Original fiction - A story

How much time had passed? How many steps he had to do till he had finally reached that place? How many enemies he had to defeat in the process? How many allies had to gather? Protos himself could not say, as such a mission had consumed both his mind and soul in the process.... he had never taken off his golden armor which covered his body. He could allow himself to do it. At any moment of his life something could happen... a terror to him, but he had to go forward. No matter how terryfying the enemy, how powerfully he was crushed, but he would stand up again ... and win, no matter how one sided the situation was.

His journey had to continue. He had to do it. He had to put an end to the evil which had been forever plaguing his world. Yes, he would have made The End come. This was his last mission. His allies knew it and after heart-felt goodbyes, they had made him go alone. It was all up to him, and it was the right thing to do. The place was covered in light. A sunny day of summer at noon. It did not seem at all the moment for The End, but he knew he had to go forward regarless.

It was the last place he had to reach... there was the key to The End of all the evils of this wold. It was a bright colored temple. The day was sunny and there was no shadow apparently from how much the sun was intense and high. Protos walked, not a word escaping from his mouth, he walked up all the stairs and finally reached the top of the temple. Despite the absolute lack of tension in this, he was aware that there would have been a last challenge for him. And it came. From behind him, A towering figure all clad in black, glowing eyes , all covered in a black armor not unlike Protos, but his was far more jagged edged, covered in spikes and carvings of dragons.

"At last we meet again Protos!"; a grainy echoing voice muttered, drawing a flaming sword from his sheat. Protos said nothing and looked at his own enemy: it was him, the champion of the forces opposing him, his archnenemy, the reason he had to become what he had become. The dreaded overlord known as Antas, known to be able to break any will but Protos' under his mind. And yet, Protos was not surprised. Antas had done nothing but hinder him during all his life through indirect forces... all of them had failed. It was about time the overlord would step up and fight against him.

"So.... nothing to say? - Antas threatened him - the end of our life-lasting feud is coming... and you want to say nothing? After all the time we spend fighting, now that you are that close to fulfill your objective to put an end to all evil.... you say nothing. Have you ever questioned why you did it? What would your victory cause. Don't I have the right to live like anyone else? You want to protect the people you love from evil.... that's ... quite selfish, you know. At least if you wanted to protect EVERY people. Don't I get even a last chance a redemption from you?"

Protos just kept walking, not caring about what Antas would say to him. He did not care. Antas was a deceiptful devil, he was not to be listened. His words had to manipulate people, not to make them reason.

Antas planted the sword to the ground as he said: "Why do you hate me, Protos? You should be the good one of us, and yet you say nothing and keep ignoring me.... are you so cruel towards your enemies? Are you so driven towards your goal given by your Powers To Be that you care nothing about me? At least my Powers To Be are gentler than one! And now you want to end all of this between us"

Finally, after so many piercing words, Protos stopped. They were finally alone, so he finally could say something to him. He could not say anything occasionally, it was not up to him to speak, for he had to express himself through facts, but he finally spoke

"You killed the person I loved the most! You started this, I end this"

Antas grimanced at this for a second. It was the first time he had heard Protos' real voice. It was.... very kind, especially compared to Antas' deep brass. But eventually the Overlord spoke.

"That is right, I did, personally. I remember this. But nothing else. I don't remember where, how, who they were. I don't even remember how you looked like under that armor. Have you aged, Protos? Do you remember any detail from the moment we became enemies?", Antas asked. Protos had resumed walking, much to Antas' horror as he realized.

"You don't as well. Protos, once you were a commoner, now you seem nothing more than a vehicle used by your Powers To Be and end all of this. Do you realize that this is worse than being me? I mean, at least I keep a vestige of humanity. Why do I? Well, my Powers to Be allowed me to. I keep a character, we could say. Do you believe me, Protos?", Antas asked attemtping to make Protos slow down again, but to no avail. With a deep sigh, he decided then to show Protos something he had never shown to everybody. His face, with A single movement of his hand, the dark helmet who covered his visage faded away, finally revealing Antas' face.

"Turn aroudn and look at my real self Protos. Show me your real self! Tell me that you are something beyond your Armor. Don't tell me your Powers to Be took it off! I don't believe it! Damn it, Protos, look at me. You complain about the fact that I killed.... but you too did, you killed my followers. They were something beyond me. Sure, they rotated in function of me.... but they had a persona, they had a life, even slightly hinted by their words. You reaped them without a second word, did you? Even my second in command shared the same fate.... and you still complain! Think of this: in different circumstance, our Powers to Be would have made us join the same side. Do you think of us... as friend? Finally seeing my human side? Aren't you intrigued a bit. Come on, turn around.... give a look. Aren't you curious?", Antas said with a wide smile.

But Protos had not listened to him, looking at Antas was not something he cared about. He had gone so far that he would have completed his task. Soon, every source of suffering and conflict would have seen The End coming. Both of them knew it. Antas's blood boiled from within his veines and finally underwent the expected breakdown.

"PROTOS! YOU SELFISH MONSTER! YOU WANT TO END THIS ALL WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT? WHAT KIND OF PERSON ARE YOU? YOUR CREATOR GIVES YOU NO CHOICE BUT TO OBEY HIS BIDDING, DON'T YOU SEE IT? STOP THIS, FIGHT ME, SHOW ME YOU WANT TO DO NOT TO DESTROY EVIL BUT TO PROTECT GOOD! DAMMINT, PROTOS, FIGHT, FIGHT ME! THIS WILL BE THE BATTLE TO END OUR BATTLE, ONE SHALL RISE, ONE SHALL FALL!", Antas shrieked in rage swinging his sword, turning the temple into a blazing inferno...

But none of these actions swayed Protos from his goal, not even for a single moment. But, as soon as he had laid his hand upon the device which would have enhanced his plot, he realized there was a thing he had to do before. He stopped, and finally spoke again, still without turning his face to Antas.

Those were the word he said: "You lie. No, you are too stupid to realize what you say is a lie. Were we to fight, you know you cannot defeat me, Antas. Were we to fight, you'd escape at the last moment and resume your reign of terror once more. Or maybe I will kill you, but will it matter. Something will take your place and I will fight against it as well, then another and another till The End, which can only be postponed. Your words are empty. Your attempts to pretend sanity have failed, Antas. You started this all, I end this all. Every single word I am saying does not come from me, but from the Powers to Be, which now are adding this: 'Go away, Antas, your Powers to Be don't want you here!' "

The Overlord froze at these words, so truthful. Protos was right, he could do nothing. He had lost... he was made to lose. His Power To Be wanted him to lose. There was no way out. Regardless of his action, the Warrior would have won. And so the Overlord's visage went dull, his eyes unable to show any emotion, his will crushed by Protos as his flame faded away. He could not help but walk away, disappearing into the Shadows he belonged to.... as his Power to Be wished. He could be heard crying, but every plea would have falled flat at this point.

The Warrior looked at what he had on his hands and sighed. He knew the Powers to be had lied to the Overlord. Playing with the ego his Powers to Be had bestowed him had blinded him, convincing him HE was the one to start this all.... what an idiocy. He too had been manipulated all along. By the Powers To Be, of course. The Warrior knew he was nothing but another puppet of theirs, as his loved ones and everything else. The problem was.... he did not care about it.

He finally activated the device. And he succeded.

Every souce of conflict and sufference died.

Every shadow was destroyed.

The light consumed the world, till the last bit.

THE END HAS COME.