Fragments

A good man had found me on the highway face down with multiple burns, deep cuts, and bruises over my body. He took me to his village after fleeing from the capital invasion as well.

“Sire, are you alright? You’ve been sleepin’ for 4 days.”

“4 days?! I need to get home-”

As soon as I sat up, I felt an intense piercing pain in my stomach and my head. I immediately fell back to bed, grunting and moaning.

“Sire, you need to stay here for at least another week. You’re dyin’!”

“No, I-”

I could not speak anymore. The energy sapped out of my body like a barrel of mead with a hole in the bottom. Soon, nothingness swallowed my vision.

The next day, the man and woman fed me their homemade porridge. I could stomach some, but not all. These people were breaking their backs to support me. I was weak. I was too weak to save my family. I was too weak to save my King. I was just laying here for someone else to take care of.

During my recovery, I spent days mourning for my family. I toyed with the key that Ulises told me to take, fantasizing about the door that the key belonged to. Would the door bring back my family? Was this all a painful dream? Unfortunately, I had to surrender myself to reality. My wife, Laila, my child, Issac, and my father, Ulises, had perished. There was no magical god that could bring them back to me.

I then turned my attention to the book. I recalled that the Count was part of some expeditions into the old ruins of the Imperium, which was how Laila knew about the Third Era tunnels. I spent half-days reading the book through my pain. The contents were staggering. If another noble had their hands on this book, the world may have changed that instant.

“Translation 1:

Year of the Fox, 1328.

Writer, Emperor Xanitxus VII.

It has been months since the [Kaiji] sacked our cities. Our tunnelling efforts had been fruitful, and we had been able to save most of the citizens of [Themeaus]. The God Stone Fragment that I was able to save is still safe in our hands. The other 3 fragments have been left for the barbarians to take. They cannot use them without the Imperium Crest. I hope to Sycus that they are swept by His might.”

“Translation 2:

Year of the Dragon, 1332

Writer, Emperor Xanitxus VII.

My people have been saved by the tunnels. The network is extensive. I can travel to all 5 [provinces] with ease. The [torches] have been connected. Our power source has been activated without the barbarians’ knowledge. Our [technological] might will prevail.”

“Translation 3:

Year of the Falcon, 1333

Writer, Emperor Xanitxus VII.

The [Kaiji] have found the tunnels. We developed [rods of fire] to repel them, but we cannot use them in the tunnels. If we do not defeat them outside the tunnels, we will be overrun within a few years. I will hide the God Stone Fragment in a monolith under [Regalius]. The true survivors of the Third Era will remember the location. May Sycus help us all.”

The rest of the pages were sketches of some sort of artifacts. Rods of fire? These seem very similar to the Arkan weapons I had seen. There were other strange sketches of what looked like spheres attached to sticks, and they were attached together with a rope of some sort across a tunnel wall. Another sketch showed that the Third Era Imperium used the same flag as the First Era, signifying some sort of longevity against the attacking barbarians. The last sketch was of a knight wearing a helmet with three prongs on the top, and three slits down the middle with one slit across the eye line. At the bottom of the sketch was written “The Helm of Morox”. To oppose a helm that looks like this was a terrifying thought. Was this what Ulises wanted to discuss with me in private? If so, then why? Why did he want to talk about ancient history suddenly after the Royal Court revealing the existence of the Princess?

I had never heard of these “God Stone Fragments” before either. What were they? Why was the Emperor so inclined to hide them? And how was the Imperial Crest even related? These questions swarmed my feeble, weakened mind. I had to rest much more before I could think about the implications, and heal from my injuries.

***

At last, after another few days, I was able to stand on my feet. Jonnah and Wendy, farmers of the capital outskirts, took care of me for more than a week, and I had never bothered to learn their names until I was able to stand. I was in a pathetic state, both mentally and physically.

When I tried to walk, I was too unbalanced, and fell on the floor. The couple helped me stand, but I had to lay in bed again. I had never been so useless in my life.

“Sire, I git that you wanna do everything right now, but you can’t! You needa rest. Your people need you at your best, not your worst!”

Jonnah was right. I had only thought about other people and their needs, but I had to learn how to think about myself. I had not been scolded by anyone in a long time, since the commonfolk were too respectful of my nobility, and the nobility had to adhere to their own sense of honor and tradition.

“Thank you, Jonnah and Wendy. Thank you for taking me into your care.”

“It’s what you woulda done for us commonfolk. Ever since you became Count, we all hoped you be King someday. That would be sumthin’. Imagine a kingdom with nice nobles.”

“The King is one of the kindness men-”

“That’s cuz you’re a noble, Sire. The King taken more taxes from us farmers. What the Under were we supposed to do with less money? And to salt our wound, he forced us to sell our crops for less money for the rich folk! Just cuz someone nice to you don’t mean they nice to everyone else!”

“I did not know that. I am so sorry to hear. Perhaps I was misinformed about the state of the kingdom.”

That was not true. I was trying to save face. I knew exactly what most of the nobility were doing to their people, including King Theatus III. I had lost myself in the delusion of grandeur. I thought that if I were to stay close to the King and benefit the Royal Court rather than myself, I could have changed the kingdom from within. I had, instead, merely protected myself with someone politically much stronger than me.

“Of course you didn’t know, you’re a noble! I know you do much for the commonfolk, but in the end, you’re still the King’s dog!!!”

“ENOUGH JONNAH! The Count is sick and dyin’! He gits it. Don’t you see him cryin’ already’?”

I was thankful to Wendy for intervening because I did not know how much I could take until my heart stopped beating. However, Jonnah was completely correct.

I was nothing but the kingdom’s loyal pup. They needed me when they were in dire straits, but when I needed help for my own realm, they saw me too small of a lord to even sneer at, or too much of a burden to lift a finger. The only nobles that truly understood my struggles and pushed for my exaltation were either blown to bits at the Royal Court, or crushed under a stone pillar with his daughter and grandson. The King had only ever breathed around me because of my father’s legacy, and when I finally proved myself out of my sheer willingness to survive, he finally saw me as someone worth petting, like a loyal lapdog.

“Sorry, me Lord. I’m too used to other nobles. Them high horsers. I forgit that we found you without a horse. Sometimes, we forgit nobles can be people too.”

I laughed relatively hard, confusing Jonnah and Wendy.

“Jonnah, the nobles are not human. They have lost their hearts and souls the moment they were given a seat of power. They were not satisfied with the immense power they had over their people, so they killed the other lords to gain more power. Do not pay any mind for your treatment towards them.”

“But Sire, nobles are people too, you know that.”

“There were some nobles that hated me with all of their being, and I hated them as well. They were crushed beneath rubble, but I could see their faces. They were not ready to die, and they were begging for the gods to save them. These people can be the least pleasant human beings, but they are still human beings. I see your point.”

“Exactly Sire! Otherwise, we’d be just like them monsters in the forest. Crazed and confused beasts.”

Those were lessons I needed to hear from people who lived a hard life. I had enough of the nobility and their damn problems. I decided that I will sit out of this pedestrian squabble. The kingdom’s needs were no longer my own. This loyal lapdog had grown angry and bitter. It would not hesitate to bite the hand that feeds it any longer.