Garinor was lost in a vat of darkness. He felt himself floating there listlessly, unaware of what he was doing. Turning, spinning, he lingered there waiting to remember who he was.
Stars lit all around him, flickering into life in every direction. This confused him, for there were stars above him, below him, and all around, as if he were swimming in the night sky itself. The pinpricks of light were dazzling and as he reached out to touch one, a flash of remembrance filled him. It was brief, of floating in the River Cross, and nothing else.
The one taste made him hungry for more. He expanded his essence outward and reached for the glimmering globes, drawing them in. They warmed him and filled him with all the joys and pains he had experienced in his life. Piece by piece he was reconstructed and returned to himself.
As the world reappeared around him, Garinor was reminded of the burning pain running through him. It centered on his hip and he reached a hand into his pocket, pulling out the source of the heat. He looked at it in a distracted way, recognizing it as a stone. While watching the rock in his hand, a layer of dust floated away from it. He jolted and, as the stone lost more layers of itself, he felt himself pulled more sharply.
At last he was taken back to his body and his soul was reset inside. He looked down from his own physical eyes again at the remains of the stone as its last bit of substance faded away into nonexistence.
He looked up to see Tomli gaping at him from across the chamber. His friend rushed forward and grabbed him. “Garinor!” he gasped.
He looked at Tomli with a strange uncertainty, then nodded. “You really are the true king. You’re glowing.”
Tomli laughed and shook his head. “I could feel everything that was happening once you touched the scepter. I knew you were going to die. And you were giving your life for me. Garinor, I—I don’t know what to say.”
“Just be the king you were always destined to be.”
Tomli threw his arm around his friend. “How did you do it, Garinor? How did you escape the scepter?”
“Do you remember that stone I told you about? The one I found in the enclave down south? Somehow it exchanged its life for mine. I can’t explain it any other way.”
Across the room, the prince had fallen when the light of destiny had washed over him. He stood up now after setting the sword on the stony ground. Approaching Tomli, he knelt, his head down. “Your majesty.” His tone was humble, and he clearly knew he was defeated.
Tomli stared down and set a firm tone to his voice. “You have much to atone for and you will have an opportunity to do so. But now, we must return to camp. You will go first.”
The prince walked out of the cavern and made no attempt to reclaim the sword he had stolen from Tomli. The guard who had come with him followed next, then the Daggerfist, followed by Tomli and Garinor, who lingered a moment longer in the cavern while the torchlight faded away and left the perils of their days in shadow.
They journeyed back to the camp and into a splendorous celebration. A bonfire roared up high and cheers of joy rang into the evening air in righteous cacophony. Terrian set guards to watch the prince and his men, and though Tomli intended to treat the prince with respect, he acknowledged that the precautions were wise. His first official act as king was to dub Terrian as captain of the king’s new guard.
The journey to the castle was swift and although Tomli was prepared for resistance when he arrived, there was none to be had. King Vehn welcomed the new liege with a banner guard and large feast. The light of destiny had effectively done its work.
Tomli played his cards well, for he had no idea how to run a kingdom. He listened to advice from the retired king and offered him an advisory position, which he accepted.
The prince’s crimes were also addressed, and he freely admitted denouncing the king and hunting down the heir at any cost. For his honesty, Tomli placed him under house arrest where he was guarded for the rest of his days, which the prince gladly accepted in lieu of a lifetime in the dungeon or death.
The prince, however, did not relinquish his ambition. As the years went on, he befriended some of the guards who sympathized with him and though his own actions were watched carefully, he was able to send word to his followers. In this way, the prince sought to create an uprising that would lead to his eventual freedom and perhaps an opportunity to reclaim the throne from Tomli. Raids broke out in the southern parts of the kingdom, forcing Tomli to focus his attention to those regions, while the prince set other plans in motion.
Garinor was posted as Tomli’s most trusted advisor and kept a wary eye on the prince’s actions, supported by his father Terrian, though his own attention was also concentrated on the southern raids. Yet, as Garinor settled into his post he started noticing a series of strange occurrences.
Everything started with repeated dreams, where he would be floating in the air and cascading across the ground, gazing at people in the middle of their everyday lives. He saw a blacksmith forging a set of scimitars, each engraved with the same design. This was later discovered by Terrian’s defenses as one part of a rebellious force’s weapon supply.
The visions continued where threats to Tomli’s reign entered Garinor’s dreams until they became so strong that he started seeing the visions while he was wide awake. When the visions took place in the daytime, they were fringed with a spectrum of colors and it was this that clued Garinor into the reason for them. When he had sacrificed himself and entered the scepter, his spirit was scattered across the land, and there he had connected with all the people. Now, when those people threatened his best friend and lord, he felt the schemes and saw them in his mind. So it was that Garinor’s new sight allowed him to protect Tomli through his entire reign. In essence, he became a Seer, just as his destiny had been affected by a Seer from ages past.
The years of Tomli’s reign were some of the most prosperous for the kingdom. The villagers supported their liege and worked hard to meet his demands for trade with other kingdoms, and in turn he brought in new cultures and merchandise that they could hardly have obtained otherwise. The people toiled because they loved their land and they loved their king and likewise, their king protected them.
Tomli and Garinor each had strong, healthy families and the thriving future of the kingdom was secured through them for ages to come.
You have come to the end of Garinor’s adventure, but there are other paths to explore. Start over and guide Garinor again along his journey.
The End