Eternal

Year 101

“So you understand and made the preparations?”
“Yes, but I don’t think they’ll be necessary. You’re just tired.”
“Cynthia, I know we’ve grown a bit close over the years…maybe a little more than just subordinate and master at times, but you need to focus and be strong. We all knew this day would one day come.”
“…yes…yes of course. The Silent Ones will be ready as you instructed and I have already picked out a couple of possible choices in who will take over as second when the…um time comes.”
“Hmm, well you need to narrow it down (cough cough) don’t over complicate things just go with your instincts and pick your best candidate. That’s what I did and I think it worked out well.”

Cynthia smiles a bit, but it’s quickly replaced with a sad expression and her quickly looking away. This is going to be hard on her, you might not have realized just how much until now. Then you never were an expert in these matters, you still remember your inexperience when Alison wanted to have sex with you, then again when Brenda admitted her feelings for you. You’ve never been one to linger on past mistakes, but occasionally you have thought that perhaps returning her feelings was a factor that lead to her suicide.

Your “relationship” with Cynthia has been a bit of a strange one, but again due to a combination of factors, it did evolve to something a little more, even if it was never spoken of. You aren’t sure if you exactly ever felt “love” for her, but you do have fondness for her. Cynthia on the other hand, you’re pretty sure adores you and you aren’t exactly sure why, since you’ve been a fairly harsh taskmaster in the past. Loyalty you understand, but with her it’s always been a little more and only increased as the years went on.

You almost want to ask her why, but in this case maybe it’s better to just let this be another mystery you die with. After all why question it?

You’ve never been great with this sort of stuff, but you figure you’ll make one last attempt at it before you die. Not for you, but her sake. You grab Cynthia’s hand as tightly as you can and look into her eyes.

“Cynthia…know that I…loved you in my own way.”

Normally a statement like that would probably be considered insulting to most, but it’s honest and she knows what you meant and it means a lot more to her than you’ll probably ever understand…or maybe you do understand, hence why you said it in the first place.

You spend the remainder of your time in silence, wondering if your plan will work. Part of you almost hopes there is some sort of afterlife from where you can watch event unfold here in the realm of the living. A little more time passes and you begin to feel death approach. The final enemy is here and after more than a century of stalking you, it will finally win this battle.

“Long live the Empire…” you whisper before finally taking your last breath.

Cynthia checks to make sure you’re really dead, she then cries quietly over your body. She gives you a kiss one last time before preparing herself for what needs to be done next and exits your private chambers. She calls all the Silent Ones to attention in the royal chamber.

“The Emperor has made his transformation as he has so many times before and will do so many times in the future. Remember this and remember that he is always watching. Always. For this day forward he shall speak through me, my orders are only his will. To follow me, is to obey him. You will find the former shell he was using before in his chambers, please dispose of it in the incinerator, it is of no more use to him. Afterwards, please continue to your normal duties until further notice.”

And on that day, your plan is at last set into motion.

Cynthia takes over your role and lives out the remainder of her days as “Emperor” with only her second as contact. It plays out differently, but the result is eventually the same, when she dies, her second takes over and then it happens again and again…

Your plan is a success. In time the average Nalin citizen genuinely believes that their emperor is an undying ruler that embodies the very essence of the Nalin Empire itself. Nobody ever knows the truth and even if they do suspect something it’s not enough to cause a fuss over.

As for the truth it’s only ever a handful of people that know it and they’re so high up and possibly next in line to become emperor that they are not going to ruin a good thing. And the Silent Ones can’t say anything even if they wanted to, which they don’t since they believe the lie more than anyone and consider it to be an honor to just be in the same vicinity of their beloved emperor. The funny thing is, while you aren’t necessarily remembered in the traditional sense, everything you laid down and the foundations of this system can be attributed to you. And as you were the first Emperor of Nalin, officially you never “died”.

You get the blame, you get the praise, you get whatever the people decide to feel about you due to whatever the current policies are. Because in the end it doesn’t matter who takes up the mantle of emperor, the fact remains it’s always still you.

Even for the ones that do know the truth, they have to acknowledge you every day they spend as emperor, for without you, there would be no emperor at all.

With this system in place, the Nalin Empire stays unified and strong, outlasting even the original old Empire, but as with all things, everything eventually ends, and in time you are forgotten and finally “die”…until one day.

Long after the palace of the once great Nalin Empire has crumbled into decay, a group of adventurers explore its ruins. After an easy battle of dispatching kobold squatters, the adventurers find a safe buried under piles of rubble. How it was not found or looted before is a mystery, but perhaps it is destiny.

After the party rogue is disappointed to find no valuables inside, one of the adventurers who fancies himself a bard takes the large book found within. He recognizes the old language and begins to read it hoping to get a new story out of it. What he learns instead is so much more.

It is your own personal journal. The one you kept during your original implementation of your plan. Your thoughts, your motivations, almost everything about your life is in it. Realizing what he has, the bard quickly writes down his own epic songs about your exploits. They are somewhat popular and it doesn’t take long before a genuine history scholar hears about these ballads and begins to wonder how the bard came across such knowledge of the Nalin Empire since records of it are very scarce.

After an amicable bargain, the bard sells the book to the scholar, since he already has enough songs and tales of his own from it and the money being offered is just too good to pass up. The scholar takes it and studies it properly along with his colleagues where long at last they have many questions answered about not only the Nalin Empire, but the one you previously served as well (Of which historical records are nearly non-existent)

With these events, you and your name have officially been “resurrected” in several discussions in various places of higher learning as well as various fairly tales, legends and the like in places both near and far. A book is even written about you called “Eternal Power.”

Whether you were trying to or not, you achieved immortality and will remain ETERNAL.