The sorrow of a ruler

He was to be the polar opposite of me, at least in terms of beliefs and convictions.

How could I smile before a man like Elien Firenza?

To even be allowed before a King was a hassle in terms of process. On the way down the hall to the meeting chamber, I was checked for weapons on three separate occasions.

What was even more annoying was the sheer amount of layers that had been plastered to my body for the sake of appearing graceful in the face of the head of Undine nobility. Kitsch had made sure of that much.

Still, I tried desperately to force myself to bear a calmed expression as I stepped into his chamber which had been carved from pearl and stone. At the end of the hall, he sat quietly, his piercing gaze heating up the chill bite of the room.

“It is a pleasure to meet the King of the Undine.” I bowed simply.

“Why do you not speak my name?” The King spoke. “Have you bound hatred to it, as many others have?”

His tone was gruff, harsh, dark, and miserable. It was a cacophony of awful, scraping bitterness that shook my heart.

“I wonder, why do you not just end this war, if it demeans your name so much?” I thought aloud as I stepped into the hall of marble.

“Ending the war is not so simple.” He spoke gravely. “I am not the only side aggrieved.”

As I stood before the King, I could not bear to hold the calm expression that quivered upon my face. It was unbearable.

"You wear a mask on your face." He said in a cold, unnerving tone of voice.

I was taken aback, and couldn't utter another word out of my sewn mouth as I stared at him quietly.

"Speak with me plainly, boy."

My calm expression fell away, and my gaze sharpened as I continued.

“My name is Agreste, but I’m here to you to speak as the ‘Baron of Lilacs’.” I replied in turn.

“I know well your face, although I don’t know where you obtained the courage to act as nobility under the land that bears my name…” Elien spoke with a furrowed expression. “So… why is it you’re here? Why does my nephew speak so highly of you? What is it you want from me?”

To his multitude of questions, I only spoke a singular name in turn.

“Solis.”

—

Wrapped in a veil of moonlight, the golden-haired being of portraiture appeared before me. He paid me no mind as he stepped forth towards the King, however.

My purpose had already been fulfilled. I was then a discarded pawn by the wayside.

“Sol.” Elien spoke simply. “Rather… Solis. You would appear before me after all this time…?”

“I would.” Solis smiled gently.

“For the sake of this meeting, I have stained the soil red… the name I’m bound to has done the same for hundreds of years. Not once did you think to come to us?”

“Is that why you did it? Is that why you have shattered the hearts of your people? To bring me forth to this meeting?” Solis spoke with a calm gaze. “Why did you not just call for me?”

“We did.” Elien murmured. “And still, you ignored us… you set our water to boil, and all of our fishermen died. Underneath the sun, our crops burnt to ashes. Do you know how many were said to have died of famine?”

“Hundreds of thousands.” Solis spoke quietly.

As I listened to him talk, my eyes widened, and my heart ached so sudden. It was a piercing pain as images ran through my head. 

Fields stained of blood paired horrifyingly with children turned living skeletons by hunger.

I had no possible perception that such a deed was pinned to the demon of the moonlight, for his name had been carved away from Undine history in that way.

“Do you feel nothing for them? How can you demean me so easily, when you have killed far more than I?” Elien spat.

“Is there a metric for killing? Are we both then not just murderers?” Solis asked of him. “You still stand to reap reward from your killing, while I sit in silence as I repeat each of their names every morning…”

“At the very least, I embrace my nature. You seem to be running from it.” The King shook his head.

The King let out a murmur underneath his breath, his aggravation apparent in the face of the higher being.

“Why were you so angry? What did we do wrong to deserve your spite?” Elien asked of him with widened eyes.

“Wouldn’t you be angry… if you were forever imprisoned in a world that was not of your own design, because you were blamed for the crime of killing your own mother by the people who did so?” Solis smiled.

Solis sighed softly, and his sorrowful gaze returned once more.

“But… despite that, you who bear my sisters image, have had no stake in my anger. You did not deserve what I did to you.”

Solis’s gaze fell through the crystalline window off to the wayside, where the bright-red sunlight streamed gently through.

“Give us back the stars.” Elien spoke suddenly and firmly.

My eyes widened as I listened to his demand. In a world where ‘night’ had no meaning, the King of the Undine had just named its prime spectacle.

“Would that not scare your people, to be bathed in darkness after hundreds of years?”

“I do not think they will be.” The King spoke simply. “Not when you’ve made sure of that, with your little plaything of a wordsmith.”

The King looked over towards me, and my expression fell hot against his gaze.

“Because of you, boy, my people have already seen your idealisation of the stars.” He smiled soft. “I will not asked how you know of them, for it does not truly matter to me.”

He leaned back in his seat, glancing up towards the regal-parchment ceiling that lacked design or embellishment.

“The stories I’ve been told all my life… I want to see them come true.” He whispered softly. “My parents… my grandparents… that’s all we’ve ever wanted.”

Solis turned back towards the King, with conviction lurking in his gaze.

“I was sad when your people misused the power I had offered...” Solis spoke softly. “I was also sad when you later turned away from that power I had offered...”

He pulled away his cloak, as his lips curved upward.

“But, then too did I misuse my own power to take out the anger I had… Perhaps I am just a contradictory being in that way...” Sol smiled regretfully. “I was wrong, to act out of spite.”

Suddenly, the Demon of Portraiture knelt down upon the ground, his head hung low as he bowed, a Godly being to a King.

But to that thought, Solis simply shook his head.

“I do not bow to you as a King, but as a representative of your people. I am truly sorry for what I have done.” Solis spoke softly. “If all you wish is to see the stars… if that is how I can heal the hearts of the Undine and the Spriggans, then that is what I will do.”

“Do you know why we love water, Sol?” The King asked of him. “It is because it reflects the stars so beautifully.”

“Then, too will I return the waters to a state of normalcy.”

I stood later away from the King, beside Solis in a quiet room as we spoke alone.

“You would apologise to this man?” I said, my voice raised unexpectedly.

“Agreste, to you he is a man...’ Sol spoke softly. “But to me, he is simply a man...”

“Why?” I asked of him simply.

I couldn’t form my anger into words in that moment. I felt as if I had been used. It was different from being a pawn for the nobleman. I felt as if I had set my heart within the wrong place.

“That sun is not of my making.” Sol shook his head. “I did scorch their waters, however... I was angry. I was angry that I was blamed for the death of my mother… forced to be apart from my sister whom I loved dearly… forced to abandon a world where I was called ‘Prince’.”

“I don’t care about any of that. Your convictions, your story, it means nothing to me.” I spoke with a furrowed expression. “Returning the stars to the people is one thing… but you failed to tell me so much. Perhaps it was my fault for failing to research more, when your name has been permanently carved out of history. I had no clue that your guilt held so many names upon its back.”

“What will you do then, now that you know this much, Baron of Lilacs?” He asked of me.

I bit at my lip, trying desperately to steel my heart as I continued.

“I’ve already started down this path, but the wildflowers have long since wilted.” I spoke bitterly. “If healing the people’s hearts is the only way to end a war… if it’s the only way I can create a beautiful world for the one I love to live within, then I will continue to work alongside you.”

“Then, I hope we can do great things together, Agr-“

I cut his words short.

“Don’t mistake my language. To you, I will never be Agreste.”

—

Theresia stood softly underneath a bright-painted terrace, by which the glaring sun was shut away. Aside the piazza of the steel city, she stared simply at the crowd who passed her by.

The sun bared down harshly upon the stone pathways, sizzling heat against the rocks that felt as if they would crack in two pieces from pressure alone.

And then, inside the minds of all that stood apparent, that same sun spoke down to them.

“With my dearest regards.” The voice spoke simply. “It is nice to speak to you all once more.”

Theresia turned towards the sky, which in turn had started to pulse faintly.

“My name is Solis.” He spoke gently.

In unison, the crowds that wandered through the street stopped their bustle, and with widened and horrified eyes, their gazes snapped towards the haze that hung within the sky.

“You all can relax.” Solis laughed. “I’m not here to do you any harm. Rather, I’m here to correct my previous mistakes… I’m here to make up for the wrongs I have done to you all.”

There was silence for a moment, as if a God himself was trying desperately to compose the words within his mind. Then, he spoke once more, with conviction lurking upon his tone.

“I will not ask any of you to trust me, like me, or abandon your hatred of me.” He continued. “But… I would like to return your world to how it should have been. I would say its wholly for your sake, but I plan to do this for the ease of its creator as well.”

The crowd seemed to erupt into fervent murmurs in unison.

A creator? Normalcy?

All they had known of was the hatred and spite of Solis, as they had been told of all of their waking lives. The bite of the constant sun was a reminder of that. They had always been told that the soot within the water was his fault, the boiling of the oceans his grievance, and the blood upon the field of war his genius of malice.

So how could they listen to him so simply?

Even Theresia held furrowed gaze as she heard his words.

Then, he continued once more.

“Tonight, as the clock strikes midnight, the haze will fade from the sky. The oceans within the land of steam will stop their boil, and shadow will return to the land of thorns. Then, the sun that has burnt away your vision of beauty will cease, and give way to the darkness of ‘night’.” He spoke gently. “What decision you make to idealise me then- it will be yours alone. Whether you choose to hate me, or to become indifferent has no semblance of matter. I just want to witness the calm of your hearts. I want you to be allowed to walk upon a path graced by wildflowers.”

Theresia’s eyes widened as she listened to the final sentence of the God’s speech.

They were not his words.

So, as she took a deep breath inward, Theresia steeled her gaze, and stepped forth into the piazza by which all had gathered. Still, murmurs erupted throughout the crowd that had stopped in place, afraid to take another step forward.

She stood then in the center, atop the edge of the fountain as their gazes turned towards her. In the face of confusion, still did they all seemed to smile softly as they recognised the midnight-haired playwright.

So, she spoke outwardly towards them. Her words were plain, and devoid of flowers, but still she tried her best to weave meaning into her sentences.

For minutes her speech lasted, in such a way that her throat dried up, and her lips began to crack. Her lungs ran fresh of air, and she had to stop inbetween sentences just to breath.

And as the onlooking crowd listened, their gazes mellowed, and their collective raging heartbeats slowed. Their murmurs ceased, and their smiles stood apparent.

“So, I’m not saying we should fully trust him…” Theresia spoke softly. ‘But its not as if we’re cowering fools, right? So let’s face whatever is ahead of us with smiles on our face.”

Theresia extended her hand softly, which seemed to shake in the face of her courage.

She understood why she had chosen to put herself in front of a crowd in that moment.

It wasn’t passion, nor was it spite for her past.

It was simply Agreste.

In turn, all extended their hands outward with bright expression upon their face, and underneath the budding sunlight, beams connected them gently from fingertip to fingertip.

Theresia wondered then if the bustle caused by the sun, had then been ceased by the sun. Then, were the Undine connected once more?

As Sol had said, had the world finally returned to normalcy?