I failed.

The sun beat down my bare shoulders with a hot weight, reminding me with each passing minute of the approaching nightmare I envisioned. Ever since witnessing the Aeterna's daunting power, I foresaw the familiar world's violent destruction towards something unrecognizable. Accordingly, I returned to Kes to ensure my people's salvation, bring aid to Ire, and save Dyson. I sent out the corrupt to renovate my kingdom in precious time for war. Despite that, or perhaps because of that, I had failed.

Clinking sounds disturbed the grave silence, and I opened my eyes. I was bound to a tree, the same ones on which we sacrificed the Cynn-Bloods. Along with me around the cobbled courtyard were Fereren, Abhdan, and the ministers to faithfully follow me. Kes-Blood did not burn in the same manner as Cynn-Blood, so by striking contrast, our death was to be slow.

A civil servant carefully carried a stand towards me, set it down, and positioned a tan-hide canvas. He took a hammer and some nails, beat the prepared canvas into the frame, placed a stool before it, and walked off. The servant returned with paint, brushes, sparkling water, a basket of sweet bread, and shade. Caius stepped into view, breathed heavily with a contented smile, approached, grasped a paintbrush, prepared it, and looked at me.

"Good morning, brother!" He greeted.

"Caius," I breathed. I hadn't been exposed to the sun longer than a day, but already my throat was dry. It would be challenging to whisper soon. "What is this?"

"Just commemorating the occasion!" He answered. "I thought my day lacked something, that touch to make it truly perfect. Father was gone. I occupied the throne. I possessed the armies. I have the people, the kingdom, the officials, but no! It was incomplete. At that moment, it struck me! You! Rather than allow your final day to be meaningless, make it special and beautiful. After all, such a golden day is to be shared, and what better way than for my brother to be a part of it!"

"You think I enjoy this?" I asked. "Being tied up and made to watch you paint me while the sun flogs me?"

He hummed in thought a moment, "No, I imagine not. But the important thing is that I will." He picked up his paintbrush and introduced his first stroke. "Do me a favor and shift your head slightly to the left, please. I want to capture what father did to you."

I sighed. Our perceived rivalry didn't matter. Caius was right, I had lost, but that didn't mean we all had to.

"Caius, you win," I admitted. The words made him smile further, and his eyes sparkled until I continued. "But if you are not cautious, the Aeterna will short-live your victory. He has already killed two kings in a matter of days. Now that you are king, do you think yourself safe from a hunter of them? No. You will be his prey!"

I stopped to heave. My parched throat ached and burned. "Die a little slower, will you?" Caius asked.

"Caius! If you care about keeping what you have taken, you must prepare!"

He stopped painting, took the brush in two delicate hands, and gently set it down. Caius stepped up from his stool to approach. He looked up at me, no longer smiling or finding amusement in this, but amazingly enough: pity and profound disappointment.

Caius asked, "Where is the proof? He has communicated no message to us, and nobody has encountered him at any coronations to acknowledge his reign. All we have is your ominous word, the report of a war-monger with diplomatic ties to schemers and cheats. The Aeterna is a falsehood Ire has issued you to take home. If this fantastical nightmare of yours exists, he is merely a war chief of the desert mongrels who will turn against each other as they repeatedly have at the slightest sign of something shiny." He scoffed. "This would-be 'prophet' to a false god is nothing."

"Blasphemy!" Another prisoner gasped.

"Blasphemy?" Caius aggressively questioned. "You and he are the same, creating images to justify yourselves! Father put up the idol, Kasas, schemed war, and killed the Cynn-Blood for it. Like him, you have put up a prophet, Aeterna, schemed war and killed our father for it. With a familiar image of his god, no less. Good touch! That was true art."

"I didn't do that."

"Unlike you, I don't need something to justify arranging what I want beyond my own will and authority." Caius returned to his painting.

"Caius!" I yelled.

"Don't waste your breath," Abhdan said from beside me. The old man's usual chipper persona was dried out and worn. My heart clenched at his bowed head, even as he looked at me sharply.

His shrewd eyes snapped elsewhere before promptly returning to me. Twice he did this. Following his earnest gaze, I saw beyond the palace gates a gathering of commoners, witnessing us through the bars. Executions were allowed their spectacle. Yet a hooded figure stood in front of this group closest to the bars. He was a man of average build and height, and besides tanned hide boots and pants, there were no discernable features. On his back was my spear. Though I couldn't perceive his eyes, I felt our gaze connected. The figure stepped back into the crowd and disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The second day passed, and the accursed sun eventually decided it was time to sleep.

Blisters pulled my mind back as I drifted in and out of consciousness, sunburned, stripped, and without shade in a stone courtyard. My back was torn and splintered against the sharp wood until it bled. Whether for good or ill, the sunburns had numbed me and replaced that pain; it was the only thing that kept me knowing I was alive.

With half-lidded eyes, I looked up. Judging from the quiet moans, most men who followed me were still alive, but not all. A growing number of them had fallen limp and silent. Tack them onto the list of my failures. I had come to them, asked them to follow me, to defy a god and its prophet, and look where my hubris had taken them.

'I'm sorry.' I thought. Was this what it was to be a king? To drag others down with me? If so, I shouldn't have come.

Movement out of the corner of my eye drew my attention. Some guards patrolled the courtyard perimeter with lit torches, but then the torches went out, and there was darkness. Faint sounds as wind followed, and then shadows approached. The clouds extended clawed skeletal hands to me.

"My lord, come out of it!"

I blinked. The hands were thin and boney with metal gauntlets, but they were still mortal! The very guards on patrol had dimmed their lights!

"What is this?" I wondered.

They looked between each other in concern, "Your Highness, everything will be well. Just be still."

They undid the ropes holding me up and lowered me. Numb and weak, I fell into their waiting arms.

Were we being rescued? My heart squealed for joy, and rays pierced the clouds to reveal all was not lost, yet it was not enough. I could not stand in the light alone.

"Them," I whispered weakly. With my peeling, cracked skin and sun-beaten bones, every movement was a new agony, but I raised a hand enough to point at Abhdan. "Take them!"

"All is well, my king." They whispered. "We are not alone."

True enough, I started to see others of my comrades lowered in the darkness. The distant shadows moved, and slowly my eyes adjusted enough to see a crowd forming between the rescuers and rescued. They tried to stand me up, and immediately my legs collapsed under my weight.

Abhdan was lowered and propped up to sit against the wall to rest a moment. They dropped Fereren and roused him. Quietly, cautiously, everyone was let down who was found alive. It was fewer than I hoped, yet more than I feared.

The double door of the castle opened on creaking hinges, and the rest of the royal guard exited to gather on its steps. The captain of the guard stood with a blade out in his hand. Behind them, just in the doorway, stood Caius.

It was silent, and no one breathed.

"A limited time before death," Caius said. His amused voice echoed clearly through the courtyard. "A slight shift in guard schedule. And a single night to take advantage." His gaze swept over all of us before pausing on me. "It is as if you are trying to make this easy!"

Caius lifted his hand to give the signal. Despite exhaustion, dehydration, and bloody scratches down my back, I stood. My vision blurred. The world spun, and I gathered the strength to stand on shaky feet. Snatching a deep breath through sandpaper lungs, I yelled to him, but no voice came out.

Caius clenched his fist and brought his hand down, signaling our execution. My comrades screamed in horror. The rebels threw themselves over me, trying to block the bolts.

Only nothing happened. There was no scream of pain or deathly hollow gasps to sing our final moments. No clattering of metal bolts bouncing off stone and marble. There was stillness and silence.

The royal guard kept their crossbows leveled at us, but they did not fire. Caius' expression shifted from confused to furious.

"Fire on them! Execute them!"

"No." The captain of the royal guard answered.

Caius looked at him and whispered, "Excuse me?"

"It is the job of the royal guard to protect the king from everyone. I recognize before us two kings; we will defend you from them but not risk killing a sovereign of Kes."

As he said this, the captain looked firmly at me. Silent words passed between us, and I understood. Their power was limited, so this was all they could achieve within their oaths when placed in an impossible situation.

Not one to squander an opportunity, Fereren hastened us to the gates, and everyone bolted for the escape. A few rescuers made it to the lever and pulled the chain until a narrow gap appeared. I stood last, looking at the captain to see him one last time.

I allowed two seconds before turning and hastening to the raised gate. We crawled under the gate and ran into the city. Instantly I stumbled, and the rescuers ferried me on their shoulders. I looked around to see who had escaped. Fereren ushered us forward. Nearly twenty of my ministers survived, and thirty soldiers had taken it on themselves to save us.

"Wait, where is Abhdan?" I asked.

XXXXXXX

A blade pierced through the front of the captain's neck. He gasped and gagged on his blood before collapsing.

"Your resignation is accepted, Captain," Caius murmured. He looked up and glimpsed the fleeting figures disappear into the city. He walked down the steps. "Traitors and rebels! Fall on your sword, anyone who allows a civil war to fester by sparing my brother to live!"

Caius stopped walking, for an annoying sound struck his ears. Turning aside, he found Abhdan sitting against the courtyard wall humming a jolly tune.

"Do you ever stop?" Caius wondered.

"Oh-ho! Surprised?" Abhdan chuckled.

"That you are alive? No. If there was anything I ever attained from you, it was adaptability."

"Indeed. A new world is coming, and if you can survive its crashing waves, then I foresee you both thriving. You truly possess the heart of a king. Valspear is no king."

Caius smiled, pleased. Yet Abhdan continued, "He is something more."

Abhdan returned to his humming. With a flick of his wrist, Caius slit the man's throat.

------ Edited (10/4/2022)