Enter The Sandman 2: Karmatic Recreation

Enter Verian

About five minutes pass, and Lilian and I decide to be a little nice and lay the king down.  He looks to be in a ton of pain, and is unable to move.

I can actually hear the reaper beta move through his skin, and see it as well.  He just looks at the sky in silence for several minutes.

But he finally opens his mouth, muttering "I never thought the day would come.. the king defeated by a bunch of brats.  Amusing, to say the least.  Good for me at least... that you have managed to destroy all the cameras.

The entire planet must be going insane, with such an disturbing cut to the broadcast.  But now... I'm glad the cut was made.  To see the man they idolize... fall to a coup.  The embarrassment I would suffer..."

"Perhaps you deserve the embarrassment" I reply.

He pans his head in my direction, but his eyes seem to be somewhere else.  "You know nothing of what has happened on this planet.  Why do you insist on thinking your way is the right way?"

"You're right about that.  I don't know anything when it comes to this planet.  But seeing your true intentions not too long ago... the fact that you would allow a man with a family who not only worked for you loyally, but even forgot his own will for you , die just like that.  To be honest, I wasn't even sure what I was doing was right, until I witnessed that."

So maybe you should be asking yourself that question.  Why do you insist on thinking your way is the right way?"

"Trying to give me a lecture?  I've lived a life five times as long as yours... someone like you could never give me a lecture..."

"You may have lived much longer than I have, but that does nothing towards how wise you are compared to one that is younger than you.  Look at you now... you've lost to those that are nowhere near as old as you.  If age has nothing to do with power, why would age have anything to do with knowledge?"

"Simple... I've lived through several decades to witness the change in society.  Society kept getting worse and worse over the years... that is why I had to put a change to things!"

"So murdering those who disobey your rules because they are completely unjust.  Yeah, you've made society a whole lot better."

The king clicks his tongue.  "That's the one thing I hated the most about society.  The strong sense of sarcasm... nothing was as it was."

"Tell me king.  I've heard that you weren't always like this.  I heard you changed after seeing Kristy's reign down on Earth.  Is this true?"

"I changed because of her reign?  Don't be foolish.  I wouldn't let a thing like that happen to my planet, no matter what."

"You wouldn't, huh?  Then... what are you doing right now?  Elemental users are banned here, just as they are on Earth.  But here it's for an even worse reason... so there is no one strong enough to oppose you.  Not to mention the tight security around this place... just like on Earth.  To be honest, I would have thought this was Earth, if not for the wasteland appearance."

The king remains in silence for a little while.

"At a lost of words?" I ask him, breaking the silence.

"I was thinking back.  To when I first reigned as king."

"Yeah?  What about it?"

"My son was opposed to my ideas.  He hated them.  So I changed for the better, and made my reign as king of Irona the way it should have been."

"You let your son influence your reign today?  Is that really it?"

The king pans his face back to the sky.  "Let me tell you a little short story.  As one of my last requests."