Today was fun, all things considered. Nil was panting as the moon had long risen during our practice. It was going to be interesting to see the duel in about twelve hours. The enemy camp is going to face true despair. Nil clearly wanted to keep practicing, but he needed sleep. I dropped him off on his floor before going to the roof of the castle. I looked out, seeing the moon slowly rise over the stars. I did like the scenery here on Tenebrae quite a bit; the night skies were beautiful here. I let out a yawn. I need to sleep myself. I leaned against the spire I was next to, put a small ward around myself, and closed my eyes. A familiar slipping sensation surrounded me. I hate this . I looked around, seeing myself in the Oasis. Uh oh. I looked around, seeing the intact Oasis. Which time? Which time was this? Where was I? Looking down at myself I saw myself clearly recovering, looking at my now missing left hand. My hand reached up, feeling my cracked off front horn. Oh. Oh no. Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up this instant Krahinn! Of course I couldn’t wake myself up. Ending once it began was a fallacy. Telling Nil about our death ceremony reminded me of how Hugminn was robbed of the decision. And this is what followed.
“Hugminn. He. Hugminn.” Past me whimpered, curling in a ball. It does not get better from here. Helsiri walked over to past me. Don’t. Run. Shut up, don’t talk to me, and run.
“Krahinn, I understand you are upset, but you need to leave. This is a place for to heal and you are refusing to.” Helsiri told me. Helsiri, you are responsible for so much going wrong I just don’t want to watch what’s about to happen.
“It’s your fault!” I spat at him.
“Do not blame me for the actions of mortals.” Helsiri shot back. I let out a sigh; I truly hated Helsiri.
“You taught him that ! You fed his delusions! The entire disaster that happened at Zaubsaal is a result of what you did!” I roared. Helsiri, how did you not see how much I was suffering? That disaster was the start and end of so much.
“Mortals will do mortal things. What happened was tragic, but I hardly see how you can blame me.” Helsiri retorted. Past me was glaring at him, clearly about to lose it.
“Hardly see?! You taught him the ! You even explained how to use it like that! It started everything! You didn’t bother correcting his delusions!” I snarled as I was shaking in anger.
“Krahinn, I am a King. I do not have time for your temper tantrums.” Helsiri replied, like he had every time I remembered this.
I let out a sigh as I knew what was about to happen. Helsiri looked as I remembered, green feathers, whitish gray eyes, and Osprey like features. Past me formed where my left hand used to be in the shape of a spear, stabbing it for Helsiri’s heart. Helsiri dodged, looking surprised I attempted to stab him. I changed the into the ethereal hand I usually kept now as I charged him. Helsiri summoned his sword and shield, coating them with his . My eyes were twitching in wrath as I glared at him. I just stood there, letting out a deep sigh. I was so consumed with grief. Did that justify what I’m about to do? Helsiri was horrible; he definitely pushed me over the edge.
“Krahinn, stop this. It won’t end well for you.” Helsiri threatened, not realizing past me was beyond reason. I mean, it didn’t end well for either of us.
Past me didn’t even pause; I didn’t hesitate as I rushed the King of the Oasis. I knew in that moment that I just wanted it all to end. I couldn’t see any future without my brother, Hugminn. We always had each other; we were nearly inseparable. The twin . They always teased Hugminn he was the Raven of Dawn, and I was the Raven of Dusk given our personalities. Helsiri was an idiot. Of course I wasn’t healing yet. Every dream and fantasy I had was destroyed, my life forever altered, and at my lowest moment I had Helsiri acting like he had no blood on his hands. Was I trying to justify what I did after the fact? This was definitely a moment I doubled down on my life changing forever. It was time for me to watch as I made the second worst decision of my life yet again. How many times had I gotten to see this?
Helsiri was not used to people being unintimidated by his . Furthermore, a plain willing to duel a King was also something unheard of. Several other facts were also about to come brutally to head. Helsiri went to block my incoming attack, but I grabbed a nearby building to slam into Helsiri. I used to grab several pieces of the broken building to also slam into Helsiri. Helsiri scrambled to his feat as I used to get on top of him. I slammed my ethereal hand into his shield, wrapping tendrils of around it in an attempt to rip it out of his hand. Helsiri pivoted into a kick, launching me away from him. I used to rip another building off the foundation before switching to to attack him with another building. Helsiri sliced the building in half, finally getting his bearings. His chest was bleeding heavily from where I stabbed him, but he had a lot of fight left in him as he tried healing the wound. He used to summon several ghouls to battle with. To counter, I cast , shredding the ghouls as they formed. Helsiri began chain casting in an attempt to overwhelm me. I cast , unleashing a monstrous vortex that destroyed more of the nearby area.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“Stop this madness Krahinn! You are destroying the Oasis!” Helsiri spat at me. Of course I was; I just wanted to embrace the sweet oblivion of death. I didn’t care how destructive it was.
“So what?!” I roared back at him.
We resumed our duel as the Oasis paid the price. Helsiri cast , decaying a lot of the rubble and broken pieces of buildings. In response I created a which dispersed the around. The nice pools of pristine water began turning putrid as hit them. I unleashed another that dissipated more of the , slamming into Helsiri’s shield, pushing him back several feet. I summoned several spears, throwing them into to barrage Helsiri from multiple angles. Helsiri effortlessly used his sword to deflect them all before counter attacking with . I created a barrier around myself to keep it from touching me as the water turned black and the nice sand’s shine was decayed and torn out of the sand. Both of our were maelstroms rampaging across the Oasis. Helsiri was amping up his , preparing to cast something quite fierce. I made so many bad decisions that day. One of the next was coming up as in my great decision-making state, I decided to begin weaponizing the stars. Creating long distance to rip them and their energy and unleash it upon Helsiri. Sweltering heat began melting the Oasis as I unleashed the stars against Helsiri’s . He reanimated a small army of skeletons from the Oasis.
Looking back, I had decided to fight a King who had in the Oasis where all the got buried. His specialty was reanimation too. It didn’t matter, as past me was beyond reasoning with nor was I rationally thinking in that moment. I just wanted to make things hurt or someone to end that all consuming grief. I was an unruly wreck that needed something. Someone. Definitely not Helsiri. King of the Exiles. Lords he hated that title. We cast after at each other as the carnage and destruction piled up. The Oasis was the battleground between space and death, with every structure, grain of sand, and corpse being baked, eviscerated, and hit by our clashing . It was a glorious display of prowess as Helsiri finally managed to close the hole in his chest. It didn’t matter, there were more stars for me to manifest and consume. They were a great way to buffer and consume the of Helsiri. I destroyed so much. I was no better than the Void King in this regard; a dark pit welled up in my stomach as I watched our brawl. Forling Helsiri. At least when I snubbed my beak at mortals, I wasn’t stupid enough to train their up. Such seemingly small things permanently altered history; they just snow balled into the Realm altering catastrophe.
And now I am dealing with Nil. He and Scius were so similar it was unsettling. The insatiable desire for . That near singular focus with only one distraction. Why did history feel like it was repeating itself? Was it some odd cosmic coincidence the two were similar? Was I making the same mistake as Hugminn made? I looked at my past mistake unfolding before my eyes. Being honest, this was still only the second worst thing I did. How much worse could it get? A chance to end it all, and I think I’ve finally got one. Nil was just barely capable of pulling it off. I let out an irritated sigh; I hated how similar the two were. But I have plenty of mistakes to learn from. It was fun seeing his . His once in an existence was truly amazing to watch. Truly rare and talents are so entertaining to watch. I see what Hugminn got excited about now. How many chances had even come up in the centuries that had passed? No wonder Ipnerslei was so pushy. The list had exactly one name on it. I should still think it over a bit more, at least see if I could make a plan. Nil at least earned the right for me to consider it.
Now was for watching the end of this nightmare. As I was lost in thought, reached the end of our duel. The Oasis was extirpated. Helsiri was panting, breathing heavily as his was dwindling. I stood there, scared and alone as my anguish pushed me forward. Past me rushed Helsiri, knowing I could finally get close to the user. His shield and sword were warped and distorted from the relentless heat. I looked up, seeing numerous stars were missing. You know, I’m amazed this is not when I got the title, He Who Swallowed the Stars, here. Helsiri made a feeble attempt to stop me, but it was for nought. I watched as I did what I always did at the end, using to grab and rip his still beating heart from his chest. Helsiri looked at me in desperation, trying to cast a to save himself. I isolated his head in , choking out the last dregs of his life as I crushed his heart. As I threw his heart to the ground, I used to move my and on his corpse in separate directions. Helsiri’s last remnants of went rampant, bleeding into what was once the Oasis. I looked at the wasteland, seeing the once pristine and beautiful Oasis razed to nothing. Past me just broke down even more, crying on the sand as the weight of what I had just did hit me. It didn’t matter, no amount of tears was undoing what happened. I was such a hypocrite. I was so devastated by Hugminn having the choice to move on stolen from him I did the same thing myself. Regicide, the ultimate blasphemy an could commit.
“And thus, I crown myself founder and King of the Wastes, the eternal tomb and reminder of my crimes.” I told myself solemnly as I felt collapse around me, seeing myself breakdown on the sand I now called home.
