Kanus's Destiny

A middle-aged man who appears to be in his late 50s leans wearily on his sword, treasuring this one moment he can catch his breath. All around him are the bodies of his guards and assailants alike, littering the ground like a child's scattered toys.

Seeing all their blank stares and mangled corpses, King Kanus can hardly tell the difference between friend and foe. Being dead makes them all look the same. Funny how that works.

'When I die, the others won't be able to tell me apart from the commoner corpses. Huh… they say Death is the great equalizer…'

Even though he survived this latest assassination attempt, the king can't find it in his heart to be happy. Instead, he only feels a giant pit in his chest where his heart should be.

His sword clatters to the ground, and Kanus stares up at the rain as it pitter-patters on his face. 'What's the point of trying so hard…? I'll be a corpse one day too, and all my struggles will be for nothing.'

"Sire!" calls a man's voice from behind him, "Thank goodness you're alive!"

Kanus turns to the man with empty eyes, then shifts his feet to follow him. "Duke Fulthard, I see you brought a horse with you. Let's get going. And… send someone to clean up this mess."

On the ride back, the king's duke spits out with righteous indignation, "Ungrateful, the lot of them! After being granted their lands back…"

"Fulthard," Kanus reprimands the duke softly, "the outer barons rebelling isn't surprising at all. It's mostly my fault, and no, they have no reason to be grateful."

"But, your majesty…! They're a band of barons! It's not their place to criticize you."

Kanus shakes his head, "No. I'm a terrible king. They call me a tyrant for a very good reason. Not only did I commit more slaughter to my own people than the past 3 kings combined, I've also completely bankrupted the kingdom."

Not even caring if the Duke is listening, Kanus mumbles on as if to himself, "Some kings are cruel, but they raise their kingdom to greatness – the conquerors and nationalists. Some kings are kind but idiotic – letting their nation fall to internal corruption and poverty through mismanagement." He turns to the duke with a tired smile. "I've done both."

The duke looks down in shame. Fulthard is a bootlicker, through and through, but even he can't come up with a valid explanation for the king's blunders in office. Everything Kanus just said IS correct, after all.

Long ago, the Crow goddess had foretold that King Kanus would fall in battle, and his reign would be cut short. Being young and ambitious, this was the worst news he could've possibly received.

Fearing rebellions and invasions, the newly crowned king spent most of the budget on expanding the military… except, in a cruel twist of fate, one of his leading generals rebelled against him and took nearly half his army with him.

Even though Kanus barely won the war, he was left paranoid and unable to trust his vassals. Thus, he did everything he could to strip their power away. He'd frame influential aristocrats, then execute them. He'd then imprison the discontented folk who spoke out against him.

His actions garnered hatred from the people and nobles alike, and more rebellions sprung up.

Convinced that the entire nation was out to get him, King Kanus became a lot more liberal with unleashing his armies on entire cities he feared were harboring weapons or rebellious troupes. Being young and having a long rule ahead of him, nothing mattered more than ensuring he lived long and healthily.

Eventually, the king lost more and more supporters until it appeared inevitable for his head to roll at the chopping block.

Once again, in order to save his reign, Kanus turned to the empire for support.

… Of course, one Alastan King is as good as another to the empire. So, in exchange for higher and higher tributes, they were willing to lend him their armies.

He may have clung onto his throne this way, but he completely emptied out the treasury in doing so. With the treasury empty, his ability to control the nobles vanished. Corruption spread like a virus in a rotting corpse as the King had no funds to run his country.

Centuries were spent like this, and the king who once looked at the throne with lust now only looks at it with dread. That accursed crown has brought him nothing but torture!

All that suffering and effort… and for what? To rule over a people who hate you and over a country that doesn't listen to you.

He may be a "king", but he's just the empire's lap dog enslaved through debt.

Even after he tried to correct his evil ways, the empire had already drawn the noose around his neck. The debt Alasta owes Brancotte is so large that he knows it can never be paid off. Still, if he doesn't make payments, the nation will be invaded and pillaged by Brancotte. In order to make the payments, he has to raise funds…

… And with how messed up Alasta is now, there's no way to raise funds without making people hate you even more.

Thus, began Alasta's endless plunge to destruction.

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A day later, King Kanus is sitting in his office with his head on his desk. There's a pile of paperwork on the thing, and he has no motivation to go through it. He knows these are full of national issues, but he has no ability to solve any of them.

Kanus is about to fall asleep when he hears a soft rapping sound on his balcony window… If someone wanted to visit him, wouldn't they come through the door? If it were an assassin, they wouldn't bother knocking.

With a strange feeling in his heart, Kanus turns around and sees the figure of a man through the foggy glass; the figure has his arms crossed and appears to be waiting patiently.

Hesitantly, Kanus opens the glass shutters, and he sees… someone strangely familiar. Where has he seen this person before?

The man steps into the office and shakes himself – scattering rain droplets around the room. "Who…?" Kanus almost asks.

"What?" the man says with feigned disappointment, "You don't remember me?" The man grins. "You'll recognize this, though…"

The lights on the wall seem to grow dim, and a black aura oozes out of the man.

Kanus is momentarily shaken, yet instead of running away or getting on his knees, screaming for mercy, the king plops back onto his chair, flips his hair back with one hand, and laughs aloud. "AHAHA! Haalfrin! Have you come to kill me now?"

The weary king certainly remembers this Death Aura, yet… he doesn't remember reacting this way to it all those years ago. Back when he was younger, this Aura made him completely terrified on some primal instinct level.

You might be afraid of a sword at your neck… but the feeling of being in the ocean at night, then feeling something brush your leg… That's a primal fear no human can replicate… no human except for one with Death Affinity.

"Oh?" Haalfrin muses as he draws his sword, "You're not scared?"

Kanus laughs aloud, "Hmph! What's the point of clinging to a throne futiley? Or rather, what's the point in toiling all your life for something that'll rot with your carcass?"

Seemingly unconcerned about the criminal standing in his office, Kanus laughs again, "Poetic, isn't it? All the rebels I thought would kill me were felled by my blade, yet the man I had forgotten will be the one to finish the job."

Hearing these words, Haalfrin clutches his chest and feels his Yiir Name writhe in his heart, as if it were taking in important information.

Brushing aside that strange feeling, Haalfrin sighs, "I thought you were a brave and competent ruler, but… I'm disappointed in you." He tosses his sword over to Kanus, then pulls out a bone ax from inside his raincoat. "Unsheathe your weapon," Haalfrin commands.

Kanus gets his sword ready in a battle stance, and Haalfrin casually points the ax at him. "You've lived like a coward, Kanus, so please don't die like one. I'd hate to be disappointed in you for a third time."

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Moments later, Haalfrin is standing over Kanus's bleeding body. The process was so quick and quiet that none of the servants even know their king is dead…

... Of course, it doesn't help that Haalfrin had set up a muffling spell around the room to block sound.

Minutes pass, and Freyya materializes next to Haalfrin. She looks down at Kanus and waves her lantern. The dead king's spirit jumps out of the corpse and flies into the lantern – even closing the shutter behind it politely.

"Huh," Freyya remarks, "They usually try to get away."

Haalfrin shrugs, "He wanted to die." He points at the king's corpse.

"I see..." Freyya remarks. "Look. He's got a smile on his face. Talk about creepy."

Haalfrin is already clipping Dakka's ax back on his waste, and he's moving like he's about to leave.

"Wait! Haalfrin!" Freyya calls out. "It's been a long time since I saw you." Most of the deaths in the Pit were being either executed, falling sick, or aging to death. Very few actual battles happened. The only times they really saw each other was whenever Haalfrin himself or his Wills made their various escape attempts.

"...What's this about, Freyya?"

Freyya reaches behind her and presents a large box. "There's cake in here. I had a little extra with me on my trip here, so I thought I'd share it with you."

"...I'm not hungry, but thanks."

Haalfrin watches closely, and he sees the woman's face flinch in disappointment. Suddenly, Haalfrin feels bad for turning her down. 'She DID help me escape from the Pit before. I should be a little nicer to her...'

Still, the idea of acting friendly with Freyya just feels wrong to Haalfrin. 'Huh. I wonder why I feel this way?' he thinks. 'I was perfectly fine with her a few hundred years ago.'

Regardless of his complicated feelings, Haalfrin reaches for the box in her hand and takes it. "Actually, I could take some for the road. Thanks."

When Freyya sees Haalfrin put the box away, she brightens up and smiles. "Oh, good. I hope you enjoy it. Well, so long!"

She snaps her fingers and disappears in a puff of black Aura.