Magnifico

Game Plan

The regent of Quinax, Lucas Mubasa, has told the king about the b****y m******e of the northern kingdom of Zuix. The regent was regarded by so many in Quinax as a top right-hand man of King Zulu. Though he was a Regent, he doesn't wield much power in Quinax because he wouldn't want the rulership of king Zulu to appear weak. He was getting old but not old enough to hinder him from performing his duties as the regent of Quinax. All the officials, ministers, and commanders including Sun, Quinax top war General was invited to the court by King Zulu after an emergency meeting was declared.

After they had assembled, King Zulu allowed Regent Lucas to explain the reason why he had asked him to declare an emergency meeting. King Zulu was sitting tightly in his exotic royal golden chair when Lucas came out to talk to the court.

"Royals of Quinax. I thank you all for coming and also I want to thank the king for caring to listen to what I have to say" Lucas paused to look at the King and also turning around to look at the crowd in the courtyard.

He continued, “My lord, what I heard happened in Zuix is more than it meets the eyes, we must conduct a thorough investigation to ascertain in detail every little information about the massacre."

The people of Zuix had been to war but in this case, the war was brought to their doorstep and not the way round. The word m******e rang a bell to Zulu's ear and he would want to know what really happened. Zulu was fully aware that Lucas isn't someone that says what he isn't sure of. Zulu is a wise man, he is shrewd, learns not only from his mistakes but also from others, he listens to advice from his trusted officials and friends and doesn't joke with it. He is a king that weighs options and tries as much as he can to make a conclusion that would amount to great and unprecedented positivism of his kingdom. With his average height and a comfortable normal body built, will tell you of his obvious royalty and class.

He wouldn’t want what happened to the northern kingdom of Zuix to happen to his kingdom but yet, he wouldn’t want to interfere in what seems not to be his problem. His regent being a man full of wise judgement doesn’t want to joke around with this incident, so he wouldn’t allow the king to rest unless the matter is sorted out first. Regent of Quinax was also Zulu's father’s counselor on political matters before the father died and Zulu also wanted to keep him active in service because he had earned his trust over the years.

King Zulu summoned his top war General, Sun, and also called an emergency meeting which was to take place the following morning. By morning, the following day, the General and some of the King’s subjects were already in the King’s chambers waiting for him to make his appearance.

The King arrived, his eunuch made an announcement, “all hail the King!"

King Zulu arrived in the palace court with his red cloak, at the back of this cloak we're two dragon imprints drawn in fine yellow colours and also knitted with fine wools which they had imported from other kingdoms by commercial merchants that trade from kingdoms to kingdoms. Everyone stood up and greeted the King and waited for him to sit before they all sat down. When King Zulu made it to his Royal seat; his royal seat was made with woods of oak and probably maple and fine woodworking made by the best woodcarver in Quinax, he sat down and he gently packed his long robe to his front, in between his slightly spaced legs.

Zulu said "people of Quinax, yesterday I was told about the awful incident that happened in the northern kingdom of Zuix, our brothers in the arm and our long time ally, Zuix, were massacred in great numbers, children, nursing mothers, elders, and able-bodied men were killed like a bunch of sacrificial animals. We will have to send a few soldiers to the northern border with our top General to go and conduct a thorough investigation and know what happened. Anything that could kill the people of the northern kingdom of Zuix this way could s*******r us too if we don’t act fast” Zulu said.

The look in his eyes leaves no iota of doubt about the severity of the attack that had happened to the people of Zuix. The king was sad, his eyes lightly dimmed, his sitting posture was erect while he supported his two hands with his knee as he rests his palm on them. Some of the subjects were surprised and many were awed by the ugly incident and they all gave their full support and agreed they move at first light.

Quinax top General sun was an in-law to Lucas, a husband to Lucas' only daughter, Amara. General Sun was highly respected in Quinax, his dexterity, expediency in the war field, and professional ethics has gained him a lot of commendation from the king and also from the people of Quinax. He was a man of valour, with a height slightly taller than the king, the job of a war General is of no doubt, suits him.

Lucas understands how dangerous this mission could be but he has no choice but to keep the secret away from his daughter Amara at the request of his in-law General Sun. The following morning General Sun left Quinax and moved to the northern border where he takes some trusted soldiers and rides as fast as they could with their horses. He had left with a small unit, with men not more than 20. They rode with their black horses while the General rode with the magnificent bright-looking white horse that was specifically gifted to him by King Zulu. It was among the fastest horse under the command of the military of Quinax. They got to the border and he demanded that some more men should come with him because they may be more familiar with the terrain more than himself and the small unit he had brought with him. When they finally set out for the kingdom of Zuix, they had taken note of the rocky terrain and the ascending and descending topography. This they did on the General's orders because the General saw how the road was and how the surrounding trees pose as a perfect hiding spot for surprise raids.

Approaching the northern kingdom of Zuix, Sun could sense imminent danger, a howling sound far away from the distance, the silence of the trees, the silence of the chirping birds, fogs have made the narrow way to be blurry, dead bodies seen everywhere, dead animals were being eaten foxes, the grounds were stained in red and the awful stench from the bodies was all over the place and flies were hovering around the bodies. It was cocksure that it was a m******e but the intriguing part of it all is that bodies of the enemies were not found, not even one. So the question Sun couldn't answer was, who could do such a thing? Which kingdom has the power to obliterate another kingdom in a war without suffering much casualty?

Zuix was one of the closest city to Quinax, especially from the northern region.

Riding slowly on this terrain, the General shouted “halt!” and his troops stopped marching. He de-mounted from his white horse and drew his sword, he took off his iron helmet and held it by the hand. Out of curiosity, he looked around the top mountains and all over the surrounding trees but couldn’t see a thing because of the heavy fog, he mounted back again and kept riding anyway..

Finally, arriving at the kingdom of Zuix, the General and his troops de-mounted and started seeking for survivors. They searched through the Long river, a river that connects the city of Zuix with the northern border of Quinax, all they could see were swords and arrows, bows and spears stained in blood and men of Zuix lying dead in the ground. General sun looked closer and saw that the wounds were almost similar and he found out that the dead bodies had a wide cut like he has never seen before in his entire years of fighting. He said to his men, “search through the woods and also through the mountain areas, you’ll find someone, I hope we do" he said with all hope lost. Most of the men separated and grouped themselves in fours, and stared searching the woods to see if they can find anyone alive or someone who can actually explain what happened.

After some time, a soldier shouted “there’s a survivor,” and it appeared to be the voice of their military personnel. They all assembled and started rushing towards Seth the soldier who was behind a young lady covered and soaked in blood. The young soldier, Seth was questioning the lady asking her what had happened to her, but General Sun who noticed that the young girl was in shock said “quit asking her what has happened, what she needs now is food and water, make a tent and lit a fire. Bring me a bowl of water and a towel, she needs some cleaning.“

They brought all he requested and he cleaned her up and offered food which she ate with fear and shock. She woke up the following morning and the General was summoned by a soldier who went up to his tent to tell him that the girl has woken up from sleep. He left his tent immediately, came to the young girl, and said “hello young lady, may we know your name and please tell us what had happened here.”

She started crying and said in a light, fading and dying tune “we are all gonna die, they will annihilate us all, I’m so scared” and the General asked her who was going to annihilate them all and she kept muttering the same word over and over again. And Sun said to her “please, can you tell us what we want to know? Who is going to kill us all? Please we need to know” The lady said that it is the “MAGNIFICO!! Rumors have it that he is the spirits of the dead soldier from Sytrits. He kills at will, he has no conscience and no mercy, a giant that our army couldn’t match and no sword could pierce his skin.”

The soldiers became tensed and there were this sudden gloomy looks and dead silence.

She continued” the country of Alaphas were using the power of Magnifico against their presumed enemy, they reincarnated the spirit and they are going to stop at nothing until they see they control all the empires in the world and e*****e them all”.

At this point, General Sun understood that they need to stop the leader of Alaphas if they need to stop the power of the Magnifico and he also knew that this is not something his country should overlook. He knew that it also concerns his home country Quinax because they have been to war with Alaphas two decades ago which he witnessed and also fought in though not as a General then but an infantry soldier. He knew he was a wanted man in Alaphas because he played a big role in the war that led to Alaphas’ defeat two decades ago when they attacked his country Quinax. Alaphas is a country full of warmongers and strong warriors who enjoy taking glory in murdering an enemy, they hardly maintain an agreement with other neighboring countries and that is why they are at war with virtually every country that surrounds them.

General Sun had to give an immediate order for everyone to start preparing to head back home while there was still time so they could give every detail of their journey to his King. When everyone was set to leave, the General also took the young girl with him and mounted her at the back of his white horse, he took her with him because the girl at least will be in a better position to narrate her ordeal to King Zulu, so he thought though.

Sun asked the young girl “please, can you kindly tell me your name? Sorry I didn’t inquire further earlier.“

Sun thought it would be a good thing to start up a conversation with her since she has been quiet for a whole lot of time. “My name is Razer,“ she said.

“Oh, such a nice name, never heard of it before,“ he replied.

“Yeah, Razer was given to me by my grandma, she said it’s the name of the biggest mountain in Zuix, she believes that anyone that answers this name will definitely live longer and stronger like the mountain but I lost them all when we were invaded few days ago by the army of Alaphas.”

General Sun at this point knew that his plan was working, so he kept the conversation going as he continued riding on his horse. Since Razer was a young teenager, Sun could only imagine the pain she went through seeing all her families, friends, and tribesmen murdered by such an unknown beast with some soldiers. He knew Razer was in a big panic and needs her nerves calmed. She crossed her arms around the General, holding him tightly so she wouldn't fall off from the jumping and galloping of Sun's white horse as they continued to ride home...