Betrayal of an Emperor - R.T. Adams (best self help books to read txt) 📗

It’s 1309, in the Khan Empire. My name is Hako, a general of the empire. People have titled me “The Untouchable King.” I am no king, however. People want me as a king, but I refuse. My position as a general is to protect the emperor, not be a king. Currently, we are at war with the Shou Empire. I was placed as a last defense system, so if they break through the other seven generals. If I’m to fall, the Khan Empire will have ended. This is no heavy toll on me, though. I’ve been through wars and we’ve came out victorious each and every time. Some people even call me a God, the God of Khan. The current emperor of Khan is Emperor Yuga, currently serving as emperor for his third year. People seem to find a very strong dislike towards Yuga, for raising taxes, having immense greed, and much more. Everyone wants Empress Iso back, but she died three years ago from a terrible disease. To think she died at such a young age is rather saddening. However, we cannot grieve over the loss of others forever. I can feel the overwhelming pain of this empire, growing just about strong enough to overthrow the current emperor. I can tell that the current emperor will be rather killed or overthrown soon. When that happens, I’m sure the next emperor will punish him for his sins. However, we can’t overthrow the emperor now, or the war will become chaos, and then we’ll perish. It’s painful, but we’re forced to keep our current emperor.

I received news that the first line of defense was defeated, and they moved to our second line of defense, quickly wiping through them. My wife is the fourth line of defense general, and it seems the Shou Empire may be too powerful for her. I can only hope she will be okay. I’m sure our son and daughter are praying for our safety. Slowly, as each day passes by, the soldiers here, being closer to the city, receive more food, drinks, and sleep. They eat a proper meal, train their bodies and minds, and sleep for ten hours. I’m very lenient with my soldiers. I make sure they’re trained properly, receive the proper amount of sleep, and have a full meal. If one is hungry, tired, or untrained, they cannot perform at their fullest extent. I’m the only general that has trained my men in such a way. Tomorrow, we are having a feast for my men, due to an overstock of food.

Today is the day of the feast, and I have received information that the second line was defeated, and about half of the third line has already been defeated. These are desperate times, but the feast will still continue. As I look around, sitting at the long table, I feel overjoyed to know my men can still behave this way even during the time of war. Drunken men staggering around, people sitting around a bonfire telling jokes and stories, it all makes me who I am.

“Hurrah!” one of the drunk men shouts before falling face-first to the ground, then struggling to get to his feet, “To The Untouchable King!” He yells, holding his glass of wine up. The rest of the men raise their glasses, clinking them with each other’s, then drinking it. I take a moment to breathe, close my eyes, and then take a stand.

“My men, please, quiet down,” I say, firmly and loudly. “Today is no special event, no reason to honor me,” I resume.

“Of course there is, you’re the greatest!” one of my men shouts, others pitching in.

“Please, I appreciate your praise,” I say, “but that is not what is important. We have a war to fight, and the enemy is fast approaching.” They stare at me, awaiting my next words. “The enemy has already broken through two and a half of our defenses,” I say, waiting for one to speak out.

“But they won’t get through the last defense!” as I expected, one of the drunk men shouted. I close my eyes and cross my arms, a smile growing on my face. I then take a seat, and they all cheer. However, I could feel something in the air, a sense of danger. So I placed my hand on my blade’s hilt, ready to defend when necessary. One of the men, who wasn’t drunk, approached me.

“It seems they adored your speech, General Hako, or shall I call you The Untouchable King?” he states, with a dark look in his eyes. I stare at him for a moment, feeling his aura.

“It is fine, call me what you wish,” I say, “and it seems they don’t just love my speech, but my actions in general.” I stare at him, examining his attire and weapons. I notice two things missing. An icon on the left breastplate piece and an icon on the hilt of every soldier’s blade. I draw my blade, taking a stand, and everyone looks over to me.

“General, what is wrong?” he says, giving me a grin. I stare at him, and he knows what comes next.

“You are a spy. For your foolishness, you shall repay with your life,” I say, placing both hands on my blade’s hilt, ready for the battle to come. The spy then drew his blade. It wasn’t even the same type of blade that every soldier uses.

“Seems you have caught me,” he says, “Good eyes, General, but are you really untouchable?” He quickly swung his blade, yet I deflected the attack, trying to counter it, but failed. He quickly swung his blade, like it weighed nothing. A rapier? My blade is a custom greatsword, much heavier, but more powerful than a rapier. At this speed, I may receive some small cuts depending on his skill and how well his blade holds out. However, his blade was not breaking any time soon, so I heaved the blade at him, which he dodged. I quickly grabbed my dagger, deflecting the oncoming attacks. Now that I have a lighter and weaker blade, he has an advantage. I can’t grab my greatsword, or I will be severely injured, so I swung my dagger at him, trading attacks back and forth. Finally, after some minutes, I landed a strike in his abdominal region, but an attack was straight for my thigh. I twisted and pulled the dagger out of his abdominal area and swung my leg back, dodging his attack, I then used my leg to pin his rapier to the ground. Finally, the battle was over, with a stab to his neck. The blood quickly came spurting through his neck, to the ground. When I pulled my dagger out of his now dead, limp body, he fell to the ground like a ragdoll. I give out a sigh of relief and wipe my dagger off, then placing it in it’s small sheath on my breastplate. I then walk over to grab my greatsword and put it in its sheath on my back.

“Now that that’s over, let’s continue this feast,” I say, looking around at the excited, overjoyed men. Then, they cheer, drinking and eating once again.

After the day of the feast was over, a lot of my men felt rather hungover. Immense headaches, so I let them have their rest. Even though we felt like there was no war last night, the messenger told me that the third line was defeated and the fourth line is quickly falling. This is where I start to become very fretful. My wife is the general of the fourth line, and knowing it is quickly falling is when I become stressed. My men noticed my change, and some even consulted me about it, but I told them it was nothing. I looked out at the horizon, where the enemies were coming from. My hope only lies in the God of Life’s hands. Right now, I can only pray for my wife’s safety. I watch my men closely, trying to forget about what could happen. I let the lieutenants command the training while I went to meditate, using a form of meditation called zazen. As the day passed, no one came into my tent, so I could meditate in peace. When I finally walked out of the tent, I saw it was nighttime, and some of the soldiers were still training. I watched, joyed that they are training themselves, but they may lose some sleep. I’m sure a few minutes of sleep won’t make too much of a difference. I walked over to the lieutenants and asked how the training went. They told me that it went just like normal. I told them that they should get some rest and that I’ll inform the ones still training that they may rest as well. The lieutenants walked off to their tents and prepared for rest. I walked over to the soldiers and told them that they should get rest as well, so they went to their tents and prepared for rest. I stared off at the horizon once again, then turning to my tent, walking to it. I got in and laid on the bed in the tent, getting my rest for the day.

When I woke up, I heard chatting outside my tent. When I arose from my bed and opened the tent, I saw three men standing there. They just stared at me. One of them was the messenger. He took the few steps between us to get to me.

“I’m sorry to say, but it seem the fourth line of defense has fallen, General,” he stated, with a gloomy look in his eyes. “It also seems the fifth and sixth lines have already fallen as well. You’d best prepare your men, General.”

“I see. I will prepare immediately, thank you,” I thanked him and he headed back to the city. I looked around, some of my men standing around, looking at me. Others, however, didn’t hear and went on with their day. “Rally up the men lieutenant, I’m going to commence in a speech.”

“But sir, the enemy-” before he could finish his sentence, he noticed a kind of look in my eyes that no one had seen before. “Ah, uh, never mind. I’ll rally them immediately.” He fled off, and I could hear his shouting to the soldiers. I continued to the meeting area we had set up in our camp. When I got there, roughly three quarters of the men were there. I stood, same look in my eyes. They looked rather frightened, but they remained where they stood. By the time they had all came, I could hear distant clashes of blades. It seems the enemy has defeated the sixth line and moved to the seventh. Soon, they will be here.

“The enemies have defeated just about all of our lines of defense. They are quickly approaching, and a huge threat. Be aware,” I said, “Do not forget the training you have been through, and do not forget the time I have given you. If I die here, move forward and never give up. Retreat is not an option.” I was not normally this strict, but the situation has changed and we needed to cut them down fast. However, just when I was about to turn around, I saw the emperor, himself, coming to the rally zone. I then knelt and the soldiers looked rather confused. However, when they turned, they all spread out, making an area for the emperor to walk through. They then knelt down, the same as I did.

“Rise,” he said, and so we did. When I rose, he was in front of me. A white cloak and red cape. Neither his cape nor crown fit him, not in the least. “General, why have you not prepared