MANIAKES
(The Tyrant Born of Fire and Shadows)
Recap of Chapters 9–12
Maniakes rose as champion of Olusuis, killing even their greatest warrior in the Festival of Blades. The whispering god revealed itself, promising him strength and dominion. When war broke between Olusuis and Zuvendis, Maniakes led the charge. On the battlefield he slaughtered foes with supernatural fury—until one dying warrior revealed the unthinkable: Maniakes himself was Zuvendis by blood.
Chapter 13 – Blood on the River
The river ran red that evening. Broken shields floated among the reeds, and carrion birds circled above.
Maniakes stood among corpses, his spear heavy in his hand, his chest still heaving. Yet it was not the dead that weighed upon him—it was the words of the man he had slain.
"You are Zuvendis…"
The syllables rang inside him like a curse.
When the Olusuis warriors gathered around their unlikely champion, they raised their voices in praise. "Maniakes the Unbroken!" they roared. "The Scourge of Zuvendis!"
But Maniakes did not raise his fist. He turned his face from them, for in the blood-streaked eyes of his enemies he had seen something terrible: himself.
That night, as he sat alone on the riverbank, the whisper returned.
"Do you understand now?" the shadow asked. "They who cast you into the waters—they were Zuvendis. You have slain your own kin."
Maniakes clenched his fists, his nails drawing blood. Rage and confusion warred within him.
"Why did they abandon me?"
The shadow's voice hissed like wind over bones.
"Because they feared you. Even at birth, they knew you were greater. And they were right to fear—for you will be the ruin of them all."
The river whispered with the dead. Maniakes did not sleep.
Chapter 14 – The King Who Trembled
Far away in the halls of Zuvendis, King Rhaedon—father of Maniakes—sat restless upon his throne. The war had cost him many warriors, but it was not defeat that chilled him—it was the report of his scouts.
They spoke of a youth from Olusuis who fought like no man alive. A boy with eyes like fire. A boy who could not be wounded.
The king trembled, though none dared say it aloud. For deep within him stirred a memory—the prophecy of the Oracle years ago, the child cast into the river, the tyrant foretold.
Could it be? Had death not claimed the cursed babe?
The Queen, pale and silent, spoke at last.
"If the prophecy lives, he will return for us. He will not rest until Zuvendis burns."
The King's hand shook upon his cup. He remembered the cries of the infant he had ordered thrown away. He remembered the silence of the Oracle's warning: The tyrant will rise from your blood.
"Summon the priests," the King whispered. "And the strongest of our warriors. If this ghost walks, we will drown him once more—this time in fire."
But even as he spoke, the torches in the hall flickered. The gods themselves were listening.
Chapter 15 – The Voice of the Dead
In Olusuis, Maniakes grew restless. He trained by day, slaughtering beasts in the forests with ease no man could match. By night, the whispers plagued him.
But on the twelfth night after the battle, another voice came—fainter, yet more piercing.
He dreamt of the man he had slain, the Zuvendis warrior with his same jaw, the one who had called him "prince."
The man's blood-soaked ghost stood before him.
"Maniakes… son of Zuvendis… do you not see? You spill the blood of your own flesh."
Maniakes snarled, his dream-self reaching for his spear. "You are nothing but shadow."
But the ghost shook his head.
"I was your uncle. And your father still lives. He betrayed you once—he will betray you again. But blood calls to blood, Maniakes. The truth cannot be drowned forever."
Maniakes awoke, breath ragged, his body burning as though fire flowed in his veins. Outside, thunder rolled though no storm was near.
And in the silence that followed, the whispering god returned, louder than ever:
"Kill them, Maniakes. All of them. Olusuis. Zuvendis. Father. Mother. All. Only then will the world be yours."
Maniakes stood, his eyes alight with a terrible flame. The path of blood had been set.