Linguist nodded soberly after Waytaker’s passionate declaration. His eyes were shining. “A king awakes.”

  Stargazer smiled. “Under skies of hopefulness shining, the king awakes!”

  “The king awakes!” Sammy shouted with both her hands upthrust. Off-hand, she dismissed her Force Wall spell, still surprised it had been unnecessary.

  “So the skies see!” the masked spearman called as he stood up from kneeling. He clapped his spear on his shield. “The king rises!”

  A dozen guardsmen in varying states of awareness took up the call. “The king rises!” They were still wraiths, but they looked much closer to the likes of Stargazer and Company than the feral ghouls from before.

  It wasn’t all good news. Much of the guardsmen remained fallen, and they did not seem well. Sickly. A few were curled in balls muttering to themselves, and more were sitting down unresponsive, apparently in hollow shock. Others had wandered off in confusion. Five were sitting still on the floor, staring at nothing, and their forms were quickly fading entirely out of existence.

  They don’t want to be here. They haven’t… for a long time. He’s releasing them.

  Because of Azure’s disturbed mood, Sammy touched minds with her, communicating assurance. “Blueberry, you see? They’re passing. It’s sad, but… I’m sorry. You were right. The murder dagger was right, too. Many need to pass on. You did the right thing.”

  Azure did not seem moved at all. She was gazing at the stirring — though still fallen — form of the god-king. Absently, she replied curtly, “Yeah.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s more of a ‘I’m not actually okay’ kind of yeah.”

  “Yeah.”

  Sammy sighed, crossing her arms and watching her lover worriedly.

  The guardsmen that were salient crowded around the king, but stopped short of helping him. He pushed himself up, with some effort, to sit on the floor, his staff propping him up. Despite his ghoulishness vanishing, the king now appeared like a wizened old man — an archetypical wizard in truth, aside from his armor. His hair and beard were now white, and deep lines of sober, ancient worry and concentration were etched in his face.

  He looked up at the sky and the sun, eyes squinting only slightly. He nodded to himself, then lowered his eyes to regard Samantha with piercing, ice-blue irises. The staff’s eye was also seemingly looking at her, and there was no cloudiness in it any longer. “Goddess of Fate.” His voice was rich and clear, yet soft, now. The ‘loudness’ and gravitas of the god were gone. Tempered. There was an undercurrent of exhaustion and melancholy. “Heiress to the Throne of Magic. You’ve delivered to me the final dignity of knowing my dishonor and correcting it. As such, I am in your debt, at your service… until the time very soon when I depart this world like my unfairly abused fellows.”

  The spear-wielding guardsman removed his mask, tossing it aside where it dissolved into nothing in the air. He knelt on one knee before the king. The other dozen guardsmen or so followed suit. Another guardsman with a full beard, sitting on the floor, cackled as if seeing jesters perform. The guardsman spoke over it, “No dark auspices change the beauty of this restored sky. Vows do not chafe, loyalty is not and never regretted for one so noble as our king. We bow or stand at your behest. Ever in service, we!”

  “Ever in service, we!” the rest chanted in sync. Stargazer, Linguist, and Waytaker said it as well, but much more subdued.

  The one on the floor kept cackling, completely hysterical and wheezing.

  The king’s eyes locked on the one laughing. Slowly, painstakingly, he rose up on his staff, leaning on it with both hands as he practically limped over past the now-rising guardsmen to the figure. The laughter cut off abruptly as the ghoulish guardsman stared back up at the king, wild-eyed.

  The king knelt in front of the wraith, soberly meeting those wild eyes. Then his face twisted and tears began to well in his eyes. “I know you,” the king whispered with thick emotion. “Our names are gone, yet I know you. You were no guardsman, this was no final honor fit for you. A twisting of the truth in our madness. General. Tactician. Look what crime I’ve committed you! Chaining you in my fouled heart! Please, let go, my friend. It’s alright.” He held his hand out gently.

  The wraith stared with a blank face for a long spell. Finally, he obediently reached his significantly smaller hand to take that of his king.

  The king closed his eyes briefly, causing the tears to fall down his cheeks. “I release you from your service, old friend. Go in peace. Your king will join you when his duties are done. His own service… to make something good for all of your terrible sacrifices. A star to twinkle, a little light to brighten the sky before the end. My offering.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The wraith nodded simply and began to fade. He unraveled quickly into nothing.

  Samantha, spellbound by the whole scene, felt her own tears well when the wraith passed on. The right thing to do — she knew this better than anyone seeing the nature of the threads — but terribly sad all the same.

  What a burden we’ve put on him, now. But he has a duty to them, and this is the only path to peace for himself.

  “Not all desire to pass on, oh king,” Linguist offered softly.

  The king looked at him. He seemed to try and rise, but such prevalent weakness was in him that he dropped back onto his rear and sighed, clutching his staff. He nodded. “Yes. Of course. Not all things are lost to me, Linguist. I possess half the means to rectify this, and the Goddess of Fate the other. You who are like monoliths through time, unyielding and ready to face the final tests… shall. You will be the testament to the last name of us left — you will carry the banner of Itha Ranon for me, for us, for our memory, until the last light is quenched. Dark hands still reach to see it done and you will fight to keep it away.”

  Samantha raised her chin and thrust out clenched fists confidently. “We’ll do more than that together, wizard king. We will take the last light forward and eradicate the darkness! Itha Ranon will be a warcry resounding in our victory!”

  Waytaker grinned and held up her staff. Linguist and Stargazer exchanged glances and nodded, then thrust their own clenched fists up. Gabriel, grinning, didn’t want to miss out, so thrust her sword up confidently with them.

  The king observed this exchange curiously. He suddenly called out loudly, “Royal Guardsmen!” Momentarily, they all rushed to him, ready to act. He scanned their faces. “What I speak to you, I speak to all under my covenant. All my honor and majesty is extended in perpetuity to the goddess before you. You will obey and protect her as you would me or one of the royal family. She now is royal family, grafted in by my holy authority, and I name her my very heiress. Heiress of Itha Ranon, Queen and Empress to be, High Sorceress and Commander. Serve her for our glory to the end, as suits your honor. Let the world remember it again. Kneel and swear fealty now, in transplant for when I am gone.”

  The guardsmen solemnly complied, kneeling and in synchronicity stating, “Forever in service, we,” quite directly at Samantha.

  That was not the end of it, though. The apparent captain began a flowery declaration of service in their way of speaking, and when he was done, another did a slightly different version. Down the line, it went.

  Okay… this will take a while. I need Linguist to teach them to speak a little better if they’re going to be around…

  She had much to discuss with the king, but she could hardly interrupt their little ritual…

  ??············???···········??

  While the guardsmen swore fealty to Her Majesty The Cutest, Azure walked over to the king on the floor. He met her eyes warily like he was watching a tiger. She held her hand down in offering.

  He looked at it for a long moment, then met her eyes again. “You know not what you offer.”

  Azure quirked an eyebrow. “A connection, then? I’ll see something, won’t I?”

  “There’s a saying about curiosity and cats. Something quite negative.” He squinted as if trying to recollect. His staff’s very cat-like central eye turned to him.

  “Nonetheless. I’m no cat, anyway.” She continued holding out her hand.

  The king finally shook his head. “Disruptive. Inappropriate.”

  Azure barked a laugh. “Those two things are my bread and butter.”

  “Nonetheless.”

  Azure sighed and dropped her hand. “Will you at least tell me why I feel like I fall into, exist in this place stronger, as if magnetically aligned? Why I feel like I can control things here in a way I’ve never felt before? Why there is continuous affinity and familiarity? Why blue skin fascinated you?”

  He gazed at her for a moment. “No.”

  She put her hands on her hips and frowned. “Are all old men stubborn?”

  “I cannot instruct for certain. Perhaps. Is your wiseman?”

  “I think so, yeah.”

  “Evidence mounts.”

  Maybe I need to be more indirect. I bet he can’t resist teaching about stuff. History? He must remember some things. And I know he’s hiding things. “Fine. Moving on. Would you tell me how Itha Ranon fell?”

  The king frowned at her. “You are unaware?”

  “Tales vary. I’d like to hear the insider information.”

  “Logical. Our rival across the sea allied with many for greed and envy, and came for us with the tools and implements of war, with capable magic in support. Blood was spilled, staining the land and sea with the numbness of tragedy. Too much. I couldn’t bear it, couldn’t bear to see my people and kingdom slowly atrophied to nothing, so I buried it all, or most, hoping to preserve something and to deny the destroyers. I utilized the sacrifice to weave one of the greatest spells ever designed, interlaced into reality itself. A curse based not on resistance but location. Occupation. Resistance is simply avoiding it, as one would not dive into a spurting volcano.”

  “That’s pretty much what has been said.”

  “Oh? Good.”

  Azure crossed her arms and glared. “Thing is, I think it’s bullshit. You’re lying. Or you’re holding something back and not telling the whole story.”

  The king did not appear offended. “And how are you so sure of this charge?”

  “I can just tell. I think this and what you are being evasive about are tied together. We saw a broken-in tomb that screamed significance on our way here. What is that about? Who was it?”

  The king sighed wearily and looked down at the floor. “Deception. Terrible, terrible deception.”

  "And I would've gotten away with it, too, if not for you meddling kids!"

  Next Chapter...

  Startling revelations drop.

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