As Solomon’s heels scraped the floor, the grating filled the chamber. A murderous quiet crawled towards us before Galen stepped forward and said, “So tell me, Jericho. I’m sure you already know why.”

I shrugged and said, “I thought this was all a part of the ceremony.”

Krakowah’s jaw set to steel before she knotted her fists with heat brimming from her vast shoulders. After she stepped forward, she roared, “Is this how you greet a Saint to the city of storms then, Galen? One accusation after another.”

Galen snapped back, “You have not seen what’s underneath that boy’s skin. You’re both walking beside the embodiment of a nightmare.”

Krakowah thundered, “Nightmare boy over here saved my life. He’s trained with due diligence. I’ve seen him with Solomon every day, and it's brutal.” She threw a hand out as she continued, “He comes home one day before facing torture at the hands of Sir Regis, a legendary interrogator. Now he comes to his coronation ceremony with swords pointed at his throat and daggers at his back. What kind of madness has overtaken you?”

She spoke to Abraham Elsiary who stood at the edge of his seat, sweat pouring from his forehead as he said, “I saw what’s there. I know what you’re hiding. You’re no saint...You’re something else.”

My voice quivered with false outrage as I said, “What are you accusing me of? Am I some underling of The Darkened One?”

Galen stood tall, his chest swelled as he pointed towards me. He said, “No, monster. You are The Darkened One.”

I squinted my eyes with confusion as Solomon and Krakowah exploded with a laughter both long and hard. After emptying their chests, Krakowah wiped a tear as she said, “Oh really now? Ole Saint Jericho’s the darkened one is it? I suppose he’s a geshian and Blackiron too?”

The king stood from his seat as he said, “Come out, Greplis.”

The grouchy custodian who first met me whenever I walked into Nelastra walked out from a side room, his back hunched as he hobbled his steps. After pacing up beside the king, my pupils dilated. With his voice as hollow as a gutted deer, Deluge said in my mind, “That is the custodian I walk by everyday when I go outside...”

As Deluge finished, the king shouted, “Tell us. How many times have you seen Jericho walk into and out of Nelastra at night.”

Greplis grimaced as he said, “Every single night, your highness.”

“And when would he come back?”

“Just before dawn.”

The king nodded his head before he stepped forward, his eyes squinted in an alloy of rage and terror. After reaching the edge of his stared platform, he boomed,

“Galen has told me about his fight with you at Mareovosa. He told me all your threats. Greplis tells me that you skulk around all night without any rest. You are of an enemy kingdom’s blood, and you’ve threatened Abraham the Enlightened and saint Ara. There’s been reports of you instigating the forgotten tribes.”

His voice grew louder still as his face reddened, “You associate with that filth, taking their side instead of the holy city that offered you sainthood. You act like a saint, but underneath, you are a monster threatening the devastation of every man woman and child here. Ara told me of how your flesh reconstituted after the tore it off. No such saint exists. Only one thing can do such evil.”

I drooped my shoulders while staring at my hands. My heart raced in my chest, pumping red all through me like raging rivers. My hands shook with adrenaline before my voice ebbed, weak as a plague ridden child, “There is nothing I can do here.”

The king’s opened eyes squinted with surprise as he hissed, “What?”

I continued as I slowly peered upward at his eyes, “I’ve toiled without end, night and day for Nelastra. This is the recognition I receive for my efforts. Did you know that the Blackiron’s were attempting an uprising?”

The confusion in the king’s eyes grew before my voice shook with hurt and betrayal as I roared, “Surely your kind knows of the sudden scar across Kade’s face. I fought him off from invading Nelastra.”

A series of shocked sighs ebbed through the room before the king glanced at Galen as he said, “No, I did not. All of our scouts went missing recently. I’d received no reports.”

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I nodded before saying, “That was Kade’s own doing. He’d hid his plans by tunneling under the earth until he found the underground spring under Nelastra. He wanted to destroy the barrier. I held him alone.”

Solomon grabbed my shoulder as he said, “Why did you not speak of this with us? We could of helped you.”

I snarled as I said, “And what? Get tortured again before they found out the truth? You’ve seen what they’ve done for you over time.”

Solomon stepped back as he let out a pained, grunting gasp. I sunk my words deeper as I said, “I help those around me for Gaia, not for recognition, and regardless, I’d hate to watch the palisade purge an entire people for trying to get freedom.”

Solomon’s knees shook as he placed a palm on his chest. As he stumbled, I turned towards the king, saying, “You people treat the tribes as less than animals. I wanted to try reasoning with them before that. Excuse me for my mercy.”

The room went silent as I said, “You’ve all lost yourself in the madness of paranoia. You turn towards your brothers and sisters with eyes full of fear. These are not the times where we fight one another. Against the looming threat of the blackened demon, we must stand united as a people, not fragmented as men who fear their own shadows.”

I pointed towards Galen as I said, “He is a betrayer, a weaver of tales. Visions of The Darkened One have driven him mad, now he seeks asylum by pitting us against one another.”

Galen looked around as every eye drilled into his head. A drop of sweat fell from his chin before he stammered, “No, he speaks lies. He’s a mutant. A demon. The ender of all. Please believe me. He stole my daughter. He’s taken everything from me, and now he plans to take the remnant. Please, please!”

He grabbed onto the edge of the king’s collar as his rambling lost any semblance of coherence. The king slapped a paralyzing palm into his cheek before the king snapped, “Execute this drivel. He has been infected by The Darkened One’s taint. Off with him.”

I interjected, “No, your highness. That is not what has driven him mad. It is the death of his daughters. He is a grieving man searching for consolation. Please, forgive him...As Gaia would.”

The king bit his lip before sighing. He turned towards the shaking frame of Galen as he said, “Detain him. We will give him a trail for his crimes against our newest saint.”

Galen raored, “No one will see the truth. We are stuck in his web of lies. All will burn. All will perish.”

The ripping of iron busted the eardrums of those near him as he glowed with the essence of a hundred souls. Every pouch radiated unreal power before Krakowah leapt forward with a molten chain in hand. She whipped the interlocking cable overhead before wrapping the glowing iron around Galen. She pulled, jerking Galen through the air before she clasped him under her arm as he howled.

The chain’s cooled in an instant before she bowed to the king and said, “I will put him in prison, if you’d like.”

The king’s disgust flooded his words as he said, “Please do.”

As she carried Galen away, she turned and said to me, “You’ll be a fine saint. I know it.”

I grinned as I said, “Thank you.”

The room listened as Galen wept under the muscled arm of Krakowah. He murmured under his heaving breaths, “I just wanted my daughter back. I just wanted her safe. Please, don’t let him taint her like Petra. Please, please.”

Out of the entirety of my act, that single moment proved the hardest undertaking. My breath caught in my throat. My eyes burned at his words. This man put everything on the line for a chance at gaining his daughter back from an evil force. He had failed, miserably so, and with words, not even actions.

I’d anticipated his betrayal, so I planned accordingly. So far, my plan moved with smooth motion. The next step proved crucial.

After Galen left, the king turned towards me and placed a palm on his chest as he said, “Please excuse me for my indiscretion. I never imagined he had been driven to such lengths by his own machinations.”

I nodded as I said, “It is nothing.”

The king grinned as he said, “I will consider what you have said about the tribes. Perhaps our treatment of them has proven...unfair at times.”

Solomon gasped again, this time from a pleasing pain. I grinned back to the king as I said, “Excellent.”

The king nodded before turning towards the armored knight who held the remnant while saying, “Commence the ceremony. There has been more than enough delays.”

The walking set of dark, gray, and thorned armor clanked with each of its steps as it walked towards the outer edge of stairs leading to the throne.

As the amor stopped, a deep voice replied, “Step forth, Jericho, knight of Nern, slayer of dragons, and Bastion’s juggernaut.”

I took each step, sweat building under my hydra skin as fast as Deluge could reabsorb it. If the timing of our plan inched even a moment off, then our plan would fail. Utter chaos would ensue.

I reached within a hand’s grasp of the beaming alexandrite. The pulsing energy slithered against my skin and rattled my bones. The sound of static filled my ears as the man spoke,

“Do you pledge your soul to Gaia?”

“I do.”

“Do you devote your life to Bastion and to the empire’s prosperity?”

“I do.”

“Then tap upon this peice of god, filling yourself with her radiance. Give only the lightest touch, for she drives even the most devoted mad if they grasp for too long. Do you understand?”

“I do.”

He lifted the remnant in front of me before I reached the back of my hand, slower than thick mud. Right before the back of my finger tapped the remnant, the doors leading into the room snapped open as a messenger howled,

“The Darkened One is attacking the city.”

In response, my eyes slanted into slits as I grinned with a maniacal glee.

Perfect.