The Burning Tower

And so he stood in the desert sand, his sword in hand, the two knights standing before him, defiantly and behind them the tower. The ominous symbol of an empire, of an era soon to be forgotten, with all its golden runes and small details carved into the white marble, now turning into a dark blue from the reflection of the night sky above, and a furious crimson from the flames that engulfed it. All slowly becoming ashes as the fire crackled and roared and the flames danced in the air. “This is wrong” he kept thinking as he clenched his right hand around tightly the sword hilt, but a voice inside his head whispered “There is no other way. You MUST” and wiped away the doubts from his mind.
“You will pay for this, monster” one of the knights shouted as he drew his sword. The other one drew his as well. “Monster?” he thought “Did HE call ME a monster?” He had been called many things before, but never that. And perhaps he was right, at least in their eyes. Eyes that could only see black and white where no shades of grey could exist, a limited vision, a thing of the past. Maybe they did deserve this; maybe they were better off this way. But no, how could they know if they hadn't seen.

“Would it be different if they did? If they had seen it with their own eyes” He entertained the thought for a moment as he started walking towards the knights, but before he could take more than a few steps one of them charged him “For the empire!” the knight was shouting as he was closing in. “Predictable fool” He thought, then he adopted a defensive stance,  waited, and parried the attack then countered it with a blow to the neck that the knight tried to block, but all in vain, the knight’s sword shattered bursting into countless fragments as his blade went through, cutting the knight’s head clean off.

After that, there were no more doubts, no second thoughts, this was the only way. The other knight remained there with his greatsword ready, not moving a muscle. “Fear?” He wondered as he approached the knight almost confident, but as he did he noticed something. It wasn't fear in the knight’s face it was the opposite, it was defiance there was a fire in his eyes one that burned even stronger and brighter than the one devouring the tower. “You were always a brave one” He said to the knight but got no reply, he didn't even move. “Its better this way” He continued “At least you will die with your ideals intact, fighting to the bitter end for a cause that was lost long before you even existed”. Again he got no answer. Finally, he was close enough to strike a blow, but the knight wasn't moving. ”He almost looks like one of the statues in the courtyard, back in the royal palace” he thought. “No memorable final words?” He asked the knight mockingly. “So be it” he concluded, as he raised his sword and then brought it down on the knight with all his might expecting to feel the metal collapsing on the bone and flesh as he cleaved inside the knight’s chest. Instead he felt as if a mountain was under his blade. The knight had blocked his attack and his sword not only had resisted the blow but was glowing with a white light, golden runes started to shine on the blade and he felt his strength failing. “It is not I who will die tonight, monster” The knight finally spoke “And although the man you once were, the one I called brother, is no more. I know that his spirit will rest easy knowing that I have slain you” as the knight said this, the sword’s light became so strong, so blinding that he could no longer bear to watch, but before he could do anything he felt the knight pushing him away and then the light was no longer in his face but instead the sword had been plunged into his chest and light was filling him from the inside, he felt no pain and as the light took him the last thing he heard was a roaring sound, like a thunder.

He could see only darkness “Am I dead?” he thought, but before any answer could be conjured his senses started to come back and he felt the hard mattress under his body, his agitated breath and the cold sweat on the base of his neck soaking the pillow. Finally he opened his eyes and realized he was in his chambers.  He touched his chest looking for a wound, even though it had just been a dream, it felt so real that it took him longer than usual to realize what had actually happened.