Once upon, when our lord and savior, the ever-watching eye, was still wandering this earth, fighting not only in the kings army, but for the people in the villages and towns he cared for, there was a king as mad and ruthless as his name suggests: The great Vercingetorix, conqueror of whole kingdoms and overly proud of his stupidly long name, I might add. He was famous at first, many saw him as the strong leader these lands would need. But over the years, he found too much pleasure in the ongoing wars he waged, it seemed that he wouldn't really see the difference between sending thousands of men into the battlefield, even more into their death, and going on a hunt in the forest as he was used to since he was a child.
His talent in battle was the best all the townsfolk had ever seen, he swung the sword with efficiency, his skill rising from the countless days he trained with every weapon he found in his kingdom instead of properly caring for the matters a king should attend to. His poor decisions forced war over war, and over and over again he stood at the front and ran into the enemies, fighting two or three at once without hesitation. Only his attitude changed over the years, in the former days he'd look like a hero, but later on, he had this mad glow in his eyes, an eagerness to kill everyone that would stand in his way. The once properly clothed, good-looking king became a creased, terrifying man that looked much older than he really was.
As an high officer of the guard in this time, Tythos often carried out orders that came from his king, but he often did it with doubt in his heart. He would train harder than usual while starting to spread his opinions about the oppression of golems, earthlings and other natural creatures that once wandered on Athor, but also about the battles waged against other kingdoms that werent for any good reason but for the kings lust of bloodshed. He won more and more people that shared his opinions, among him the swordmaster Govannon, who would start to train Tythos in particular. When Tythos revealed to him that he was one day going to put an end to the mad king, Govannon would train him specifically for the ruthless enemy Tythos would have to face.
"You both are talented, very talented.", Govannon would tell his student. "Most warriors are making mistakes, Mistakes, that can be abused immediately to win a fight without much effort, but the king... it's not wise to bet on a mistake he could make." Govannon sighed as he continued: "I fear the key for a battle like this is only one thing: Endurance. It will be a long fight."
"But how will I gain more endurance than him? He trained for decades.", Tythos asked hopeless.
"Oh, normally I'd say you wouldn't, but... making no mistakes does not mean having no weaknesses.", Govannon smiled, "See, the king is obviously not the man he once was. He just runs into battle seemingly headless, just kept alive because he is the king and he really did train well. But as much as his anger helps him to scare his enemies and unleash a terrible storm of attacks, it will not endure forever.",
Govannon looked Tythos in his deep blue eyes: "You have to show him that his anger won't break you. You need to find another sort of strength... coming from here..." he pointed at Tythos heart. "..., but also from great discipline. Greater discipline as you have shown until now. Your training will become unpleasant, less friendly, because we have to constantly put you at your limits. Right now, I guess you wouldn't even stand a few attacks from our majesty."
"Hm", Tythos mumbled while turning away from Govannon and walking around the training field. He looked up into the foggy sky, searching for an answer. Then, without saying anything else, he looked at Govannon again: "Then we should start now."
"Well then, remember this: If you're blinded by anger, you will fight as he will, and he will do it better than you. If your power fades, think about why you're doing it. Or even better, for whom you are doing it. Think about all the time you trained, all the time you put into, do you want to just loose everything in this moment you give up? Ask yourself this in those moments. Come on, we've got much to do."
And so they would train every free minute, Tythos would fight against his comrades one after another without a break, and day by day, he would last a little bit longer until he'd nearly collapse from exhaustion.
And then, the day came: Tythos and his men had bin given the order to eradicate a whole village because the villagers refused to pay the higher taxes that were introduced. Tythos would refuse to do it and many of his own men and also men from other divisions would not carry out the order as requested. The reaction of the Mad king was as direct as everyone expected: He would directly start a fight against Tythos and his men, looking forward to the opportunity to finally having a good reason to get rid of Tythos, whose speeches haven't remained unnoticed by his majesty.
When they met each other on the battlefield, the king had already killed a dozen man, crying like a Minotaurus that got stabbed in the back. It was the moment that Tythos had been waiting for, but when he slowly walked past his own men, closer to the crying monster he was to attack, he felt nothing but fear. His sword shaked up and down, his teeth crushed against each other, his breath was controlled but much heavier than even in the toughest fights he had before. The king stabbed a man from behind, he watched him fall to his knee, exactly where he belonged in his opinion. For a moment, Tythos thought that he would see red light coming from the king's brown eyes, and Tythos unwillingly took a step back, just to be pushed back forward by a warrior falling to the ground lifeless.
"You may only have one chance, you can't hesitate then, remember that." The voice of Govannon halled in Tythos ear when he pushed away the last warriors that stould between him and the king...
Slowly, while pulling his sword out of another fallen warrior, the king turned around to Tythos. He smiled as if he was happy to see Tythos, but his madly staring eyes would make the smile look more like a hungry beast to have found a new prey. Tythos rises his sword arm just in time to block a direct stab that was aimed for his heart. Still distracted by the smile he just saw, Tythos walks a few steps behind, but the next blow of the kings sword would hit his defense with a brutal amount of power. Slowly, Tythos fully regains his consciousness and parades the hits exactly as he trained time after time. But the king wouldn't stop, his countless, merciless attacks would beat against Tythos like hail.
"His madness is your strength, Tythos. Try to lean into it, endure it, make it look like he is wasting his wrath against you."
Tythos forced himself to focus, even after this few blows he could hear himself breathing in exhaustion. Instead of blocking the next attack aimed for his arm, he rolled to the side, leaving the king confused for the one second Tythos needed. With a calm, steady hand, Tythos initiated a series of blows himself, but the king always reacted properly,
They both were fast, precise and determined. A few men of Tythos kept the surrounders busy, but as one of them tried to help Tythos, he was crushed by the king in seconds.
"Stay away!", Tythos shouted to his warriors panting. The king began a crazy laughter and attacked again. It felt like an eternity, the king didn't seem to loose any of his strength over the time. Tythos became defensive, blocking hit after hit from his mad opponent. His sight began to blur, only the kings sword and his mad eyes remained sharp and clear. Suddenly, he found himself lying on the ground, holding his sword arm up as he would beg the king to help him up. But there was only fury in the red eyes above him, no one would help him up now...
"I don't know", she said. "There is something... special about you. You're not like the others." "Nor are you", Tythos replied with a smile, "But in the end, I'm no more than a farmers boy who likes to play hero every now and then..." "You are more than that, you are...", she stopped, unsure if she wanted to continue, "...you are my hero."
Tythos felt energy flowing through his weakened body.
"If you give up now, all exercise was for nothing, I hope you still remember that.", Govannon said forceful.
The next blow of the king was not only paraded, but his opponent also stood up again, with all his armor covered from the mud beneath, and with a spirit that would make the king feel fear for the blink of an eye. Now it was Tythos who attacked the surprised king, who had lost his smile and looked more like a normal, careful fighter again. No one made a mistake, and the rush of Tythos also began to fade again, as he looked onto the feet of the king shaking heavily, unsure how long they would be able to hold their body.
Tythos hit again, and again, and again, it felt like hundreds of sword hits before the kings legs finally gave up and he fell to the ground. Tythos sight got blurry again, as the king fell down he only saw colors of the kings armor in the mud. He just hit in the direction of these colors, but the silver color of steel blocked his way again, one last time. He saw the silver sword flying out of the kings hand, but Tythos himself tumbled back and forth like a drunkard...
"If you seem to win, you must not celebrate. The mad king will not bow for you or respect you for defeating him, he'll kill you while you sleep if you let him live. If you want to do this, you have to kill him."
The voice of Govannon seemed to come from another world, far, far away. But he was right, Tythos thought. He was...
Where was the king? Tythos stared at the mud where the king lay. He felt panic coming up. He forced himself to turn around as he saw the king robbing to the sword that fell a few meters away. Tythos ran, step by step, and as the king had his hand on the sword, Tythos rammed the sword into his enemies body...
And this, my dear listener, was the end of the mad king, but the beginning of Tythos victory over the madness, even if he was imprisoned for being a traitor, but this is a story for another time. From this day on, our lord Tythos proved to us all that Kha isn't the almighty ruler behind everything, but just a tough enemy who can be defeated. May we all fight our own madness and the madness in the world, so Seydir shall be our home at the end of days.
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