The
Eternal Struggle
by Brian Beam
Eldis
slowly removed his sword from the Dark Lord, crimson blood dripping from the
blade’s tip. The Dark Lord’s gray eyes
were widened in stark disbelief that his end came at the hands of a simple man
with no special powers of his own. Just
a simple man with a simple sword.
As
the Dark Lord’s body crumpled to the richly carpeted stone floor of the throne
room and his last breath rattled from his throat, Eldis couldn’t help but exhale
in relief. He felt as if he had been
holding that breath since he had first entered the castle keep. With the world falling apart from the Dark
Lord’s rule, the chaos Eldis had been through obscured his memories of how he
had even come to this place. That chaos
was now at an end. The world could
finally heal from the wounds inflicted by the Dark Lord’s tyrannical reign.
Letting
his sword clatter to the floor, Eldis turned to the narrow slit of a window to
his left. All he could see was a
blood-red sky filled with dark clouds and near-constant red lightning that
stabbed at the landscape below. Nothing
had changed.
Eldis
rushed to the Dark Lord’s side, checking him for signs of life. There was no pulse. No breathing.
No life. Why had the Dark Lord’s
death failed to stop the destruction of the land?
Because, the
darkness runs so much deeper than a single entity.
Eldis
whipped his head around, searching for the source of the sinister voice, but
saw no one else in the throne room. Was
the voice in his head?
“Who
are you?” Eldis called out in the cavernous room, his voice shooting back in a
staccato echo. “Show yourself!”
Ah, but you have
seen me countless times. We have spoken
before, you and I.
“No,
you are a pestilence in a world of good.
If I had seen or spoken to you, I would have killed you. This world deserves to be free, to be healed.”
Malicious
laughter rang throughout the room. Is that so?
And why should you care? What have
people ever done but taunt, abuse, and ignore you? Do you think your actions here will raise you
in their eyes? You know this will change
nothing.
The
words stung Eldis like a whip across his back.
There was a truth to those words that cut through his soul.
Together we can
build a world where you will be above the rest. You could have anything, be anyone.
The
words were so inviting, but Eldis knew when he was being deceived. Nothing the voice said could be trusted. The words were nothing more than a poison
intended to course through Eldis’ veins.
“I
have seen what you have done to this world.
Just look!” Eldis pointed towards
the crimson skies, the lightning seeming even more violent than it had moments
before. “Show yourself and face me!”
Do you really
think that it is as simple as that?
After all this time?
No,
Eldis realized. No, he did not think it
could be that simple. He could remember
the voice now. This was not the first
time he had waged this battle. Nor would
it be the last.
“You
will not bring me down. I will never
join you. Never!” Eldis was screaming at the golden-domed
ceiling now, turning in circles with his arms outstretched. “Do you hear me? Never!”
We shall see,
young Eldis. We shall see.
The
voice echoed until the only sounds came from the entropic environment outside
the castle keep. Eldis’ memory of the
voice was the only remnant that the voice had even existed. But, he knew it had been real. He knew it would be back. There would soon be another Dark Lord to
defeat, another voice controlling it.
Eldis
exhaled, enjoying the momentary relief and went back to the window. In the far distance, miles away, a ray of
sunlight broke through the dark clouds and struck the land below. That golden circle was more than just
sunlight. It was a sign of hope. As long as there was a ray of hope, Eldis
would continue his fight to clear those dark skies and quell the unnatural
lightning. One day, the land would be
peaceful again. On that day, the others
would finally accept him.
For
now, though, all Eldis could do was close his eyes and wonder where he would be
when he opened them again.
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