If I was no longer King (technically, though really I will always wear a crown and we all know that) then I should not be forced to get up at some ungodly hour because someone has a problem. Wasn’t that Isola and Kane’s thing now? Was I, the Great Heyel, not entitled to a sleep in? Evidently it has never been my destiny to be allowed to enjoy the comfort of my den for any longer than those beneath me deem I should and this particular morning would be no exception. I rolled, long limbs stretching out to brush the cool walls of the den, vaguely aware within my subconscious that another lingered nearby. Assassin traits die hard and even so many years after having practiced so actively I still sleep so lightly, wake so quickly and am aware, even now that another approaches, though the tendrils of sleep do their best to cling to the fog of peaceful bliss that has layered itself across my mind. Her voice however, managed to pierce right through that fog of sleep, ringing within my ears the way Eris and Letum’s once had. She was no longer my apprentice, she was no longer required to be up before the dawn and ready to undertake today’s task. Why was she here? I groaned, mumbling irritably as I swept one paw across my eyes.

“Novissime opprimere de hoc mundo cara Malina mundus te exspectat me, ut tu mihi iniuriam? Uti caput tuum et veni huc postea.”
(Last time I checked, dear Malina you were part of this world and if the world waits for me, then so do you, am I wrong? Use your head and come back later.)

I mumbled, rolling over once more, content to ignore her until she got bored. She should enjoy this time of peace, relish these moments in the sun for they would hardly last long, not with what I had heard of Ruvindra and the wolves she was gathering even now. If what I had heard was true then each one of the three, Jaidah, Fatality and Ruvindra herself, a wolfess I had eaten beside, protected and hunted with had become a creature unworthy of life and if it took me until the end of my own existence I would see them all brought down. Malina should be preparing herself for what was to come, to protect the pack she had given her oath to, though indeed I know, just as Isola does, that the Assassins of Diveen, should she claim that land, will always be my own. Loyalty such as that does not die so easily or readily. Malina has made me truly proud these past years, never once have I regretted my decision to pick her from the dust and red earth of Trenus and bringing her within the folds of an Art so ancient and old. She may not be tall and powerful, but she was swift and stealthy and indeed of all who trained beneath me I knew of none with a mind so quick and ready. She would be great, my Malina, greater then myself- of that I was sure. She had survived the fall of the sky as I knew she would, her training no doubt saving her from so much of the grief others felt. I had kept her away from others from a young age, forced her to break her ties and perhaps now she truly understood why. All had been taken from her and yet she had lost nothing. Her loneliness in this life would be her strength. Yet really in this moment I wished she would take her loneliness and bother someone else. Evidently however, she was not going to leave. She was stubborn. Like me.

I yawned, rolling at last onto my paws as I lifted my ethereal form upward and strode out from the mouth of my cave, violet eyes appraising my once student. Her Mother and her Father, the male who had offered to me his child so long ago, would be proud of the girl who stood before me know. Lip quirked upward into a passing smirk as I stretched once more before moving to stand before her, tall, powerful frame still standing higher than her own despite her full growth. Violet eyes met her gaze, one lifting slightly upward as I regard her, brushing past her with the full knowledge she would full as she should, waiting until she matched my stride before I spoke once more.

“Go on then, enlighten me, why is it that the world could not wait for me this morning? Or have you finally come for what was promised to you so many years ago?”

She would as to what I meant. I may be older now, but I do not forget such things. I remembered standing above the body of Valkyrie and promising a small child a list of names, a job that would be her own when I could no longer fulfil it, like a sword passed down to a son, this list was much the same, a rite of passage, one she could not receive until she alone decided she was ready. Within my eyes, she had always been ready.


h e y e l
The True King