Tale of the Week 295: Emperor - Winner's Circle

[Turkafinwë]

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Emperor


Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte by Workshop of François Gérard - provided by Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Four would-be Emperors joined in battle for supremacy over Tale of the Week 295. The fighting was fierce, the armies glorious, the casualties many. From the ashes of the battlefield, a victor emerges. IneptCmdr is hailed and crowned sole Emperor, turns out IneptCmdr wasn't so inept after all. For winning Tale of the Week 295, IneptCmdr receives 1 Writers' Study Competition point, bringing Inept's total to 14 points.

You can read IneptCmdr's winning entry below:

TotW 295: Emperor - WINNING SUBMISSION

Why am I here? Why have you brought me to this place? I am surrounded by chaos and confusion. Bodies everywhere, bodies in constant motion. Yet, I feel alone. I glance to the left, then the right. Nothing but unfamiliar faces staring blankly ahead. I see no life in their eyes and wonder if there is any left in mine. Are we alike, them and I? Do they feel what I feel? Do they think the thoughts I do? Answerless questions pile up in my head, flooding my mind, drowning me. I want to know; am I the only one? A single reasoning individual, like an island in a sea of empty shells. Or could I be wrong? Maybe I am no more alive than those around me. I try to purge my ideas, for they serve only as torment. In the end, it doesn't really matter one way or the other. We are trapped together, regardless of conceived agency. Souls already sold to damnation. Our feet lift and set in unison as we move forward with synchronized steps. Our arms swing steadily, left, right, left, right. We are not human, but a single machine, bound by the eagle's glare under which we march. A mere tool for our master to please his whims.

And the machine moves on. It consumes. Devours. Everything in its path gets destroyed with equal ferocity. No pardon. None. That is, until it meets its rival. A block of men, robbed of essence, packed shoulder to shoulder. Like us, another machine of cogs and steam. The opposite side of the same coin. We stop and stare at one another. For a brief moment, we share the insanity of the situation. Then darkness falls again. The unyielding, unstoppable, unforgiving darkness. Man the battery! Load the guns! Rally men, rally! Hold the line! This is the time of victory! Victory for whom? Over what? More questions, but still no answers. Just do or die. We lash out with hellish vigor. Like hammers, forged in the most deprived reaches of man's nature, we strike at each other. Blow after bloody blow. The bodies around me shudder and fall. They, who moved so stridently before, now lay motionless on the ground. They are no longer chained. The leash has snapped. They are gone from this world and into the next. They are dead.

I stare at the corpses and pray for the chance to take my place beside them. The thought is terrifying, but also sweet and so very alluring. I want to leave this field of evil. Then, amidst the sharp crackles, loud booms and the cries of those gone before me, I feel a sudden pain in my chest. My legs give way. I tumble over. Finally, my time has come. Freedom and death intertwine in a macabre release from this prison of flesh. In that last moment, before embracing the void, I see the man who led me here. And I scream his call; Vive L'Empereur!

A big thank you to everyone who submitted an entry or voted in the poll from me on behalf of all the WS Staff. This competition would be nothing without everyone who gets a Tale penned.

TotW 295: Submissions thread | Voting thread

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For those looking for the next challenge, a new Tale of the Week will be posted very soon can be found here. Hope to see you all in the next one, Tale of the Week 296: Hero of the Hour!

[Alwyn]

Congratulations and welcome back, IneptCmdr!

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

As much as the diverse perspectives are excellent, this was a very difficult one to contest.

[Kilo11]

Congratulations indeed, IneptCmdr. Your story was intense and riveting, and in an extremely small number of words made me surprisingly sympathetic with your characters. All in all, an excellent read, and I can only hope you'll be putting more of the same in future competitions!

[Admiral Van Tromp]

A well deserved win! Congratulations!

[Swaeft]

Really fantastic job ept commander! Looks like the cannon fodder takes the win It was a joy to have partaken in this iteration, the entries were simply brilliant. Great job all!

[Admiral Van Tromp]

Really fantastic job ept commander! Looks like the cannon fodder takes the win It was a joy to have partaken in this iteration, the entries were simply brilliant. Great job all!

I forgot to tell you, but the opening of your entry reminded me of the exchange at 1h10:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH2BZgbbKjI

[Swaeft]

I forgot to tell you, but the opening of your entry reminded me of the exchange at 1h10:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH2BZgbbKjI

Very well spotted! This movie actually inspired me to buy Napoleon Total War, heh. This was the scene which inspired the TotW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt4mYUKjzn0

The messenger at 2:52 was about where I ended it. The marching music was fabulous!

[Admiral Van Tromp]

I susupected the movie had been an inspiration for you. It becomes Waterloo in your mind after you watch it.

If you enjoyed that scene and the marching music, you will love Bondarchuk's War and Peace.
If you haven't seen it, the whole thing is on Youtube with great quality and subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-SAh4jdssA

At 1h33 you can see Austerlitz, and a scene that's very close to the one you quoted in Waterloo. La victoire est a nous and everything.
There's no shortage of connections between both films.

[IneptCmdr]

Thank you all! I hope to see another set of excellent entries in the next TotW.

[Swaeft]

I susupected the movie had been an inspiration for you. It becomes Waterloo in your mind after you watch it.

If you enjoyed that scene and the marching music, you will love Bondarchuk's War and Peace.
If you haven't seen it, the whole thing is on Youtube with great quality and subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-SAh4jdssA

At 1h33 you can see Austerlitz, and a scene that's very close to the one you quoted in Waterloo. La victoire est a nous and everything.
There's no shortage of connections between both films.

Yeah, I can't imagine Waterloo any differently. The music sticks in my mind the most. The Highlanders theme was brilliant.

Thanks for the recommendation, will check it out!

Thank you all! I hope to see another set of excellent entries in the next TotW.

Hope to see you there as well

[King Athelstan]

Congratulations, it's a brilliant piece of writing!