A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

In his own way, he supposed he knew that from the start. He supposed that, like the Treeant King, he too would give in to those impulses and start a war.

…

…

"Which way?" Came the bluntly asked question, from grey eyes staring out beneath a straw hat. His impatience was evident, his daring was worse. None spoke to General Sultar like that. Yet this man did not seem a fool. "Which way?" He asked again.

"You seek King Pendragon?" He asked.

"I do."

"Then you be Dominus Patrick?"

"I am."

"Then you will find him that way," General Sultar said. "Against his wishes. He would not want you to join him in his grave."

"You know him not," Dominus said. "He will not lose."

He was gone before the General could reply, dashing across those sand dunes, his quickness of foot evidence of his strength, even as everything else about him was entirely unremarkable. "...If you believe that, stranger, then why do you run so quickly?" The General said with a hint of sadness.

He had been given the order to wait, and then to see the results of the battle. The Emperor had asked it of him. He found it to be a cruel duty. Yet not quite as cruel as the fate that had been offered to Arthur, and now to Dominus.

…

…

A good distance away from where the Pandora Goblin roamed, Dominus found him. Without limbs to struggle through, and with poison slowly but surely turning his body purple. He rasped in pained breaths, and somehow, made even that look dignified, as he stared up at the sky.

"...Arthur," Dominus said, his voice more shocked now than it was full of grief. "What manner of…" He only needed look into the distance to see the answer to the question that he was about to ask. To see all those scattered corpses of ten thousand men, not yet covered by the sand, and then to see the Pandora Goblin which roamed beyond them all.

"...You… see me… at my worst…" Arthur said, coughing, attempting a smile. Dominus could not fathom the pain that he had been through, for the state of his armour revealed the extent of his torture. "Ah… do not look… so glum… I found my answer… before I died… I am satisfied…"

"That question?" Dominus said. "That's of no concern to you now. You have bigger problems. Hold still now, I'll bandage you, I'll carry you out of here."

"Hush… Dominus…" Arthur said. "All is well… I am fine with it now… What was asked of me. I think… given another life… I could bear it… I am merely an instrument. If I am thus… then there is no pain in my duty… no pain in my choices… I can bear the title… they give me."

"Arthur…" Dominus said.

"You don't understand," Arthur said, half-coughing and half laughing. "Know then… I do not die… unhappy."

"You will not die regardless," Dominus insisted.

"Old friend… you must forgive me…" Arthur said. "I ought not leave you alone."

"You shall not," Dominus said again, his voice cracking. "You shall not… not you as well, brother."

"Forgive me… It was folly… for the want of revenge… A hero… doesn't seek… revenge," Arthur said. "Don't seek… vengeance… Dominus… Promise me…"

Dominus could not give him an answer.

"Promise me," Arthur said again.

Dominius couldn't trust himself enough to agree. His word mattered too much. He would not give a promise to his dying friend that he was unable to fulfil.

Still, Arthur smiled at him. "You truly are… the finest… of all knights…"

With those words, his eyes went glassy, staring at his old friend, ready to look for the full length of eternity. Dominus stared back for a good while, numb to the world, and left alone entirely by the Pandora Goblin, though it did acknowledge him from a great distance away, a small little smile of smugness playing upon its lips.

"Arthur…" Dominus tried again, shaking the man, but there would be no response. There were two people in Dominus' life that he held above every other. Two people that he relied upon more than any other. Three hearts that he had felt once beat as one. Now, he was alone. In the short span of a few months, he had lost them both. Alone he was, in the vast and endless desert, with nothing for company but the monster that humanity held above all others.

Slowly, Dominus came to his feet. Anger unfolded out of him like the blossoming of a fiery flower. His finger curled around the grip of that curved blade that he had once been mocked for by the other students at the Academy. A blade that he had carried throughout his entire career – and a blade that he now intended to end his career with.

One rush, one charge, that was all that he needed. One instant, to let the world know the depth of his despair, and the depth of his rage. He wanted to curse the Gods aloud, but he did not. He let that curse speak with his movements.

Quickly, faster than he'd ever gone, he closed that gap. The Pandora Goblin didn't move. It offered him no obstacle. It let him come as close as he liked, willing him to strike it. It delighted in his rage, and in his despair.

Then, just like Arthur, as he willed his blade to strike that outstretched leg, and seize some small measure of revenge for himself, he was struck by a claw that he had never seen coming. The poisoned daggers racked across his torso, and sent him flying backwards, bouncing in the sand as he went.

The pain was an immaculate thing. It was like having fire pumped through his blood. He felt his ribs croak from where they'd been shattered. It was a struggle to draw a single breath, everything was wracked with pain. 'Good,' a part of Dominus felt. This sort of pain, a thousand times over, he would take it. It compared not to the grief that he felt. That grief, when he thought on it, even with fire burning through his blood, outweighed it. He wanted to see it destroyed, whatever way he could.