Chapter Thirty

“So you’ve finally come.” Eujin Vast said as Galen entered his private chambers.

He was standing at the railing of a balcony overlooking the sea far below, implacable as the steady rain spattering on his bald head. He turned to face Galen, his old face stern, his bright blue eyes imperious above the white-grey of his well-trimmed beard. He stood with his hands behind his back, appraising him for a long moment before he spoke again.

“Now that you’re here, is it everything you ever hoped it would be, boy?” He asked.

Galen walked slowly forward, thin threads of blood running onto the plush carpet beneath his feet from the tip of his sword and the rapier wound in his side. He drew short half a dozen steps from the Black Prince, meeting the man’s gaze with hard silver-grey eyes of his own.

“Eujin Vast, I accuse you of the murder of Haymich Russo, and the rape and murder of Juniper Russo. I accuse you of colluding with the Grand Court to conceal these crimes and conceal your guilt. And based on these crimes, under the law granting legal autonomy to Shikari to execute justice in the common good, I sentence you to die.” Galen said, leveling his sword at the man.

Prince Vast laughed haughtily.

“You think you have the authority to condemn me? I wrote that law, boy. It has power solely through my will. It acts in accordance with my will. And if I will it, it will cease to be law the instant I do so.” He said.

Galen took a step forward.

“Then the law is not just, and I condemn you as unfit to arbitrate it.” He said.

The prince looked at him with contempt.

“And I suppose that makes you the perfect moral authority, free of personal bias or ambition, does it?” He said.

He turned back towards the balcony, watching the sea crashing in the distance below.

“Morality is a result of might. Nothing more. Do you really think it’s human goodwill that keeps one man from killing another? Or from thieving or raping or all of the other base urges that drive our species? Or is it fear of legal retribution from breaking the law?” He asked rhetorically, before turning back and locking eyes with Galen. “It’s fear of power, not goodness, that makes right and wrong. And as the one who controls that power, I think you will find that anything I do is moral, from the simple fact that no one exists who can take that power from me.”

Galen held the man’s eyes for a long moment, before falling into a fit of hysterical laughter. He bent over, pounding his fist on his leg. He looked up at the man again, before laughing even harder than before, the sound echoing off the eggshell walls of the room. Finally, after several long moments, Galen calmed, wiping a tear from his eye.

“Okay, look. I was willing to play along with this charade because I was willing to see just how long you could keep it going. But the truth is, you’re so utterly, insufferably bad at playing this role that I just can’t even take you seriously anymore.” He said.

“What in the name of the All-Mother are you blathering now, boy?” The man asked, his voice threatening.

“See, just stop. You’re embarrassing yourself.” Galen said, sighing in amusement. “We both know you’re not Prince Vast. Now, drop the act, drop the illusion, and get the swive out of this room so I can do what I’ve come here to do.”

The bald man stepped forward, his face a twisted mask of fury.

“HOW DARE YO-”

Galen’s smile dropped.

“Alright, have it your way.” He said.

He raised his hand and spoke a Word of Command. With a monstrous thunderclap, a concussive blast of energy rocketed from it and slammed into the man, sending him screaming through the air and clear over the balcony, taking a large section of the stone railing with him as he plummeted the three hundred feet to the stony shore below. Taking a set of long breaths, Galen let the ecstasy from the spell slowly fade until the burning began. It had already crept all the way to his chest. He needed to stop. If he used much more, he’d break the line and lose himself. Once he felt reasonably poised again, he looked around the room. Somewhere in here, the real Eujin Vast was hiding.

It didn’t take long for Galen to figure out where. Someone whimpered inside one of the nearby closets, and when he pulled it open, he found the cowering form of the real Eujin Vast in a blubbering pile on the floor, identical in appearance to the first. The man’s eyes bulged in terror when he saw Galen’s face.

“I surrender! Just please, don’t hurt me!” He said, holding up shaking hands.

“I’m afraid it’s a bit late for that.” Galen said, reaching and grabbing the man by his collar.

The man fought pitifully against Galen’s as he was pulled out into the main room.

“No, please I’m sorry! I’ll do anything!” The man wailed, his face a mixture of panic, tears, and snot as Galen threw him to the floor.

“Anything?” Galen asked, standing over the man.

“Yes! I swear it! Ask it of me and I will grant it!” The man said, seeming to cling onto some sudden thread of hope.

Galen seemed to consider for a moment.

“I want you go back in time and bring my father and mother back to life, and undo the harm you did to them, and to me.” He said simply.

Whatever bit of color remained in the prince’s face drained.

“Bu-but, I… I can’t…” He started.

Galen knelt down in front of the man, placing his hand on the man’s face.

“Oh, you can’t? Well, then I’m afraid I don’t want anything else from you.” He said, giving the man a mocking smile as patted the man’s cheek.

Eujin Vast’s face went green.

“Please! I’ll give you all of my lands, my title, my position on the council! I’ll live the rest of my life as your bondservant. Just please don’t kill me!” He protested, but fell silent when Galen pressed a finger to his lips, his face empty and distant.

“You are going to die, Prince Vast. Nothing you say is going to change that. But, there is more.

When you die, so will Galen Russo. His life is at an end, as much as yours is. You made sure of that three and a half years ago. When I take your life, I will also take your name. I will wear it as I dedicate my life to purging the corruption and evil like you that plagues this country. I will become the greatest Shikari this world has ever seen, until when they hear the name Eujin Vast they don’t even remember who you were. They will hear your name, but see my face, hear my voice, witness my deeds. And you, you will fade into nothingness, a soul forgotten to the ebbs of time.”

The prince’s body tightened, then relaxed, and Galen smiled humorlessly as the bald man shit himself. He stood, looking down at the pathetic wreck of nobility in front of him, covered in his own snot and filth.

“Eujin Vast, Black Prince of the Hieracracy, I accuse you of the murder of Haymich Russo, and the rape and murder of Juniper Russo, and hereby sentence you to die.” He said impassively. “Speak your last words, that I may see them recorded for posterity.”

The prince looked up at him, whatever lucidity that had remained there finally having vanished.

“Please… please, I’m sorry.. Just don’t…” He said, raising a hand.

“Apology accepted.” Galen said.

He drew back his sword and with a sickening, meaty crunch, buried its blade into the man’s skull. The prince’s body fell limp, and Galen pulled the sword free with a jerk. He looked down at the corpse at his feet, then at the sword in his hand. So, it was finally finished, then. After all these years. He stood in silence, expecting to feel some sort of relief, or some sort of completeness, or satisfaction. Something. Anything.

But nothing came. He just felt… empty.

Galen, no, Eujin looked down at the sword in his hands, its length darkened crimson with blood.

“We’re finally finished, friend. Thank you, for everything.” He said quietly, as he went to drop the weapon to the floor.

To his surprise, however, the weapon refused to leave his hand. It seemed to glow faintly, before a faint line of golden text appeared in the air above its hilt. Eujin had never seen one before, and couldn’t read what the script said, but he knew the instant he saw it what it was. It was the weapon’s True Name. The blade shimmered briefly, then seemed to absorb the blood on its length into itself. When it finished, the blade itself was dry, but colored a deep scarlet. The weapon seemed almost to hum with life now as he held it, wide-eyed.

You’re not done with me yet. It seemed to say in his mind. I bear the mark of the blood of the evils you have slain in your quest for justice, and I will not be satisfied until I have been fed with the souls of everything dark in this world, or you have died in the attempt. Now take me, and let us make good on your words!

Eujin contemplated this for a long moment, then asked aloud, “But what do I call you?”

You will find what to call me when the time is right. The sword seemed to reply.

Eujin smiled faintly as he sheathed the blade.

“Alright then, friend. Let’s get to work.”

A burst through the door of the prince’s quarters interrupted Eujin’s thoughts. The grey-haired young man from before stood there, his eyes wild, a line of blood running from his head down one side of his face. He looked down and saw the corpse of the prince on the ground, then back up at Eujin.

“Stop right there! I, Reval Rosenthal, declare you, Galen Russo, under arrest for treason, in the murder of the Black Prince of the Hieracracy!” He said, leveling his rapier at Eujin’s face.

Eujin snorted.

“Don’t bother.” He said. “Galen Russo is already dead.”

And without another word, turned and ran headlong towards the broken balcony before diving headlong into the void above the sea far below.