CORONATION OF THE THIRD FORCE

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

There is a crown to be won and there is a race for it. I, Prince Jokhara, of the kingdom of Water, Prince Bosakia of the kingdom of Wind, and Prince Radia of the kingdom of the Sun are in a battle for survival from a complex challenge to be surmounted by us contenders. It is a gradient of systems wherein as you progress it becomes steeper, darker, and challenging until you work your way out or die. The lone survivor is crowned the Emperor of the Universe by all three kingdoms.

Our kingdoms are interrelated in the overall Universe, but we never agree together. We always are in contention; territorial battles for dominion and supremacy are fought. But a time came when we were threatened by a greater external enemy, a horde of aliens from a dark kingdom whose appearance is frightening, huge in stature, armed with swords that have multiple edges and riding fire-spitting machines.

And since we did not know where they come from, who they are we did not know how to fight them. Our kingdoms realized the dire nature of the challenge we face and the zero chances of defending ourselves as individual kingdoms. For us to survive, first we must agree and work together as one entity because of the superior quality of our invaders, yet our enmity couldn’t permit that to happen.

So we agreed to first establish our supremacy between the three kingdoms and whoever emerges victorious becomes our supreme leader that will lead that battle against our common enemy. We created a challenging scenario based on a combat system, were contenders graduate from one system to another by sheer force, power, intelligence, and magic to survive to the next level. Our kings and their advisers met to acquire the combat code from another kingdom knowing two of their sons will not return to their domains and princes for that matter who ought to succeed their fathers on the throne. But it is the king’s pride at stake if they refuse their sons to take part in the challenge, so they had to prepare us by fortifying us through magical spells, physical combat, and wit.

As Princes we were all sent to the Magic Academy of Flyers in the magic kingdom to acquire extra supernatural powers to help us in the challenge for the crown. Our kingdoms also giving us the support, knowledge, and the necessary preparation we may need to best each rival   Among us, I, Prince Jokhara is considered the weakest while the first and second Princes taken as natural champions giving me no chances of surviving the deadly challenge, therefore they have continually ridiculed me nicknaming me the ‘Third Force’, meaning I am not in the first or second grade of forces as they are and was advised to withdraw from the contest since I do not stand a chance of surviving so as not to waste their precious time. But as they ignorantly and rightly called me, it suits me; yes I am the “Third Force”. Princes Radia and Bosakia will have to find out in their graves how I became the force that consumed them in their purported might.But how did I even become a prince in the kingdom of Water in the first place? It is a thing of wonder to many but to me and my family is one of pain, so much pain that revolved around my ancestry. The kingdom of Water is a vast kingdom with noble families that lay claim to royalty but not after they betray my grandfather who is also of the nobility, and have him destroyed, took my father who was the next in line for the throne of the kingdom and buried him alive, but my mother took and hid me in the Seventh Heaven yet being a child, but she was also killed and have left an orphan without father or mother.

The people of the Seventh Heaven are strange; they have their kingdom divided into two halves. The one half is occupied by those that are wicked, fierce, and barbaric, and the other half occupied by those that are kind and peaceful. But since my mother was in a hurry to hide me from our enemies and return so that they will never find me, she placed me between the boundary of the half kingdoms and none of the two halves took me in but fed me there every day for fourteen years, plus my four years when my mother hid me here making eighteen years which they consider that a human has attained the age to make his own choices, then called a council and brought me before the council of the wicked and the peaceful people.

The two rulers of each half sat, assisted by seven elderly men from each side. The difference is obvious. Those from the wicked side appear belligerent and tense and while those from the kind side look peaceful and gentle. I stood in their midst, looking dirty and smelling for I have not taken a bath for fourteen years, so even I was uncomfortable. They started to question me vigorously,

‘Who are you?’

‘Where do you come from?’

‘What is your name?’

“How did you get here?’

‘What do you want from us?’

Do you come in peace or with trouble?

I was confused and perplexed by so many questions at once, I looked at them with disgust, and then a heard a small voice whispered in my ears ‘shout at them’ and I thought immediately that will be unwise and then another voice again said ‘be polite’. But the first voice said, ‘You fool, be polite and you are damned, these people are not polite, shout at them and now’, the voice barked and I shuddered and the council wondered what is going on with me and immediately I said in a loud voice;

‘What line of questioning is this?’ and to my amazement, these council of men instead of getting angry, stood, and then sat down again in a uniform movement. Since I don’t know what that indicates, I opened my mouth to speak again and the strange voice spoke first;

‘Did you see their reaction? You got them. Now answer their questions one after another’, the voice said.

“I am Jokhara, the son of Ithaca, the great.’

‘I am from the kingdom of Water, where snow serves us.’

‘I come in peace.’

‘My mother brought me here to hide me from those who murdered my parents.’

‘What I want is protection from harm. My father and mother are dead, killed.’

‘Can you protect me?’ I asked them in conclusion, and the instigating voice said,

‘Good question, they will, they will.’

So they council put heads together, and for almost fifteen minutes they converse in a strange language and finally, they all turned towards me and the leader said.

‘Jokhara, the kingdom of the Seventh Heaven shall protect you. But you shall promise that your presence here will not endanger our existence. You shall not make contact without. Is that clear to you?’

My voice said I should answer in the affirmative and I said, ‘Yes. I will not.’

Again, they put their heads together and shortly the spokesman said, ‘You might have noticed the two halves of our kingdom, you will choose where to reside and you shall only enter the other side on an invitation. Now where will you prefer among us”

My guiding voice said, ‘Choose the mean side, there you will realize your purpose and destiny. On the kind side, you will waste for eternity.’

‘This side’, I said pointing to the wicked side and those that come from there leaped into the air in jubilation, and I wonder how that brought them joy since ordinarily I could have chosen the kind side but for the guiding voice within. After their jubilation, leaving the kind side people quiet, the man who had spoken since the gathering said,

‘Well, your decision is final. You shall go to your preference.’ He moved towards me and stood inches away from me and the leader of the wicked side came near and stood likewise and he said;

‘Protect him, he is a refugee’, the moment he said that the men from the wicked side dragged me with violence into the cloud that serves as the demarcation and into a vast territory, what I never know existed with weird people staring at me as I was dragged along. My guiding voice did not speak again and I was angry and shouted,

‘Where are you, voice? Is this what you want for me? Speak up.’  But only silence within my ears but deafening sounds without as the crowd of strange people, men, women, and children began to gather around me where I was let off from the dragging, in what seems a square, with a four road intersection.

And soon, the leader who led their delegation for the negotiation for my sanctuary walked in, and the crowd, very hostile, melted to the sides, and considerable space created as he walked towards me. It was then the guiding voice spoke again, but I was already angry with it.

‘Don’t be afraid, do you hear me?’ I was silent, angry. ‘Are you angry?  I understand, but anger won’t hand you your destiny or the revenge of your parents’ deaths’, he said. This revelation shocked me and I reacted within but my voice was heard by all who stood as I shouted,

‘Who are you?’ but unknown to the leader and his people, I wasn’t addressing him, but he took exception and suddenly a whip with several heads, fasten with sharp particles splashed across my bare body thrice in quick succession and I was blood-soaked. What happened next was that I found myself in a cloud of darkness, I was losing consciousness and I was caught in gloomy darkness. I heard, faintly, the leader saying,

 ‘Here, strangers don’t dictate to us. You are our prisoner.’ And more whipping followed his speech and the more my body peeled from the wounds inflicted by the sharp objects on the multiple head whip and the fainter I become. I heard numerous voices, faintly shouting indecipherably and soon my guiding voice spoke clearly to my ears,

‘You are in the right place and position. I know you I fathered you’, at that, I tried to react but the pain in my body was excruciating, as I was drained of strength and my speech lost, but I mustered my last left energy to ask,

‘Who are you?’

‘I am the great Ithaca, your grandfather’, he said, and I was slipping into a coma gradually, and he said,

‘You can hear me in whatever form you are in, body or spirit.’

I made my last effort to stay alive by uttering my last words but the darkness was fasting moving in on me, a form of darkness never known, but still, I asked him,

‘Why then do you let this happen to us? They killed my father and mother, and you sent me here’, the moment I finished speaking, it was total darkness and I was out, and into a vast world of strange Beings, and it seems, these beings, whose form is like apes, but more erect were curious seeing me, they rushed me and started touching me and I was naked. All the pains have disappeared, my body felt lighter and I started to run but one of them without moving reached out his arm, which extended on its own and pulled me back and then my guiding voice spoke and I was relieved to hear him.