When Daud received Karam’s letter, he read it slowly and carefully. For a brief moment, Daud’s heart softened as he imagined all his brother went through the past months. Surely Karam was not lying to him, surely. His blue eyes clouded over in pain and his ears drooped while he read the letter once more in his teal magic aura.
Into his brief moment of hesitation came another voice:
“Sire, it is clear these are lies,” One of Daud’s advisors insisted, “His advisors must have written this for him, to persuade you to not wage war--do not believe a single word!”
With such poisoned words, Daud’s heart hardened once more.
He glared at the sand near his hooves and used his magic to crumple the letter.
“Send a reply to Karam: We shall have a civil war in these desert sands,” Daud snapped.
The war raged.
Karam and Daud clashed time and time again with their armies.
Although Karam used every opportunity to reach out to his brother, Daud remained stoic and stone-like at every turn.
In the daytime, Karam was brave, and did his best to be a leader, but at night, in his bedroom, he cried and ached deep inside.
First his father was slain, and now when his brother was finally located, Daud only wanted to slay him, not be a family again.
Could the world be any more cruel?
What made his feelings worse was that Karam did not know how to deal with his emotions. Even as a colt, he preferred action and excitement, and never focused on his emotions for too long. At times, Karam wanted to run away, and forget all his duties, but he knew he couldn’t--he had to stay. If he left, what would become of the kingdom? Daud would rule, but in his state would he be a good ruler or would he be cruel?
Hence, the war raged on.
Years turned into decades. A thousand times it looked like Karam would win, and a thousand more it looked like Daud would gain the victory, but the two brothers were evenly matched at every turn. Karam’s sandstorms often broke up Daud’s armies, but Daud’s resilient magic kept his soldiers alive. In Saddle-Arabia, a new generation was being raised in the dire civil war, and it seemed like it would never end.
“My Liege, I hate to say this, but I fear that Daud will win in the end if we do not come up with some powerful weapon to defeat him,” Ghayth sighed at the meeting table. By this time, he was wrinkled all over, but his spirit was still fierce in his old age.
“We have been researching all sorts of magic, but it seems like in the end, we are just not strong enough to beat him away,” Zahir replied to Ghayth. He, too, was quite aged, but still just as intelligent as ever he was.
For a time, Karam ignored what the other advisors added to the conversation as he thought about the sacred relic his father showed him ages ago: the Water Collar.
It could make rivers…
It could boost his power, and nobeast would know it was anything more than a beautiful piece of tack.
Should he use it?...
what choice did he have?
Abruptly he ended the meeting and stormed back to his bedroom--his father’s old room.
He locked the doors and shut all the curtains, and double-checked that nobeast was nearby listening in, and then he opened the passageway.
Soon he was there, standing before the ancient relic, admiring the bright blue, glowing gemstone as it sat in the golden, aged piece of tack.
In the noise of the huge machine, Karam paused.
What was he doing?
Should he really do this?
Use it in battle?
Didn’t his father warn him of the dangers of its power?
Wasn’t that why it was sealed away?
Unfortunately, he did not have time to worry about such things--he needed power, and he needed it now. Carefully, he used his golden aura to pick up the collar, relieving it of its duty in the river generator. As soon as the breast collar of water was out of its socket, the machine quieted down, no longer filled with magic. Of course, it had tapped into a very deep well by this time, and had filled the aquifer, hence Karam did not worry about a drought incoming. In fact, the land could survive a very long time without the gem’s power by now. Ignoring his father’s warnings and his own conscience, Karam put on the collar.
Immediately, he felt a surge of power as his eyes glowed brightly, and the collar adjusted to fit him like a glove. He gasped and felt his heart rate speed up and then slow to normal as he eyed the collar. Karam Grinned widely. He knew he could fight Daud now.
Then, he thought of what his father would say.
Would he be proud?
Ashamed?
Angry?
“...Father, if you’re listening… I’m sorry… but I need to do this. I need to defend our people, and my honor. I can’t let Daud win, I can’t! He’ll tell everyone I was a traitor, and we both know that’s not true! I could be killed for doing nothing wrong!... I’m sorry, Father, but for the sake of honor, and to save as many lives as possible, I MUST defeat him… I must use this,” Karam declared as he stared up at the stone ceiling of the cavern he was currently in.
After a moment of silence, and listening to the rivers flow out from the cavern, Karam steeled himself, and soon returned back to the palace.
Karam surveyed the battlefield silently, his face hidden behind the black kaffiyeh he wore, which matched the black and gold, ornate armor adorning his body. On the other side of the valley, Daud and his army stared back at them. For a moment, Karam took in the landscape quietly: there was a river flowing down from the mountains behind Daud through the valley, filling it with bright green life, and Karam’s ears picked up the sounds of all sorts of birds singing in the distance.
It was a magnificent day… but soon the beauty would be tarnished by bloodshed.
Karam’s soft heart had learned to harden itself at times like this. Though his body had barely aged past a teen, his spirit and mind had quickly aged into that of a stoic general. In another moment, Daud’s army rushed forward. Karam narrowed his blue eyes and raised his wings, and then lifted into the sky over the battlefield.
In a swift motion, he flapped his wings furiously, creating a strong breeze that he enhanced with his golden magic, spiraling it into a tornado, which he then slingshotted towards the enemy. Daud’s army split apart into two formations while Karam’s army charged forward in the wake of the tornado. As the air filled with debris, Karam’s horn glowed brightly, and the tornado filled with his magic, glowing golden as it changed shape, morphing into a sandstorm that seemed to devour Daud’s army as the two platoons split off. With that, Karam swiftly dived into the storm, surrounding his eyes with an aura to keep the dirt out of them.
Beneath his long kaffiyeh laid the Breast Collar of Water. It was time to test it.
Karam spotted a group of horses coughing and straining to see in the sandstorm.
Planting all four hooves on the ground to brace himself as he folded his dun-colored wings against his sides, Karam charged his horn, summoning power from the Water Collar, which glowed even brighter beneath the fabric that hid it.
As he charged his power, Karam felt a rushing sensation surge over him in a wave, and his horn went from glowing with his natural yellow aura to a watery shade of teal. Gritting his teeth firmly, Karam fired the laser, which grew into a wide-spreading wave of power, slamming into the horses and shattering the magical force field that Daud covered over them. Karam gasped with the force, and then looked at the devastation his power caused: there was a shallow trench in the ground, and the horses had been slammed so hard into the earth that their spines shattered, and their necks snapped, killing them instantly.
When he was younger, Karam would have been too shocked to think, but now he grinned.
At last, he would win.
The Breast Collar of Water gave him the power he needed.
With that, Karam tore through hundreds of enemies, leaving trench after trench in his wake while the swirling winds covered him, keeping him hidden. Eventually he located his prime target.
“DAUD! NOW I SHALL HAVE YOU,” Karam shouted as he snapped his wings and hooved the ground like a bull about to charge.
Daud glared back, flaring his wings, which were a gradient from light to dark grey. For a moment, Daud gritted his teeth and studied his enemy. After decades of fighting his brother, he knew what sort of armor to create, and had forged special armor for himself that could withstand all the powers of the wind and sand that blew in his face, which also enhanced his own defensive magic. Anchoring himself to the ground, Daud glared back at Karam from behind his silvery helmet and snorted bitterly.
“WHAT NEW POWER DO YOU HAVE, KARAM? WHAT DID YOU DO?” Daud called back, “I CAN TELL YOU DID SOMETHING!”
“YOU SHALL SEE, TRAITOR,” Karam backfired as he charged his lazer.
Daud laughed, “OH SURE, FIRE AT ME LIKE YOU DID WHEN WE WERE CHILDREN, AS IF THAT WILL HELP YOU NOW, HA!”
In his moment of arrogance, Daud was completely unprepared for the blast that slammed into him, steamrolling him into the ground. Quickly, Karam lassoed the storm he created, whirling it all around him until it had dissipated into nothing. Taking a deep breath, he stared at where Daud was lying on the ground, motionless.
At last… it was over.
Wait… no….
Slowly, painfully, Daud stood up as half of his armor fell off his body. He cracked his neck one way and then the other as he glared at his brother in shock.
“You… you are using it, aren’t you?... H O W D A R E Y O U,” Daud shouted while his soldiers coughed for air nearby.
At that moment, Karam gulped, suddenly realizing what he had done: he had used a sacred relic in battle.
What was he doing?
Did he really want to kill his Big Brother?
...yes, he did.
Daud had severed their brotherhood long ago.
Hardening his face, Karam snorted and flared his wings as he began to charge another beam, but this time Daud was ready and fired back his own beam. The two powerful magics met and surged against each other, but it wasn’t long before Karam’s slammed past Daud’s, hurtling Daud back a hundred yards.
Realizing he was in danger, Daud screamed for his troops to fall back, and Karam sneered at them all as they galloped away. Karam watched as the remaining troops galloped up the hillside, departing swiftly.
Daud’s heart was no longer soft, and neither was Karam’s. In the wake of war came sorrow and pain, and the gentle hearts of the two loving brothers corroded away until they were unrecognizable. In their pride and fierce honor, they forgot they were brothers.
Such is the way of war.