King Ode Kahn and Curse of The Royal Sceptre

In the far away kingdom of Kongdobia, lived a king named Ode Kahn. King Kahn was the last descendant of royal Kahn bloodline which had sat on the throne of Kongdobia and ruled the kingdom for centuries. The Kahn bloodline was the oldest and most respected bloodline in the kingdom and was revered not only because it was a royal bloodline but also because the dynasty stretched as far as the days of the early men when Kongdobia was under the tyranny of the the barbaric Edochies. The first Kahn conquered the early men and brought about centuries of prosperity and peace to Kongdbia through the power of the royal sceptre. The royal sceptre, infused with the power of everlasting wood, had been used by the first Kahn, Doro Kahn, to subdue and defeat the first Edochie's and was traditionally passed down to the bloodline to the first son born to a ruling Kahn. King Ode Kahn, the present king of Kongdobia, had inherited this mark of power and peace from his father, Van Kahn, and had also been told that for the sceptre to maintain its power of everlasting wood, a Kahn must take a wife and use the union of man and woman to sustain the sceptre's power and prolong peace of prosperity in the kingdom. However, King Ode had found it difficult to take a wife as he had found no woman in the kingdom worthy of his affection. Ode Kahn may have been a proud king but he was also shrewd in his dealings with women of the kingdom for many of them only sought his affection to satisfy their selfish ulterior motives. It had been 16 years since Ode Kahn had come of age to take a wife and he had quickly learned that the women of Kongdobia would do and say anything to share in the glory the royal sceptre brings to the king and queen of the kingdom. Ode Kahn had been presented with hundreds of women from many houses in the kingdom and none of them had found worthy in the eyes of the Kahn. In two days, there would be another presentation of houses and every house in the kingdom would bring forth a woman who they hoped would be the next queen of Kongdobia. One house had been looking forward to this day more than any other.

Ozor sat in the middle of her living room staring at her gown. She had made it herself and adorned it with so many gems that many in the house of Kwor feared she might blind the King if he stared at her for too long. There were jewels at strategic positions on the chest and crotch area of the gown and she made extra efforts to sew in added padding at the rear of the gown just to make sure the king noticed her among the hundreds of other women who would be at the presentation the next day. Ozor was the first daughter of the house of Kwor and had been attending presentations since she was 6 years old. As a child, she had attended as spectator, watching as numerous women presented themselves in the presence of the one they had hoped would be their king, each failing to catch the attention of the King Ode the boy king. When she came of age, she attended as a prospective queen, appearing on several occasions and failing, like the women she watched as a child, to find favour in the eyes of the King Kahn. With every failed attempt, she had grown more contemptuous of the king. King Kahn had found her unworthy on so many occasions and intense feelings of scorn and disdain had filled her heart for the king. In her younger years, she wished to marry the king because she was certain he was her soul mate. She had dreamt of kissing him in the throne room, basking in the glory of the royal sceptre of everlasting wood and ruling Kongdobia at the right hand side of the King, her husband. However, a lot had changed for Ozor between then and now. Ozor wished she could stop attending the presentations and putting herself on display for the arrogant king to embarrass with his egotistical refusals. Ozor had become the topic of kingdom gossip and she knew she was the laughing stock of the kingdom because of the her numerous attempts at winning the king's heart. She had sworn to make each and every one of them pay when she became queen. Everyone who laughed at her and mocked her would pay severely for their disrespect. The king would too, for he had been the reason they had seen her as nothing more than a pariah in the kingdom. He had shook his head in refusal to Ozor on too many occasions, but he would not tomorrow, she had made sure of it. She had made efforts to ensure that tomorrow would be King Kahn's last presentation and he would either choose her as his queen or Kongdobia would need a new king. She continued staring at her gem-covered gown for the presentation running her fingers across the seams and gems in the gown with a malicious smile on her face.

Ode Kahn had lost count of the number of presentations he had been made to attend. He had definitely also lost count of the number of women who had attended the presentations seeking to be crowned queen of Kongdobia. Sometimes a woman would step forward during the presentations and he would remember her from her previous attempts at past presentations. Some women went to great lengths to sway his affection their way. Some would sing, some of would dance, some of sing and dance at the same time and some would sing and dance while taking their clothes off in his presence. Sometimes these presentations amused him, other times they left him feeling exasperated. He had given up being optimistic about these presentations and had attended them with a certain nonchalance which tended to annoy some of the heads of the house presenting their women. He did not care though, as far as he was concerned, all they wanted were the wealth of the Kahn and the power of the Sceptre. They would never get it as long as he remained King of Kongdobia. "Today's presentation would likely be no different from the rest" thought Ode Kahn as he walked down the royal hallway heading to the throne room, royal sceptre in hand. "Who knows, I may finally find a wife today...unlike the other 300 times I've tried" he thought sarcastically as he emerged through the doors into the throne room and was greeted with the royal trumpets blaring the Kongdobian anthem. He walked to his throne, taking a moment to look around the room and estimating how many houses and women were in attendance. He motioned to the trumpeters to cease playing and addressed the crowd, "Good morning Kongdobia. It is I, your King. Tradition demands that a King Kahn must have a queen for the kingdom to prosper under the protection of the royal sceptre and its everlasting wood. With this in mind, you are all here, yet again, to hopefully witness me find one of the women here worthy to sit at my right hand. I will not bore you with my words anymore, let us begin..." 

Ozor watched as women from every house in the kingdom presented themselves to King Kahn and each of them had been found unworthy. Ozor had been comparing each of these women to herself throughout the presentations and had concluded that they were neither as pretty as she was or as royally dressed as her. She had painted and blushed her face with the best powders of the kingdom and had doused herself with the richest perfumes she could find. Her hair had been tended to by the best stylists in Kongdobia and her handmade dress had no equal in the throne room today. King Kahn would have no choice but to choose her to be his queen. He would have to because no other option would be advisable for him or the kingdom. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the words of the royal announcer, "None have been found worthy yet! Next, Ozor of the house of Kwor. Present yourself to his highness, King Kahn of Kongdobia"

Ode Khan was already exhausted. He had stopped counting at 102 and hours of presentations had left him tired and irritable. So far, he had been presented with a poem which had been recited by a woman with a voice more deep and coarse than that of the first Kahn. He had been tortured with a song and dance rendition which he mistook for a demonic possession and one woman had told him, in explicit detail, how being his queen would grant him unlimited access to the wonders between her legs. She even brought her former lovers to testify to the goodness of the wonders, which they took turns in doing. All 10 of them. He glanced at the crowd of remaining women who had yet to present themselves and let out an inaudible sigh. If he had known this was what he would have to endure as King of Kongdobia, his first act as king would have been to either abolish these presentations or simply have every woman in the nation tested for cases of malady or psychosis. King Kahn was lost in his own thoughts as the next women stepped forward to present herself. However, the sight of her quickly jolted him back to reality. 

Ozor stepped forward in her long flowing gem-endowed dress and the sunlight from the windows struck her dress in such an angle that the glare blinded many in the throne room. Those who were not blinded by the glare from the gems on the dress were not spared an assault on their sense as her perfume forced many to cover their noses not because the scent was foul but because it was so intense and overpowering. She approached the center of the presentation circle and bowed to the king who, at this point, was shielding his eyes with his left hand and waving his sceptre at her. Ozor could not help but smile, the king had obviously seen that she was the only woman in the hall worthy to be called his queen..

Ode Kahn did not know which of his senses to protect first. With the royal sceptre in his right hand. he had shielded his eyes with his left and attempted to use the sceptre to fan away the severely potent scent which had filled the throne room. He peaked through his fingers to catch a glimpse of the woman who was presenting herself and immediately knew that even if he could forgive the blinding dress and the offensive perfume, he could not forgive the monstrous makeup and hairdo she had chosen for her presentation. She had face as pale as the buttocks of snow giants and had blushed her cheeks redder than ripe tomatoes. Her eyelashes were so long and thick that he could swear he heard her blink and her hair had been extended and dyed with so many colours that he could not tell if she was a woman or a rainbow. She had barely began to introduce herself when he made his decision. 

"Unworthy?!!" Ozor thought as she stared at the king with her mouth agape. She had barely even begun her introduction. She attempted to speak again and the king simply waved his hand in refusal and motioned her to leave. "My goodness woman.." he said. "Why did you chose to assault your king and your people this way? Did you do this on purpose or was this a cruel mistake the gods allowed you to make? Please, for the sake of this throne room and the people within it, remove yourself from our presence." Ozor stood there, soaked in shame. Once again she had been found unworthy, but this time, the King had worsened his refusal by embarrassing her in front of hundreds. She could hear the disapproving comments from the people in the crowd, "My goodness, what was she thinking?", "Is she mad, did she want to kill us?", "Isn't this her 100th appearance at these presentations? maybe she got desperate". The comments, the refusal, the embarrassment, it all made her shame quickly contort into anger. Anger that would be the end of King Kahn and his kingdom. "ENOUGH!!!" She screamed as she wiped tears from her eyes. "I said enough! King Kahn you have embarrassed me for the last time. I have watched you refuse nothing but mad and horny women all day today and you refuse me too? Do you really consider me equals with these horrible mistakes that have tried to win your affection today? I give you one more chance. Look upon me again and find me worthy or your refusal will bring doom to you and your kingdom". Look upon me again King Kahn...it is for your own good.

"Surely not another mad woman"  thought King Kahn. "Only a mad woman would subject her king and her people to such punishment and then aggregate her circumstances by threatening the king in his throne room". He motioned to his guards while still speaking to Ozor, " There is no way in 7 hells that I will find you worthy. You have appeared before me in the most ridiculous outfits and insulted me in my own home. Guards! escort this woman out of the palace. I have had enough of these ludicrous presentations for one day. If she dares speak another word against me..." his words were interrupted by Ozor has a bright burst of light shot forth from where she stood.

While the King had been talking,, Ozor dislodged several gems from her dress, muttered incantations under her breath and hurled them at the ground. a bright light exploded from the the gems as they hit the floor and it rendered everyone in the room paralysed. She looked around the room, ensuring that no one could move and made her way towards King Kahn who was sitting on his throne completely motionless with his left hand still shielding his eyes and his royal sceptre pointed towards Ozor. "Unworthy?" she began, as she pulled out a dagger from under her gown. "You find me unworthy, King Kahn? You find me disrespectful to you and insulting to your kingdom? Do you realize how many times you have rejected me? Do you know how many times you've left me insulted and disrespected right in this very room?". She leaned in towards King Kahn's face, pressing the blade of her dagger on his neck. "You think you are so handsome don't you. With your pretty face and royal sceptre. You think you are every woman's dream, that's why you so arrogantly refuse us every month. Month after month, we gather here to stroke your ego and make you feel even more pompous because you are the King Kahn who cannot find a worthy women to be his queen. No more I say. No more!" She pressed the dagger into the king's neck and blood tricked onto the blade. "I know you can not move, but you can hear me. I could have killed you, you know? Killed you right here and none of your guards or your magic sceptre would be able to save you. I won't though" Ozor dislogded another set of gems from her gown and smeared the king's blood on the gems. "You love that royal sceptre so much King Kahn. You and your ancestors used your everlasting wood to conquer this land and crown yourselves rulers of Kongdobia. You killed the first Edohies and almost ended our bloodline. That sceptre was what gave you the power to take the lives of my fathers and almost end our bloodline. Even till this day, you Kahns still find ways to torment us. You mock me in a kingdom you stole from my fathers. You deem me unworthy to rule as queen of a land where I should be seen as a deity rather than some poor unfortunate woman seeking your affection. No more King Kahn. Today, the era of the Kahn's will come to an end. Today, you lose your power. You lose Kongdobia". She stepped back, away from the king, to the center of the throne room and with blood stained gems in hand, stretched out her arms and began reciting

"Blood of a Kahn, blood of a first, here my voice. I am Ozor, of the house of Kwor. Daughter of the first bloodline and avenger of the Edochies. Fathers, hear my words. Your kingdom was stolen, your slaves have forgotten their masters and your murderers rule your lands. I, Ozor of the house of Kwor, hereby give my life to restore what was yours. The Kahns and their royal sceptre of everlasting wood took what was not theirs to take. Today, with the blood of a Kahn on my life gems, and my life as an offering, take from them as they took from you. This I ask, with my life."

King Kahn had been forced to watch Ozor, completely unable to move. He had felt the blade prick his neck and had tried to move his hands to stop Ozor but couldn't. He watched her smear his blood on gems, recite her incantation and then slit her throat. He screamed for her to stop, but no sound came forth from his mouth. His body slumped to the ground, blood pouring from her throat and forming a dark red pool around her body. Suddenly, the blood moved. It moved like a thick red snake, flowing across the floor of the throne room towards the throne. Sllithering it's way up King Kahn's legs, across his chest and arm and unto the sceptre. King Kahn felt the blood curl itself around his arm and the sceptre and then a sharp burning sensation quickly followed. The blood seemed to be burning the sceptre but leaving King Ode Kahn's arm unharmed. Merely seconds later, the blood floated off his arm into the air and then explode into absolute nothingness, immediately releasing Ode Kahn and everyone in the room from their paralysis. King Kahn immediately clutched his throat, hoping to stop anymore blood flow, if any. He looked around the throne room, ushering his guards to inquire about the safety of his subjects. He then suddenly realized everyone in the room was now staring at him, specifically the royal sceptre in his hand. Confused, he looked at the sceptre, and realised why they had all been staring, the sceptre of ever lasting wood was gone. What he held in his hand was a mere stick. Suddenly, a voice from the crowd said

"By the gods, it has happened. King Kahn...we are in grave danger. I should have known. I should have stopped it. Now, we will all die"

To be Continued