The past (3): Stories

*****

Long long ago, most of the gods were not born divine. They walked through the world as mortals–fragile, flawed and broken beings. Some were warriors that protected everything they loved, others were kings that united the mortals into one, or they were heroes in other people's preservatives, some lovers or maybe just a reader. Through great trials, sacrifice, sufferings and deeds that echoed beyond the world and the universe and even reached the true divines–beings who stay in the shadow as the brightest stars. And a few rare mortals transcended the limits of their mortality.

They transcended into gods that guard the world. 

In becoming gods, they were raised to the level of the true divine–beings that shaped the stars, who changed fate as they wanted it, and wore times that stopped them in every step and everything like a crown. But for something, a sacrifice has to be made. And the sacrifice of the divine was memory. When a mortal crosses the line between the mortal and god , all that they had owned– their names, their fears, their loved ones, their dreams, their fates–vanished like smoke in a thin air. What remains is only godhood: powerful, eternal, faces and foreign with the weight of mortality. They no longer feel their mortal lives– they only remember them as stories that they had walked. After all, the universe has given them new names. They are not the people they used to be. And their lives, they have become the stories that they don't remember but still have them as powers. The gods get their powers from stories, which particularly the whole lives, unlike true divine beings. The more compelling the stories are, the stronger they are. It didn't have to be their stories, it just needed to be stories.

For a human, a life is everything. A singular decision curved through time and space. The day a human was born, it had made a decision. But for gods, each human life is a tale to be told, a tale to be devoured, replayed, twisted, or forgotten. Sometimes they speak of their pasts as stories, not knowing who they once were in this story. They laugh, they mourn for the protagonist of the story not knowing they are that same person they are laughing at. They shaped stories anew, not realizing they were crafting remains of their long-lost souls. And so the gods watch, and guide , and toy with fate–not out of pity but curiosity. For them, eternity is made tolerable by stories that are not theirs. And trying to shape other stories like they did it to themselves without realizing. But for mortals, their stories are their best shot for eternity.

 So, the gods make a decision. They will keep this empire alive. And watch this empire's story to his full potential. And after they finished enjoying the story, they will discard it like every other story. For that reason, instead of declaring a war or destroying the whole world, they made a contract with the queen Lilian. Queen Lilian is not an idiot. She may be a mortal right now but she had lived the gods for the rest of her life and served them. There is no way the gods would want to make a contract with mortals, especially her. 

They had always regarded themselves as higher beings. The contract is that they will support and won't touch any innocent people of this empire. That kind of part is great but the problem is the other half. The gods will choose one mortal per god to control and become a puppet to them.It sounds good but it is not good at all. It is another way to say that the chosen people had to sacrifice. And the queen knew it. She knows too well that she can't refuse. The gods won't make any interaction with mortals unless they want something far greater than what they can offer. 

" if denial can't be in the list of mine, then let the heavens be the bearer of witness as i rise, i shall embrace their gift and wield it with the full potential of my empire"

As the leader and ruler of the empire, the queen has a better idea. Something that will benefit her the most and also make the gods interested.

 Let's make this more interesting. You, higher beings will have the choice to choose whoever you want, but the choice to accept will be for the mortals. As even in the higher beings, there are more powerful ones than the others. Just like that we, mortals have greater values than you all think. For example, the thing you called a story is our own life. So, the greatest story should be for a more powerful one, don't you think?

And that had really made the gods really interested. Even to outer gods. Yes, the queen didn't think that that would make the outer gods join. She had only wanted this world's gods to look. 

Great lords, you all can watch mortals' lives until they turn 16 years old and decide if they can be a success or a failure. After that you can be the sponsor if you like. If they accept, they are yours and we won't take part in their lives. You can give them blessings, weapons or even choices. You can give them everything you want. They will be yours to control, kill or even create a story for you all to enjoy. Live or die. Suffering or glory, it is your choice. Their stories shall be yours after they die no matter what. They are your player after all. The day they accept, they are not this empire's people. They are players…players for gods.

Of course, this world's gods are already thrilling about this. They don't really care about other things. They only care about their own enjoyment. That is how the queen had survived between those blood-thirsty gods while also being their favourite even though she still helped mortals. 

But the outer gods, they are different beings. They are not easy to fool like those stupid gods. They are mysterious. The queen had never been in the eyes of those gods even as a perfect being. Still the queen knows that the outer gods are interested in this contract. If they don't, they won't not be listening at all. They won't even look at this way unless they are curious. And the queen knows that she had to make those gods to join in this event. It will be a real opportunity, if one of her people gets an outer god's attention, that means that her people will be unstoppable until they die. The outer gods are not like other gods and let alone their mortals die only because they are bored. They will make every single story piece by piece into a perfect story only to store in their collections, they are always like that. They don't want power, even if they do they will make the story perfect so that the power would rise into another level. And the queen will make sure one of those gods chose from her people. Even if she had to be their puppets and also her entire bloodline.

And my entire bloodline, the royal family will choose one god per ruler and serve the gods. They will have no choice but to choose. And their stories will be for the one they chose as sponsor. I will give up my entire bloodline freedom and their lives for the contract to be valid. And the only thing i wanted is that you can't touch this empire, not with the one you supported nor yourself. You can't touch this empire's people at all. 

You will have to protect this empire from falling from everything and anything. 

The gods may think that that contract carries many benefits for them. But they are wrong. The queen is making sacrifices for the bigger reason. This empire was built by a fallen angel. And it had never been regarded as a new story, no it was never meant to rise, this empire was never meant to make history. The day the empire had been raised, the queen had betrayed the fate that wrote this world's story. The queen had betrayed the other angels, her sisters.

That means that fate will do everything to make the empire fall. Of course the queen had known for a long time. She had been waiting for the gods to make a step so that she could use it for her benefit. The gods are fools. They don't care anything about fate nor the universe rules. But the outer gods know, but they are too bored to care. So, the queen knows that they won't interfere. And she got everything in control. Yes, she made sacrifices but it was for the good. It was either this or death. Even if nobody chooses the gods as their sponsor, her bloodline will be the last defense. As long as her bloodline still has gods as their sponsor, fate cannot do anything to her empire. She just hoped that her bloodline would forgive her. Even if they don't, there is nothing they can do. The contract is already set in stone. 

As the contract lasted to this day, the empire had been at peace for a long time. Of course, there are people that think that being chosen by a god is a blessing. Only those who really had been chosen will know that it is a curse. That doesn't matter whether you choose or refuse. Once you get the attention of the gods, you lose everything. Not if you choose gods that prefer normal stories instead of gods that led you straight to death. And the royal family had been under that contract for a long time without being able to do anything. They don't have a choice no matter what. The day you are born with the blood of a royal, the gods are already looking at your future and deciding whether a monster or an angel should be born. Even though queen Lilian had seen this coming, yet she never regretted her choice. And the royal family has no choice but to wait for someone who could break this contract. But even they know that no one would do that for them and let the world fall to chaos. Yet they can only wait.

When shadows were no longer and the endless nights had gone, the Queen's love for mortals is still present to this day as long as the memories are still alive. As long as the future kings guard the throne until the world ends, our true queen will return to this world a newly sole person and change the puppet world.

*****

Under the crimson moonlight, as the stars shine on the hallway of the place unwavering on how the two men try to get each other's throats. 

One is trying to defend the king and the other is trying to protect his master from that king.

" Please,my duke, I didn't mean to say that"

"Just listen to me, the king is not the good person just like you always think"

The two men's swords crushing together as the silver-haired man was saying, his duke hasn't looked at his face even a bit. Only the unyielding sounds can be heard in the palace hallway.

While Kave was thinking , Carlo lunged at him at a full speed and crushed his sword while the other hand was trying to reach for his throat.This was certainly not the first time his duke had lunged at him going for the throat. His duke always reminds him every fight should be regarded as dead and life situations.

×××

" If you are in a war, you have to do everything in order to survive, so think of every fight as your last fight of trying to survive, not only in the war. 

Even if you have to play dirty, do it in order to survive.

 Life is a game with no fairness.

 If you survive you win another day. 

If you don't, you lose. 

And the prize that you had to pay is your life." 

×××

Kaung Kaung !

Kave's sword again was crushed with his master's sword and he couldn't follow his master movements and his next steps at all. So, when Carlo pushed the sword with more strength, Kave's shockingness had gotten the better of him that he forgot to push back. His fingers went numb. His sword twisted in his grip.

And then--

 It slipped.