The Villain

Live long enough to see yourself...

  There were two ancient prophecies. A prophecy told of a person who would gain so much power he could blot out the sun in a stroke if he tried. It was said that his ego would be so huge it would cast a shadow over whole kingdoms. Another prophecy told of a hero of humble origins, who would rise in a time of desperation and bring hope. Over time these two ancient predictions merged together and created a prophecy that foretold the coming of a powerful tyrant full of ego and a humble hero who will end his regime and bring forth a light of hope.

I wasn't born into an age of turmoil. I grew up in a small city, living my life there peacefully, never planning to leave until the war took everything from me. It was a daft war no matter how you looked at it, two kingdoms tearing each other apart because of petty land disputes. I would've mourned and moved on to rebuild my home if they didn't reveal how corrupted, powerless, inefficient our kingdom, our King was. Money was wasted on unnecessary luxuries, nobles buying out officials to turn the other cheek when a few villagers disappeared, the incredibly complex chain of command that lead to a near crippling in our army. The war ended, the invasion was repelled, but the damage was done, and every day and night the people would gather under the palace, demanding the head of the King served to them on a silver platter. So I left my birthplace and traveled to the capital to join the demanding masses. One way or the other, I was persuaded into a band of rebels, growing in size slowly and biding their time to strike. Their leader was... nothing if barbaric, powerful only in brute strength, submission only through intimidation. He planned to raid and assault cities, forcing the King to his knees by leaving a trail of destruction and death in his wake. It wasn't going to work with what we have now, I knew it, and I had bigger ideas. To effectively end the current king's rule, one must first have absolute control over the overwhelming masses. An armed revolution was of course inevitable in the long run, but it must be thought out and well executed, not an action easily done like raiding a nearby village. I wasn't a natural born speaker, but I knew enough to convey my ideas to the people, to amass support. Soon I started to convince people that following a mindless brute without a plan isn't the best idea. And then one day, he was unsurprisingly left for dead and succumbed to his wounds during an attack he launched at a nearby town.

As the person people already have faith in, it didn't take much for me to assume control of this band of rebels. growing steadily but still mostly peasants and workers. Even an idiot knows it'd take a lot more than that to stage a coup. So I reached out to the guards of a few towns I'd frequent during my travels. Already quite familiar with some, I started to ask questions about their professions as the kingdom's guards. Their answers didn't surprise me and night after night I was regaled by tales of rampant corruption and supervisors who issued orders that went through so many levels of procedure only to inform the lower classed guards of incredibly menial tasks. In these tales I recognized a familiar discontent. A discontent I would gladly exploit for the sake of my ideals, and the people. After a period of time I had a considerable amount of support from disgruntled civil servants. I find myself at quite a high position, one that I wouldn't have thought of having when I was still that farm boy a few years ago. And soon I decided the revolution would finally start. A revolution that was set in motion and fueled by years and years of discontent and justified anger against the current king.

Opposition was thin until we breached the capital, most of the people sharing our sentiment towards the king and the layers it took an order to go across prevented the guards still adamant in holding the current king as the just ruler from doing anything worthwhile. Weeks went by in a siege between the military forces and the so called "agitators" I represented. We were stuck in a stalemate. We had insufficient power to forcefully storm the palace and the military's regulations prevented them from introducing more effective ordnance into the siege. Late into the game a parley was proposed and I had a personal conference with the commander of the military. Decisions were made quick and half an hour later I had his full support in my movement on the condition that he keeps his place as the highest level of command within the military. Quite a miracle, I'd often think to myself to this day whenever I remember this event. But the gears of revolution turned and in less than a month I marched into the throne room, right in front of a kneeling king. His personal guards fought to the bitter end, but ten men against a hundred was hardly a fight. The king was at the people's mercy, and although I objected having him immediately executed, a silver platter was soon paraded throughout the capital city with the king's head placed on top.

First thing I did as the new king was have the military commander put on house arrest. As much of an ungrateful person I would look like, it wasn't hard to see how he wanted to maintain his inefficient system within the army to lessen his work. Such counter-intuitive behavior is certainly discouraged under my watch and such a system was dissolved shortly after my rushed coronation. I proposed a more transparent command in the military that ended with myself as the commander. Corruption was also discouraged within my system and all known roots would be pulled out and terminated, no matter their efforts in aiding me during my days as a revolutionary. After a more efficient and less frustrating system was set up, I set out to improve the production among the peasants and after combined efforts our kingdom was a prosperous one within five years of the revolt. Now noticing our prosperity, nearby kingdoms of course wanted to have us. I turned my sights to the nearest kingdom and proposed an alliance against the invasion efforts of an empire nearby. Within two years an alliance among three kingdoms was set and a war waged between us and this empire. The empire was crushed under five years, and the remaining two kingdoms that formed an initial alliance also became part of my system and newly created empire after some aggressive persuasion shortly after.

The empire settled in afterwards, remaining a reasonably powerful empire without having too much problems with its infrastructure. Afterwards I started to have thoughts of consolidating my power over the people, who were to be honest, a lot more orderly than before. These thoughts also occurred after thinking about attaining power to discourage other empires from making attempts at disrupting my system. Hearing of ancient artifacts of power, I personally led expeditions and excavations in hopes of recovering these vessels of power. Soon afterwards trouble would spring up among kingdoms under my control and I find myself using increasingly barbaric methods to keep my vassals in line. The very methods I denounced, submission through intimidation, the use of force, all of these were becoming daily occurrences. Later on it evolved into strategic assassinations against those who sought to disrupt the system I have created. A necessary evil, I convinced myself. A necessary evil in order to keep the world I've created right.

It would be a few years after that before news of a "people's hero" reached my ears. A young man and a band of companions "liberating" one town after the other from my "corrupt and unjust control". As the person whose early efforts focused on exterminating the roots of corruption, such accusations enraged me. These were not merely accusations, these were venom, venom that spread among my system like a disease, slowly destroying what I have created.

And the very serpent that has been spouting these venom now stands before me, all the world's evil condensed into one single being. He is not just a young man with a sword, he is an evil that I must exterminate to maintain law and order.

"So ends your corrupt rule, emperor." Suppressed anger could scarcely be heard in his voice.

"And what have I done exactly warrants such an extravagant visit from the people's hero?" I remained seated on my throne, refusing to give up the serenity I'd feel when contemplating alone on my throne.

"Corruption, unjust, suffering. The pain you've caused to the people will all be paid back today." The anger was now quite clearly embedded in his words.

"And what do you know of corruption? What do you know of governing an empire? Corruption was the first thing I have exterminated and have continued to monitor throughout these years." Corruption, as far as my knowledge goes, was quite well suppressed, and I have heard nothing of unjust officials acting on my behalf. "And of the pain I've caused to the people, I shall pay. Yes, but have you thought of the families of the guards and soldiers you've slaughtered on your way here? Men and women defending a just ideal and a lawful society? Would you have to pay back for the suffering you've caused?"

"They were...They were as evil as you are, weren't they?" A hint of wavering and uncertainty, followed by loud shouting. "You're wrong. I'll prove it! They were no good, just like you!" He advanced towards me, sword now unsheathed and quite ready to cut me down.

I stood up from the silver throne I've sat by all these years, and picked up the sword besides my throne. "So be it, boy. Obstruct prosperity if you wish so."

He charged at me, I dodged his strike. Another vertical swipe, I parried and broke away, gaining distance. He charged again, I tried countering. And the last thing I felt before collapsing was the sensation of my sword breaking and cold steel striking into my flesh.

Red filled my vision as I fell into a pool of my own blood. I coughed up some as well. Images and sounds all blurred. I could see him standing in front of me, yelling something I couldn't make out. An eternity seemed to pass before he raised his sword and struck again. Today will be the day evil triumphed over good, thoughts like these left me with a sense of regret and hate as the blade fell, and I never felt anything again.

There was an ancient prophecy. The prophecy of a madman that took the life of a wise emperor and took control, crashing the empire into the ground and undid what the wise man tried to do his whole life as order crumbled. All was not well.