The Eternal King Benjamin have been suffering from boredom for most of the last 300 years, and since he killed the last of his friends he could not even feel any dread of potential danger. Evan have been the only one to outlive the Dark Emperor, and only because Ben considered him a minor entertainment. Seven assassination attempts that were somehow well planned, but after each failure it was obvious who was responsible. Then, for some incomprehensible reason, he has attacked head on by himself alone. Benjamin could only guess if that was revenge for sending his girlfriend for certain death, in a pointless battle, or sealing his daughter in the plane of darkness. Nothing unusual. He considered himself a good friend during that particular century, they really have been through worst times than that. In Ben’s eyes Evan should appreciate it, and keep pretending to be a trustworthy friend (Ben really admired his acting skills in that matter).

To be honest. He knew that saying it out loud was a bad idea, but he was actually getting tired of Evan screaming truisms like: “You are a MONSTER!”. Ben hated when people state obvious facts like that, instead of using some actual criticism. After hearing some reason he could at least apologize to him or something. People always are so surprised when he does that, but even gods made mistakes from time to time, the only difference between them and Benjamin was the fact he could actually admit it. Or maybe the surprise was caused by his usual attitude and common opinion that he was an impulsive sadist. Which was far away from the truth, as he rarely did anything without a careful considering his options and consequences of his actions. Well, most of the time he didn’t care about any consequences, but he did think about them.

Evan did not explain anything, so understandably, there was nothing to apologize for. Years went on, and the assassination attempts have grown more frequent, along with their complexity. It wasn’t a good time for distractions unfortunately, as after succeeding in uniting the whole continent under the rule of Senate and other institutions he had established over the years, the sheer amount of work made him feel tired for the first time since he came to this world. He begged Evan to give him some air, just for a decade or two. He would be fine with some kind of schedule or a set of rules discussing when they can play in their death game, and what imperial business it cannot interfere with. It took nearly 6 million kri and A LOT of new privileges granted by very annoyed senate officials, who in return, required Benjamin to stop his experiments with trying to turn kidnapped village girls into elves. He agreed a little reluctantly, but he didn’t have any time for his hobby anyway.

And so, has begun the fifteen peaceful years of hard work.

What has happened later was… Impressive? Infuriating? Horrifying? Benjamin felt all of it at the same time. If the circumstances were different he would make a national holiday in memory of that event, because he was pretty certain that no one would even attempt anything close to the sheer magnitude of this elaborate... Terrorist attack? Coup? Genocide? Cataclysm? Natural disaster?

Ben was overwhelmed. He did not expect Evan to even consider anything close to this scale. The amount of preparations and miracles along the way, necessary for this to happen, was terrifying in itself, but casualties… Benjamin wasn’t called The Eternal King for nothing, he did in fact shield the city while being torn to shreds by creatures he did not manage to identify till this day. He did not die, since he was truly immortal. He also was not defeated in combat, since he had all the magic ever known to mankind for him to command. But for all the godly powers, Evan have managed to trick him trice that day.

First. He made him use his Authority in the morning the same day, and when he succeeded, he proceeded with the rest of his plan. The greatest of Benjamin's powers would not be a threat for at list another day.

Second. He actually told him, that he will try to kill him. It seemed like he was just using the riots, that took place under his palace in the Capital, as a distraction. The rules, they made for public safety, should have taken care of any worries he would normally have. And Ben have believed Evan to keep his promise.

The third one was different from the first two. Benjamin have made that distinction very clear in his mind during the later years. The difference was that Ben should have expected, or at least watch out for the second meteor.

When the city wards have overloaded, Ben was being digested by a dragon, and noticed that something was wrong, when the lizards body was torn to shreds by the shock wave. That was one of those rare moments when his was afraid for his life. He did in fact learn some things about his powers that day. None of them were pleasant.

When his body returned to a working condition he was surprised that there were some survivors. Immediately he had cast a healing spell all over what was the capital city of The Narak Empire, and to his surprise he couldn’t resurrect almost any of the diciest. Those few zombies he managed to make were not enough to bring even a fraction of order. Realizing he could not do anything more he went catatonic for two weeks, only to snap out of it a day before Evans process.

His friend refused to say what exactly made him commit such a horrible crime. Ben have felt that it would take centuries of self reflection, to comprehend just how bad friend he was, but the crime could not go unpunished. He pleaded to the judge to chose imprisonment in one of the daemon realms or even sending him of the planes ruled by the gods, but both were denied. After a month long process he was somehow relieved to hear the death sentence, and immediately removed Evans head from his body.

That experience definitely didn’t do anything good to his already questionable psyche. The last century was boring for sure, but he needed some peace. For some time. Then the cursed idea was born in his head.

“I wonder what happened to Mike. Maybe he is still alive?”, he wondered.

Right now, Ben was strongly convinced that one of the gods have been listening to him back then. He was considering killing all of them just in case.

“It has been a long time”, a terrible ice breaker.

The features of the man next to him have changed under the silk bands covering his face. It was hard to determine his reaction, but most probably it was not positive.

“Indeed”, he hesitated “What brings you here?”

“Forty years ago one of my men have reported to me about a mysterious prisoner who has escaped The Hollowed Rock. It was years too late to track you down, but it did give me some clues. When I heard that quite a few decedents, of the man who interrogated you, have been murdered, I begun my search. It wasn’t hard to be honest, you are quite known figure around here”, he explained.

“And what do you want to do since you found me?”

Benjamin wasn’t sure how much he should say, but lying was not an option. He had to make some things clear from the beginning.

“At this moment you have two options.”

“Die or join you?”

“No. Come with me, or die and come with me. First you gonna work for me for some time. I can resurrect you with your free will intact or not, but I would prefer the first one. When you prove yourself trustworthy enough, you can do whatever you want.”

As long as you don’t endanger The Empire, he added mentally. Hypothetically. Mike would be unable to kill a single dragon, without someones help. Without political connections he was mostly harmless. Mostly, the shadows crawling over the silk robe seemed to emphasize this word.

“Let me think about this.”

He is trying to stall for time. The tension in the air was starting to shape into burning rocks in hie eyes. He was probably being paranoid, but better safe than sorry.

“You can also try to fight me. Be my guest. You…”

Ben felt shame crawling on his back, as he formed dreadfire in his hands into a massive hammer. He slammed it with all the speed he could master, aiming for the rib cage to minimize the brain damage. He wanted to close his eyes, and almost did so when the weapon started to lose weight. The faint purple mist that has been the dreadfire was now being absorbed by a spiked armored glove oddly resembling piece of armor that Ben has destroyed when he killed The Dark Emperor.

Benjamin’s surprise was what saved Mikael’s live. His arm was broken in many places, and the pain made him vulnerable to further attacks. When he managed to concentrate a little, he decided not to take any more risk.

If The Eternal King would use his Authority then, his old friend would stand no chance, but his curiosity and excitement were too big, when he felt the rush of magic in the air.

“What are you doing to do? Summon Wrath of Seth? Order the time to burn? Descend to the plane of depravity? Try to rip my soul out of my body?”

He did not suggest a mental battle as it was the only thing that could pose some actual danger to him. His madness had its limits, but deep down in his heart he was counting on a rematch with the meteors.

But he definitely did not expect Mikael do just run of. The black smoke swallowed him even faster than Ben could react, and then he was gone.

The visions of meteors have increased in intensity.

“I’m in danger,” he chuckled. Then the chuckle have changed into maniacal laughter, as tears started running from hie eyes.