The Land Below our Feet III (Legacy)

MAP

-So, basically, you tossed a torch into a pyromaniac’s hands – Greghan sarcastically commented. Letting out a bitter laugh and patting the Argantean´s back.

-Not exactly – The blond King resignedly sighed – I, I just reminded him that he’d had it in his palm all that time… Either way, it was my fault.

He paused. Rubbing the center of his forehead while he tried to uselessly diffuse the gaping wrinkle that had started forming in the middle of it a while back.

-You see, we all grew up listening to the tales of Selahrian, The Discoverer, and his adventures across the sea, while he traced his famous maps. But Ulgiak hadn’t thought about them in decades… None of us really had.

-Is that the same Selahrian that came to this land? – Greghan wondered – The one we even used to worship once?

-Selahrian The Great – Ghroghl nodded at him in confirmation – That’s what you’d call him after he helped you free your precious Emerland. Long before your kind murdered his descendants and threw the final remains of his almost forgotten memory into the trash.

-Well… I guess that’s the sad thing about historical events – The Captain pointed out – The more time passes, the more irrelevant they seem to become. How could Enhisians expect any gratitude from a generation that never experienced the despair their ancestors had spared them?

-You’re right – The Argantean somberly agreed – The longer it goes by, the more incredible a story starts to sound.

The monarch pensively scratched his chin, his eyes clouding momentarily with a mixture of anger and pride.

-For instance, there is now a group of youngsters back at home that were all born after we struck our deal with you guys – He resumed his contemplation – So, they literally have no idea of what famine is… Even if their elders try to warn them about it, I bet it must just sound like a cautionary tale to them, because they don’t know how it feels.

-And that’s what happened to Selahrian´s stories, both here and there – Greghan deduced – They ended up being just a bunch of legends that nobody believed in anymore.

-But Ulgiak had been grasping at straws for such a long time, and he was so desperate that, when I stupidly mentioned Selahrian´s name, he held to it like a rescue board for his dear life – Ghroghl bitterly remarked – I should have known that he would treat that old story like a sacred gospel if that still gave him the tiniest chance.

-Well, they say hope dies last – The soldier nonchalantly commented – And I take that he was right in the end, wasn’t he? Because you wouldn’t be here trying to fix your mistake otherwise.

-Yes. Apparently, he has found Selahrian´s map – The foreigner affirmed – And by “found” I mean he’s slaughtered an entire village and ripped it from its vault.

-But those are just rumors, aren’t they? – Greghan reminded him with a hopeful inflection in his tone – You told the Commander that it was all mere seamen’s gossip so far.

-The thing is that the accuracy of their recounts is too uncanny to discard – The ruler earnestly declared – As I said, these stories are so archaic that there is no reason for anyone to be bringing them up precisely now and fabricating random stuff around them just because. Much less, something so vicious and sad.

-So, you think it is all true – The Crimson Guard officer cautiously observed – And you think that they are heading here next to invade our land.

-It must be – Ghroghl gloomily stated – None of my men knew about the conversation Ulgiak and I had. So, imagine my surprise when they happened to find a dying wacko claiming to be a survivor from Panghei in the middle of the vast sea, talking gibberish about a brutal m******e involving Selahrian and his forgotten map.

-Yep, it seems too much of a coincidence – The soldier concurred with a grim smile – You must have shat your pants when you heard that, uh? But why didn’t you just send someone there to verify it?

-Because nobody knows exactly where Panghei is – The king murmured – Or at least nobody did. The legend says that Selahrian himself made sure of that… And to be honest, I always thought that Selahrian was just a fictional character and nothing more. It wasn’t until I came here and heard you had stories about him as well, that I understood that he had been real all along.

-Wait! What about the castaway stranger? – The captain suddenly asked, talking hurriedly over him – Couldn’t he have shown you the way so you could check it out?

-He couldn’t, because by the time the crew reached our docks, he was already dead – Ghroghl defeatedly replied – Ultimately, all I had was the word of my sailors and the decaying corpse of an unknown man. But I trust my men enough, and besides, they had no reason to lie. So, here I am.

-You say Selahrian made sure no one knew where that place was – Greghan reminded him – Why is that?

-Well, it’s a very long story – The Argantean hesitantly whispered, stealing an uncertain glance around.

-And I’ve got nothing but time to kill while we’re waiting for that Ulgiak to show up – The warrior insistently responded.

-Alright – He began narrating – According to my people, Selahrian used to be quite an untamable adventurer in his youth, and that, paired with a natural sense of direction, soon made him the first and most renamed cartographer of his time. He is said to have spent years sailing and surveying the adjacent territories. That’s supposedly how our ancestors got their first maps.

-And that’s how he got the moniker of Selahrian, The Discoverer – Greghan deduced – Is that how he bumped into our land?

-Eventually – Ghroghl answered – But Emerland´s was in fact the last map he would ever trace. And by the time he did. He was fed up with Argant´s ways.

-Oh really? – The captain sneeringly exclaimed with fake surprise, rolling his eyes – Which ones?

-You know which. The raiding ones – The foreigner sharply hissed – After all, Selahrian was a drifter, not a conqueror, and he disapproved greatly of the misuse that the crown had been giving to the knowledge he’d so generously placed in their hands for a modest price.

He took a deep breath, briefly acknowledging the soldier’s smug stare, then looking away from him.

-So, when he stumbled upon a small island lost in the middle of the Peihsyan sea, and he fell in love with the chieftain’s daughter, he swore he would never let those sands be tarnished by anyone.

-How romantic! – Greghan commented in a cryptic tone with crossed arms and an arched eyebrow – Then what?

-They say he spent five whole years there, courting that mysterious woman – The monarch resumed his tale after a silent second of doubt – When he came back to Argant with a beautiful wife, but without any map to share this time, because he had supposedly gifted it to his new father-in-law, the king was livid! So, to appease him, he spoke to him about this other place he’d been at.

-And… Let me guess, that happened to be our land – The red-attired man wryly inferred.

-It did. And you already know how the rest goes – Ghroghl emotionlessly sighed – They came here, and they caused havoc until Selahrian convinced a large bunch of them to go against their ruler so they could all stay and finally live in peace, which they did, for centuries… Until they were all brutally murdered later by that evil swamp king.

-Except for Ussariah – Greghan uttered matter-of-factly – He survived and poetically kicked your ass again when your people decided to come back.

-That doesn’t change the fact that an entire city perished when its inhabitants should have been revered for what they did for you all in the past! – The Argantean barked at him.

-You said it yourself – The captain calmly reflected – The stories get buried with time, and people forget. It´s just life.

-They do – The ruler resignedly agreed – Enhisians mistake was secluding themselves and becoming a targeted minority in the process… That is always a dire spot to be at. And the worst part is, I can see it happening all over again now.

-Do you think that the refugees are going to end up being killed by our people once more? – Greghan amusedly scoffed – Ussi would never let that happen, you can rest assured of that.

-Well, history tends to repeat itself – Ghroghl groaned –Nobody learns from other people’s mistakes. For example, Ulgiak is perfectly aware of what happened to my kind… Thrice. Still, he chooses to believe that it will be different for him. That’s one of the two main things that make this man so dangerous. He thinks he is above that.

-What’s the other? – The warrior inquired with visible intrigue, staring piercingly at the young king that stood before him and feeling an involuntary shiver run down his spine.

-That he has been treated like a Messiah for so long that now he has convinced himself he is indeed one.