Degeneracy And Cruelty Masquerading As Power And Superiority

• Joss Kennedy, Grade 7, Bentley Park College
• Short Story
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'National Treasures 2022' competition

In the throne perched upon the very top of the coliseum sits the corrupt king of the condemned land. Uttering in a pejorative manner, cursing his kingdom as he looks down upon the gladiators fighting to their meaningless and brazen death.

In the ruinous city, those who foolishly voted for a monarchical system suffer. To an outsider's perspective, the kingdom is a display of pure cruelty and horror, however, to the tyrannical and narcissistic overlord, he sees it as a demonstration of his power. All of these intentionally harmful doctrines and inherently malicious ideologies that he enforced have rendered the land nothing more than a depressive wasteland full of oppressed citizens. Happy and cheerful individuals have been moulded into complete degenerates as a consequence of the king's lies. Civilians value ignorance as thinking about their misery will act as nothing more than a burden.

None of this suffering seems to bother the ruler as he watches one of the gladiators fall to his knees, he must now make the decision to tell the victorious mercenary to either kill him or spare him. Showing no mercy, he tells him to smite the defeated and ashamed gladiator. In a matter of seconds, the victor raises his serrated sword and decapitates him in front of a cheering crowd. Despite witnessing the death of a noble fighter, the king still feels the need to quench the thirst for human suffering for his only source of pleasure is carnage and genocide. His mind is completely void of remorse and sympathy and his response to tragedy is usually rather facetious.

He walks down to the exit, where he is greeted by a citizen, "Good morning my lord", "Silence peasant, your mere presence is causing me great anguish and misery", the king replies. After degrading those with the audacity to speak to him, he calls upon a royal chariot with the intent of escorting him to his glorious castle surrounded by the walls of the citadel. Though years passed, the stone walls are still stained with the claw marks of those who suffered within the claustrophobic basement of the seemingly "beautiful" and "pure" structure.

Withered remnants of machines designed for torture are scattered across the floor. He looks in glee upon the room where he took so much joy in indiscriminately dissecting, mutilating, torturing and maiming innocent people. With malicious intent, he calls for one of his servants, despite thinking that it was odd that he was calling from the basement, the servant walks down there and is immediately hit over the head with a chair leg, he is knocked to the floor but quickly gets up again. He begins to lacerate the king using sheet metal he found laying upon the begrimed floor. He tackles the ruler to the ground, overcome with his servant's strength, the ruler collapses, and then, as though he is imitating the king's cruelty, he stabs him in the abdomen, ending his reign of terror.