“Your brother was evil.”
…No.
I… I refuse to believe it! What he did… what he did was best for the Kingdom! For all of us!
“Revon… what if he’s right?”
Thousands of arms grasp me. I don’t recognize any of their faces.
“Your brother was evil, Revon. Are you evil, too?”
No.
…
“NO!”
Two Ensigns burst through the door.
“King Revon, is everything all right?”, they say. One of them inspects the area.
“I don’t see anything. What happened?”
“…Nothing. It was nothing.”, says King Revon.
“Your highness, today your supposed to deliver a speech concerning the… recent events.”
“Shut it! Don’t ever even mention what happened again!”, yells King Revon, prepared to punch the Ensign that spoke. He realizes the ridiculousness in his actions, and puts down his hand.
“…Right. Forgive me. Tell the maids to prepare a good robe for me.”, he says.
“Yes, sir.”, answers one of the Ensigns, as they trudge away.
The King fastens his morning tunic, and sits down on his bed, staring into space.
…
The sound of people talking amongst themselves overwhelms the area. Even Tiberian citizens have made the trip to Rubica to get an update. Some of them may even doubt that the old King has been assassinated.
Revon rustles through his shirt pocket to find a note, which is supposed to tell him what to say.
A decent amount of Centurions surround King Revon. More than usual.
“People of Ravenna…”, says King Revon. He pauses for a moment.
“People of Ravenna, it pains me to say that your good old King has died,”
Somewhere in the crowd, a group of people cheer. Revon bites his lip.
“…and he has been assassinated. We have set up bounties for each of the people associated in the murder. The names are: Morden, Iris, Neviro, and Archer. If you hear of any of their whereabouts, please contact the Ravenna Bounty and Dealings Department at the Rasna port.”
The murmuring increases. A woman seems to be shedding tears of joy. Revon bites his lip a little bit harder.
“The security in the cities will increase tenfold, I assure you. Please find solace in knowing that the Kingdom of Ravenna does care about your safety. We suggest that normal bounty hunters do not actively go out of their way to seek any of these targets, as they are-”
Revon is interrupted before he can finish his speech.
“‘The Kingdom of Ravenna cares about our safety’? What a load of bullcrap!”, says a scraggly looking old man.
“Lies! All lies! We should to overthrow him now, before he becomes like his bastard brother!”, says a young man in the middle of a smaller crowd.
The blood seeps on to Revons clothes.
Suddenly, an uproar of yelling and obscenities are being thrown at Revon. The Centurions grip their weapons.
Something creeps up onto Revon.
“Who do they think they are?”
…
King Revon had shut himself inside of his room for a while.
He spent most of his time gazing at his older Brothers portrait, as if he stared long enough, maybe, just maybe, he’ll come back to life.
“No… you aren’t evil. You were the best brother I ever had… you can’t be evil…”
Tears begin dripping down Revons face once again.
“Why?! Why did I have to be so WEAK? So weak that those bastards couldn’t even find it in them to put me out of this hell? If I were just a little bit stronger… I… I could have…”
“You could have what?”
Revon quickly grabs a short sword from his weapon collection.
“Who goes there? Show yourself!”, he says.
“Revon… it’s no use. You won’t be able to do anything with that meager weapon. No, it won’t do at all.”
“…”
He couldn’t bring himself to search the room. In despair, he drops the sword.
“If you are an assassin, I won’t even call the guards. Please, put me out of my agony.”
“Revon, Revon. You don’t understand. I’m here to help you.”
A prickling feeling climbs up Revons back.
“Help… Help me? What do you mean? What kind of help?”, he says.
“This won’t do, it won’t do at all. Like this, I can’t even look at you eye to eye, heart to heart. Why don’t we meet up somewhere, just the two of us?”
“I said, if you want to kill me, just do it. I won’t even fight back.”, says Revon, with a bit of annoyance in his voice.
“…Hm. Meet me at Mount Othrys. You’ll know what to do when you get there.”
Revon quickly lights a torch and waves it around the room, which was already well lit. He thought perhaps the person speaking was from the outside.
“…What do I have to lose?”
…
The next day, Revon chose two Centurions to prepare a Caravel for him. He ordered them to only transport the Caravel to the Royal Docks, and that he would only do some fishing out at sea.
Although Revon normally didn’t take part in such activities alone(he’d be accompanied by his brother), they didn’t ask any questions and simply let him go.
The trip to Mount Othrys a day and a half.
As he took the first step into the mountain’s secret entrance, there was a feeling as if a million knives had been stabbed into Revons back. Then, it went back to a prickling feel.
“Ah… So close. You finally made it, didn’t you?”
“What was that?”, asked Revon, feeling his back.
“Don’t worry about it. Now, I want you to close your eyes, Revon.”
“You told me to come all this way just to kill me?”, says Revon.
“CLOSE YOUR EYES.”
Although reluctantly, Revon closed his eyes. And inside of his eyes, he saw himself. The reflection had no eyes.
“Do you want revenge?”
Almost autonomously, Revon nodded yes. The prickling turned into a piercing.
Up until now… he felt so helpless. Like he was drowning.
The image of the killer walking away from his bloodied body flashed before him.
The sight of his brother Calvus’ head, detached from the body, made him shed a tear.
“Yes. I do.”
It was as if he was given the power to right every wrong. To put those that defiled his brothers name to shame, or even worse.
And suddenly…
Suddenly, Revon no longer felt helpless.
No, infact, he felt like a King.
