the kingdom of darkness
There is a legend of a kingdom beyond the unchartered territories, a kingdom which had never known the light of the sun. It was said that the free winds which would normally blow the clouds away, were trapped in that kingdom, and could only blow back and forth. It was a place of desolation and darkness, invisible on any maps. A kingdom with no entrance and no escape. I sensed no evil, but neither had the light of heaven ever visited this lonely rock.
This kingdom only had one castle in its center, and it only needed one castle. This castle was a temple of darkness: all the men of the land came here to train in the dark arts of battle, and to live like warrior monks - and they were known as the Order of Lords. The castle was completely empty and devoid of decor, save for one shield hanging upon the north wall above the entry way. It was said to be forged and crafted by the god of the land as a message for the future. The shield depicted two knights: on the left there was a knight in black armor with a stripe of white on his shield, and on the right facing him there was a knight in white armor with a stripe of black on his shield. It was said that one day the knight in white would come to this kingdom to do battle with it, and he would wield a terrible weapon which the land had never seen. This weapon could ultimately destroy the kingdom. It was also said that there would be an assassin, one among the Lords, who would possibly aid this White Knight. If the Order of Lords was not able to defeat the White Knight, the entire kingdom would be destroyed. And so day and night these warriors trained in this castle of darkness, for the final battle with the coming White Knight.
The leader of the order was called the Lord Inquisitor, and he was said to be descended from the god of the land. He was like a ghost, for he had the ability to appear and disappear in thin air. He carried no weapons and wore no armor, but all the other lords were terrified of him for he was rumored to have magic powers. When he entered a room, the skies above the halls would vibrate with lightning, and the winds would blow like tempests. It was he who trained the men, and over time, they became like him. They were eliminated of any vestiges of emotion, and a part of them seemed no longer human. His spirit was said to be linked to the spirit of the castle, the land, and the God.
I was one of the lesser lords. I avoided fighting as much as I could, since I was not particularly skilled at, nor interested in, nor bestowed with a lot of martial talent, and so I did not partake among their dueling and revelry so often. But every day I looked at the shield and wondered about it- it seemed like the only real thing in the castle. Who was that White Knight? And why would he come to this Dark Land? The land itself did not seem to possess any intrinsic value, since nothing grew here; there was so little water and the soil was so barren that it only offered subsistence food.
My true desire was the love of a beautiful, spirited farm girl with golden brown hair, who lived in one of the villages near the castle. But love was not encouraged in our kingdom. It was looked upon as a weakness. No sane warrior would sacrifice the honor and glory of being a lord for the love of a mere woman. Women were only seen as toys, to spend a night with, or at best, trophies to be put inside a house to work as house slaves.
One day I vowed to escape the fortress and to seek a new home far away from the castle, and to take this girl with me. I could no longer stand this life. So on that day, I left.
But as soon as I reached the border, a large head the size of a house appeared before me. I assumed it to be the god of the land. The head looked at me and said, “If you wish to leave here, you must tell me where you have hidden the gift. Deliver the gift to me, and you may go.” I said I did not know what he was talking about, and I truly did not. I did not own any gift in my possession. I owned nothing. And he said “Do not lie, boy! Return the gift to me at once or I will claim the life of your love!” I trembled with fear, “I do not know of any gift, Lord, I really do not…” And the head grew furious and all of a sudden, my love appeared, and she began kissing the head against her will. I could see her tears falling, and I screamed, “No, no, no!!!…..oh god, I do not have this gift you speak of… let my love go please, she is innocent!” And so did I begin to weep tears of despair. But the god refused to listen and roared, “So be it!” It vanished, and so did my love.
And I rushed back to the castle to look for my love, and I desperately roamed the halls within, seeking secret chambers where she might be held captive. I broke through doors, floors, and walls in my looking, without a care or a thought for anything else. And just as I was entering the main hall, the Lord Inquisitor appeared in front of me and caught my eye, and he seemed to know just by looking into my eyes that I had a different purpose now than the other men. And he looked at me with glaring eyes, and roared, “You… so it was you!!!!! You are the traitor! Seize him!”
And the other lords ceased their sparring, and looked at me, remembering who I was, and perhaps also seeing me for the first time. They immediately began to glide towards me, weapons drawn, eyes glowing. And as I met the gaze of their eyes, I looked into them and willed them to be gone… and they slumped to the ground lifeless. I did not pause to think. I simply ran and when one of these soldiers confronted me, I looked into their eyes and their bodies slumped to the ground. And so I realized, “The assassin was me.”
And so it was that I discovered my gift - the power to kill with my mind. But I did not see it as a gift. All I could think about was my love, who was nowhere to be found. They had taken her away. And in my heart I knew she was nowhere on the grounds of the castle. And then I ran to the main hall, and looked at the shield again, and the white knight was shining brightly, and I recognized that the white knight was me also. And it was then that I understood that the gift I brought was not the ability to kill, but the ability to banish darkness, and to bring love. And it would be my love for the girl that would turn the kingdom upside down and change it forever more. I knew that even were I not to find her here, I would surely find her in the afterlife. And this light that glowed within my heart, I knew it would never die, and the old kingdom of darkness was destroyed forevermore.
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