The parable of the impoverished palace

So... I was lying in bed and suddenly the Lord told me this parable. I saw the events pass before my eyes and heard the words in my heart. I've never had The Holy Spirit tell me a parable before.

So here it is:

There was a certain kingdom which was rumored to be quite rich and the fame of it was so great that kings came upon it and beseiged it. Because, they thought, the riches within this city and this palace are greater than the riches in all our kingdoms combined. In attacking this city, these invading kings lost their wealth and many soldiers but they thought little of the loss because the promise of the wealth inside was so great, their loss would be nothing compared to the gold and riches they would gain when they breached the palace. At last they came to the city where the king lived but the king would not give them the city. The invading kings beseiged this city and would not let anyone in or out. Starvation and death occurred in the capitol city but the king would not relent and give up neither his city nor his palace. Most of the city died and only the king was left alive in his palace. At last the invaders managed to destroy the palace walls and entered. When they entered the palace, they were surprised to see nothing within it: not old, not silver, not precious gems. Indeed, the palace had been empty since the siege began.
The question then is: Who is more foolish? The king of the beseiged city who allowed his kingdom to be destroyed because he was too ashamed to show his emptiness? Or the invaders who lost all in order to gain what turned out to be nothing? Indeed, the captive king might have opened his palace to his would-be captors if he had had gold and silver. And the would be captors would have returned to their own lands early if the king had shown them his emptiness.

Hubby says it's about losing all the world. The people who have riches (religion or whatever) feel someone has so much more riches. So they lose their riches in pursue of riches (other religion) that aren't there. 

Jessica says, both the king and his invaders are equally foolish. Envy, covetousness, assuming.

I'm thinking it's about fear of showing one's emptiness. And what is emptiness? Would someone because of pride allow himself to be destroyed so that others will not see his own emptiness? Or is there some kind of satisfaction in his heart now? He had nothing. The others have now lost everything to get what they thought he had but now they are just like him because they lost what they had?

I don't think I can make a story out of this...cause...well, it's a parable. And stories require characterizations etc.