Sunran didn’t know what had happened, it was like smoke and shadow had attacked them but when his vision cleared his companions were pin down with swords to their throats by the enemy of the world’s servants. They had been no match for them, but he could still move for some reason.


    At the door frame stood Lord Endel, levitating a few inches from the ground. His hair was long and white in a ponytail and his eyes had been replaced by a radiant light. Eight rings glimmered on his hands like a rainbow and in his left hand was there a book of some kind. Sunran wasn’t a sorcerer, but he believed he recognized a spell book when he saw one. Lord Endel was clad in a dark blue robe that touched the ground when he levitated.


    Lord Endel reached out his free hand. “Walk with me, commander.”


    “Swear that you won’t hurt my friends,” said he in a desperate attempt to protect them.


    “They will not be harmed as long as we talk.”


    There wasn’t much to do. He had been charged with the responsibility to save the world from the darkness and the light had lost. This had been their last attempt, to seek out Lord Endel and assassinate him. For it had been adamant on all four battlefronts that no force of arms could win the day.


    Outside he could see that the stars had disappeared, a pity, the stars would have given him courage. The buildings made of stone were in ruins, Lord Endel had been merciless in his attempt to receive the last of the rings, but there was still some cobblestone to walk on.


    Since Lord Endel was levitating Sunran did barely reach his shoulder. That was fine, he didn’t want to look at those eyes too long anyway.


    Lord Endel started talking. “This is how the events are going to transpire, we will discuss if humanity is worth preserving, you will not convince me and then I will twirl my fingers and all will cease to exist. Finally true harmony, my ultimate goal. Nihilism, no sadness, no pain or suffering anymore.”


    That was a grave task that had been bestowed upon him. He wasn’t a philosopher and perhaps he shouldn’t have led the forces of light either.


    “Why me?” asked Sunran.


    “Humanity chose you as their champion, let’s see if they chose poorly. Which you know they did. It was clever of you to pretend to be still on the battlefield to seek me out in person, but alas futile. Like the whole of humanity''s existence.”


    Sunran stepped around a hole in the road to prevent falling into the pit. His thoughts were on his family back home, if they knew right now that he had failed them and existence could be wiped out at any second. That thought was almost too much to bear, but he had to keep going. Lord Endel was at least going to listen to him. The longer he talked the longer the world would exist. Lord Endel had many names, seeker of the eternal void, the dark enemy, twilight maker but at some point he had been known as Nicholas, maybe he could use that.


    “You were human once,” said Sunran.


    Lord Endel sighted. “Yes, don’t remind me. My father forced himself on my mother and she wanted nothing to do with me, which is understandable I suppose. I was sold for two bronze circles to a slave company.”


    “So, because you have suffered everyone will have to suffer as well?”


    “Only for a bit, soon we will have everlasting peace. No, my dear commander. If only I had suffered I could have turned the other cheek. You come from a rich family, you are privileged. There are uncounted horrors in the world you know nothing about or care to know about.”


    “But I have suffered as well, I lost my brother two years ago in sickness. Not to diminishing your suffering but the rich are not free from it.”


    “Don’t try me, you nobles are the greatest problem of all. You have power, fame, money, lovers, you could live in bliss but you still seek to destroy each other. If I created an utopia for the whole world you would eventually be restless and tear it down with your bare hands. Life is suffering as the scholars’ from the east say.”


    “But suffering is what makes life great.”


    That took Lord Endel by surprise. “Elaborate.”


    As a soldier I have gone up early all my life to hone my skills. It hasn’t been easy, there were days I wanted nothing but to rest in bed. But without suffering I couldn’t have made me the man I am today. The painter, the author suffer in creating their art, but they do it because life wouldn’t be worthwhile for them without it. It would be easier for them to do nothing, but they can’t turn away from their muse.”


    For the first time Sunran looked up in Endel’s eyes with a stern gaze. “A man cannot become great without suffering because he is both the sculpture and the marble.”


    “What you describe as suffering is more a form of inconvenience. In the slave camp I grew up in, the women were used and beaten daily, they begged for death but that wouldn’t be given to them because then they wouldn’t be useful any longer to those who ruled them.”


    “But they didn’t kill themselves, something still made them cling to life. Laughter between friends, a whisper between two lovers in the night. They still wanted to live and dream for a greater tomorrow. A lot of the slave camps eventually got liberated. You got out as well, didn’t you?”


    “Not by anyone’s mercy, I can tell you that much.” Lord Endel twisted one of his rings like in deep thought. “You speak of art like it gives life it’s meaning, correct?”


    “Yes, Lord Aria was a favorite in the barracks, what the commoners think, I cannot know.”


    “The art is for the rich, do you think that someone that is suppressed have time to draw or paint? Yet to learn how to write in the first place. The art is tainted, it is constructed from the rich with too much time on their hands. But they have never known real suffering, only a small portion.”


    Sunran raised his hand. “And yet there are universal themes that both the poor and rich can feel a sense of connection with. Love, courage, revenge, friendship are universal themes that everyone can appreciate and understand on a fundamental level. Even if language itself would have been taken from them. Lord Aria was born as a poor commoner, he knew the struggles of the poor and when he managed to escape that life he used that suffering to create his plays. Even when he could live in riches, he never forgot the little man.”


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    “Do you believe his memoirs? Since when is mankind ever honest?”


    “I don’t doubt that he had some dark truths he decided not to reveal to the public in fear of how it would be received. But there are several written accords that back up his statements. He didn’t lie about the important parts. It’s quite clear in his plays that he was a troubled man but also that he wanted and was grateful to live.” He admitted that without his suffering he probably couldn’t have helped people as well as he did.”


    “Let’s just say for the sake of argument that people like Aria make the world worth preserving, but most men are not like him, no?”


    “No,” Sunran admitted. “Only a few men can be as great as he was. But we need someone to look up to, to make us reach for our true potential. A guiding light in a world of uncertainty. Others inspire us and when we are inspired, we can inspire others in a beautiful chain reaction.”


    “I’m not convinced, when the leg is infected, you cut it to save the man, but if the whole man is infected what do you save then?”


    “You can’t, but you let him enjoy the last days in the sun as long as he can.”


    “Tell me this, and tell me truthfully. Don’t bother lying to me, I could look through your mind as easily as you squash an ant with your thumb. I have only avoided it for the sake of argumentation. What is your darkest sin?”


    Sunran stopped. He had hoped he could take this to his grave, but if the world was at stake… “Years ago, my wife left me for a younger richer man. I was so angry, I went to a brothel to numb the pain and I was not gentle with her. I wish I hadn’t done that. I wish I could make it up to her. But I don’t know if she even is still alive at this point.”


    “Ah, our champion of light, not so pure after all?”


    “I never claimed that I was. You reason that something is only allowed to exist if it’s pure, nothing tainted in it. But I argue that it’s an object''s imperfection that makes something beautiful.”


    “Did you want to die after what your wife had done to you?”


    “I thought I did, but I was wrong. I needed to live.”


    “Do you wish that you had never met her? Then you would never have felt the pain.”


    “No, without her I would never have had my twin daughters and my boy. They are worth it, no matter the cost.”


    “So you are saying that despite all the suffering you have endured, life was still worth it. No matter the cost you said? If I kept you alive and tortured for a thousand years, would you still feel that life was still worth it then? That you were happy that you were born in the first place?”


    Sunran felt his heart in his throat. Was this how all it would end? He being tortured just so Lord Endel could make a point? He thought back to his children, he had promised he would come back alive but it looked like he wouldn’t be able to keep that promise. Ashra, Trisha, Aron, daddy loves you very much.


    Sunran straightened his back, he was a soldier after all. “Pain cannot exist in nothingness, while I’m being tortured, my family will live. As long as I’m being tortured, the world will remain.”


    Lord Endel stopped levitating. “I don’t understand, how could you be so ready to try to bear pain of that quantity?”


    “I was picked by the world leaders to save the world or at least to prolong it and that is what I came here to do.”


    If the world existed for another millennia his family would live and his grandchildren and so on. It felt beautiful in a morbid way, maybe this was why he was here on this fool’s errand.


    “I think a part of you still want the world to remain. I mean you have won already; you can reach your goal any second. Why even talk with me? Why would you even care what I have to say?” Sunran thought he started to understand. “Love makes pain easy to bear but you have never felt love, haven’t you?”


    “I…”


    He pointed back from where they had come from. “My best friend for almost forty years is now pinned down against one of your nine, he came all this way even though he thought this to be a fool’s folly. He could have escaped the pain but he came anyway. Why did he come? Because he loves me like the brother he never had.”


    Lord Endel stopped and looked up at the night sky. The stars had returned, Sunran hoped it was a good sign.


    “I cannot understand love, but if you are willing to endure that much pain it’s a force to recon with.”


    “We have to do our best not to take life for granted. I’m not a mathematician, but I read a few years ago the probability of an individual being born, and it’s almost zero. Being born is more unlikely than being hit by lightning a thousand times on a single day.”


    “You say it’s a bliss, but you could also argue it’s a curse, imagine to almost escape birth and then being born in a slave camp or some other horrible place.”


    Sunran sighted. “I pity you, Endel. I really do”


    That took Endel by surprise. “What? How can you say that? I who have waged war upon the world in order to achieve perfect nihilism. I who have killed probably countless of your friends. How could you pity me?”


    “If you have never truly felt love, I pity you. Suddenly I understand you a bit better.”


    “Liar! You only say this in the hope that this will save your skin!”


    “I’m not lying, go through my mind and you will see.”


    Lord Endel looked at him with rage before his expression softened, he blinked like somebody had slapped him, he sat down on a stone block. “I cannot torture you. My goal was to end pain, not to prolong it. It would go against all that I stand for.” He chuckled. “Perhaps they picked the right man after all.”


    Sunran didn’t dare to say anything. It felt like Endel could come to a good conclusion if no one interfered with him now.


    “Perhaps it is I that is weak. I feel that pain makes life unbearable, but compared to you, even if I hold all the magic and power, I still feel insignificant to your willpower to try to bear the pain.” He made a motion that Sunran should sit down next to him. “Very well, mankind will remain and I will cease to exist. There will be a lot of pain in the upcoming ages but apparently mankind can endure it.”


    “I’m positive that it will.”


    “The greatest star is rising soon again. For a new dawn, I will rename it the sun after you so mankind will never truly forget what you did for them.”


    The first rays of sunshine came to meet them. Sunran could no longer remember what the sun had been called before that. But it was beautiful and he loved how it warmed his skin. Imagine if all this had ceased to be? How sad it would have been. Maybe there isn’t any meaning to life, maybe we all just cease to exist forever when we die but let us just enjoy the moment in the sun while we can.


    “Before I go, I want you to tell me one of Aria’s plays,” said Endel.


    Sunran cleared his throat, he wasn’t much of a storyteller, but he would do his best. He removed his scabbard and let it fall to the ground. He would never lead armies ever again. It wasn’t hard to decide which play he was going to pick. He was going to pick his favorite of course. The one his older brother had taught him many years ago.


    “Well there once was a bronze, silver and golden knight. All three of them wandered through a field of thorn bushes. They had all put their soul on the line to save their lady love..”


    This was typically a story you wanted to tell when you approached nightfall but for once Sunran was glad to tell it in sunlight.