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The man watched as barrels of smoke kicked up from the belly of flames by a cottage, whisking away through the cold air. Meticulous details seemed to keep Jebediah’s mind astray. He saw himself as a saint with those thoughts. It was the smallest things in life, such as the smell of hickory rolling past your nose, that you didn’t pay much attention to until you’ve fiddled with the hand of death. He arrived at the foot of the village, which was plastered with broken boards, flying sheets, and a smattering of blood paving the way to the first house on the left.

A wall of hesitation rendered him immobile, time stopped, and he froze. A tingling shot went up his back. The overwhelming sensation that someone was watching him loomed over his existence. It reminded him of the first time he stepped onto a battlefield of war-crazed soldiers, just before they all clashed with shields and swords. He looked intently as he knelt to give close inspection by the blood. It was fresh. No doubt, it was a citizen of Bright-Field. Outlying villages were spread far throughout the kingdom. Unfortunately, horse-travel wasn’t fast enough to save the people in this village. But it should have been.

He sat there and stared harshly at the blood trail. For a short time, tranquility ensued. All he could hope for is that whatever killed the Bright-Fielder had showed mercy. Minutes passed and Jebediah felt his eyes swell and his vision blur, then a stream of tears etch through the small traces of dirt on his face. His unending selfishness was the cause of this. All he thought about was himself. He didn’t think to double-up on guard houses to defend their people, making them for accesible to the outlying villages. He didn’t think, not even for one minute, that these people lead lives of their own. He knew they contributed to the kingdom with tax money and jobs, but he never truly cared... For them.

“Why do I still stand? And they fall. Why do I get to live?” he screamed in agony, with a lurching cry of anger as more tears spilled over the banks of his eyelids.

He heaved over himself and clasped his hands around his waist, rocking back and forth as he twisted his skin. Jebediah was one of the many people who said war wouldn’t change him. It didn’t. It only made his passion for revenge burn brighter. The man sat there, his nose dripping with snot and the skin around his eyes red, as if he were sunburnt by the blistering sun. Suddenly, a voice cracked through the wind and broke his chain of whimpers. Jebediah staggered to his feet, practically falling to his face, and unsheathed his longsword.

“Who’s there!” he said in a definitive stance with the sword above his head and his legs arched as they moved.
“I didn’t really expect you to be an amalgamation of boogers and tears when I got here… Well, then again, we are friends. So, yeah, I kind of did,” came the pleasing yet stubborn voice of his king, Ryu.
“Very funny,” Jebediah said, contorting his face into a violent form as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

Ryu paced in front of him, like he was about to scold him. But nothing happened. Jebediah was reserved most of the time, being young and shy, but he still saw no reason why he was there. All Jebediah had in common with the king was that they were set on defeating the tyrannical surges the world produced. Maybe he was just being used for cannon fodder. Jebediah watched Ryu’s feet pace, until he finally built up the courage to say something.

“A-and we’re not friends,” Jebediah said with an alarming nonchalant tone in his voice.
“You’ve been in my kingdom for nearly a year, Kilroe. I think we are friends… Even if we’re not now, we will be.”
“Listen, I’m sorry-” Jebediah said, before he was stopped in his tracks.
“The first thing you better be sorry for is not referring to me as King Ryu,” Ryu said, peering into Jebediah’s eyes with disgust.

Jebediah stood there for a moment and tried to process what just happened. He looked blankly back at him.

“Yes, sire,” Jebediah responded.
“Ha-ha, I’m just messing with you,” Ryu said as he slapped him on the shoulder.
“Damnit,” Jebediah said under his breath.
“What was that?”
“Oh, nothing… Please, just listen to me. I just don’t get it. What do you see in me?”

Ryu gestured towards the porch of a nearby house. Pieces of the porch and the front door were tattered and crumbling. Jebediah sat down on the porch and waited for Ryu to join him, even though he didn’t think it was a good place to talk. The sky was filled with an abundance of clouds and blotted out the fury of the sun. Jebediah knew he had endured too many days of it, so his mind was at peace that it was obscured. Ryu clasped his hands as he sat on the step above him, his flowing cape draping the porch.

“I see a lot in you, Jebediah. Determination. Will. Mercy. Forgiveness. Jealousy… Selfishness.”

Jebediah slightly looked over, ready to make a retort at all of those statements, but he lowered his head back in shame.

“Humans... You’re all very flawed. I’ve witnessed more years than you can count with your kind. But Bright-Field was made for people. People like you, Jebediah.”
“How does that explain enabling me to have final say upon the kingdom’s regulations, laws, and where the money goes?” Jebediah asked.
“Because you swore an oath to protect this kingdom and its people at all costs when you entered knighthood,” Ryu countered.
“I’m a mere slayer of monsters, sire.”
“Did you not sweep your cheeks from left to right with your hand just a moment ago? You have much to learn,” Ryu replied in haste.

Jebediah bobbed his head in agreement, slightly agitated. Suddenly, Jebediah was pinned with confusion. He’d never marked this village on the map of Bright-Field before. Jebediah was now agitated with himself that he didn’t spot it earlier. He looked back at the king, but he had vanished. The judded steps of wood he was sitting on began to collapse inward and the cottages ahead of him withered away. The smattering of blood that once stained the dirt road was gone, too. As he tried to wriggle himself free from the wooden step, he felt the ground drop from his feet and he thudded on soil from a few feet above air. When he arose, the village was gone and the last image he remembered was Ryu and Kefka looking down at him.

“Kefka, you must be the best illusionist in all of Bright-Field,” Ryu said with a perky smile.
“Eh, I try my best, sire,” Kefka said in response, both of them talking as if Jebediah weren't there.

They started slowly back to the kingdom, hovering on the edge of the horizon.

The last words he heard from Ryu were, “Took forever to get that boy to show some dang emotion. Had to send him out to a manufactured scene to do it.”

With those words, Jebediah became content once again and his attention was placed back on himself. He was glad that the blood wasn’t real, an illusion to evoke what had been bottled up inside of him. That’s what happened when you were satisfied. Jebediah realized that his actions would take the same course of history. As stubborn and wittingly clever as Ryu was, Jebediah knew it was time to make a change.

Noobie...don't be a jacka.s.s cat_rolleyes

Thank you! I agree with that. I'll make sure to fix it in future projects.

BUMP (Read the EDIT)