Return of the Fallen Volume 8 Chapter 12
Garn along with his floating palace appeared over a medium-sized city that bordered the Patar desert. The moment his floating palace appeared, Garn looked out at the city below.
“Such a shame. So many lives have to be sacrificed.”
Garn wielded his scepter and was just about to wave it when he noticed stares on him. Behind him were many soldiers and Mages. These people were here to help maintain the palace and keep it working. Many of them were staring at Garn in strange yet fearful ways.
“What is it, why are you all giving me that look?”
None dared to speak but Garn could sense something was off.
“If it’s because of that halfbreed, he needed to die. He wasn’t pure like any of you and he wouldn’t follow orders. Those that can’t follow my words are the same as he and will be treated the same. Understood!”
…
A silence filled this room. Everyone was terrified but more than that, they all witnessed Garn murder Bozek, and now their king was planning on killing an entire city of people. Nearly all had been behind Garn when he rebelled against former King David of Treia and took his place. They had all learned of the treachery behind the scenes after it came forward and they knew Garn was being framed. Having a corrupt king dying and having the hero they all knew and loved growing up, take his place, Garn was supported full-heartedly.
However, things began to degrade over time. Garn was not one to rule with mercy but instead an iron fist. Something had changed in him after he took over Tresta. He became more and more ruthless and harsh. After the war broke out, things only escalated. In order to slow the Azirian’s following the Miasma, Garn had used his ultimate weapon to carve out a large trench. In this way, the Azirian’s could only fly to the other side in pursuit.
With them taking to the skies, these Azirian’s that held no long-range attacks nor magic would be forced to take magic from the human Mages. This allowed humanity to slowly pick off some Azirian’s while they traveled in the air. Once they landed, only then could the Azirian’s properly attack. This gave people a bit of an advantage against the incredibly large number of Azirian’s they faced but at the same time, it had trapped millions of innocent civilians and soldiers on the other side of the trench.
Once this happened, those around Garn began to see him very differently. Things continued down this path and Garn became worse and worse. Maybe he could have been forgiven for separating and abandoning millions on the other side of the trench. There was little time to think things through properly and the Azirian’s were coming on masse. Maybe that could have been forgiven for the sake of humanity’s survival but after seeing Garn so eagerly and nonchalantly murder Bozek. Bozek who had just refused to burn a city full of innocent people. Bozek who had slain the mad king because King Tobern had gone towards the same destructive path that Garn was on now.
Bozek who after Glacious and Etora was considered third or fourth strongest and who had been shouldering a large burden on his back during this war. The many times he had saved people and had almost single-handedly turned the tide against thousands of Azirian’s.
Seeing this brave man who fought tirelessly for the people be killed as if it were nothing and then immediately went to another city where Garn was about to kill all the people inside. This was the final straw. These people in the floating palace, even with clear expressions of fear, even with trembling bodies, they could not stand idly by any longer.
A soldier with legs that shook nonstop took two steps forward.
“Y…Your Majesty! PLEASE!… PLEASE DON’T DO THIS!”
This man’s voice wasn’t particularly loud but it was clear he mustered every ounce of courage to say this.
Garn stared at this man for a brief second before he flicked his finger. The moment he did this a blade of wind a foot long swept over and threatened to decapitate this man in a single slice.
*Bang*
A small barrier formed in front of the man and blocked the wind blade before both the blade and the barrier shattered.
A Mage had wielded his staff and blocked the attack with everything he had. He used up nearly all of his magic for this one block while Garn had used barely a fraction. The moment this Mage did this, he immediately threw down his staff and stood in front of the soldier. he then kneeled down and begged.
“Forgive me great King but Please Don’t kill this man. Please don’t kill the citizens of this city. Take my life instead!”
Garn’s eyes widened.
“YOU FOOLISH BASTARD! YOU ACTUALLY DARE TO
Before Garn finished his sentence, every soldier and Mage did the same. They reached stepped forward, throwing away their weapons, and kneeled in solidarity. Simultaneously they begged in their own way.
“YOUR MAJESTY PLEASE!”
“MASTER YOU WERE THE BRAVEST HERO OF THE PAST! DON’T BECOME A FIEND!”
“YOUR HIGHNESS FORGIVE US AND TAKE US INSTEAD. THE CITIZENS DID NOTHING TO YOU!”
“THERE MUST BE ANOTHER WAY! THERE MUST BE!”
Garn was absolutely enraged. he stamped his scepter down hard on the ground.
*Bang*
Power filled the room and gravity increased severalfold.
The Mages were affected the hardest and most of them lost consciousness right away. The soldiers though were all bearers of inscription tattoos. They could still handle this much.
“Please, Your Highness! Don’t become a monster!”
Garn’s eyes brightened and bulged. The power of wind gathered around him.
“IS THIS THE PATH YOU’VE ALL CHOSEN!?”
One of the soldiers who barely remained conscious just managed to shake his head.
“It isn’t we who chose this path, rather you who forced it!”
Garn nodded.
“I see…I don’t need anyone who can’t follow me properly…DIE!”
Several blades of wind shot forward and cleaved these people into many pieces. Just like that, they were dead.
Garn then spoke to everyone else in the palace. He told them that traitors had snuck into his palace and he had already dealt with them but in the confusion, the traitors had taken some innocent lives. He made himself out to be the hero while blaming the deaths on fake traitors. Those that didn’t personally witness, could only take Garn’s word. Even though it was suspicious beyond belief, the rest of the people in the palace could issue no concern. They were not individuals but servants to Garn and nothing more. To question your master, was all but looking for doom.
Garn had settled this all within a few minutes. Once it was over, he turned his attention back to the city down below. Pointing his staff at the city, the element of fire gathered and he willed this power forward.
“BURN!”
A column of fire thicker than a hill came charging down from the sky above. The moment this beam of fire hit, a large explosion rang out and spread through the entire city in seconds.
One could not hear the many screams of death over the rushing fire but they were there. As people burned left and right, the power of magic spread and rose higher and higher. somewhere far into the distance, the Miasma could sense this new source of power and it began to move.
(These fools. None of them can see why I do this. To evacuate all of these people, where would they go? They would be forced upon my lands and it would be I who bears the cost to feed them, to shelter them to cloth them. Crime would rise due to lack of food and jobs and my people would be the ones to suffer among the dregs of society. No, I won’t let that happen. By killing them now, they won’t burden my kingdom and at the same time, the Miasma can’t consume them and the Azirian’s can’t turn them into more enemies. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a win-win.)
Garn then sent out a message to King Brian as well as the rest of the armed forces and the other cities. He told everyone that Bozek had gone crazy and had burned the city himself. Garn described the harrowing scene he came upon and it was then that he slew the traitor Bozek in a single strike.
This news echoed out like a clap of thunder and nearly no one believed it was true. Many knew of Bozek and his achievements and knew this was not something he would do but since a city was burned and there was no other evidence to say otherwise and it was Garn who said it, there was nothing any could do.
King Brian sat in the mountain base and he could guess what really happened in an instant. The moment Garn proclaimed all this bullshit, Brian snapped. He threw the holographic message from Garn at a wall and it cracked and shattered on the floor.
He immediately began to tap the table in both thought and frustration.
(How can this be!? Has Garn finally lost it? There’s no way Bozek would do this. It can only mean Garn has killed him and has covered it up. If he would so brazenly kill Bozek in such a fashion, does this not mean my life is forfeit the moment I give Garn any more trouble. There must be a way out, there has to be but how?)
The moment Brian’s thoughts came to here, another crystal began to glow. It was a personal one and there were very few who could send him a direct message through it.
Brian’s ring glowed and he activated the crystal. A holographic image opened in front of him and his eyes went wide in shock.
“How?”
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