by W. C. Jasper
As soon as they reached the beasts, the wolves came to a slow halt and Prince Jared and Thaymas dismounted. As soon as they got down, two huge lions tackled Prince Jared from above, bringing him to the ground. One was 7 feet 3 inches tall, and the other 7 feet 4 inches tall. They now licked him aggressively as the Prince giggled and caressed their manes violently. It was like the reunion of old friends who hadn’t had the opportunity to meet for a while. Thaymas was still stunned at the majesty of these glorious creatures, while a whole pride of more lions and lionesses poured in and joined in the joyful reunion. Thaymas thought to himself that his life would be an endless series of surprises and astonishments as they never seemed to stop since his first day at the Royal Palace. Knowing that these lions were friends of Prince Jared did not eliminate the fear and awe that their very presence instilled in Thaymas’ heart. He was also particularly stunned because when he had first seen the wolves, he had thought that never in his life would he see any creature as majestic; but he was now being proven wrong once again.
Once the reunion with the Prince was over, the lions and the wolves greeted each other in a less eccentric fashion. The pride consisted of ten lions and seven lionesses all ranging from 6 feet 5 inches tall to 7 feet 5 inches. Prince Jared was now kissing the forehead of the lion that was 7 feet 4 inches tall and hugging it tightly as Thaymas was trying to take in as much information as he could. Prince Jared yelled out, “Thaymas! Come on over! Meet my companion lion, Reagan. He, too, is my spirit-mate.”
Reagan was almost a replica of Prince Jared. His very sight commanded respect and declared his royalty, yet immense playfulness could be seen in his demeanour. His playful and child-like personality was well-contrasted by his fearsome bright golden eyes with single thin white rings in his black pupils. Thaymas came over and bowed as Reagan bowed in reciprocation and Prince Jared laughed.
A sudden sound of a disturbance in the water from their north startled Thaymas. He turned back and drew his broadsword out at once. Prince Jared laughed out loud in amusement and spoke as the other lion that had tackled Prince Jared continued to rub his forehead against him, “Thaymas, it is incredible how talented, yet unpolished you are, and quite frankly how silly you can be at times. Put away your sword.” Thaymas noticed the most magnificent male human form rising out of a nearby lake. Thaymas noticed that all the things he had heard about the King’s physique did not do the least amount of justice to it. He was sculpted to perfection. Each muscle was designed for absolute efficiency and a perfect balance of strength and agility. The shape of his figure and every muscle group were ideally proportionate like a paragon of the human body hand-crafted by the very person who created human beings. He could only surmise that this was a demigod standing in front of him.
As the clear, ice-cold water trickled from his majestic body; Thaymas noticed that as much of it trickled down, also rose up in steam from his incredibly hot flesh as he walked out of the lake. Thaymas was hypnotised by the physique of the King when he suddenly realised that it was impossible for any human to have entered that lake and survived its murderous cold. And yet, the King seemed to be walking as if he were only finishing a daily workout. King Jeraash pushed his beautiful mane back with hands in a very dignified style, and stepped out of the lake and spoke, “And that one there, babying my brother, is my companion, Rorin. He is also the king of the pride. He might be marginally shorter than Reagan, but I assure you, he is stronger.”
“And yet, whenever they spar,” added Prince Jared with an amusing and singing tone, “it is always Reagan that wins.”
King Jeraash chuckled, “He lets him win out of pity. The same way I let you win, Brother.”
Prince Jared made a silly face conveying he believed that was nonsense.
Rorin was almost 7 feet 4 inches tall with the most glorious mane and white eyes like virgin stars with extremely thin dual red rings in the black pupils. As the king of the pride, he was the most grounded and most stern of all the lions. But somehow, his ferociousness seemed second to Raegan and Boqor. Yet, his sovereignty was absolute, and his authority and rule over the pride was unquestioned. Every member of the pride obeyed every command and desire of his without the need for explicit orders. Every little gesture of his eyes and signalling of his neck, paws, and tail were proactively noticed with zeal and his will was immediately fulfilled.
The King continued, “I heard your wolf companion has already chosen you. Congratulations, Thaymas.” Thaymas was still hypnotised by the King’s perfect form and overwhelming aura, which was far more intense now than what it was at the palace. Thaymas snapped himself back and replied in a respectful tone, “Thank you, My King”. Prince Jared smiled with restraint as King Jeraash spoke with a relaxed and casual voice, “Thaymas, my lad, your king is ordering you to say, ‘Thank you, Aani’.” Every bone in Thaymas’ body tensed up as he blurted out with a comical voice, “Thank you… Aani!” Prince Jared and King Jeraash burst into a guffaw as the King proceeded to put on his clothes and spoke, “Well, my lions cannot stand the cold the way the wolves can, I should get going.”
Prince Jared spoke, “Actually, Brother, I think you should train with Thaymas today. Do you have the time?”
King Jeraash inspected Thaymas and answered, “Of course! For our beloved cousin, always.”
Prince Jared: “Do remember that his physical strength is pretty much non-existent and his muscle conditioning is disgraceful. He has wasted away the gift of the blood of the House of Rash-Yaph.”
Without any change in his tone, King Jeraash asked in a relaxed voice with only a light hint of solemnness, “Do we have any word on Chiati?”
Prince Jared replied with a grim expression, “Not yet, Brother. May I please set out on search? Or at least send out a search party?”
King Jeraash answered with a face that concealed immense sorrow with great difficulty, “No.”
As Prince Jared proceeded to remove his clothes in order to train, Thaymas was once again reminded that as majestic as the King was, Prince Jared was pretty much an equal to him. Prince Jared’s physique screamed of his royalty and his predestination to be a warrior. Even though he had spent a lot of time around the Prince now, as he now warmed himself up for training; at this moment, the Prince’s aura suddenly came down on him like a giant hill being dropped on his shoulders whose weight gradually became heavier and heavier. He was now reminded that it is only natural that the brother of a god would naturally be a god too. It was as if a warrior spirit was fatefully born into a Royal Family with some purpose that could only be interpreted by some high priest. Thaymas noticed that his deltoids were exceptionally magnificent, and his calves too were particularly splendid. His thighs were remarkably large, majestic, and powerful. While King Jeraash’s physique was perfectly proportionate in every sense, Prince Jared had a chest that was slightly bigger than the perfect proportion, and his waist too was a little narrower. His funnel-shaped body with his particularly small waist and widening chest & wings projected the frame of a divine warrior. Thaymas would have continued to stare at the Prince for much longer if the King hadn’t signalled to him to get into the lake.
Thaymas cried out in panic, “I would die, My Ki… Aani! I realise that you survived it, but there is no chance that I would be able to withstand it!”
“Hmmmm….” said the King, “I can see why Jared had a hard time restraining his uppercut.” Thaymas wondered how the King could have known that because there was certainly no visible bruise on his face now as the King continued, “Truth be told, I am just now realising that you do not have enough fat on your body for this today, anyway. In any case, remove your clothes and follow me, and if you say anything about dying of the cold,” he continued in his typical inexpressive tone, “I will make you wish you were dead.”
Thaymas removed his clothes at once and followed the King as he started looking for something. All three of them stood in their undergarments in the fatal cold now. The King and Prince always trained in their undergarme
nts regardless of the environment, surrounding, cold, and heat. Soon enough, the King found a huge rock weighing about 600 kgs, and lifting it with little difficulty he placed it in front of Thaymas as it made a strong sound, crashing into the snow. Thaymas stood stunned. Quickly recomposing himself, he said with a shaken voice, “I don’t understand what I am expected to do here, My Ki…” shaking his head, he finished, “Aani.” King Jeraash replied, “I expect you to lift this rock and throw it a distance of at least ten feet three times before we can leave this place,” and then proceeded to tell his lions to wait outside the snowy region.
Prince Jared was now sparring with the wolves. Paakun and three other wolves were attacking Prince Jared with miraculous speed as Prince Jared used only one hand to spar against them. He used his legs only to move around and relied entirely on his hands for the sparring. Thaymas was even more marvelled at Prince Jared’s speed because not only was he doing all this against the wolves who were moving at speeds which Thaymas was able to perceive only because of his visual prowess, but he was doing this in the cold which slows down everything. And this was no ordinary cold, it was a cold that would prove fatal to most humans.
King Jeraash spoke, “You will have many more opportunities to admire your master’s greatness. As for now, you need to remember that there isn’t too much time before the cold breaks you down completely. Before you begin, I will give you a quick reminder and refresher. The Rash-Yaph blood in your arteries is far more potent and powerful than you imagine. Because of the Rash-Yaph blood in your arteries, you could survive in that fatally cold lake. Because of that same blood, do you possess the potency to lift this rock. But the problem is, that you never trained harder than the rest. Your mind never considered the possibility, and your weak, cowardly, unimaginative soul never tried to push your limits! In fact, you never even discovered your limits, much less push them. You were always content and satisfied. And as penance for those sins, today, you will work so hard that you will vomit blood, you will want to give up, and you WILL give up! And you will also, ACCOMPLISH! THIS! TASK!” Thaymas could now see that the King and Prince had even more in common than he had realised.
Thaymas understood that the King expected him to accomplish this task on his own. So, he came up with a plan right away. He decided that he will start with relatively smaller rocks and progress gradually. He first picked up a rock weighing around 230 kgs and managed to throw it across a distance of seven feet. King Jeraash continued to play with the wolves and then sat down and relaxed with them as Thaymas struggled each and every second for the next two hours in the harsh and debilitating snow. Thaymas had finally managed to lift a rock weighing around 415 kgs when he started coughing up blood. King Jeraash yelled out to Prince Jared, and when he arrived, sent him away on an errand with Jiraai; and then dispatched another wolf on a different errand.
Thaymas was now resting on account of the blood he had coughed up. King Jeraash walked over to him slowly and gently lifted his chin. A punishing slap bid welcome to Thaymas’ cheek with a small movement of the King’s hand. The minimal effort slap from the King sent Thaymas to the ground and buried his face in the snow like a shovel being driven into the snow. King Jeraash proceeded to pick him up unhurriedly and spoke with anger that his voice unwittingly betrayed, “Your land is under the threat of attack. Your father, your mother, and everyone you love is in danger.” His voice grew angrier now as he continued, “You have disgraced the blood of the House of Rash-Yaph for over a decade now and now that you have a chance to do justice to the gift you were born into, you are going to slow down,” his face showed fury like that of a lion and his voice blew up as he continued, “because you coughed up a little blood?!”
Thaymas had never even discovered his limits before, much less pushed them; and this was the first time he was experiencing any real training. Up until this moment, any and all training he had experienced was not even remotely challenging for someone with his gifts. It all might just as well have been like roughhousing with children. Thaymas was realising the disgracefulness of his ways as he dug deep into himself. He took a strong stance, widened his legs, and screamed at the top of his voice as he summoned strength that his body had hidden away somewhere deep within only for emergencies. King Jeraash went back to the wolves and continued to watch him train patiently. After about one more hour, Thaymas had finally lifted the rock weighing 600 kgs and had successfully thrown it a distance of 11 feet. And as he looked at the rock land in the snow, he fainted and fell down before he could even realise what was happening.
About ten minutes ago, Prince Jared had returned with some cooked wild boar meat and some special herbs. The other wolf that the King had sent away on an errand had fetched some supplies from King Jeraash’s lions that were waiting outside the snowy region. These supplies were for tents. The extremely thick leather that formed the walls, also covered the ground below. The leather was such that once the tent was completely closed, the inside was actually warm even without having a fire going.
Prince Jared force-fed the herbs to Thaymas and let him sleep for a few minutes before he woke him up. Prince Jared spoke as he woke up, “I have given you a special concoction with the zesun herb which has miraculous recuperation and rejuvenation and another concoction with the tamsin herb for its unmatched healing properties.”
The herbs of those days had miraculous powers compared to what our Earth has to offer today, and Jerudia focused greatly on advancements in medical science. Thaymas felt energy return to his body within a matter of 40 seconds. Thaymas noticed that they were inside a completely enveloped tent and decided to tap the ground he was sitting on. As soon as his fingers met the leather and it pushed back the snow beneath, he realised that they were still in the snowy region. He also noticed that he had lost a tremendous amount of body fat which was quite something considering that he was incredibly lean already. King Jeraash ordered with a stern voice, “Eat up. And eat quickly.” Thaymas noticed that King Jeraash himself was eating something. Prince Jared had caught an average-sized wild boar which was 4 feet tall. Prince Jared had already roasted it before bringing it back into the snowy region. And while the meat was not very enjoyable, it was still rewarding to the flesh.
Thaymas had finished eating and washed his hands in the lake when King Jeraash ordered, “Back to work. Your task is not yet complete.” Thaymas stood stunned as he realised that the King still expected him to continue. King Jeraash continued, “I do not like repeating my orders, my lad. I’ve already told you that I expect you to accomplish this task. My words do not return to me void. It is simply not the way things are.”
Thaymas decided to obey his orders at once. But with all the wear and tear his muscles and his entire body had experienced, he found it even more difficult than before. And to add to his troubles, the snow had grown harsher now. Every breath was now possible for him only with great tension in his jaws and tremendous strain in his chest. As he took a knee, breathing with great difficulty, Thaymas wondered to himself if the snow had somehow developed consciousness and was intentionally punishing him for his sins of disgracing his gifts.
After one more hour of toiling in the punishing snow, toiling to make every single breath reach his lungs; Thaymas somehow finally managed to lift the rock weighing 600 kgs and throw it across ten feet one more time. And right after he did it, he took a knee yet again and resolved himself to do it once again as the snow now dug into his skin with piercing pain all over his body.
As he lifted it up once again, his legs gave way and the rock came down on him as if an entire hill was falling upon him. As the rock was about to crush him, King Jeraash jumped towards it with his right leg bent in and when he was inches away from the rock, let out a powerful scream as he kicked it away. The rock was sent flying about 14 feet away now.
King Jeraash picked up Thaymas clean off the ground by his neck, “I am going to give you 30 more minutes to make this happen. If you do not, you will not like what follows,” and put him down.
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Thaymas dropped to his knees and let out a violent scream of misery, as his face looked towards the sky and his hands stretched out at his sides with bent elbows in anguish. His eyes brimmed with the helplessness and the agitation of the realisation of his inadequacy. After a long scream that confessed his defeat, he put his head down in failure. To any bird flying high in the sky, he would have looked like a black ant in this sea of pure white snow.
He punched the ground three times with three loud bursts of screams of despair. As his fists landed on the snowy ground, he felt a cleansing in his body as if his irresoluteness and all the negativity built up in his body from his recent failures were released out of the pores in his skin and sunk into the snow below.
His eyes had now changed. He got up swiftly and stood on his feet. Thaymas Riasmas, Son of the Dragon of Jerudia, now marched towards the rock with the most focused and resolute walk he had ever walked in his life. His shoulders felt real strength for the first time as he flexed them. As he put his hands on the rock this time, there was absolute conviction in every nerve in his body.