'I had been too arrogant…'
Perhaps he deserved his injuries. But could he be blamed? Having the kind of power he wielded made him no different to a god… it made him invincible.
From nothing, he raised my kingdom. He introduced concepts and technologies that baffled the world. His subjects feared and respected him, and his retainers never questioned his judgment. Under his reign, his kingdom prospered.
No other kingdom came close.
Enemies and rival kingdoms were put down, forced to retreat and surrender under the weight of his powers. Kings and Queens envied and coveted his power. They coveted his lands… they coveted his technologies.
Assassinations from the outside and within failed. Betrayals and coups were uprooted before they could bloom. Nothing escaped his gaze. Nothing escaped his power.
And he showed no mercy.
His judgment was swift. Deadly. Vicious. His will was absolute, and his subjects understood this. All they had to do was follow his rules, and everything they needed to live their lives was granted to them.
They were happy.
And for years, his reign remained absolute. But just as winds change directions, just as tides rise and fall, so too did his enemies. And because of his arrogance, he ignored a budding threat.
There had been rumours of something sinister, of something that could threaten his power. His intelligence brought reports of a machine being built, of a vile apparatus that harvested life force to function.
The reports claimed that the very people assigned to build the machine lost their lives. Hundreds died for the ambitions and greed of kings who coveted his power. And for many years, he turned a blind eye… until he couldn't.
As arrogant and tyrannical as he was, there were lines he never dared cross, principles that he upheld no matter the cost. Things he would never ignore. His people knew this.
So too did his enemies.
The latest reports he received from his intelligence informed him of what those ambitious kings planned to do. Reading the reports made his blood boil. For the sake of power, those bastards dared to use innocent lives.
They dared to use the lives of children as a resource to power their vile machine!
Aurel could no longer sit back and watch. Without so much as a second thought, he took off, rushing towards the supposedly hidden location. His fury was nature itself — raw and untamed.
With a wave of his hand, mountains were flattened, forests were overturned, and rivers vaporised. Nothing could withstand his fury. But in his rush to save the children. In his rush to stop the chaos, he had overlooked multiple possibilities.
No… those possibilities were irrelevant before his power. Even weakened, it was more than enough to deal with such scum.
He was that confident… He was that arrogant.
The supposed children who had been in danger of being siphoned of their life force were a blatant lie. Yes, lives were used as a resource, but not those of children.
His intelligence had been misled… or they had been in on it.
Regardless, his enemies had him right where they wanted. And for the first time in a long time, a weapon sent a shudder down his spine. It was vile. It was wrong.
But it worked.
Crossing a threshold he didn't know existed, the weapon that had been designed to kill him warped and twisted the surrounding space. Before he knew it, a massive purplish-black beam struck him with tyrannical force.
For several seconds, everything went black. He could not tell his left from his right. He could not tell up from down. With more force than anything he had felt before, he was sent into the side of a mountain, shearing away more than half of it.
Pain… pain unlike anything he had ever felt before tore through his body without mercy. He convulsed in overwhelming agony. His vision blurred and bled. Blood poured from his nose and mouth.
His flesh burned.
The armour he wore dissolved, reduced to nothing but molten metal. Worse, it stuck to his flesh without mercy, eating deep into his body until a few bones were exposed to the air.
Aurel's body was reduced to a charred mess… a nauseatingly aromatic one at that. Urgh, it burned.
His soul itself was not spared. It felt as though a sinister power had corroded a portion of it away, leaving him helpless and almost powerless. For more than an hour he convulsed and bled, forced to question the foundation of everything that he knew.
After what felt like an eternity, he forced his injured self back to his kingdom, forced to retreat with his tail between his legs.
Ah… the shame. The humiliation. He could barely fly back to my castle.
Whether by luck or something else, his assailants never pursued him. Perhaps they felt they had succeeded; he didn't know, and he didn't care. All that mattered was getting back to his castle.
He needed to heal. He needed to think. But first, he needed to rid himself of the unbearable pain. His mind was a mess, and his power…
[ERROR]
[...EDICT…]
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
This had never happened before. Whatever weapon those greedy bastards built was powerful and strategic enough to cause extreme damage to his power source.
Through sheer force of will, he found my way back to my castle. His retainers could barely believe their eyes when they saw him in such a state.
Well, they were right to be shocked. His existence was synonymous with a god. Never had they seen him bleed, much less devastated to such an extent.
"My-my liege! What in the world's name happened to you?!"
"Those bastards! So the rumours were true!"
"Quick, get the healers in here!"
"This isn't good… How is His Majesty still standing?!"
"Harris!!"
While they ran around spewing nonsense and whatnot, Aurel sat upon his throne, his breath coming out heavy and ragged. His vision was getting worse and worse. Dark spots began to invade his vision.
He knew what was happening… He was losing consciousness. He was bleeding out. The pain and damage were too severe. There was no way he could stay conscious through this.
However, he had to pass his judgment. He had to instruct his retainers on how to deal with their enemies.
"Se-Sebastian…"
With great difficulty, he called out to his most trusted personal caretaker, his voice echoing throughout the grand chambers. Aurel's posture as he sat on my throne was graceless and broken, blood pooling beneath him.
"My liege."
Sebastian took a knee just below the dais, while the others stood back, heads lowered and backs tense. Among them were generals, researchers and engineers he had trained, nobles, and a few women of his.
"He-heed my-my orders!"
The words came out broken and strained, the very act itself worsening the damage done to his throat. But it had to be done.
"Do not… pursue them."
Murmurs rippled through the chamber. Shock. Confusion.
"S-Seal the borders. Lock down every archive, laboratory, and forge." His vision dimmed further, but he forced himself to continue. "Cease all external campaigns. No retaliation. No expansion."
Several of them stiffened at my words.
"Divert all resources to defence. Fortify the capital. Protect the people." He swallowed, blood coating his tongue. "F-Find the weapon… Study it. Learn how it works."
Sebastian's fists clenched.
"And if you must choose…" He paused, breath hitching. "Between vengeance… and survival…"
His gaze settled on Sebastian… on all of them. "Choose survival."
The chamber went deadly silent.
"This is not… a retreat," Aurel said, his voice barely more than a whisper. "It is… preservation."
His strength finally gave out. "Rule… in my stead."