33 Risen#re

Let me tell you a story from a long time ago...

There was once a farmer who fell into poverty, he had a wife and two children to feed but their farm had no crops.

It was the middle of an icy winter and all their food reserves had been taken by the soldiers marching to the edge of the realm to fight in the kings' wars,

With no options left to him, he went to work in the mines, it was a dangerous job and the pay was horrible, the only good thing was that he would get a bag of coal every week, he could sell some of it for food and use some of it keep his home warm on cold nights.

One day as he stroked the fires, he found a big block of black rock, as the fire struck its surface nothing happened it just sat there, not even changing color as if it deemed the fire unworthy, or perhaps it was the fire that felt unworthy to touch the rock.

But the man couldn't see this nor could he see the value of the big black, at the time he could only see that it weighed more than half of what was in the bag and that his family would freeze in the night.

A week later when morning came, he had lost his youngest child, she froze in the night, in his anger he threw the rock out, burying it in the barn where it would never be seen again.

Many years passed and the man became old, while his son reached his prime and married the girl from the neighbor's farm.

One day the old man became a grandfather and the mood in their home was festive, they were a people that celebrated every new life.

Unfortunately, it seemed that fate intended to be cruel to them for tragedy soon struck again, the soldiers arrived once more and emptied out the reserves of their farm and the neighboring farms.

With five mouths to feed and no coins to spare the family fell into despair, the old man's wife even suggested that she take her own life so that they have one less burden.

In his fear, he thought of everything he could and suddenly he remembered the stone he had buried, he had known that there was something special about it for all those years, but due to his resentment, he never went back to look at it.

With the help of his son, he uncovered it and he told his son to take it and sell it.

His son set out on a journey to the capital, he knew that his family could only make it a week with what meagre leftovers they had, but the only place he could get a good price for something unknown was in the capital.

Shortly after going to the auction house's, he found himself being escorted out by some soldiers in fancy uniforms, he couldn't understand what he had done wrong, but he knew better than to argue with nobility, he had seen a boy get whipped to death just for trying to speak one.

To his surprise, he found himself in the halls of the king.

When he entered the audience with the king, he didn't know what crime he committed but he lay flat on the floor and sobbed while begging for forgiveness.

The king chuckled in response and asked him to stand, he was taken aback by how respectfully the king had addressed him.

When he looked up, he saw the black stone in the hands of the king.

'I heard that you are selling this ingot,' the king said, 'Name your price, whichever lands you seek or whatever title you want, it shall be yours, along with ten coffers of gold,' the king showed him generosity he could hardly imagine.

'I do not understand my king, it is just a rock that does not burn,' he said in puzzlement.

'This is dark orichalcum,' the king answered, ', a material used only by the gods, now tell me what do you wish to have as a reward!'

The boy chose to become a marquise in the kingdom, changing the future of his entire family for generations.

Lirian paused and took a long breath as the story came to a close, he could hear the audience begin to chatter when he spoke into the mic once more regaining their attention.

"But the story does not end there," he announced loudly.

"Because many years later that very same ingot ended up in the hands of our great empire," he spoke proudly.

"Not even the greatest powers on that world could begin to change the shape of the rock, for they were unworthy,"

"You all know the story of 'King Killer', the blade that killed a thousand kings and slaughtered self-proclaimed gods, it was made by the Clovis empire, from the ingot of dark orichalcum, and was forged in the fires of a hypergiant star."

"There are many morals to be found in such a story, such as if the father had taken it to the city when he first found it, maybe his daughter would have lived but I do not want to speak about that, we are here to speak about the fallen candidate Ilma Eden,"

"We candidates are like that black block in the fire!" his voice broke into a full-on shout as if he was proud of being a black block

"The coals burn themselves to fuel to the fire, but the rock remained unchanged, that is what a candidate is, one who endures the same flames as others, but doesn't succumb to its touch,"

"Understand that that immunity to the flames is not a perk of being a candidate, but it is our duty to do what others cannot, it is out duty to take the flames that would break any other,"

"We must face a hundred trials on our own before we are forged into a 'King Killer' if we bend, we must work with it. if we break, we must restore ourselves,"

"Ilma Eden died doing her duty as a candidate, it is not our duty to morn her," he said with contempt thick in his voice.

"It is our duty celebrate her, just as we celebrate the lives of every soldier who gives their life for the empire,", he said strongly, and several people in the audience shouted out in agreement, and slowly more and more people began to join them

"She died fighting against sixth-graders, she pushed herself to the point that beings with such power recognized her as a superior being, they had no choice but to move against her in fear,"

"She made them dread her very existence, that is the true mark of a candidate."

"This is the path of a candidate, we lead from the front of the line, we fight against those that lesser people would bend towards in fear, no matter the difference in life hierarchy because it is our duty to do what others cannot, what would be the point of becoming the ruler if we cannot surpass those that came before us,"

"We are the black stone that does not burn in the furnace of a farmer or king, we are the stone that becomes a weapon against the gods themselves, and those coals that fuel the flame should be wary of us because, in the end, we are the ones that will survive the fires that they cannot bear," he faced in Telamons direction as he finished.

His warning was delivered with subtle directness.

He cast a quick knowing smirk at him and climbed down the steps as the crowd began to shout and clap as he finished.

'This worked out quite well, I suppose that I really should celebrate Ilma for giving me this opportunity, I know I should treat Edith very well from now on,' he thought with a grin as he brought up the image he took with the system in his mind.

He felt a nose bleed about to happen as he ogled at the image in his head, it was truly an exceptional piece of art.

Telamon struggled to keep himself in check, he still remembered that feeling of danger he felt when he first met Lirian, it was inexplicable, but now it had turned into a full-on blaring siren in his head.

He couldn't fathom how it was that Lirian knew so many things that were impossible, was his intuition just that good, or was there something else, he couldn't figure it out and his speech was filled with so many threats.

It was only natural that he could read between the lines, Lirian was hinting about something that could easily get him killed, and his audacity to do it for the entire world to see meant that he was confident in what he knew, he was past underestimating the boy for his age, his speech just now proved it, he is a superior being.

There was only one thing he could think of that could guarantee his death but it was preposterous to think that anyone could know it.

He sighed in pity as he thought of Taliyah, one of the reasons he betrayed was because it was completely unbecoming of an empress and cultivator to be so involved in the lives of their children, people said that love was a great thing but he knew better.

As long people could love, that love could be lost and when love is lost hate takes root, for an ordinary person that's fine but for an empress who could live for thousands of years and have thousands of children, what would happen if someone killed one of the children or grandchildren, she came to love with all her heart.

The world of cultivators was messy and the ease with which one can offend a superior power and get killed is incredible, what would she do when someone she loves offends a super world and gets killed, would she go and kill them for acting within their authority, destroying the unity of the empire.

It is such case's that cause and trigger rebellions that can ruin the empire.

But that was only one part of the reason and was the smaller part, it was the part he would have been willing to overlook had he not been present when Efrideet had her visions about the problems and destruction Taliyah would bring in the name of her children.