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p r o l o g u e

Kyron

"What will be of us now?" the King mused to himself. "The Community of Guardians has collapsed. Our core, our foundation has been obliterated by that traitor, Ajax, along with my son, Taurus. That poison is killing all the Guardians. He has polluted my son. Why had I promoted him, I don't know."

"My King," I muttered. "We have other matters." My voice resonates across the throne room, now empty and full of desolate sadness. Once a stern place, now something that doesn't resemble a palace. Paper is strewn, chairs overturned, lamps lying horizontally on the ground, but no one is to blame. The darkness spilling into the room, the only light left from a sliver of moonlight.

"Other matters?" the King laughed, his sanity getting the better of him. "What other matters, now that our world is gone?"

"There is still-"

"Do not tell me that there is still hope." the King laughed maniacally, before recovering his composure. "There is no hope for nobody! How can there be hope when there's no one left?"

Hisssss.

"My King-"

He waved me off. "No, Kyron. Fate has ordered us to die. What is left of us?"

Hisssssssss. Shhhhhhh.

I whipped around. The darkness descended in the room blocked my line of sight, but a foreboding sense held high in the air. The usually silent winds swirled heatedly, yearning to escape from the darkness.

Evil.

"My King." I tugged at him, but he did not budge. "We need to go."

"Go?" He looked weirdly at me. "We don't need to go. We can spend our last days here." The look on his face was full of sadness and resignation as he gazed at the carved patterns of the red-crowned crane with purple asters of the ceilings.

Hissssssssssssssssss.

"My King! Now!" Urgency rang in my voice as I tugged his hand more anxiously, fervently pulling him out of his throne.

"Kyron, what are you doing?"

I am coming. There is no need to escape. A harsh laugh erupted in the hallways, my cells jittering with fear as I forced the King to his feet.

You can't escape me.

Groaning, I made the King walk, pushing him, giving him the support he needed to escape. However, my strength was waning, sapped from whatever that was here. "Uhhh."

Thunderous wind whipped my hair into my face. It was advancing faster and faster, now the speed 320 kilometres per hour, the speed of an average shinkansen.

Abruptly, the King yanked his hand free from mine. He seemed to have snapped out of his trance, now wide awake to the imminent danger on us. He grabbed my hand forcefully. "Kyron."

"My King!" I screamed, shaking my head, wide-eyed as I stared at him.

"Kyron, you need to go." Fear shone brightly on his face. "Leave me."

"No!"

"You were talking about hope, remember?" Kindness radiated out of him, touching the barren, emaciated pillars, reaching outside the high palace walls. "You are the last hope. Hope lives in us, as long as one of us survives. You get it?" He released my hand and pushed me towards the doors with the last of his strength. Stumbling, I regained my balance to catch the last sight of him.

"MY KING!" I cried out as the black cloud, now visible as the trespasser, reached him. I stared blankly as it enveloped him in a deadly embrace, wrapping him away from sight. His crown thudded onto the ground as he faded from view, his empathy etched in his face, his last words whispered into the unknown.