My father was a chief within the Morri kingdom, he was a tall man, built like a bull, well known through out the known world for his fighting prowess, through his campaigns conquering neighbouring kingdoms with our king, King Akili, and winning wrestling tournaments during weddings and feasts in his younger years, now he has gracefully retired on his throne, where he presides over the largest army and second largest land within our kingdom, second only to the king.

Our family is a quiet complicated one, you see I was a the youngest of 5, I had 4 older brothers all much like my father, strong, stout and tall ,but all my siblings died during the warring periods in which my father made a name for himself.

He pushed all of them to be on the frontlines alongside him, and as one after another fell to the enemies blade, after every battle, he pulled the next to stand right alongside him until all of them died and I was the only one left, he would of pulled me up right with him, but thankfully I was too young to fight during that time as I was only 8.

I never really knew my mother as I have been told by my father teacher that she had been banished by my father after protesting against him forcing my older siblings on the frontlines to fight alongside him and since then, he has taken exactly 7 wives in the hopes to produce an heir, but to no avail, I believe he has found me not to be worthy of that throne he sits upon, since I don’t resemble him in the slightest, I am frail, skinny and of average height I don’t particularly enjoy fighting or wrestling, but where I fail in physical attributes, I more than make up for with my academic and mental prowess, constantly scoring high with my exams and holding the title of the best chess player in my fathers land, not that any of that means much to him.

“It’ll will not be the boy who plays with pieces on a board or the one who can count to the highest sheep, It is only the mightiest who will rule my kingdom, because no matter how heavy that book of yours is, it is not strong enough to stop a sword in full swing.”, as my father would always say to me.

One thing my father didn’t get is how similiar life is to chess, because in order to win at life you have to make a move, but each move has a reward or consequence that shortly follows and if that move is a mistake you cannot undo it.

“Paris!.”, my father shouted at me, with a voice like thunder, it was impossible to miss, I got up and quickly made myself look presentable before standing before and russed to the throne room.

Once I entrered and stood before him, he was there sitting on throne, with his shoulders and knees as far apart from each other as he could make them, to the right and left of him were elephant, hippo and lion skulls all of which he hunted, he displayed them like trophies to be admired, my hand began trembling with anxiously.

My father Chief Gato then said, “Boy, you do remember that I will be hosting a tournament in a weeks time right?.”

I did not dare look him in the eye with all his subjects with him, so as I was staring at the ground I replied, “Yes my chief I remember.”

With a stoic expression he replies, “Well then, I have called you here to tell you, to inform you that, you’ll be participating in the wrestling competition with the other boys of the other chiefs and king.”

Shock raced through my body, but I dared not to show it to him, or even lash out in anger, so I gathered my thoughts and calmly replied, “But my chief I was supposed to take part in the chess competition.”

“No!.”, my father said with such force that the skulls beside him rattled, he continued and said, “I have taken that pitiful thing you call a competition out of the tournament, no longer will you hide behind toys and cowardice, you will participate in the wrestling competition and you will not dissapoint me, you are my only heir and you will be strong enough to ruke these lands, I will not allow my name to be thrown in the dirt during your reign, I will not let you turn this family into a laughing stock boy, dismissed.”

As soon as he said dismissed I turnt around with no hesitation and went back to my room, I laid down on my bed fuming with anger, clutching my fist wishing I could do or even say something in protest, but the reality kicked in I knew the consequences of what my lashing would, so pulled my blankets and laid there.