Darien and his family enjoyed a silent dinner. The prince could tell that his father wasn’t so much annoyed by Darien’s mischievous behavior as he was irritated by the prince’s blatant lie. The king burned Darien with a few powerful glares that made him tremble, but thankfully, there was no other punishment. It felt like lengthy hours before he was finally released from the torturous confinement that was the dinner table. In reality, it was probably less than thirty minutes.

Patting his bloated, full belly, the prince stormed through the castle’s many hallways. An amalgam of thoughts exploded through his head, but one emotion stood out from the various thoughts that conquered his mind. Anger. Why was it that he had to worry so much about being king? Was a single lie going to set the entire Tulgorian Empire crumbling? Trust. The people need to trust me, huh? Darien narrowed his eyes as he trudged forward through the hallway, past several servants who were dusting the windows. His father was still relatively young for a king, and would rule for many decades before it was finally his time. So why did they keep saying that Darien was going to have to prepare himself so soon? He was only fifteen. He didn’t even want to think about having such a responsibility. In fact, he didn’t even want to be king.

Being king meant that all the freedom he currently had would vanish in an instant. His free time would be replaced with work, analysis, and deep thinking on how to better the nation. Darien knew from watching his father work day and night to solve the empire’s issues that there was never a moment of rest for a good king. He even noticed that the king had begun to grow a few grey hairs as a result of the immeasurable amount of stress that he endured every day. Darien didn’t want to endure such hardship, and he knew that he would never live up to the incredible legacy that his father was leaving behind.

Leaning up against the sandy brick walls of the castle, Darien sighed heavily as he looked through one of the tinted windows. He moved to the window and pushed it open, the view becoming clear as the glass panes vanished from his line of sight. The prince gazed through the opening at the grand city of Aelios, the capital of the Tulgorian Empire. The king’s castle sat upon a hill that overlooked the rest of the city, letting everyone know that they were of lesser status than those who lived in the castle. The king also kept his close advisors, friends, fellow nobles, and important workers living in the castle with the royal family, for he believed in keeping close to his allies.

Stretching across the city were thousands of homes made of brick, stone, solidified mud, and marble, creating a vast variety of buildings and architecture in the city. Some buildings had flat roofs, while others had dome shaped ones made of smelted bronze that gleamed in the descending sun’s light. Torches were being lit, preparing for the oncoming night, and Darien watched as the sun begin to vanish over the horizon, releasing its last dazzling surges of warm light into the sky.

Staring past Aelios and the city’s grand, towering walls, Darien saw the endless wasteland in the distance, just outside of the city. Those were the Lost Sands, a forsaken desert. There was no information regarding what the Lost Sands was like, because no one had ever entered it and come out alive. Supposedly, the desert spanned three hundred miles wide and three hundred miles long, but that was only an estimate. It was said that creatures of ancient lore and mythology, that would slaughter any intruder, existed within those dangerous lands. There were also rumors that said that the desert itself was alive and could deceive any journeyers that ventured into the Lost Sands. Darien was almost positive that within that perilous desert, there were priceless treasures. That was why explorers kept disappearing into the Lost Sands, never to return.

Darien sighed. No one had ever seen any of the creatures from the Lost Sands so no one actually knew if they existed. Now, sending criminals to the Lost Sands had become a form of execution. Rather, the king claimed that it was merely “banishment.” But the exiles that were forced out of Tulgor were tossed in the Lost Sands, doomed to their ultimate demise. The prince, however, was interested in seeing some of the creatures that he had read about in tales. Pharaohs, Sphinxes, Core-Diggers, undead mummies, and many more were rumored to plague those lands. If they did exist, the prince hoped that he would be able to see them someday. Without dying, that is.

“And here we have a royal prince, dramatically staring in deep thought at the grand empire that he will soon rule!” Tetsu mocked in a deep tone, surprising Darien by jumping from behind and wrapping his arm around the prince’s shoulder with a friendly grin. “What’s got you in such a grim mood, Darien?”

“Yeah, is everything alright?” Yuu asked, stepping to Darien’s side.

“Of course everything’s alright,” Darien murmured. “It’s just, you know, all this talk about becoming king and preparing to rule the empire already. My father isn’t going anywhere soon so I don’t know why everyone’s hyping me up for the throne. I don’t know the first thing about leading a country, and no matter how much I study the economics of the empire, the agriculture, and the military strategies that I’ll need to know when I’m a leader, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready. That type of responsibility … it’s way too much for me to handle.” He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled. “Man, look at me. I’m a mess.”

Tetsu gave Darien’s shoulder a good squeeze. “Hey, man. Don’t sweat it. If there’s ever a problem, I’ll always be here to steer you in the right direction. And I’m sure the nerd, Yuu, will be here to toss you some advice too, right?” he called to the noble.

Yuu’s face reddened. “I-I’m not a nerd!”

“You’re a nerd.”

“Then you’re a brute!”

Tetsu laughed. “And I don’t mind that at all!”

“Seriously, Darien. There’s nothing for you to worry about. We’re going to be here to help you out when you need it.” Yuu smiled reassuringly. “I mean, we’re your best friends. Obviously we’re not going to let you shoulder the throne’s responsibilities by yourself! We’ll do whatever we can to help. But that’ll probably be really far in the future anyway. I’m sure your father is just preparing you to give you a head start. I mean, if you have the whole ruler mindset early on, in a decade you’ll be more than ready for the throne. Right?”

“I guess….”

“Man, what’s with all this depressing talk! Let’s go do something fun! Want to go pull a prank on Yuu’s older brother?” Tetsu guffawed.

“N-No! Don’t do that!”

Darien looked between his two good friends and laughed. Man, I wish things could just stay like this forever. With the three of us, happy, together, and free.