In a World without God

Chapter 36

When he was about eighteen years old, Taharka slipped out of the palace with his brother, crawling under a hole in the fence while dressed as a commoner.

He and his brother looked around the marketplace with a twinkle in their eyes. People haggling, children clamoring for sweets, vendors loudly advertising their wares.

"Cute kids, where's your mom?" asked a fruit vendor, handing them both dried dates. Taharka grabbed them with both hands and tore into them, and they couldn't have been more delicious. The fruit vendor giggled, saying they were like children eating dates for the first time.

Taharka thought to himself that the Ur Empire was indeed a magnificent country.

Children frolicking in the marketplace, and a kindly woman offering them a snack. He vowed to keep it that way when he became Emperor.

But things didn't go as expected.

"Destroy the Dam!"

One day after becoming emperor, Taharka gave that order. As a result, a village was flooded. The villagers sank into the water alive.

It was inevitable. The witch's army had to be stopped from crossing the water. If they had, many more villages would have been destroyed.

"You made the right decision."

His brother said. All his servants said so too. Taharka himself believed it was the right decision. What else could he have done?

But there must have been children in the village. The children running around and playing, the women offering them snacks.

"He used his best judgment."

Taharka was a smart monarch. He always made the most sensible decisions. To defend El Medina, the most populous capital, he called in standing armies from other regions. To ensure the retreat of his elite soldiers, he used the common soldiers as shields. When they could only defend one of the two areas, they defended the more populous one.

And then he wondered. If he's always making rational decisions, calculating the costs and benefits, and making the most beneficial choices, why is it that when he looks back at his path, it's covered in blood? What did he do wrong?

One day, El Medina fell to a single person, Akale.

How does he describe what Akale did? Hell wasn't even close. Children swung knives and axes at their parents, who kicked and strangled them. People hiding in houses shot arrows at people walking down the street, and people walking down the street set fire to houses where people were hiding. Everyone was turned into monsters that bit each other. There were no lovers, no friends, no family.

Akale flew through the streets in a round ball, chuckling.

"Look, everyone, this is who you really are!"

Taharka watched the scene as she fled the palace.

Where did everyone go? People bargaining, children clamoring for sweets, vendors loudly advertising their wares, a kindly lady handing a treat to children she didn't know....

"Cute kids, where's your mom?"

Taharka led his elite soldiers out of the palace, only to be stopped by his brother. His brother told him that he had made the right decision and that he shouldn't be so heartbroken. Taharka noticed that his brother's axe was stained with blood.

His brother had killed the Emperor, the Empress dowager, and the Empress. He had killed Taharka's parents and wife.

A blue snake hung from his neck.