Sunset, 20 Years Ago

The light from the sunset trickled in through the stained-glass windows, scattering variegated colors across the cream marble. A lone figure occupied the throne, gazing at the colors cast by the windows. His red-clothed legs were crossed relaxedly and his crowned head was propped up by his gloved right hand. Yunvei yawned raucously, the one sound that occupied the space. It had been a boring day - nobody had approached him with anything to do, and there were no big events to be planned for Firan anytime soon. Even the gods that occupied his mind had been quiet today. Thus, he had been left alone for far too long with his own thoughts.
The sound of the double doors at the end of the room closing caused him to turn his head toward the source of the noise. The god squinted into the distance to make out the overly tall figure strolling towards him gracefully. Their form was almost hazy and seemed to be almost constantly changing, but one thing was clear, and that was that they wore robes of white. Yunvei smiled slightly at the sight and waved at the approaching figure.
“Heya, ‘Ru!” He called out somewhat enthusiastically.
The figure said nothing back, stopping a few feet away from the throne. Fosru gazed up at it silently, one of their amorphous fists ever-so-slightly clenched. Yunvei casually got off of the throne and waltzed toward Fosru, taking great, confident, strides. He stopped a little bit in front of his advisor and looked up at them with that slightly smug face of his. Fosru remained silent, staring down at him. Yunvei, in turn, stared back up at them, studying their expression. He leaned his weight onto one leg and put a hand on his hip.
“What’s eatin’ ya? You don’t normally show yourself before night falls and most of the castle staff’s gone…” Yunvei inquired, eyebrows scrunching together a bit.
Fosru continued to stare down at him for a moment before their lips curled into a small smile. “I see you’re thinking for yourself for once… How observant. Not even I noticed those habits of mine…” They said, their somewhat mocking tone causing Yunvei’s gaze to narrow briefly before he began to smile again.
“Don’t patronize me,” he chuckled tensely. “I know you don’t want to be seen by any of the castle staff. So I can only assume they’ve all gone home, right? Let’s get going then. I need some serious shut-eye,” he said, stepping around them and making his way towards the great double doors at the end of the room. His steps seemed to echo in the silence of the room, until that silence was broken.
“What else have you been thinking recently, child?”
Yunvei paused as he felt his heart rate go up significantly. Despite having been silent all day, the voices in his head began to pound against his skull, a drum that wouldn’t go silent. He could hear them scream for him to leap to the right, that he was in danger, that…
He didn’t question any more as he leapt, then rolled to the right, his crown toppling off of his head and falling to the ground with a clang. As he did so, the ground where he had been standing crumbled to dust, waves of purple and black pulsing around it. Yunvei’s eyes followed the waves to their source and spotted Fosru with one ghost-like hand out. Their white eyes stared back at him, a slight grin appearing on their face.
Breathing heavily, Yunvei shouted to Fosru. “Hey! What was that for?!?”
Fosru chuckled to themselves. “You know exactly what you’ve done, Yunvei. I know what you’ve been doing... What you’ve been hiding. You’ve been hiding bits of your godly magic away, haven’t you?”
Yunvei felt his blood run cold at those words and he cursed to himself. He had been sure that he’d been careful and meticulous with how he’d hidden the magic away - he’d been completely sure that no one ever followed him to the places he sealed it away at, and he’d been even more sure that no one had witnessed him blessing certain people with his magic. So, why? Why?
The man forced a smile, but he could feel sweat lining his brow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, getting to his feet. Not once did he break eye contact with the god, his gaze quickly becoming defiant. “I haven’t done anything like that.”
Fosru shook their head sadly, but their plastic smile remained. “You naive fool… I knew you’d deny it. But I have ways of knowing these things. I know this land better than anyone else, and I know your mind better than you do… After all, I called it my home for many years.”
Yunvei gritted his teeth together, feeling himself tense up greatly. The gods’ voices in his head were whispering indistinguishably. He found himself wishing that they’d just shut up again. “What do you want?” he muttered, glaring daggers at Fosru.
The god’s smile widened a bit as they walked toward a window and looked outside. It was almost completely dark, the room now only lit with the candles fixed to the walls and the chandelier above. They pressed a hand to the glass silently.
“There’s no doubt that you know my true goals already… After all, the gods have no doubt spoken to you about me. That must be why you went and split your magic up in the first place, isn’t it?” They chuckled, turning back toward the king. “That was rhetorical, don’t answer that. Child… no, Yunvei. I want you to give me the locations of your magic. And then… I’ll kill you.”
Yunvei’s gaze penetrated Fosru for a moment before the man began to laugh. Fosru looked back at him, perplexion only slightly riddling their face.
“What’s so funny? This is your life at stake, fool.”
The king kept laughing for a moment before he raised a hand to wipe a tear from his eye. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just… so funny that you’d think I’d give in that easily,” he said with the remnants of yet another laugh. Seconds later, however, all jollity faded from his features. “I’ll protect this country if it’s the last thing I’ll do.”
Fosru gazed at him, annoyed, before the same smile reappeared on their face. “So you choose an honorable death… How quaint!”
With that, they clapped their hands together and spread them out, producing a dark purple spear crackling with energy. Yunvei eyed it carefully as he clapped his own hands together, creating a shimmering gold and white bow. Just as he was about to take aim, however, the god disappeared, leaving him with an arrow of light of his own creation notched in his bow. Startled by the god’s disappearance, he looked around, searching for them. All he could hear was a voice cackling from what sounded like everywhere.
“You didn’t ask for this job, did you, Yunvei? I forced you into it just so I could get the title of king, but look where that got us… Now look at you: you’ve got prestige, pleasure, and blood on your hands. You would’ve been better off dying at the gallows back there!” Fosru guffawed.
The man didn’t notice he was gritting his teeth together until he shouted. “Shut up! I know I didn’t ask for this job, but it’s what I ended up with! I have to do a good job… Everyone’s counting on me to save them!”
“Everyone?” A voice piped up behind him.
Yunvei’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates as he realized what was happening, but he realized far too late. “Shit -” he gasped, starting to turn around. But he was met with the side of the spear and was flung to the wall. The man coughed as he hit it with a thud. Stunned, he laid there for a second, the burning sensation in his side increasing with each breath he took. He coughed and sputtered again, his vision hazy as he lifted his hand to his mouth. It came back bloody.
The man hardly processed the fact that the god was taking steps toward him. He tried to get up, but stumbled, and stumbled again. He was left coughing on the floor, the grim footsteps coming ever closer. A hand clutched the fabric on his back and he found himself being raised up by Fosru, his cloudy gaze meeting theirs.
Smirking, they twirled the spear in their other hand. “How did you like that, little king? You should be unable to call on your gods for help now that I’ve hit you with this. This should put you at, oh…” They thought for a moment. “5% of your normal power, right? Especially factoring in all the magic you sealed away… What a brazen fool you turned out to be.”
Yunvei coughed and sputtered as his tongue fluttered, trying to form words of some kind. But nothing after nothing came from his lips and he was left with Fosru’s hand moving to his neck and pressing him to the wall far too tightly. The gods eyes narrowed at him as they watched him squirm.
“You’ve never been a hero, and nor will you ever be one, Yunvei. Nobody will know about this, and nobody will know about you. I’ll get my way in the end.”
He felt the grip on his throat tighten even more and he began to gasp for air. Gods, what could he do? He needed air, he needed air, he needed…
Energy began to buzz around his palms. The world was growing darker, the ringing in his ears was getting louder. He could feel his entire body shake as it desperately tried to get air. Closing his eyes tightly, the king put his hands on the gods arms and released a flash of energy. He heard a howl of pain as he fell to the ground, breathing as many ragged breaths as he could. When he opened his eyes again, Fosru was nearby, clutching their arm and glaring daggers at him.
“You bastard…” They snarled as Yunvei stumbled to his feet with a slightly confident smile.
“Sorry about that one, ‘Ru, but I ain’t going down that easy,” he said, recreating the bow and arrow from before with his hands. He drew the string with ease and aimed it at the god’s heart. “Time to say goodbye!”
With that, he let go of the string and let the arrow fly. Fosru’s shock was written all over their face as they faced their death, the arrow flying straight towards them, never faltering. They screamed as it hit their body, but stopped the instant they realized that something was wrong. Looking down, the arrow hadn’t even penetrated their body. It had shattered on impact.
“Well… Some god-slayer you are,” they laughed, turning their attention back to him. “There’s no way you can beat me as you are now, you good-for-nothing king. Even with a gift from the gods themselves you’re useless!” Fosru howled with laughter.
Meanwhile, Yunvei was in shock. Why hadn’t it worked? It was supposed to work no matter what, so why? His mouth stood agape before he began creating and firing off more and more arrows. One after another, they hit the god’s body, each and every one of them shattering instantly. Fosru laughed even harder as they began to advance toward him again. Another shot, another arrow shattered. Another shot, and Fosru was still coming. Another shot, and Yunvei crumpled to his knees, feeling his eyes welling up slightly with tears.
He really had been a failure til the end.
One by one, the arrows failed to meet their mark. He began firing them off slower and slower until his tears were the only thing he was firing, each of them meeting their marks on the ground. He dropped the bow with a thud, putting his hands on his thighs, hardly caring about the figure advancing toward him.
“What’s wrong with me…?” he muttered to himself quietly, each of his fingers digging into his thighs. The figure before him stopped, and he could feel eyes penetrating what felt like his soul. But he didn’t care. He had always been one to know when to quit, especially after the use of a failed trump card.
He sensed that the figure was moving something large and hefty to the side with ease and grace, but didn’t care enough to look. Fosru breathed in the cool air of the castle before speaking.
“Underneath your skin, your blood flows red. You’re still only human, and you’ll die like one.”
Yunvei’s breath hitched as he began to look up at Fosru, but his last breath was cut short as the spear swung toward his neck.
“And, don’t call me ‘Ru.”