Kite - Chapter 5: Ivan

Kite

Chapter 5 – Ivan

I am Ivan, dubbed greatest of my kind, king of the kindred of sol, battlemage, archmagus, immortal. Now here I am, with a fae in the body of a dragon, in a damp dark cave near the floating isles, home to the most loathed creatures in the world. What have I become? What has all my glory come to? I guess it’s not that bad, though. Actually, it’s anything but bad.

The pressure of being king had slowly chipped away at me and I just had to take a walk, and a long one at that. Honestly, wearing the crown was like wearing a two ton weight on your head, it wasn’t easy. Nevertheless, the responsibility, the burden of a people was not one that could easily be passed on. My jealous, vain brother, who has gone into hiding after murdering a counselor of the Shev Kingdom, would not make a good replacement. Not to mention, I am a very lonely man. I have no lover, I have no heir.

For weeks I planned my escape, it was not easy, being king and all, not to mention that my kin does not take lightly to anything. All that planning simply went down the drain when one day, I realized that everyone was asleep. For some strange reason I cannot fathom, though I guessed that it was due to some innocent young prankster.

The sky was dark and dreary, as it always was. Ever since the Fae had stolen the sun, the entire world had been plunged into perpetual moonlight. That was something that absolutely no one liked, except maybe my people, but we’re a strange lot anyway, so we don’t count. I saw a massive fire in the distance. It wasn’t that difficult to find since it was dark, I descended the castle and began the journey towards it.

Now let me tell you something about my people. We look just like you humans. However, we are anything BUT human. Any kind of light empowers us. Sunlight makes us invincible and immortal. “Oh that’s great!” many would say and many actually thank the Gods, or maybe just the Blue Dragon God that they all worship, called Malkuthe for allowing the ‘protectors of the land’ to have such powers.

Yes, ‘protectors of the land’ they called us. It was true, we were responsible for the peace that the land once held. We had agents in every kingdom, an army so formidable that it never lost, and even diplomats so good that they could make any man give up even the clothes on his back. Even so, there were kingdoms who challenged us, well, they were stupid enough to do so. They were all subdued and handed over to other kingdoms within moments. We only kept one stronghold, our kingdom was the smallest, yet we were the most feared.

After all, with an army of deathless, fearless, invincible, painless people, no one would expect to win against you. Yes, painless. They thought our gifts were great for being protectors of the land, but the very fact that we felt no pain made for very mentally unstable people.

To not feel pain was a curse. It was too great a price for immortality. It made us feel like monsters. Life felt empty, oh so very empty. However, there was one way we could feel pain, during the nights, when the sun would go down, any and all pain of the day would come crashing down on us. It was exhilarating, but during moonless nights, we became mortal, something that we didn’t like.

Then one day, the perfect set of events occurred. It was the day of my coronation. As the crown was being placed on my head, an eclipse began. The moon covered the sun save for a ring of light. Everyone thought that it would be like night, when we were at our most vulnerable. Someone, probably from a kingdom we conquered, was stupid or brave enough to put it to the test.

An arrow whizzed through the air and buried itself in my chest.