Epilogue

Pira and I had some time to kill while we waited for our two party members. In predictable Pira fashion, she wanted to tinker with some gadgets in our down time, so I helped her. I even requested a gadget of my own that could be useful in being heard over the cacophony of joy on the city streets outside: a megaphone. Pira thought it sounded like an interesting project, so she and I worked to figure out the mechanics and get it assembled. I was blown away by how quickly her mind worked, and she was presenting me with the completed megaphone in what felt like no time. I put it in my bag for later.

It didn’t take long before Estelar and Andra walked through the door, looking much better after their ordeals. Pira and I rushed them, hugging each of them. None of us was interested in stifling our enthusiasm; this was a celebration.

Against all odds, we had won. No one could possibly have predicted it. From our humble beginnings as the smallest and most motley party in the contest, to riding a dragon and saving the capital, we had earned this win and this time together.

I felt closer to them than ever. With the competition over, the proxy conditions no longer bound us, but in its place, something even stronger remained.

It was the happiest I had been in this world by far. I could almost forget about the atrocities the soon-to-be king had orchestrated; I could almost forget my role as his pawn.

Almost.

We walked through the bustling streets that had felt so cold and alien to me when I was last here, now crowded with citizens shouting in glee when they spotted us. Word had gotten out that we had won, and we had done so by saving these people. Some of the residents threw confetti at us, and there was music to herald our movements. I was a bit concerned we’d be swarmed, but there were guards posted on every street, and we were given protected access through the roads, which was much appreciated.

As we made our way through the chaos, enjoying the sights and sounds and pure joy of the crowds around us, we talked amongst ourselves.

Andra was set to return to her village, ready to prepare for the rite to ascend to chiefdom. If she had made this announcement on the day I had met her, I would have assumed she would fail. But now, I knew her. I’d seen what she was capable of. And I could tell by the look in her eyes she was destined to succeed.

Estelar has similar intentions, planning to return to this travels across the continent. He had a newfound interest in the native flora and fauna, with a focus on learning more about draconic remnants. Maybe it was his half-conscious experience with the dragon we’d saved; maybe he was concerned for the devastation the mages’ college had almost caused. Whatever the reason, he had a purpose that he spoke about with eagerness, and I respected that.

Pira had mostly stayed on track from what her intentions had been at the beginning of the contest. She still fully intended to use our team’s achievement as a stepping stone to becoming the lead engineer under the crown itself, free to tinker with anything in any way she wanted in an effort to improve the world. She scoffed a bit at the suggestion that she’d learned anything significant on our journey, but it was obvious Andra and Estelar had rubbed off on her, giving her new insights and experiences to draw upon for her technologies.

“Hey,” Andra said, nudging me with her elbow. “What about you? You’re woolgathering.”

“I agree, something is on your mind,” Estelar asked. “Do you want to talk about it?”

I was caught off guard by their concern, but they were right. While my teammates were busy looking to their futures, my focus was still on the past. I gave myself a little shake and smiled.

“I’m fine,” I replied. “Just processing everything that’s happened.”

They seemed satisfied with that, and I made a mental note to be more in the moment. I wanted to enjoy every last second I had with my companions. But I knew that, when the opportunity arose, I would have to excuse myself and finish what I had started.

If I couldn’t do what I needed to do here, I wouldn’t be able to look my fiancee or child in the eye when I returned.

As it turned out, I didn’t have to wait very long for the opportunity to present itself. My party was called to the palace, and we made our way there with much fanfare from the locals. A stage had been set opposite the castle and festooned with banners and decorations; this was clearly some sort of celebratory ceremony for the official end of the contest. Musicians were entertaining the crowd as everyone in the city began to gather.

Prince Elias was there, but not among the masses. He was in the palace itself, standing on a balcony directly opposite the stage. He was dressed to the nines and waving benevolently at the people below. As I looked, he met my eye and smirked, then gave an exaggerated gesture of applause in my direction.

“Proxy!” someone shouted. An aging government official in a long robe grabbed me by the arm and tugged me toward the stage. “You need to give a speech. Talk about your journey and how wonderful it is to win the contest on behalf of the prince. That sort of thing.”

I made a wry face to my friends, and they shrugged with smiles of their own. I took a moment to hug each of them before I let the official pull me onto the stage. He guided me to a podium and handed me what looked like a microphone. I tapped it; there was an echo. I wasn’t sure if it was magic, technology or both, but the mic appeared to work. My tapping got the crowd’s attention, and the people fell silent as they looked up at me expectantly.

I took a deep breath, but I hesitated. My final gambit, my last act of vengeance was just a short speech away. I looked up at Elias once again, briefly thinking that maybe I should just let it all go. He was undeniably intelligent, although it was in a way that pained me to acknowledge. As a ruler, he would be unmatched. He could truly lead this kingdom to greatness.

As our eyes met, though, all I saw were the empty pits I had seen when we first met. His smile vacant, movements performatory. I couldn’t be swayed by the monster, I had to fight to end this here and now.

Resolved, I began my last act as proxy and my last act in this world.

“One morning,” I started, “I awoke in a dark box and was told that I would be fighting in a proxy battle. At first I thought it was a silly dream, but of course, eventually I came to realize it was all real.” I paused for effect. “I was told that if I wanted to return to my life, to my soon-to-be wife and unborn child, I would have to serve the prince and win this competition. If I disobeyed or lost, I would be immediately executed. Those were the rules that were explained to me.”

A confused murmur overtook the crowd. People exchanged looks, and their unease confirmed my suspicions. The threat of execution for the proxies who lost had been a lie, a lie I had only suspected after my hands were too dirty to turn back.

“In spite of the harsh conditions of this world and my lack of any knowledge of how this place worked, I had faith in the youngest prince,” I continued, ignoring the audience reaction. “Although our resources were limited, the unrelenting intelligence and cunning that Elias - apologies, Prince Elias - displayed was extraordinary.”

I didn’t hide the poison on my tongue as I said his name. I looked up at him, there on the balcony, and he was watching me silently, still as stone.

“He was a schemer,” I said, “and he was overlooked by his competition, which worked out in his favor. It was the perfect opportunity for him to take drastic action, break some rules and orchestrate the entire competition from the shadows, where he preferred to be.”

The feed from my microphone cut out. Several of the lights that had been set up on the stage also fell dark.

I would not be silenced.

Originally I had planned to scream my truth from the rooftops of the city if I had to. But then I had been given a stage. I pulled out the megaphone I had built with Pira this very morning and put it to my lips, activating it.

“The third prince’s proxy died in a freak accident due to a cryphen, and it was pinned on the sixth princess,” I said. “No one, not even my party, knew that with the help of Elias’s maid, I snuck into the third proxy’s camp and used this very needle to pierce his neck with poison before leaving a cryphen at the scene.”

I produced the needle from my bag and held it up for effect. The audience was silent now, staring at me in rapt horror.

“Elias never stopped watching me or my group,” I kept going, fairly certain my time was short. “But I knew the truth had to come out. I used this very needle to sew the evidence of the prince’s crimes into my own garments to keep it from being discovered.” I pulled my pants out of my bag, turning the legs inside out to reveal the letters I had sewn into the fabric. Each one had been rubbed with charcoal.

“Elias was a schemer, and he was careful. He wrote my orders on these papers, and the ink disappeared after I had read them. Unfortunately, there was a critical flaw in his plan: the ink may have vanished, but it didn’t remove the indents in the pages.” I saw the people in the front of the crowd leaning forward to peer at the papers. Their eyes widened as they realized they could read the indented writing, the letters standing out starkly from the surrounding gray. The audience began to murmur again, louder this time.

I hung the pants over my podium, ensuring the offending writing was as visible as possible.

“Now you may be wondering, why are there multiple letters?” I asked. “Obviously because I didn’t only have one order to follow. I was told that my job was to assassinate proxies, and that didn’t stop with just one.” I paused, glancing again at the prince. He hadn’t moved. “The fifth proxy was harder than the first. My mistakes and hesitance in dispatching them meant that the prince’s maid had to eliminate their entire party. Yes, every single person in that group had to be killed to effectively cover our tracks.”

I laughed suddenly, an unexpected burst of sound. Perhaps it came in part from the relief of finally telling the truth; perhaps it came from the guilt that still wrapped around me as I recounted the horrific story. Whatever the reason for it, I could see in the faces below me that the laughter made me seem insane. I hoped that would lend credence to my tale - what I was sharing would drive anyone to madness.

“All of this, by the way, was unbeknownst to my party members,” I went on, pacing a bit behind the podium. I needed to establish that my friends were innocent of everything that had gone down, just in case. “The prince was so good at planning that he made sure every person in our party, except me of course, had no idea of what was really happening. They all tried to win the competition authentically, with pure humanitarianism and kindness, while this other stuff, this nightmare, was happening behind their backs... And when I tried to tell them, I was stopped. Elias and the maid were always there to make sure I didn’t confess to my party members.”

I swallowed, trying to keep the tears from pricking my eyes. I wasn’t done here yet. “They were always worried about me, and I felt terrible for that, but I wasn’t permitted to share what was going on.”

I paused and took a deep breath, collecting myself. The lies were finally off my chest, and I felt incredibly free.

I knew where my party was standing in the crowd, but I couldn’t stomach the thought of seeing their reaction to what I had just confessed to. Instead, I kept my eyes on Elias, still on the balcony. Neither of us acknowledged the frothing crowd as we stared daggers at each other.

“I do have to thank you, though!” I said directly to him as the masses looked back and forth between the stage and the balcony. “Thanks to you, I got to ride a dragon in this world! What a dream come true.” I made a face of exaggerated thoughtfulness. “Although you did have to incite a rebellion to get to that point. Those pesky mages are secretive, huh?”

The crowd was getting agitated. I heard a few angry shouts demanding answers, but Elias didn’t move. I had put him on the back foot; he would need to be careful not to incriminate himself with whatever he said. His expression stayed blank, but I could tell his mind was running a mile a minute to find a way out. I wasn’t about to give him space to succeed.

“You once said that while your older brothers and sisters were plotting with nobility and deepening their pockets, that you, Elias, were drafting plans for this very day. All in preparation for your spotlight and fame on the grand stage.” I spoke with barely-controlled vitriol, pausing again to meet his eye. “The cornered rats can kill the cat, right?”

With that, I stepped back from the podium, my hand resting on the fabric of the pants that I had draped over the podium in front of me. I thought about the pants I had first forced him to wear in my petty defiance; the garment he hated, the very symbol of my rebellion towards him, was now being used to topple his empire.

I had said my piece. The crowd was becoming unruly. Dozens of people were yelling angrily, and I saw a few people start to try to scale the wall toward the balcony. Toward Elias. I knew my time was running out; if I lingered, he would find a way to discredit me, then kill me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay and see this through to the end, but with the cracks I had created in his perfect plan, something would definitely give. Judging from the reaction of the masses, it would give sooner rather than later.

I would never know. I pulled the staff from my back, planting the base firmly. I pushed the button, feeling the satisfying click as the world went black.



“Thank you for speaking with me again today, Kai.” It was the soft, familiar voice that I had grown comfortable with over the past few months. “Your progress has been remarkable. You’ve been doing the work and it shows. I’ll see you at the same time next week.”

I stood up from my chair and smiled at her politely, but I didn’t linger in her office. I had places to be. It was my daughter’s first birthday party, and I couldn’t be late.

I had sworn to myself more than a year ago that I wouldn’t miss any more time with my family. Never again.

I drove as fast as the speed limit would allow, faster when I knew I could get away with it. My car kept up despite needing a bit of work. A few things had languished in my absence. In fact, even my job had vanished when they thought I wasn’t coming back, and for a while after returning from my adventure, I had juggled a few part-time jobs to get back on my feet. My wife had been patient - she was just grateful I was back, and now, things were finally looking up. I’d landed another job similar to my last one, and we were getting stable again. These things just took time.

There had been sleepless nights, first with the multiple jobs and then with the new baby, but they had been worth it. We were getting back to a good place. And if I was honest with myself, those nights were still less sleepless than some other nights I’d had.

I chuckled to myself as I drove. The strange other world, the proxy war, the prince - it felt mostly like a dream now. A very traumatizing dream, but a dream nonetheless. Except for the parts with my party. There were times when I missed them. Even with everything we’d been through, they had been true friends.

I ran out of time to reminisce as I pulled into my apartment complex and parked the car, running to the door. Home.

Out of breath, I pushed open the door impatiently. My wife was standing just inside, our daughter in her arms, and they were both smiling.

“You’re home,” my wife said, looking pleased and a touch relieved. I couldn’t blame her, but if it were in my power, I’d never leave again.