F

"Fight?  With what?   Do you want me to go out there and punch him in the face?"
The invaders march on ever closer to Kaph's last defense.  His men are screaming reports of his guards falling left and right.  The undefeated general with the might of the imperial fist, seventy thousand strong, smashes through the barricades one after another.  Every inch the siege line creeps closer the fortress shakes with fear striking to its foundation.  The once pristine marble walls are now charred by the blue flames of the devil.  The orange morning sky is completely eclipsed by the flickering smoke.  None of Kaph's surrender signals have been honored.  The king's message is clear to him.  His Majesty demands submission.
"Go out, tell him I surrender.  Elektor, I have treated you well here.  I have provided you with safety from the throne's prosecution.  Now, save what remains of my men.  Joan, announce the retreat signals, he will not spare anyone who stays."
"Yes, milord."
It is too late.  The moment Joan opens the door she is incinerated.  White flames, an unearthly color for fire, sears her body from the inside.  Her body falls backwards, her mouth wide open.  They could hear her screams of pain in their heads but her vocal cord has been burned to nothing.  The fighting outside ceased, the earth shakes no more.  Kaph unsheathes his sword, ready to defend his life.  But it is no use.  Within seconds, Kaph meets the same demise as Joan.  Before Joan's body hit the ground, they were both no more.
"Am I to die here as well?"
A bearded young man, clothed in filthy brown rags, drags himself into the chamber.  He appears like a common beggar, his teeth yellow, his hair untrimmed, his nails black, his eyes dull, his back hunched. But one aspect sets him apart from a common beggar.  His every step leaves behind a patch of white flame.  White flares accompany his every breath.
"Never would I raise my flames or anyone raise their arms against you in my presence."
His coarse voice echos through the chamber.  Every word brightens the white flares around his face making his features more pronounced.  Deep wrinkles run his forehead.  His cheeks has no shine, no youth in them.
"Had those old dogs die a day sooner I would have rushed my men to your side and occupied the Castle to save you from this disgrace you had to endure for four years."
"So you are still on my side."
"I need allies, Elektor."
"He told me the military was on his side."
"On his side?  That man is cunning.  Ever since the riots four years ago, he instigated division among the upper echelon and reignited old feuds to incite the country into war.  He forced the military so thin it was impossible for us to handle any matters outside of managing our meager resources.  He broke up the entire government so he could dominate it and engulf it piece by piece.  He invited the foreigners to invade our country just to weaken our hold further."
"Then you were fighting Sessind because.."
"YES!  I had to fight the Sessinds alone because there was no one else capable.  For two years, I stood in his trap, fighting alone with no reinforcements.  If I fell to the Sessinds then the military would be easily overrun by his schemes and spies.  If I defeated the Sessinds, then a great threat to his power and this weaken country would be no more.  I attacked Kaph because I needed supplies.  He rather watch my men starve than help me."
"So what do you plan to do now?"
"Now I must go to Fonam and aid them against the savages."
"From desert to marshlands."
"I do what I must, Elektor.  I do what I must."
His coarse voice softened.  Though he emerges victorious, his voice lingers with sorrow and despair.  He speaks not like a triumphant general, but a defeated man.  He knows, it is only a matter of time before he is picked apart by the king.

E

"Here's what you requested."
Joan set down a bowl of noodles and a copy of today's newspaper on the table by Elektor's bedside.  Elektor hasn't read anything since he arrived to Kaph.  But reading is not one of those skills that fade away so easily.  He instinctively looks at the top right corner of the front page.
"So, it's been almost four years now.  Who would've thought I would make it this far."  Elektor laughs, a fake laugh, a very sarcastic laugh. 
"Yes, four years."
Elektor puts down his fork and picks up the paper.  In the center of the front page in big bold font, "THE SESSIND'S FRONT CRUMBLES: IKRA THE UNDEFEATED MARCHES ON."
"How pathetic.  I warned those idiots and they still didn't listen."  Elektor lets out a long sigh and puts down the paper to finish his meal.
"I am going to bed early tonight so don't bring me dinner."
"Understood."
The previous embarrassment has long passed Joan's thoughts.

In the dead of the night, a great explosion wakes Elektor.
"What the hell.  Joan, what's going on?!"
But Joan is not there.  The central alarm starts ringing and several more explosions fire off, each getting closer to the compound.  Each explosion sends a wave of blue and green light into Elektor's room through those prison windows.  If Elektor didn't realize what happened after the first explosion, he certainly knows now.  Kaph is under attack.
"Damn this shit."
Elektor tries to flee his room but it is locked from the outside.
"Of all times, are you serious?"
Elektor hears panic and footsteps in the hallways.  He bangs on the door with his fists, screaming and yelling for someone to open the door.  The central alarm begins to ring in a different pattern.  Elektor recognizes the code, after all he devised it for the kingdom back in the day.  At last, his door slides open.  It's Joan.
"Quickly, follow me."  Joan commands Elektor.  She grabs his hand and runs to the opposite direction as the fleeing prisoners and caretakers. 
"Where are we going?"
"I am not a spy.  Not for the king anyways.  This corridor is directly under the control of Lord Kaph.  We brought you here because the king began to make his move."
"The king is attacking this place?  He has to be out of his mind."
"A lot of politics has been going on in the time you spent idling around in here.  Lord Kaph respected your wishes and left you alone for as long as he could but I couldn't stand by seeing him agonize as he watched his position get worse and worse by the day."
Politics.  A deadly arena.  Years ago Elektor played this game as the king's advisory reform committee that eventually became the king's right arm, the king's council.  This was five kings ago.  Four years, five kings.  The most turbulent era in the kingdom's recent history.  The political stage has been so toxic it was akin of criminal organizations.  Once you get in, you never get out.  That's why reform was needed and that's why reform was enacted.  Under the committee, the nobility's powers were curbed, the financial district was effectively destroyed, and the military was tamed.  But when the king died without an heir, the tension ruptured.  When the council's demise was imminent, Elektor knew the only way to survive was to leave this hellhole.  He seek refuge and found haven in Kaph's prison.  At the height of the council's power, Kaph was one of two only men in the kingdom that the council could never touch.  Kaph and his prison has always been a thorn by Elektor's side.  Within Kaph's domain, the only royal presence is a meager intelligence unit stationed on the ground floor of his prison establishment.  In here, Kaph housed many political enemies and prisoners.  The intelligence unit's primary goal is to relay any suspicious activities of the prisoners back to the king but more importantly, to monitor Kaph's actions.  This was a tough move that Elektor helped initiate but ultimately the unit was handled by the military.  Elektor came to Kaph with the help of several military strongmen that sympathized with Elektor.  These strongmen are all dead, save Ikra, a man that Elektor implanted in the military as his handle on them.
"The monster you have created is besieging your fortress, Lord Elektor.  There is no escape.  Fate dictated you save the throne from the evils within.  Now fate dictates you save the people from the evils on top."      
"Lord Kaph, blunt as ever."
Joan opens her mouth.  "Fight the war on our side, milord."  This was the first time she spoke in Kaph's presence without asking for permission.  Yet another explosion.  Boom.

D

"Don't you find it uncomfortable living alone in the same room as a man twenty years older than you?"
"Not really, it's not like you are ever going to do anything to me."
It was easy for Elektor to get used to living with Joan; painfully easy.  Joan remains Elektor of his wife.  When Joan was merely a girl who cleaned his room twice a week, he did not pay much attention to her physical attributes.  He inquired about her daily life and thoughts so as to get to know her.  But now that they are in the same room together all the time, Elektor began to notice Joan in a different light.  The color of her eyes, the complexity of her skin, the way she speaks, even minute mannerisms and habits such as playing with her hair with one finger while she was reading are exactly the same as his wife.
"Why didn't you take the king's offer?  You could have everything back."
"Take his offer and leave?  Why would I want that?  In here, if I don't need to worry about earning for food or a roof over my head.  I could have any book I desire, any food I desire.  The only restraint I have is that I can't leave the perimeters of this compound.  Although I don't know how true that is now that you guys moved me here."
"You can still do all that, it's just that now I am living with you, that's all.  But if you had taken his offer you could've left and you wouldn't be spied on anymore."
"Hah, I doubt that.  That man does not trust me and neither would anyone that sits on that throne.  I'd rather know who is keeping tabs on me.  Besides, it's not a bad deal now I get to wake up to a pretty girl serving me breakfast.  Better than paying for a maid."
The girl got used to his flattering.  At first she blushed at Elektor's crude comments but now that they have been together for a month, these comments no longer phased her.
"So what else do your superiors want to know?"
"What do you mean?"
"Unless you were eavesdropping on your king's conversation, you wouldn't have known about his offer.  Just ask the questions they want to know, no need to be subtle."
The girl is taken aback.  This is her first real surveillance assignment and she slipped up. 
"T-that's all they want to know."  Joan stutters, another amateur mistake.
"They really should have trained you better.  Or maybe I wasn't important enough and that they are just using me as your training tool huh.  Fine, you can ask me whenever you regain your confidence.   Don't be shy, I will answer your questions."
The girl does not know what to do.  Her flustered face is apparent to Elektor.  Not only did she fail her interrogation, the person she is interrogating pointed out her mistake in her interrogation!  Joan realizes she cannot allow Elektor to dictate the flow of this conversation.  She has to say something.  Anything.
"...Do you want anything in particular for lunch?"
Another blunder!  Ever since Elektor arrived at Kaph, he has never made a request for anything.  He has always eaten whatever the caretakers brought to him.  She should have known this.  She does know this.  Her face flusters even more.  Her eyes dart left to right while she fumbles around the pages of her book upside down.  Elektor finds teasing Joan humorous.  He wants to continue but enough is enough.  In the past ten minutes, Elektor has learned more about Joan than he had in the month since they started living together.  Perhaps all of this is just an act, an act to lower Elektor's guard.  If this is the case, then she is a great actor and a great spy.  However, Elektor does not care, he has nothing more to lose.  To him, Joan's reactions are genuine.
"Eggs.  And noodles.  Ummmm In beef broth.  And bring me today's newspaper."
And with his words, Joan speeds out the room.     

C

The door slams open awakening the man form his slumber.  A platoon of guards swarm inside the room.  Their leader, a decorated war veteran with scars that only tell a fraction of the horrors this man has went through, stands at the edge of the bed.  He glares down onto the half-awaken man with a demeanor that seems as though he is about to kill the man.
"You are coming with me."
The man clicks his tongue and mutters to himself, "choice my ass."
The man gets on his feet and the guards escort him to his new home.
"So where are we going?"
The guards remain silent.  It seems they are merely bringing the man to another room in the building.  But a transfer in this special prison is no trivial matter.  The man's new room is on the fourth floor on the north wing, the opposite side of the complex.
"You will be staying here from now on." 
The guards leads him inside and leave.
At first glance the room looks no different.  The furniture placement is the same, the bathroom placement is the same, they even hung the same exact picture next to the bathroom door.  The first difference he notices is that the windows in this room do not cover the entire wall but instead they are two meters above ground with bars.  There's a ladder next to the bed that lets the man climb up to the windows.
"At least they are letting me open the window and not suffocate in stale air."
When the man gets close enough to his bed, he seems that across from his bed where there used to be a couch in his old room, there's another empty bed.  The man pays little attention to it.  A roommate he thinks, that's going to be new.  There is little to get accustomed to.  There is no use in worrying what treatment awaits him in this new room.  After all, he can do nothing even if they stuffed him inside an iron maiden right now he could not resist.  So the man goes to his new bed and falls asleep.
It is Monday morning.  Generally the man does not wake up until the caretakers come clean the room and serve him lunch.  But in this new room he does not know what to expect so the man wakes up earlier than usual.  After three hours or so, when he usually wakes up, his door opens.
"I thought you had school during the week."
"School's over."
"So everything up until now has been a lie?"
"You don't sound too shocked about that."
"Of course not, it was too good to be true."
"I will be staying with you from now on."
The girl puts a suitcase under the other bed.  She then begins to clean this new room for the man as she had done so for him in the other room.
"You guys sure spend a lot of effort in killing a guy nowadays."
The man's interest in the girl grows heavily.  Whereas before he only probed and questioned the girl because of her strange motivations, now he is interested in knowing who this girl really is and what her superiors' plans are.
"I wasn't told to kill you.  They just told me to stop going to school and assigned me to this room.  Besides you should know better than anyone, no one gets killed here."
Indeed, the Kaph Palace is a prison made for those who the king deems a threat but due to the status or power of the "offender" the king could not simply kill the person.  Many of these prisoners has been tortured to the point where they are bedridden for the rest of their lives before Kaph was established. 
"So then, my new lovely roommate, I never did get your name."
"Joan."
"Is that a lie too?"
"Does it matter?"
"Well Joan, I am Elektor."
"Oh I know who you are."
The man lets out a chuckle.  "Of course you do."

B

"Hello, good to see you again."
The man smiled at the girl, her face has become a weekly routine for him.  He thinks that it is quite delightful that at the end of each week he gets to be treated with a young girl's face.
"Hello."
The girl quickly begins her cleaning routine.  By now, cleaning this room has become second nature to her.  They exchanged their regular greetings with each other and the man asks some more questions, mostly pertaining to her activities during the week.  He still cannot understand why a student like her would want to spend time at a place like this.  In the middle of their conversation a man in his mid-twenties, clad with silver armor, walks in.  The girl immediately recognizes who he is.  She rushes to collect her cleaning tools, bows to the man, and excuses herself from the room.
"You can stay and keep cleaning, I won't disturb you."
But before the visitor's words reaches her ear, she has already left.
"And why are you here, prince."
The man's sits upright, his posture erect.  His word carries with them a sharpness that matches his displeasure.
"Now, now, friend.  Not prince.  King."
"King?  You must be out of your mind to take that crown."
The king laughs as though he is in the audience of a comedian.
"The military ministers and generals all support me.  My uncle was a fool, he should have stayed in his university.  Regardless, how has this prison been treating you?  My friend."
"Friend?  Sarcastic as always I see.  Don't you have better things to do than to come and mock me, prince."
"Watch your words.  But since it's you, fine, I will forgive you.  I have decided to travel around and visit some of my grandfather's old subjects.  Just to check up on them to see if they are doing anything these days, you know.  Be glad you are the first on my list."
"Oh, I am honored to be the first on your surveillance list.  You have an entire intelligence unit stationed on the first floor of this place.  Why are you really here?"
"Has this place really treated you this bad?  I hear you never do anything but sit on your bed all day."
The king moves closer to the man.  His armor rings with every step.  The sunlight shines directly on his silver plates making them all the more radiant.  The reflecting light shines directly onto the man's face.
"In order for my claim to the crown to fully be legitimate, I need to be crowned by a man who sat on my grandfather's council.  Do this for me and I will free you from here and give you back everything my brother took away from you."
"So if I refuse your offer you are going to kill me?  Not even your brother dared to do that, prince."
"Of course not.  I am not stupid, killing you right now would be a grave mistake.  You are free to refuse.  After all, a ceremony is just a ceremony.  A tool to keep the old ones in line.  Either way I am king.  You can choose to help me or stay here.  Think of it as a gift from an old pal"
"Granting me a choice is a gift all right.  No thanks.  I'd be damned if I crown you king."
"Suit yourself, I will visit you some other time then.  Until then, try not to die."
The king leaves the room and soon after the girl returns and resumes cleaning.  The man's mood has been slaughtered.  His weekly delight brought by the girl's presence has been tarnished with the king's visit. 
"Next time he comes, you can just stay in here."
The girl looks down and shakes her head. 

A

"You must be new around here huh I never saw you before,"
"Yea, I just started interning here today, nice to meet you." 
The caretaker begins to clean the room as though she has done this many times before.
"Intern?  What's the point of interning in a place like this?"
"Well, I guess I am not really interning.  It's more volunteer work."
The caretaker does not pause for a second while responding to the man.  She moves over to the glass panel closest to the door and begins to clean the windows.
"Want something to look good on your resume huh."
The man is interested in this girl.  After all, the only people who ever comes in are the regular employees and so he is excited to talk to a new person.  It feels refreshing.
"Not really, I just want to do something different with my life.  It's nice to have a change of atmosphere once a week." 
At that instant, she realizes she said something she shouldn't have.  She stops her work and faces the man.  She wants to apologize but before she could collect her thoughts and speak the man smiled.
"A change of atmosphere you say."  The man lets out a chuckle. "You should be careful about what you say around here.  I do not mind but some of the other residents here are a bit more sensitive to their.... situation."
The girl's hands are shaking.  Even though the man said he takes no offense it is her first day working here and making a bad impression to anyone is the last thing she wanted to do on her first day.
"I am really sorry."
"Don't worry about it.  Everyone makes mistakes and such, just be careful with your words.  Anyways, what do you do regularly?"
The man continues his inquiries.  He knows the girl is feeling uncomfortable and he does not want to drive away this new person that has entered his life.  After a period of silence, the girl regains her posture and resumes cleaning but her pace has clearly slowed down.
"I am a college student.  I study physics."
The man's voice softens.  The word "physics" stirs mix feelings.  The man once hailed as a genius by his colleagues.  His work continues to spearhead the advancement of science worldwide.  Many groundbreaking discoveries trace their origins to his theories.  But now, ever since he moved into his new home, he distanced himself from the world of physics.
"Why physics?"
"Because I like physics."
The girl finishes cleaning the room and leaves.  Not a single word was exchanged between them.

The girl comes back the next morning to clean the room once again.  It is the policy to clean the interior of the building everyday, after all a clean room is the least they can offer to their residents.  Even though many of the residents are bedridden and so most of the rooms remain more or less the same. However, the man is not bedridden.  His legs work perfectly fine, he can move about as he pleases.  At first, the caretakers urge him to move around and socialize with the other residents.  But the man remains on his bed all day except when he needs to use the bathroom.  While the man does not go outside his room, he converses with anybody that enters his room.  Whenever a caretaker comes in he chases away his thoughts and distracts himself with conversation.