THE KING WHO DIED TWICE Chapter 5: The King Who Died Twice
THE KING WHO DIED TWICE
Chapter 5: The King Who Died Twice
The god descended from the sky.
Its golden wings stretched across the horizon.
Entire villages watched in awe.
People fell to their knees.
Praying.
Crying.
Celebrating.
At last, their gods had returned.
Only three people understood the truth.
Thomas.
Lyria.
And the man history called the Dark Lord.
The three stood together beneath the shattered fortress.
The same three who had stood together three hundred years ago.
The same three who had failed.
The god's feet touched the ground.
Immediately, flowers bloomed through cracks in the stone.
Dead grass turned green.
Broken walls repaired themselves.
The very world seemed eager to please its creator.
The refugees watching from outside gasped in amazement.
To them, it looked like a miracle.
Thomas remembered what it really was.
Control.
The gods had created humanity.
They had created animals.
Forests.
Mountains.
Oceans.
Life itself.
And creators always believed they owned their creations.
"You've caused us considerable trouble, Aldric."
The god's voice was calm.
Almost friendly.
The same voice Thomas remembered from his youth.
Before he learned the truth.
Before he learned what hid behind that beautiful face.
Thomas stepped forward.
"You should have remained imprisoned."
The god smiled.
"As should you."
The air around them began to distort.
Reality itself bending beneath divine power.
Lyria tightened her grip on her sword.
The Dark Lord quietly moved beside Thomas.
Exactly as he had centuries ago.
Enemies in history.
Allies in truth.
The god raised a hand.
The sky darkened instantly.
Clouds spiraled overhead.
Thunder rolled across the mountains.
Entire kingdoms felt the change.
Far away, oceans rose.
Forests trembled.
The world itself reacted to the god's presence.
"You cannot win."
The statement wasn't arrogance.
It was fact.
Three hundred years earlier, humanity's greatest armies had failed.
Dragons had failed.
Kings had failed.
Everything had failed.
The gods were simply too powerful.
Thomas knew that.
The Dark Lord knew that.
Which was why their plan had never been to defeat them.
Only stop them.
Another memory surfaced.
The final memory.
The one hidden from him all this time.
Three hundred years ago.
The night before his death.
The Dark Lord had revealed a secret.
The prison beneath the Black Tower wasn't designed for the gods.
It was designed for something else.
A weapon.
A weapon so dangerous that both gods and humans feared it.
Thomas finally remembered.
And suddenly understood why he had returned.
Not to fight.
Not to rule.
Not even to survive.
He had returned to finish what he started.
The god noticed the realization in his eyes.
Its smile faded.
For the first time, uncertainty appeared.
"You remember."
Thomas nodded.
"I remember everything."
The Dark Lord looked at him.
Then slowly smiled.
Because he understood too.
The old plan.
The forgotten plan.
The last plan.
Far beneath the fortress.
Deep beneath mountains.
Something ancient stirred.
The earth began to shake.
The god's expression changed immediately.
"No."
The confidence vanished.
Fear replaced it.
Real fear.
The same fear Thomas had once seen three hundred years ago.
The god took a step backward.
"No."
Thomas laughed softly.
The sound surprised even himself.
Because for the first time since waking in Black Hollow, he knew exactly what he had to do.
The ground exploded.
A colossal structure emerged from beneath the mountain.
Not a creature.
Not a monster.
A gate.
An enormous black gate covered in ancient runes.
The Forgotten Gate.
The oldest creation in the world.
Built before humanity.
Built before kingdoms.
Perhaps even before the gods themselves.
The god stared at it in horror.
Because it knew what lay beyond.
Oblivion.
Not death.
Not destruction.
Erasure.
A place from which nothing could return.
"You would destroy everything?"
The god's voice trembled.
Thomas shook his head.
"Only you."
The Forgotten Gate began opening.
Darkness spilled from within.
Not ordinary darkness.
The absence of existence itself.
The god tried to flee.
For the first time in history, a god ran.
But it was too late.
Chains of shadow erupted from the gate.
Wrapping around golden wings.
Golden arms.
Golden light.
Dragging the divine being toward oblivion.
Its scream echoed across the world.
Every human heard it.
Every kingdom.
Every city.
The scream of a god afraid to die.
The sky began changing.
The giant eye shattered.
The golden cracks disappeared.
One by one.
The remaining gods retreated.
Fleeing back into whatever prison remained.
For the first time in thousands of years.
Humanity stood free.
Truly free.
No gods.
No masters.
No creators.
Only themselves.
The gate continued pulling.
The god struggled desperately.
Then it looked directly at Thomas.
"Come with me."
Thomas smiled.
He remembered now.
This had always been the ending.
The Forgotten Gate required a keeper.
Someone to close it from within.
Someone who would never return.
Three hundred years ago he had lacked the courage.
Now he didn't.
Lyria immediately understood.
"No."
Her voice broke.
"No, Aldric."
The Dark Lord understood too.
And for the first time in three centuries, sadness appeared on his face.
Thomas looked at both of them.
His oldest friends.
His only friends.
And smiled.
The same smile he had worn three hundred years ago.
"I already died once."
The gate roared.
The darkness grew.
The god screamed.
Thomas stepped forward.
Toward oblivion.
Toward the end.
Toward the promise he had made long ago.
Then he spoke the words that would become legend.
The words historians would remember.
Though they would never know their true meaning.
"I suppose kings are expected to die for their people."
And with that, King Aldric walked into the darkness.
The god was dragged in after him.
The gate slammed shut.
Silence followed.
Years later, songs would spread across the kingdom.
Stories of the farmer who saved the world.
Stories of the king who returned from death.
Stories of the final battle.
Most of them would be wrong.
History always was.
But one part remained true.
King Aldric died twice.
Once to hide the truth.
And once to protect it.
Far beyond the world.
Far beyond time.
In the darkness behind the Forgotten Gate.
A solitary figure sat upon a black throne.
Watching.
Waiting.
Smiling.
King Aldric opened his eyes.
May you like
And realized his story was not over yet.
THE END
