The Fall of The King

The New Beginning

Chapter 35

1 year after the war- After the battle i left the lands up to the people, they split it equally amongst themselves and rebuilt from there. They of course wanted me to be the king of the lands, but i denied and told the people to find a ruler they could trust. Of course they couldn't agree on anyone so they each had a king of sorts ruling each of their kingdoms. The world had finally settled in peace, i wondered what would become of me and my friends, but i figured we would just live a peaceful life unless we were desperately needed. Though im not sure where Roan left to, i hope he was doing well. A weeks after he left the woman he had spent his time with in Fellicia came to find me, she told me she needed to speak to Roan. To her dismay i told her he left to the east. She looked at me with a saddened expression and explained that she had given him a trinket that embued him with strength, and when she no longer had it she realized she was pregnant. I told her to return to Fellicia and stay safe, she would have nothing to worry about there. She could raise the child until Roan returned, whenever that may be. After that Amicia, Elene, Elisa, and I all sought out the small church of Riverrook and turned it into a small refuge for ourselves. It was long abandoned and so we repaired it and lived within the large church. When my child was born we held a small celebration, but during it Elisa went into labour and had not just one child but two. To our surprise, but while she was giving birth she grew sick and died the next day. Elene vowed to care for the children alongside us and so we were three adults caring for four children. It was hectic for that first year, but we somehow managed. I kept an eye on Kaiden, the child i kept after killing my father. Amicia avoided him and showed no care towards him, she seemed to favor our real son Raziel. Elene was in her own world nearly as she cared for Lyn and Alec. They both looked strongly like their parents, the blonde hair obviously Artur's. Despite the fact that Elene hated Artur she still cared for the children as if they were her own. Things were going great.

15 years later- The woods were large, but i knew them well enough to know where the children would hide. We were doing a training exercise that Elene had came up with. An exercise for the children to become better at hiding and fighting. They needed to hide and defend their position once found. The rest of us would go and find them. If they managed to win the exercise then they would complete their training. They all had grown to be rather good fighters. Raziel favored the way of the sword, to my dismay. He also connected a small dagger to the end of his sword and after a swipe would sweep out with the dagger and bind the enemy. It was a great tactic, but he still wasn't the best of warriors. Kaiden seemed to favor axes, his brute force was all he really had going. He seemed to understand battle, but when it came to battle he couldnt hold his own. Kaiden and Raziel were both treated as if they were brothers, but Kaiden seemed to understand that he was not a child of mine. He resembled his mother drastically, but held my fathers features as well. His white hair was a dead giveaway that he was a low elf by blood, and he seemed to know that. The twins Lyn and Alec always stuck together, and despite the efforts of Elene Lyn became very similar in personality to Artur. Alec however remained a quiet kid, he didnt like fighting much but he still trained with us each day. Lyn seemed to be quick witted and fit for battle thanks to Elene's training, her favorite weapon being a large curved sword that she wielded with utmost confidence. Her speed was incredible, but she was still only a novice fighter. Maybe later she would be better. Alec created a weapon of his own, to fit his fighting style. It's a short blade that he has attached to his wrist, but with a small mechanism attached to it that allows it to shift into a small bow. The boy may not have much skill in fighting, but he was good at creating things. He made our training weapons out of wood when he was only five and from there only grew more and more creative.

With all the children's strengths and weaknesses in mind i knew to find Lyn i would first have to look for Alec, who would be in a tree waiting for one of us to walk by his path. He would then blow his cover by trying to shoot his arrows at us. That would help me to pinpoint his location and from there i would know that Lyn wouldn't be too far away, though she may be a little more crafty in her attack approach. If i wanted to find Kaiden and Raziel i would just have to look for Kaiden, his white hair blended in with nothing in the forest and his purple skin was hard to camouflage. Looking around i knew that there was a small out cropping of trees that had fallen and become a small hiding place that the children seemed to enjoy hiding in or around. Quickly i snuck towards the area in which it was and saw a figure in the trees nearby, i quickly ducked into cover and climbed the tree silently to find Alec sleeping in the tree. Grabbing him i put my wooden spear tip to his back and told him to return to the house, he had failed. He looked at me, somewhat sad, but i thought i saw relief in his eyes. With his vantage point i could see the other children hiding in the outcropping of trees. I signaled and Amicia went to a position around the outcropping, while Elene came around the opposite side from Amicia. The children seemed to be talking, unsuspecting our approach. Then suddenly Lyn looked up in the tree and saw me. She sounded off to the others and drew her sword, but she was too late. Amicia sweeped in and knocked Kaiden off his feet and pointed her practice arrow at his throat. It looked as if she had true intent to put that arrow in him. Elene came in from the other direction and knocked Raziel over and pointed her sword tip towards Lyn. Lyn quickly sweeped with her blade at Elene and then suddenly rolled for Amicia swiping upwards and knocking Amicia off Kaiden with her strike. Kaiden quickly got up and leaped backwards to reposition himself. Raziel sweeped Elene off her feet with a quick strike and used the small rope he carried to quickly tie her feet up. With Amicia and Elene down i leaped off the tree and landed in the middle of the three kids and spun about with my spear. They all dodged backwards and reassesed the situation. They knew i would be the hardest to fight and so were wary to come at me as they had with the others. They charged all at once with a small nod from Lyn. She seemed to keep these guys together. She sweeped upwards with her sword, while Kaiden came in low and with a hard swipe of his axe, and Raziel came directly at me with a downwards swipe of his blade. I looked at all of them and leapt into the air. They all ended up hitting each other with their charge, and as i came down i landed on Kaiden's back and forced him into the ground while sweeping Raziel's feet from under him. Leaving Lyn to fight me alone. She looked at me with no fear, she sheathed her blade and went to her knees. "I am not ready to fight you, my skills need more honing before i can attempt this challenge again. You truly are a great warrior." She said as she looked at me. "Never surrender to your enemy. You never know how kind they will be to you after the fight. Now stand up and lets go home, you all did very well. I hope one day i will be on the other end of things and you guys will be the victorious ones." I said to them as i helped Kaiden and Raziel to their feet. They all looked at me with a smile as we returned home.

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Kai was mad at me for how i treated Kaiden, telling me that he wouldn't grow into a good person if i treated him the way i did. But he didnt understand that i cant treat him like i treat Raziel, our own son. Kaiden was the offspring of his father, damn near the spitting image of his mother. I just couldn't get rid of those feelings. And i hope one day Kai realizes that, i laid down in my our bed and fell asleep waiting for Kai to return to bed. I awoke to hear the door open, sitting up i saw it was Kaiden. "Mother, i know I'm not your child and i just want you to know i will enjoy this." He said as i looked at him confused. Then he came over to me and shot something through my very being. I have no idea what it could be, but the pain was unlike anything that i have ever experienced. He truly was a demon as i had expected, now Kai would know. As my last breath left my body i saw my stone fall to the ground and Kaiden picked it up with a smile on his face. I hoped Raziel killed this son of a bitch.

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I watched on as Kai buried his wife, Raziel stood near me with tears in his eyes. He loved his mother so much and i knew this hurt him worse than anything. Amicia had just died, nobody knows how. Kai found her lifeless in bed waiting for him. He was angry, but he didn't show it. Elene stood with tears in her eyes as well, i never saw her cry until now. Kaiden stood away from all the rest of us, looking on as if it changed nothing for him. Something wasn't right with him, but maybe it was just how he dealt with her death. Alec was sad, but he never showed his emotions much. Only i really knew how he felt, but i knew he was sad just by looking at the way he stood. Raziel continued to have tears flowing down his eyes when the burial ended, i grabbed him and took him back to the house. I hoped to cheer him up, but i doubted it would work. I had grown feelings for him ever since we were younger. I knew i was in love with him, but he never seemed to notice it. He always just treated me like the others, but he did make it an effort to train with me. I practiced hard with him and always tried my best to be around him. Tonight i had to do something for him. As we made it back to the house we walked to my room and sat down once we were inside, i closed the door and looked at him. He hugged me and cried while he said, "I dont understand what happened to her, she was alright early that day. She seemed perfectly fine at dinner. I just don't get it Lyn." I hugged him back and he held me tightly. He pulled back and looked at me with tears in his eyes. "It'll be alright Raziel, we will get through this together. It will always be alright." I said as i pulled him back for a hug, but he resisted. I looked at him and smiled a warm smile before going in to kiss him. He kissed me back and i felt everything inside me melt with that kiss. He pulled back from the kiss and smiled at me, "Thank you Lyn." He said as he left the room.

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I awoke with a burning feeling in my veins, something wasn't right. I could feel my healing working hard against the burning, it seemed to make it go away later that day but it was agony in itself. Elene had died a week ago, only a month after Amicia. Elene of an accident, she was trying to build a small shelter for horses. The building she was making somehow collapsed on her and she had been impaled by a beam. With her death i knew something was wrong, i knew this wasn't a coincidence. Someone was killing us, and i needed to find out who. That night i went into mediation and the only thing i kept seeing was the soon to come demon king, his scythe flaring out at me every time. I knew something was happening. So one night i called Raziel, Lyn, and Alec to my room. I explained my story and all that happened. I told them of what was to come and i knew that one day Kaiden would become what i feared him to be, but i didnt tell them that detail. I released my stone from my being and gave it to Raziel, while i gave Lyn the stone that once belonged to Roan. They seemed confused, but i told them they would understand sooner or later. I sent them away and felt the burning in my body grow worse. I felt myself falling inside the darkness for the final time. That was when i saw Kaiden come into my room, "You son of a bitch! You gave Raziel the stone. You are a smart man Kai, i knew i could never fool you. I poisoned you because i knew the soul stone couldn't heal you forever. Eventually the poison would take you and allow me to take your stone. You somehow realized and passed it on. You accepted your own death and now i have to go through Raziel to get it. Oh well at least i have Amicia's stone." He said as i looked at him. "You will never get away with this you bastard, the rest of the children will find out and kill you." I replied weakly. "No they won't, because i will just kill them one by one." He said as he called forth the Scythe from my dreams and sliced right through my soul.