The First Caliph
Harun, abandoning his wife and his newborn daughter, followed the mysterious Daeva
into the deep desert to the south of Umbrikand. There he fought with the true dangers
of the desert, not the ghouls or Orcs, but the storm spirits and the demons in the
sand. Harun recorded details of his travels in his first book, the Al-meeshra or
“Steps of the Divine”, where he describes hearing the voice of the sky and battling
with a many-headed dragon made of shadow and fear. During all steps of his journey,
the Daeva stood by his side. She was the strength in his arm, the power in his voice
and courage in his heart. After ten long years of wandering with the Daeva, Harun
emerged from the swirling winds of the desert at the gates of his home city. His
eyes, now the colour of darkest jet, looked at the city and saw only greed and corruption.
He walked through the gates with parchments of his book in one hand and a dark red
sword in the other.
In the ten years he had been away, the corrupt rulers of Umbrikand had handed the
small city to the vile Djinn. While they lived in luxury in their palaces, the poor
lived toiled under the whips of the Djinn. The soldiers of Umbrikand now served
the Djinn slavers or guarded the palaces of the ruling elite. The city’s priests
were blind to the suffering of their people and spent their time granting meaningless
blessings to passing caravans for money.
Harun walked to the gates of the Sultan’s palace, and with the fury and strength
of a demon, cut down the dozen guards at its gate. His dark red sword passed through
their armour and flesh as easily as it would the desert air. Those few guards that
were able to strike back found their swords unable to cut his flesh. Covered in
blood, Harun smashed down the gates of the palace and continued to ascend the steps
to the Sultan’s court. He butchered any of the guards that opposed him. Seeing this
terrible warrior approach, the remaining guards realized they valued their lives
more than those of their employers and allowed him to pass. As he approached the
Sultan’s court, he heard jubilant laughter and music within. Those sounds were silenced
when he cut down the last of the palace guards in his way and hurled his corpse
through the courtyard door. Inside, he saw the Sultan and his family enjoying a
grand feast, dining with dozens of Djinn lords. Within a few short, terrifying minutes,
the courtyard walls and floor were drenched in human and Djinn blood. In his fury,
he left none of the Djinn lords or the ruling family alive. His work done, Harun
walked back down the steps of the palace to reclaim his city.
Harun’s defiance and hatred for the corrupt rulers of the city and their vile Djinn
slavers awoke the down-trodden people of Umbrikand. As he walked through the streets
cutting down the Djinn slavers and their guards, the people he freed followed him,
praising the birth of a new god. The Djinn had never faced such an enemy and fled
back into the depths of the desert. Only two Djinn were captured alive, Ullriy and
Aszrin, the daughters of a Djinn lord slain in the palace massacre. Curiously, Harun
took the two creatures as his concubines. Few argued with him or questioned his
purpose. To his followers, every word from his lips was an unquestionable truth.
The merchants and priests soon bowed to Harun and acknowledged him as their new
Sultan. However, the title Harun chose for himself was Caliph, because he foresaw
a grander destiny.
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