1453: Revival of Byzantium

Mehmed watches as the city he is destined to take burns slowly into ashes.

His viziers, pashas, beys and courtiers stand behind him with their heads low.

"They gave me no choice." Mehmed opened his mouth with his back facing the grand vizier.

"Yes, we understand, my Sultan." The Grand Vizier bowed even lower.

"No wise Sultan in this world will damage any possession that is destined to be his in the future…"

"Yes, my Sultan." The Grand Vizier Candarli Halil Pasha leaned forward with his head staying low. "We all understand, my Sultan."

"What do you understand?"

"…"

"Never mind." Mehmed sighed and walked away with his hands on the back. "Sultans, are lonely, my dear Candarli Halil Pasha…"

"…And only another Sultan can understand what I am thinking, how I feel, where I want to go…" Suddenly Mehmed stopped and stared backwards at Candarli Halil Pasha's neck. "Do you want to become a Sultan? Candarli Halil Pasha?"

Candarli Halil Pasha felt like he has fell prey to the vicious freezing eyes of a serpent, he hastily kneeled down in front of the sultan, crawled forward and kissed his sultan's boots. "I vow with all my prestige to the Great Prophet that I shall remain a faithful subject to you, my Sultan, I take my vow with my life!"

Mehmed continued staring at him for a while, and then bursted into a chain of laughter. He pulled his grand vizier up from the muddy ground, patted him on his shoulders and grinned. "Why are you so nervous my dear Candarli Halil Pasha? I am just asking you a simple question out of merely just curiosity! Don't take it too harsh on yourself, you are doing great!"

Candarli Halil Pasha continued bowing down, no one can see his facial expression from this angle.

"Anyways…"

Mehmed turned around, took out a crippled brown letter and spread it on the table. "Candarli Halil Pasha, do you know this man called Abdullah Miralai? Does this name ring any bells in your head?"

"Yes, my Sultan." Candarli Halil Pasha replied. "He is a close…"

"No, my dear Candarli Halil Pasha." Mehmed interrupted him before he can continue. "You do not know this man; I forbid you from knowing him. Now let me ask you again, do you know this man called Abdullah Miralai?"

"No, my Sultan, I have no idea of this man."

"Good." Mehmed walked up into a barricade looking in the directions of Constantinople and continued slowly. "I have gotten some interesting reports from both Anatolia and a colleague of yours that this man, who is originally a subject of me, has conducted treason and is now serving the Romans…"

"Remember, my dear Candarli Halil Pasha." Mehmed suddenly turned back and grabbed the Grand Vizier by his shoulders with a tremendous force that Candarli Halil Pasha could hardly take it. "I am not a Sultan who show any leniency to treason towards me…"

"Now, Candarli Halil Pasha, will you betray me?"

Candarli Halil Pasha hurriedly kneeled down once more on the muddy ground and began kissing the Sultan's boots. "No, my Sultan, that kind of thought will never ever show up inside my head!"

"Good… Good, why are you kneeling, come stand up my dear Grand Vizier, be like a noble!" Mehmed grabbed the Grand Vizier by the arms and lifted him up once more."

"Thank you my Sultan!"

"Now… For this man called Abdullah Miralai…" Mehmed drew out his blade and started wiping her with a rug. "Get our spies some work, send him a letter showing my regards, and leave him two choices… Whether he comes back to repent his crime, or he can choose to stay inside that city as an undercover… never mind, I do not trust this man, just order him to come to me or see the heads of his entire family chopped off."

"Yes, my Sultan." A scribe behind Candarli Halil Pasha bowed and went away to write the letter.

Mehmed took another look at the bowing Candarli Halil Pasha and then went back to his tent. While Candarli Halil Pasha stood there with his legs and hands trembling thinking about one thing.

When the Sultan says that he will have Abdullah's entire family's head chopped off, does it include him as well?

Does the Sultan wants to completely get rid of him already?

Once this kind of thoughts come to mind, it will never go away.

…

Back in the city.

The city over the walls is still burning, vast smoke filled the atmosphere donning the rays of sunlight with a bloody devilish colour of death. She is filled with the odour and pungent smile of people dropping dead and their flesh burning into ashes, there is no hope, people are desperate to find any possible ways to save their lives, but unfortunately there is no Noah this time to save them.

Once a fire like this scale starts in a city like this, it can hardly be stopped by human forces, unless some other forces of the mother nature came to help, and luckily for the Romans there was a rain a night ago that extinguished the fire before it can spread to the entire city. Some how magically Constantinople experience more rains in winter seasons than summer, this put an end to the monstrous flames, which might end up burning the entire city to the grounds.

Even so, the aftermath proved to be catastrophic for the city and her people. The queen of all cities, already having shell holes and craters everywhere, is now covered in a layer of grey ash, the residential areas near the walls are already fully burnt to the grounds due to their construction material comprising of mainly wood. What makes it even worse is the lives lost in this fire, one can never tell whether the grey ashes his boots is standing on belong to a burnt building, or a deceased man.

Abdullah and Angelo crawled out of the tower, they are trapped inside the top floor of the tower for almost a day but somehow they managed to survive, with the price of all their hair and eyebrows. The chest hair that Angelo used to be proud of when he was in junior ages are also vanquished.

They were rejoicing first with other soldiers that somehow they managed to survive, but the sight after they crawled out immediately poured a bucket of icy cold water on their head.