《Re: Death's Melancholy》Chapter 9- The Promise
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Hey GUYS its RegalMania. Its been a long journey but we are finally almost at the end of the first arch. The next chapter will bring closure. Its almost crazy to think that I haven't even began to talk about the actual rules of Magic and Adventuring and yet I still have 150 followers even 39 favs.
The blue box is the life blood of RR.
But Isn't it all about the build up the characterization. I can't just make an OP character. I have to make you fall in love with the character first. I hope I have succeeded.
Now onto the important matters.
But first let me tell you that I wanted the beginning of the story to confuse you at least a little.
Remember how Death is intrigued by puzzles I hope you are a little to. I mean to make it this far you must have been a little bit right?
Now to end this little Recap.
Coming next time.
Chapter 10 - An impossible World
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The king carried me into the study and sat me down, the impromptu door disappearing the moment we had stepped into the space. The walls left and right of me were lined with books top to bottom, it was neat and well kept.
They themselves seemed to be thick volumes, containing information that I could not imagine. The king had left me to look about the room. He was relaxed against a large red wooden desk that was the rooms centerpiece. A large red chair was at its side. A large window that rose from the floor to the ceiling behind the desk looked down upon a unmistakably beautiful landscape. A lake with an endless prairie at its side filtered into the distance.
The kings desk had nothing atop besides a few writing utensils and stamps most likely of his approval.
I look towards the king once again.
A man that was the ruler of the nation of Aleron. Aleron was still a mystery to me. I knew nothing of it other than that to be where we were. I understood it was a country of humans at least. Other humanoid creature are also allowed within its boundaries. Which meant the king was at least on decent terms with the rulers of the other races.
Francis had said my existence signaled the end of peace. A just statement. I could only imagine the future.
The king had his eyes closed.
Only now did I realize what had been staring me in the face for so long.
The king was old. Not so old that he was weak but preferably a powerfully wise man. He knew what he was doing. If anything I believe he is securing my allegiance to the nation of Aleron and at worst he would warn me of ever betraying it. I walked slowly behind the desk subverting my view of the king towards the landscape within its view.
"Disgustingly beautiful is it not?" The king spoke.
I paused to turn to the king just for a moment. I wanted to see the angle his body and the tension on his face. He had not moved even to look towards me. He was facing the opposite side of the room. His eye most likely still closed.
I would have to face this interaction with no hints of what information he wished to peruse from me. If he was trying to find the depth of my character I would do the same.
"A world where peace may reign forever,
Greed filtered,
Agony hidden,
Blood spared and trust severed,
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Peace,
Indeed,
A beautiful world."
The words had left the room cold. There was no room for idle words. I continued to watch the calmness of lake below.
Minutes passed before the king spoke.
"Dmitri." The king said flatly. He voice held no inflection. It was a statement as to himself as much to me.
"What is your impression of the man?"
I thought back to my meeting with him. The words I had spoken and how he reacted to them. It was a few moments before I answered him.
"Respectable." I finally answered.
The room was so still I could hear the sound as the king ran his hand through his hair.
"Respectable." he stated it as a matter of fact now.
I could tell now the king was pondering a situation that must have been on his mind for some time.
"Strong?"
I sat down onto the floor. My back leaning against the window pane,my head titled back, eyes closed.
"No."
I heard a few shuffled steps and the cushioning release of air someone makes when they sit hard into a comfy chair.
Another round of minutes pass as the two of us think about our own set of situations. Though I had this aching feeling that I would be absorbed into his at any moment.
"I had a son once." The king paused I could hear sadness in his voice.
"He was strong." another pause. "Strong enough to rule."
I didn't need to know what happened to his son. It was bleeding from his every word. I wanted to help this man through his thoughts. He seemed tired of it all.
As tired as my own soul felt at times.
I laughed.
It was a laugh that had the full weight of the circumstances I had been given pressed upon it. A low rumbling ironic sort of laugh. One you hear from those suffering from great despair. I felt overwhelmed by the sheer responsibility of being reborn.
Ever since the day I had awoken. I had been moving forward at every moment. Taking in so much around me. Sometimes thinking on it but before the brunt of it affected my mind. I would shove it in some corner of my mind. I wasn't ready to deal with the level of stress that comes with being in a child's body again.
Only now within the presence of this now sad and powerful man does it all come rushing over me. I could no longer hold it in. It was as if the damn that had been holding it back had finally collapsed under the weight.
The emotion did not rush forth in the form of tears. Just laughter. Sad unbearable laughter. The king was silent at this. He seemed to sense what I was going through perhaps because he himself felt similar about his own situation.
When the laughter finally stopped. I did not feel better. I did not feel anything at that moment. Only time would heal the situation that I found myself in. Time as well as information for what I was dealing with.
I needed more information.
"Young Sun," The old man said. "Dmitri is the future king."
I understood his plea now.
"The old are all dying and the young are now rising. They even think themselves important and powerful." He sighed.
The king rose from his chair and looked out the window.
"The axis of power is changing. I fear that when I meet my fate. Aleron will-" He stopped his eyes looking past the scenery past the landscape into a future where the world he knew was falling apart.
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"Fall."
He said it in such a way that I could not even contest the idea.
Dmitri was not king material. It is a mater of presence. He had a culmination of a pride that blocked his future.A good man but not a great man. His enemies could never fear a 'good man'.
"There is a common misconception that incarnations are champions of their 'Faith'." He said the last word with hint of ire. Almost as if the notion itself were ridiculous.
"Listen Young Sun,
In this world few may know the truth of what you are. We have all heard the legends you know. Scant tales of peerless beings stronger than the gods. Absolute authorities that are shrouded in mystery.
And here before my eyes sits a young child with the mind of man. A mark upon his forehead. As well as a presence that cannot be mistaken. A limitless power that will only grow.
Dmitri will be King and my only daughter his Queen."
The king paused but only for a moment. Debating the way he would come about the question.
"I need you. I need your power. I have no plans to lock you in place. To hold you as if a prisoner. I don't care about the schemes of Francis. I don't care about the sake the world. I only care about my kingdom."
The king said the last bit with a smirk.
"I can give you anything you wish. Anything that you would ever wish for. But what I can't give you is a reason. I don't have hidden machinations of any kind. I rule by my power but even that is slowly fleeting."
There was truth in his words. There is no reason that I should offer what I will be. Or the power that I will have. I can't promise the future. I can't even promise to tomorrow. I have at this moment so very little control over my own fate.
But this man could see beyond my appearance. He could see my depth and was truly astonished. He was grasping for something I could not promise him. He knew if I were to agree it would only be an empty lie. No substance. The strength did not lie within this body. It did not lie within the mysterious title of 'Incarnation'.
It was within my soul.
So I could promise only one thing. Though this promise was small. It would give this worried old man an ease of mind.
"I will break his pride."
I had long since opened my eyes and watched the king go from a face wreathed within deep thought to an old smile. One that made me think this man was old enough to be even my own grandfather. Though wisdom does not come from age. It comes from experience. Which I had more than enough.
"That is all I can promise for now."
I was looking towards the other side of the room when I saw the door from before once again materialize out of thin air.
"This is enough." The king said lowly bringing his attention to the door.
From it appeared a woman wearing a a white silk gown that held attention at her every curve.
I had a warm smile on my face. It had been three years since I met this golden haired woman and it was far to long. I held almost a childish attachment to this women.
"Angeline, how nice of you to join young Sun and I." The king sat back in his chair all the tension of the previous conversation leaving his body.
The women strode forward and grabbed me off the floor. Once again to fast for me to react. I was beginning to wonder if this was some type of skill that made its victim unable to react.
She stood me on my feet and was crouched next to me. Wiping specks of dust from all over. Brushing my hair the right way, nitpicking the way you would only know a mother to do. This was actually the first time the action had actually been done to me.
My previous mother had been not so motherly.
"That Francis, allowing you to come here dressed like that." The woman began. "I should take you away from that old senseless fool and have you live here in the palace."
No matter what will be said of me in the future. The names I will be called. The people who will come to fear me. Let it be known that I officially adore this woman the same way a young child adores his own mother. Her existence was as close to mother to me after all. Closer than actual mother.
"Young Sun, you would not believe the way this woman walked the palace over and over again after Francis said you might be coming."
The king laughed aloud.
"She came to me saying such things as "How do you treat an Incarnation?" or "Do you think he will like me?" and "What if he doesn't like me?".
The king was going to laugh again but saw the scowl directed towards him on Angeline's face.
"How would I? Even you didn't even seem to know how to treat Sun. Or if it was right that I could even name him. We barely even know anything about incarnations and Francis keeps his mouth shut at every corner."
Angeline had turned and faced the king. I could see a small bit of nervousness trembling through her body.
I deigned this to be the perfect time to dawn my childish behavior again. I would be frank with her another day. But today she seemed to be afraid.
I hugged the woman embracing her with my tiny arms for the first time. It took her only a few moments to respond. It was surprisingly natural. When the embrace finally ended I gave her a wide smile.
"Mother don't let Gramps fool you. He didn't know how to treat me either at first."
At the sound of the word 'mother'. Angeline had a small tear run down her face. I could not imagine why she cried. But I could still feel that she was happy. I wiped the tear from her eye setting my hand against her face.
I am a killer. I am a perfectionist. I am broken. Those would be how I would describe myself in the last life. A flawed being wielding so much ability but with no cause to champion it. I was no hero. And I would be no hero now.
But being reborn has brought back emotions that I had thought were gone completely. I thought I would be the same with my previous memories but I was changing. I would be more than my last life. I was even allowed to be called son.
It was a new world and I had not wrapped my mind around it until now.
The king had visibly recoiled at the sound of 'Gramps'.
I saw a visible glint in Angeline's eye as she looked over me now.
"You remind me so much of-" Angeline.
"Angeline, let us speak to about that subject another time." the kings voice cut her off.
He didn't wish bring up the past right now.
"Now that Angeline is here. Young Sun, I believe it would be a good time to show you our training room. I won't have you thinking my power is weak now."
All the sudden I was thrust onto his large shoulders again. This was beginning to become a annoyance.
He summoned the door with a wave of his hand again.
"Angeline, let us speak about Henry another time."
Her face was slightly dark but brightened when I waved her forward. I was excited to see this 'training room'.
We strove through the door with Angeline falling behind.
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