Sunday Short #4: A day in the Mediterranean

Genre: Drama, Period Drama.
The celestial fireball in the sky was at its full might, emanating intense heat to magnify the episode on the ground, with sand being as torrid as molten lava and mortals being as chaotic as the kingdom itself. It was a gathering of culling the best warrior — one who shall reign the great kingdom of the Mediterranean and shall marry the most bewitching beauty of a queen, Nubia, popularly known as — the blue eyed beauty.
The contest was closing on towards what had been a grisly gore fest, to last two men standing, of which one of them had to die for the other to win. The crowd, settled in concentric circles, went berserk to see the final two warriors as contenders for the throne. They bowed down to the queen, nodded at each other and occupied their positions with thirsty swords and hulking shields.
The drenching sweat was a discernible indication of the tiring heat of the summer. While the conditions were as precarious as it could come, the resolve in their eyes held a firm ground, constantly observing the opponent and anticipating their actions. Osiris was a master in sword fighting but reasonable in strength while Djar was just the opposite. Within seconds, Djar lashed on to Osiris with hard hitting strokes, and managed to draw first blood by slicing his arm.
Those bewitching blue eyeballs grew wider as Nubia watched the contest in progress. Osiris had managed to tire Djar and displayed some swift moves to inflict a deep cut to his back. As Djar screamed in agony, Osiris used this opportunity to kick him to the ground. The sword of Djar had fallen off. Osiris looked at the queen and winked, for which he was rewarded with a smile and mild applaud.
As per kingdom’s rule, a warrior can’t kill an unarmed opponent in a dual and so he waited for Djar to pick up his sword. Second round of the dual began, and this time too, Osiris overpowered Djar completely. Osiris was finding it too easy, glancing at queen and placing a final hit on Djar’s torso. The bloodstained sword had called its day and it was the crafted swordsman who stood alive between the two. Osiris screamed aloud, put his sword down and bowed at the queen.
Before he could celebrate, bloodstained Djar attacked him from behind, with an entire sword piercing through Osiris’s body. Honour had been backstabbed and survival had the last laugh. As Osiris puked blood and saw the indifferent expressions on queen’s face, he learned a king’s trait which separated him from being a warrior- ‘survive at whatever cost’. Osiris’s price for dying an immoral death was the expense of Djar becoming a king. Crowd being witnessed plenty of deaths welcomed their new king with applause. Nubia was applauding with her usual smile, like she already knew the outcome of the dual.
As the celestial fireball was setting at the west, the kingdom had found a bleeding body in the form of a king, one who emerged as the wolf from the pack, shed blood and survived; to see yet another sun of the Mediterranean.
