Chapter 2: Rise of King Robert Persyary

   After Era was married to Robert, Lord Richard left Erastos. Lord Richard was from the Aryus clan. He was the only heir of it. As a result, he was always looking for a way to enlarge the empire and establish Aryus reign. 

  

  Robert Persyary understood that. King Edmond wasn't clever like him. So, he believed Richard blindly. As a result, Lord Richard Aryus made a lot of fortune through Edmond's blind support. 

  

  When Robert married Era, he knew he had gotten a really strong tool in hand to gain control over Richard. But Richard was way too clever. 

  

  When Robert indicated, he might do anything with Era, Richard said with an evil smile, "But unfortunately, I have your sister." 

  

  Then Robert understood the depth of Richard's tricks. He then turned to Ceresto. He asked him to tell Tyskinson that Claudia might be expecting.  And also let him know that, Era might not have the ability to bear a child. 

  Cerestos felt confused why Robert is commanding Ceresto to do these.

The result was effective immediately. At that night, Claudia drank a glass of wine and that was her last glass of wine ever. 

  After Claudia's death, Richard turned to Robert and said, "You little boy! Did you really think, after all these years, Albert might not have a son? What made you think that?"

  Robert was astonished. He did make a mistake! He didn't know about that. He thought, Claudia never had a child. Because, if she had, they were supposed to be invited and get to see the child. 

  Richard laughingly said, "Albert has a son, Hans Aryus. He will be the heir of Aryus clan and Eastskies. And I will make sure he inherits the Weltder and Erastos."

  Richard left after the completion of Robert and Eras' wedding. 

  But this time, Robert sent his forces to Eastskies and took possession. All the ministers, courtiers and army were held captive. 

  When Richard reached Eastskies, he lost the battle already. He was also put into the jail. But somehow he managed to flee. After that, Richard and Albert were never seen again around the Wings kingdom. 

  Robert then became the King of Wings, which consisted of Erastos that capital of the kingdom, Eastskies, Weltder and Errind. 

 

 Robert was happy with Tyskinson as he killed of Claudia. Although that went in vain. 

  Robert went to the chamber Claudia was supposed to be buried. According to the Persyrian tradition, dead bodies were supposed to be buried under a sacred ground of temple. 

  Ceresto asked, "Why are you here today, my king?"

  Robert replied with a dull voice, "When we were children, father used to teach me and Tyskinson how to hold a sword. Claudia always asked father why she can't hold one. Father used to say maybe someday. But deep down he knew that day will never come. But still he chose to keep Claudia hopeful about the future."

  - "That's very touching, my king!"

  - "Subjects of Erastos think there might be great days to come in future. But do you know what I see when I look at it?"

  Cerestos looked at what Robert was pointing. A flare. Robert was looking at it deeply. 

  - "Darker days are about to come. Maybe three even four generations later people might suffer from this. After a final flare, everything is forever in the dark. An eternity of darkness."

  Ceresto was shocked hearing this. But didn't utter a word. He left the chamber. 

  Robert slowly progressed towards Claudia's dead body, he put his hand on the silky smooth hair of her. A drop of tear fell down his cheeks. Some mystical words came out of his mouth. 

  But Claudia didn't wake up. Robert cried in disgrace, "Why Hariku, why? Didn't I do enough? Why this happened to me?" The flare remained still. 

  Robert tried to look through it. But he failed. 

  Robert was a believer of the God of Darkness Hariku. There was a myth that, the God of Darkness Hariku used to be with Robert. That's why he never lost a war. 

  After taking over the throne, Robert distributed duties among the ministers. But some of the ministers thought Tyskinson might be a better king than Robert. 

  Robert already was a suspect to the courtier that he might have something to with Claudia's death. Though Tyskinson was the one responsible for that. But Robert didn't want to take any risks. To stay safe, he sent them to Eastskies. 

 

  While crossing the river, all of them drowned in a mysterious way. Everyone thought, Hariku did this. He was always in favor of Robert. 

  After eliminating everyone, Robert ascended to the throne. But when he sat on the soft mattress on the throne, he saw a big empire on the verge of various risks. 

  Wings kingdom was an empire established by Norton Persyary. He was a conqueror. He conquered the kingdom at ease. Because at that time, people of Erastos had no idea of Kingdom. They used to live in group and divided foods among themselves. They didn't know how to kill a man. They knew how to hunt. 

  As a result they couldn't stop Norton's huge army to conquer Wings kingdom. He established the Persyary clan and took over the Western part of the kingdom. He established an Empire. His son Edmond was the second king of Wings Empire. 

  Edmond wasn't as vicious and war lover like his father, he passed his time mostly in the palace drawing pictures or having intercourse with the ladies. 

  As a result, many bustards were born in Erastos. Robert decided to kill them off. He sent assassins for this job. They killed everyone mercilessly. They even didn't leave a three months old baby. 

  Robert was then established his reign over the western area. He reigned the Wings Kingdom.

  Wings Kingdom was actually a big kingdom. It had three parts. Eastern, Western and Southern. At the North side, it was undiscovered. People said there lived a monster. It was on another flow of the river Kylliar. 

  On the west side, there was Errind and Erastos till the banks of Kylliar. On the other side of Kylliar, on the east, there was Eastskies and Weltder. Lukesville and Thomsonsville was conquered by the Persyaries. But during Edmond's reign, they lost a battle with Astas which was also in Eastern part but wasn't a part of Wings Kingdom and Persyary Empire of Wings. 

  Astas won over Lookesville and Thomsonville. But after Tyskinson went to Weltder, he declared war against the Astos and turned that city into ashes. 

  As a result, Lukesville and Thomsonsville who largely depended on Astos economy, suffered from famine. Errind was also damaged because of the war and also for supplying foods to the huge army of Tyskinson and Lukesville and Thomsonvilles people. 

  The fire of famine spread through the Persyary Wings Empire. Soon, the west side also felt the heat of famine. Diseases broke out. 

  Robert was aware of it. But the first proof was about to be presented to him at the court today! Edward Rivers was about to be brought in the court. 

  Ceresto approved it. Tyskinson's plot must not succeed. By blackmailing Ceresto with lack of security, Tyskinson wanted to have a spy on Robert. Ceresto couldn't let it happen. 

  Ceresto saw a small bottle was hanging round Edward's waist. Ceresto knew what was going to happen. 

  Edward will blame Ceresto for everything and drink the poison he was carrying around. Ceresto was a wise man. But he prayed for the first time, "Let me be wrong this time, Royuce!" But the old God Royuce established by the Astas kingdom didn't favor Ceresto at the Paersyary courtroom guarded by Hariku, The God of Darkness. 

  Ceresto was right. Edward blamed Ceresto for bribing him to steal food from the storage and blame the King for not distributing proper food to the subjects. 

  Edward drank the poison and died. Ceresto was sent to jail immediately. 

  Ceresto called minister of finance, Lord Arialy to meet him. Arialy came. 

  - "So, Ceresto! Here we are!"

  Ceresto looked at his toe saying nothing.

  - "You have been serving the king for so long! What did you get in return? He didn't think twice before sending his prime minister straight to a cell"

  Ceresto stayed silent. Arialy kept talking.

  - "You see, Ceresto! I told you to keep an eye on Tyskinson. He is not easy to understand. You tried to sacrifice your reputation and Tyskinson used that to sacrifice you! What a clever basatard!"

  Ceresto looked at Arialy and said, "Remember when you were about to be held responsible for a huge scandal regarding the royal treasury? I helped you out. Maybe it's time for you to pay me back."

  Arialy forwarded to the cell. He took a barrel and sat on it. He looked at Ceresto and said, "What's the hurry, my friend? Remember, when we used to be in the palace playing with each other? I was the one who was always blamed for stealing. As I was not from a Lord's dynasty. People tormented me. You were the one who stood up for me."

  Ceresto looked at him and smiled.  Arialy continued. 

  -  "You were the favourite of teachers and even Prince Robert. From that time, you knew he would be that King one day. So, you told me to support him. You could let me die by letting me support Tyskinson. But I always told you. The throne is not for gentlemen. It's for bastards. Because people fighting for the throne act like bastard. A Lord should play like a man. A gentleman. Striking from the front. But they don't. They betray, strike from behind. Robert did terrible things to prove himself cruel. But he is not rotten from his heart."

  Ceresto nodded with agreement. 

  - "He might send you to the jail. But that bastard is crying his eyes out in his chamber."

  - "You were right, Arialy! Robert will not be a king for long. You should let me escape. Or I will be killed."

  - "Of course. I will let you escape. Be ready at the noon. A guard will come and open the gate. He will lead you the way out."

  - "Thank you, Arialy!" 

  - "You're welcome!"

  Ceresto managed to flee from the cell at the noon. He rode for almost a day on a horse to run away from Erastos. His target was Astos. While entering to Estos, he felt tired. He stopped at the jungle for the night. He burned wood and lighted fire. And lied on his back for a bit. Soon, he fell asleep. 

  When he opened his eyes, he saw a man covered with beard. He tried to scream but that man held the sword so close to his throat, he could feel the cold of the steel. He tried to look at his face. 

  He was shocked! Even after beard, the blue eyes with a shine of wit, it indicated him as an Aryus. 

  - "Hello, Ceresto!" The man laughingly said. 

  Cerseto was familiar with the voice! He rolled his eyes and grasped, it was Hans Aryus!

Chapter 1: The rise of the Persyary Clan

       Standing on the cliff, Edward looked down. It was somewhat hazy. He thought maybe it was because of the heights. He has never been standing at such heights. He felt nervous. His fate was still undecided. He was supposed to be brought in front of the king today. 

  He couldn't sleep the other night thinking of how he would react to that. The guards caught him red-handed stealing foods from storage. Punishment was declared a day before the food was even stored that, if someone is caught red-handed while stealing food, that person will be punished severely.

  There was a technicality. It was not mentioned that to which extent, that person will be punished. So, Edward was hoping to be set free. 

  Edward was a 19-year-old boy. He hailed from the southern part of the kingdom. There was a tiny village in the South Valley. Edward grew up there. He was an orphan and had been adopted by his uncle. 

  They were farmers but very poor compared to the other farmers working around them. It was hard for Edward to accept his condition. He tried his best to eradicate poverty from his life but failed. 

  That day, he was so hungry that he risked his life just to have some food. He stole from the kings' storage. Which was a punishable crime. Though a king is supposed to feed his subjects. But not before he does everything according to his will. 

  After all types of recreation, there is in the world, the king used to give away a small amount of food or money to the poor which was just a formality and a skeleton of a former tradition started by the Persyary clan. 

  King Robert Persyary is the third son of his father Edmond Persyary. After the death of King Edmond, Robert and his other brother Tyskinson both wanted to be the heir of the vast empire established by the Persyary clan. 

  Tyskinson wasn't worthy enough to sit on the throne. Ministers and courtiers were in support of Robert. So, Tyskinson didn't oppose or demanded the throne. He left his rights to his brother. And the first-born child of King Edmond was a girl named Claudia, who was married to Lord Albert. 

  Lord Albert was the only son of Lord Richard, who was the governor of Eastskies. Lord Richard and King Edmond were good friends. As a result, they took a step to strengthen the bond. They tied the knot for Claudia and Albert. 

  Soon after the King died, Lord Richard came to the capital. Everyone thought he might mourn for the demise of his dear friend. Some progressive people thought, there was a chance he might claim the throne for his son. 

  But surprising everyone, he claimed the throne for himself. Robert and Tyskinson were not delighted to hear that. However, the claim was declined by the ministers.

  Prime minister Ceresto was in favor of Robert. He knew Robert has the calmness and composure to lead this great Kingdom to a better future. So, he gave his full support to Robert. 

  The kingdom Erastos was in the middle of all the kingdoms. Naturally, when Norton Persyary conquered the whole Southern and western parts of the kingdom, he chose Erastos as the Capital. Soon, it became the center of attraction for people around the world. 

  Lord Richard was a merchant. He came to Erastos in search of fortune. Soon after coming to Erastos, he grew so powerful, he became the face of the merchants of Erastos. 

  One day, King Edmond was inspecting local shops and Richard came stood in front of the king.

  - "Regards my king! 

  Edmond looked at him reluctantly and said, "What gives you the authority to stand in front of me in that way? You didn't feel the necessity to bow to your king!

  - "I am wholeheartedly sorry, my king! I wanted to protest the raise of taxes for the merchants. It's harmful for the economic situation of Erastos."

  - "Why do you say that?"

  - "Erastos has been the main source of attraction for many people for ages. Now that the taxes are high and Weltder are offering much lower taxes than Erastos. Merchants are bound to be drawn towards Weltder."

  That's how King Edmond and Lord Richard encountered for the first time. After that, their friendship only got deepened over the years. And he was appointed as the Governor of Eastskies. 

  Lord Richard made Eastskies in such a favorable position now that, Erastos had to rely on Eastskies largely. Mostly for crops or fish. As Eastskies is located on the banks of the river Kylliar. 

   When Lord Richard claimed the throne, nobody could deny it directly. But Robert had something else in his mind. He asked for the hand of Richard's youngest daughter Era. 

  On a Spring day, the marriage was successfully completed. After the marriage, Lord Richard was satisfied and left Erastos. 

  Tyskinson was given charge of taking over Weltder. As there was a rebellion going on. Tyskinson successfully took charge over there. Robert appointed him as the Governor. 

  Since then, Robert has been ruling peacefully. Until the famine occurred in the southern part of the Kingdom. Areas like Errind, Lukesville, Thomsonsville were suffering from famine. King Robert gave the job of handling it on the shoulder of Prime minister Ceresto. 

  Ceresto gave order to collect food from Eastskies. Foods collected from there was stored in the storage. Edward stole from there out of hunger. 

  Now Ceresto either can present him in front of the king for punishment and take charge for the lack of security or set Edward free. 

  Ceresto was in his room. War commander Eduardo came and said, "As per your order, the thief has been sent down to a cell." 

  Ceresto looked at the shining rings on his finger and said, "Bring him to me. I need to talk to that boy. And what about Lord Tyskinson? What's his move?

  Eduardo replied slowly, "We still couldn't gather enough information, my lord!"

  Ceresto sighed and said, "Bring the boy for now and increase security around the storage area. Don't start distributing till Tyskinson agrees to give up Errind."

  Eduardo nodded and left for Edward to present him to Ceresto. 

  

Love is the best thing we do!

 Love is the best thing we do. Is it really true? The common answer is “Yes”. But like everything else, it varies from person to person. Some people tend to think more with the brain than the heart and some do the opposite. But one thing is quite agreeable that, love changes people drastically.

Why does love change people? Are people who fall in love weak or lack self-confidence? The answer is, people, try to cope up with the person they fall in love with. There is a concept of compatibility which is very popular nowadays. People crave compatibility while what matters the most is “LOVE”. I personally believe, if a person loves another truly, then nothing is needed to make them happy. Compatibility is a myth. 

People are so busy to match the compatibility, what if the couple makes sense or not. But love doesn't make sense at all. Someone can't make their way in or out of it. Love is totally nonsensical and one has to get used to the nonsense. Love makes us stay all night or watch the sunrise together sometimes to accept some so-called stupidities but but the truth is, in our life, everything we do is somehow in a way to be more loved.

People like a comfortable place. That is surely true. But when it comes to a person, we always try to find the comfort we experience while sitting in a chair, but the fact is, the comfort of a sofa or chair is a lot more different than a person. Some couples do make sense and some don't. That doesn't mean the love  they share isn't true. 

Love is pure. It can't be quantified by efforts or comfort. If comfort was the best thing we look for, then why we don't buy a sofa worth of 10 thousand dollars? We don't because, that's costly and not worth it. In case of love, we seek comfort for sure. But that needs to be worth it. 

Comfort and compatibility are two very much different things. Comfort is a state of mind where we can be ourselves while compatibility is matching with someone's energy. It's not very common but really rare. Compatibility or comfort is needed undoubtedly. But here comes the cost factor. Someone can't buy the love in exchange of comfort and compatibility. 

Sometimes we do fall in love with a person, who is not compatible or right person for us. But in most cases, love is something that outgrows everything in it's way. Although sometimes, compatibility becomes a great factor but in cases, love outgrows everything. 

The bottom line is, love is a complex thing to understand. One can spend it's entire life to understand what is love or how to show it or express it or anything associating with love. But at the end of the day, we all seek for that one person, who is right for us, destined for us. Who is the gift of destiny. 

Life

   There are types of people, who look for a companion in their life. While you can spend your life alone and doing stuff that you want, why stressing about the presence of someone? 

It's because, no matter how much we achieve, we will always cherish people to share with. But here's the thing. Not all the time, you will be able to have someone beside you. Because sometimes people just are not there for you. They are just not. It's not like they don't want to be with you. But the sad thing is, they aren't. And you can't change the fact. 

Some people are just not in your life! It's not like they don't want to. But when we grow up, we leave parts of ourselves behind. Not necessarily sole parts but parts that are immature or naive. But we learn and we grow. When we grow up, we realize the concept of having someone beside us. 

Whatever we do in life, it's not legendary until our friends or beloved ones are there to see it. We can anticipate the joy of our loved ones when we achieve something. We want people around us. The people we grow up with or went to school with. But the reality is, we can't always have the same circle. Some people are just not there. 

It's a fact that they are not there. We can only try to have them in our life. But it's not something we can control. It's something, that happens through the course of life. 

So, we actually shouldn't stress about finding people to share moments, when it's the right time, the right people will come along and it will be the best for us. Till then, never give up hope. Because
there will always be people out there caring about you.

Amphicephalus (All Tomorrows)

The Amphicephali were a sapient species and the second extraterrestrial civilization that made contact with humanity in the form of the Empire of the Asteromorphs, Terrestrials and Subjects.

As the new empire was spanning the whole of the milky way, the humans tried to make contact with the indigenous folk of the surrounding nebulae, while still being cautious because of their history with alien invasions, remembering the Qu and perhaps the invaders that attacked the Bug Facers.

After a time, they found another civilization in the form of a diverse empire ruled by the Amphicephali. These were creatures resembling giant serpents with a head on each end. One of the heads contained a second body with arms and another head that was used to manipulate objects and interact with their environment.

Like the posthumans, the Amphicephali had a rich and diverse history and were cautious, but both species finally proved to be mature enough to make contact peacefully. They were the first species to peacefully make contact with humanity, but not the last.

Together, the united galaxies eventually destroyed the Qu, cradled their suns with artificial shells, criss-crossed interstellar space with wormholes and made travel a thing of the past.

Source: WikiFandom

New Machines (All Tomorrows)

The New Machines were a robotic posthuman species that was created from the Gravital by the Asteromorphs.

When the Asteromorphs won the war against the Gravital, they repopulated the milky way with Subjects and Terrestrials, While they planned to destroy the Gravital at first, they they ultimately decided against it because they saw the value in the Gravital’s ability to survive in otherwise inhospitable environments.

The Asteromorphs remade the Gravital into the New Machines by removing their ability of gravital manipulation, giving them shorter lifespans, and slightly numbing their imagination to prevent another uprising like that of the original Gravital. However, they gave them nanotechnological bodies that were able to constantly remake themselves as they wished or needed for their jobs.

Even though they were widespread in the new empire, the machines were always rare and treated as second class citizens by the biological citizens, as past events gave them a deep distrust of their mechanical relatives.

By the time of the All Tomorrows afterword, all of humanity has disappeared for unknown reasons. Maybe it went extinct through a war, or the empire slowly fell apart, leaving individual colonies to face their own fates. Maybe, it was a mass migration to another plane of existence. The Author of the book doesn't know.

Source: WikiFandom

Terrestrials (All Tomorrows)

The Terrestrials, or Terrestrial Spacers, were a posthuman species that was created by the Asteromorphs from themselves to supervise the new worlds populated with descendants of the Subjects and prevent another genocide like that of the Gravital.

Compared to the Asteromorphs, the Terrestrials had stronger limbs (actually modified fingers) that can be used for walking; and smaller brains (because the Asteromorphs' giant brains wouldn't be practical in gravitation). Compared to the new Subject-civilizations, they were still demigods and superior in every sense.

Some of the civilizations rebelled against their Terrestrials, which often led to their destruction at the hands of Asteromorphs and Terrestrials.

Even the Terrestrials did not always follow the wise plans of the Asteromorphs, and some of them played god, formed religions around themselves and exploited their Subjects. While this wasn't especially ethical, it still resulted in more stability than actively upbringing the new civilizations.

As the new empire was spanning the whole of the Milky Way, the humans tried to make contact with the indigenous folk of the surrounding nebulae, while still being cautious because of their history with alien invasions, remembering the Qu as well as the invaders that had attacked the Bug Facers.

After some time, they found another civilization in the form of a diverse empire ruled by the Amphicephali. Like the posthumans, the Amphicephali had a rich and diverse history and were cautious, but both species finally proved to be mature enough to make contact peacefully. They were the first species to peacefully make contact with humanity, but not the last.

A human, probably a Terrestrial, at the time of Earth's rediscovery.

Together, the united galaxies eventually destroyed the Qu, cradled their suns with artificial shells, criss-crossed interstellar space with wormholes and made travel a thing of the past. One day, a researcher rediscovered Earth, humanity's ancestral home, which had been abandoned 560 million years before because it was too far away from the main centers of population.

By the time of the All Tomorrows afterword, all of humanity has disappeared for unknown reasons. Perhaps it went extinct through a war or the empire slowly fell apart, leaving single colonies to face their own fates. Perhaps it was a mass migration to another plane of existence. The nonhuman Author of the book doesn't know.

Source: WikiFandom