Chapter Text
Kyro sobbed as he huddled against the corner of his tent. They were all dead. All of the soldiers that had bravely joined him on the mission, were dead. All had agreed to lay down their lives in order to kill the Cerulean Princess, but instead they had their lives taken from them by the Grand Marshal they had all trusted. Because Kyro had been too weak to protect them.
The young prince stood up as he peered out of his tent. He saw Raizo’s tent a few feet away and the glowing embers of the dying campfire. He saw nothing else. No other tents, no soldiers…just him…and Raizo and the creatures of the forest.
“How has everything been turned against us?” Kyro whispered as he walked along the edge of the treeline. Guilt ate at him like a parasite. “How did suffering become so endless?” He asked the night sky, hoping his dragon would answer. His thoughts drifted to his ill mother and his young sister. “How am I to reunite with my estranged?” So much had gone wrong and the young boy wanted nothing more than for things to go back to the way they used to be. “Do I need to change?” Kyro remembered what Raizo had said about him needing to step up and be a king.
“I’m surrounded by the souls of those I’ve lost.” Everytime Kyro closed his eyes, he saw his brother, his soldiers, the men whose deaths he had been responsible for losing. “I’m the only one whose line I haven’t crossed.” There were so many things he swore he’d never do. One was to never kill a child, but yet, he had ordered his men to kill Princess Clove who was only a few years younger than himself. He thought about the Ceruleans, all of whom were stuck on an island. “What if the greatest threat they’ll find across the sea…is me?”
Kyro wanted nothing more than to be feared by the Ceruleans. If they feared him enough, they wouldn’t attack and they’d surrender. But they didn’t fear him and his men didn’t believe in him and…he had killed his own men.
“What if I’m the monster? What if I’m in the wrong?” He asked as he walked into the forest, hoping Raizo wouldn’t hear him. “What if I’m the problem that’s been hiding all along?” He remembered what the Grand Marshal had told him about striking when the time was right. The young prince thought about his older brother. Would Kayen still be alive if he had been more ruthless? Or…would he still be alive if Kyro had fought in the battle that day.
“What if I’m the one who killed you every time I caved to guilt?” He thought of how Kayen thought about the Ceruleans. If only he hadn’t believed the Ceruleans were their friends. Then he might still be alive. “What if I’ve been far too kind to foes but a monster to ourselves? What if I’m the monster?”
As Kyro walked through the forest, he remembered all the stories he had read as a child. The stories about heroes who killed great beasts…but now, the young prince was wondering how bad the beasts really were. Maybe they were in the right and the heroes were in the wrong.
Kyro’s mind drifted to his favorite stories as he continued to walk. “Is the cyclops struck with guilt when he kills? Is he up in the middle of the night? Or does he end the men to avenge his friend and then sleep knowing he has done right?” His mind wandered to another story. “When the witch turns men to pigs to protect her nymphs, is she going insane? Or did she learn to get colder when she got older and now she saves them the pain?”
The young prince walked over to the river and looked down at his reflection. “When a god comes down and makes a fleet drown, is he scared that he’s doing something wrong?” He said as he remembered the legends of the deities that lived in the oceans and rivers. “Or does he keep us in check so we must respect him and now no one dares to piss him off?” Kyro grabbed a rock and hurled it into the water.
He thought about what Raizo had done to the men. “Does a Marshal use the darkest night to kill sleeping soldiers ‘cause he is vile? Or does he throw away his remorse and save more lives with guile?” He threw another rock into the water. “If I became the monster and threw that guilt away would that make us stronger? Would it keep our foes at bay? If I became the monster to everyone but us and made sure that we won again, who would care if we’re unjust? If I became the monster.”
Kyro sat down on one of the rocks as tears streamed down his cheeks. A sobbed escaped his lips and he could’ve sworn that he heard his comrades calling him a monster.
The young prince evened out his breathing as he remembered what Grand Marshal Raizo had told him right after he found the bodies of his troops.
“Oh, ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves and deep down I know this well.” Kyro said as he remembered what Raizo had told him and all he had lost. “I lost my best friend, my brother, my mom, countless men gone! This can’t go on!” He yelled in frustration as he realized exactly what he had to do. “So if we must sail through dangerous oceans and beaches, I’ll go where the Azure’s won’t reach us and if I gotta kill another princess in an instant so we all don’t die…”
The young prince panted heavily as tears streamed down his face. “Then I’ll become the monster! I will deal the blow!” He shouted into the night as he thought about the Azures. “And I’ll become the monster like none they’ve ever known!” He pulled out his sword and started slicing the air. “So what if I’m the monster, lurking deep below? I must become the monster and then we’ll win the war!”
He collapsed and panted heavily as sweat dripped down his forehead.”Oh, ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves.” He sobbed as the anger and energy left him and was replaced with pure sorrow.
At the edge of the treeline, unknown to Kyro, Raizo smiled as he watched his young mentor. He had been watching long enough to know how easy it would be to turn Kyro into another him. ‘I want to thank you Kayen. If you hadn’t dropped dead, your little brother would still be holding onto your foolish dream.’ Raizo thought as he turned and walked back to the camp. A plan already forming in his mind.