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Kingdom
Topic Started: Nov 5 2009, 07:19 PM (82 Views)
Sigismund Wolfbane
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Duke of Vargfel
He looked at the statues before him, surrounding him. Arranged around the white marble hall, like judges for the convicted, towering over him; staring at him.
What are you? They asked.
Victor turned around, facing the doors. Oh, Light, he shouldn’t have come here. This was a mistake, why had he come here? Why?
What are you? They asked again, more insistently. Was it his own mind playing tricks with him? Was it the surging energy of the Holy Light that he had so willingly infused himself with in order to climb the throne?
What. Are. You.
“I am...” he spoke the words out loud. “I am the King,” he finished. Gasping for air.
They did not answer. The marble statues, inlaid with golden patterns, masterfully crafted to look like his predecessors... They did not answer.
He tried to walk against the door. To leave the room. He was going insane. He knew it. He was-
You are the Anointed King.
His legs couldn’t help it. He fell. Stumbled. Was it the last week of sleepless nights that finally took their toll, or had he been struck down by the just wrath of the Holy Light?
Or was it... Was it them?
You are the King. Be the King.
With his royal cape tangled around him, he crawled around. Tears streaming down his face.
“I can’t. I-I... I’ve failed,” he sobbed. Truth.
There was no answer.
“Please! Please! I don’t know what to do! I stand alone! I don’t know what to do!”
The people, Victor.
Anointed King Victor Leon Tiberian froze on the floor. He looked up towards the statue of the first king of Cherubia. Dirk Teren. Who had been chosen by the Light Incarnate himself to safeguard his legacy.
It had to be his imagination. But the voice in his head sounded as if it had come from there.
The people.
“W-what?” Again, only silence met him.
The people. Sacrifice for them. This time, it came from King Brann. King Brann who had stood on the walls of the north himself, bying time for the innocents to flee. Buying it with his own life. The King who Stood Fast.
“The people,” Victor said aloud.
Care for them.
This time the voice came from the statue of King Adelbrecht. He who wept for his enemies. Adelbrecht, who alone of all the Kings of Cherubia carried the epithet “the Good.” Who gave his people greatness, not in war, but in peace.
“Kings of old, please, I’ve done everything I can, but everything I do turn against me! I lack the guidance. There is only fog! They twist my will, and turn it against me! Tell me what to do!” Again, he fell to the ground, crawling as he was, it was the turn of his arms to fail now. Sobbing, on the marble floor.
The people. Be brave for them.
His face lying sideways, he stared directly at what he knew to be the statue of Darian the Reformer. Who had cast away old traditions and reforged the kingdom. Undaunted. A man with visions. Not a man like Victor.
“I am not a King! I’m a sham! A failure! A spoiled prince to sit on the throne of better men!” he screamed.
“I am nothing!”
Silence.
“I am NOTHING!” he screamed again. He pushed himself up and stood on his knees, his arms stretche wide as if expecting the headsman’s merciless blow.
“I am NOTHING!”
Silence.
Then. From the back of his mind, came a voice so strong he thought his head would burst.
YOU ARE THE KING.
Victor grasped his ears, screaming.
CAN YOU BE THE KINGDOM?
It was the voice of all the kings, in unison. But it was more than that. He saw them now. Thousands of eyes. Thousands of faces.
Children. Women. Men. Young. Old. Staring at him. Staring.
They are waiting, Victor.
“W-waiting?” he pressed out.
You are the kingdom. Be the kingdom.
Do what others cannot,
Dare what others fear,
Carry what others do not have the strength to bear.
Speak when they hear only silence.

Victor looked up. The air seemed to glow. Was he going insane? Was the Light giving him a vision?
You are alone. You are the Kingdom.
“To those much is given...” he began.
Then, an echo. As if this had not been said to him, but to someone else. The voice was strong. And it spoke to him, even though the words had been made for someone else, dead long ago;
“To be the king, Dirk my friend, is not something I would wish upon my worst enemy. You will be alone, and they will hate you. You will feel chained, a captive by the crown you wear. You will feel every death of every subject who dies in your name. And perhaps you can never call a man for true friend again.”
Dirk? Victor looked at the towering statue of the first king. Had this been said to him? By whom?
Could it truly be the words of the Light Incarnate himself? Why would this come now?
“But that is what you are. Alone on the top, singled out by the great might you wield. Slaving at the bottom, chained by the immense duties you’ve lain on yourself. But, that is your destiny, and I curse myself for laying it upon you. Will you carry it? Will you be the one who can become something more than a man, and less than a human? Will you carry the kingdom on your shoulders?” said the voice.
“Will you?”
Silence.
WILL YOU? Again, it were the voices of all the kings.
“I-“ Victor began. He took several deep breaths. He trembled and nearly fell together again. Courage. Strength.
He ripped off his beautifully embroidered cloak and let it fall to the ground. He threw off the countless jewelries.
They did not matter anymore.
He stood up.
Outside the sun rose over the many towers and spires of the royal palace. Somewhere peasants woke to a new morning, ready to work and toil in the earth. Ready to sweat and ache, to make a living for themselves and their children, and their children to come.
He straightened his neck. Tightened his jaw.
Somewhere, soldiers of Cherubia were fighting orcs, trolls and beastmen. Dying so that others might live. Somewhere, monks and clerks were filing and writing texts. Sacred and profane. Immersing themselves in the wisdom and knowledge of old, and adding new ot this, so that the Kingdom would not stagnate. This was the kingdom. They did not know it, but he felt them. Every single one of them. In that instant, he was the kingdom.

“Yes.”
And that was all he ever said.
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