RECOVERY

IMPERIAL COURT

“Wake up.” The voice was soft and everything close to that of his interrogator for as long as he could remember. “They do not just torture you beyond human endurance they make you lose consciousness of time and even reality.” He unconsciously recalled the voice of the woman whom he had killed before misfortune beckoned on him.

“How are you feeling?” The voice asked him. He looked up but did not answer the question because he knew it would result to nothing but more pain and he judged for himself that his body could take no more of it.

“You will answer when asked. I hope for your sake I am understood. Now let’s try again – how are you felling?” “Sad” he managed to say. “Why are you sad my dear?” He looked up at her and wondered how a woman as beautiful as she was could be capable of inflicting such pain on someone.

Her face and her voice did not in any way reveal the monster that existed inside her. She is the Lady Chance and as he looked at her show of concern, his hatred for her increased as well as that of the imperial court.

The imperial court was only heard of by name and its existence is even mythical to some, however, this could not be said of the man who is currently been held there. He used to be a very powerful sorcerer – Trask is his name. He was a terror and the mention of his name struck fear to defenceless people who lived in defenceless villages.

Trask took peoples wives and properties at will and killed the men who were brave enough to speak out against him when he did. Not long after the reign of his terror began, his name was heard in the stone tower that is magically concealed from plain sight – The Imperial Court and all of a sudden, Trask was no longer troubling the outlands. Days went by and no one heard of him or his deeds of wickedness. People were too busy celebrating and enjoying his absence that no one cared as to what became of him.

Back in the imperial court, the lady Chance looked down at Trask again as he did not answer the question and he concluded that another rough day was about to get on the way. “Bring him.” Her voice echoed in his ears as strong arms gripped and led him out of the tiny cell that has become his home after his abduction by the imperial court.

It was a fine day in one of the small villages in the outlands which Trask had taken and lived as their king. He ousted the local chief, took his wife and made the chief to serve him. His magic was unmatched and other sorcerers and priestess steered cleared off his paths. On this day, Trask decided to go on a picnic with the wife of the chief he had taken. “Pack up we are going for a little time alone outside the village.” “I am not feeling like it.” the woman told him. “Who cares about what you feel.”

Trask shouted and not long after, they were on their way. He threatened to kill her husband whenever she disobeyed him. “You are an evil man” She told him as they rode on the lonely paths burdened with sounds of different creatures. “Don’t I know it?” He answered her. “You would soon meet your end. The imperial court is...” “a myth helpless people have invented so as to hope.” Trask told her and laughed.

“They don’t just torture you beyond human endurance they make you lose consciousness of time and even reality.” “So tell me, have you been to this imperial court?” He asked her with a mocking gesture. “No, I believe the place is reserved for evil people like you.” “Enough” he shouted at her and folded his hand into a fist and when he opened it, she fell from her horse having choked to death. He climbed down from his horse and rushed to her and when he confirmed she was dead he left her there and returned.

The chief set out immediately to look for his wife having seen that Trask returned without her. When he found her body and returned in the morning, Trask was nowhere to be found. It was as if he just vanished. What the chief did not know as well as the other villagers was that as at when they were looking for his wife, Trask was visited by the five elders of the Imperial court.

While he slept, he felt an unusual presence and woke up startled when he saw them. He attempted to throw them out of his sight with magic but nothing happened when he tried. He repeated the words again but was greeted with the same result. The sight of them only became terrifying when his magic failed him.

He was looking at five really old men with grey hairs that touched their knees. Their eyes were tiny balls of fire and most tremendous of all was that their feet did not touch the ground. They wore dazzling white robes with black hoods that covered their faces and prevented them from being seen.

“Who are you” Trask asked after he had finished marvelling at their beings. He had left the bed where the wife of yet another man he had taken was still sleeping. He was trying hard not to show fear or that he was intimidated by them. “We are the SAKINRA of the imperial court which strives to maintain balance in the world. Unfortunately, people think our existence is a myth. However, your reign of tyranny is over. We have come to take you.”

They spoke in unison in a thunderous voice melody. “I am not going anywhere with faceless creatures.” “We shall see.” Trask rushed and carried his staff and threw it at the elders but it stopped in thin air when it got to where they were and almost in the same instant, he lifted the sleeve of his cloak (he always slept with) and sprayed a red substance towards the elders but it was as if the elders were watching him perform for them. When it dawned on him that he was doomed, he tried to run but the SAKINRA suspended him in thin air as well as his staff and vanished.

When Trask opened his eyes, he was lying naked in a massive hall like arena. His memories came flooding back to him and he immediately recognized the five elders. However, this time they were not suspended in the air. They were standing on a high podium that was just below another podium which was occupied by a lone figure he judged correctly to be a woman.

“You are welcome to the Imperial Court.” The woman said to him in a still small but firm voice. The shame of his nakedness would not allow him speak as he tried to cover whatever his hands could cover. “I heard you tried using magic on the elders of the imperial court. That was an unwise move, bad things happen to people who challenge the imperial court.” That was when he noticed that some of his toes were missing but he was not bleeding. The blood had dried, he was in so much pain and he realised that he had been out for quite some time. He felt powerless and feared what would happen to him if he attempted to vanish and failed.

The whole atmosphere smelt of powerful sorcery and recalling his encounter with the elders, he held his peace. “Good choice” The woman told him. “Now let us begin.” It would seem the woman could read people’s thought or perhaps just his own.

“Begin what?” Trask muttered to himself and as he wondered, two muscular men grabbed him and led him to a corner in the hall while the woman and the elders watched. When they stopped, he saw a small pool of water capable of containing only one person at a time. He thought it was a regular body of water until his bare flesh touched the green liquid that made up the pool after the man pushed him in at lady Chance’s signal. He sank to the bottom of the pool and couldn’t swim up. All his efforts to that end were futile yet he did not drown for as long as his head remained under the water. It felt like he was being electrocuted from the inside of his body. He wished he could drown and die but even death would skip an invitation to that pool.

When he was magically pulled out and suspended just above the pool, the anguish he felt could not be spoken of. The routine continued until lady Chance left the hall and he was taken to a small cell. He sought death as a luxury but it deserted him. Worst still, he was yet to discover that he had been relieved of his magical abilities – yeah the Lady Chance could do that.