An exquisite painting, Yes, If a passing artist would have walked by and captured the moment where, a man clad in golden armor staring stoically at a riverside as he sat melancholically in a ground covered in untouched green grass , then that art would be quite breathtaking. The marmalade afternoon covered the sky, the once warmth and vibrant was beginning to change into cool and calm, night was beginning to replace the noon and the moon was slowly replacing the sun. But still nothing changed, for the eyes of the prince at least.
Prince Jarvan the 4th was the clear example of a disappointed man, a man who expected but let down, a man who was reminiscent of a young boy on Christmas Eve awaiting his gifts only to be disappointed by what are given to him the next day. The prince plunged the spear beside him, burying its blade on the untouched soil. The prince could only sigh as his adrenaline and thrill of adventure was withering away slowly, minutes then hours passed by but aside from the encounter of a beast not seen before, this Eden of a place inhabit no challenge, no enemies and no thrills that he was anxiously expecting. The prince yawned and lay his still armor clad body on the ground, the little skin that were not covered by the golden armor were tickled by the pointed grass wet with dew, but the prince showed no reaction as the weight of his fatigue was setting in, the prince was descending step by step to pure unfiltered bliss, helped by his tired state the prince once battle ready and motivated was transcending to the plain ever so lucid.
….
Cloudlike foggy smoke covered the prince's vision, as thick as the smoke from a cigarette but as white as cotton these mixed entities joined together as one to envelop the prince's vision to a surreal one unseen before in his reality, unlike his perspective in the world of the living the one he had right now clearly act as a siren to remind the prince that he was dreaming and not in the world he knew all too well.
Two people sitting across from one another playing a game of chess immediately caught the prince's attention because aside from the cloud that littered both the ground and the sky there was nothing else that would be deemed unique. But these two entities seemed to not exist in the human plain such as the prince for they were just silhouettes not shadowlike, as of those in the prince's dimension but a silhouette which was a shade of white, brighter than white, the white which was whiter than white itself.
"…Well, I guess you surpassed your old man…" The voice awkwardly laughed as he scratched his head. From the looks of it, it seemed the one talking was not the victor, clearly by his words it showed. The man stared at the game in front of him and even if his face was non-existent, the reason being that it was the same shade of white as everything else that belonged to a white silhouette he called his body, even so his body movements seemed to hint his subtle actions. "How about another game, this time we play by my rules." The man added out of the blue.
His opponent only nodded and then lifted his head to meet the gaze of the hardy man, he did not say anything instead he waited for the terms that was to come out of the mouth of his opponent. The hardy man responded by taking all of his chess pieces out from the board, except for one. He presented it with a glowing aura of pride…a king piece. The most important piece of all, he lifted it up in a dramatic manner and then took it down just as swiftly.
"One piece, this king piece will lead me to victory I promise you, my boy." He announced proudly as they start a new session of chess. A battlefield at their fingertips, raged on as one piece stood against an army, the king which was heavily protected and often the most sheltered of the pieces was now a mere foot soldier being recklessly thrown into war by the hand that moved him. If this was a real battlefield then this would end with just a swift strike, a mere slash and it would be over in seconds but this was a game of wits and strategy one which tests the minds of would be tacticians and strategists the game of chess was complex, a game which war is the central theme but even so the game of chess was anything but barbaric, it's strange that something could be so similar and yet so different.
The prince looked on as he snapped from his daydream, he looked at the pieces-the king was still standing strong and as he stared even more closely he was flabbergasted, the king did not just stood proudly, but it stood victoriously. The single piece had won, against all odds, it won. The prince could only wonder what had transpired during those moments, but in this world of lucidity the seemed to slow down, one minute and accelerate in another, everything was not how it seemed.
"Surprised?" He asked smugly, the question directed at his opponent and for the prince, himself as well.
"You see a desperate man is very powerful, a man to be feared…but not a man to be respected. Royalty, the burden where you are not only in charge of your own life but others as well, every mistake you make will be noted and every mistake you make could lead to consequences, but hey, doesn't every one? Well, for royalty that consequence would be multiplied tenfold, to both yourself and your citizens, that is why we think before we leap we stop in our tracks not because we hesitate but because we think, we treat life as a chess game, a tactical life to ensure a peaceful one for our citizens, do you understand?" The man asked as he stared at the victorious king piece.
"Now you'll probably ask why that heap of bull dung came out of my mouth, it did not relate to the question, No, what plagues your head is why I came out victorious even by just one piece, well here it is." He presented the board as he returned all the pieces of his opponent but again left only one piece for his own side.
"You see, earlier you beat me, fair and square. I would respect any form of victory but even so I could never respect yours. A man who sacrifices most of his men to ensure victory is slime, slime to my eyes and I truly hope to everyone else's. But that's how chess is played right, your definition of correct I assume, sacrificing the lives of those you could have saved is very cowardice…Are you still listening?" He asked as his opponent merely nodded.
"You won earlier because you were very, in all definition of the word, desperate. You were willing to pull out tactics and maneuvers worthy of those thrown in a life or death situation, very desperate indeed. Not fit for royalty such as yourself, my son. A prince should never look so desperate for victory, you resembled a gambler more than royalty, do not take such viperous tactics for victory…have class, you serve the people not the demons." The man said with a tone meant specifically to teach a lesson.
"But victory is necessary and should be the first priority, these men knew what they signed up for, they were the property of war know, wielders of weapons and protectors of peace-
"You are no God! You do not control their lives. They might have sold their souls for peace but it does not mean that they do not wish to witness that peaceful world firsthand with their own eyes. You see my boy, they are not just soldiers, they are fathers, brothers, friends, husbands, they are people, they are someone's reason for crying to at night, they are the ones who risk their lives…every soldier carries a burden that is stuck in their heads, they will always have the anxiety that they might not come back from war but yet they wield their spears and hold their swords tightly and brace themselves to die for peace, the peace which we have maintained by war all these years. Fighting for peace might seem nonsensical but to those people who think that war is not necessary, those who say that fighting for peace is similar to eating to grow thin-basically saying that they cancel each other out because they are in every sense o so different, are people whose peace are being preserved war itself. Peace is priceless, that is why it maintains because we do not know the price for peace, if peace is ever taken away then I do not want to know what replaces it, peace is priceless that which replace it could only be a pale shadow, something less than peace, something that will never be as priceless, that is why we must thank the soldiers and value their lives, they are the preservers of peace not just disposable toys, they day where we are faced to face with what is less than peace is the day where everyone's lives are in vain…do you understand."
The prince was slowly recognizing this conversation…this was not a dream, but a memory. The prince recognized the words, but even if he did not put to heart the lesson his father had taught him, he still remembered as if this dream was to plunge this lesson into his brain. For the prince it was merely an old man who wanted to make his point across, but if the blades the king wields has a point then so does he, an even more deadly edge, for the prince knew all too well everything that transpires in war and he was going to stab his point right into the king's mind, bury it to his memory.
"So you say, but times are changing, if we do not treat them like weapons, then they do not fight like weapons, and people who are less than weapons do not belong on the battlefield. It's sad to say that you still keep your ideals, father. Times are changing-No, they had changed a long time ago, and I have noticed but you only look at a soldier only after you look at the people, you try to make them both similar in that head of yours, even if they are worlds apart, the only thing that is similar to them are their skins, but not their humanity, the soldiers have traded that in order to become weapons, worthy defenders for their country, they sacrifice their humanity, they make themselves monsters that could only wield weapons so that those they defend would look at their hands and think of them as tools instead of weapons, they sacrifice in order for the people to wield tools or toys, because they know their stained hands would never hold these things ever again with the same innocence."
"Even so, my son we do not-
"We should start then, if you intend for people of war to be less than weapons then your ideals are from a different time and I do not want to taint your memory of an easier life but this is how we work now, less than a weapon in the battlefield is a joke, they do not belong there, only soldiers willing to sacrifice their humanity, who will not look back, are those worthy, and those to be praised. For your time it may have been acceptable to be less than one hundred percent but if we do not sacrifice what makes us humans then we would not be able to face the monsters that belong on the other side of the chess board."
"Are you saying that you would throw away their humanity for war?" The once hardy man asked with a quizzical and rough tone as though being taken aback by his son's answer.
"It is only fair we will fight for our freedom-
"But what is left if you take away their humanity, what is left after the war if you only wield a weapon your entire life? What awaits your life if you are asked to use those hands aside from wielding a tool for war?"
"After that, after they have preserved peace and fought well, they will survive in this world, and they would have the right to pat themselves on the back, for they were victorious, now they will survive."
"…But they want to live…not just survive…" The man the prince called his father whispered in a hush tone, clearly to make his point across.
The prince stood up and then walked towards the side of his father, he then whispered to the great king.
"They cannot live, that is their burden, there is nothing. They had survived their whole lives and will continue to do so, those who use their hands as weapons will only live life surviving…but not living, that is the curse they carry, but it is only fair, we trade an item for an equal value, but these soldiers who gave something even greater than what is necessary, they became weapons instead of soldiers, choosing to become more like a berserkers of war instead of farmers on the fields, they sacrificed greater and in doing so, those who come after them will not carry the same burden…but we cannot be certain, war is always constant, even after I am long and gone people will find a way to hate each other, from the way they live to the way they speak, people will find a reason to fight one another, we can only grow to hate each other from this day onwards, hate is constant, and it will ignite a war sooner or later, in peace we observe more about ourselves and our brethren, and after the rose covered glasses is taken off we could only look back and cringe."
The king fell silent, his son had beaten him, the king knew that times were changing but he did not know how severe it truly was, until his once noble and cheerful prince he called his son only talked about despair and human nature, something that would be unheard of from the lips of the child he once carried in his arms.
The prince, now at the side of his father grabbed his singular king piece and presented up to his face.
"I was almost excited, father. I thought we had the same ideals. I sat quietly because I expected the same thoughts in my head to come out from your mouth, but your ideals are different. Your ideals are kind of odd. You are willing to fight until the very end, to sacrifice your life in order to take even one casualty, one less men for your men to fight-that is very stupid, Father. Did it not cross your mind that you are more of value then a simple suicidal barbarian? But if your ideals were like that then I guess you are indeed a burden, you deserve to be out of the battlefield because you did not make yourself a weapon, you made yourself as a target, a target who attacks but a target all the same…and that is why you would be taken away…"
"You see, father. I intend to be like a singular chess piece, not in the sense that I would sacrifice my life in order to take one or two, No. I intend on becoming a one man army."
The king was startled by his son's announcement, the prince only smiled smugly as he threw the king piece to the army of chess pieces that stood opposite to theirs, like a cannon to a wall they were all knocked out by the brute strength of the prince of demacia.
"You do not mean travelling to the great wall? The prince only nodded and then walked away, leaving the king to stare at the chess pieces blankly.
….
The prince awoke from his slumber, the once tangerine afternoon sky was now black-an abyss like black you could only see in the deepest of pits, littered by little lights called stars. The sky was beautiful at night, It was one of the only things that the prince knew that would always last, something he could always put his trust in was the sky was always above his head and the ground was always at his feet, trust the prince only gave to things that do not change.
The prince began to notice a metallic smell, a smell the prince recognized from anywhere. He looked at his surroundings-the once crystal clear water was tainted with crimson blood, the blood trailed off in the stream like a snail's slime it lingered as though it was fresh. Jarvan the 4th held up his spear, unburying it, now reinvigorated he followed the path that leads to a challenge.