Ishar opened his eyes to find himself beside the tomb, his body whole with not a scratch in sight. He ran his tongue along his teeth, the ghost feeling of his empty gums fresh within his mind. Ishar couldn't quantify the number of times he'd died within Ovek's realm but he knew his body remembered every instance. His chest knew of the time his heart had been torn free of its ribcage, his spine knew of when it had been broken in half and a faint line from his groin to his neck spoke of a time when he'd been split into two. Ishar stared down at the tomb and it's shifting face but his mind was elsewhere.

"You can't fully lose yourself to the rhythm of Madness. You can't fully embrace it yet." Ovek said from beside him. "And you know why."

Ishar turned to face Ovek who'd taken on the form of a Kolotian with sepia colored skin, violet eyes and dark hair. "Niada." Ishar said and Ovek nodded.

"She is the tether to your past life, as long as she holds a place within you, you will never truly lose yourself."

"Is that a bad thing?"

Ovek took a moment to reply, his eyes set on the tomb. "I cannot say." He answered.

Ishar nodded. "A clueless God, huh."

Ovek chuckled. "You poke a wasp's nest expecting an embrace instead of a sting."

Ishar had half a mind to charge at Ovek once more but the shifting face of the tomb's head stole his attention. "Why is he not in chains?"

"He is a king, like his father before him and his father's father and so on."

"So, normal folk are chained in your domain and Kings are entombed. Why am I not in chains then?" Ishar asked while tilting his head up at Ovek.

"You're a part of all that is around you just as how it is a part of you. You are free to roam for you belong, I deemed it so."

Ishar nodded. "Aaah, I see." After a moment he turned back to the tomb. "That makes no sense." Ovek scoffed but Ishar continued regardless. "King Gans isn't in chains, chains are easier to break than a marble tomb. How do we get him out? Uhhm.. What significance does a tomb hold over chains?" "Duty." Ovek replied.

Ishar felt within him the need layered beneath the God's words that demanded him to remember Ovek's answer to his question. "Why does the statue's face keep shifting between calm and turmoil?"

"Such is the burden of one who holds say over the life of many. Outwardly he must show an air of calm, he must be composed so as to ward off panic from his people. Inwardly, there is turmoil under the fear of making the wrong decision, chaos churning over the realization of the extent of what his rule makes him capable of doing, but the protective layer of duty keeps him from breaking forth and showing his true will, of showing what he is capable of when pushed to the edge."

Ishar nodded. "That makes some sense." He walked around the marble sarcophagus and came to stand opposite Ovek. "Why is there a bird engraved on the sides? It looks oddly like a bird that once shat on me."

"Nielda claims the Talisi as his own, the outer consciousness of the royalty has forgotten him but their inner consciousness cannot forget."

"Wait a Goddamn minute! Nielda is the one who shat on me?" Ishar was furious, he raised his hands and shook clenched fists. "When I get a hold of Mairek I'm going to-" Ishar placed a hand on the tomb and suddenly, he no longer stood opposite Ovek.

Ishar stood upon the Ganidan plain but then again it wasn't him. He was shorter with dark skin upon callused hands that wielded medium twin double edged axes. His heart beat fast and his eyes were fixed straight ahead of him where an older Talisi man with a mane of white hair knelt before a younger looking King Vayin Vigon with soldiers clad in red armor lined up behind him. Open chests that appeared to be filled with Bronze Gorents sat beside the two figures.

"Prince, please kneel." A gauntleted hand threatened to drag him to the floor by the wrist. All around him Talisi soldiers dressed in green metal armor and leather armor knelt before the debacle happening before him.

He shook his head and Ishar felt the fear in his words. " He is going to kill him." He whispered, tears welling in his eyes. Ishar knew it wasn't him, he knew he was experiencing everything from King Gans's perspective yet the despair was so overwhelming it might as well have been his father kneeling before Vayin Vigon.

King Vayin placed a gold gauntleted hand on the pommel of his sword, there was a rasping sound as the sword was unsheathed from its scabbard and within a blink of an eye the kneeling King's head rolled to one side and his headless body dropped to the other. Ishar felt the despair within him morph into rage, blinding animosity made him froth at the mouth and he gripped his twin axes till he could feel the joints of his fingers pop.

Suddenly, gauntleted hands grabbed either of his hands and both his feet. There was no need to look around to see the kneeling soldiers holding him back with the aim of preserving Talisi's future as its past lay dead before them. Prince Gans struggled to free himself of his soldiers' hold, tears streamed down his eyes and groans of pain escaped his lips as his face contorted in rage and anguish. Vayin Vigon turned his eyes to him, a smug smile spread upon the pale King's face and the smile parted to reveal teeth. Gans stopped struggling against those who held him back, the full weight of Vayin's message beneath his flashed smile was clear. There was no way he could win.

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King Gans let go of his twin double edged axes that dropped upon the Centala flowers next to his feet. He dropped to his knees and bowed his head, shaking as he sobbed. Words of consolation from his men sounded all around him but the only message he could hear was from within. There was no way he could win.

Ishar gasped as he found himself beside the raised tomb once more. Ovek stood before him, his face a mask of nonchalance. "That was brutal." Ishar remarked.

"The memory makes up the core of what encases him. He cannot perceive me for I exist as the unthinkable to him, he does not wish to see what happened to his father happen to him, he does not wish to see a repeat of what happened to Talisi after his father's death. He cannot fathom doing anything to warrant Binoria's wrath under any circumstances." Ovek said.

Ishar stared at the silver stone, he wanted to run his hand along it once more but thought against it, the pain inherent within the memory of the former King's death was a wave too high to escape, a second time would have it crush him. Yet. Gans dwelt in such pain everyday, floating on the wave, struggling not to sink. "His plan is to hand me and Rehny over to Vayin."

Ovek nodded. "I admit, I have some interest in Rehny. There's something about how he-"

Ishar held up a hand. "I do not have the time to listen to you talk about your man crush." He walked over to the head of the tomb. "King Gans, you're going to die whether you hand me over or not. Vayin's aim is to crush you, to crush us. He can't have brought all the Legions for mere talk, he aims to destroy and the only thing we can do is fight back. Regardless of the odds we must fight back." Nothing happened.

Ovek chuckled. "It'd take more than mere words to have him break free of the stone."

"I want to enter the memory again, right when Vayin smiles but I want to experience it beside Gans." Ishar said and Ovek nodded. Ishar placed his hands on the tomb.

... the full weight of Vayin's message beneath his flashed smile was clear. There was no way he could win. Ishar stood beside Gans. He watched as the man's face went from a mask of rage that dwindled to comprehension and then finally to the face of defeat, his fingers started to loosen their grip on the twin axes. Ishar focused on the part of him that no longer existed, the part of him that was void of coherence and exulted under the whims of Madness.

"Come now, Gans." Ishar said and everything around him froze including Gans. The Prince and the smiling King remained locked in eternal stillness as they regarded each other. Ishar probed his awareness into the exact feeling Gans held, the fading rage was something of beauty. Ishar fashioned a memory of a bloody Princess Tari being dragged behind horses led by Binorian Legionnaires, he fed the memory into Gans's still form and felt as the rage stopped fading, instead it grew, though, something else rose to accompany the rage, fear.

Ishar turned his attention to the severed head before Vayin Vigon. He imagined the man before his head was chopped off. He imagined him unstrapping a dagger from within his green robes and lunging at King Vayin Vigon as the Binorian unsheathed his sword. Still, his head gets chopped off in the altered memory but he did not take his death kneeling down. "Kings bow before no one." Ishar fed the altered memory into King Gans, twirling it with his awareness and touching gently onto the King's subconscious. And to Ishar's surprise his words echoed and brought forth the memory of him with Desan sprawled ten feet away, King Gans observing on his knees from behind him. Fear retreated and in its place was hope, a glimmer of it but enough to ward off the fear.

Ishar fashioned an image of King Gans charging into battle against Binoria, twin axes in hand with a fierce roar emanating from within his chest. Beside him were the Talisi Guards in green armor and behind were the full force of the Regiments in their green leather armor. The ground shook as feet stomped, before them Vayin stood with his smug smile in place, the red Legions behind him.. There is no way we can win. Gans's thought was loud and clear within Ishar's mind as he tangled images of Gans's deathly charge into the Talisi King, and with the thought came despair.

"No, there is no way you can win." Ishar said and waved a hand. The fabricated charging memory vanished and in its place was the original. Ishar made the original memory play backwards and come to resume when Gans felt a gauntleted hand tag at his wrist as he witnessed his father kneeling before Vayin Vigon.

"Prince, please kneel." The Guard said but Gans paid him no thought, his eyes remained fixed straight ahead.

Gans shook his head. "He is going to kill him." He whispered.

Ishar spoke in the exact same voice as the Guard. "Yes, he will and we shall hold you back once he does so." King Gans turned to face the kneeling Guard beside him. Ishar spoke and his voice emerged as the Guard's from beneath his helmet. "But what if we didn't hold you back? What if we charged against him with you? Following in your footsteps, piling our bodies behind you in one last charge aimed at wiping that smug smile off his fucking face? That would be a good damn sight." Ishar felt Gans's despair begin to fade.

Ishar waved a hand and the fabricated memory of King Gans charging into battle against a smiling Vayin Vigon resumed but this time, beside King Gans, marching his stride, was him. Ishar wore blue armor with an axe in one hand and a sword in the other. A devilish grin was painted on his face. Behind him was Carrot, bellowing with glee at the oncoming slaughter and before them was Vayin Vigon, smug smile still in place.

"Let's wipe that fucking smile off his face." Ishar said and waved a hand, the memory faded to the earlier on paused moment in time when Prince Gans stared across his father's decapitated body at King Vayin Vigon. "The full weight of Vayin's message beneath his flashed smile is clear. There is no way you can win." Ishar said. "It's madness even to try, to be honest." Ishar came to stand before Gans's frozen form, blocking the view of Vayin Vigon. "But it's Madness that will speak of our unwillingness to bow to our oppressors, it is madness that will have us plunge into swords with our own blades raised, it is madness that will have us die rather than live beneath the boot of tyrants. And it is madness," Ishar turned and pointed at Vayin's smiling face, "that will wipe that smile off his face."

Gans turned his head to Ishar, everything remained frozen save the two of them. Gans's mouth split into a toothy grin from ear to ear. Gans turned to Vayin Vigon and let out a roar before flinging his axe at the frozen King. Immediately the axe hit Vayin, Ishar was thrown out of the memory. He found himself flying away from the tomb as it crumbled with loud cracks. He flew ever further due to the shockwave resulting from the broken tomb and from the distance he could see a naked Talisi King emerge from the parted slabs of stone, head bowed with twin axes in hand whose metal held a silver gleam.

From around him Ishar heard the God Ovek's rumbling laugh. The naked Talisi King became a tiny speck as Ishar drifted further away into the darkness. You've pushed him over the edge. You've unleashed a monster. Ovek's voice echoed all around, causing Ishar to smile.