Lothar, Traetos Province, Southern Avestria

Herios was locked with Ramusa Vorcerus in an underground dungeon. The prison cell was unhygienic and filled with putrefaction. Ramusa was perplexed when Herios was dumped into his cell. He could not fathom the reason for which this adolescent boy was castigated by the Parso in a prison cell. Ramusa was shocked on seeing so many bruises over Herios and he wondered about Herios's ability to endure. Herios was bleeding profusely from the injury on his shoulder. It was a deep laceration.

After some Kesta* , Herios finally woke up. He was bereft of his strength. His muscles could no longer support him to sit erect. His wounds were giving him intermittent surges of pain and he was completely enervated.

"Take it easy kid," said Ramusa. He was treating Herios's wounds and cleaning the blood from his clothes. Herios's garment had a red patch near his shoulder from all that blood which was dripping out from his injury. He brought his palms closer to his eyes and gently rubbed them with his fingertips. He could feel the left side of his skull, throbbing, as if it was about to explode. This was due to the blow that he had incurred, during the fight with the Parso soldiers.

He pressed his hand tightly over his skull in order to reduce the pain but it was a futile effort. After a few moments, he felt a little relieved but the throbbing hadn't stopped. When he moved his palms all over his body, he could feel multiple bruises near his abdomen and on his back. Since his shoulder was maimed, he felt excruciating pain even with a little movement of his arms.

"Bloody bastards, beating a boy!" disgruntled Ramusa, as he helped Herios to sit erect. Herios couldn't maintain his posture, so he leaned over the wall that was behind him. Ramusa was infuriated on seeing this state of Herios.

"What did they do?" he asked, furiously. Herios didn't respond. He was too emaciated to utter words from his mouth. He just thought about the incident. As soon as he started remembering what had happened, he felt a chill, travelling up his spine. His throat was parched and his hands started shivering.

He couldn't expel that horrific and iniquitous act done by the Parso soldiers from his mind. He could still see the face of that woman, so vulnerable, so helpless. She was yearning for help. She was deprived of her respect, her strength and then her body.

He couldn't forget that look of extreme agony in the woman's eyes as the Parso soldiers brutally punched her, till her jaw had fractured. Her eyes were crushed to a pulp. He could literally feel the pain that she must have felt, when the Parso soldiers butchered her like an animal, left for slaughter.

He could see the life, leaving her body when she breathed her last breath. How excruciating it must have been to go through all that unbearable torment? He wondered. He could sense the feeling of being restrained, the fear of imminent death, the inability to protect your own body from those devils. He felt everything which she must have felt, before dying.

Yet, there was no one to rescue her from that devilry. They just watched her getting beaten to a pulp. They just watched her dying naked, at the hands of those vile beasts. Herios's eyes could reveal the agony that he felt out of sympathy for the dead woman.

"Are you alright boy?" asked Ramusa and shook Herios hastily, in order to bring him back to his senses. Herios remembered everything that had happened to the woman and he remembered everything that he had done to the Parso soldier, who had killed her.

"I just...." he spoke in exasperation. He couldn't get any words out of his mouth.

"What happened out there?" asked Ramusa. He was curious about the incidence which had culminated into Herios, getting dumped into the dungeon. Herios sighed. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly. As Herios narrated the entire story which had taken place, Ramusa grew furious. Herios could see Ramusa's eyes, filled with wrath towards the Parso, while simultaneously noticing the expression of melancholy over his face.

Ramusa felt equally sympathetic towards the woman who died such an unfortunate death. However, the part that came later, bedazzled him. He couldn't believe that Herios had killed the Parso soldier with his bare fists, while Krora and the other Parso soldiers just watched him, beat the man to death.

"They didn't do anything? They didn't even attack you?" asked Ramusa, dubiously.

"Didn't do anything?" asked Herios in an agitated tone.

"Where do you think these bruises came from? You think I caused these wounds myself?" he said, brusquely.

Ramusa nodded. But he was still sceptical about Herios's claims of killing the Parso soldier to death, with nothing but his fists.

"I killed him.....I killed a man....." said Herios, staring into the abyss. The idea that he had killed a living being with his own hands was quite disturbing for him to acknowledge. He could not bear the thought that he had acted like a bloodthirsty, vindictive killer. He was filled with compunction.

"It's alright. You at least did it for the right cause," replied Ramusa, trying to console Herios.

"The Right cause?" repeated Herios. "How do you know it was right?" he asked, tersely.

"You tried to give justice to the woman, who was brutally killed by those vile men. You punished them for their sin, didn't you?" explained Ramusa.

Herios acknowledged Ramusa's justification but he was still unsure about the morality of what he did.

Did I really kill him in order to give justice to the woman? Or did I kill him to mollify my wrath? Was it really an act of justice or was it merely my vengeance? He thought to himself.

"What if.....What if I killed the man just in order to placate my anger? What if...me, killing that man, was just a vengeful move?" he asked. Ramusa was nonplussed.

"What's the difference? You know that he deserved it, for what he did to the woman," replied Ramusa.

"Your revenge aroused from the feeling of giving justice to the woman, for her unfortunate murder. I believe what you did was right," Ramusa added.

"But who am I to deliver that justice? If I really wanted to deliver justice to the woman, I would have killed him before they killed her...and not after," said Herios.

"Maybe I just killed the man because I was infuriated about losing my own family...Maybe I wasn't even bothered about the woman who was killed...maybe her death just gave me a reason to inflict pain to those soldiers who had murdered my family" asked Herios.

Ramusa was silent. He could not respond to this ethical dilemma. Ramusa had killed a lot of men in his life as a warrior. He still remembered the first man that he had killed. It was his enemy in a battle. He had never even attempted to think so much about killing his enemies.

"Why did the Parso attack us?" asked Herios, troubled by everything that had happened. His deep black eyes stared at Ramusa with the expectation of a viable answer. Ramusa took a deep breath and sighed. He leaned into Herios and gazed into his eyes.

"Few hundred Mesha ago, the ships of Parso landed over the south eastern coast of Avestriā....they arrived on large vessels and ships...they had a myriad of warriors along with them...their forces were just too much for the South Eastern kingdoms...They captured the south eastern port in no time and killed everyone," narrated Ramusa. Herios hearkened to him.

"They established their dominion over the South-Eastern subcontinent and they have been successful in maintaining their stronghold for more than a century now....the Parso Province, was once the land of Avestrians," Ramusa narrated.

"The capital of Parso Empire named as the 'City of Atroxia' is built, atop the ruins of our holiest temple of the goddess Systara...They demolished our temple, desecrated the statues of our gods, killed our priests, butchered our warriors and made slaves of the civilians," he said. His teeth gritted, as he narrated the sanguinary past of Avestria.

"The temple of Systara, was the pride of all the Avestriāns...they captured it and forced the civilians to convert to their religious sect..." he spoke. Herios was depressed on hearing this sanguinary history of Avestriā.

"Why didn't we fight back? Why didn't we wage a war against them?" exclaimed Herios.

"Because our provinces were not united...Honestly, they are still not united," replied Ramusa in exasperation.

"A civilization divided within its own boundaries, cannot survive...On the contrary, the Parso were all united...The Ethnarch of Traetos province undertook many campaigns as a retaliatory action but unfortunately, we lacked the manpower and the resources," said Ramusa.

"We have been trying to reclaim our lands for the past few decades but we have merely regained a handful of strongholds...." he said.

"About three Mesha ago, we lost the kingdom of Goldrunes in a similar invasion. The Parso forces rallied to their commander and captured Goldrunes. They butchered all the warriors and beheaded some of them in front of the civilians..." he said. His lips were bitten by his teeth, as he spoke about the Parso in a vitriolic manner.

"Every time the Parso capture a kingdom, they ravage and pillage our cities....They destroy all our religious places of worship. They burn our priests, alive. They rape the low-born women for pleasure, and make the high-born women as concubines in order to expand their progeny," he narrated.

Herios was disturbed on hearing all of this. "Why are they so cruel? Why do they need to be so much barbaric, towards the captured folks?" asked Herios.

"A usurper is ever afraid of just one thing," he said. Herios hearkened to him eagerly.

"And what is that?" asked Herios.

"An uprising,"

Herios narrowed his vision and gazed at Ramusa to elaborate his response.

"When a land is conquered, it is necessary that the usurpers inculcate fear in the hearts of their conquered civilians. That's the essence of subjugation. If you can't create fear in the minds of the conquered people, how can you possibly rule over them?" said Ramusa.

"You have to make the people afraid of torment...you have to make them afraid, before they become ready to renounce their lives for a patriotic cause," said Ramusa.

"That is why they kill the people who can rebel against them. If you kill the instigator, you can dominate the others with ease...." explained Ramusa.

"Then why didn't they kill me?" asked Herios. Ramusa was perplexed by the same thought.

"That's exactly what I cannot fathom. If the people realize that an adolescent boy can kill a trained Parso soldier, that would encourage them to start a rebellion," he said.

"Krora should have killed you at the first instant, however, he didn't," said Ramusa, wondering about it all.

He wondered why the Parso commander spared this boy's life when he could have easily killed him.

"Maybe...He intends to kill you brutally, later on....in order to set an example, once and for all..." said Ramusa. Herios looked at him, petrified on hearing this possibility.

"The Parso need to kill the spirit of the conquered people, before they can kill their bodies," said Ramusa. Herios was demented on hearing this.

"Kill me brutally?..." he said in a low voice. Herios was daunted by the apprehension of getting butchered at the hands of the Parso. Was this his fate? Was he really going to die such a brutal death? Herios's expression changed to fear.

"Pray to the creator, kid...only he can save you," suggested Ramusa. "Have faith,"

Herios was vexed on hearing Ramusa's suggestion.

"He will save me? Really?...then why didn't he save the woman from getting killed?"

"Why didn't the gods save the hundreds of innocent people who were burned and butchered during the invasion?" asked Herios for a justification. Ramusa was silenced. He didn't respond. He just stared blindly at the floor.

"Why?!" asked Herios, agitated.

"I don't know why!!" exclaimed Ramusa. He was irked.

"But I know that he won't let his children die in vain," he said, although he was sceptical about his own claims. Herios snorted. His lips distorted to reveal his disbelief on Ramusa's faith in the creator.

"There was one more thing" said Herios.

"What is it?" asked Ramusa.

"The commander Krora made an announcement about the Queen...before he executed that woman," said Herios. Ramusa harked, worried.

"What about the Queen?" he asked, restlessly.

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Footnotes:

• Kesta is a unit of measuring time, equivalent to 'hour' on Earth