Prologue - The Firstborn
An old man raised his rust dusted hoe and struck it in a chopping motion to a wild grass growing in his lot when a sudden clang sounded, followed by two uneven pieces of metal falling to the ground. He looked at the two pieces of what used to be his hoe with disbelief. “That wicked Firstborn!” he suddenly cussed. “Why didn’t they just die?!”
A tired fisherman dragged himself to his hut beside the shore with an almost empty bucket on his side. His wife and five kids waited at their house, hungry and anticipating for their husband and father to bring them their first meal of the day.
Seeing his bucket with only a few sea urchins and a scallop, the fisherman’s wife grumbled and cried. That night, with her stomach still hungry, she and the kids went to the small altar in their house where a small statue of a god was placed. She kneeled in front of it and the kids behind her followed. “Please God of Bars, let the unlucky Firstborn die already, so that we, our family, and everyone in the world would prosper,” she prayed sincerely with the kids behind her echoing her every word.
A teary kid sat on his knees as he saw his father’s life just went out of this world. He begged for the doctors to save him but they only said, “As long as the evil firstborn is alive, we can only do much to save your father, or anyone.”
A woman sat on her legs, hunched with soot in her face, watching as her house was bombarded with falling firestone rains. Her house turned into a huge bonfire and she wasn’t able to do anything other than cry in front of it.
“That calamitous Firstborn, if only they died,” was the last thing she said as the said firestone rain drenched her to ember.
All around the world, people blame the infamous firstborn for their woes and misfortune. A kid who was barely at the age of five asked his grumbling father who was fixing the wheel of their broken carriage. “Who is the Firstborn father? Why are you wishing for them to die?”
A fat woman, the kids mother snorted to the side. “They blame the Firstborn! The Firstborn! If your father had listened to me, we would not be stuck in this situation. Tsk. Talk about blaming others for their incompetence.”
The father looked at his son and gave him a patient smile. “Don’t head your mother, son. Though this might be partly my fault, it is still a fact that the world would be a better place if the Firstborn is only dead.”
“Is he the devil father? Was he an evil god or a monster? A galodone?”
The father chuckled. “No one knows, they could be all of them or none of them. What I know though—or as what they said—is that the Firstborn is still alive. And only after its death will everything be alright. All the problems will be gone and the world will be a better place. There’s really no harm wishing them dead.”
The kid bobbed his head with determination, “Then I hope they die too.”
*****
The sun was still rising when a group of ten individuals composed of the finest weapon masters, soldiers, bar wielders and strategists entered a peculiar room.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
They passed a simple white doorway with its humongous door and entered into a room they would not expect to ever see in their whole life.
They were thrilled not just because of the prestige of entering the room but because they were also curious what the Sleeping King’s quarters looked like. And they were not dissapointed of it. The room could not speak more about the Sleeping King’s character.
There they stood in what seemed more like an endless plane of space instead of a room. The corners of the room could not be seen, nor could they locate the ceiling or any floor. Even when they were standing on a solid surface, everytime they looked down, it felt like they were floating in a boundless place where only light existed.
Only a bright white light with a dash of royal blue could be seen from below, lighting up the whole space.
It seemed to be coming from somewhere below them but no matter how much they focused their eyes, they could not pinpoint where the source of light was.
No one was usually allowed to enter the Sleeping King’s quarter, not even the Helantins who were only below the rank of the kings, but today was special.
It was a momentous day, not just in this land but to all the countless lands that existed in this world, and to other worlds.
“Welcome,” a voice echoed in the room stopping the individuals on their tracks. It was a voice of a man, an unassuming voice, that they would never fail to recognize. The voice of the Sleeping King.
A white silhouette of a person started to materialize in front of them until it formed into a silver haired man, who was still in his prime, dressed only in an unadorned white robe.
He was the Sleeping King.
The Sleeping King walked towards them , his every step giving off a subtle pressure of power. The ten individuals did not even dare to breathe and listened intently to what the Sleeping King was about to say.
“You are here summoned, to kill the boy, the last firstborn,” the Sleeping King told them without ado the task they were told to do. A task that they already etched on their mind for the past few months.
“I don’t have to stretch how important this mission is,” he continued, “not just for us but for all those who are living in this world. Your family, friends and the whole kingdom.” He paused and looked at each of the individual’s faces. “You must do whatever you need to do to kill the boy. Remember— if you fail to eliminate him, our situation will only worsen. The world we lived in could be destroyed. So don’t take this lightly and eliminate him in any ways that you can.”
The Sleeping King waved his hand in front of them and a white rectangular object floated in front of them. It was cuboidal in shape and looked like a white ornate jewelry box.
“That is the key to the other world where the boy lives. You only have one hour to stay in that world before the bar door closes. You must do whatever to accomplish the deed in that time. And if you fail to eliminate him with that time, you are obligated to stay in that world and kill him. Don’t worry, we will find a way to get you all back” He waved his right hand again and a black bar floated in front of one of the individuals. “That is how you locate him. As you already know, if you execute this job well, each of you would be given a wish. Anything you want will be given to you.”
All of the individuals’ eyes glimmered from what the sleeping king had said. This was what they wanted and why they agreed to the kingdom’s request.
Though this kingdom was powerful and could eliminate any one of them easily. They were still one of the finest beings in the land and their power and existence alone could even rival a kingdom.
They still have the freedom to decline the task, but no one in their right mind would decline such a job. It was not just about the wish and prizes they could get from this kingdom, anyone who killed the last firstborn would be heralded as a hero and would be given priceless rewards by any kingdom that existed in the land. Anyone would die to kill the last firstborn and to take away their place.
Sending the ten of them was overkill in the first place. It was like sending ten miraculous healers to heal a single scratch of one person. Anyone of them could kill the target, who was a barless human with no power in him, with just a flick of their fingers. But they did not complain as they only needed one of them to kill the boy and they would all be rewarded equally. The reward and fame was not something anyone could resist.
The Sleeping King then opened his hands and gestured. A huge gaping hole appeared in one section of the room with only a void inside it.
It was the entrance to the other world.
“Do what you must do. Even if you have to destroy the whole planet just to kill him, do it,” the sleeping king instructed them for the last time before their vision went out and the hole sucked them.