We move to a dark hall, lit only by a single beam of light focused on a massive round table.
Around the table sit ten people, each one representing a great imperial family.
Behind each of them stand one or two attendants, silent like shadows.
One of those seated wears luxurious royal attire, a golden crown resting upon his head. His features suggest a man slightly past forty. He finishes speaking in a firm tone:
"This is the best solution for the Empire, at least to cover part of the growing financial deficit."
Suddenly, a man in his early thirties rises to his feet, his eyes blazing with anger.
It is Alexander Valerion IV, leader of the First Imperial Family, his extravagant clothing screaming wealth.
"Have you lost your mind?!"
"Raising taxes this easily?! I knew you wanted to destroy the imperial family system, but you will not succeed, you failed emperor!"
Before he can continue, an elderly man strikes the table hard with his cane.
It is High Lord Matthius Drowan, head of the Drowan family.
"You're shouting because you're afraid for your own interests!"
"We did not ask you for money. Yes, taxes will rise by forty percent, but there will be conditional exemptions for merchants… and there is only one condition for the common people."
Alexander laughs mockingly and interrupts him:
"Deception! You want to enslave merchants under the name of facilitation! You're pulling their loyalty away from me and stuffing it into the emperor's pocket!"
One of his aides approaches and whispers in his ear:
"Calm down… the Pope is watching you."
Alexander takes a deep breath, then sits down and says:
"I apologize for my outburst… Your Holiness, Pope Elias."
The Pope looks at him calmly—a very old man with a white beard and simple clothes devoid of gold.
"Anger is natural," he says, "but controlling it is a duty."
Suddenly…
There is a knock on the hall's door.
Silence falls.
This door is never knocked on during the annual meeting except in catastrophic situations.
The emperor rises, shouting:
"Who dares interrupt the Supreme Council?! Enter!"
The door opens. The emperor's wife's guard enters—followed by the emperor's wife herself…
carrying a newborn child in her arms.
Shock sweeps through the hall.
Alexander chuckles lightly:
"It seems the Second Emperor cannot control his wife."
"Silence!" the emperor shouts.
Then he looks at his wife:
"What are you doing?!"
She laughs a manic laugh:
"Now… I possess the proof that will destroy you."
She raises the child high.
Sweat pours from the emperor's forehead:
"Impossible… I killed her with my own hands… where did this child come from?!"
The wife walks toward the Pope and places the child in his arms:
"If you want to be sure… do it yourself."
The Pope raises his hand. A green light emerges and he places it upon the child…
The light turns into a pitch-black darkness.
The Pope pulls his hand back in terror, then says in a heavy voice:
"The meeting is over. In five days… a religious trial will be held."
Everyone leaves.
Only these remain:
the Emperor…
his wife…
her guard…
and Zidan, the emperor's right hand.
The emperor's right hand speaks:
"Calm down, Aser. Come with me and avoid speaking to her right now."
He approaches Emperor Aser, but without warning Aser shouts:
"Leave me alone!"
Zidan replies:
"You need to calm down. I won't speak with you now—I'll leave you to rest."
He exits the hall, leaving behind the emperor's wife, her guard, and Emperor Aser.
Suhail, the emperor's wife, says while holding the child:
"You're sweating so much… do you want help? Help him, Thamer."
The guard Thamer sees the emperor sweating, pulls a piece of silk from his armor, and approaches him.
At that moment, Aser grabs Thamer's hand angrily and says:
"Who do you think you are?! This sweat carries the history of your cursed bloodline and ancestors!"
Thamer grows angry and pulls his hand back:
"Neither I nor my ancestors are cursed… we will be executed in a few days, Emperor. You've lost everything."
Aser's anger intensifies. He storms out of the hall toward his private quarters in the palace. As he walks, we see his thoughts burning with rage:
"Twenty-seven years of suffering… ending at the executioner's blade?! No… no!"
In the Emperor's Private Wing
The private wing—composed of several enormous chambers and a garden adorned with the most precious treasures in the world—shows Emperor Aser entering in a furious state. He screams in rage, then hurls the golden crown from his head to the ground, shattering it from the force. He tears apart his gold-embroidered robe, screaming hysterically:
"I am the absolute emperor! Me! How can this happen?!"
He collapses beside the bed, resting his head against it, and begins to drown in his memories…
The Past — 32 Years Ago (Aser, Age 8)
We see Aser crying as he runs into a room where Emperor Hamid I sits on a chair, age clearly etched on his face. He shouts at Aser:
"Why are you crying? Are you an idiot? Men do not cry! Be a man!"
Aser stands before Emperor Hamid, crying:
"Ibrahim hit me… just because I said Suhail was beautiful."
Aser moves toward his father, but Hamid rises and violently pushes him to the ground, shouting:
"Get out! You are a failure of a son! Instead of taking revenge on your brother with your own hands, you come crying to me! You are a useless child!"
Aser cries and runs out of the room, shouting:
"I hate authority… and I hate everything related to it!"
Hamid hears him and thinks to himself:
"A useless child… doing nothing but staring at his cousins' daughters and crying… it's impossible for him to become my successor."
Aser at Age 13
In a massive hall dedicated to celebrations, during the ceremony to select candidates for the imperial succession, two girls from imperial families stand beside each other, talking in the middle of the event.
One says:
"No crown prince has been chosen for forty years… why now? He unified the world under his rule forty years ago and still chose no successor."
The other replies quietly:
"Yes… he was probably afraid that appointing a crown prince would make him try to seize the throne early."
The first interrupts:
"That makes no sense… would a crown prince really try to take the throne before the First Emperor dies? Couldn't he just wait?"
The second looks at her mockingly:
"You don't understand people's greed for power… what matters now is the selection ceremony. It's begun!"
The sound of instruments fills the hall. The doors open, and the First Emperor enters with his 28 children—9 daughters and 19 sons. He walks to the center of the hall where the imperial throne stands, and all his children gather around him.
Then Pope Elias enters, accompanied by all his aides, holding a red document.
He stands before the throne, opens the red paper, and reads aloud:
"This empire, which had been in decline for three thousand years… three millennia ago, the empire that unified all humanity under a single ruler stood united for three hundred years, until terrorist rebels shattered that unity. But after 2,700 years of suffering and fighting terrorism, here we stand—47 years after the empire was unified once more.
Today, we choose the next emperor according to the rules used three thousand years ago:
The Emperor's choice: 10 points
The Pope's choice: 7 points
Each imperial family: 3 points
Each pure family: 1 point
Each individual among the imperial populace (out of 300 million commoners): 0.1 point
Those with the highest scores are the strongest candidates. After seven weeks of voting, this is the ranking for the selection of the Crown Prince among the Emperor's 28 sons…"
As the Pope speaks, Aser stands among the emperor's sons, angry, thinking to himself:
"I left this palace to live outside this filthy political web…"
He looks at the First Emperor with a smile, thinking calmly, then laughs softly:
"He's thinking about how to carve history… how to kill and enslave people…"
Aser's laughter stops when Pope Elias reads the names:
"First: Son number 7, Azd — 17 points
Second: Ibrahim, son number 24 — 15 points
Third: Son number 26, Aser — 13 points"
Shock fills the hall at Aser's placement in third.
"How can a boy with no popularity—neither among the imperial families nor the pure families—rank third?!"
Everyone becomes certain that the emperor used his influence to elevate Aser.
The First Emperor shouts:
"Silence!"
Then looks at the Pope:
"Continue."
But Aser interrupts, shouting as he rushes toward his father:
"Why did you choose me?! I told you I don't want this filth you call politics!"
Ibrahim interrupts by punching Aser in the face, shouting:
"You thief! Without you, I would've been first! What is this stupidity?!"
Azd intervenes, using his magic. Magical tendrils emerge from his robe and restrain both Ibrahim and Aser as he shouts angrily:
"Respect the Emperor… or at least respect the Pope!"
Ibrahim calms down. The tendrils release Aser, but he resumes shouting:
"Let me go!"
Azd drops him to the ground. The moment Aser touches the floor, he runs out of the hall, crying