The boy awoke to the warmth of the morning sunlight streaming through the gap in the curtains, casting a triangular beam onto the wooden floor. He stretched lazily, yawned, and sat up in his cozy bed. It was a perfect summer day, and the birds outside sang sweetly as they flitted from branch to branch in the ancient elm tree that towered over his window. He felt refreshed, as if he'd slept for days, and his mind was as clear as a mountain stream. But as he lay there, something felt...off. Something was different. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Then it hit him. He didn't know this room. The bed, the curtains, the tree outside. It was all foreign to him. He felt a chill run down his spine as the memories of his past life rushed back in a torrent. He was not the middle-aged man he had thought he was. He was, in fact, the king of a small country that bordered non-human countries and the wilds, a vast forest filled with all manner of fantastical and dangerous creatures. His parents had died in a war with other human countries, along with many of his country's men. He was only eight years old now, and it was his duty to govern his people and lead them to prosperity.
The ancient female vampire who had been his families aid in exchange for asylum as the last of her kind was still by his side, and she had sworn to protect him and help him rule. He remembered the knowledge he had gained in his past life, the strategies and tactics he had learned, the languages he had spoken and written. He knew that with her help, he could bring peace and prosperity to his people. But first, he had to adjust to his new life and accept his new role as their king.
He climbed out of bed, wincing slightly as his feet touched the cold, hardwood floor. He made his way over to the window, pushing the curtains aside to reveal a breathtaking view of his kingdom. Lush green fields stretched out as far as the eye could see, bordered by dense forests teeming with life. In the distance, he could see the towering peaks of the mountains that marked the border with the human countries. The sunlight danced off of the castle walls, casting long, golden shadows across the landscape.
He recalled how in his great grandfather's generation their empire spanned half the continent. But when he died a fight for the throne ensued caused the once great empire to be divided between the princes. His grandfather, being an illegitimate child, was allowed to take refuge in a small territory and name it the kingdom of Elyria. The only path thru the mountains was a valley that passed thru it. So, humans built a walled territory to help defend against the powerful beasts that reside there. On the other side of a mountain range that divided the continent in two, with humans on one side and non-humans on the other. This valley was the one my grandfather was allowed to claim. Due to the frequent attacks by beast's and non-humans, and lack of resources the other princes ignored him as they fought each other for supremacy. This allowed my grandfather to pass his life in peace.
Until a pro-human church came to fruition during the war. At first, they only targeted creatures they considered to be dark aligned, like vampires, werewolves, orcs, and goblins. Giving rise to other racial discriminations, like sun elves changing their name to holy elves and claiming night elves as dark elves before they began persecuting them. Even dwarves started to discriminate against gnomes, claiming they were dark creatures for being descendants of half-dwarves and half-goblins as an excuse to steal their technology since gnomes, inheriting the dwarf's penchant for invention and business, with their nimbler fingers surpassed the dwarves in creating artifacts. And beast kin were shunned by all three races as a barbaric race.
As he gazed out the window, he saw Elara ever vigilant by his side. The ancient vampire sat atop the highest branch of the centuries-old oak tree, her long black hair flowing gracefully in the gentle evening breeze. Her red eyes scanned the horizon, searching for any signs of life that might cross her path. She wore a simple, flowing white dress that billowed around her like a cloud, seemingly at one with the ethereal beauty of the night. As she waited patiently, she idly twirled a strand of her black hair around her pale, delicate finger, while her red eyes gazed into the distance.
He recalled what he knew of her past, as an ancient female vampire who has lived for centuries. Once part of a thriving vampire community, her world changed when a pro-human church began hunting vampires, leading to the eventual destruction of her kind. Elara managed to escape the hunters, before finding shelter with his family which ruled a small country that favors defense. She soon takes on the roles of an aid and guard for the royal family. But when she held the newly born prince and looked into his black eyes. She was drawn into them, as if she could see an entire universe behind them. At that moment she swore herself to him, taking on the role of nurse maid and guard. And when the prince's family was killed in a war against other human nations, she supported his ascension to the throne even though he is only eight years old.
He has no doubt that he would have died shortly after the death of his parents if she was not by his side watching over him. Due to the discrimination spreading across the continent, many races came to his kingdom in search for sanctuary, and his family, having kind hearts, took them in. The influx of people caused a surge of development in the small kingdom, always thinking about defense, his family built a wall along the border to separate them from the other half of the continent, which mirrored another wall that keeps back the wilds on the other side. With our kingdom's rise in strength, many countries began to fear us and eventually, an army from the church came to our border in a crusade to eliminate evil. His parents wishing to solve things peacefully only took human soldiers with them to meet the opposing forces at the border.
When the church confronted them, they refused allowing their forces into our kingdom. This angered the churches forces, so on impulse, the church attacked our army. Our country fights off a yearly beast flood from the wilds, so how could they be weak, the result was complete victory for us. But as the battle was coming to an end, a coalition of forces appeared and claimed our kingdom as evil, even calling us "Devildom". This army made up by a group of other kingdoms surrounded our army and killed everyone to the last man. In confidence of their superiority, they began to march toward our wall while parading the head of my father and my mother's defiled corpse, in order to break our armies will.
It instead had the opposite effect, my parents, being good rulers, were adored by their people so this angered the remaining troops. While the races that found refugee within our kingdom, once they heard of what was done to the people that had taken them in, in their time of need, rallied and took up arms against the invaders on the wall. The battle lasted for a month before the coalition retreated after losing more than half their forces without ever being able to break through our defenses. After retreating back home, they said our country was a demonic kingdom, so they built a fort beyond our borders in order to continue watching us. But that does not stop us from sending forces beyond the wall in order to guide more refugees to safety.
The war created a bond between the humans and ostracized refugee's, helping them to assimilate and settle into the kingdom. In order to support an increasing population, it was deemed that new settlements would instead be carved out of the surrounding mountains while the valley is dedicated to food production.
I looked at Elara with a caring and loving gaze, but with my new memories, the feeling of desire and yearning started to sprout in my heart. I shook my head in confusion and shame before turning away from the window so I could start getting ready for the day.
"Knock, knock", sounded the door.
"Enter", I replied. "Excuse me your majesty, I have your breakfast," said Liriel, my night elf maid as she entered my room. Don't let her elegance fool you, Liriel is part of a small group of night elves that trained in espionage and assassination, but most of the world only thinks that night elves are forest dwelling hunters, that excel in tracking and trapping. Her people were amongst the refugee's that sought asylum, before coming forward on their own and swearing to loyally serve the royal family. Liriel is the best cook among them, so she is in charge of preparing my meals in order to prevent poisoning. Like all elves she is beautiful by human stander, also, like most night elves she has silver hair, purple skin, and purple eyes. Her defining feature are her extra-long ears that reflect her noble ancestry. The only downside is when she experiments with new dishes, she will use me as a taster when I used to misbehave, I still get shivers from remembering some of her dishes.
Lifting the lid on the plates I am relieved to see a normal breakfast of juice, toast, eggs, sausage, and grits. Noticing my relief Liriel said, "His majesty has a big day ahead and needs his strength to face the petitioners." I gulp at the implication of her words. 'Damn, she knows how hard it is to deal with them, it is almost impossible to keep them in line when they get riled up. It's almost like they wake up every morning with the goal to cause as much trouble as possible', I think to myself with a grimace on my face, before sitting down at the table. She then took her usual place behind me, watching over me as I ate which brought an uncomfortable feeling because of my new memories. Until I remember that she was there for my safety and was able to remove that feeling from my heart, only to have it replaced by the feeling of desire again. 'Did these memories make me more lustful?' I wonder.
As he sat there eating, he tried to recall information on the petitioners, hoping that it will help him calm his raging emotions brought forth by the new memories. There was Gorgrak, a hulking orc war-chief that represents the various orc tribes. He was elected as chief not just for his strength, but his intelligence. When the church began hunting orc's, he was able to keep them at bay. This caused other orc tribes to admire him, before deciding to join forces with them. This went on for years until after almost a dozen tribe's join him, he was unanimously elected as war-chief in order to lead their coalition of forces. Unfortunately, this put a target on their backs, driving the church to gather its forces and launch a crusade against the orcs. Seeing the army laid out before them, the orc's decided to have Gorgrak take a small detachment from each of the tribes and flee, while the remaining orcs would fight to the last men in order to buy them enough time to escape.
Gorgrak, being war-chief and an orc, argued against fleeing, wanting to die in battle with his men. From what I heard; his own men pummeled him until he was unconscious before tying him up and throwing him into the back off a cart before being dragged away with the fleeing orcs. When he awoke a few days later, instead of getting angry, he kneeled in the direction of his old home and swore to protect the surviving orcs. Afterwards, he decided that the only way for orcs to survive was by fleeing into the wilds, even though he had heard horror stories about the few orcs that returned from there. But, having no other option, he led his people to the kingdom of Elyria as it was the only territory with access to the wilds.
Upon reaching Elyria, he was surprised to find that the persecution of other races was not only illegal, but also punished. After years of war against the church, the orcs had predisposition to be wary of humans, so even though they were allowed to stay in Elyria, they stayed in a remote part to separate themselves from others. My family made it a habit to help all races equally, so they were lenient on the orcs for wanting to build a settlement in such a remote part of the kingdom. After a few years, the orcs were able to lower their guard enough to begin trading with others. Gorgrak even joined a council that was formed by the leaders of each race that immigrated to Elyria.
Eventually, he came to respect my parents as rulers. So, when he heard about what happened to my parents, he was one of the first to take up arms and charge the enemy forces. Unfortunately, his approval of my parents does not pass to me, so he one of the main activists in dissolving the hierarchy in favor of a multi-racial council. It is one of the main points of stress for me, it is supported by the gnomes, dwarves, light elves, and a few of the beast kin clans, while the others claimed neutrality. Only the night elves submitted to royal family, giving them better opportunities than the other races since they are now our direct subjects. Which was already an annoyance for the other races to see, so after the war ended, they were quick to bring up the petition.
I have no doubt that they would claim regency due to my age if they were not terrified of Elara. A few days after the petition was pushed forward, someone tried to assassinate me. In anger, Elara captured the assassin, brought him to the audience chamber while we were in session, and proceeded to drain him of blood before tearing his body apart. She then took her place by my side while scanning each of the faces in the room, as if she was warning them to not get too bold. That night there was a cleansing thru the territory, brought by the night elves. Since than there were no more assassination attempts, and the sessions with the council became more civil.