The Price of Vengeance
A short story, written by AI
The following short story was written by ChatGPT. Prompts Used
In the misty highlands of Vehris, a kingdom draped in old pride and polished steel, a boy named Taren was raised to believe a single truth: “Follow Prince Kaelen, and your path will be golden.”
Kaelen, firstborn of King Halmar, had been hailed as a gift from the gods—brilliant in speech, unmatched in battle, and destined to rule with divine right. The kingdom adored him. His banners flew over every tower, and his victories were sung by children and bards alike.
Taren, chosen at twelve to serve in Kaelen’s court, watched the prince with reverence. “To serve him,” Taren thought, “is to serve the very soul of Vehris.”
But as Taren grew older, so did the prince’s ego.
Kaelen began to speak less of duty and more of destiny. He declared himself above the law—rewriting statutes with a gesture, jailing dissenters without trial, and surrounding himself with flatterers who mirrored his belief in Vehrin exceptionalism. “The world envies us,” he’d say, “because they know we are born to rule it.”
Taren stayed silent. Loyalty, he thought, required faith. But the seed of doubt took root.
Then came the Emberian rebellion.
The Emberians—forest-dwelling peoples long placed under martial law, denied courts and imprisoned without charge—rose in fury after a Vehrin captain torched their sacred groves. In the night, they struck a border garrison, killing dozens. Women, children, and soldiers died alike.
The court trembled.
But Kaelen did not.
“There will be no mercy,” he said, eyes like frost. “For every Vehrin life taken, a hundred Emberians will burn. They have insulted me. They will learn the price of defiance.”
The council objected. Neighboring kingdoms urged restraint. But Kaelen dismissed them all. “This is not war. This is vengeance—and vengeance is mine.”
Taren rode beside him during the first assault, but what he saw shattered his silence. Emberian villages—undefended—were burned. The old and infirm slaughtered. Children left to starve in ash.
That night, Taren could no longer sleep. He returned to the law scrolls he had studied as a page, to the old teachings that once shaped the kingdom: Justice before pride. Mercy before might.
Kaelen had forsaken them all.
When the next orders came—to poison a village well—Taren fled.
He crossed the Emberian border not as a soldier, but as a penitent. “Prince Kaelen is mad with greatness,” he told the Emberian council. “He seeks not victory, but domination. He speaks no longer for Vehris, only for himself.”
The Emberians were wary, but they listened.
So did others.
As Kaelen’s campaign grew bloodier, neighboring realms cut ties. Former allies closed their gates. Vehrin coffers drained. Soldiers deserted. Kaelen, increasingly isolated, doubled down—declaring himself “Emperor of the Righteous Flame.”
It was a child’s title.
Eventually, even his father, King Halmar, could no longer protect him. Kaelen was stripped of his command and exiled, raving of betrayal as he was led beyond the northern pass, alone.
Years Later
Taren became an emissary—not of conquest, but of reconciliation. He helped draft the Emberian Accords, which restored their autonomy and outlawed martial law in all provinces. The forests were replanted. The groves blessed again.
Yet scars remained—on both sides.
Vehris had lost more than men and gold. It had lost its moral clarity, its alliances, and the illusion of its superiority. It would take a generation to rebuild trust.
In time, the people of Vehris whispered a hard-won truth, passed from parent to child:
“A kingdom that exalts itself above all others will eventually stand alone.
And vengeance, once loosed, always returns to claim its price.”
So ended the era of Kaelen.
And so began a humbler Vehris, born not from fire—but from the ashes of its pride.
Source: AI Prompts
https://chatgpt.com/share/68807c9c-da08-8009-a291-f75e29afd8e0
Please write a short story about a boy who is taught he will find his prosperity by unconditionally following the lead of his kingdom's oldest prince. The boy faces a dilemma when the prince becomes more and more convinced he is exceptional and unbound by the law. After a subjected people the kingdom was suppressing attacks the kingdom, the prince vows a massive and barbaric revenge, alienating his neighbors. Will the boy violate the morals and laws he was taught, in pursuit of the prince's revenge, as the prince spirals into depravity, or will the boy be loyal to the laws and morals he was taught?
Please revise the short story to use the title and theme "The Price of Vengeance." Have the ending of story describe the lesson that the people of Vehris learned about the cost of exceptionalism and vengeance to Vehris and the Emberians.
Please change the section that describes the Emberians as "taxed and conscripted by Vehrin decree" to subject to martial law that allowed them to be imprisoned without charge.