Today is March 14th, YR10 Kingdom Forum / This Age's 'End Of Days' MelodramaGod of Macalon (37:4) April 24th, YR10
Sir Graham of 'God of Macalon' looked out of the Castle Window, high up and overlooking the fertile lands of his province. The sky was blue, the birds were singing and everything was lush and green - a sure sign of a land blessed by nature.
He gazed over the hustle and bustle around the streets surrounding the castle. Only through his privileged position did he notice a couple of his army of Thieves who were apparently loitering on a street corner. He was certain there were more whose identities were a mystery to him.
An eerie silence enveloped the Magic Quarter, with the sparkling Guilds and sprawling Towers. The central Wizard's Keep stood high in the sky, strange lights flickering even in the middle of the day. By contrast, the Military Quarter was noisy and boisterous as the Elite Elf Lords trained to keep themselves battle ready.
Sir Graham sighed, and turned back to look at the vast throne room. Ostentatious perhaps, but after many lifetimes of rule he had grown used to it. The portraits of previous rulers arrayed the side of the public gallery. Sir Graham smiled.
To the uninitiated, the Graham was the incarnation of one of the Gods, sent to rule them. Upon his death, he was reborn into his successor. His inner circle knew how close to the truth that was. Sir Graham had ruled 'God of Macalon' from the time a few Peasants had become strong enough traing their sons into soldiers, and so hold onto a small amount of Land.
With each first-born son, Graham's spirit had been reborn - creating the strange effect of exisiting in two places at once. However, the heir had no memory of his destiny until his father died, so leaving
enough differences that the people did not suspect the real truth. Through this strange continuance, Graham had managed to hold the reigns of power for many years.
Despite this situation, Graham felt as if the rulers of the past were staring at him with accusing stares. He had always known that his rule would come to an end, but it still left an ashen taste in his mouth.
A small *ahem* spun him around. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was only his head Thief, Culip. "Don't do that to me."
"My apologies sire. I did not mean to startle you."
"Well you did. Why are here?"
"I am making certain that you have no more duties for me before... well... the unpleasantness."
"The End of the Age?"
"Quite sire."
"No, I have no further need of you. You have given loyal service. Go spend some time with your family."
"Thank you sire."
Culip withdrew, and Sir Graham left the throne room. The province had been lucky on this occassion. During previous Ages, all manner of soothsayers and doom-spreaders had predicted the coming End of Days, that would see the Universe frozen.
In previous Ages, he had been forced to expend effort ridiculing them and debunking their 'baseless' claims. This Age however, earlier problems seemed to have left the populace with a greater tolerance for unusual events. The sudden departure of neighbouring provinces had been a great shock at the time, but was eventually accepted.
Only his inner circle knew the real scale of the impending doom, and they had been placated by the knowledge that Sir Graham, and most of his closest advisors were always sometimes reborn into a new and fresh world.
Graham's mistress, Kelly intruded upon his thoughts. "There you are, I've been looking for you for hours. You seem to have been all over the Kingdom. Why so tense."
"I've had a lot of things to get straightened out."
"You work too hard. There's always tomorrow to get things done."
"Well yes, but you know me - I like to keep a good bead on things."
"C'mon, I'm sure I can be more interesting than the Province affairs."
Graham hesitated, caught for a second with all the duties that being a ruler involved and Kelly's dazzling smile.
"Why not." he said recklessly, and smiled. "As you say, 'There's always tomorrow'." The eyes of the portraits from the throne room seemed a long way away.
"There could be worse ways to die and be reborn." he muttered to himself.
"What did you say?" Kelly asked, as she turned around, in the middle of the doorway.
"Nothing." Graham replied, and quickly forestalled all further questions. Soon the door was closed, and Sir Graham of 'God of Macalon' did not sit upon his throne again.
Just before the twelfth stroke of midnight, a different yet resounding peel thundered through the entire sky. The striker never managed to signal the new day, as time came to an End.
... and then...