//------------------------------// // II: Beautiful World // Story: Shroudbearer // by Razorbeam //------------------------------// Malik climbed the final step of the grand staircase, not surprised to find that the recently begun monument in Aurus' honor was already half finished. Atop the onyx platform stood a changeling cast in solid gold, easily three times the size of any normal changeling, if not larger, with the proportions all properly scaled. It was still incomplete, with the eyes left as simple, empty sockets. Holes in the back of the statue between the wings were likewise vacant. It was obvious by these facts alone that the statue was awaiting gem-work, a favorite sculpting technique that was highly prevalent in changeling society. If a statue was not made entirely of gems to begin with, it was almost always at least accented with them. The mane, wings, and tail had already been put in place, cut and sculpted from fine smoky-sapphire stone, as frost blue as the king's own mane. Still, even missing some of its intended features, the statue was majestic. The look on the depiction of Aurus' face was determined, fearless, and unshakable. It was not unlike what Malik remembered of the night Aurus had succumbed to his magic power and allowed it to overwhelm him in his last desperate attempt to slay Gerd Gallock. Surely the gold used for the body was a bit over the top, but in a way even that seemed fitting. In that moment of power it had been like looking upon a being far greater than any normal changeling: a being of light and righteous fury. A being of divine judgment. Malik's steps, which had been heavy all morning, felt suddenly heavier as that thought clung to him, causing him to pause at the top of the stairs. That memory of Aurus was little more than days old, and he doubted if he could even forget it after an age had passed. Gerd Gallock had been torn apart by Aurus' fury and made to endure an agony far beyond anything Malik could imagine in his final moments. It had been an agony equal to his sins, Malik knew, and that more than anything frightened him. What similar fate awaited him? Even if he was not half of the monster that Gerd had become, the idea that he might suffer even half of that fate turned the marrow in his bones to ice. He was no less a murderer. "Gerd Gallock, as King of T'rahk Enox, I sentence you to death and everlasting torment." The words echoed in Malik's head, as unforgettable as the sight of the punishment they ushered in. Aurus' tone haunted him, so calm and sure in his declaration. It was not the Aurus that Malik had come to know, not the boy-turned-king who worried over every decision. It was not the familiar man who disregarded his power, but rather one who had recognized it, who had used it with certainty. He had spoken in a voice that was not one, but three: the judge, the jury, and the executioner all at once, and not a single one of them had shown an ounce of hesitation or mercy. There had been none to show. Malik snapped out of the vivid recollection to find himself staring unblinkingly at the stern face of the statue of Aurus. He let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding, the air sputtering out in a shaky, panicked sigh. He yanked his eyes away from the statue and down to his front hooves, not surprised in the least to find his legs shaking. They felt numb, almost as if they weren't even there and he would simply fall forward any minute. This fear wasn't unfamiliar to him. He'd felt it many times before in the dark line of work he had dealt in. He did his best to let it go, closing his eyes and breathing heavily to make up for the moments that he had seized up staring at Aurus' monument. "I'm so pathetic..." he whispered to himself, when at last his breathing had slowed to a reasonable pace. "I told myself I was ready for this... that I would deal with it when it came, not here and now," he growled in frustration, angry with himself for losing his composure. Still, he couldn't deny the fear in his heart that centered around seeing Aurus awake once more. Which Aurus would he find when he opened that door? The warm, idealistic, and wise young man? Or would he find the embodiment of divine punishment itself that he so feared? Were they even separate beings? Malik shook his head angrily, baring his fangs against his own thoughts. That was enough of that thinking. Why couldn't he just be grateful that Aurus was awake? Why couldn't he just be glad for the news? By the hells, Aurus was the closest thing he had ever had to a friend since his childhood! Though he didn't realize it consciously, Malik had managed to bury his fears for the moment beneath the veil of self-loathing. "Could I possibly be more selfish?" he grumbled to himself, sighing one final time and making his way down the west hallway, towards Aurus' room. All morning guards had been running haywire through the castle, pounding on doors and racing down hallways. The servants who normally tidied the place endlessly were nowhere to be seen, likely having carried the news down into town as a gossip piece, Malik thought to himself. However, despite the vacant nature of the majority of the castle, the hallway outside of Aurus' room was packed to bursting, with changelings extending both ways down the hall for many yards, all talking to one another. Malik scowled as he found himself face to face with a waiting line, despite his recent best efforts to shore up his resolve and go see Aurus right away. "Great," he muttered under his breath, halting a few steps from the edge of the changeling mass crowding around the door. Thinking to get a better look at what was going on, Malik crouched low and launched himself into the air, buzzing up to the ceiling many yards away. There was a small semi-circle of cleared space around the door, guards in full regalia holding their spears at ease but looking intimidating to keep the press of changelings back at regular intervals. Inside the half-circle, with her back to the door, stood councilor Morelda, along with her ever-present attendant. Her lips were moving and her front right hoof frequently waved here and there or swept in front of her, but despite his keen hearing even Malik couldn't tell what she was saying at this distance through all of the mutterings in the crowd. The door behind her opened suddenly, drawing the crowd's attention and a small hush for only a moment before everyone realized it wasn't the king. Korrick joined Morelda, the two clearly discussing something serious, as evident by the looks on their faces. Whatever it was did not look like good news, which brought Malik a tinge of worry. Had something happened? He could hear Morelda's voice but was still unable to make out the words as she shouted for the attention of one of the guards. The armored changeling left his post along the outer edge of the semi-circle and was immediately replaced as he made his way over to the pair of councilors. He nodded several times, a scowl of determination on his face before he saluted and began to make his way through the crowd, heading in Malik's direction and more than likely moving to deliver news to someone on a lower floor. Korrick vanished back into the room shortly afterwards, Morelda returning to her duties of managing the crowd outside. Malik had little trouble keeping his eyes on the guard, since the crowd was creating a small bubble of space around him as he went. Whatever was going on, Malik wanted to know. As the guard broke free of the mass of people, Malik landed next to him and matched his stride. "Did something happen?" he asked nervously, not even sparing the time for formalities with the guard. The guard jumped slightly at his words, clearly not having expected someone to follow him away from the crowd and finding himself caught off guard. His puzzled expression vanished in a sudden sigh of relief, which caused Malik to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Your timing couldn't be better, sir," the guard chuckled, snapping Malik a quick salute. "I was asked to come find you." "Come find me?" Malik asked, still confused. Why would Korrick ask a guard to come find him? After all, the castle was practically exploding with the news, and he'd heard that Aurus was awake some time ago. "What for?" "I don't know, sir," the guard replied simply. "I was just told to find you and escort you to the king's chambers. Councilor Korrick says his Majesty requested it." Aurus had requested it? Malik sighed in mixed relief and simple exasperation at himself. Of course, he should have guessed as much. It had taken Malik some time to get even this far: long enough for a crowd to form outside the room. If Aurus knew about the crowd, and Malik had still not arrived, it hardly surprised the ex-assassin that he would have sent someone to look for him and help him through the congregation. "Always thinking of someone else," he chuckled to himself, shaking his head. "Sir?" the guard inquired, clearly confused by the self-directed dialogue. "It's nothing," Malik replied simply, a small smile in place. That simple, minor act of kindness did a great deal to assure him that the Aurus awaiting him beyond the wall of changelings was the young man he had so come to respect, and not the one he had lately come to fear… at least for the time being. "Lead the way." The guard wasted no time, snapping another salute before making his way back through the crowd, Malik close behind to take advantage of the clearing the armed guard's very presence created. It wasn't long before they were out the other end of the gathering, the guard stepping aside and resuming his previous duty, and leaving Malik face to face with a scowling Morelda. "You should have been here sooner," she muttered, her tone threatening a thorough scolding, but holding back for the moment. Malik didn't know what she was waiting for, but he doubted incredibly if she wanted to hear an excuse. "I should have," Malik admitted simply, thinking it best not to say anything more to her than absolutely necessary. That way he was less likely to say something that would set her off. Ever since the healers had let her go the night following Aurus' fight with Gerd she'd been a bit of a terror. Korrick had insisted she'd always been that way to an extent, being born into an esteemed house and raised under the old ways, but she'd never been so zealous before. "He wondered where you were when he first awoke, you know," she chided, like a mother scolding a child late for dinner. "Korrick claims he was afraid you had run off." "Run off?" Malik asked, shocked to think that Aurus had even taken notice of his absence, especially surrounded by his closer friends and family. As for running off, he'd been considering it only the day before, but he had made up his mind. "I couldn't... I owe him too much," Malik said quietly, and it wasn't until he saw the unnaturally sympathetic expression on the stern elderly female's face that he realized he had said it out loud. "We both do," she replied, her words equally as quiet as his own had been. "We all do, but... some of us more than others," she said with a sad smile, looking away from Malik, a hoof going almost on reflex to her broken horn. A strange silence passed between the two of them as Malik put the facts together about her. Aurus had saved her from an otherwise certain, and gruesome, public death at Gerd's hooves only mere seconds before it would have happened. There was nothing the king could have done to save her horn, but he had not been too late to save her life. It had never occurred to Malik until that moment, but her unparalleled bossiness, her unnatural energy and zeal of late, had all been centered around things regarding Aurus or the castle he lived in. She had been the one to whip the servant crews into shape, enforcing strict cleaning regimens. She had been the one shouting herself blue in the face to get the captains of the castle guard to tighten their watch around their sleeping king and his friends. Overseeing monument construction, assisting Korrick with his duty as steward... the list was practically endless. Malik understood it better than anyone. It was like she was a different person, almost. Not entirely unlike the woman she had once been, but deeply changed. Everything she had done in recent days she had done in service to Aurus, thanklessly. Even if her methods were harsh, she was eagerly serving her savior. She, like Malik, owed him too much for anything less. "Go in," she commanded gruffly, the moment of harmony between them suddenly past as she pointed to the door. "You've kept him waiting long enough." Malik couldn't hide a chuckle, despite the stern look on her face. "Yes ma'am," he replied simply, moving past her and pulling the door open. He was a little startled to find that the noise from the hall outside vanished the minute he stepped through the doorway, even with the portal wide open. He smiled to himself in understanding as he shut the door behind him, its contact with the frame and the snap of its latch completely inaudible. The purple glow lining the doorframe was faint, but it was there all the same. "Well if it isn't 'sir' Malik," Aurus chuckled, his normally spiky mane flattened on the back from his long slumber. He was sitting up for the first time in three days, and looking very much like nothing had happened; as if he had simply gotten a good night's rest, with a smirk on his lips as his deep green eyes washed over his friend. "I never did figure out why everyone started calling me sir," Malik replied, his tone slightly accusing as he shifted his glance to Korrick for only a moment, but his smile remained to show that it didn't bother him. Not at this moment, when sincere relief was flooding through him. "You're a heavy sleeper, I hope you know," he declared, moving away from the door and to the side of the bed, where the body language of all the other creatures in the room told him he should be standing. "I've heard that a few times today," Aurus chuckled, taking his gaze away from Malik for a moment. Malik's eyes followed his to Applejack, whose face still showed the ruffles in her coat where she had scrubbed away at her tears. A few other faces around the room showed similar trails, most notably Aria's and that of Aurus' mother. Malik couldn't help a single, quiet laugh. Not one of mirth, but of simple happiness. The smile below Applejack’s reddened eyes told the story well enough. He took his gaze away as Aurus returned his attention to him. "How are you feeling?" Malik asked, unable to think of anything else to say. "Better than I should," Aurus replied with a small smile, his hooves resting in his lap. "Though not quite ready to be running around the castle or dealing with the people outside," he admitted. "He got up earlier, but only long enough to get a rune in place," Twilight explained from the side, her eyes closed in gentle concentration as she maintained her spell of silence over the doorway, her horn glowing lavender. "It wasn't so bad at first," Aurus chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, as was his habit when he was feeling sheepish. "But once the news got out that I was awake..." "I can imagine," Malik replied with a knowing smile. The amount of magic contained in a changeling body couldn't change unless the mind was conscious, so Aurus hadn't been suffering from any kind of magical overload during his slumber. After three days, the incredible joy of salvation that most of his people now shared had been replaced with a more subtle concern for the king, which was what Aurus had awakened to. However, their memories of the battle were as keen as Malik's own, and the news of Aurus' return to the waking world would have rekindled their joy and love of him in a matter of moments, threatening to overwhelm the king had he not been prepared. "I feel rested, but a little weak in the legs," Aurus explained with a small smile, looking down at his back legs beneath the blankets. "Particularly the broken leg," he joked, a few of the friends gathered around him sharing a small laugh. Though he was awake at last, it seemed as if everyone were still on edge. As if they feared it might only be temporary, and that somehow they would disturb it. "You're going to be busy when you do get up," Korrick declared from the foot of the bed. "I know," Aurus grumbled, giving the old councilor a pouting look. "That probably has more to do with why I slept so long than anything..." "Sleeping away your duties is hardly the kingly thing to do," Korrick scolded him, though the smile on his face showed that he understood the joke for what it was. "Still, if anyone had earned a three-day respite, it would be you. Now that you're awake, we can have the healers finish tending to you. You should be able to address the people as early as tomorrow morning." Aurus just let out a hefty sigh and a slow nod. Malik understood his reluctance to speak in front of the entire nation, though he had done so before. It was not in Aurus' nature to enjoy being the center of attention, though he was fortunate to be a naturally gifted speaker. It was a part of his role as king that he would likely never enjoy, but a necessary one all the same. A silence passed through the room as Aurus collected more of his thoughts, his friends following suit. Nobody was in a hurry to disturb that serenity, for what was truly left to say? Malik had arrived so late that he doubted if there was anything left on the minds of Aurus' friends that had not been said and heard, at long last. The same things had been thought and spoken to one another for days while Aurus slept. Perhaps he was the only one in the room who still had much to say, he thought with a twinge of melancholy. No sooner had he thought it than Aurus, who was staring at nothing in particular about his blankets, took on a look of slight confusion. He continued to stare, his expression growing less confused and more serious as the moments passed. Malik watched the change in his face with a strange feeling in his stomach, a growing nervousness. The timing was uncanny, yet it had to be a coincidence... He was unable to take his gaze away from the king until suddenly the silence broke, bringing him blinking back to reality. "Aurus? What's wrong, sugar?" Applejack asked in concern, noticing the growing severity of his expression. Aurus, lost in thought, seemed startled when she called out to him, and his dire look was replaced by one of sincere surprise. "It's nothing," he replied after spending a moment to compose himself, giving Applejack a warm smile to set her mind at ease. "Just a feeling I had..." he said quietly, his eyes glancing out their corners at Malik. Malik felt the return of that nervous fear in his stomach. Though it had been almost three months ago, this feeling was familiar to him: it was the same that he had felt when he had been captured and interrogated by the king in Canterlot. He couldn't shake the feeling that Aurus was looking not at him, but through him. Just like in that storeroom when he had been alone and at his mercy, Malik felt as if somehow Aurus understood too much… much more than he should have. That he knew something he should have no way of knowing. "I know it sounds crazy, but I think I'm still a little tired," Aurus chuckled, breaking the building tension, taking his eyes away from Malik. "Like I'm not all the way awake yet," he added with a wide yawn, which brought smiles to the faces of his friends. Such smiles were contrary to the feeling that still lingered in the pit of Malik's stomach. "I can believe it," his younger sister replied with a knowing smile, throwing her forelegs up on top of the bed and propping herself against it. "You've never liked waking up," she pointed out. "That's true," Aurus chuckled in reply, rubbing the top of her head with a gentle hoof. She was too far away to embrace, but not too far for that simple show of affection, which brought a pleased smile to her face. "Just promise you won't do anything like that again," she pleaded, her tone remaining oddly warm despite her words as she pushed back against the hoof petting her mane with her smile still in place, closing her eyes in satisfaction. Aurus just let out a small, quiet laugh in reply, pulling his hoof back gently. He didn't make that promise, Malik noted, and the semi-sad smile on Aurus' face told him that it had been intentional. Of course he couldn't make that promise; though one great threat had been put to rest, it had very nearly cost him his life. Considering the state of the world, and the magnitude of the change the young king hoped to bring in, there was no telling when an even greater danger would rear its head. If Aria realized this, she didn't show it. She seemed to take his gentle laugh as confirmation, and the sadness was gone from his smile by the time she opened her eyes, convincing her further of the promise that was never made. Malik sighed to himself, letting the tension that had been building fall away from his shoulders, and take the weight off his heart. The sense of normalcy was finally beginning to return, and the memory of that strange feeling Aurus' reaction had given him was beginning to fade. As he looked around the room and took in the smiling faces, the quiet words and warm laughs, and the signs of departed tears, Malik finally took solace in the simple fact that Aurus was well, after days of worry. A small smile came to his lips as he let that simplicity take hold of his emotions, and let the joyous mood in the room finally rule his heart and mind. There would be time to worry more in the future, but at long last, after struggles both titanic and personal, there was time for peace, even if only for a few moments. He found Aurus' eyes on him once more, and saw his own feelings reflected in that gaze and its accompanying smile. It housed a pleasant and basic warmth that needed nothing, and had everything: the smile of a man who was at peace in that moment. It was good to have his king back. Malik stood at his bedroom window, having left Aurus' room little more than an hour ago. The healers had come to do their work, and had condemned Aurus to nothing worse than even more sleep. Despite his long slumber, Aurus had certainly still looked tired to Malik, and so when the king had announced he was going to sleep early nobody had complained. There was no worry that he would not wake up again and so, though reluctant, his friends and family had departed for the evening. The sunset through the bedroom window was as beautiful as ever. Though the winds outside shifted the sands far below, not a sound of their passing could be heard through the glass. It was like looking down on a world of silence, in motion and yet strangely still. Somehow surreal, Malik thought, with the dunes soaking in the rays of the sun and sharing the colors of the sky above, distinguished only by the pure-white glint of well-placed grains and the deep shadows that stretched away from them. Directly below the window and for many hundred yards stretched Aurus’ gentle-glowing rune, in a strange but pleasant contrast to the red and orange tinge of the sands. It was beautiful, Malik thought quietly. Everything seemed more beautiful these days, and he quietly wondered how he could have missed it for so long. How he could have gone so many years without seeing the beautiful world outside the shadows he had lived in. "You are still blind, my friend. Even now you are only seeing the very simplest of what peace has to offer. It illuminates us, guides us, makes us whole..." "Truer words were never spoken, back then," Malik whispered to himself, easily recalling the memory of his first real discourse with Aurus, his eyes still on the sands below. "Even now they feel true..." The quiet click of his bedroom door behind him startled him from his musings. On instinct he whirled around, a hoof going to his side where once he had worn a dagger. His hoof would have frozen even if he had not remembered he no longer carried his weapons, for his intruder was quite a surprise. "I thought we were past you trying to kill me," Aurus teased, standing with a hoof still on the recently closed door, balancing gingerly on his other three legs, the back-right still in a splint. It had healed a great deal, but it was still a ways away from bearing his full weight. He wore a smile as he turned around slowly, showing no signs of pain despite having to hobble to make the turn without tipping over. "Aurus," Malik replied with a defeated sigh, dropping his poised hoof. "Just a habit... one that dies hard," Malik apologized quietly. Despite the fact that he knew Aurus was joking, the mention of his attempt to take his life once before still stung. It was hard to remember trying to kill the man who was now the closest thing he had to a friend. Aurus' smile shrank by a few teeth as the silence of Malik's inner thoughts grew between them. "I thought you were going to sleep. Healers' orders," Malik said cautiously. "I'll admit I'm tired," Aurus said with a chuckle that certainly sounded exhausted. "But I'm the king, right? Even healers can't order me around." Malik knew Aurus well enough to know that he didn't like throwing his weight as king around, so he couldn't help but smile as he recognized the joking lie. "True enough, your Grace." "Don't," Aurus chided, giving Malik a warning look. He despised titles, and it was a fact well known to those close to him. "I know, I know," Malik chuckled, turning back to the window and looking out again. "Why are you really here?" he asked quietly. He believed he knew the answer, especially after the events earlier that day, but he quietly hoped he was wrong. He didn't want the king to see the worry on his face as he asked that question, especially after all the effort he made to keep his tone calm. "You know why," Aurus replied simply, a sort of warm sympathy already present in his tone, courtesy of the worry he could feel flowing from Malik to him, despite the assassin's best efforts to hide it in his words. Malik just sighed in reply, nodding only once as he continued to look outside. The hoofsteps on the stone behind him felt agonizingly slow as he waited for Aurus to join him by the window. This was inevitable, he knew. Necessary, and though the worry was strong, the feeling of being cornered was somehow less now than it had seemed earlier that day. Perhaps he had simply had time to come to terms with it all, or perhaps facing the Aurus he had come to know and not the one he had come to fear had set him more at ease. Whatever the case, he felt ready. Terrified still, but ready. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Aurus asked quietly, stopping next to him. Despite being two years younger than Malik, Aurus towered over him because of his position as king, and the metamorphosis it had caused his body to undertake. In a certain way the king of the changelings cut an intimidating figure, yet in the warm light of the sunset and with a gentle smile on his face, Malik felt far less afraid than he had been before. "It is," he replied simply, his tone level. He didn't really know how else to respond to Aurus. The young man was fond of talking in strange ways, he knew: sometimes in riddles, other times in metaphors. It changed constantly, yet always it seemed as if somehow he knew exactly what to say, and precisely how to say it. Wherever Aurus was taking the conversation, Malik knew that eventually it would arrive where it most needed to be. "The whole world is like this," Aurus said with a small laugh of disbelief. "Not desert, I mean, but... beautiful. I'm glad to be back," he concluded with a sigh of contentment. A long pause followed, Malik unable to think of anything to say in reply. "Aren't you?" Aurus asked at last. That question puzzled Malik as he tried to decipher its meaning. Was he glad to be back? The purpose of the question abruptly became clear to him, and it filled his heart with a deep sadness as he realized his answer. "I was never here to begin with," he said sadly, his eyes still on the dunes below. "I never left a world like this... I've never even seen it before," he whispered. Aurus' smile shrank to one of sadness, the sympathy clear on his expression despite the fact that his eyes, too, remained looking through the window. "I think you have, once," Aurus replied. "Even if only once. There was a time when this world was beautiful, even for you." "How can you know?" Malik asked, his tone taking a slight edge that he was unable to catch. "How can you say that I've seen this world? My life has been shadows upon shadows," he muttered darkly. "You do not understand." "I do know... because if you had never seen this beautiful world before, you'd never be able to see it again," he explained patiently, clearly taking no offense to Malik's less-than-subtle anger. "I understand better than most." Malik sighed, closing his eyes and trying to reign in his emotions. If it had been anyone else, he would have called that statement presumptuous at the least. Yet with Aurus it rang too true, felt too sincere. It was not a boast, but a fact; if anyone understood the nature of this beautiful world, and those who could walk in it, it was Aurus. After all, this world was the one that he was carefully tending, guiding with his vision. "What has Korrick told you?" Malik asked at length, unable to think of any other reason Aurus would have had to come and visit him for this purpose. "Nothing," Aurus replied simply. "I'm here because you need me to be." Malik found words hard to come by in that moment. If Korrick had not told Aurus, then how had he known? Why had he come here, if not in response to Korrick's recollection of his troubles? "What's on your mind?" Aurus asked politely. His tone carried all of the patience and understanding of one ready to listen, no matter what would be said. "When I saw you earlier you didn't seem yourself. Not the Malik I've known for these past two months. Nor the Malik I knew for the first few hours," he said with a bittersweet smile. Malik sighed, but remained silent for many moments, trying to collect his thoughts. "There is much I need to tell you, Aurus. Much you need to hear," he began, his voice barely a whisper in his trepidation. "I can tell no one else... It has to be you," he finished quietly. "Why?" Aurus asked, the question sounding strangely simple. It didn't seem as if Aurus were puzzled, or in any need to ask that question. It felt as if, as always, he knew the answer already. "Because my fate is in your hooves..." Malik replied. "It has been since the moment you cut me free of my old life. I have done terrible things. In this city I should die for my sins," he admitted, a slight tremor in his voice. "I know that it would only be right." "Are you afraid to die?" Aurus asked simply. "I have always been afraid to die," Malik whispered, his voice strained by that fear. "If I were brought to order for my crimes, or even slain by the mark I was hunting. There was never even a guarantee that another assassin would not kill me. Even when I had nothing to live for, I was afraid... a coward and nothing more," he admitted, the sting of shame in his words. "And now?" Aurus continued, the tone of his questions unchanging. "I am more afraid to die than I have ever been," Malik declared quietly. "Now that I have seen... I do not want to let it go. Not now. But that is not my decision to make," he finished, a note of determination fighting with one of fear in his voice. "I've forgiven you once," Aurus cautioned gently. "You trust me to forgive you twice?" Trust. Korrick had said much the same, Malik thought. Strange that Aurus would use the same words. "I trust you to do what is right," Malik replied simply, finally taking his eyes away from the window, and looking at the king. Aurus still wore a smile, a face of contrasting serenity to the turmoil in Malik's heart. "Your judgment from before... I can't accept it," he continued with determination. "Not until you have heard it all. After that, no matter what you decide..." he trailed off, his tone stern, his words final. Aurus' smile grew slightly, though the sadness in his eyes remained. "Afraid to die," Aurus replied, his mind seemingly somewhere else. "Forgetful of this beautiful world, but not a stranger to it. Malik... tell me your story," Aurus gently urged him. Malik simply nodded, closing his eyes in preparation, letting out one final, shaky breath to steady his nerves. "To the last," he whispered dutifully.