurt after his hard fall on the ground but the ancestors intervened and replenished the woodsman. He rose in the greatest shape ever and ran to pick up his massive axe from the ground and tossed it on the beast's leg so powerfully that the villain was unbalanced and began to swirl uncontrollably. The giant bird fell over a house and was bleeding profusely. Babida hastened to its position and snatched his axe from the limb then he beheaded the Monster. Babida brought the beast's head on a silver platter to my father who in return for his heroism decorated the barely adult fighter with the medal of the highest honor and merit and gave him a one thousand Batangi prize. But money being a taboo, my father demanded that only the award of the medal be publicized. Since then Babida became a national hero and people referred to him as Babida the lumberjack, the killer of the Monster of the forbidden mountain. I was twenty years old when all these events happened. I was a bit older than Babida the lumberjack and being myself an army reservist, I wished I had gone to the battlefield and combatted the Monster. However, my father, Emperor Batang IV, didn't allow me. He feared losing another son and an heir to the throne. With some distance, I think today it was a wise decision from my father because my uncle, Prince Bola I, would have certainly taken over the throne after my father if I had passed away on the battlefield against the beast of that cursed hill. My father's junior brother, Prince Bola I, was a warmonger. He would have surely started wars with other lands such as the Batumba and Damba empires whereas my father had signed with them a pact of nonaggression and brotherhood and we were at peace. Uncle Bola I, had a boundless ambition and was capable of the worst, though he could be at times the nicest person ever. Nonetheless, it was as if he was possessed by some evil spirits that made him a multifaceted individual. Ultimately one year after the Monster of the forbidden mountain was slayed by Babida the lumberjack, my father was taken away by illnesses. He died while I was on a military mission in Okala. My uncle Bola I, attempted a coup but he was stopped by the loyal guards of my father who had vowed to the late Emperor that the law of succession in the land would be implemented or they would lose their lives for it. Immediately after I was informed of my father's passing, I interrupted my mission in Okala and headed back to the imperial palace in Ekule. Uncle Bola I, had already been thrown in jail. I swore on the constitution and became Emperor. I changed my name to Batang V and elevated my father to the pantheon of greatness. He became The Great Batang IV. I was twenty-one years old back then. The youngest Emperor in the Batang dynasty. For over a decade, my reign was relatively trouble-free. I married in the meantime the most beautiful woman of the land: Empress Serena. We had two kids: Crown Prince Dabo I and Princess Yola II Empress Serena was my biggest support and a great advisor though she could sometimes be on certain topics more radical than me. If it were up to her, I should have repealed the system of governors and provinces that had been put in place by my father to prevent me from holding absolute power in my hands. But I never followed her on this one. I trusted the wisdom of my father and also it benefited the land. With the governors, I had less work and some key decisions were taken faster because the rulers of the provinces had the power to act for the best of the community. Nonetheless, an unfortunate event made me reconsider this rule. Edimo the god of ruin had not said his last word yet. Fifteen years after his most maleficent creature was decimated by Babida the lumberjack, he gave life to another one, the newborn Monster of the forbidden mountain. I deployed men in uniform to Okunde and called on brave civilians to join the army and defend the land against the enemy. Babida the lumberjack who had left the empire since he killed the first Monster of the forbidden mountain over a decade ago was back. He was older but even stronger. He participated in a scout mission to the cursed hill to spy on the newborn Monster. A young fighter, a teenager, went with him. Unfortunately, the young lad was murdered by the newborn Monster, and Governor Kola Il who had instructed the mission imprisoned Babida on a whim. It was said in the rumors that the lumberjack failed to explain to the governor what had happened on the field. I was very upset with Kola Il who was my cousin and the son of Kola I, my father's cousin. The Governor of Okunde jailed a national hero without consulting me and moreover the young comrade who was killed by the newborn Monster had died on the battlefield as a soldier. Ultimately Babida was released from prison after Edimo the god of ruin sent on Okunde his new flying creatures: the terrifying bats, and Governor Kola II was assassinated by one of these evil mammals. The empire had hence now two serious adversaries: the newborn Monster and the wicked bats. Thanks to our ancestors and with the help of Babida the lumberjack that I appointed Superior Commander of the imperial forces, we defeated our enemies.

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