Garinor looked at the prince and at his best friend. He would not choose Tomli. But that left only two options. He could destroy the prince and end his evil deeds or he could sacrifice himself.
He thought about all the things the prince had done, at least those things he knew about. The prince was wicked for raising an army that didn’t obey the king. It showed his willingness to ignore the law for his own gain. He had enacted a hunt to find and capture the heir, which had led to the deaths of many people, and from how easily the prince had come to this cave, Garinor assumed the prince had been here often, pushing other boys to claim the scepter and to die in the attempt.
But to take the prince’s own life didn’t seem right to Garinor. He didn’t want Tomli’s reign to begin in such a manner. People might think Tomli had killed the prince to usurp his power, and that would lead to strife.
It wasn’t that Garinor wanted to give up his own life, either. But in the face of his other options, it was the only choice that rested well on his conscience. He couldn’t accept murdering a man by whispering his name to an ethereal Voice. In a fair fight, he could have accepted killing the prince, but not like this.
So it was Garinor made his decision. “I sacrifice myself.”
“As you wish, Chosen One,” said the Voice.
Garinor heard a great hissing sound that started deep within his mind and it shook him terribly. He watched the light of the emeralds fade away until they turned to a pitch black. But as they did so, something unimaginably painful happened to Garinor. He felt his whole body being pulled forward, but as if through a tunnel no larger than his fist. The green light vanished into the scepter, bringing Garinor’s awareness with it.
He was caught inside the scepter, looking up and around but without physical eyes. His body was no more, but he suspected his bones had been left behind like all the others. There was light everywhere around him, glittering and sparkling with such vibrancy that he couldn’t make out any details.
Then he was filled with the sensation of flying, wrapped in the violet light of the amethysts. He felt his whole being spread out across the land, touching down with tendrils of light into every town, large or small, declaring that Tomli was King. He was the true ruler of the land and no one could refute the claim. Garinor delighted in the sensation and he thought of his best friend as he went, casting images of his face into the rays of light that went forth, perhaps allowing everyone the chance to see their king all at that one magical moment.
Garinor’s essence spread out all along the countryside until everything had been touched by his soul. He then knew one last pain. The web of violet light that caressed the land end to end suddenly and irrevocably shattered. And Garinor, as he knew himself, was no more.