Trial One~Time386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfePfXBDJEm
"Salem! Please be my partner!"
"Hmm? Are you daydreaming again?"
•~•~•~•~•~•
"Salem! Please go out with me!"
"What's that? I think you're talking in your sleep again."
•~•~•~•~•~•
"Salem! Please go out with me! Even for a bit!"
"....."
Falan and the other watched on as Sheila's vehement confessions were not taken seriously by Salem. Li and Salem's right hand Enu, strayed from the group.
"He's so stubborn!"
Li smiled. "Surely he understands that there will come a time where he will have to stop treating her like that. After all, Sheila has become someone who's strength is second only to Salem. She's definitely grown up to be a wonderful woman."
•~•~•~•~•~•
Sheila made her way through the streets. Though everything was supposedly peaceful, there was something that unnerved her. The further into the village she went, the more she could sense an uproar. She hurried towards the sounds only to be met with a fierce battle. The citizens of the village and the humans were battling each other despite the alliance everyone had made five years ago. Before she could act, Salem appeared on the battlefield and rammed his staff into the ground, causing the land to split and a rift to form between the two races.
He turned towards the humans. "I was informed that the mages who instigated this were promised rewards for leading the revolt."
They remained silent, confirming his suspicion.
"I sentence all the mages from this district, excluding the high priests, to exile. I will also confiscate the divine relics from the citizens of the village."
There was a surge of panic among everyone. Finally one human mage, brave enough to speak, called out to Salem.
"Exiled? What...what did we do wrong! We did this for you Lord Salem!"
The citizens got louder in protest and soon there was a frevrent argument.
"Silence! To use another race to increase your own personal fortune is the same thing that the King is trying to do." Salem stood calmly with his arms crossed.
Everyone became silent again. Seeing as there was no way to escape their fate, the mages quickly changed their tune and tried to shift the blame.
"You are the kings son no? Then wouldn't that mean you are the one who's using the other races for your own personal gain?"
The mage turned to address the village citizens. "Listen to me! Salem is the root of the evil that plagues us! He is the cause of your suffering! He is no better than his father!"
Enu clenched his fist, trying desperately not to do anything rash. "What cowards. He is only saying things that Salem has the most difficulty negating with his own words!"
The sudden gasps and wavering hearts of the village citizens only served to spur the mage on. "He will become an arrogant and despotic ruler just like his father! Is that alright with you! Do want such a ruler! Answer me that!"
Sheila had heard enough. She calmly walked to stand in front of Salem and before anyone could act, she destroyed the barrier around him.
"Take his head." She stated bluntly, her ruby eyes glimmering with a challenge to anyone who dared to step forward.
Enu panicked and grabbed her hand. "Sheila! What are you saying!"
She gently brushed him off and continued to speak. "You don't trust him? Then kill him."
No one dared to move. It was if time itself stood still.
"....How pathetic. Has Salem ever behaved like a cruel king? Didn't he say we would live as equals? You can't trust the kindness of someone stronger than you because you have a weak heart! You are afraid of those stronger than you because you fear that one day your loved ones will be attacked. humans fear your strength, you fear the humans intelligence. It takes courage to trust someone stronger when you know you don't have the means to fight yourself! That's why I believe in him! I believe that Salem will turn this world into a bright place! If there is anyone who has forgotten what this man has done for you then stand before me and I will personally remind you!"
Salem watched as Sheila challenged them to come forth. Her bold declaration stirred something inside of him and he silently vowed never to look down on her again.
•~•~•~•~•~•
Three months had past and Salem and Sheila were getting along better than ever before. While their affections for one another was finally starting to develop, they had been receiving nothing but bad news. Conflict among races had not stopped. If anything, it only worsened. People began to look to Salem as a King. It wasn't something he desired. He adamantly refused to allow people to prostrate themselves before him and refer to him as king. He brushed it aside saying that if they were to live as equals, a title such as king would only contradict his cause.
•~•~•~•~•~•
Another three months had gone by and both Sheila and Salem stood in front of their friends. Sheila swayed happily next to him as she called everyone's attention.
"Everyone! we have an announcement to make!"
They all gathered and exchanged curious glances.
"I'm pregnant!" She exclaimed happily.
They all cheered and congratulated her. While Salem was overjoyed, he was still worried about something.
"Sheila. I've been thinking about this for a while now, I think you shouldn't be present at the battle with my father."
Enu nodded understandingly but placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Sheila is the strongest member of the resistance, other than yourself. If we leave her behind, we would suffer a great loss to our forces."
Salem shook his head. "She is pregnant now! I am worried for our child! Please understand Sheila."
Sheila smiled. She gently took Salem's hand and placed it on her stomach. "Don't worry. I will slow the child's growth with my magic. I want our baby to be born in a happy world after this war is over."
Salem sighed. Once she had made up her mind, there was no changing it. "Alright then."
•~•~•~•~•~•
Days before their final battle with the king, Salem was confronted by the people of the land.
"Lord Salem. Forgive us for speaking out so boldly, but we do not think that a world with equals is possible without a king. We will need some kind of guidance, someone to lead us through hardships and rule over us."
They lowered their heads and got onto their knees, bowing.
"In a world like that, we need a just ruler. As the man who had shed light on so many lives, we would like you to be our new king."
Salem was silent. A sigh escaped his lips as he realized he could no longer run from his inevitable ascension to the throne.
"I understand. I also feel responsible for the blood that was shed while I was yearning for a sublime yet far away reality. If you say that a king is necessary in the world that we are aiming for, then I will become king. From now on this shall not be known as a land of ash but as a heavenly land of peace and prosperity. From now on we shall call this land Aruma An!"
The people were overjoyed and began to shed tears for happiness. They vowed to devote their strength to him as it is the path they have decided to take.
•~•~•~•~•~•
The time had now come for their final battle. After Salem became king, everyone's moral was notably higher. As Salem and the others left the kingdom to fight his father, they could never have imagined the tragedy that would befall them. While they invaded his father's palace, his father and his forces were actually already in their kingdom. When Salem and the others realized this, it was already too late. They rushed back home to find that the entire kingdom had been burnt to the ground. Falan and his wife had found their young son's body. It was burnt beyond recognition.
Salem confronted his father, alone this time. His father bragged about how he tortured and gruesomely slaughtered the kingdom's inhabitants. Salem was enraged and tore the shi from his father's body and destroyed it, supposedly killing him. As he returned to his comrades, he found that they had all become overwhelmed with the grief of loosing their families. He looked upon the devastation his father had caused, the burnt remains of children's toys and clothes lay scattered among the destroyed houses and families wept for their lost loved ones. Their spirits had been broken and some even regretted fighting in the resistance as they couldn't have known it would have caused the death of the people they loved.
Before the previous king died he had told Salem that all the events that took place in their lifetime had already been decided. It confused him but it suddenly clicked when a tremor shook the land. Salem and the others fell into a sinkhole that it created. The destroyed village faded into obscurity and was soon replaced with a sight of billions of stars as they found themselves in a celestial void of some sort, where they were confronted by the ephemeral being they had considered their god. While in the void, they witnessed the flow of the shi and how it guided the destiny's of civilizations as dictated by their God.
It was there that they realized what finite beings they were, unable to escape the great flow known as destiny. Salem, in his everlasting endeavour for a perfect world, shook free from the sorrow that this realization brought. He called out to his friends. Urging them to lend him their strength one last time.
"Here, in this place...it is clear that the our world is not the only one out there. A source of shi this big must be enough to fuel several billion worlds just like ours...there is a enormous power here that we can use to change this. I have the power to steal the shi from our dying God and rewrite the overlapping destiny's of our neighbouring dimensions, creating a new world entirely."
Li turned to Salem in horror. "You...don't mean to..."
Enu shared her horror as he spoke. "ARE YOU GOING TO KILL THIS GOD AND RECREATE THE WORLD?"
Li tried her best to stop him as she greatly opposed his new idea. "IMPOSSIBLE! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"
Salem simply turned to the massive accumulation of shi they called "God."
"Hasn't our goal always been to take control of our destiny's with our own hands and create a utopia where everyone is accepted? Sheila, you are the woman I have decided to share my life with. Enu, you are my most precious friend. As long as you continue your research, creation will always be possible no matter what destruction there is to come. Li, you have known me since I was a child. You've looked out for me and devoted yourself to me. I thank all of you."
Sheila tried to reach out to him but as she grasped him, his body became one with the shi, vanishing into it and she collapsed in tears. Using his newfound power, Salem sent them back to the kingdom. Sheila managed to pull herself together to address the confused citizens. She tried to explain that while there was no escaping their pre-written destiny, it was no longer the destiny of some unknown entity but instead it was now Salem's. The people, still consumed with grief and still mourning their loved ones, refused to accept the prison that was destiny.
Sheila had just lost the man she loved and her child was now without a father and being a Goddess who allowed Salem to kill their God, she was sure she would never be allowed back into the heavens. She had nowhere to go. She had lost everything and now her child's future was shrouded with uncertainty, yet the people refused to come together and rebuild the kingdom Salem had sacrificed so much for. Even the ones he had considered his comrades, turned away from him. Sheila's lips quivered with rage as she spoke.
"WHO MADE HIM INTO A KING? SALEM SACRIFICED HIMSELF IN ORDER TO BECOME A KING FOR YOUR SAKE AND ENDURED THE LONELINESS THAT DERIVED FROM HIS POSITION! AND YET THE MEMBERS OF THE RESISTANCE STUFFED THEIR MOUTHS WITH "EQUALITY" AND NOW THAT WE FINALLY HAVE EQUAL POWER, YOU CAN'T TOLERATE THAT?"
Sheila's sudden outburst was enough to silence everyone. Despite the underlying animosity, they agreed to accept their new lives.
•~•~•~•~•~•
Sheila had become Queen of the new world but found that she was always at odds with Li. One day she turned to look at her people only to realize that their shi had become black and impure. Without her knowledge, something devious had occurred beneath the surface.
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