King Jeremy

The ghost of the King– the Demon King as the people now called him– lingered long after the castle was torched in flames. Blackened brick and ashen walls looked over the City that had sacrificed its King to please a God.

Demon King floated through the corridor of his castle, “Is this what you wanted?” he asked, now that he was dead he thought God would finally answer. “Are you listening?” he wept without tears. The moon was full tonight and as a ghost, he couldn’t leave the castle. So instead he haunted the darkness, alone. “All I wanted was for the people to take responsibility!” the Demonized King thought as he looked over once a great City.

“God isn’t going to save your souls.” the Demonized King screamed his voice lost in nothingness, “You have to.”

The charred door creaked open, “They dare mock me again?” the Demonized King thought angrily.

“You dare walk into my castle?” the Demon King said in an eerie voice that he had learned to scare the people he once cared about. He waited for an answer but none came. The Demonized King floated closer.

“Puny human.” the Demonized King said with an eerie, haughty voice, “You cannot desecrate my Castle.”

“Your Majesty.” the voice called shocking the Demonized King who was used to being called as Demon King, Satan’s Minion, or even a monster.

“Who comes to my Castle?” the Demonized King asked in a voice that was his own.

“Your Majesty,” a small man walked in through the door silhouetted by the moonlight behind him, “I’m Merlin.”

“What do you want?” the Demonized King showed his terrifying, wrinkled face with milky white hair and a green glow. The boy– Merlin as he called himself stood squarely in front of him without a hint of fear breaking through the surface.

“Your Majesty,” Merlin said, “I want to know…”

“Why I fornicated with the Devil? Why do I operate his machinery? Why I dabbled in mystic?”

“No, King Jeremy.” the Demonized King could feel his eyes widen.

“How do you know that name?” King Jeremy asked.

“I’m an engineer,” Merlin huffed his chest with pride, “I’ve read your books– your books that made their way to my town.”

“What do you want to know?” the King folded his arms behind his back and floated towards a window.

“Why were you… sacrificed?”

King Jeremy waited for a long time before he said in a voice that held his pain, “Because I wanted to save humanity with technology. They didn’t understand what I was doing and an ignorant mind is afraid. Look at this City, I wanted to make it the greatest in the world. But now, under God’s name, this place is rotting.

“There is no God Merlin,” King Jeremy turned, “There’s only this world and what we do with it is in our hands. We can fight with each other for Him or we can throw our arms away and live in kindness. Technology shouldn’t just be making Kings powerful. Science shouldn’t be afraid, hiding behind closed doors, murmuring in darkness… All I wanted was for my City to embrace Science and Technology. Discard their faith in God and place it on themselves… But it was too much to ask.” King Jeremy turned away.

“Humans don’t deserve knowledge. There are a billion stars out there, but humans are meant to die on this solid piece of rock.”

“You are wrong,” Merlin said. King Jeremy turned around floated towards him, “Give humans a chance, they can still surprise you. We are still young, still struggling to find our place in this universe. We are scared of being alone. But we are learning. We’ll persevere and we’ll leave this solid piece of rock.”

“I’m already dead.” King Jeremy said, “I don’t care.”

- Excerpt is taken from Merlin - the Great’s autobiography. Year 3000 Before Galactic Founding.