Aftermath
After the triumph of the Eye kin in the Paramount War, the once lush land was riddled with destruction. The ground was not unfixable, and indeed not all of it was destroyed. It required a degree of labor built on the effort of all those residing there. Within this destruction lay the seeds of opportunity for many of the beings populating it.
King Light of Golemia’s first order of business was ordering all remaining Golems to rebuild the land they had contributed to destroying, and with that, was able to restore the beauty of Golemia to what it was before. Without their king, the remaining Golems were falling one after the other, as though there was a finite amount of time remaining for them to use. But feeding on new time was impossible, since their king was the only one that could do it on their behalf. A new Round Table had to be set, to form the pillars of the Kingdom of Golemia. This Round Table would create a support structure that was much needed by the Prince, turned King.
Once the tasks given to them were complete, the remaining Golems were driven towards the Beyond, where they lay to rest among the mountains, as mountains themselves, forming a much more extensive array of cover to the unknown areas of the Beyond. And even with that cover, they were still unable to populate the immediate surrounding area where the Mountain of Ascension lay.
It was the end of the sixth moon cycle when King Light summoned Agram and Fetya to his castle. Agram and Fetya, who now resided in Scavengers Dominion under the protection of King Pike of the Crafts tribe, did not know what the newly-anointed king wanted from them.
“What do you think he would call us there for? The war is over. We gave as much information as we possibly could…” said Fetya, as she picked her axe and hoisted it on her back.
“Well, knowing the Pri.., I mean King of Light, he might ask for a duel with the mighty Agram of ICE!” responded Agram, with a grin on his face.
“Shut it, Agram. We both know a Night Watcher wouldn’t stand a chance in a battle with a royal, let alone the newly anointed King of Golemia… who, might I add, was able to bring down hundreds of Golems on his own, and manages to release attacks of LIGHT FROM HIS HANDS!” lashed out Fetya.
“It seems our journey has taken away your sense of jesting, dear,” said Agram. “I still see this on a positive note. He’s king to a new dominion, which we are most familiar with, especially among all the Eye kin; he’s probably in need of more of our knowledge.” Agram lifted his swords as he walked towards a carriage that was being prepared by two Watched of the Land of Black and White. They stood at 6 feet tall each, with hands lightly bound with enough room to move comfortably.
“The Watched do seem to be decreasing in numbers recently, don’t you think?” said Fetya, as she entered the carriage.
“The curse seems to be no longer at its strongest, and that seems to cause their bounds to become much more convenient for their movement. Am I right Kodo and Doko?” said Agram, addressing the Watched assisting them. Kodo nods, and Doko moves his hand up and points at Agram’s head, only for Agram to hear in his mind, “All hail the King, for his kindness is soon to open our eyes.” Agram smiled and said, “It never ceases to amaze me how you can speak to our mind directly. May your route to ascension be swift. Yel lel wope i gokhru.”
Fetya looked straight at Agram and said, “I haven’t heard these words spoken by anyone but royals of the Ice tribe. Whatever does it mean? I never seemed to ask you this before…”
The carriage started moving. Agram looked back and said, “It’s a greeting and goodbye in Sightell, the language of deities and royals. It’s about as much as I know of Sight.” (Sightell is natively referred to as Sight.) “The exact meaning of the words is a warning – ‘do not tread the beyond’, I believe.”
Fetya turned her head to look outside the carriage and said, “You Ice-lings and your Beyond…” letting out a small sigh.
The carriage was a part of a convoy King Pike had decided to send with Agram and Fetya. It held supplies to the Kingdom of Golemia, as it is customary for kings of the sub-kingdoms of the Land of Black and White, to trade amongst each other. Agram and Fetya’s carriage was at the front of the convoy and was pulled by two junior bicorns. As they passed through cities along Treasure Bay, lying north of Scavengers Dominion, and along Chistone Path, all sights were new to Agram and Fetya, since they hadn’t passed through these densely populated port cities before. The convoy arrived after a five day trip to where the newly dubbed ‘Light’s Landing’ was established. The sights were even grander than they remembered.
“Sir Agram and Madam Fetya!” a voice called, waking Agram up from an unplanned nap on the carriage.
“YES! YES, SIR!” Agram said, as though called to arms in his military days. Fetya laughed.
A lord, standing 7 feet and 9 inches tall, greeted them and said calmly, “Welcome to Light’s Landing. King Light is looking forward to speaking with you. Follow me to the Round Table dorm, as our dear Watched help with your belongings.” A dormant face with no expression, held by Lord Josh of Light, previously known as the Lord of Knowledge of Black and White. Lord Josh had been appointed as the newest member of King Light’s Round Table. Lord Josh wore a cape that was known to turn to hardened wings, allowing him to fly and hold a solid defense in battle. He walked while gesturing to Agram and Fetya to follow.
Fetya, with her curious nature, opened her eye wide as she saw the changes and couldn’t help but ask, “What happened here!?!”
Agram looked at what she was viewing, realized the tremendous difference in the place, and said, “Good of the Deities.. this is… grand, beautiful… no words in my mind can describe…”
Lord Josh interrupts, “It may come across as overwhelming, but after the Paramount War, and with the blessing of the King of Black and White, his final attack tearing in half the time eater, the King of Golems, allowed for a new valley to be created – the one that you are walking through right now – and what you see across the two mountains we are between are all homes to creatures and beings new. What I’m sure captured your eyes the most was the glorious castle of Light’s Landing, where our new, young King resides. Truly a work of art, crafted with the help of Ashdal the Grey himself, the people of Bear Eye, the half-ling, and the last remaining Golems, before their demise in the Beyond. The single most magnificent structure in the Land of Black and White, bested only by the King’s Heaven itself!”
Agram and Fetya’s jaws dropped and they kept silent in amazement as they followed Lord Josh to the entrance. They entered the foyer – the biggest they’d ever seen or stepped foot in – and walked towards a door worthy of being called a Paradox Gate, due to its massive size and inscriptions of the historical Paramount War. They entered a room that hosted a Round Table made of cherry wood, with gold engravings of a single eye in the middle, surrounded by eleven chairs. And there sat King Light, with both hands on the table and a broad smile.
“AAAAH! YES! You’re finally here! Shall we duel?!?!” King Light still had that duel-crazed sense of jesting to him, which scared Agram.
He looked at Fetya, as if to say ‘I told you so’ and said, “Sire, I’m sure the King of Light would beat me to a pulp in a fraction of time”
King Light stood up and walked towards Agram in haste, while Lord Josh took a step back, bowing to his king. Agram and Fetya both saw Lord Josh bow and they followed suit hesitantly. “Lift your head up, you two!” King Light pushed both their heads up to allow them to stand and embraced both of them. “Two heroes such as yourselves must not bow! If it weren’t for all your sacrifice, we wouldn’t have been able to beat those big boulders… ha ha ha ha.” He lets go and grabs both their hands, pulling them to his right and left side while walking them toward the chairs. “Lord Josh! Bring the King’s blessing, the holy scrolls!”
He ushered Agram and Fetya, rather forcefully, to sit down on the chairs. “King Light… I… we… don’t understand? The King’s Blessing?” said Fetya, as King Light walked to his seat and sat down.
His smile got wider, and he responded, “Ha ha ha, yes! A scroll that Dad generally draws, allows for the ascension of members of the Eye kin. I told him that I want both of you on my Round Table, and we cannot have anyone who’s not a lord, or at least a knight, join the Kings’ Round Table, now can we?”
Agram and Fetya’s eyes widened and their jaws dropped. Agram said, “Sire, but as lords, we will have to give up on emotion! We’re partners, and we intend to copulate! We intend to hold emotions towards each other! This would be blasphemy and will not allow us to serve you well.”
King Light got a more serious look on his face and responded, “I do not care for such stuff. Besides, I think you two can be an exception. And if you ever go berserk, you’re just going to be another duel for me, ha ha ha.” He followed by asking, “Do you not want to be Lords at my Round Table?”
Fetya responded, “It would be rude of us to reject, but might I suggest that only one of us join the Round Table?” Agram looked at her confused as she continued, “I am with child, King Light, and I’m afraid I would not be able to perform any lordly duties.”
Agram jumped out of his chair and stepped towards Fetya. “With child?! Breeding?! How is that possible?! What!?!”
King Light smiled again and responded, “Mother did have a prophecy around this, a Night and Day Watcher copulating after sacrificing time… well, there you have it… it is done! Agram, you will be ascending to the status of Lord Agram of Ice… or Light… you can choose what you please. Now, where is that Lord Josh with the scrolls?”
Lord Josh walked in with the scrolls at hand. “Here I am, Sire, the scrolls.” He handed over the scrolls to King Light, who took one of them and pushed the other back towards Lord Josh. He said, “Just one of them will do, Lord Josh. Fetya here is with child.”
Lord Josh, with almost no emotion, responded “Aaah. Queen Claire’s prophecy is fulfilled. Well, we can’t have a mother join the Round Table… you all do realize that only royals are breeders, this is a tale to tell for sure.” Lord Josh took Fetya’s hand and helped her up, guiding her out of the Round Table dorm. “Come now, you shall be taken to your prepared dormitories to rest while Agram here gets his official anointment.” Agram still in shock, lets go of Fetya’s hand as she was guided out of the Round Table dorm, both with eyes locked the whole way – his look of shock turned to a smile, and her smile turned to a shy one, as she leaves and the door shuts behind her.
“Now now, you can go back to her, let me just get this shit sorted with you. Now, what does this say? My Sightell is a bit rusty… ahem,” King Light said, as he opens the scroll and reads out loud, “I thew is bestowing, khyuw grand sho glowing, thas bus khyuw bnel na i lakh, li myud meny kkhi blat not, ascend bus lordship, deities kkhi ll hibo.”
A light released from the scroll and flew towards Agram, who sat there in awe. The light struck his single icy horn, and a sudden surge of energy drove through him. He felt it soar through his body, feeling a new horn form. With a change in his mouth and a growth in his fangs, Agram grew taller, standing 8 feet tall, as a lord of the Round Table of the King of Light.
“Damn, being a lord suits you! Well, as Dad usually says… welcome to the fray, Lord Agram!”
Agram, now a lord, walked to his dormitory, while looking at his hands and how they changed. He opened the door, and saw Fetya sitting in the foyer of their vast dormitory. She turned around to see who stepped in and stood up in shock, saying, “I’m sorry, my Lord, it seems you’ve got the wrong dormitory”
Agram smiled and said, “it is I.”
Fetya opened her eye wide, and said, “Agram! No… you’re Lord Agram now?!” As she walked towards him to embrace him, she said, “I wouldn’t have thought this possible, two deserters of the Kingdom of the Eye, to be back into it with such great standing.”
A tear falls from her eye. Agram rubbed away her tears and said, “Fetya of Desert, your tears are far too precious to be lost over some thoughts. Together, with King Light, we will find glory. And I do believe it is not the end of our ascension, for, with my new lordship, I feel like I can see a glimpse of a brighter endeavor for us all.”
Fetya looked up at Agram and said, “You even speak like a lord now. Even speech evolves, good of the deities.”
Agram responded, “The Child will be named Chron of Light. And he will bring forth something we all cannot fathom.”
Back in King’s Heaven, news hadn’t spread yet. A coup had been attempted by the so-called ‘Renegades’ who believed that the pillars of the Eyeverse – Generosity, Patience and a Helping Hand – were far too weak and, due to their lack of Sight, believed was the reason creatures like the Golems had existed in the first place. Such a farce. The Renegades had managed to infiltrate King’s Heaven, entering the royal dormitory of Queen Claire, who sat on her chair reading through a book. In silence, the leader of the Renegades, known as Lord Serpent, a rogue 7 foot tall member of the Clan of Sand walked up to her with his weapon at hand. Claire lifted her head up and said without moving “Do as you must child, this has been foreseen.”
The King of Black and White felt a stab in his chest, which pushed him to travel at the speed of light to his royal dormitory, only to see Claire on the floor, in a pool of her own blood, breathing her last breath. He ran towards her, and held her in his arms. “Claire! My love! What has happened?! Did you not foresee this?!”
She responds, weakly, “Wareth, I have foreseen it, and it must happen. The world is becoming.” She coughed and smiled, with blood dripping from her fair mouth. “I shall meet you again in time, my love.” Her eye closed, the light escaping from her body into the King, who lifted his head up and screamed, “Why!? DEITIES, WHY!?” He looked down at Claire’s hand, and in it lay a book titled ‘Watched who See, a Prophecy’. The open page read, ‘Chron will bring, to all of you, one thing, power and more through marriage, Ice and Sand no miscarriage, open the new realm, a champion to a Promise of Gold’.
