Viva Asterlia! Long live The King!

Honestly, I didn't hear this story being very sober, not from the beginning, and I don't remember everything, but I think with good motivation I will try to share with you what I remember... Because it's such a very long and interesting story...but for now, I'll start from the end...

But please don't judge me for the structure of the narration.

So I`ve heard that story from this moment:

"I hope....there won't be any side effects..., " Angeloon said, breathing heavily.

" Shut up!" Thomas, or Traigond, as they call him here, said, "Don't waste your energy...now I will find someone to help" he added and screamed very loudly

"TO ME...The Sorcerer......Somebody!!!!!!! A sorcerer!!!! SWINGARD!!!!"

But they both knew it was over.

Although Angeloon was an elf who could survive things that killed people like flies, the Black Arrow in the heart was lethal for all the creations: Humans, Dragons, Elves, and Sorcerers. The heart is us, it is our will, the most substantial part of us, and therefore the most fragile. Like a diamond, it survives the hardest pressure to keep us alive the countless days but can be destroyed so easily and quickly by someone's careless hand...

Angeloon didn't have more than a few minutes left.

"What...you call it.""he said with a terrible, deadly smile..." Oh, I remember...to fall in love" he laughed, black blood running down the edges of his mouth. Black and clear as the night sky. "So I fell in love but I...don't know...with whom"

"Shut up!"There were tears in Thomas's voice

"Thomas...beautiful name...Tomeos is...Elven....power. You Are Born as The King Of The Day, who will bring peace to Asterlia"

"Angeloon...please... shut up...Don`t say anything"

"Glory To Asterlia!!!"Angeloon shuddered for the last time and suddenly froze with an eternal smile and a look in which there were the last sparks of life faded.

He died.

A loud shout broke the silence and echoed across the rocks.

Thomas looked around. It took him a few minutes to realize that it was his shout.

Another victim. Another person close to him who gave their life for him, the Great King of Asterlia, the chosen to bring peace and restore the barrier that separated the darkness from light.

He staggered. it felt sick. It was cold. It hurt. Did an arrow hit him in the heart, too?

Somewhere very close and, at the same time, far away it sounded:

"Hooray!!!"

" Viva Asterlia!!!"

"The sun will rise!"!!

"Glory To The King!!!

Thomas- Traigond shuddered, lifted his head, and looked around. Everywhere that had been the heat of battle, now there was jubilation, clattering armor. Wooden dancers, light and graceful, swirled in dance. Victory! The Battle for the Mountain Passes had ended in triumph. But was it still so important now, if his close friends did not witness this victory?

He surveyed all his troops, which were noticeably thinned compared to before. But still, it was unfamiliar and nameless wars that were dying. Undoubtedly, his heart broke when he saw how many victims the War for Light brought, but still, they were distant explosions, from which you simply shuddered. Now, when his friend, the beautiful elven warrior Angelun, died, the thunder of dormant and wine cellars, he truly knew what death was. It was as if a bomb exploded right beside him, leaving him bewildered and stunned.

Thomas stood there, and the last few days passed by in his head, as if they were a flock of ravens. Those days slowly but surely changed the bored of his foolish and hopeless work loser to the glorious king of Asterlia, who led thousands and thousands of united forces of humans, elves, wizards, wooden dancers, and all other diverse beings of Asterlia to the holly battle for the Light and Freedom.

In general, he didn`t even remember himself in the world under the stars and what he was doing there. It was many months, even years ago. What happened that day? He had quarreled with his lord... how it was called there... boss... and then he showed everyone Perth of the Indignance and then he left the terrible job, where he didn't even have a name. Just numbers. Agent 327. Yes, there was a strange life. Now he started to remember. It was a really terrible routine. Every day he woke up at 6 in the morning and worked 10 hours in the office which looked like a prison more than any other place. Stupid tasks, idiot clients, and a set of standard answers: "Hello, Sir, try to upgrade your account," "I am very sorry that you do not have a full Premium account package. Perhaps you did not click the check box in the settings", "Hello, Madam, are you sure that this is not a problem with the provider?" He wasn't even sure that he didn't get into some kind of time loop, where every day was a Monday, a rainy Monday. Something like November, 14.

But he broke that circle. Feeling more than a miserable rank-and-file clerk, he walked away. He came out of the routine of the day. Threw out a bent tie. Quit. And he felt how the force started to overwhelm him. And then in the evening, on his way home, he met the Sorcerer, who revealed to him that he was a born king, not Agent 327. Of course, he was skeptical of this, but that sorcerer turned out to be very convincing. And he moved into this beautiful world of eternal May. Asterlia. A world full of dangers, but undoubtedly a beautiful world worth all these dangers. 

And most importantly, he learned that only he, Thomas, could save that world. After all, only he knew a spell that could rebuild the Wall and return the peace to all territories from the Green Mountains to the Strange Sea. Well, he did not know anything about the spell, but he was sure that he would find out all the magic words at the right moment.

Someone took his hand, pulling him away from all thoughts. It was Rakkena. Sister of Angeloon. She looked at him with a gaze that revealed everything: the sorrow of loss, pain, hope, love, and determination. It was the look of a beloved, loyal servant, and comrade. At that moment, she seemed to him both a beautiful distant vision and the most familiar person in the world. Indeed, in all worlds.

And he stood up. The battle had been won, but the most difficult struggle lay ahead. Already, the cave at the top was seen. The cave where he had to sit on the throne and say those words which would bring peace to all the lands. He had no idea what kind of spell it was, but he was sure that he knew them, just somewhere deep inside.

So Thomas took the Sorcerer, Rakkena, and a few of his most faithful comrades, and they climbed to the cave. The cave which he was going to through all battles during long days, weeks, months.

The sun was setting, so they didn`t have much time. But being under the adrenaline rush from the recent battle, they paid no attention to the dangerous protrusions and razor-sharp rocks. They just ran to the cave.

Thomas, together with the Soccerster went through the barrier and suddenly froze. At first, he couldn't believe his eyes. There was no throne. There was no crown. There was no sword. There was nothing like any fire challenge. None. Of all dreams, hopes, secret nightmares, and worries he saw something he wasn't expecting to see at all. His old hell and the most horrifying place of all on Earth - his office - was there right in front of him.

"What does it mean, Swinegard? What is that?" he asked with a trembling voice.

"It is your accession, my king"

"Is that some kind of joke? All these months walking here??? To the place that I've so happily escaped?"

"It is the greatest miracle, that You have created, my king. The Barrier of broken hopes and Dreams. It was the only way to create a barrier - the way of the highest sacrifice."

"I don't get it," Thomas said desperately.

"You came up with this plan back when you were in Asterlia, my king. Since the barrier requires great power, You decided to sacrifice your whole life, ambitions, and happiness so the barrier would work. Death was not enough and you decided to give it yourself, give your past, present, and future. You entered this star-domed world to live a pitiful routine."

"But why did I come back here? What was the point of the last months?" Thomas asked hopelessly.

"Your Majesty, being a part of Apex Kings and possessing infinite wisdom, you managed to create the barrier. But to seal it you had to make this decision, as a bounded man, who tasted greatness and glory."

"So that means I gotta go back to that goddamn office" - Thomas asked horrified. He felt the emptiness filling him, displacing everything else. Why didn't he die for Asterlia like all heroes?

As if the Soccerster read Thomas's thoughts he said:

"Dying for others is no doubt a great sacrifice, but giving your soul, together with all your dreams and possibilities - is an Absolute sacrifice capable of creating a Barrier strong enough."

"So that means I'll forget everything?" Asked Thomas.

"Yes, time will take your memories of Asterlia and all its population away. But the feeling of duty will be with you, waking you up from bed every morning."

Thomas gazed at the chair he hated so much, at that old junky computer with only one button that said "Clients" and sighed. There will be no great life with Rakkena. No great feats. No goldent chains and Valhalla. In fact, these two would be replaced with a name badge and terrible cold coffee. But most importantly no great walls and no kingdom come.

The reality was prosaic.

HE HIMSELF WAS THE WALL SEPARATING DAY FROM NIGHT. His everyday routine was that wall. He thought that death was the most terrifying sacrifice, but it appears to be a smaller evil because now he is doomed to live in his personal hell.

He hesitated.

No, he wants to fight, he wants to be with Rakkena. Why all the suffering?

But there were answers

If he agrees, everyone in this reality lives.

And then the day will come when Rakkena will be handling a harp better than a sword.

And then the wooden dancers will finally forget how to fight.

If he agrees there will be colorful lights at night and all these creatures will dance and sing once again.

So isn't it worth it? Is it not worth all their happiness to give up his own?

And he realized that it was worth it. Certainly worth it.

"Well, Your Majesty, time to cast a spell"

He knew that spell because he repeated it every day of that miserable life. And he muttered those words.

The sorcerer heard:

"Ekmiru Andatar Ignu Tavarok"

Ordinary mortal people with disgusting ties from the world under the stars heard:

"Agent 327 opens the shift."