Once upon a time-
(Are we really doing this? Are you really trying to fit your life into a narrative like neat little boxes?)
ONCE UPON A TIME. There was a golden King who held many lands and had many subjects. He was the strongest being in the world, and none could stand against him for long. His power was infinite.
He was cold.
One day he decided he wanted more. He wanted someone- several someone's- to help him rule. Someone who could stand near him without being overcome by his power. But not someone who could overcome him. He wanted children.
But there was a price to his strength, and that was that every woman he lay with died or came near death. But the King was so cold he never knew any of his lovers lived past their night with him. He knew naught of his natural children, and thought the only way for him to have children was to create them on his own.
And it was here that the King searched the lands, questioned all his wise men and sorcerers, and studied the universe itself. He looked into the void, and in time the void looked back.
Four beings noticed him. All but one older than the King, all stronger than him, and all infinitely more dangerous. Though the four hated each other they were curious enough to put aside their differences for one day, just long enough to meet with the King.
"I have a proposition." Said the first being. It reached out and up, between worlds, and it grasped a bird's egg, one that had never been lain by any parent.
"Take this," the creature said.
"No, take my flower bud," the second creature said.
"Take this," the third creature said. It held forth a cauldron with a simmering liquid inside.
"Accept my gift," the fourth creature said as it held out a bronze urn.
The King looked at these gifts and said, "I cannot pick one. Might I be allowed to inspect each of them, so as to find the one gift most precious?"
"Go ahead," the beings said. For in truth each had come to compete with the others. The Kings' approval was not the reward they sought, but having his approval over the other three was. The King knew this and knew he could use it to his advantage.
To the first being the King said, "This gift is grand."
Before the first being began to speak, the third one interrupted. "No!" It cried.
"No!" Said the fourth being.
"No!" Said the second.
To the second being, the King now turned. "This gift is sweet."
"No!" Said the fourth being.
"No!" Said the third being.
"No!" Said the first being.
To the third being, the King now asked, "This gift is kind."
(Terrible word choice.)
"No!" Said the first being.
"No!" Said the second being.
"No!" Said the fourth being.
To the fourth being, the King now spoke. "This gift is sound."
"No!" Said the second being.
"No!" Said the first being.
"No!" Said the third being.
"Well then," the King said. "For each gift three voices say I should not take it. Which then should I pick?"
"Take mine!" The four beings cried at once. "For mine is-"
But their words could not be heard over the others, each professing why their gift was the best and the others the worst. To the King in his wisdom it was clear each entity was truly arguing over which of them was superior. The one thing that could undo creatures such as these was their discourse with each other.
As the beings argued and fought, the King seized his chance. While none were looking the King grabbed each of the gifts.
The four being stopped fighting, turning in horror and shock at the King.
"All of you had good points," said the King. "So I decided to take them all and see what comes from it."
Four beings watched in amazement but one hid a smile. For it had foreseen the King's plan and knew this would come to pass.
Unbeknownst to all five of them another being was watching from beyond the reaches of space and time. This being looked into the meeting between King and God with jealously, for it could not attend. It could not give the King a gift but it could touch the gifts already given.
The King returned to his kingdom and turned to his other goals. He designed children to become his heirs.
The years passed and the King finished working on newborn souls, powerful and strong as he was. The King had twenty bodies made, as he put the souls of his children into these bodies.
Only now did the four beings return. They snuck past the King's men and crept into the nursery while the King slept.
They stole the babes in the night.
The beings scattered the children across the galaxy, letting foster parents raise the babes.
One of these children was a ps-
...Was a witch. Through his own natural power he could weave worlds out of words and hear whispers in the moonlight.
He was left with a coven of good witches who sought to better their lives and the lives of others with their gifts.
They took the babe in and taught him all he could learn, which soon became all they knew. The boy grew. He outstripped his teachers, mentors, idols, all in quick succession. Soon the boy became-
…
(What did he become?)
…
Soon the boy was strong enough to become independent, and to lead in his own right. He wondered what was out there, beyond the coven's home, and he set off to see the world. He faced challenges and trials that the coven protected him from, now strong enough to survive the world.
He explored, he discovered the world was filled with beauty and pain, and he discovered his own powers were stronger than he'd ever dreamed.
He brought these things back to his people, and soon after a swarm of death came in. He stopped the swarm, and saved them.
When the swarm attacked, the boy reached within himself and discovered that the Ocean of magic could be moved. He became the Moon that created the tides.
Or so he thought. He was- he was brash, foolish, and he didn't understand what he was doing, but thought he knew all. The only good thing that came from this transformation was the attention of the King.
The King's lands had grown from conquests and wars waged at his command. The King never forgot his lost sons, and he searched for them with every newly conquered land. In time, he found each and every one of his children.
But he feared the beings he had deceived all those years ago. And so the King told his children that he was their only parent. He told them that there was no higher power than man.
When he found his son-turned-moon, it was no different. The Emperor came to the lands where the coven had settled, bringing prosperity and gifts beyond measure. He named his child a Prince of his empire, and brought him into his fold.
But of the Moon and the Ocean, all he told the Prince was: "Do not pull the tides, for this power is greater than you can imagine. It is beyond your ability to understand, or to control."
The prince listened, and thought his father foolish for this. The King had not told him that as a Moon, he shone light farther than he could see. That there was a greater creature than he that wanted him just as badly as the Emperor did.
It was ironic. As a child, he learned that beauty attracts monsters, even from places where no monsters could be found. But he never realized that the same is true of power.
No.
He knew that power invites monsters. He'd never realized that there were monsters stronger than him. Everything he met was either a friend or prey.
So the Prince ignored his father's warnings and continued as he always had.
Then one day
…
(This part hurts, doesn't it?)
One day something went wrong. The Prince learned of a threat that could destroy everything he loved, but he was too far to fight it. He tried to warn the Emperor, but he arrived to find the kingdom in shambles.
He realized that the destruction had come from within. In trying to save his father, the Prince had destroyed him.
He returned home, horrified and confused. He didn't know what had gone wrong, didn't know where he'd failed.
He looked through his life, through his spellwork and sorcery, his old explorations and experiments, and slowly he started to put the pieces together. With growing horror, grief and disgust he realized that the trap had been lain for him years ago.
Innocent actions he thought too small for care, sacrifices that had not seemed in vain, deals that had always been honored- all were built on lies. The prince had destroyed himself before he even began to fight. Recalling his father's warnings, realizing their truth, the Prince decided to accept his fate.
Then he decided that his fate and that of his home were one.
He told himself that his people would protest if he was arrested- executed, even- and that the only way to limit bloodshed was to surrender. That he alone would take punishment for his crimes.
But even then, he wasn't alone. Armies who obeyed his command, the witches whose ancestors had raised him, all were there. He didn't warn the people or evacuate the planet. He didn't make his legion vow not to take revenge. He just waited where he was, deciding the fate of those who followed him- who trusted him.
He didn't realize how selfish and egotistical he was being, not then. The sounds of destruction and chaos wore down his will until he finally, finally decided to fight for his home. To protect his world.
It was too late. The land burned, and the Prince was broken.
Unable to save his people, unable to fix his mistakes, unable to even accept that he'd been a fool, he turned back to his magic. He stepped into the Ocean, where the first entity waited for him.
"You seem to be in trouble." The entity said. "What is wrong, child? Did my advice lead you astray? Did my gift not help?"
"I am lost." Said the Prince. "Betrayed by the one who I betrayed first."
"Indeed." Said the being. "And you come here in the midst of battle."
"I need your help." Said the Prince. "Please, save my people. They only burn because of me, but I cannot bear to hear them cry any more."
"This I could do." It said. "But there will be a price."
"Please." The Prince said. "Whatever you ask, I will give it, for I know now I have already-"
"You? No." The creature laughed. "For all I and my servants have done for you, we have never asked anything because we never needed it. You are not in my debt, I have given all freely to you as a gift."
This confused the Prince, even with disaster at his door he couldn't help but ask, "Then why?"
"The debt I want repaid is not yours, but your father's." It said. "Years ago, I and three others asked him to judge a competition between us. We each provided a gift, and the one he chose to take home would win.
"But your father tricked us. He set us arguing against each other, and while we fought, he swallowed each of our gifts. We were to trade with him, a gift in return for being named superior to the others, but none of us got this victory from him.
"He cheated us, and I want my egg back. But alas, those gifts cannot simply be returned anymore. Slaanesh's flower bloomed. Nurgle's potion condensed. Khorne's urn broke. And my egg hatched."
"Your father took the children we'd made, and re-created them in his own image."
And the Prince realized that he'd been trapped from the start.
"Yes." Tzeentch said. "I want my egg back, but the Anathema contaminated it. Hid it from me until it hatched. Now of my five sons, I only ask that one of them be returned. He can keep the other four, I just want one to claim as my own."
I was speechless. What could I say, what could I do, when everything I'd ever known turned into a lie?
But then, for the first time in my long list of stupid decisions, I remembered Prospero. I remembered the Rout. I remembered all the innocent who burned because of my mistakes.
I remembered Russ.
I took Tzeentch's claw and said, "I will do it, father."
The changer of ways had no mouth at that time, but it smiled at me. "I'm glad, my son."