The King and his merry men

[Gilgamesh]

Gilgamesh stood at the helm of the vehicle, too impatient to sit on his hastily made throne. Although he knew full well that there may be those who would try and steal his rightful seat of power, seeing it himself made him furious. The sight left a sour taste in his mouth that only humiliation and destruction could get rid of.

“You!” Gilgamesh pointed to Drake, snapping his fingers, trying to remember his name, “Drake. Make sure there is no delay, I have blood I wish to spill.”

Without turning his head, the pilot nodded enthusiastically in affirmation, “Yes Sir!” In the short time they had spent together, the groveling, young prime hadn’t turned out to be useless. The blazing sun, torched the group directly overhead, causing the King in, unwisely chosen, Golden Armor to sweat. Cupping his hand onto his forehead, Gilgamesh could hardly make sense of shapes that entered the horizon, the heat that radiated from the ground made everything look like a mirage.

Victor wobbled over to Gilgamesh on the speeding jet, trying to keep his balance, “There it is. Nippur.” The young assassin simultaneously let out a sigh of nostalgia with the Gilded King. It has been far too long since Gilgamesh had stepped foot there. Within minutes, the vehicle had reached the city limits and slowly came to a halt. Without pause, Gilgamesh hopped off the Jet and motioned to his posse to follow him.

“Come. I can see there is already much work to do.” Gilgamesh strode off in a hurry, leaving the rest of the group to eat his dust. The sight of his precious city physically hurt the King. He was stopped in his tracks as he saw the Bazaar that he oversaw from his palace balcony. Memories of a once filled plaza, noisy with laughter and bartering. Women, their heads protected from the sun with headscarves, would barter with the merchants selling produce. Children would giggle and chase another from each end of the market, ignoring the precautions from their parents. The aromas, the sights, the distinct taste of the air. All of it ...was gone.

His mood worsened and his mouth turned to a horrid sneer sneer. The group of primes behind him finally caught up, panting from chasing their King. Victor went up to ask the King for any sense of orders or direction but was quickly scared off by the King’s foul mood. Without a word, Gilgamesh stormed off towards the palace, just hoping that those pretenders would be there. Kicking open the door to his own palace, Gil stormed the place with the other primes.

“All of you search the place. If there is anyone here, I want to be the first to know.” Gil barked. The marble palace had sustained a fair amount of damage, the pillars broken and crumbled and the red carpet was dusty and tattered. Gilgamesh hurried over to the throne room, trying to avoid the desecrated paintings of himself on the side, each of them with Gilgamesh’s face cut, or to more accurately describe it punched, out. Swinging the door to his throne room open, Gilgamesh was disappointed to find an empty room, that was decorated with rotted,  guard corpses who were most likely slain in the aftermath of his disappearance. The light in the room, however, drew his attention to something much more uplifting. His golden throne was mostly intact. Although rustic blood stained the seat and there were more than a few scratches from battle, it was what Gilgamesh needed to see.
Walking over to his throne, Gilgamesh kicked the dusty skulls that littered the floor to the side. Finally reaching his seat, he delicately backed up into his seat. The cold metal, sent a shiver down his spine as he got comfortable. He hadn’t had this much joy in such a long time and he decided to just relax in his throne until his subjects reported back to him. Caressing his fingers on the cold metal throne, the three primes eventually entered the throne room.

Gilgamesh rested his head on his fist, raising an eyebrow at the empty-handed primes. Without hesitation both Drake and Victor immediately knelt before their King. A great grin spread across the young assassin’s face, seconds before he burst out in laughter. The more silver-tongued prime, wasted no time in stroking Gilgamesh’s ego.

“I believe we both are ecstatic to have the rightful Ruler on Nippur’s throne. No one else fits the seat as well as you, my King. Unfortunately, the palace is vacated my lord. I believe they have moved into the city.” Drake sweetly spoke. Almost expectantly, Gilgamesh turned his head to the Exorcist, waiting to see what he would do. Kanda looked Gilgamesh into the eyes and the pair briefly stared at one another. The Swordsman eventually yielded and bowed before the King, yet refused to kneel. Gil smiled, he was pleasantly surprised after all. After being trapped in the Underverse for two years, the weeks of torture and battling barbarian demons, he had lowered his expectations of how people showed respect.

Giving the exorcist a swift nod Gilgamesh reached inside himself, pulling the colorful, shimmering Omnilium primes all had. The kneeling primes got to their feet, observing what the King was up to. Minutes passed and the Omnilium began to take shape. The rainbow material swirled onto the floor and ascended, creating three armed Mesopotamian Guards clad in Gold. The guards immediately knelt onto the floor,  pledging their arm over each of their chests.

“Glory to our King Gilgamesh!” Their unanimous chant resonated through the throne room, frightening Gilgamesh a little bit.

“You will go into my city and find any prime. Make them aware that I request...,” He paused to find an appropriate word, “An audience with them.” He snapped his fingers and the soldiers rose from their positions. “You will not fight these primes nor any bandits. Your lives are valuable to me.” He shooed the armed guards out of the throne room before turning to the group of primes.

“Follow me.” His voice was much more calm than what it had been on the trip to his city. Leading the primes up his desecrated palace he led them to what was one his bedroom. His bedroom was abhorrent, the decor thrown about and graffiti proclaimed ‘Death to the Loyalist’, yet he made it unaware that this had affected him. Exiting onto his balcony, Gilgamesh ‘admired’ what he could of his destroyed city.

“People of Nippur! I , your rightful King, Gilgamesh have finally returned.” He proudly proclaimed from the balcony, extending his arms. The streets were still eerily quiet, mimicking a ghost town.

“I have brought forth primes of honor and valor to defend us. We will rid you of this chaos and you shall never be threatened by outside forces again!” By this time a few windows had peeked open to see the source of this arrogance.

“I come with order and structure. I have escaped the depths of the Underverse and in turn I am more powerful than even Omni could imagine!” A few people at this time had populated the street, whispering about the appearance of their Old King.

“I am your King once again and will establish the following set of laws. These laws will bind our primes to you, the citizens of Nippur. You will always be protected.

One! Banishment is hereby forbidden. It is an inhumane punishment that is worse than death. However, that is not a means to declaw our wonderful city. In extreme cases I will allow an exception

Two! We must not turn against one another in this time of recovery. Therefor, babylonians cannot attack other babylonians.

Three! All members must be civil and uphold honor. Those who do not abide by this will be punished by me, the King!

Four! My loyal primes must decide amongst themselves for anything that does not need my supervision. However, this must be done to help the city and only the city.

Five! If anyone abuses their power in my Kingdom, they shall be rightfully stripped of power.

Six!  Admission into the Kingdom will be decided by me.

Seven!  Any law that I, Gilgamesh, deems fit, will be overseen by my lessers and implemented.

Eight!  Aggression from outside the Kingdom is treated as aggression towards the entirety. You, however, shall not incur the wrath of others without the my permission. If you do, you are held accountable of your own actions.

Nine!  You loyalty should be to serve me, however you may be able to divide your time amongst other, less important, groups.

Ten!  Any member of my Kingdom may have an audience with the King.

Eleven! Civilians are of the utmost importance to a city and must be protected. If a prime violates Nippur's citizens in any way, on their first offense they will be exiled and barred from city entrance. A second offense from the same prime elicits hunting down and capturing this prime for a public execution. For a prime that has sworn to defend the city, on a first offense will be publicly executed by Gilgamesh.

Twelve! I am your King and you shall submit to me. Any and all primes who have earned my respect shall earn your respect as well.” Gilgamesh breathed deeply after this decree, the words were more than a mouthful, yet he had to make sure the people knew he would protect them. The street was now more than populated, gazing in awe as their King had returned to save them.

“Your loyalty to the crown has earned more than I can ever give, but I shall make sure you are all well protected!” Gilgamesh ripped from inside himself a large orb of Omnilium. The glowing orb then ran from his outstretched hand, one stream swirling over a destroyed building and the other swirling in the middle of the Bazaar. Within seconds the swirling Omnilium refurbished the building and added a banner with a Red Cross onto the building. Secondary women, in nurses uniforms, suddenly appeared from the building, with more than enough trays of food. The Omnilium in the Bazaar swirled to form a small glowing pad that would be of important if Gilgamesh ever needed to return quickly.

Gilgamesh waved to the people, hearing a large commotion, yet seeing none of it. His vision had gone dark but he wanted them to feel safe. Entering his bedroom he nodded to his fellow primes before collapsing to the floor.