[center][color=SkyBlue]
[b]Prince Heru[/b]
Scion of the Firewind, Eran Ambaragbed, Grand General of Vetros
Heir to the Sands beneath the Stars
[/color]

&

His brother,

[color=940099][b]Y'Qar[/b]
Scion of Vetros, Exile, Wanderer[/color]

Year of the Realta
[/center]

The desert sands beneath their feet had long since given way to rocky soil, but the sands' familiar burning had not left them. It had merely taken residence in every sinew of their muscles, and still they pressed on. Their charge was sacred and the fate of the kingdom and the Holy Land rested depended on what they did now. The King's Law was gone, and Prince Heru would stop at nothing to reclaim it even if that meant trekking to the very edge of Galbar.

Here, they were surely coming close to that edge. The flatlands were giving way to rolling hillocks and rocky craglands, and life here was limited to whatever shrubs stubbornly grew from rocks. They had followed the Mahd upriver until it gave way to a thousand forks, then followed one of the smaller streams until it too gave way to tributaries. The muddy creek that they followed had little more than gravel on the bleak banks astride it. If the water was not fit for even plants to drink, then Heru and his men knew better than to drink from it either, no matter how parched their throats.

"Master, I pray to you and all your djinn for salvation."

"My prince," panted his cousin and bodyguard Dorias, as if he had heard Heru's hoarse and half-silent prayer, "Here, the last of the water we brought."

The man handed him a bronze helmet turned upside down, filled with perhaps a single gulp of water. Heru saw his wretched reflection in the metal's sheen as he looked longingly at the water. But then he raised his vision to his men and looked upon their weary faces. There was a splash as the water was poured out onto the ground. "We walk, fight, and suffer as one. For my father, the Priest-King! For the Master and Vetros!"

There was a cheer, and with renewed morale and vigor they marched on. Another day passed and by now desperation began to overpower reason. They stooped down to drink from the creek, but the muddy water refused to enter their mouths or be cupped by their hands. Despite prayer and righteous cause, the faceless, unseen djinn of the creek condemned them to die.

Yet Zephyrion was merciful, and by his grace a Stormlord passed overhead that night. They opened their mouths greedily and felt heavy raindrops sweet as honey fall upon their dried tongues.

Early in the next morning, they saw the silhouette of a lone building rising on the horizon. Heru knew that this is where he needed to go; the Golden Djinni had told him as much when it had appeared, though it spoke in tongues. The Prince knew also that he would find his brother at that temple, if the coward had not fled. Even now Y'Qar probably knew of their impending arrival, for Heru and his party had done nothing to anger the creek's djinn and yet they had been spurned; the only explanation was that Y'Qar had whispered poison into the spiryts' ears in hopes of hindering their journey.

The thought made Heru's blood boil. His brother had been showered with kindness and wealth, and yet his envy and selfishness were so great that he had spat upon it all and left. He would spurn family, abandon country, and defy God simply so that he could leave and be a king of the dirt out here rather than settle for being the prince of the Holy Land, second only to God and his own brother. Even so, some part of Heru had still longed for his brother's return; that was, until he had [i]stolen[/i] the King's Law. Now Y'Qar was nothing.

[hr]

The morning's breeze rustled the exile's long hair. Between his waving dark locks, an eddy danced and whispered, [i]'Your brother is not far from here, now.'[/i]

Y'Qar clenched his jaw and balled his fists. He had hoped that the local djinn would be able to impede Heru progress such that he would turn around long before coming here to make a fool of himself. But Heru had never been anything but persistent, and the King's Law had a way of exposing the greed in men and the jealousy in family.

[color=940099]"Then I must stand before him. How I had hoped and prayed that it would not come to this."[/color] 

He turned back to one of his disciples. [color=940099]"Have everyone inside the temple's walls, for I know not what my brother and his men would do to them. I will meet with Heru outside the gate."[/color]

The robed man hurried off at once. Y'Qar gazed to the horizon and saw a few lonely shadows in the golden morning's sun. They were small figures, following the stream below. It would be perhaps two hours before they trekked up the hill and were upon the small temple at the end of the world.

Y'Qar sat upon the rocky soil and meditated.

[hr]

From the river gully below, it was a slow trek up a winding dirt path. At the end was a small stone complex, placed strategically atop the highest hill in the area such that one could look down and witness all approaches. Fittingly, it was reminiscent of a crow's nest.

Though it felt like an eternity for the men as they climbed upwards and steeled their resolve, eventually that afternoon they crested the hill. Beyond that was only a short path, and at its end was a lone man sitting before the temple's great door. Upon his lap was a staff that shone with the glory of a thousand jewels and suns. It was Y'Qar and his stolen prize.

"Though you have followed me to the end of the world and I would trade your companionship for nothing, you must stand back. As he is alone, I face him alone; for I know not what my brother and his men would do to you."

There was a soft murmur of agreement; the very sight of the King's Law plunged icy daggers of fear into the mens' hearts, for they knew of its power. Only one of the purest soul and royal bloodline was exempt from the staff's sacred magic, so only Heru dared face his brother who wielded the scepter.

Their swords already drawn, they advanced forwards with Heru a good ways ahead of his fellows. Y'Qar remained stoic as a statue, eyes closed and as peaceful as death. In contrast, from the windows of the temple their peered timid faces.

Only when Heru was a mere ten yards away did Y'Qar rise.

"Y'Qar, I-"

[color=940099]"Brother, you have come to here to the last hearth, the end of civilization and the edge of the world. There can be only one reason that would drive you this far, so I know your purpose. How I had hoped and prayed that this journey would be too arduous for you."[/color]

"No suffering is too great if it is taken in the name of god, kingdom, family, and duty. My cause is righteous! You should have known that there was no place far enough to escape from your crime."

Y'Qar softly laughed.

[color=940099]"You still think yourself just when the King's Law chose me? It flew all this way to me, of its own volition, so there can be no doubt of its choice. You think yourself wiser or more fit to judge than this staff and the Master? You think yourself [b]righteous[/b] when you go to the end of the world to steal from your own brother? I prayed that you would never come not because I feared you, but because I know you too well. I knew that you wou-"[/color]

"Enough! You a [i]blasphemous [b]thief[/b][/i] that wielded black magic against your father's kingdom in some ill attempt to seize power, and here with the Master to witness, you dare preach to be in the right. How could you be the one that the staff chose? You, who has never known anything but envy and contempt, who abandoned his own people, and who would cower in the wilds with the King's Law whilst Vetros is left exposed to the vultures and barbarians?

By the order of mine father the Priest-King and the sacred charge of God, I demand thee surrender the King's Law!"

A soft scowl crept onto Y'Qar's face. The hatred in Heru's eyes, too, was echoed. [color=940099]"Never,"[/color] he whispered.

With a roar, Heru charged forward with a scimitar in each hand.

[color=940099]"Winds!"[/color] Y'Qar pointed forward, and at his command unseen windjinn surged forwards and created a gale the likes of which were seen in only the most horrific of hurricanes. It slammed into Heru, breaking charge in an instant and sending him tumbling backwards. But he drove his curved blades into the ground, and gripping them to stabilize himself, he rose to his feet and slowly pressed forward even in the face of that mighty wind.

Y'Qar watched his brother struggle forward, exhausted step by step, for a long minute. When he had made it nearly back to where he had been at first, Y'Qar threw a hand forward and battered his brother back onto the ground with another gust of wind. The gales then finally died down, the windjinn having exhausted their strength.

Heru still had not given up. Ragged and covered in dirt from having been thrown to the ground, he nonetheless charged forward with fury in his eyes.

This time Heru called upon water. From an aquifer far below the parched soil, water emerged and near instantly turned the dirt path beneath Heru's feet into a pool of mud. Submerged down to his waist, Heru nonetheless kept on, half trudging and half swimming. Y'Qar commanded the water back to the depths and left his brother suddenly stuck in hardened dirt from the ribs down.

He then walked towards his trapped brother.

[color=940099]"Are you blind to the truth, or just in denial? Do you not see how your efforts are in vain? You may have been better than me, once upon a time, but you will [b]never[/b] surpass me now! You are the finest swordsman in the Firewind, but that means [b]nothing[/b] here! When will you give up, [i]brother[/i]?"[/color]

Y'Qar was now so close that Heru was quite literally in his brother's shadow. With a howl, Heru broke one of his arms free from the dried earth and swung at his brother's waist. With a start, Y'Qar blocked the wild swing with the King's Law; the bronze scimitar bent when it struck the golden scepter, but the King's Law was not even scratched.

Overcome by a second wind brought forth by anger, Heru scrambled halfway out of his earthen prison and used swiped again at Y'Qar, this time aiming for the ankles. The exile jumped back in time to avoid the attack, and before Heru could fully break free he called upon the power of earth.

A great hand of stone erupted from the ground and closed around Heru's torso, holding his triumphantly three yards above the ground. The prince flailed helplessly, utter trapped in that grip of stone; each finger of the mighty hand was as wide as one of his arms.

At that point, some of Heru's more fiery bodyguards ignored their prince's earlier command and charged forward to their prince's aid. "No!" Dorias shouted as he grabbed at one and pulled him back, but for the others it was too late.

Y'Qar's eyes shot to the swordsmen charging forwards. [color=940099]"You dare bear those arms against me here? You take up weapon against your [i]rightful[/i] prince and the one chosen by the staff?!"[/color]

They ignored his enraged shouting and run forwards, almost upon him.

[color=940099]"BY THE POWER OF THE KING'S LAW, I CLAIM ALL YOUR LIVES."[/color]

A rain of blood droplets fell upon Heru, even as he was suspended ten feet in the air. He twisted his neck to look back, then recoiled in horror and fear; Y'Qar had merely raised the King's Law and in an instant six great spikes of stone had erupted from the ground and impaled the six soldiers that had come forwards. They had all died in the time that it would have taken to blink.

[color=940099]"Yes, look at them, brother,"[/color] Y'Qar whispered. [color=940099]"Look at what you have done! They were good men, our countrymen! They had families and they had lives, and look at them now. You brought them here to their deaths. They died because of your greed, your envy, and your hatred. You killed them all."[/color]

Heru looked back to his brother. "No, you mad fool...[i]you[/i] killed them. You are no brother of mine! You're nothing!"

[color=940099]"And you're no kin of mine either! So if I am nothing, what does make you, you helpless, useless, wretched fool? You, who would bear sword against your own brother even as he tries to spare your life and turn you away? Perhaps it is best if I strike you down now; Vetros deserves better than your ilk!"[/color]

Seizing upon the distraction, Dorias had crept forward. In Y'Qar's ultimate moment of vulnerability, Heru's cousin and best warrior made his move. He threw a bronze dagger that whistled through the air as it spun, and as Y'Qar turned to face the sound it buried itself into his abdomen. He clutched his bleeding stomach and fell to the ground heaving.

The great hand of stone that held Heru in its grasp suddenly became nought but sand and gravel. The prince fell back to ground with some semblance of dignity, landing upon his feet mostly intact. But he was already wounded and battered enough.

Sensing Heru's fatigue, it was Dorias who stepped forward to claim what they had come for. [color=940099]"And you too, cousin?"[/color] the other prince choked. Dorias spat down beside the one who had slain six of his men, then wrenched the King's Law from Y'Qar's weakened grasp. [color=940099]"No! No...!"[/color] the prince tried to yell, but his lungs lacked the strength and his words devolved into coughs of blood.

Dragging Heru to his feet, with one hand Dorias carried his prince and in the other he held the King's Law. Without a moment of further hesitation, they all fled back to the lands from which they had come.

As in for Y'Qar, from the moment that he fell all chaos was unleashed. The djinn bound to him and his disciples alike panicked and flocked to him, trying to save his life. It was many days before his peoples' bandages and the healing waters of the local djinn saw him to a full recovery, but in that time he had little to do but brood. And brood he did: how he [i]hated[/i] Heru and ruminated over every memory, swearing that he would have vengeance for each and every one of the countless slights (be they real or imagined!) inflicted by his brother's hand. And there would be vengeance against Dorias, too! 

Y'Qar had been prepared for Heru, had known what to expect from his brother. But Dorias, his younger cousin, had never shown him anything but warmth. For what reason had his cousin betrayed him? It mattered not, in the end; they were all nought but dust now. He was alone, or soon enough would be, for all of his kindred died in his heart that day.

[hr]

They ran all the way back to the desert, fearing vengeance at the hands of Y'Qar's followers or the djinn that he commanded. But no such retribution ever came; Zephyrion's protective hand was over them. That was how they knew that they had been right.

Still, with every fleet footstep an increasingly exhausted Heru dreaded his arrival back in Vetros. They would expect a triumphant parade of some sort, no doubt. But this had barely been a victory; he had lost his brother. Or perhaps Y'Qar that he knew had died long ago. Either way, he prayed that there would be no parade, that he would be able to return quietly and mourn with his father in peace.

But unfortunately, his prayer was answered. As they neared Vetros, there were embers and smoke upon the wind that boded horribly; for though the desert was called the Firewind, its burning winds were always pure and never tainted by any smell like smoke.

He feared for the worst; perhaps in the mere weeks that they had been gone, a great host of Horse People had amassed in the steppes and stormed through the hinterlands to sack Vetros. But what terrible times were these? Never had the heretic Rukbans been so bold before!

It turned out that that there was something worse than the worst. There were no Rukbans to be seen in the streets or around the city; only screaming and fleeing Vetruvians, some of whom were aflame. Ashes choked the Mahd river, for the shipyard was burning with a particularly intense fury as the epicenter of the sky's fiery wrath. In the center of the city the Great Temple that was also the Royal Palace had caught aflame.

They were under attack from some unseen assailants in the sky, great gleaming winged figures that called down the fury of the sun. At first Heru was overcome by despair, thinking that this was the scourge of god, that perhaps Y'Qar had been right and this was a punishment sent by the Master himself. But then a strange thought entered his mind: none of the holy texts were djinn of that sort mentioned. These were demons, the vile spawn of Y'Vahn or some other monstrosity. The King's Law would punish them!

Heru was called a prince but in heart was only a man, a simple warrior. In truth, he had never been been possessed of any particular affinity for theology despite the attempts of his father and many priests; he could not remember all the stories of arcane history and the names of all the thousands of spiryts and various lesser gods, and his prayers were rarely answered, and even more rarely in the way that he had hoped them to be. So he knew not how to wield the King's Law, nor fully understood just what power he wielded against his enemies now. But he hurled all of it at them all the same.

He lifted the scepter and commanded the desert sands to strike down the unholy invaders.

[center][img]https://img00.deviantart.net/1475/i/2013/050/1/5/samum_on_dune_by_chyhy-d5vhj51.jpg[/img]
[i]The sands answered, and in the distance there was suddenly a sandstorm so mighty that it blocked the sun. It approached the city.[/i][/center]

When the Realta witnessed divine retribution approaching with the speed of the wind, they turned their backs to it and began to flee the other way, towards the poisoned Mahd. Heru called upon the power of the djinn to smite the fleeing demons before they could escape justice.

He had expected a great djinni lord and his army to come forth as a righteous gale. But instead, over the horizon there loomed a grand palace of white built atop a field of clouds. The Master himself had come!

From the top of the Celestial Citadel there was a great storm the size of a village, with two crackling eyes of lightning. Heru beheld that sight, even from miles away, and finally understood what Primus had felt when he faced the Master. The Master himself raised a great hand and hurled a javelin of lightning. It raced from the horizon, covering miles in an instant even as it coiled and forked, and struck one of the Realta square in the chest. The raw power shattered the demon and sent its molten pieces raining down.

And then the Master hurled another lightning bolt. And another. And even as he raised his hands to smite those that dared assault his chosen people, the djinn flew through the air. They were legion. The Realta stood no chance against so many djinni lords, and in the heavens above there was a glorious massacre. Heru looked up and witnessed an entire patch of the sky tremble and oscillate as if it were a desert mirage, and then his eyes discerned the sound of a thousand thunderous booms. It was the great djinni lord of thunder, Mamoor!

He watched as Mamoor raced across the sky, his mere touch blasting apart the demons disintegrating their pieces into sand. By the time that the sandstorm neared the city, the Realta were all but destroyed; the sands engulfed the last few stragglers, and then the storm settled and died before so much as touching the city itself. With his people, who still streamed out of the burning city, Heru fell to the ground and wept.

The stormlords above wept too, once the short-lived battle was over, and their rain extinguished the flames and washed away the ash. The Celestial Citadel was born away upon the wind, off to deal with some sort of crystalline menace according to the diviners and priests.

Heru and the Vetruvians were left with their ruined city. When they found Akthanos' body, they wept once again. But then they crowned Heru as the new Priest-King, and under his rule they rebuilt. With time, their pride and their resolve came back as well.

[hider=Brotherly Love]
Recap since this plotline is picking up from posts that were literally about a year ago:

[center]Characters & the King's Law[/center]

The King's Law is a sacred staff that is the symbol of the Vetruvian Priest-King's power. It's a 10MP artifact created by Zephyrion that ranks up there as one of the most powerful on Galbar. It is a conscious object and refuses to be touched by one without the blood of the prophet Primus, grants its wielder the ability to summon and communicate with even the most powerful of djinn, and holds great power over the very Firewind Desert and Mahd River.

Akthanos is the current Priest-King of Vetros. His elder son Heru is general and heir, but his younger one Y'Qar is in self-imposed exile because he hated primogeniture and always being second to his brother. Y'Qar notably became the first and most powerful human shaman, having been taught the art by Vizier Ventus himself. He found some happiness and purpose in teaching shamanism to others, although most of his original friends ended up leaving his following after he taught them and he's still somewhat bitter about that. But he has a new crowd that he hangs with now, composed mostly out of loyal disciples rather than "friends".

[hr]

[center]Plot Recap[/center]

Shortly before the Realta attack on Vetros, Akthanos went to speak to Yara. While he was in her temple, he fell down because he's literally like 100 years old. He was hurt and blacked out, but not before willing the King's Law to leave and go to "his son" lest it fall into Yara's hands. The scepter transforms into a bird and flies away, apparently to Y'Qar instead of Heru as Akthanos had intended. Yara isn't an evil witch like Akthanos suspected so she heals him; nonetheless, when Akthanos realizes the King's Law is missing, he freaks out and sends Heru to go find it.

Heru goes north in search of Y'Qar. Y'Qar has established himself in the hilly, uncharted wilderness just south of the Venomweald. Out there he has a temple/school complex built by some loyal disciples that decided to follow him as a prophet after seeing him perform acts of shamanistic magic.

[hr]

[center]Summary of this post[/center]

Begins with Heru and his guys having a rough time on their journey. There is a vague reference to Aihtiraq having appeared to Heru, telling him where he'd find Y'Qar and then saying a bunch of other nonsense before departing.

But anyways, the local djinn are opposing Heru and Co. at Y'Qar's behest. They're hiking through a wilderness where the streams themselves refuse to let their waters be drank and the wind is never at their backs.

But Heru is stubborn as hell and leads his men to Y'Qar's temple. Y'Qar chooses to come out and face his brother rather than just send out a bunch of disciples or angry elementals.

Heru asks for the King's Law and Y'Qar says no. After all, it just randomly flew all the way to HIM, so surely it chose HIM. He was always more deserving than his older brother anyways.

Heru is really pissed because clearly Y'Qar is a practitioner of black magic, a blasphemer, and now a lying thief that would leave all of Vetros at risk.

Fighting words go down, they both disown one another, and violence breaks out.

At first it's one on one, but when things go badly for Heru several of his men try to intervene. Y'Qar barely even knows how to wield the King's Law, but still uses it to effortlessly conjure spikes of stone to erupt from the ground and brutally impale those who stepped forward.

Y'Qar is shown to have already become quite a dangerous adversary in his own right, although he's still using restraint against his brother. Heru isn't.

Y'Qar ends up pretty easily defeating Heru because even his shamanistic magic is more potent than a scimitar. The stubborn prince Heru can't see how outmatched he is and refuses to surrender. The thought of killing him starts to actually cross Y'Qar's mind, but in that moment of distraction he's taken by surprise. Dorias, one of the men with Heru, throws a knife and it buries itself into Y'Qar. He falls to the ground seemingly mortally wounded because he doesn't do anything to resist when Dorias snatches up the King's Law (he can touch it, as Heru's cousin and therefore one of the royal bloodline) and passes it to Heru. Heru and Co. book it out of there while Y'Qar's disciples drag him away and tend to him and his djinni minions panic.

Y'Qar curses his kin and swears to one day have his vengeance.

By the time Heru has hurried back to Vetros, the Mahd is choking with ash and the Realta are razing everything. The shipyard and docks are burning with particular intensity, presumably because the Realta sensed Heartworm's involvement there in influencing Vetruvian shipbuilders.

Heru invokes the power of the King's Law to summon a gigantic sandstorm to knock down the Realta. Then he summons a horde of djinn. The Celestial Citadel itself appears over Vetros, and the Zephyrean Skywatch and Vizier Ventus (who gets mistaken for Zephyrion himself) fend off the Realta and then go to deal with the local outbreaks of Acayla crystal.

Akthanos had fallen, because without the King's Law he was just an old man helpless to do anything against the attackers. Heru is therefore crowned Priest-King pretty quickly. He spends the next years using his power to help rebuild the city and strengthen his people's resolve.[/hider]