The Last Days of the Emperor

Emperor Calixtus II, the Farseer, stood upon the battlements of the inner wall of Asturia and his vision showed him greatness.  He saw the far flung colonies of Asturia flourishing and imperial culture continuing dispite the harships of the previous centuries.  He saw the survival of the empire though its descendents, but he did not know if he could trust his vision.  He also saw rampant destructions and the systematic elimination of imperial culture and anyone who remained loyal to its ideals.  He saw the triumph of small, petty creatures who could not look past their own noses and see the consequences of ther actions.  These being sought only power, dominion, and prestige.  At this thought, the emperor was shaken from his reverie by an explosion.  He saw balls of flame flying through his city, shattering spires and setting whole districts ablaze.  "Your majesty, we must get you to safety!  Come down from the walls so that we can get you to safety." "I cannot.  Though I saw this coming, I had the hubris to think that I could avoid this.  Is that arrogance or stupidity Stengar?" Stengar, the captain of the emperor's personal guard stared confusedly at his liege, "Sire, I don't understand.  We must go.  The army will make its last stand at the imperial palace.  The inner wall is about to fall." Calixtus paused and then said, "A last stand?  That would be superfluous.  We will resist and give our people time to escape.  My fate lies here as I have forseen" "You cannot be serious, your majesty.  With you the empire could survive and even rebuild.  Without clear leadership, the empire will completely collapse.  we..." "Enough! The empire has already collapsed.  It had fallen a millenia ago, and though we thought we had preserved Asturia, we had only delayed the inevitable.  Collapse cannot be avoided now, but you are right about one thing.  We do need to ensure survival, but not for me.  The continuation of Asturian iodeals and culture lies in our people.  They shall determine if the "empire" shall continue." "Sire..." Before Stengar could finish his though, he and the emperor were showered with debris and dust.  The guard captain looked to see the emperor on his kness, bleeding from the temple.  "Just a sctratch; however, your suggestion of an expeditious retreat seems appropriate now," the emperor said with feigned humor.  With a sharp whistle and a gesture, the imperial guard rallied around him and the emperor, and they ushered him off the walls.  They travelled through the streets, not even bothering with stealth to get to the city's core as fast as possible.  Balls of flame flew overhead, and peels of thunder could be heard all over the city.  The militay's great war engines turing against the Asturian Jewel was a sacrilege that was too hard to bear.  Calixtus had to stop to look, and he fell to his knee with greif.  Tears hit the cracked pavement as he thought about his failure and the failure of hos forebears.  "Could we not have stopped this?"  About that time shouts arose from the guards and two of them fell to the ground.  Two more jumoed in front of the emperor before the assasins blade could strike.  Blades clashed, and blood spattere the ground as another guard fell.  The would-be killer was a lithe individual clad in black and wearing the red armband of the rebels.  Calixtus could not take another moment, and with a gesture a beam of entropic energy shot out of his fingers and the killer screamed in pain and fell to the ground.  Before he had time to recover, the remaining guards hacked the assassin to pieces before continuing on to the palaces.   The imperial quarter was the core of the empire, and its palaces were the envy of the world, but the once proud halls of marble stone were crowded with fleeing citizens.  Children crying, parents' grief, and shouts for help offered a horrifying chorus to further crush Calixtus' spirit.  Still, he and his guards navigated the crowd to the crossroads of the Imperial Highway, the series of gates that once allowed legions of soldiers and settlers to cross vast distances in mere moments.  There, he joined his already strained magical coterie who were using their powers to open gates across the empire and allow the loyalist citizens to escape.  Calixtus, being a arcanist of no modest talent, stepped into the center of the room.  He called for the clerics and wizards to stop.  They did so and some of them all but collapsed with exhaustion.  He said, "You have spent neigh your whole spirit in helping our empire survive.  Now, use me as your conduit and I will help bear this burden.  Through me, we will create an anchor, and all of our people will find safe haven across the continent.  I say continent, for our country, as it was, is at an end."  There was a chorus of "NO" and "ther must be another way" from his guards, frieghtened citizens, and his copr of arcanists.  He raised his hand in a classic stately gesture, "This is the way.  This is how our society survives.  Guards! Rally our remaining forces and make your stand here!  If the rebels seek to acquire the empire, we will make them pay for it."  Shouts erupted from the soldiers present and they rushed to do the emperors bidding.  Stengarmet the gace of the emperor and gave a curt nod and contained his tears.  He knew that the emperor did not plan to escape from this.  He also knew that his soldiers were marching to their deaths.  However, at least this way, the last stand of the imperial army will go down in history, and indeed it did.  The last legion defended the imperial highway and palace complex fiercely.  Rebel forces were dying in droves trying throwing themselves at the imperial phalanx, which fought with a zeal unseen for millenia.  The sacrifice of the soldier bought Calixtus and his coterie precious time.  He had them channel their energy through him, and at once he felt overwhelming power and euphoria and indescribable pain.  He almost doubled over in pain, but eventually he martialed his forces and threw out his hands causing arcane energy to rush through all of the gate stones.  He threw his entire soul into ensuring that every gate was open at once before the remaining guards and officials called to the waiting refugees to find and gate and escape.  Trying to maintain order was almost impossible and some people did get trampled, but, for the most part, the waiting thousands moved through the portals.  Thankfully, the emperor already evancuated most of the city's population, but moving so many people at once took an almost titanic amount of effort.  As the last throngs of people were getting through the portals a great crash occured at far end of the inner plaza.  Rebel soldiers were forcing the loyalists back.  Stengar ran up to the emperor and shouted, "Please, your majesty!!  You must flee!"  The emperor just gave a sad smile and touched stengar's forehead with two fingers, "You shall flee, and you shall remember."  At that moment, Stengar was thrown through a portal by the emperor's will, and the portal snapped shut.   From this point on, accounts vary wildly on what happened, but here is the account recorded by Stengar, former captain of the Imperial Guards:   Stengar was in shock as he saw the gate shut off before he could scramble back through, and then his mind was flooded with visions of the inner plaza.  He was confused as he started to see the world through the emperor's eyes, he realised.  He watched helplessly as his fellow soldeirs and guardsmen were cut down.  He could not avert his gaze from the many civilians who grabbed whatever they could and threw themslves at the attackers in order to protect their emperor.  Stengar felt tears that were not his own, and then he felt...resolve.  The emperor's will became like iron and as the rebel general apporached, a gloating smile on his face, Stengar's blood ran cold.  The arcanists and the emperor closed the portals, though a connection to the emperor remained, and  Stengar could feel the emperor's will, and though he tried to scream and avert what was to come, he was mute and his cries flew into the noiseless void.   "What say you now, my emperor" the rebel genral sneered. "Gnaeus, my friend, I will say what I have always said to you.  the good of the empire requires sacrifice." The emperor said with tired resgination. "Indeed, it does.  So, with yours, the empire will be spared, and I will ensure that the Asturian Empire will rise to glory once more." "You will?  I thought that your master Hakan was to be given my crown." "I will be the true emperor's right hand, and as he now marches through the city in triumph, I will be able give him the crown and will sit astride this continent together." The emperor smiled weerily and simply said, "I am glad to know that Hakan is close by.  You do not know how right you are in saying that the future will require sacrifice.  What you fail to recognize is that all of us mus go if the empire is to continue in any way.  TO ME, PEOPLE! GIVE ALL YOUR POWER TO ME AND THIS SCOURGE WILL FOREVER BE CLEANSED!" With that command, each arcanist and cleric stood up and channeled all of their energy to the emperor.  General Gnaeus was thrown back, and he looked on impotently as each member of the circle around he emperor turned to dust as their energ went to Calixtus as he said, "Vae Victoribus".  Stengar thought that he went blind went a great flash and energy erupted from the emperor.  The captain scremed in pain and grabbed his face as those around him tried to help.  It was then that the great calamity befell the capital city.  Even from hundreds of miles away, people saw the beam of light pierce the sky and then a great explosion that tore aprt of the core of Asturia.     Thus ended the final day of the emperor.