Muffled shouting pulled Jiyong from the depths of his lucid dreams. As he heard another voice join in and the sound rise in pitch and volume he groaned and immediately recognised that his father was having one of his ‘meetings’.

Jiyong exhaustedly rolled over on to his back and stared somewhat angrily at the grey slabbed ceiling above. He ran his hands over his silk bed sheets, willing himself to go back to sleep and forget reality, even only for a couple of sacred hours, but as his eyelids fluttered closed, he heard his name being bellowed throughout the stone walls of the castle and he knew any chance he had of escaping had gone now.

He hauled himself up onto his elbows and sighed faintly, looking at the comfort of his familiar room, before trudging out the door and down the winding black corridors.

The walls were much the same as the ceiling in his bedroom except they were decorated with tapestries which hung gracefully down the length of the grey stone, adding much needed colour to his rather dreary environment. There were stitched stories and plenty of dark knights and kings supposedly saving the kingdom of Drakof, that greeted Jiyong every day. Jiyong found himself staring at these picture stories a number of times against his will; he was never interested nor did he really care about the so-called conflict between Aselot and Drakof, as long as his kingdom had the most power he didn’t really give a who lives and dies.

His father continuously drilled into him how evil the people of Aselot are, especially the royals, he explained in meticulous detail how they felt threatened by them and they have tried for centuries to destroy their powerful empire and take charge and corrupt their people.

Jiyong tended to zone out on these lectures, but he couldn’t help but feel riled up whenever his father talked about Aselot’s plans to overthrow them. How dare they even think they could come close to them!

These thoughts were thrashing round his head as he descended the majestic mahogany staircase on his way to the library, where his father held his meetings.

He reached the two massive wooden doors, but hesitated at the door handle, listening to what was in store for him.

“-think it’s time. We should strike now before their army is mobilised!”

“It’s too soon, they know we are planning and they are expecting us to attack any moment! We should wait, let things settle, then charge with the aid of fatal surprise on our side!”

“We’ve waited too long! They are weak and they have nowhere near as many men as us, we could crush them! This is wasting time even discussing it!”

“What about the princes? Word’s out that they are getting more and more powerful every day. How would we defeat them?”

“We have Jiyong.”

Through the mass of frustrated and hoarse voices, his father’s clear words pieced him and icy fluid leaked into the pit of his stomach. He leaned closer, straining to pick up on every single word.

“Can he take on all four though?”

“Yes, I’m sure of it.”

“Your majesty, I don’t mean to be rude, but he is one boy, albeit a powerful one, but if we cannot defeat the princes we are destined to fail before we even start. Can you guarantee that he can kill them?”

“Well, why don’t you ask him? He’s been standing outside this door for almost a minute now.”

Jiyong gulped.

“Haven’t you Jiyong?” His father raised his voice, mocking him.

Jiyong’s hands shook on the door handle, but he pushed it open slowly and walked in with his head held high, meeting the curious and awed gazes of the six advisors and an expressionless stare from the king with as much confidence as he could muster.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t catch that last bit, would you mind repeating it?” Jiyong cocked his head to one side and his lips pulled upwards in the beginning of a smirk.

His father merely gestured to the advisor standing to his right to repeat the question Jiyong heard loud and clear.

“Could you or could you not kill the four princes of Aselot?” The advisor didn’t bother to sugar coat the blunt question; there was simply no point.

Jiyong answerd immediately, “Yes, I could” but his voice held a slight waver.

“COULD YOU OR COULD YOU NOT KILL THE FOUR PRINCES OF ASELOT?” his father roared.

Jiyong’s eyes widened in shock at the king’s outburst, but quickly composed himself.

“Yes! Yes, I could,” Jiyong shouted right back at him which seemed to satisfy the king, but a sliver of doubt trickled through Jiyong’s mind. Could he really kill – murder – another human being?

But that thought was quickly pushed away by the onslaught of crashing opinions that instantly catapulted around the room all at once, leaving Jiyong stuck at the centre of the raging tornado.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” his father boomed, “we will attack tomorrow with Jiyong,” he glanced at Jiyong’s dazed face, “leading at the front. No objections. We will gather at first light outside the boundary. Go prepare the armies now!”

Everyone all nodded firmly, glad that a decision had finally been made. As all six walked briskly out of the library, some looked worried and some looked excited and Jiyong couldn’t help feel the extremes of both.

He was excited for their empire to definitively beat the Aselot cowards, but he knew that this whole plan was riding on him, and that thought gnawed away at the back of his mind like an annoying itch he couldn’t get to.

He suddenly felt a broad hand slap his shoulder.

“Well, Jiyong, this is what you have been training for and you have my utmost confidence that you will succeed in your duty. Our people will see our unbeatable strength and they will cheer when we come back home victorious. However, no one will receive as much praise and glory as you, Jiyong, our infallible prince. Now go, get some rest. It’s already late.”

Yes, I know, you bloody woke me up.

Jiyong instead said, “Yes, father,” and bowed 90° before trudging up the wooden steps back to his bedroom.

He collapsed onto his silken bed and closed his eyes. His stomach clenched in absolute fear that he had tried in vain to blot out, but now that he was alone, his thoughts were free to roam and trespass into dangerous territory. He scrunched his face and rolled over, trying to relax his tense state.

Quicker than Jiyong thought possible, his body eased up and the sloshing waves in his stomach died down to calm waters. The negative thoughts also trickled away as he thought of himself riding back into Drakof thumping the air and celebrating their easy victory. He had effortlessly taken down the four princes and the rest of Aselot had bowed down fearfully at his dominating presence.

As Jiyong eventually sank into unconsciousness, a small smile played on his lips before his exhausted body dragged him into the land of dreams. A last thought shot across his mind before sleep took him over.

We are going to win.

Thanks for waiting up ^^ you know because it's the holidays i thought i could get more done, but it turns out it's the opposite :/ anyways hope you enjoyed!!! please subscribe and comment, i was so shocked that this got noticed at all :D