EPILOGUE Legends say that over four thousand years ago, a monster called the Arbor Void lay waste to civilization. With over nine-tenths of the world in ruins, it was the Sword King, Nonorick Adelheid, and his advisor, Leone Bohrt, who together put down roots and founded the Holy Kingdom of Heidelchia. The kingdom possessed a few tracts of arable land, so while it was nothing special, it managed to maintain peace with its neighbors for many years. When I was born, I became the second in line to the throne of Heidelchia. It was expected that my elder brother would inherit the throne, and so from the age of five, I was trained to assist him. My father, a solemn and gentle king. My mother, a kind and calm queen. A kind and diligent crown prince, my cheerful and slightly boyish elder sister, and most recently, my younger sister, the latest to be born. I had heard that in other nations, quarrels and strife between children of the royal family were common, but the people of this land were all carefree and accepting folk, so nothing of that sort ever happened here. “Peekaboo! Peekaboo!” “Gaa! Waa!” I played with the baby, and she stared at me with her big, round eyes. “…Sigh. What business did you call me here for, my prince?” The old man was an eccentric researcher by the name of Mordott. He used to serve as a mage of the royal court, before his retirement left him living at the castle in a purely advisory role. In his free time, he liked to study ancient history, learning what the world was like before the Arbor Void. Normally, he would be exploring the castle library with his head in a book like always, but today I had summoned him here. “Watch, Mordott. I play peekaboo with the baby, but it barely reacts anymore.” “Well, of course, sire. Even a baby will cease to be surprised if one plays the same game with it every single day.” “Is there nothing in your bag of tricks that could entertain it?” “For child-rearing, you should ask the castle maids, not a withered old prune like me.” “I did, but none of their ideas worked. I figured I’d turn to you next, since you seem to have nothing better to do.” “I have my research to be getting on with, thank you very much. Speaking of which, aren’t you normally with your tutor around this time? You’d better not be skipping class again.” “Perish the thought. I simply finished early and wanted to see my new baby sister, that’s all.” As I was explaining my situation, the clock caught my eye. “Oh dear,” I exclaimed. “I’m late for my meeting with Father!” The king had requested to speak with all members of the family in his chamber. “How did I manage to waste so much time listening to an old man complain?” “Just get going already, sire.” Mordott heaved a sigh and shooed me out of the room. I still had questions, but I needed to hurry if I was to make it to Father’s meeting on time. As I made my way through the castle, I fell into thought. I wonder what Father wants? He doesn’t usually speak to us this late in the day. Passing by the window, I saw the sky grow red above the town. I always liked the color red, and I often watched the setting sun, but it wasn’t only the red of the sun that pleased me. I also liked the red of the fires in the hearth that allowed people to go about their business, and the scarlet of the sweetest fruits, and the crimson of my father’s cape. “Phew, I made it. Better make sure my clothes are tidy.” At that time, I thought those happy days would go on forever. I could never have imagined what awaited me on the other side of that door. “Sorry I’m late…Father…?” I never thought the day would come where I would learn to despise the color red. “Wh…what…happened? Father…” As the door swung open, a terrible sight met my eyes. “Mother…” The walls were painted in a red I had never seen before. “Brother…” The air was thick with a clammy heat and the smell of rust. “Sister…” The moment I saw it, I could take it no longer. There was not a single living, breathing thing in that room. I was greeted with severed heads of my family, surrounded by their broken, mangled body parts. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhh!” What is this? What is this? What is this? My eyes betrayed me. My world crumbled. I heard a voice as if from far away. “Curses, we were too late! Troops, the prince has gone mad! Seize him!” Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the minister entering the room with a contingent of soldiers. This is just a bad dream… It has to be… It can’t be real… My world went dull, but time marched on. By the time I regained my senses, I was in the castle dungeon. I learned that I was to be executed the next day for viciously murdering my entire family, save my baby sister. It didn’t feel real. Try as I might, I couldn’t bring myself to feel anything about it. All my mind could manage was to show me that scene painted in red, again and again and again and again. “Why…? Why…?” I kept repeating to myself it was only a bad dream. A nightmare. But somewhere deep down, I knew that wasn’t true. So my mind went numb. I stopped thinking. Instead, I only asked myself the same meaningless question over and over again. Then, I heard the clink of my jail cell opening. “Sire, there is no time to despair.” “…Mordott?” My eyes were hazy, but I could somehow make out the form of the old castle researcher. “I managed to distract the guards, but it won’t fool them for long. Stand up, sire. I’ll explain on the way.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me with him. “We’ll head to my study,” he told me. “I’ve created a means of bypassing the kingdom’s teleportation restrictions. This should take you far beyond their reach.” Mordott pushed a teleportation crystal into my hand. “Mordott…,” I said. “Father, Mother, Brother, Sister…” “…They’re dead, I’m afraid. Murdered in cold blood.” So it wasn’t a dream… The reality hit me like a sack of bricks. Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision. “It’s hard to accept, I know, but you must. I knew the minister was not to be trusted, but I never thought he’d do anything so rash… Grh! He’s found us!” Just as the familiar door of Mordott’s study came into view, a figure stepped from the shadows. It was the minister himself, the man who had ordered my arrest. “My dear Mordott,” he said. “I know you must be getting senile in your old age, but that hardly excuses the freeing of a treasonous prince!” “Hmph. A fine thing for a scheming backstabber to say. Your plotting is as artless as it is wicked. You seek to frame the prince for your crimes and raise the princess to be your witless puppet!” “The…minister? He killed them…?” Mordott’s accusation hammered home a truth I had been trying my hardest to deny. “Heh-heh-heh. History will praise us for our deeds tonight. The kingdom will never grow with that foolish family on the throne!” “Grow?! You mean to take the lands of other nations and drive our country into war! If history has anything to say about you, it will be to rightly denounce you for your short-sighted greed!” “Heh. Greed? You think I’m doing this for greed? You hardheaded old dog! You don’t understand! You could never understand!” All of a sudden, the minister threw himself back, his mad eyes loosely directed at the heavens above. “You don’t get it you don’t get it you don’t get it in the slightest!! This is the will of god! My holy mission! I must put this world on the right path! It is my duty! My destinyyyyy!! Do you understand now, you doddering old fool?!” “Hrh!” I flinched as his crazed eyes fell on me. “What nonsense,” said Mordott. “You’ve gone mad!” “Aah… Urgh… Haah… I suppose you just don’t get it.” In an instant, the minister once more stood upright, his prior madness nowhere to be seen. He was again the wise, trustworthy aide I had grown to know. However, his calm, measured tone was made all the more unsettling by the knowledge of what I had just seen. “You leave me with no choice. The prince must not escape. I will have to settle things here and now!” Without even chanting, the minister created a magical flame. “Grh!!” The flame flickered gently and emitted a bright white light. However, this light was not due to the flame’s temperature. It was a so-called “sacred flame,” a fire whose only purpose was to purify. Looking into it brought only anxiety and dread, yet I couldn’t tear my eyes away. “Behold! The flame of god!! The very manifestation of the powers granted to me! A fire that will bring purity to the entire world! Oh my god, thank you, thank you!!” I was so frightened, I could barely follow, but Mordott stepped in between me and the laughing minister. “Don’t get cocky, youngster!” he said. “You’ll need more than that to take me on!” Then Mordott summoned a flame of his own; a huge, azure fire. Both combatants raised their staffs at each other, and the two fireballs collided. The minister’s spell was only about half the size of Mordott’s, but after battling for a moment, Mordott’s spell vanished as if being eaten up, and the minister’s fireball continued on its course. “Nrh!” “Mordott!!” The interaction didn’t seem to have slowed the minister’s spell at all, leaving the elderly Mordott with little time to evade. The fireball struck him clean in the shoulder. His staff clattered to the floor, and the old mage fell to his knees. “Looks like your age has gotten the better of you!” the minister jeered. “This is the end. Watch on, my god—bear witness!” While I was immobilized from panic, the minister turned to me and fired another spell. Is this…it? Is this where I die…? As I watched the oncoming spell and the sheer amount of scorn behind it, I could feel nothing but despair. I wanted to move, but all my brain could do was keep hammering home that I was about to meet my maker. “Sire!!” At that moment, an impact sent me flying to the side. In slow motion, I turned to see Mordott’s face. I read his lips, saying, “You must live,” and the next moment he was immolated by the flames. “Grh!!” “Hmm? Is that a teleportation stone in your hand, boy? Don’t think you’ll get the chance to use it!!” I had no time to mourn the old wizard’s fate. After the minister noticed what I was holding, he launched another fireball at me. “…T-teleport!” The fire impacted my arm just as the magic activated. The last thing I saw was the furious face of the minister who had betrayed me and my family. “Ghah!” When I emerged, the dizziness of teleportation was far outmatched by the inconceivable pain I felt in my left arm. Even now, the white flames continued to burn away at my flesh. “Gaaaaaagh!!” Pain, pain, pain. The flames died down, but they wouldn’t go away. From my wrist, they moved up to my elbow, then to my shoulder, claiming more and more of my arm for the fire. “Argh!! Curses! Curses!” Why?! Why did this happen to me?! Two forces dominated my mind: cruel pain and a burning anger. “Curses!! You’ll pay for this! You’ll pay!!” My father, my mother, my brother, my sister! He’d killed them all, and I had done nothing! I’d fled and left my baby sister in his clutches! I was so cowardly, I couldn’t even spit in his face! I’d lost everything! How could I let him get away with this? How could I let him live? “I’ll get you… I’ll get you, I’ll get you!! I’LL KILL YOU!!” “Aah, how long have I waited to hear those words?” “Who’s there?!” The very air seemed to reverberate with his voice. I snapped out of my rage and looked around. It appeared I had teleported to some strange ruin. I was in a room with an ancient shrine, except that upon the altar of worship, where I might expect to see a stone idol, there was instead a large crystal that shone in the seven colors of the rainbow. This crystal was the only source of light in the gloom. “Inside it…is that…a person?” I gazed at its softly glowing surface and made out the face of a man trapped within. “I thought I sensed something I didn’t like. Is this the sacred flame? That’s quite the punishment for an ordinary person to receive.” Punishment? This flame is a punishment? If this is a punishment, then what was my crime? And was it a crime heinous enough to warrant such agony? …Was this a just punishment for what I’d done? “Heh-heh. Ah-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You must be joking!!” No! There was no crime that justified what he did! No crime at all! “If this is a punishment from god,” I said, “then that god needs to die as well.” I never knew that a person could be so consumed by hatred that they forgot all pain. But the fire consuming my arm paled in comparison to the one devouring my heart. “I’m more interested in knowing why I sense someone I should have killed coming from that arm of yours… But I suppose that can wait.” “Grh?!” I watched as the crystal emitted a black light. The white flames on my arm turned black as night, and the pain vanished. “Did…you do this?” “Let me tell you up front. This path is a path of thorns.” The voice did not deign to answer my query. “One day, your pain and anger may fade away on their own. You could forget about it all and live a happy, peaceful life.” One day? Preposterous. When could such a day possibly come? “If you choose vengeance, your path can only terminate in the pits of hell or a sea of blood.” The pits of hell or a sea of blood? I would end up the same if I did nothing at all. “There is no rest for the wicked. If you accept this, then make a contract with me, and I shall help you along your path.” “Granting wishes and offering contracts? Why, you sound like a demon.” “Heh-heh-heh. You might be right. So, how about it?” “Very well, demon. I accept your offer. Take my soul if that is what you ask. As long as you give me vengeance, that’s the only thing that matters. I’m a dead man either way.” To live on powerlessly in defeat, how would that be that any different from death? If that was the alternative, then I would part with anything to avoid it. I could go on living for only one purpose now. “I don’t know what you are, fiend, nor do I care! I will sign any contract in my own blood! Give me power! Power to kill that treacherous minister! Power to avenge my fallen kin! Power to strike back at the injustice that commands this world!” As I spoke, the crystal began to crack. The pain in my arm was completely gone by now. “Give me the power to take reveeeeeenge!!” As soon as I said those words, the crystal shattered, and the man inside began laughing madly. “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! No matter where or when I go, there’s always vengeance to be done! Looks like it’s following me into my third life as well!!” The man flipped up his palm, and from it appeared a black flame that twisted into the form of a short sword. “Come, let us walk once more,” the man said. “Let us walk the path of vengeance, trodden only by fools, and see what lies beyond.” And as the man spoke, he grinned a devious smile, …as though laughing at the world and everything in it. To Be Continued?
Chapter 126
14 min read