Death of a King

Prologue:

I knelt over him, holding his limp hand in my grasp, "Hold on. Please ... just hold on."

    But he shook his head, swallowing roughly. Blood long since pooled around him burying us both in it's rich crimson color. A color which would haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. He looked up at me, eyes unfocused and mouth fighting for words. His chest sputtered beneath my fingers, his heart fading as he was.

    "If I had known it would end like this ..." He whispered, smiling through the pain as if it weren't real. As if this weren't happening. His other hand came up to my cheek, brushing the hair away and those eyes softening further, and with a tone smooth as silk he said, "...I wouldn't change a thing."

    The tears in my eyes blurred my sight of him and a choked sob escaped me, "Don't talk like that. This isn't goodbye."

    I saw the way his grin twitched as the pain grew. He licked his lips, blood dressing both his mouth and his tongue, "No, not goodbye."

    His eyes fluttered and the desperate scream that escaped me wasn't human. And it wasn't enough to keep him, not enough to hold death at bay. Still his eyes closed, still his body settled in the dirt, and I could only watch it happen with an unbearable anguish stabbing at my heart. My fingers clawed at his chest, senseless words rambling from my mouth as the crowd looked on.

    No one moved to help.

    "Come back!" I shrieked at him through my tears, hiding my face in his chest as vicious sobs wracked through me like tidal waves, "Come back, please, please!"

    But my cries fell on deaf ears. No answer came, no form of salvation.

    Only a lifeless body encased in blood.

    I crumbled over him, crying louder until it was the only sound echoing under the moon's watchful gaze. She would mourn his death as I would, for he was the holder of us both. All the stars in the sky couldn't replace what had been lost tonight, all the drops in the ocean would weep with the declaration of his passing. Nature itself would bow down as he left this world for good.

    My eyes closed, tears streamed down my cheeks, coming to rest on his chest in cold eternal residence.

    Thoughts rolled over in my head, memories and words, some said and some not. A warmth lined each one, bringing light and love to a world plagued by darkness. Thoughts, so many thoughts, but only one rang out louder than the rest.

    Let us go back.