Come Love A Stranger

Forty three

“Your Majesty, I seriously oppose this,” One of the elders said as Ilayas and his court members left the throne him to his home few minutes after Alador left. The meeting had been cancelled after his stunt.
“Aye, your majesty, like you said, the prince has lost his mind and soul. He would kill with not an atom of emotion, are you really sure you want to do this?” another asked.
“Let us not forget, he had always been stronger. Born with three powers, he was already undefeatable and now added with the strength that comes when the curse takes upon a god, you would not win,” the first elder revealed and Ilayas glanced at him sharply and he shook his head, “t’s the truth your majesty, he had been born stronger. The only living god with more than one power, and let us not forget, Zariel reported that he saw him control Bamushka’s fire on the night he was engaged with a fight with her. If that be true, that would mean he has four powers instead, you really stand no chance against him. Let us call this off now.”
“As if you can tell Alador that,” Ilayas finally spoke up, “need I remind you what he would do if I do not show up tomorrow? Alador has always been a stubborn god, he would bring rage upon us all.”
“But…”
“There is no but,” Ilayas shushed with a raised of his hand, “I will fight him tomorrow and that is the final call.”
“Aye, your Majesty,” they all bowed in respect.
Ilayas sighed, “prepare my armor, tomorrow, this shall end.”
“Aye, your Majesty,” they said again and turned and left the room. Ilayas sighed and standing in front of his looking glass, he stared at himself, “perhaps, tomorrow would really put an end to it all, this has gone far long enough.” A knock sounded on his door and he turned to it, calling out, “who is it?”
The door pushed open and a woman with golden hair entered, “my lord,” she greeted and approached him, then standing on her tiptoes, she placed her lips on his. When she broke the kiss, her eyes were closed and she shook her head softly, “do not this.”
Caressing her cheek, he whispered to her affectionately, “I have to, if not, our son would lose what rightfully belong to his.”
“But t’s Alador’s as well.”
“Nay,” he shouted and stepped away from her, turning his back to her.
“That is like saying he is not Zachery’s son, t’s his birthright.”
“Zachery took the throne from me, I merely took what rightfully belong to me after his death and I am not going to let his son do that to mine.”
“You cannot win against him,” she said in worry and he turned to her then.
“Why, because he has three powers?”
“Nay, because he has four. Have you forgotten, Zariel said he saw him control Bamushka’s fire, even she do not deny it. So tell me, how can you defeat him? Do you not know that with all his powers, it would feel like you are fighting a sky god, a forest god, an animal god and a fire god? With all the powers combined, what can you, a thunder god do?”
“In case you have forgotten my love,” and with a wave of his hand, he lifted the water from a cup and molded it into a ball, bringing it in front of her and softly dropping it on her head, wetting her over, “I have water power.”
The woman sighed and without any stress, dried herself up, she was part sky god and part fire god, “you have been hiding that forever, are you going to reveal it now?”
“Yes, when lightening and water comes in contact, it creates an explosive power, even Alador with his four powers, connect triumph over that.”
“That has been your ideology but you have never tested it, you have never engaged in combat with him.”
“Tomorrow shall prove everything, now, let me be, I have a fight to prepare.” He shunned her away and with that, she sighed and left, leaving him once again, to stare at his looking glass.
***
When the dreadful day finally came, every god was worried because all know that today, one must be defeated and they don’t know if they would be having a new king or will still be serving the one they already have but everyone knows that it would be the former. As they all prepare to go to the battle ground, Ilayas received lectures again from the elders, they all still believed that he would not win and it would be better if he cancel the fight but he didn’t listen to them and rather was dressed in his best amour which he have been saving for a day like this.
The battleground was getting piled up little by little and even Azura and Bamushka, although not fully recovered, showed up, both taking their place on the high table. Ilayas soon entered the arena but Alador was nowhere to be found, he was running late and half of the gods were happy, while half who had really wanted to see Ilayas and Alador, the two strongest gods known alive battle against themselves.
“Your majesty, since his highness has not shown up, you should be declared the….”
“Sorry I’m late,” A voice interrupted and even after looking around, they didn’t see the owner until the strong wind finally settled and there he was, in nothing but his black tunic. His slivery white hair flying softly in the wind that surrounds him, his pitch black eyes staring around with no atom of emotion in them. “Let us begin.”
Seeing he had no amour on, Ilayas said, “I will advice you wear your amour.”
“I have no need for that,” he replied.
“Then I will cancel the fight, I refuse to fight you when you have no atom of protection on you.”
“I assure you that I am more protected than you are, so let us not worry about me but about you, because even your heavy amour cannot protect you from my wrath. Do you know why I was late? I found out something I should not have known or maybe I should have and so I went investigating and guess what I found?”
Ilayas asked, “what?”
Alador smiled, “my father did not die naturally.” The crowd gasped and Ilayas face changed, with one glance around, he asked, “should I tell them or should you?”
“Enough, let the fight begin,” Ilayas ordered.
“No,” Azura shouted from her spot, standing up, she glanced from Ilayas to Alador, “what killed him?”
Alador chuckled, “oh dear mother, it feels strange that even though I call you that, I feel no atom of emotion with it,” he furrowed his brows, “but I shall answer you, as we all know, your beloved Zachery was allergic to bindweed but a little or should I say, a large amount of it was added to a drink offered to him by his most trusted god, or should I say in this case, his brother. He had gotten ill immediately but what good was it if the same thing responsible for his illness was fed him every day by this same brother?”
“No,” Azura whispered, her legs failing her as she fell back on her seat, “it cannot be,” she kept shaking her head, not believing what she just heard, “no, it cannot be, he is your brother.”
“Liar,” Ilayas shouted, “you spit this lies to turn my people against me only because you are afraid of fighting me because you know you stand not a chance.”
“What should I be afraid of, your water power that you have been hiding from all?”