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Chapter 4

Atlas’ kingdom was full of yet more soldiers, raring to kill those who stood in the way of their next mission. The people of the heaven dimension cowered away in their homes, knowing that once they left they could also be called to fight as their fellow citizens were.

Atlas stood looking down at his people and at the trained solders ready to fight for him, he knew that most of them would die in this battle to cripple his brother’s forces, but this did not deter Atlas. After all his people were only pawns that he used to get what he wanted, their lives meant as much to him as his brothers did. He looked back proudly at his wife and four sons all ready to walk into battle with him, each trained and skilled with their own weapons.

These lives meant something to Atlas, they were his family, his next in line to take over after he either died or renounced his claim to power. Atlas’ eyes scanned the elegant throne room; as usual there was no sign of his youngest child. His daughter Elika, she was his only daughter and soon she would be stood by her brothers ready to spill blood.

Atlas had high hopes for his daughter, for if she turned out anything like his wife he would be most pleased. But so far she had shown no interest in the war or the countless raids Atlas had prepared her for; she never came to the throne room to wish them of safely or beg to come.

As usual she was nowhere to be found in the whole palace, Atlas turned to his stunning wife Atnya.

“Where is the princess, she should be here to watch how everything works. She turns of age in only a few days and then she will fight along with us.” Atlas asked, his anger just below the surface.

“My love, she is more than likely in the study. You know how she loves to please you.” Atnya explained her voice like silk, and yet as sharp as a snakes tail. “I’m sure she will appear in our presence before we leave.”

“Send someone to fetch her, this time I wish for her presence.” Atlas commanded, seconds later the sound of feet scurrying away could be heard from all around the palace. “It is about time our daughter learned.”

Meanwhile deep in the forest of the heaven dimension...

Elika sat alone in the dense wood; using it as her escape from the masses of troops preparing for yet another raid on the hell dimension.

Her father was sending more over confident and bloodthirsty men to murder and destroy another colony of hell.

Elika sighed, leaning back against one of the bulky oak trees. She may be Atlas’s youngest child and only daughter, but she was nothing like him, or the others that layered and corrupted her family tree. She behaved nothing like the ignorant king who stood by as his people suffered and died in a pointless war.

It was as though her father was brainwashing them all to believe that the war was a good and noble task, like being a part of it would bring some sort of eternal glory.

But it was all a lie, the only thing that the war brought was pain and death.

Elika saw no logic in the countless raids or the meaningless deaths of the people from both dimensions. She believed that it only continued because of the hatred her father and uncle Darkous shared, the very same hatred that consumed and destroyed their father before them, and that now devoured the world.

Atlas was a cruel and brutal man, someone who should never have become a father. He loved the war, loved killing. But he also caused Elika a lot of pain, his punishments both savage and untamed.

The princess’ body was coated in scars, the long white lines acting as evidence of her father’s brutality. And yet, the princess couldn’t help but love him. She wanted her father to be proud of her, to stop injuring her.

But, Elika couldn’t bring herself to care about the war; to want to fight.

Elika saw all the deaths as pointless and the destruction that followed more so, both kingdoms murdered each other’s people with no logical reason behind it. Both kings were completely oblivious to the suffering of their own people, it was like they both needed the war, even craved it.

Her father constantly organised brutal raids which he then sent to murder the citizens of hell, while Darkous organised the same raids and sent them to kill the people of Elika’s kingdom. Both Atlas and Darkous were responsible for hundreds if not thousands of deaths; it was as though they loved the murdering and the deaths that surrounded the kingdoms. She had come to believe that they both needed the chaos to survive.

For centuries those born in either dimension lived and breathed war, all children were raised on the battlefield and in the shooting ranges.

The war had changed the very way that the people of all dimensions lived, breathed and thought. The people of her kingdom all raised their children to kill and despise others, generation after generation of her people and the people of the hell dimension died in a pointless war. Men and women fought for a useless cause and killed for their immortal rulers.

The true reason behind the endless battles lost and mouldered into myth, the people of both kingdoms created their own reasons to right. They kept the war alive through lies and hard truths, it was their way of keeping the flame of hate alive it the hearts of their people.

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