Tyranny of Steel

Berengar sat on his plane as it reached peak altitude, with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. Kneeling before him was the former self-proclaimed Anangpur Emperor. The man was bound, while the muzzles of several loaded submachine guns were pointed towards his face.

There was an intense fear in the man's eyes as he gazed upon the Kaiser's mismatched irises. It was clear that he was confused why Berengar was not one eyed, like had been previously reported to him. With a slight chuckle, Berengar took a sip from his drink before answering the question Chandra had in his mind.

"You're wondering if the prophecy you feared for all these years was wrong? I'm afraid not, at least not in its entirety. Until relatively recently, I did in fact have one functional eye, though it was still well contained within its socket.

I won't bore you with semantics, but by the grace of God, my sight has been restored to me. However, before this happened, your little niece did, in fact, seduce me. At the very least, she attempted to do so in her own childish way.

I have promised your nephew, Dharya, that I won't seduce his sister, but he's entirely unaware that the little minx has long since set her eyes on me. I can say with some certainty that her attempts to win my favor did contribute in some small way contribute to my decision to invade the Anangpur Empire.

I have no doubt that it won't be long before the girl approaches me for intimacy, and when that happens a child will be born of our, what was it called? Ah yes, unholy union. Who will succeed your nephew onto the Indian Throne, though by then the entirety of the Indian Subcontinent will be united under his banner.

Now the question that I have in my mind is just what am I supposed to do with you? Why should I keep you alive? After all, you are another claimant to the throne, which could pose some difficulty for me in the future."

Chandra squirmed around in his bindings, hoping to break free from them. That is, until Berengar placed his glass on his end table rather forcefully. The sound instantly silenced the usurper, who quivered in fear of the mighty Kaiser. Berengar leaned in close and folded his hand together in contemplation while staring at Chandra for several moments in deep thought.

While he did this, the flight attendant returned with the bottle of whiskey, and refilled Berengar's glass. With a heavy sigh, he leaned back on his sofa and took another sip of his drink before taking a long drag from his cigarette. After releasing a large plume of smoke in Chandra's face, Berengar put out his cigarette on the ashtray and tossed it aside before pointing towards his Jaegers and giving them a command.

"Release him!"

The Jaegers did not hesitate to follow their orders. Where one of the men pulled out a gravity knife from his boot before unleashing the blade. He immediately cut the plastic zipties which bound Chandra, causing the man to rub his wrists. The markings his bindings had left behind were visibly imprinted on his bronze skin.

Despite his rough treatment, the man kowtowed before Berengar, going so far as to kiss his shoes before swearing his utmost loyalty.

"Thank you for your eternal benevolence. I swear from this day until my last, I will serve you faithfully, Kaiser Berengar von Kufstein!"

Berengar merely sneered in disgust at the man's sycophantry before pressing his skull to the floor with the heel of his foot. Despite this, Chandra had a happy smile on his face which further caused Berengar's lips to curl in disgust. Eventually, Berengar kicked the man aside before explaining what he had planned in store for the usurper.

"Here's what's going to happen. You will return with me to the Reich, where I will keep you under house arrest. You will have a villa of your own, where I will import wives, concubines, and servants from your homeland to look after you.

I will keep you well fed and happy in the event that Dharya betrays me, and I need to place another puppet on the throne. My only rule is that you do not, under any circumstances, ever leave the house that will be provided for you.

Officially, you will be serving a twenty-five-year sentence in one of my labor camps. To escape from the quarters I have alotted to you is to break this facade, which will only make me look bad in the eyes of the public, something I will not tolerate under any circumstances. Do this, and I will feed your corpse to the hounds. Understand me?

Chandra had the appearance of an excited puppy as he nodded his head up and down in understanding of Berengar's words. All he ever wanted was to live a life in the upmost luxury, something that Berengar could easily provide to him, far more so than his own family's riches could.

Upon seeing the man so obedient, Berengar silently motioned for the Flight attendant to pour another drink, which she quickly did so before handing the cup to Berengar. Berengar then handed the cup to Chandra and spoke to him in a far more lax tone.

"Now sit down, have a drink, and explain to me the origin of this so-called prophecy..."

Chandra quickly did as he was instructed and took the sofa opposite of Berengar. He took one quick gulp of the 112 proof liquor and quickly began to hack up a lung. Berengar merely shook his head before commenting on the usurper's unsightly appearance.

"Fucking lightweight..."

After taking a few seconds to get himself together, Chandra began to spill the tale of the Oracle who had predicted Berengar's emergence in this world.

"Centuries ago, the Muslims made their way east with a fury the likes my people had never seen before. It was only years later where we learned they were horribly defeated in a series of wars known as the crusades, which saw Anatolia and the levant fall back into the hands of the Byzantine Empire. Out of the ashes of this war, the Muslims invaded our western most borders, where our overlords the Gurjara dynasty utterly failed to stem the tide.

In this darkness, a member of my dynasty, Kapila Tomara, overthrew our masters, and united the western kingdoms of what you call the Indian Subcontinent to fight against the Muslim invaders. It was a hard fought battle, but in the end we repelled them from our borders, and established the Anangpur Empire. This was only possible due to Kapila's older sister, Aasiya Tomara.

Aasiya was born blind, but not without sight. She could see the world around her in ways that we cannot. If you believe the rumors, she could also see the past, present, and future. It was she who predicted every movement of our enemies and allowed us to easily overcome their invasion, despite their superior numbers and equipment.

After the war was won, Aasiya made a series of prophecies, the last of which foretold the coming of a one-eyed devil from the west, who would be seduced by a princess of the Tomara dynasty, into invading and conquering the Anangpur Empire. It would be the offspring of this unholy union who would one day rule over the Empire and bring forth its end.

The reason I believed so heavily in this prophecy is because all the others have come true so far. Because of this, I shamefully poisoned my niece in an attempt to kill her. However, that was only after I learned of your existence. Before that, I was content with keeping her confined for life."

Berengar sneered in disdain when he heard this, before taking another sip of his whiskey. After doing so, he wagged a finger in the face of Chandra and lectured the man on his foolishness.

"The likelihood of me having a child with Priya increases with each day. Lately, she visits me in my study more often than not. It is only a matter of time before she begs me for my love. When that happens, I will happily oblige. The prophesy seems to be true. However, there is one fatal flaw with your thinking. The end of the Anangpur Empire does not necessarily mean the end of your dynasty."

Chandra looked up with confusion in his dark eyes, questioning just what Berengar meant with his gaze. Berengar could easily understand this and quickly concluded his speech.

"The Anangpur Empire will fall, and in its place, the Indian Empire will rise. Under the leadership of my son with Priya, it will become more powerful and prosperous than you could ever imagine. You see, there is not a new dark age on the horizon, but a golden one.

As for the child of our union, he may be a bastard, but that means he will be of your dynasty. In other words, your family will continue to rule for generations to come, and will be a close ally of my own."

Chandra gazed at Berengar in complete and utter shock. Never would he have guessed that the end of the Anangpur Empire would be a transition to a new and more prosperous state, which his family continued to rule over.

In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to leap off the plane and fall to his death simply for his own stupidity. However, he didn't. Instead; he broke out into tears, praying to his gods in his native tongue for forgiveness. As for Berengar, he continued to sip his whiskey and enjoy the scene.