Chapter 1
Firmament Kingdom
“If all were born kings, commoners would live in palaces”.
It was nothing but a small kingdom in this vast land, a kingdom inhabited by the generous and the stingy, the kind and the scummy. The life there was not stable; in the winter the farms were drowning by the flood of its great river, while in summer, its great river was scarce, dripping something that could barely quench the thirst sides. A kingdom ruled by an old man and he was convinced of fate, and he did not move a finger until he listened to the proposal of “Degen” the chosen king.
The King Degen
“The water is a grace even if it is poured, but it is life if collected”.
Degen was a strong and brave young man, helped the weak and needy, his thoughts and beliefs were differ from others, he believed changing the will of fate to be in the interest of mankind is possible. Degen reached the king, stood and bowed to his majesty and put in his ear a proposal to change the kingdom fate. His proposal did not gain the voice of the king’s entourage, but the king supported and insisted; he made with Degen fifty men and promised Degen to rule if his proposal successfully fulfilled.
Ten years passed as if it were days, and Degen with the king’s men finished building a giant dam; a dam that contained the winter’s water and prevented the damage of flood. In the summer the dam’s gates open to irrigate the fields and to keep the green, and in the winter they were closed to collect the rain and prevent flooding. The dam was like a spirit came and lived there, a kingdom in which goodness overflowed and increased, and it became called the Firmament kingdom. The king fulfilled what he promised and what he said so he made Degen king of Firmament.
Three hasty years passed in which a king died and a king was crowned. Degen became the king of the Firmament Kingdom, ruling with justice and commanding with the truth. In his early years as a king, he was able to enact laws to serve the kingdom; trained an army to protect people and his land from the treachery of the enemies, feed the poor, and spend on the orphan and helped the needy.
The kingdom expanded and went in every direction, so the king’s responsibilities expanded. King Degen led his army himself and fought the enemies and defending his kingdom. The enemies of the Firmament Kingdom were thieves and bandits, and some of them were killers, “Plunderers” that’s what they’re called. They were raiding the far houses and looting their owners. King Degen could not eliminate them, but he was able to prevent their harm in the end. King Degen signed a treaty between his kingdom and the Plunderers, a peace of treaty for all; a treaty that saves blood, preventing injustice, and granting life.
A treaty in which King Degen gave a part of his kingdom for the Plunderers so they live with their children and families, and he assigned food for them to suffice and more. Granting them the independence to rule their land as well as giving them the security and peace, provided that they do not harm anyone from the kingdom, they do not harm a man, woman, child, or old from the Firmament kingdom. Peace prevailed in the Firmament Kingdom after the signing the treaty and the people of the Kingdom became safe and reassured, and the Plunderers became independent and satisfied.
Twin Magus and Sarc
“Judgment was never a cause of discrimination, but rather greed”.
The queen gave birth to twin of King Degen, who were nothing alike other than the children of the king. Magus and Sarc, they both had different qualities, prince Magus was sympathetic with the people, unlike his brother Sarc, who liked to carry out the punishment with his own hands; the people always feared Sarc, but they feel the contrary when sees his brother Magus. The two princes were obedient to their father the king, learned from him, and he guided them together. King Degen loved the two princes and did not distinguish between them, but he was trying very hard to increase the mercy and reduce the cruelty that Sarc carried in his heart. The twin grew up in their father’s palace and spent most of their time beside the king, learning courage and patience as well as learning leadership and judgment at their young age. At the end of every month, King Degen would take them with him on a tour inside the walls of his kingdom to strengthen their connection with the kingdom and to bring them closer to their near future.
Sarc used to infiltrate a lot from the palace to the plunderer’s town. The bets and challenges were attracting him to go there secretly; where King Degen prevented the betting and challenges within the walls of his kingdom when he ascended the throne, but he could not prevent it in the plunderer’s town because they were independent by the peace treaty. Sarc was strong and has never lost a bet in his life; he was dueling two and sometimes three plunderers at the same time and defeats them. He did not need the money that he wins in the challenges, but he was satisfying his passion and his love for violence and control. With his hands, he gained a place among the plunderers, and he gained the respect of “Fuso”, the leader of the plunderers, and gained the admiration of “Zinshe”, the daughter of Fuso, who couldn’t make him fall in her love.
On one of King Degen’s tours with the two princes inside the kingdom’s walls, the two princes heard a shout asking for help. The two princes Magus and Sarc rode their horses like arrows and reached the source of the shouting. There was a group of plunderers who had killed a merchant, took his money, and were trying to kidnap his daughter. The screams of pain rose from the mouth of the plunderers, and survived who fleed with his life, and those who insisted were killed. When the king and his guards reached the place, he found no survivors except the merchant’s daughter and the two princes. The king walked among the corpses of the scattered plunderers until he reached the two princes, looked at Magus’s sword, which was clean and shining in contrast to Sarc’s sword, which was dripping the red blood of plunderers. The king was upset from what he saw and what he witnessed, he ordered the princes to return to the palace and taking the merchant’s daughter with them so she resides in the palace and lives under the queen’s arm.
Years passed, and the king felt his end was approaching, so he decided to choose who would succeed him after him, but he has hesitated, who would he choose, Magus the merciful or Sarc the firm ... He could not make his decision, so he left it to the fate!
King Degen escorted his sons to the Great Dam and told them that whoever reaches the top of the dam he will be the King after him. The dam was very high and the falling means nothing but death, the kingdom dam that King Degen built with his own hands decades ago. Sarc didn’t wait long, started climbing to the top as if he had found what he was looking for there at the top, the power and control!
The king was astonished at the immobility of Magus, so he asked him if he was afraid, and before Magus answered, Sarc’s shout rose before he reached the top of the dam when his foot slipped and the dam’s timber hit one of his eyes. The king and Magus looked with fear at Sarc, who was hanging with one hand and waiting for his end. Magus set out to save his brother without hesitation; he went climbing the dam as if he knew every step in it. He reached his brother, asked him to give his hand, but Sarc’s pride refused and decided to die. Sarc released his hand, abandoning his dream to be a king and abandons life … But life often clings to us and makes the last decision. Magus grabbed his brother’s hand and raised him to the top of the dam, and then he climbed and joined his brother at the top. Magus tried to check on his brother’s eye, but Sarc angrily refused Magus’s concern.
And from the bottom of the dam beside the river bank where the king and his guards and the people of the kingdom were, the name of Magus loudly rose, which increased Sarc’s anger even more. But, Magus’ behavior extinguished the anger in its moment when he raised his brother’s hand high, announcing to his father and to the whole kingdom that the king after his father would be Sarc!
King Degen was not convinced of the decision of fate; he was not convinced that Sarc would be a good king over his kingdom after him. But he kept his decision in secret, hoping that something would change in Sarc, or at least the sky would come with something that helps him to make a wise decision to protect his kingdom after him!
Some years passed until King Degen lay weak on his bed, fighting death, and he saw a dream that determined the fate of his kingdom. He saw devastation over the whole Firmament kingdom, injustice spread over its land, and death lying in wait for the poor and harming the weak, he saw the end of his kingdom and saw his son Sarc was sitting on the throne, and the blood was dripped from Sarc’s sword! In his last days, King Degen decided to make Magus a king over his kingdom in order to prevent the harmful dream from coming true. King Degen’s decision angered Sarc, who stood with his scar saying
SARC: How do you push me away from my right, father! Is it not enough for you to see what hit my eyes from it?!
DEGEN: If there was no Magus, I would have buried you years ago.
SARC: At least, you will have buried a dead body, not burying me alive as now
DEGEN: I am not doing this, son. Magus is your brother, and you will support him in his judgment.
SARC: How is this and I am the one who reached the top first, was this not your decision?!
DEGEN: You would not have reached the top without your brother’s help. Also, my decision was changed when I saw Magus challenged death to save you, raised you high to protect you, and supported you to stand, that whoever will protect my kingdom shall have these qualities.
SARC: And you think I am not having these qualities, is it true?!
DEGEN: Both of you have them, my son. But I can see them clearly in your brother
SARC: Your vision of Magus has always been clearer than your vision of me, father.
DEGEN: It is my decision, son, and you must comply whether you like it or not. The king said sharply when Sarc started walking leaving his father without permission.
SARC: I did not disagree with you in your strength, father. And I will not disagree with you in your weakness.
After the king died, Magus has crowned a king of the Firmament Kingdom as his father ordered. The whole kingdom bowed to Magus except Sarc, who preferred to stay in his room rather than see his crown on a head other than his own.
The beautiful Sibraa
“The beautiful is always her heartbeat by giving”.
Sibraa, the daughter of the merchant who was killed by the plunderers, the beautiful Sibraa saved by Magus and Sarc years ago, burned the heart of Sarc when she agreed to marry Magus! After the murder of her father, she was embraced by the palace of King Degen, and she had a friendship relationship with the two princes, and this relationship grew until she chose King Magus to be his queen.
Was not losing the throne what broke Sarc’s heart, but Sibraa, who rejected his marriage proposal when she told him that her heart belongs to a king!
Prince Megs
“There is nothing worse than looking to the future to escape from the present, then there will be nothing better than the past”.
Queen Sibraa gave a birth to a son for Magus, heir to the throne, prince Megus! In a big celebration in which the prince Megs, the one-year-old, was crowned heir to the throne, and the whole kingdom were bowed to him except for Sarc, who did not attend the coronation of his brother Magus, so how could he attend the coronation of Magus Offspring!
♪ Our birth in this life was not our will
♪ But our will is to steps below its sun
♪ There’s more awaits us to go through than we went before
♪ More awaits us to want more than we wanted
♪ More steps await us to get more than we found
♪ The sun of the firmament kingdom shines high in the sky
♪ It looks great at the high, but it falls and disappears
♪ It is the will of fate
♪ Which determines the essence of man
♪ Passing through despair and hope
♪ love, hate, and pain
♪ Until we find our essence
♪ In the path of fickle fate
♪ In the will of fate
♪ It’s the will of fate
♪ Which determines the essence of man
