"This is a story of five brothers who were torn apart because of greed. Greed of power,” an old man said wiping off water from his face.

“Who were these five brothers?” the police officer asked.

“Can you tell me where we are right now?”

“At the beach. In Australia.”

“I see. It’s quite dark here. Anyways, these five brothers were sons of a king. The king died without leaving behind his will, regarding who will take over the throne after him. His five sons mutually decided regarding who will take over their father’s throne and how. But the citizens of this island, this state, came out in protest.”

“Where did all of this happen?”

“There is an island at some distance form here. It was conquered several decades back by an educated man. The conqueror died but his son Franklin took over and eventually changed that island into a city. A civilisation that was governed as a dictatorship.”

“You came from there?” the police officer asked.

“I was pushed over on the sea. I protested. I stood up for the truth. So, the mob threw me and I almost drowned in the sea. Thank God! I was a swimmer, so I survived somehow. And then you saved me further. I would like to thank you for that.”

“No, I want to know more about what happened back there. Why exactly you were pushed?”

“It is a long story. I am just an ordinary character in this one. The hero of this story is Franklin’s fourth son Abraham. He was the one who brought revolution there.”

“How far is this island? And what do you call it?”

“Prestige Land. It was named Prestige Land by Franklin’s father.”

“Prestige Land. Yes, I think we have heard of it before. Anyways, tell me about it. Can you summarise it briefly?”

“I can. I’ll tell you from the beginning.”

“Okay, wait, just one minute,” the police officer stood up. “I’ll arrange two chairs, we will sit on them.”

“Okay.”

“And one more thing, what is your name again?”

“Landon Hart. You can just call me Hart.”

“Sure.”

The police officer left.

While Hart was all alone, he was feeling very cold as his body was wet. He remembered what happened with him.

He remembered that he was being asked by the leader of a mob,

“Jump off this island, or give up supporting Abraham.”

“I will never up supporting Abraham. I’d rather die.”

“So, be it then.”

Mr Hart opened his eyes and came back from the flashback.

A minute later, he was seated on a chair with a blanket. He began narrating,

“Back in 1780s, Carl sailed through ships and conquered an island killing most of the wild humans and cannibals there. He found one woman there who did not share the same language as his. But the two got married. They had a son Franklin. Carl sent Franklin offshore to study. When Franklin was thirty, he returned as an educated and experienced man as Carl planned for him. The father and son now worked really hard and made this island a state. Carl died and Franklin then became the king after him. The place was highly populated. It had more than one million people. The area in terms of square kilometer of this island was three thousand and six hundred kilometers.”

“That is quite much.”

“I don’t know, maybe. Franklin, however, ruled this place like a selfish and greedy ruler. He was simply enjoying his position. He was spending most of his time in leisure. His wife did not like him. He had however, five sons, all of them were very educated. He did not teach them himself. He hired teachers from other countries and gave them the best education.”

“These five brothers are the ones you were talking about?”

“Yes, these five are the leading characters of this story. Franklin, however, made it a state and initially acted as a responsible person. But he got lazy afterwards and was disliked by the general public. The population of the city grew rapidly.”

“Can you tell me about the five brothers?”

“Okay, I’ll tell you from the oldest to the youngest. The eldest brother was Jacob, the second one was Austin. The third one…”

“…Wait,” the officer interfered, “please describe them a bit. Tell me a little about each brother.”

“Alright, alright. The first one was Jacob, greedy and pleasure lover. Austin was kind of bossy and arrogant. Third one was Thomas, lazy and careless, if you ask me. Abraham was the most loved one, I would define him as very honest, brave and disciplined.”

“Oh!”

“Yes and the last one was Frederick. He was cunning but volatile. He would lose his temper.”

“So, these five brothers, are they still alive?”

“I cannot comment on this right now, but most of them are. I want you to know that all these brothers had a mutual consensus on one thing. It was the public that broke their consensus. But I cannot blame the public for that. They expected a king who was kind and understanding.”

“Look, you are probably going ahead. I want you to tell me about what happened after Franklin died.”

“Okay…Well, what happened was that Franklin died less than ten years back. He did not leave a will behind regarding who would get the throne. So, the five brothers had a meeting. It was a detailed meeting regarding who would get the throne. They all however, agreed on a conclusion proposed by Austin. They concluded that each brother would get to rule the state for exact two years. It was meant to be done in a sequence of eldest to youngest.”

“Oh…Like Jacob would rule the state for two years then Austin for two, then Thomas for two and so on.”

“Exactly. This was mutually agreed upon. And Jacob proposed that once the ten years would pass, they would make a new law regarding who would rule.”

“I see, I get it. Tell me one more thing; was there any constitution regarding laws of the state?”

“Yes, we had. Franklin devised one. It was a document of ten pages including the front and back.”

“I see. So, it was mainly a dictatorship?”

“Uh no, the reign of Jacob and Austin’s was dictatorship. But Thomas’ and Abraham’s reign was what you call a democracy.”

“I see. And Fredderick’s?”

“Let me tell you what exactly happened. I will describe each reign in few words. Jacob’s time was what one can describe as period of worst economic position. Austin’s reign can be described as period of cruelty and injustices. Thomas’ time was a period of destructive entertainment.”

“Wow!”

“But…Abraham’s time was what one can proudly state as period of revolution towards discipline.”

“That sounds interesting. What about the last one?”

“Frederick’s time never came.”

“Sorry?”

“It never happened.”

“Really? How come?”

“Let me summarise the eight years first…” Mr Hart responded, “Jacob became the first king after Franklin. The citizens had accepted him as the new king of Prestige Land. The other four brothers were in different positions as viziers and governors. What happened in the first two months which shocked everyone was that Jacob tripled the prices of all eatable items. From fruits to vegetables, every item’s price was tripled based on the prices of Franklin’s time.”

“Oh, my God!”

“Inflation was at peak. Unemployment was also rising.”

“Hang on for a moment here. I want to know what kind of currency you dealt with.”

“We dealt in gold and silver coins. Also, barter system.”

The officer nodded. Mr Hart continued,

“Taxes were also raised higher. This was all happening because Jacob simply wanted to enjoy in the castle. He had kept himself blind from what the citizens were going through. He was not willing to confront it.”

“I see.”

“What happened one day publicly, was that a father who got unemployed during his reign asked people to support him financially. Nobody could. Unfortunately, others were also jobless like him. This man had a whole family behind. He couldn’t see how he was unable to and how helpless he was. So, he publicly committed suicide by hanging himself on a tree.”

“Oh, my God!”

“By the end of his reign, he retained the prices back to their original values. Anyways, now the period of Austin began. Like I said, before, this was a period of cruelty and injustices. This man was the worst judge you would ever know. Whenever the cases, were presented before him, people hardly saw fairness. The most disturbing event that took place during his reign was that a mother of two kids was ruthlessly killed. There were plenty of evidences that could get the murderers in jail, but when the case was brought before him, the criminals were spared. During his period, many people were unfairly favoured because of him. Another incident took place when a huge library got burnt down. Some people also died in that tragic event. But the worst part of all was that all the responsible men were spared by King Judge Austin.”

“That’s tragic, indeed.”

“His reign ended, and the reign of Thomas began. Thomas was a fun lover who preferred watching stage shows all the time. Stage magic and trickery was promoted quite a lot in his period. Fortune tellers and palmists also got promoted. There was a fraud fortune teller who fooled many people. He was caught and exposed one day. A group of angry men killed him in public. The scene was quite horrific. But what we know is that this case should have been taken to Thomas’ court. But Thomas was a lazy guy who did not take any responsibility at all. Apart from this, magic and trickery was taught in schools. The core subjects were replaced with these. It was a huge downfall of education. Another incident happened, a circus was arranged but due to some mismanagement, the hall broke down and almost all the animals like elephants, tigers and gorillas got injured and died.”

“Oh, dear lord!” the police officer commented.

“What happened next was what you have been waiting to hear. It was a period of Abraham now. The fourth son, who was opposite of all in every way. He was a brave and disciplined man who preferred justice over everything. His period was a period of revolution, a peaceful revolution that eventually led to wars and bloodshed. He reopened all the dismissed and pending cases. He gave justice to all those who were seeking it since Jacob’s reign. What really surprised everyone and what no one was ever expecting was that how he handled a situation when his brother in law got involved in a crime.”

The officer listened to him impatiently, Mr Hart continued,

“Everyone was expecting that he would be released or would be given a warning or something, but no. He was punished for the crime that he committed according to the constitution. That day, people realised that now there was some hope in this state. Abraham was handling all positions of governors himself. He could not rely on his brothers; he had to see the matters on his own. He used to wander alone in the state and see what people were going through. He used to hide under disguises and make sure that everyone was getting justice.”

“Wow!”

“What happened further was quite expected for me but unexpected for the brothers. It was the last month of Abraham’s reign, he had to leave the king’s post and hand it over to Frederick as per their agreement. However, the citizens of the state refused this and came out in protests. They were standing outside the castle and refused to accept any king besides Abraham. Abraham gave a speech and tried to make them understand but no one wanted Frederick. The five brothers had another meeting then and they came up with the idea that Abraham would rule for one more year and then Frederick would for one. The citizens agreed. But what happened after the year passed? Frederick got disappeared, and on people’s choice Abraham was to be elected again. This infuriated Austin who held Abraham responsible for Frederick’s disappearance. So, Abraham was locked in jail…”

“You know what? Stop here. This story is way too interesting, I want to hear it from the beginning but not briefly. I want everything in detail. I’ll send our team to your state and resolve all the conflicts there, I promise. Start again, please.”

to be continued...