A Worthless Crown

The night sky was twisted, all the stars had disappeared... The moon shone radiantly, there was no escaping the light.

The last hope of a dying cause, that was all I had become.

The wind cut into my skin, carrying the scent of the sea below and the deathly scent of corpses. My breath was ragged, my vision blurred, and a world of pain radiated from the stump where my right arm used to be. Crimson fluid dripped from the severed limb, staining the rocks beneath me. We stood on a cliff, the dark waves below crashed against the shoreline repeatedly.

My white hair was also covered in blood, the battle before had not been kind. At just the age of eighteen it looked like the end was nigh, I saw no possible escape. The phantom space where my arm used to be cried out, I had never felt so helpless.

Prince Ardyn stood before me, his sword gleaming in the dying light. His face, twisted in fury and grief, was streaked with sweat and dirt. His golden hair shone in the moonlight. Behind him, soldiers in gleaming armor stood in a half-moon formation. Spears were pointed at me. Long bows were drawn. Magic hummed in the air, ready to be unleashed.

I was surrounded. There was no escape. I saw old friends and allies in the crowd, the crowd that was dying to see me fall.

"Fraero Vista. There is no more running. Why did you kill him?" Ardyn's voice cut through the roar of the ocean below. He took a step forward, his boots scraping against the stone. "Why did you kill my father? Answer me, Fraero!"

I opened my mouth to speak, but the words caught in my throat. My chest tightened. The weight of what I had done—the blood on my hands—pressed down on me.

The King. Dead by my hand. It had only happened a month ago, yet the consequences were right before me.

The blade had sunk deep into his chest, his blood gushed down my skin. His eyes had shivered in shock. He had trusted me—welcomed me into his throne-room, just the two of us. And I had driven my sword through his heart.

The memory had run rampant through my mind in every living moment since the event.

"I had no choice," I finally managed to rasp. My voice cracked, weakened by blood loss and exhaustion. "He would have destroyed everything. He would have taken away everything... You wouldn't understand. I saved you all."

Ardyn's eyes flared with rage. "Save us? You plunged the kingdom into chaos! You betrayed us all. You were trusted to talk about private matters. A great honour. And you butchered him like the monster you are. You have wounded all of Thesia with your heartlessness. You just couldn't play the game, could you?"

The soldiers behind him shifted. I could feel their hatred. Their fear. To them, I was a traitor—a murderer. And perhaps they were right. I was the King-Slayer.

I pressed my remaining hand against the wound where my arm had been severed. The pain was unbearable, but I refused to let them see me break.

"You don't understand," I said through gritted teeth. "He wasn't the man you knew. That wasn't your father. I did what I had to, you can't let yourselves be blinded by your emotions. Think logically, why would I participate in worthless violence!"

Ardyn's face twisted with disbelief and anguish. He shook his head. "Lies. You would say anything to justify your treachery. You wanted the crown. You wanted power. Now you want forgiveness, but I will ensure you will receive only death."

The accusation stung more than the loss of my arm. I had never sought power. I had only become a murderer for the one reason. But now, none of that mattered. The truth was irrelevant. The only thing they saw standing on the cliffside was a corpse, waiting to be felled.

I took a step back, feeling the edge of the cliff beneath my heel. The drop was sheer. The sea below churned violently, waves crashing against the rocks. Death waited below, just as surely as it stood before me.

"You've already sentenced me, haven't you?" I asked, my voice bitter. "Nothing I say will change your mind. You came here to do one thing."

Ardyn raised his sword. "You will answer for your crimes. Here and now. Surrender, or die. As the next king I demand it."

I glanced at the soldiers, their weapons gleaming in the dim light. Magic users stood behind them, their hands glowing with power. One wrong move, and I would be torn apart, brought to death's door in an instant.

But I would not kneel, if I kneeled I would likely be taken captive and publicly executed.

I summoned what little power remained in me. My fingers twitched, sparks of my own magic flickering to life. My bloodied hand gripped the hilt of my sword tighter. If I was to die, I would die for the cause.

I lunged whilst also casting a meteor of darkness. Ardyn came in too, slightly faster than I. His figure was a blur in the night, as was his blade.

The clash was brief but brutal. I parried Ardyn's strike with my remaining strength, but the force drove me to my knees. Blades sliced at me from all sides. I twisted, cutting down one soldier, but another drove his spear into my side. Pain exploded through me and blood imploded from my ribs. My dark meteor was blocked off by protective barriers, there was never a prospect of victory in this battle. I watched as my move that had always resulted in complete destruction was absorbed by invisible magic barriers that did not even flinch.

I gasped, feeling the warmth of my own blood spill down my leg.

A blast of fire seared past me, singing my hair. Another spell exploded against the ground, sending shards of rock into my face. I fought through it, striking blindly, my vision clouded by pain and desperation.

"Let me deal the final blow." Alcors muttered. An old friend, a sword saint in the flesh. His tanned skin appeared bronze before me, his brownish hair matched the sheathe of his blade.

It felt strange to be against him, after all those years by his side. Yet part of it fell fated, this would be his heroic finale, and my villanous end.

He raised his blade and it erupted with sword spirit. Grey energy influxed the steel, as he rose his blade it erupted with power. He brought it down, I set out a barrier, the incantation faint in my mind.

"Protect."

The strength of his blade met with the barrier and failed him, I had used all my energy now. He stood there exasperated. 

He blitzed once more with a strike so fast that my mind couldn't even fathom it. He stood behind me, his blade had cut cleanly through my chest, I felt my heart croak out in pain.

The traces of a voice crumpled with the wind, I heard something akin to a "Sorry." Which was an odd thing to say to a person you had just cut into two.

I looked down, my world had malfunctioned. Everything fell out of array, so this was what it felt like to have your body cut into two. As my severed form neared complete finality, they called for the final attack.

"End this, for the king." He yelled out. "Don't let the murderer live another second."

Then, the final blow came, from a mage in the back. I recognized their face, it was Tia, Duchess of Canler. An old lover, my new end. Her scarred face was hidden by a mask only worn by archmages.

"River of thunder."

A surge of magic—stronger than any I had ever felt—struck me square in the chest. Lightning, crackling and searing, threw me backward. I screamed as the energy burned through me, my body convulsing. My sword slipped from my grasp.

The cliff's edge gave way beneath me.

I felt weightless for a moment. The world seemed to slow. Ardyn's face—frozen in shock and anger—hovered above me as I plummeted into the abyss.

The wind tore at me. The roar of the ocean grew louder. My severed arm throbbed with phantom pain. My thoughts raced—memories flashing before my eyes.

Time slowed as I dropped through the sky.

The King's final breath. Askath's last warning. The night I took Tia's vow. The royal ball. The laughter. The hope. The betrayel. The seed.

All of it, fading into the endless night sky.

The sea surged up to meet me. The impact came like stone. Water enveloped me, dragging me down into the depths. The force was cold and absolute, wrapping around me like a shroud.

I fought to surface, but my body was broken. The weight of the ocean pressed against my chest, pulling me deeper. Darkness devoured my vision. My lungs burned and shrieked in desperation. I felt my mind deteroriating, my life bleeding into nothing.

Before I struck down into inevitable doom, I had one thought in mind.

"How did it come to this?"

{Now we go to the past, to let events fall into place we will return to this scene eventually.}