The Old Diogenes Awakes
The old Diogenes awoke in the middle of the night.
He noticed that the candle was still burning, and when he turned, he saw Hyunkel still writing.
The bald old man spoke:
"Is it really necessary to keep writing this late?
Perhaps you're overdoing it, Hyunkel — writing about the crimes of the Eritrean monarchy and the constitution. I mean, what's the use of writing it all down, Hyunkel?"
Hyunkel, still writing, replied:
"It's a necessary task, Diogenes. I'm lucky tonight — the Atlas commander was drunk. Even so, while he was drunk, he left me the position but gave me no time to draft the constitution. He knows that if I return unprepared, I'll make mistakes — and he'll kill me himself. He wants to catch me in error. So I can't afford to slack off. I'll finish the constitution tonight and leave for Arsia, where I'll switch places with Lauk, my official advisor. He'll represent me in the council while I take his role in the Ministry of Finance."
As Hyunkel wrote, his pen ran out of ink.
Hyunkel muttered,
"This is bad… I'll have to go to the library now. Maybe Beatrice still has some ink left — she can also help me with the references, the dates, and the constitution itself."
Diogenes asked, "And how do you know she's still awake at this hour?"
Hyunkel answered, "That girl never sleeps at times like this. She's always working in the library. Her father was a merchant with estates in Arsia and Artia, but he died during the Fall of Eritrea. So Beatrice has been left alone, far from her brothers in Arsia, maintaining her father's legacy in Artia."
Hyunkel left the tent quietly in the middle of the night, slipping silently through the district so no one would hear him.
His foot touched the threshold,
and his eyes caught a mesmerizing light.
He saw a large hall illuminated by a small lamp near Beatrice's seat — where the candle and book lay open as she read.
The drowsy girl's skin was white as the moonlight piercing the night.
Hyunkel couldn't tell whether the candle's light was even needed in her presence.
Her golden hair flowed over her shoulders and red cloak, looking like a gentle blanket covering the beauty of her sleeping face.
Her closed eyelids, like pearls, reflected the moonlight as if they were gathering treasures instead of knowledge.
Before realizing she was actually asleep, Hyunkel stepped closer and tapped her shoulder gently to wake her.
"Lady Beatrice," he whispered. "May I have a moment of your time?"
Beatrice, still drowsy, woke slowly. Weighed down by sleep, she rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her dark red dress trimmed with white. Her large, innocent black eyes shimmered faintly as she looked at Hyunkel and said tiredly:
"Hyunkel… Hyun—"
She stopped mid-sentence, startled, rising suddenly from her chair.
She was a little shorter than Hyunkel and looked at him with embarrassment.
Beatrice said shyly, "What brings you here at this hour, sir? It's far too late for reading — and you're terribly busy."
Hyunkel smiled slightly. "Let's say I'm too busy tonight to rest or sleep. My pen's run out of ink, and I'm still writing about the crimes of the Olympia royal family, the Bourbon Council, and their atrocities against the Workers' Party and the thinkers of Arsia."
Beatrice nodded. "I have the historical files and the records from the years of the Bourbon Council's rule alongside the Olympia family, sir. I kept the copies you requested — along with the constitutional archives from the Imperial Offices of Artia. Mr. Lauk also sent me the missing files from Arsia. The Bourbon Council tried hard to suppress the records, and the Olympia family supported them. But after the fall of Eritrea, the records leaked easily from the state offices. It was a brilliant move by you, Lauk, and Lord Helkias."
Hyunkel said, "Good. I want the historical accounts and the testimonies with names about the executions during the Olympia reign, before the Bourbons' assistance. And I want Helkias's complaints sent to the Bourbon Council — about the army's mistreatment and lack of support in the Eritrean war against the Atlases.
Then I'll need the names of witnesses and the responses from Arshia regarding the pleas for aid sent before the Olympia family fled there.
We'll begin by ending Luzaria's role in the new Eritrean constitution — and crush the fly that poisoned Eritrea's rule for far too long."
Beatrice: "Yes, wise sir."
Hyunkel took the ink and several sheets from Beatrice and began writing:
---
The Civil Calendar of Eritrea, Year 120
After the death of Apollo, head of the ruling Olympia family in Artia and Arsia,
his son Angelo I ascended the throne. He was crowned at the Grand Mount Heraclitus Ceremony the same year.
Angelo's mentor, the philosopher Liuslev, wrote to Apollo in Year 109 after completing Angelo's education. The letter was later found hidden in Liuslev's study after he was found dead. The killer had tried to burn the evidence but failed to finish before being caught.
The letter read:
> "In the name of Liuslev son of Yaris, philosopher of noble Artia,
to Apollo the Great, Lord of Eritrea.
After educating the young nobles Angelo and his elder brother Virgelo,
I must say that Angelo is inferior to his brother in politics, intellect, and using ideas for others' benefit.
He lacks cooperation and is often consumed by jealousy toward Virgelo,
who is bright in politics, philosophy, science, and mathematics —
generous and kind-hearted.
Angelo, however, though not evil, is a gifted poet and a master of grammar and medicine.
Yet I fear, my lord, that if this nature grows unchecked,
it may lead to great betrayal — one brother killing the other out of envy."
In Year 115, Liuslev's fears came true. Virgelo's corpse was found on the roadside near the palace market — his head crushed with stones. The royal court and the Olympia family recorded it officially, and ever since, Wednesday has been marked as a day of ill omen in Artia's calendar.
In Year 121, after Angelo took power, he ordered the slaughter of the elders of Arsia and Artia in the imperial palace, accusing them of treason.
Philosophers later recorded this as a symbol of the corruption of absolute monarchy, calling it The Reign of Olympia.
By Year 122, the Bourbon Council, led by the cleric Monrach from Arshia, rose to power beside Angelo, helping him extend his tyranny.
The state began monitoring academies and executing hundreds of students daily for opposing royal authority.
In Year 123, the Historical Society of Artia and Arsia united under the banner of knowledge and virtue to document the horrors of the Olympia reign and Bourbon rule.
Three scholars — Hyunkel of Artia, Helkias of Arsia, and Lauk of Arshia — worked with the Eritrean National Library to preserve the events through official certified records approved even by the Bourbon Council itself.
By Year 124, the Bourbons seized full political power, suppressing the Workers' Party — the people's representative body — leaving the monarchy and the Bourbons as the sole rulers.
From Year 125 to 127, Angelo focused on art, poetry, and education, trying to mend class divides through schooling and philosophy.
But his reforms failed when the Bourbons declared a financial crisis in Year 127 due to royal extravagance.
Eritrea's annual revenue was 300 million Artian coins — but its spending was 600 million.
The Bourbons looted the treasury, funneling money to Arshia and the Atlases to secure their futures.
The breakdown was:
150 million for the royal palace and nobles,
300 million for the Bourbon Council and its foreign payments,
and only 50 million for the army and people — 35 for the army, 15 for public wages.
The working class was crushed by taxes, while the nobles paid almost none.
Between Years 128–135, several revolts erupted but were crushed by the Bourbons, who weakened the army by forcing it to fight both internal rebels and Atlas invaders.
By Year 135, only Helkias and 3,000 soldiers remained from an army of one million that once served under Apollo the Great.
Finally, in Year 136, Angelo died, ending the Olympia reign.
The Bourbons took full control under Monrach, but Helkias, Lauk, and the remaining generals refused to surrender.
Helkias — a massive, scarred warrior nearly two meters tall — had been trained by Apollo himself. Riding the legendary beast Griffin, he became known as The Red Beast of Arsia.
He loved Luzaria, Angelo's daughter, deeply.
He fought tirelessly, fueled by the hope of marrying her, but after Angelo's death, the Bourbons planned to kill her.
She and her family fled to Arshia, abandoning Helkias and the army to die.
On her orders, Helkias led one final suicidal assault to repel the Bourbon and Atlas forces outside Eritrea's inner walls.
Hyunkel and Lauk were ordered to protect the Imperial Library and transfer the archives to Arsia — but when they arrived, it was too late.
At dawn on Sunday, Year 136, the two young men stood before the burning library of the Eritrean Empire.
Hyunkel fell to his knees, tears in his eyes, the flames reflecting in them.
Lauk stood beside him — silent, tears streaming down his face — knowing the end of an age of wisdom had come.
All that remained of the great civilization — the books, the thoughts of its greatest minds — vanished in fire and smoke.
Meanwhile, Helkias — the last lion of Eritrea — stood alone on the battlefield.
He raised his sword high as his comrades fell around him, the desert storm swallowing their cries.
He charged forward atop Griffin, both warrior and beast exhausted, yet fearless, cutting through the darkness until both vanished into legend.
Helkias disappeared soon after — his fate unknown."
To be continued.