I am Khalid ibn Rashan, Emperor of Zaharat al-Rimal, master of the Blossoming Sands. For thirty years I have worn the crown of my forefathers, ruling a land where the sun spares no mercy and the desert yields nothing to the weak. My skin is the color of the dunes, my eyes dark as obsidian, and I carry the weight of a throne carved from ivory and gold.

I was not born into softness. The desert teaches a man to endure — to thirst, to fight, to wait. 