The desire to End

The King of Dewdhi kingdom was in his early sixties but looked much older. He sat quietly on his throne, thinking of nothing in particular. His two sons and their wives managed the kingdom well, his grandchildren grew healthy and his daughters were happy in their married household. The King’s alliances were in place and his kingdom had experienced peace for several years now. Some hints of sadness could be found in the absence of the Queen who was no longer in this world.



“He is becoming more and more silent by the day; he doesn’t participate actively in discussions regarding the kingdom anymore” said one minister to the other



“One day I asked him for his view on an issue thrice and his mouth produced no sound and eyes showed no movement, like his soul had left the body,” said the other minister



Many days came and passed, the King became more and more confined to himself and his thoughts.



One day as the King sat in the palace garden in the morning, his chief advisor approached. The chief advisor was a part of lineage that had served the King’s family throughout its rule. The King and the advisor had become good friends, they had walked through the passing years together with this friendship.



“My King if I may speak,” spoke the advisor



The King didn’t turn to look at him and neither did he speak for the next few moments and then he did, “Since when did our conversations become so formal?”



“It’s been a while since we have had any,” replied the advisor



“What brings you here?” asked the King



“Your silence did. You may not realise it, but it’s spreading around the palace. Everything has started to reflect it,” said the chief advisor in a worried tone



“How long has it been..” the King trailed off



“I am sorry, I didn’t understand”



“How long has it been since any form of conflict has taken place involving us?” asked the King



The chief advisor thought and spoke, “I believe more than five years



“Six,” said the King, “It has been six years..”



“Yes, things have turned out well for the kingdom in these years,” said the chief advisor



The King lost in the view of the morning sky and said, “It’s peace, it was something I had not understood before. Before, there was utter chaos, since my childhood, one war after the other, bloodshed. Not every war was needed and I didn’t realise it till I lost my eldest Son to it.”



“I am happy that you found peace then,” said the advisor and then he smiled, “we will let you be with it then”

The King looked at the advisor and smiled, “Only if it were that easy to keep”



The conversation ended as did the day after the passing hours and then came another day and a few days later came a day when the King’s youngest son visited the King in the late evening in the King’s chamber. The expression on his face was of distress. The King sat writing something on a piece of paper under the light of the lamps, he stopped on his son’s arrival and looked at him.



“You look disturbed. What is wrong?” asked the King



“A week ago, a group of merchants were attacked in the jungles of the North. Brother went to look into the matter, but several warriors including him were found in a state of unconsciousness,” said the prince



The King’s eyes widened, “Have they been brought back to the palace?”



“Yes, they have been,” answered the prince



“The healers..?”



“They don’t know what has happened yet. I keep hearing about some supernatural entity behind this. If you say, I can go with some men and find out what is out there in the jungle”



“No,” said the King in a grave tone, “You will stay here in the palace with your brother and the princesses. Now go and send the chief advisor”



As the King watched the prince leave the chamber, he felt the peace of his mind and heart leaving with him.



The chief advisor arrived soon after.



“What do you think it is? Some form of illness?” asked the King



“The healers aren’t sure,” replied the chief advisor, “if it is an illness, it is unlike any I have seen in my life”



“… who did this? did no one see who it was? a supernatural entity the prince said,” said the King



“None of our men saw it. But the merchants who were attacked mentioned some entity in dark”



“Entity? You mean something from the stories and myths”



“Yes, something like that”



“How long has this been going on for?” the King asked in a grave tone



“I asked around, the incidents have been occurring for a year but didn’t come to notice until the merchants were attacked,” replied the advisor



“.. and no one was cured?”



“No, everyone was in the same state. They continue to live this way.”



The King stood up, “There has to be an answer for it and I have to find it out. I will leave in the dark of the night with some men. We travel light and just carry swords. No one should know about this.”



“As a friend I ask you not to do this. You are in no condition to deal with this. We will gather some strong warriors and send them to find what is behind this,” said the advisor



“My elder son is one of the most skilled and able warriors in the kingdom. He became a victim of this illness or whatever it might be called. I have to do this,” the King spoke 



The chief advisor noticed the worry and chaos breaking into the King’s world once again, then he said, “I will come along as well then.” The King did not object.



At night, eight men stealthily left the palace on horses. The horses ran the forest path, their shadows and those of their riders ran beside them under the moonlight. The trees stood silently, watching the riders pass by.



The King found it a challenge to ride a horse after such a long time and the age also played its role, but he held on to the reins as he held onto the hope of finding answers.



In a small clearing the horsemen stopped and got down.



“This is where the prince and his men came,” said one of the soldiers



The King was still calming his body and mind from the ride. The chief advisor kept his hand on the King’s shoulder.



“You stay here. Order the soldiers to find out what is in there,” said the advisor



“No, I have to do this for more than one reason,” the King said as he gained his composure, and then he looked to his soldiers, “We are not here for a fight. We are here to find out the cause behind the condition of the prince and the other soldiers.”



The eight men walked into the forest in silence. Aware of the sounds around with a mind waiting to find anything unusual.



The King recalled a memory from a distant past when on a similar night he led a small group of soldiers to find the location of the enemy camp. They knew who the enemy was back then unlike now, and the King’s younger self and a determined mind allowed him to be and do more than what he could be and do now.



The King noticed a piece of unusual black cloth on the ground and he bent to pick it up. By the time he got up, he heard the sounds of swords unsheathing. He noticed the advisor near him with his own sword out with an expression of unknown horror, in front two of the soldiers stood covering the king. The cloth in the hand turned into smoke and dispersed.



“What is happening?” the King asked the advisor



“We have been attacked, four soldiers are down… unconscious,” replied the advisor



“Where is it? Did you see it?” asked the King



“It was a tall dark figure. It came and went before we could make sense of what we were seeing.”



The King took out his sword and mustered some of that old courage from the past, and said, “Strike as soon as it comes near.”



The four men waited for the first sign of the creature; the clouds had started to partially cover the moon; the night had fallen silent with no sound coming from any direction. The hearts raced and hands tightened around the hilt.

The trees far away in front shook and a black smoke started to flow out.



“Should we attack?” asked one of the soldiers



“Wait, take defensive stance, let it come out,” the King ordered



They waited as time kept passing by. They watched the black smoke pour out until it stopped and suddenly all the smoke was sucked in from where it had poured out and from amongst the tree stepped out a tall dark figure covered in black smoke.



It had two long arms, in its right hand was a black sword with the smoke circling around it. The rest of its appearance had similarity to that of a person wearing a rob. It was tall, taller than all four of them.



A moment of silence remained as no one made a move and then the King walked ahead, signalling his advisor and the soldiers to wait. He walked past the unconscious bodies of the soldiers and stopped at some distance from the entity.



“You are not attacking. Is there something you want?” the King asked



The figure moved its head as if to respond to the question and answered in a disembodied and whispering voice, “We were waiting for you.”



“There are more of you?” asked the King



“We are all within one,” came the reply



“Who are you all?”



“Long time ago, a King facing an inevitable defeat in war approached our creator and we were created to feed on the souls of our enemy to support the King. The King won and we followed the King to all his battles and then his successors. Years passed, the King was gone and so was his lineage and we followed one King or another to battle for we must keep consuming souls to support a King until the King’s end comes, that is why we were created, that is what we must do and keep doing,” replied the entity



“I have never seen or heard of any such thing happening in my lifetime, except for in stories and they were never real, but here you are,” spoke the King and then an expression of certain pain appeared on his face, “have you consumed the souls of my son and the other men of my kingdom?”



“No I haven’t,” replied the entity



“So, it was to bring me here,” said the King who had started to put things together, “you want me to go and fight a battle or war? Then you will release the souls?”



The entity moved closer and so did the King’s men.



The entity spoke, “We followed your father and your grandfather to war, we followed you as well, but you gave up on violence and war. We are stuck with you as long as you live or as long as we cease to exist. We starve, and cannot consume a soul unless you desire its end.”



“It seems my demise might be the only way, but then you will go and follow someone else which could turn out to be worse for us in so many ways,” the King spoke



The entity raised its sword, “Then fight us, only the King we follow can destroy us, our abilities will not affect you, so you will fight us like you have fought any other human. Fight us and kill us or die trying.”



The King looked at his sword, and then at his advisor. The advisor hastily asked the figure, “Your creator, is he alive or anyone else who knows the sorcery or magic to create you… or destroy you?”



“Everyone has passed and so has their art,” replied the entity



The King looked at his advisor and spoke, “It’s all right, it has to be done. If I don’t make it, you can decide the new King and tell others of what you learned here today. Now, stand back.”



The King looked back at his two soldiers and gave them a nod and then he walked towards the entity with the sword in his hand. The entity began its approach as well.



The King could feel his hands shaking from the lack of the strength they once had, but he was not going to go down without trying. At the end of the last few steps, he lunged ahead and swung the sword towards the entity. The entity leaned back to dodge the move and then came ahead swinging his sword.



The King barely managed to bring his sword up to clash with the one coming towards him. The King was pushed back.



“You are slow and weak,” the entity said



“I am aware of it..” said the King as he took a breath in and pushed ahead with another swing. The swords clashed and with a successive rapid swing, the entity managed to make a cut on the King’s left shoulder.



The King grunted due to pain as he took a few steps back. There was no time the entity rushed ahead with the sword and with the next clash it managed a strong successive punch on the King’s face and the King fell down on his knees, blood and swelling starting to cover his mouth. He held on to his sword.



The advisor stopped the angry soldiers from intervening and then spoke to the entity, “This is a one-sided fight. Clearly your abilities are much superior. End it quickly, we cannot watch this horror anymore.”



The entity looked at the advisor, “You are mistaken, if you think our abilities being superior helps us in overpowering the King.”



The advisor gave a confused look towards the soldiers who were just as confused.



The vision bounced between being blurred and cleared, the pain from the shoulder ate away at the awareness and focus. The King struggled to make sense of the words exchanged.



The King saw a glimpse from the past. The Queen bent down crying over the dead body of their eldest son.



“Why” the Queen asked in a broken voice, “why did this happen?”



“He died for the kingdom, his sacrifice will always be remembered,” the King said



“Not for the kingdom,” the Queen looked towards the King with a hatred in her eyes that he had never seen before, “he died for you, he died for your desire to fight and win this war to expand your kingdom and your fame. Stop before your desire consumes us all.”



The King broke off from the memory and he got up slowly. He looked at the entity and positioned the sword in his right hand and with an aching body and screaming voice he ran towards the entity. The clouds cleared giving a moment to the Moon to shine to its full.



The entity swung its sword at the King and both the swords met in air but they didn’t clash. The King’s sword cut through, it cut through the sword, then through the entity and then through its existence. The smoke disappeared. It was over, the King had won.



The advisor and the soldiers rushed to the King who sat down on the ground.



The advisor looked around and saw no trace of the entity.



“It’s over,” said the King, “It’s gone”



The advisor turned to the soldiers, “There is a bag of medicines on the horse, bring it here as fast as you can.”



One of the soldiers raised his hand to point, “Look.. there..!”



Everyone saw the four unconscious soldiers becoming conscious and getting up.



“Hurry both of you, the medicines,” the advisor said in a loud tone and the soldiers were on their way



The advisor sat near the King and said, “I thought you were going to meet your end. How did you win?”



“My desire was what I needed. My true desire for its end, after all, that is what it fulfilled the King it followed. I haven’t felt that desire for a very long time and I hope I won’t have to 

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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