xxx

In a land, long forgotten by all but one, in a time of strife, a new age began.

From its slumber, a great magic of old awoke.

For a moment, the light of life, it stole.

In an ancient tomb light and darkness, in an eternal struggle before, converged now.

An old being, with new blood and flesh.

From the light of the Sun and the darkness of his soul, was reborn.

And with the will of war, he had come.

xxx

Mythical magic took form over a small plateau.

The sky returned to normal as a naked, crawling man with closed eyes slowly appeared.

The man blinked. Ever-changing eyes, that weren't his, gazed at the world.

He spoke. "I am alive?"

"The last laugh is mine, then." His voice, overflowing with both mirth and scorn.

The old king laughed madly for a moment but suddenly stopped, thinking, remembering. "But, how long has it been?..." He muttered.

Looking at the horizon, he stood up, searching, but not finding.

He sighed.

"You are no more, Evil One. From the beginning, your fate was sealed. Your death inevitable, a foregone conclusion. But you still killed me, and in the end, I couldn't even escape."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

His foe is gone, vengeance but a dream now.

"I need to find out what happened after my death..." He muttered to himself.

The old king felt weakened. But it didn't matter, he could do as his old foe.

Summoning.

Even if not, I feel my strength still coming back, just a few years.

"How much the world has changed?" he wondered.

The man peered at the world. The stolen eyes shimmering.

He was on the world's largest continent. Not his home but where he was killed.

Everything had changed, cities, rivers, mountains, everything but that forest.

He peeked at its depths, powerful presences he felt, but saw nothing. He didn't insist, it wouldn't be wise to pick up a fight with these old magical creatures in his state.

They are powerful indeed.

He kept looking, seeking to find all the changes, all the new challengers, and many things did catch his attention.

People, monsters, warriors, mages, ability users, warships, sanctuaries, ruins.

He kept looking.

On a small island at the east, between this and the southern continent. A little girl, killing a sea monster thirty times her height, her control over mana good to a terrifying degree.

In the southern continent. A beautiful port-city, being taken by blue-clad soldiers.

At the east of this continent, he saw a warrior, each of his steps bringing him dozens of meters away, his bearing, like a mountain.

In the outskirts of that forest, a boy ran among the trees, beasts along with him.

Intrigued, the old king observed him carefully. By glancing at his mana pool he saw his high summoning affinity, but that wouldn't garner the old king's attention. The boy had the same strange curse as his old foe. A coincidence? It didn't matter, the curse would end him before even a decade.

A pity.

He kept gazing at other worthy opponents, ignoring the magical creatures that have taken human form.

At the eastern side of the southern continent. A completely normal-looking man, carrying three powerful swords.

The old being kept looking at all those worthy opponents, amused.

An ogre invulnerable to all wounds.

A pyromancer, prodigy of fire magic and with a fire ability.

A giant monster in an underground labyrinth.

A Magic Beast of several heads and long necks on a now uncivilized continent.

"Oh!" The old king was stunned. A whole unpopulated continent was a surprise.

Now on that continent, an army of the dead warred against eerie scaled creatures.

A spatial distortion in a desert, where his old foe once first appeared.

The ruins of a city in the middle of an ocean, which made him sigh in sorrow. That city was once his home and kingdom. The old king suppressed his feelings for now.

Net, he gazed at a fortress that radiated magic and... he couldn’t see further.

The old being had a sad smile married on his face.

"Long ago nothing could avoid these eyes, in this age, that is longer true"

He kept looking, searching, observing.

Eastern side of the Southern continent. In a mountain, the tallest of all mountains, something caught his attention.

Shackled to the peak of the mountain, black chains chocked full-of-runes all over something, a... thing, a creature, a humanoid being was there, and it moved.

The thing lifted its head and, while smiling, stared back at the old king.

A shiver went down his back and the old king quickly looked away.

Nothing is ever easy, he thought bitterly.

"Hmm?" He said suddenly, glancing behind him.

Someone was approaching fast.