So what next? Should the amulet ever be removed, darkness would once again take the world. Should Gudrik ever be killed, a new unmeasured threat would rise. Someone would need to guard the hibernating monster.
The weight of its defence could not be placed upon the shoulders of generations who had never seen its wrath. I was chosen to unseat it from power; perhaps it was I who was intended to be the people’s guardian. The thoughts weighed me down, heavier than any armour. Hour upon hour I sat, watching the sleeping demon. As long as I thought, compared and reasoned, only one option seemed to show itself, one option that would leave me no better than the beast.
I made a vow. To shield the innocent from darkness, warriors of the light are sometimes forced to taint themselves. I sacrificed my soul and I sacrificed my salvation, heaven’s gate would be forever closed to me. That night I began my new life, a damned life, a corrupted life, a forsaken life. I fed for the first time on the demon’s blood. It turned my stomach, thick, warm and salty. I threw up the first dose, but I persisted. The second time I forced myself to keep it down. It became a practice which I repeated for centuries stretching my life to an ungodly length.
The church paid me handsomely for my achievement, the seed which my empire sprouted from, but they disavowed all knowledge of my new quest, leaving it to fade into the gloom of history and myth. It mattered not. I would live, the earth’s secret protector, ever vigilante for Warlock threats. I was dubbed the Forsaken Guardian. My ever loyal knights were promoted to paladins. The five swore to live out eternity with me and would have happily gone to hell at my side, I forbade it. One corrupted soul is enough sacrifice for this cause. Instead, as a tribute to them I continued to tend their bloodlines through the centuries, upholding the honourable warrior traditions they lived by, keeping their lines strong and healthy. It was the least I could do for the loyalest of friends.
Of course there were always opponents to my new position. A group calling themselves The Inscribed arose. Valiant warriors I would have been proud to call allies under different circumstances. One of the Warlocks poisoned their skin, brainwashing them as his servants. It was unfortunate that their dedication and loyalty blinds them to the evil of their cause. I have crushed them brutally and mercilessly at every incursion, not an act I enjoy, but my duty is clear and has always out shone my compassion.
For an eternity I stood as the Forsaken Guardian, shielding the world from.....it....the relic. It was a duty which the masses were completely oblivious to. I battled addiction, the blood was truly a poison laced with long life. By the time I fought myself free of its hold and learnt to manage it, the world I had fought so hard to protect had found itself in a steady state of decline. It was decline on a scale which I was powerless to stop, a complete paradise to cesspit transition. Global society was being crushed and raped by one form of civil libertarian after another until eventually no one was forced to contribute and no one was responsible for their actions. My father always said, “A man who searches for others to blame is the worst type of coward.” Respect for fellow man had disappeared. The other inhabitants of the world seemed all but oblivious to it. I guess their life span was so short it simply didn’t register for them until their autumn years.
I soon realised that this social collapse was a threat that loomed even greater than the Warlock. To my eyes, the problem was clear, again change needed a catalyst, in this case fear.....a threat the world could unite against. Not until men are faced with certain death do they forget their differences and turn to each other. Not Gudrik though, he could never be controlled. No, to truly fix the world, what I required was the ability to instil that fear myself. I finally understood my role, my purpose. I needed to become that common enemy.
I hope the magnitude of this is not lost when I’m gone, I chose to become what I hated most in order to create a world where good can flourish. My soul was damned anyway; why not take the corruption further? Alas to do that I needed to learn a dead language. I had two words, they were not enough. Yet, in a sign which confirmed my course of action, I realised that I had already been provided my answer, the Heir.
I have fathered many illegitimate children. I was rich, I was powerful and my mind was clouded by addiction. Women came easy. For a long time I forgot my beliefs. Over my centuries many of these offspring made themselves known, all proved less than worthy of my name and their line was ended, until one appeared which showed potential. This offspring showed initiative. This offspring showed faith and humility. I soon realised that this offspring could also offer an opportunity, a partnership.
My part was to unlock the properties of the blood. Not an easy feat by any means, in fact for an age it would have been impossible, but fortune shone. Mankind’s understanding of the world began to develop and increase at a rate which I had never seen before, a rate matched only by society’s decline. I devoted my immense fortune to locating and recruiting the greatest minds in genetic and blood research, an act which eventually yielded a breakthrough.
A symbiotic parasite was discovered, the agent which gave the blood cells their vivid blue colour. The agent I prayed gave them their abilities. It was something which modern science had never seen, a living particle which possessed none of the properties of life, a functioning contradiction. The unique “paradox” as it became known was separated from samples of the creature’s blood and grafted to my own.
So here I am, halfway there, preparing for my end, and it seems that the relic has life in it still. It has escaped back into the world, but so far has lain low and hidden. No doubt it harbours a grudge against the world which scorned it long ago. If it stays down, maybe I should let it be. It really has no concept of just how insignificant it is. The grafting process has worked. I no longer have to feed on it and that damned amulet affects me as if I were one of them anyway. Best leave it and what ever it holds within to the torture of an eternal outcast life.
I need only the language to truly unleash my fear and finally end this feeble excuse for life. Once it happens things will change hard and fast, so fast that there will be no time for explanation. That is why I leave this. I don’t know what will happen to my mind, but my paladins will end me when the time comes. Until then it seems I must endure the disgrace of corrupted blue filth being pumped around my body.
I do what I do for the world. My life for the people. Let it be my legacy.
I am Kyran.
Thank you for taking the time to read Part I of Blue Words. I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I encourage you to follow on with Part II of Gudrik’s journey by purchasing the full version of Blue Words, which is available from all good e-book suppliers. Thank you!
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Part I: A New Beginning
Rebirth
Evaporation
Inscribed
Isolation
Revelations
Escalations
A Confrontation for the Ages
Making Amends
Blue Words - Part I Page 19