Endless Ambition - Chapter 3
Luke was dreading this day, he was supposed to go out to the poorer part of town and try to look for survivors. It gave him chills, but his dad said it would be a vital part of being elected as king. Tyler had it easier though,he just had to organise the executions of low life thieves, “Disgusting.” The smaller prince thought, “It's a waste to just kill them for what they’ve done, stealing from hard working families,” he elaborated, walking to his closet and pulling out a rather thin black shirt, as well as some camo pants, he pulled on a dark red bomber jacket and slipped some gloves and rather bulky boots on, ready for the cold.
Marching on, Luke started to make his way to the front of the castle, greeting guards politely as he walked past the gates, he did have his own car which he could drive, but he didn't want to seem antisocial, he wanted to let the entire kingdom know he wasn’t like his brother, a bit more gentle than him. He waved politely to some elderly women watering their gardens, he offered to help but was quickly shut down, the women not wanting to waste the future king’s time.
He took this time to admire the kingdom, it was a utopia, perfect arches made of marble with smooth grey cobblestone floors, there was plantlife everywhere, some large trees shading the pathway he walked on, flowers curling around the base of the trees, a tiny bit of moss creeping its way up a large brick building. THe kingdom was advanced, their ancestors had learnt the perfect balance of carbon emission and managed to lower their pollution to keep the fish and wildlife at stable levels, though, they still had a while to go till they were perfect, thieves and criminals practically filled the streets, Luke knew that there was some sort of guild or area where they continuously gathered, since crime rates dropped significantly on Mondays and Thursdays, His brother was obsessed with finding out where they all disappeared to, he wanted to be the one to shut it down, even threatening to murder them all with his own hand. His brother was manipulative, capable of lying his way into people’s hearts.
Luke was infuriated that his brother kept getting away with it all. But that wasn't his problem, if he was selected to be king? Tyler’s secrets would come out and he’d be quickly taken down, maybe even assassinated.
He shook his head quickly, combing a hand through his hair as he reached the large, 30ft, titanium fence that surrounded the richer part of town, it had been infused with magic, designed to keep the beasts out and keep humans safe. Luke sighed, the gate kept everyone safe, but also provided little hope to the poorer part of his kingdom, his people were hurting and he was only given a small time period to go out and help as many people as he could. He hated it, he wanted to do so much more but that wasn't possible. Not with his dad around, even on his death bed the older man was bossing him around. The thought made him smile, he opened the gate just enough so that he could slip through, making sure it closed tightly behind him, He didn't need an outbreak right now, that would just stress his people out even more and provoke an increase in crime, which meant more people Tyler got to slaughter.
Luke sighed, walking in deeper to the ruins of the old town, truth be told, his father had purposely been neglecting helping the survivors of this sandy, wasteland, it was far too dangerous, since there was nothing to stop anything from breaking in and attacking anyone caught off guard.. Luke knew the consequences, but that only encouraged him to keep going.
He was used to the sight now, rubble and debris everywhere, broken down doors, glass scattering everywhere and so much blood. The town had been attacked by a rather far king- The king of Laithen, he was trying to prove his strength, releasing a fully grown Dragon onto Luke’s kingdom, the dragon didn't do much, other than break down a large part of the king’s defenses, that same night, millions of thieves, wolves, hybrids and other scavengers attacked, murdering and feasting on the townspeople in their sleep, the king's guards laid down their lives to fight the hellish creatures off, just giving the Summoner’s enough time to build and resurrect the gate.
He could remember thanking the Summoner's for keeping them all safe, crying as he held onto the elder of the group, he made sure that they knew how grateful the royal family was, not wanting the Summoner's to feel unappreciated. His father had never mentioned how the Summoner’s got into the Toida kingdom before, Tyler and him speculated they were some angel’s sent down by whoever was in charge up there, determining that it wasn't the time for Todian time to fall, just yet.
Luke started to trudge along, he’d been helping survivors here for so long, he knew that they were alive, he was never gonna give up hope on fishing them all out. He started to search, his eyes glancing around hunting for any signs of life. He walked silently, letting his hands skim over a half standing picket fence, he kept walking, feeling the fence crumble under his delicate touch.
He sighed as he carried on, his eyes never staying still, always glancing around for some fresh trace of blood or footprints, he saw large bird marks, around the size of his forearm, the bird’s talons had dug into the ground, based on the print it left. He swore, the prints looked like a harpy’s, which were known for grasping onto young or smaller humans, flying off high into the air and dropping them, watching its prey fall to its death, before picking at its corpse.
However Luke couldn’t spot any new body near the prints. No blood or bones anywhere. Luke frowned, stepping back a bit and getting a proper look at the scene in front of him. There wasn’t a speck of blood, or dirt out of place, the only new prints were the harpy’s, they were still fresh, otherwise the sand would have covered it up. Luke bit his lip, before noticing a very faint shoe print, barely noticeable, it looked like it was almost purposely covered up, by the harpy or the person? Luke didn't know. He looked around at the rubble of the buildings, trying to spot anything eyeing down a free meal. When he didn’t see anything, he quietly kept walking, trying to ignore the idea of a rabid harpy dropping him to his untimely demise.
Luke kept quietly walking, he kept looking around ready to race into action and help someone. But it was quiet and empty here, he dreaded what he might find. Maybe it had been a full moon last night, what if a pack of werewolves stormed into the area and took out any remaining survivors. The thought gave the future prince chills, hoping that he was wrong, but as he kept walking in silence, he was starting to lose hope.
Nothing. He had found absolutely nothing over than the harpy tracks from before. He had been walking around for hours, calling out for any survivors, when he didn’t find someone- alive or not, he gave up,turning on his heel and heading home, holding himself as he soaked up his own self pity, there was nothing. Nobody he could help. Nobody he could save. He couldn't even get help from his own father or brother, they were too busy doing their own business. Too busy to care about any poor, homeless survivors anyway.
He wanted to prove that he was a people's person, he wanted to show that he was here to keep everyone safe and happy, regardless of whatever form or shape they take. It was in his blood to be a people pleaser, he felt like he couldn’t be truly happy till everyone else was. He wanted everything to be equal, proper punishments for crimes, instead of just tossing lives over left right and center. That, that was too animalistic for his liking, it was too much like his brother.
It wasn’t a secret that the Todian Kingdom was incredibly close to being considered racist. Most of the wealthy, upper class were humans, with little to no trace of any other creature or magic running through their veins. Even the royal family was considered a pure “human” he had noticed this multiple times and wanted to know how he could change it, becoming king felt like the only solution.Luke was determined to be king, he was going to win this public vote and laugh at Tyler’s face of defeat. His brother didn’t want everything to be equal, why would he? He had never been exposed to the horrible conditions the poor part of the kingdom endured daily, especially with the threat of execution hanging above their heads. It was scary, Luke couldn’t relate to the fea they felt, but he wanted to make sure he could change it, get everyone safe and happy. That's all he wanted.
Luke ran a hand through his hair and scratched his beard in thought, maybe he didn’t have a chance to begin with, his father definitely favoured his brother, maybe because he was more eager to get down to showing his dominance, Tyler acted like he was above everyone but he never let anyone notice. Luke grew up with the taller man for most of his life. He has seen the highs and the lows of tyler, he knew exactly what he was like, short tempered, easily aggravated and aggressive, Tyler was probably just a massive threat to everyone. Why couldn’t anyone else see it?
Gritting his teeth, Luke sighed and headed to the gate, however he stopped midway, hearing a rather large cheer from nearby. He froze, nobody should be past the gate, not until it was safe at least. He paused and hel his pocket knife sharply, before heading towards the source of the noise, his ears seemed to ‘perk” at the noise as he walked, heart thumping in his chest, something was happening that he wasn’t aware of and after seeing the harpy tracks, Luke was on edge.
He kept walking, stopping when he found the source of the cheering, a large, thought to be abandoned warehouse.
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hey! I'm so sorry for my absence here, but here's chapter three! I'll pump the rest of the finished chapters out tonight so, keep your eyes out for that!













