Chronicle of Ellesmere

It all began…

"We the four rulers of this land, swear to serve the people right!"

Xanchior, Ellesmere, Nethilor, and Khisfire, of the North, East, South, and West.

Four families ruled the world.

Ellesmere, also known as the archenemies of the Xanchior. The reason is still unknown to the commoners, it's like carrying out their ancestor's duties.

Swiftly, yet smoothly all four rulers gained the trust of the commoners. Divided their country into districts and domainsー at least in Ellesmere it's like that. There's a vast desert to the North beyond which lies the country Xanchior, a wide mountain range to the West, a wasteland to the South and a narrow sea to the East. The land is predominantly covered by the Deccan plateau, and the weather is usually cold and cloudy for prolonged periods. There are times when they have sunny days, just not pretty often.

Commoners can read and write. Technology has advanced so much that they are easily connected to worldwide communications networks. Natural resources are quite limited and are highly expensive, only the domain people have the rights and the money to use them. Since the population couldn't get the natural resources, they came up with an alternative of Imitation. It is exactly what the name suggests, practically a cheap copy of natural and other valuable resources.

As a country, Ellesmere was doing good because the iniquities of the internal doings never got out. They were heartless until the very end. The deepest of despair like never before flooded Claude's eyes. One of the commoners who joined the military slowly uncovered the truth.

This was almost sixteen years ago.

Claude with his family tried to run away to a different country, his wife not knowing anything as her husband was already filled with anxiety and was aghast to the core, she followed him without asking any questions.

Carrying their baby girl, who was born a few months ago, sleeping soundly, not knowing any of this. It wasn't even a day until the military found them, and took them to the king, Earynn.

"Very well Claude, never thought you would betray me like this," Earynn said, with repugnance in his eyes.

Claude with a rage burning behind his eyes, Earynn have already given the kill order, but where are Irene and Lue? His wife and his daughter. His eyes were searching for them in the whole chamber. What has he done to them? With a roar, Claude said, "WHERE ARE THEY? WHERE IS MY FA-"

Out of nowhere, a steel hand fist slammed into Claude with a room-shaking crash, knocking him skidding and bouncing across the floor red carpet, spilling the blood over painted pastel walls. The massive force of the blow propelled Claude across fifty paces wide chamber, where he impacted the metallic wall with a thunderous clang.

As the court witnessed during the time Earynn ruled, the king of Ellesmere proved every bit as resilient as they were irascible. Claude's hurt pretty bad and is bleeding too much but nowhere near incapacitated.

"Wren, end this quickly," Earynn shouted while taking his wine glass from the tray.

Despite his bulky frame, Wren, a mixed human Goliath, made by the king's scientists, was struck by a hurricane speed. Wisely, Claude did not try to block the attack and dodged instead. The punch cratered the metal wall, bowing to the surface with a rebounding impact that knocked Wren back a step from pure shock force.

"Enough! You little rat jest," Wren scoffed, and roared "JUST DIE!"

He snatched a sword from one of the guards in the chamber. With a snarl, Wren adjusted his grip on his two-handed long sword. Holding it over his left shoulder. Claude is brutally beaten up and unable to even twitch accept his fate. In a traditional kendo stance, he quickly slides forward and cuts Claude's head. There was a fountain of blood, smashing all over Wren and the chamber floor. Wren swings the sword, as the blood sweeps away from it and keeps it back in its case.

"I'm done," with a hysterical laugh Wren continued "that small rat met its doom."

"Very well!" Earynn said, chuckling "I just couldn't stand the sight of this lowly military man disobeying my order," he kept his empty wine glass back on the tray, "as for his wife, give her that helmet and interrogate her, make sure to drug her too, so she won't try to do anything funny, and Murphy?" He called out while looking at one of his people, "take Wren and the search unit to kill everyone who knows about it, the same way as Claude."

Cold metal bars, cracked and dirty porcelain sinks, walls of pitted concrete, laying back on a mattress with no back support, springs digging into her back, lump pillows, scratchy blankets, and piled sheets rubbing her skin. Irene slowly opens her eyes, everything seems blurry, and her head is spinning. She saw a figure in front of her, they are wearing something long- a weird dress. The figure came closer and was right in front of her in a few paces. They plop something on her head, it felt heavy, and her neck could break off anytime soon. She shakes her head and blinks as she widens her eyes.

"You are Irene?" asked the figure.

She couldn't understand from the figure if it was a man or woman, but the voice gave it away. The heavy voice was not artificial, it was natural.

"Y-yes, I am," she said, with nervousness

A beep sound came from the machine on her head and the button turned green.

Again the heavy voice sounded not too loud but clear "Look, I will ask you a few questions, say the truth or else this machine will send an electrical impulse through your brain and will kill you."

She did not say anything, still trying to get over the drug effect and coming more into her senses. She murmured, "where is my daughter? Is she okay? And where am I? Where is Claude?"

Her words were interrupted and ignored by them as they continued, "What did Claude tell you about the King?"

She pondered about it for a while and finally said," He-" she gulped her saliva, "He did not mention anything, just told me to run because this place is cursed and so are the people."

"Did Claude talk to anyone else after he started running away with you?"

"..." There was a pause, sweat dripping, "NO"

Another beep sound. She isn't lying. She never lied. Never.

"Alright! Final question. What do you think about the country Ellesmere?"

With a smile on her face, she said, "I think, the country, as the name suggests, it's as peaceful as that, just because our king who cares and loves this country from earth to the skies and every other of the creation within, I truly respect him." She knew, that she did a perfect job in concealing her rage and hatred toward the king and his pets. Maybe this machine couldn't grasp sarcasm.

The helmet did not make any sound. The figures wondered what was wrong and scurried back to the king. She was regaining her senses slowly, as she throws the helmet aside it hit a box, not too big, a minuscule square box, she was on all her fours and made her way to the box, still dizzy, with her hands and eyesight not cooperating well she somehow manages to open the box. A strong putrid stench came, it was similar to rotting meat with a rotting fruit undertone. She lightly touched it, felt the cheeks, her hands slowly moving upwards touching the eyelashes, she flinched, as her fingers went to the hairs- tears started coming through, sliding from her cheeks and a drop on Claude's head. Even if she wasn't in her right senses, she knew- she could still understand just by touch who it was in the box. The sight was becoming clear, part of her didn't wish for it, couldn't bear to look at him. She put both of her hands on her mouth, trembling, her chest overflowing with emotions, not being able to shout, her throat became dry and she started punching her chest hard. Her tears and anger ate up her soul alive, little by little in the furnace of this pain.

The King was watching her, all this time, from the big screen placed in his room. He chuckled and ordered one of the guards to bring the kid to Irene. "Very well…hahaha…you pleased me. I will let you live. I wanna see you cry even more. More! And more! Hahaha…Irene Solane."