Birth of an Immortal – Part3

The five mages walked slowly on a hidden path in the forest. The sun was still high up in the sky, they had a lot of time until night. They were heading to a road leading to the capital of Fjall, tho their actual target had yet to depart on his journey leading to the city. The plan was rather simple. Fjall had a new king because the old king died in a hunting accident. His son, King Vaaki, is just 19 years old, with no experience in leading a country, was the ideal target for them. All they had to do is a bit of trickery, and a lot of persuasion, and the pride of royalty would surely succumb to the immense power of their magic abilities. Once that is done, all that is needed is a little push, and they’ve got a power-hungry king who is both daring to and willing to conquer all of Midgard. This, in the end, would perfectly execute their revenge on King Fridr.

They went through the exact steps of their actions. First, they had to ambush the carriage of King Vaaki and show him the overwhelming power of magic. He’ll be terrified, magic is most probably something he has never witnessed in his whole life. Once all the guards are suppressed the young king is presented with the option of becoming the greatest conqueror of all times with the aid of five magicians. He won’t take this at first, of course, he won’t, so something even more tempting will be shown to the young king: Immortality. Technically there is no such thing as immortality, but with the help of Karal’s healing magic, it will be quite like being actually immortal. Hopefully, this will be the turning point, where the king’s pride and greed kicks in, and he accepts the magician. If everything goes fine the new ruler of Midgard will soon be born. King Vaaki, the Immortal King.

However… This was only a plan, nothing was certain yet. What’s more they still had several hours before their arrival at the chosen location, and even more time till King Vaaki passes by there.

When they reached their destination they settled down next to the road. This was not something unusual for travelers to do, although it was getting late and cold. They did not expect the weather to be so bitter, they were used to the warmer weather of the south. They had little to do before the king’s arrival, the hours went by without anything noteworthy.

It was already dark when the carriage of King Vaaki came. Harmah stood in the middle of the road with a lantern in his hand making sure that he was seen and hoping that the carriage would stop on its own. While his plan involved a lot of force, he still wanted to keep violence to the minimum necessary level. Luckily the carriage stopped.

-Who might you be dear traveler? – Asked a warrior clad in armor, who rode next to the carriage.

-My name is Harmah, and I absolutely must speak to your king.

-I don’t think his Majesty is expecting an audience tonight. Please stand aside.

-Unfortunately, I can not do that.

With that said, Harmah conjured a spell. A large circle of fire surrounded the carriage, its escorts, Harmah, and parts of the forest next to the roads. Most of the warriors were confused and terrified by the sudden sight, but the one at the front of the carriage could muster enough bravery to act. He drew his sword and charged with his horse towards Harmah, who noticed this and simply raised a wall of fire between them. This was too much for the horse of the brave warrior. The poor beast could not take any more of these unnatural occurrences and went wild, throwing its rider off its back.

Harmah started to walk towards the carriage at a slow and somewhat sublime pace. As he neared the wall of flames he just summoned, the wall curved around him, forming a small layer of fire around him, making sure that nobody would dare to touch him. The warrior who fell off his horse was at his feet, but he was not ready to surrender yet.

-Unsheath your swords, men! Take the head of this wretched fiend! – The warrior shouted.

-Come out boys, teach these fools their place! – Harmah gave the sign for his companions to show themselves.

Harmah continued his walk towards the carriage while the other four defeated all of the royal escorts. It wasn’t even a proper battle. The soldiers of the king were powerless against magic. Harma reached the door of the carriage without any form of hindrance. The entire scene was somewhat over dramatic, at least from the viewpoint of the mages, but it would most certainly have a good impact on King Vaaki and his company. Harmah opened the door. The king was right in front of him, observing the situation. He was fascinated, but there was no sign of fear on him. He looked down on Harmah and spoke.

-You must be Harmah. What do you wish to tell me?

-What do you think about this power we have just shown you?

-It’s fascinating. Peculiar, I’ve never seen something like this maybe a bit frightening as well, but fascinating nonetheless.

A small smile crept on Harmah’s face. The king wasn’t terrified of this. Things might go even easier than they first thought.

-Would you desire this power? – Asked Harmah.

-Ahahaha. Of course, I would, but why would YOU give it to ME? What do you want?

-What do I want? I want you to become the greatest conqueror of Midgard. I want YOU to unify the entire continent into one nation!

That answer surprised Vaaki. He expected that they’d want gold from him. Everyone want’s money, but not these people. And they did something so unbelievable. His best soldiers were his escorts, yet they were subdued in a matter of seconds. He got off the carriage and continued to talk to Harmah.

-And why would you want me to become a conqueror?

-You have something we don’t while we have something you don’t. It’d be mutually beneficial for all of us.

This answer was not of Vaaki’s liking, but he knew very well, he had little power in this situation. He decided that simply talking for a while won’t hurt anyone.

-What can we offer each other?

-We can offer you the power of magic and immortality. All you have to do is becoming a king known around the world for his all-conquering empire!

-Immortality? There’s no such thing as immortality.

Harmah was displeased with the turn of events. The king saw and accepted things that no one should have believed to be real. And when it comes to immortality… There’s no helping it, he has to experience it, and he’ll believe. Harmah picked up a sword from the ground. It was a simple short sword, used by one of the guards. Not an elegant one, but it was perfectly suited for the job. By now Karal should have applied his magic on King Vaaki. The king was surprised. He did not know what to expect here.

-What are you planning? – He asked.

Without answering Harmah stabbed King Vaaki in the stomach. The king fell on his knees in pain, he definitely did not expect this. His escort all around was shocked at this sight. Their king has been murdered right in front of their eyes.

-You… Why… – Vaaki couldn’t say more.

Harmah pulled out the sword. There was almost no blood on it. He threw away the sword, looked down on the kneeling king and in an impatient voice he said:

-What are you waiting for, get up!

King Vaaki was very much surprised. He was in a lot of pain, but the pain was fading away quickly, and instead of his senses leaving him, everything seemed to become more clear. He was definitely not dying. He touched his stomach searching for the sword wound, but there was nothing. His clothes were without a doubt torn, but he was absolutely fine. He looked up at Harmah and with uncanny satisfaction in his eyes he said:

-You got me Harmah, let me became the conqueror you dreamt of!

-I’m sure you will.

That was the first day of King Vaaki’s immortality. Within a few months with the assistance of mages, he conquered Marde, the first of many countries that were to fall under the flag of Fjall, the empire with an immortal king. Word about the immortal king spread fast to all four quarters of the world. A new Fjall, the greatest empire of Midgard lead by the greatest king of all time, was born.

Back to short stories