The Ninth Prophecy
Sheda's demise

The day of Darion’s funeral had come. Hadera had returned safely and informed Faris of Sheda’s fate. Although distressed by Sheda’s destiny, Faris continued to work on preparations for Darion’s funeral. It was his way of dealing with the inner grief he felt. Faris wanted to bury Darion earlier, but he decided to wait for Yon, who announced his arrival. Faris and the others saw this opportunity as their last chance to change the course of destiny towards a more reasonable solution than a war would be.

Finally, Yon arrived to Nox. He was welcomed by Faris, Hadera and Geren. At first, to an uninformed observer, everything seemed to be great. They were the same bunch which freed the realm from Daors’s tyranny. Only Thrax didn’t fit into the picture, but he was standing aside anyways. Thrax wanted to come to pay his last respect to the worthiest adversary, as he called Darion. The funeral was very dignified. Darion’s body covered by a white sheet was roofed with petals which the commoners threw as the funeral party passed through Nox. It was a memorable event which made everyone forget about their differences - at least for a while. After the emotions had settled, Faris called his brother to spend a night in Nox and have a meeting over lunch the next day. Yon accepted the invitation.

That evening, as Hadera was to sleep, a knock on the door got her up. After she asked who it was, Yon replied from the other side of the door: “May I come in, my fair lady?”

- “No, you may not,” Hadera replied coldly, standing on the inner side of the door.

- “Why will you not let me in? Have I wronged you in any way?”

- “How can you dare to ask that question?! You betrayed my father and all of us. You betrayed me.”

- “I did no such thing! All I do is for the future of the kingdom, for our future…for your and my future.”

- “I see no future with you.”

- “I wasn’t aware you stopped loving me and I actually don’t think you have. Let’s stop this child play and let me in,” Yon said while grabbing and pulling the doorknob, but Hadera pulled it right back in place, slamming the door shut from the opposite side. Yon was baffled and angered.

- “When exactly did you stop loving me? Where does love stop and anger begin?”

- “Well, one can hardly call it love, but if you will - I stopped loving you when you chose it. The moment you stopped being you, I stopped being yours. Leave now and don’t come back.”

After few moments of silence, Hadera could hear steps fading away through the hallway. Then she heard something getting knocked over in the hall. She was relieved that the encounter was over, but she was upset too.

Heavy rain descended on Nox the following day. The rainfall was so intense that one might think that it could wash away the layers of which the city was made, its impurity, its worries and its fears. Yon could not have left Nox even if he wanted to. He came to the meeting last, leaving Faris and his group quite anxious. Faris opened his mouth wanting to speak the first words, but Yon beat him to it:

- “Good day, loyal subjects of the realm! I am glad that we have gathered in this city, this pearl of the kingdom. I hope you all slept well. We have gathered here to discuss the matter of your recent refusal to comply with my orders. Let me tell you first that I will hold nothing against you all…”

- “My brother,” Faris replied, “What is there to hold against us? We kill no Illuminators nor prophecizers. We didn’t enslave the Dabors. We didn’t ally with the darkers!”

- “The Koprites are a tribe – just like any other!”

- “No, they are not! They are ruthless, bloodthirsty, degenerate cannibals who serve straightwalkers to the Servarians for lunch!”

- “I need them to restore peace! Do you know how many lords are still dreaming the dream of the throne?! How many of them are still loyal to the Baranthams?!”

- “You don’t need the Koprites. With the darkers at your side you will just gain more enemies, including us!”

- “You gave me an oath! I am your king! This city belongs to me as the crowned king. But I guess an oath is worth as much as the man giving it,” Yon said lifting his head up.

- “No, my brother. An oath is worth as much as the man to whom it is given. You are not the same man to whom I swore. You are not devoted to the principles I swore to serve while serving you. What is in your belonging is never of importance. Where you belong and what belongs to you as a right is the question of utmost importance. And, I am sorry to say my brother, with the grey-white flags and the Koprites at your side neither do you belong in Karos nor does the throne belong to you.”

- “I have come here to offer you lordship and rule over Nox. I am not going to march on you, Faris. I will forgive you and you will eventually realize that I was right.”

- “No, Yon, I don’t need your recognition, as I don’t recognize you as the righteous king of the realm!”

- “Oh, really?! And what do you plan to do about it? Because, you must understand that I will not attack you!”

- “I will march on Karos and take it from you!” Faris responded leaning over the table towards Yon on the other side. Yon sat back and spoke in a mocking tone: “Oh, you will?! You and what army? You are going to strike with the ‘fearsome’ shadow people and their turtle shell shields?! Or will you take along the slow Xelons, in which case it would take you a year to reach Karos?! Even if you get to the gates of Karos what do you plan to do? You have run out of tricks my brother! I know them all. There is no Fraternity, no flying Dabors and no siege weapons you can invent! You killed the one who could do it! Or maybe you’ll try some kind of a diversion, some small-scale child play skirmishes?”

- “No, I will do no diversions. I will march straight at the gates and I will take the city from you. And when I come, I will do it so that you know that I am at your gates. Then, I will dethrone you!”

- “Ha-ha-ha, that sounds like a great story. You are welcome to try it with your army of a few hundred. But know this: if you attempt such a thing, I will not be able to save you then. That will be treated as an open rebellion. Oh, and one more thing: whatever you are thinking of doing with those horions of yours - don’t. They will be shot down with our siege weapons before they reach the gates and it would be a pity to kill the few remaining of them! Don’t you see - there is nothing you can surprise me with, there’s nothing you can hide from me!”

Faris was shocked to realize that his brother knew about the horions, but he managed to keep his cool and respond.

“Don’t you worry about the horions. They have already played their part. The horions will not seal your destiny – I will.”

Now, Yon was quite irritated. - “All right then. The rain has calmed down. I have no more time to lose. I will leave for Karos. There is nothing more to keep me here,” he spoke glancing at Hadera. “Apparently, I have to prepare the city for a siege under which it will be brought by a mighty army, ha-ha-ha!”

- “Rest assured, there will be no siege my brother. Our strike will be swift and our victory immediate.”

- “Great, great, my brother,” Yon replied waving away with his hand. “You just keep telling that to yourself. Needless to say, your destinies will be sealed once you decide to strike. None of you shall live to see the sun of the next day. Such is the law.” Yon and Thrax then left.

No one went out after them to greet them farewell. As Yon left the chamber, Hadera spoke to Faris first. She was not happy with the course of the discussion, much like all other councilors: “Are you nuts?! How are we going to attack Karos?! You shouldn’t be making promises you don’t intend to keep. We will be ridiculed now! You shouldn’t have allowed him to provoke you like that, to have you make such ludicrous statements about taking over Karos!”

- “My dear Hadera, I was not provoked. I said what I wanted to say and what I meant. We will march on Karos and we will take it from Yon.”

- “How do you intend to do that, my lord?” Dokal asked a sound question.

- “Just like I said I will. I will attack them frontally. We will march straight on the gates and we will take the city.”

- “My lord, we don’t have the resources or the necessary manpower. You know that we can’t do that with the army we have at our disposal,” Geren tried to reason with Faris.

- “Don’t you worry, Geren. At least, we can now invite Axion to join us freely. My brother knows about him anyways.”

- “I know. I am already here,” Axion spoke standing at the door. He continued to address the council: “I know you all have many doubts and worries about the path Faris has chosen to take you on. The only question you must ask yourselves is: Is Faris doing the right thing? If he is, and I think he is, nothing else matters then. Life is all about making the right choices, not the safe choices. If you are worried about losing you lives, take it from someone who knows what he is talking about: life is overrated. It is living which is of value. And by the name of The One, you are living your lives. So far, you have been doing that which is right. Continue! You are worried about being defeated, about getting killed when you charge on Karos - against the odds, one must add. But, why are you scared? You have nothing to lose. If you charge - if you do that which is right, regardless of odds and your fears - only then you will become immortal, regardless of what happens to your flesh and bones.”

Axion’s speech was just what they needed, just what Faris needed to persuade his companions to persevere. After that moment there was no doubt: they are set on a path with no way back. Faris’s destiny was their destiny. They were resolved to follow him all the way and they were willing to die trying to fulfill their destiny.