SYRE
He was a shade of his former self. Skin that had once seemed vibrant and kissed by the sun had begun to pale and was covered in a sickly sheen of sweat more often of late. Eyes, once commanding and wild, were haggard and lined deeply within their sockets. Clearing his throat with a grunt, Syre stepped over the small sand pile and found himself with a sure footing, something not easy to do in the desert. With a small cough, Syre cleared his throat. He had partaken of Orlath’s alchemic brew early in hopes of fending off another coughing fit. Consumption had proven an appropriate name for the debilitating sickness that had afflicted Syre. For, not only was it destroying his lungs, but it had consumed all of him. His dreams of conquest, of domination had been put on hold to answer the call of this sickness.
The platform he stood upon was small, no more than six foot in diameter, with grooves etched into its face spiraling into letters Syre had never before seen. The young boy that followed the bandit king was tall for his age, but far too thin. Moving up beside the young warlord, the boy rubbed the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes with a yawn. There was a decided resemblance between the two men.
The boy was not the only one short on sleep, many among Syre’s caravan had been up all night digging through the mountains of sand, searching for this very spot. They had camped here far longer than any other place they had visited. The whole of Syre’s entourage was aflutter with gossip. Soldiers whispered of Syre’s search for an heir. Many women had come forward claiming to have birthed Syre’s bastard and the warlord’s mages had been running themselves ragged performing tests of legitimacy upon the children. Finally after weeks of painstaking examinations the mages had produced Syre’s heir.
Syre hadn’t bothered to remember the brat’s name.
Peering out at the expansive waste, Syre turned his attention to his soldiers. They huddled around the platform each and every last one of them eager to here their king’s words.
“This,” Syre said, through the drainage in his throat “is my Kingdom.” Resting a gauntleted hand atop the helm secured at his belt, Syre sighed. “Some would call it a Kingdom of dirt, of waste, of blood, but it is a kingdom nonetheless. This world is far older than any among us can imagine. Civilization long since dead, once resided here; older than the ocean itself, or so the legends would have us believe.”
Turning to face another portion of his men, Syre continued. “Regardless of what these legends say, regardless of what the insects outside of our tribe say, this desert belongs to us and we will go forth and show them our strength. And there will be gold…and there will be women…and there will be drink…and blood…and murder and plenty of everything to whet each and every one of your sordid appetites. Let us awaken these legends of old and show them what luck they have, to be standing in our presence.”
His men roared in response and Syre turned to face the boy at his side. Peering down into eyes glimmering with admiration, Syre drove the steel tip of a gauntleted thumb into the boy’s windpipe and opened his throat. There was but a brief moment where Syre watched his son claw at his own throat with crimson stained hands before the warlord cast the boy to the floor of the platform. As the boy’s life poured from his body, it followed the markings until the whole of the platform had been covered.
Syre stepped off the platform as it fell apart, sending the corpse of the boy into the bowels of the earth. The payment had been made, beneath him wait his destiny.
Turning to his generals, Syre collected his weapons. “Raja, Khalik, you will accompany me to the temple. Tourn, keep watch. ” Spear in hand, Syre descended into the pit.