CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
"Is it time yet?"
"No."
"Can't I just..."
"No."
"Why are you being this way?"
"You know what the prophecy says."
"The prophecy doesn't say I was kept locked up in here all my life!"
"It is the only way."
"It's not, it's not, just listen, listen my logic, PLEASE LISTEN..."
"No."
The slit was closed. He was back in darkness. He waited in despair. He didn't know for how long. There was nothing regular about the intervals between their visits. They simply checked to see if he was still alive. He wouldn't be let out until it was time for him to play his part. It was written and so it must be.
Days passed. They fed him, three times a day, but no interaction was required for that. The food simply passed through slots. He'd shout, every time. "LISTEN TO ME," he'd shout. Maybe they did listen, but they didn't tell him. He kept going over it in his head, the insanity of it all, the injustice of his life. Freedom was supposed to be the right of every man. Yet ever since he'd started attending the school of witchcraft and wizardry he had experienced no freedom. Just captivity. He was one of the prophecised.
The slit opened. He saw the light and throw himself towards it.
"Now now," came the unmistakable voice of the headmaster. "There's no good doing that, as you well know. This door cannot be broken down."
"Not trying to," he said, fevered. "Just want to be in the LIGHT!"
"Are you quite well?" asked the headmaster, always on the lookout for behaviour which diverged from their designs.
"Well? WELL? I've been walled up here for FIVE FUCKDAMN YEARS! BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID FUCKING PROPHECY!"
"It's not stupid," said the headmaster, calmly. "And you're not mad."
"Aren't I? AREN'T I? HOW WOULD YOU KNOW? HOW WOULD YOU FUCKING KNOW? I won't do it, haha!"
"You won't do what?"
"I want play my part."
"Oh but you will. It is written and so it shall be. So it must be."
"I WILL NOT DO ITTTT!"
"It was prohecised, my boy, of course you will."
"You interfered! With the prophecy! You fools! Don't you know? Those who observe also interfere! Haha! You took me, from my life and locked me up just so that I would act out words written thousands of years ago! YOU MADE A MISTAKE, YOU HEAR? If if if if you hadn't locked me up, it would have been fine. I would have done it. I would have, I'm a proud young man. I love this school...loved this school. I would have killed the dragon, without knowing I was fulfilling your prophecy! And everything would have been fine! BUT YOU..."
"We had to be sure, lad. This is bigger than you. This dragon, if it lives, will kill the future generation of wizards. It's a domino effect. There are students here who will go on to change the world, to SAVE the world. Their lives are more important than yours, then mine..."
"WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT!"
"I am the headmaster of this school, holder of the scrolls of prophecy. It is my SACRED DUTY to ensure that everything goes to plan! I exist to make sure that those words come true, because if they didn't..."
"You don't know what would happen if you didn't, because you're slave to them!"
"The scrolls speak of a catastrophe. Once before, only once, a prophecy did not go accordingly. The boy it spoke of attended this school too, he was supposed to be a great hero...but he choose the evil path. Killed dozens of his fellows. Became the dark one. Became..."
"Lord Thunderbolt, yeah yeah, boring, heard of him. He was in the prophecies too though, wasn't he? Thunderbolt? His coming? How could that be so? How could both prophecies be right, if one had to be broken for the other to come true."
"A fluke, nothing more. Besides the Thunderbolt prophecy is one we did not want to happen at all..."
"BUT IT DID! It happened! You didn't interfere, and it happened. And now you've ruined it all, because you've interfered! Do you not see? It's you who have undone the prophecy at last! Because I won't kill your dragon. I won't fight, I'm no warrior! I could have been, if I had been free. But I want to die, headmaster. Haha! I WANT TO DIE! There's not fight in me. You have failed."
"We'll see. Because it is time. Come into the light, if you desire it so." And the headmaster opened the door.
"Is this a trick?"
"It's time to face your destiny. The dragon is at the gates. Go. You must. The children, they need you!"
"Haha..." he crawled into the light. "Not bight enough!"
"The sun is high. Go to the gates and you can see it with your eyes once more."
"I'll see the dragon...and shake its hand...its claw...I want to die..."
"The light waits you."
He crawled, then he walked. He walked all the way outside. The sun shined on him for the first time in five years. It nearly blinded him. He didn't care. He felt alive.
He saw the dragon. It was bigger than he had imagined. Knights were attacking it, but the dragon fought them off with a flick of its tail, a burst of dragonfire. Then it took to the air. Such a massive dragon should not have been able to fly, but it cleared the moat with something that was more of a jump that flight. It landed in front of him.
He tried to pet it.
"I'm supposed to kill you...let's make it happen the other way," he said. The dragon opened its mouth. "Back to the dark..." he said. The dragon was preparing to loose its dragonfire on him, but he didn't want to die like that. He wanted to be eaten. He ran, right through the dragon's jaws, into his throat...and got stuck there.
The dragon tried to loose its fire, but he was in too deep.
The dragon choked to death. The prophecy had been fulfilled. He had killed the dragon.
Afterwards, the headmaster inspected the dragon's great ruin, sadly. The deputy head walked over to him slowly, knowing what was about to come.
"It is done," said the deputy head. "A few knights died, none of consequence."
"He really had no idea what he was doing, even at the end," said the headmaster.
"Of course not. We kept it from him, all the years. The other part of the prophecy. The part that described exactly how he killed the dragon. How he was kept locked up by...by you, how he lusted for the light...how it brought him here. He was a hero."
"He was a pawn."
"It...it is done."
"You were going to say the fallen headmaster, weren't you? For that is what the prophecy says. And that's not all..."
"It...it is unclear."
"Oh, it's very clear."
"You should not have read that part of the prophecy, headmaster."
"If I hadn't, the exact same thing still would have happened. Trust me. This is not a self-fulfilling prophecy."
"But you don't have to...no one else has seen it, no one needs to know. You don't have to!"
The headmaster looked at his deputy and shook his head slowly. "Of course I do. I deserve it. What I did may have been written. But it was still evil." And then the headmaster turned his own want on his head and unleashed a lethal burst of magic on himself.
So it was written and so it was. The headmaster lay dead by his own wand, next to the great dragon.
And the next generation of witches and wizards went on to live their lives exactly as had been written.
"No."
"Can't I just..."
"No."
"Why are you being this way?"
"You know what the prophecy says."
"The prophecy doesn't say I was kept locked up in here all my life!"
"It is the only way."
"It's not, it's not, just listen, listen my logic, PLEASE LISTEN..."
"No."
The slit was closed. He was back in darkness. He waited in despair. He didn't know for how long. There was nothing regular about the intervals between their visits. They simply checked to see if he was still alive. He wouldn't be let out until it was time for him to play his part. It was written and so it must be.
Days passed. They fed him, three times a day, but no interaction was required for that. The food simply passed through slots. He'd shout, every time. "LISTEN TO ME," he'd shout. Maybe they did listen, but they didn't tell him. He kept going over it in his head, the insanity of it all, the injustice of his life. Freedom was supposed to be the right of every man. Yet ever since he'd started attending the school of witchcraft and wizardry he had experienced no freedom. Just captivity. He was one of the prophecised.
The slit opened. He saw the light and throw himself towards it.
"Now now," came the unmistakable voice of the headmaster. "There's no good doing that, as you well know. This door cannot be broken down."
"Not trying to," he said, fevered. "Just want to be in the LIGHT!"
"Are you quite well?" asked the headmaster, always on the lookout for behaviour which diverged from their designs.
"Well? WELL? I've been walled up here for FIVE FUCKDAMN YEARS! BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID FUCKING PROPHECY!"
"It's not stupid," said the headmaster, calmly. "And you're not mad."
"Aren't I? AREN'T I? HOW WOULD YOU KNOW? HOW WOULD YOU FUCKING KNOW? I won't do it, haha!"
"You won't do what?"
"I want play my part."
"Oh but you will. It is written and so it shall be. So it must be."
"I WILL NOT DO ITTTT!"
"It was prohecised, my boy, of course you will."
"You interfered! With the prophecy! You fools! Don't you know? Those who observe also interfere! Haha! You took me, from my life and locked me up just so that I would act out words written thousands of years ago! YOU MADE A MISTAKE, YOU HEAR? If if if if you hadn't locked me up, it would have been fine. I would have done it. I would have, I'm a proud young man. I love this school...loved this school. I would have killed the dragon, without knowing I was fulfilling your prophecy! And everything would have been fine! BUT YOU..."
"We had to be sure, lad. This is bigger than you. This dragon, if it lives, will kill the future generation of wizards. It's a domino effect. There are students here who will go on to change the world, to SAVE the world. Their lives are more important than yours, then mine..."
"WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT!"
"I am the headmaster of this school, holder of the scrolls of prophecy. It is my SACRED DUTY to ensure that everything goes to plan! I exist to make sure that those words come true, because if they didn't..."
"You don't know what would happen if you didn't, because you're slave to them!"
"The scrolls speak of a catastrophe. Once before, only once, a prophecy did not go accordingly. The boy it spoke of attended this school too, he was supposed to be a great hero...but he choose the evil path. Killed dozens of his fellows. Became the dark one. Became..."
"Lord Thunderbolt, yeah yeah, boring, heard of him. He was in the prophecies too though, wasn't he? Thunderbolt? His coming? How could that be so? How could both prophecies be right, if one had to be broken for the other to come true."
"A fluke, nothing more. Besides the Thunderbolt prophecy is one we did not want to happen at all..."
"BUT IT DID! It happened! You didn't interfere, and it happened. And now you've ruined it all, because you've interfered! Do you not see? It's you who have undone the prophecy at last! Because I won't kill your dragon. I won't fight, I'm no warrior! I could have been, if I had been free. But I want to die, headmaster. Haha! I WANT TO DIE! There's not fight in me. You have failed."
"We'll see. Because it is time. Come into the light, if you desire it so." And the headmaster opened the door.
"Is this a trick?"
"It's time to face your destiny. The dragon is at the gates. Go. You must. The children, they need you!"
"Haha..." he crawled into the light. "Not bight enough!"
"The sun is high. Go to the gates and you can see it with your eyes once more."
"I'll see the dragon...and shake its hand...its claw...I want to die..."
"The light waits you."
He crawled, then he walked. He walked all the way outside. The sun shined on him for the first time in five years. It nearly blinded him. He didn't care. He felt alive.
He saw the dragon. It was bigger than he had imagined. Knights were attacking it, but the dragon fought them off with a flick of its tail, a burst of dragonfire. Then it took to the air. Such a massive dragon should not have been able to fly, but it cleared the moat with something that was more of a jump that flight. It landed in front of him.
He tried to pet it.
"I'm supposed to kill you...let's make it happen the other way," he said. The dragon opened its mouth. "Back to the dark..." he said. The dragon was preparing to loose its dragonfire on him, but he didn't want to die like that. He wanted to be eaten. He ran, right through the dragon's jaws, into his throat...and got stuck there.
The dragon tried to loose its fire, but he was in too deep.
The dragon choked to death. The prophecy had been fulfilled. He had killed the dragon.
Afterwards, the headmaster inspected the dragon's great ruin, sadly. The deputy head walked over to him slowly, knowing what was about to come.
"It is done," said the deputy head. "A few knights died, none of consequence."
"He really had no idea what he was doing, even at the end," said the headmaster.
"Of course not. We kept it from him, all the years. The other part of the prophecy. The part that described exactly how he killed the dragon. How he was kept locked up by...by you, how he lusted for the light...how it brought him here. He was a hero."
"He was a pawn."
"It...it is done."
"You were going to say the fallen headmaster, weren't you? For that is what the prophecy says. And that's not all..."
"It...it is unclear."
"Oh, it's very clear."
"You should not have read that part of the prophecy, headmaster."
"If I hadn't, the exact same thing still would have happened. Trust me. This is not a self-fulfilling prophecy."
"But you don't have to...no one else has seen it, no one needs to know. You don't have to!"
The headmaster looked at his deputy and shook his head slowly. "Of course I do. I deserve it. What I did may have been written. But it was still evil." And then the headmaster turned his own want on his head and unleashed a lethal burst of magic on himself.
So it was written and so it was. The headmaster lay dead by his own wand, next to the great dragon.
And the next generation of witches and wizards went on to live their lives exactly as had been written.
