A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1832 - 1832: A Man of Significance - Part 4

Or perhaps it was simply the strength of Karstly's own imagination. He set something beyond its understanding, and declared it to be real and mighty, when it was nothing more than a conjuration of his own head.

If any other had stumbled upon him in that forest, they would simply have seen a man sat upon a peculiar rock, next to a stream, muttering to himself in far too animated a way for one to consider him sane.

"I don't know what that means," Karstly said at last. "You accuse my heart of being in the wrong place, you accuse my intentions of being off. Then mould me. I care not. Make me your creature. Rob me of my will. My only care is in the result. Give me the power to match Tiberius."

"Does the mortal know what he asks?"

"He doesn't know that it wouldn't matter, that which he asks, when he is lost of his will, when he merely becomes a piece of something else."

"We can not overwrite the whims of nature. It has its own mind, and its own destiny."

"But you ride those winds better than any other," Karstly insisted. "That is why you are mighty."

"And you ride them too, to the smallest degree. But you twist, and you take control of them, and they like you not."

"Then make me otherwise," Karstly said again. "Mold me."

"You ask us a contradiction. You ask us to make you without want, for the sake of a want."

"Magic is full of contradictions."

"Teehee, he knows it to be true. Maybe he's right. Maybe we do use him."

"He's certainly willing…"

"But does he not know the consequences? You will not last beyond a single battle."

"I care not," Karstly said. "I only require a single battle."

"You are satisfied with that? To achieve what you desire, you must lower yourself to the likes of something else, you are to die becoming a mere stepping stone in another man's destiny. Yet you lower yourself to no one."

"I lower myself to Queen Asabel," Karstly responded.

"Ha. That is far from being sufficient. That is far too little a sacrifice – that is what is already expected of you. You must lower yourself in a way that your heart dislikes. Only then, will you have made a sacrifice."

"To whom, and for what purpose?" Karstly asked.

"That is for you to answer. It is you that is full of want. If you wish to achieve that want, then surrender to the very creature that you least want to subordinate yourself to."

"...You'd have me do that?" Karstly said, his lips twisting, as a single face popped into his mind, as a man that he very much did not wish to be beneath. He supposed that man was one of many reasons as to why his victory over Tiberius was of such an importance.

"Now you understand. Our magic will rob you of your will. You will not get the satisfaction of having all your worldly wants fulfilled. You will be rendered into mere stepping stone. That is all. You will be part of something else."

"We see that you do not wish to take this further. Very well. General Karstly, we shall leave you to your fate, tainted thing though it is, with all the wrongs that you have committed."

Karstly could hear their footsteps, through his closed eyes, getting further away, along with the flapping of their wings. They left him there, apparently having seen through him all the way. They expected this of him, they that knew everything – or at least, far more than the mortal mind could ever know.

And knowing that, Karstly, at last, began to smile. If it meant merely to surprise them, then he supposed it would be worth it. A brief bit of pride, even though it meant the offering up of his own heart. He delighted in pulling a reaction from those creatures that were so far beyond mortal.

"Very well, I give in," Karstly said. "I shall allow myself to become a mere stepping stone on another man's path. You have an interest in Oliver Patrick, do you not? I know not your reasons, and I do declare that I despise them, given that the man is still so insufficient as a General. However, I will give it to you regardless. I'll surrender to his path, I'll subordinate myself to his cause from a distance, as long as you put my blade within the reach of Tiberius' neck."

"...To put it in reach of Tiberius neck?" A fairy said warily. "You do know the room that you give us with that. You do not make certain that you will be able to claim his life."

"That much, I can do myself," Karstly said with iron certainty. "I make you this sacrifice of my will, for just that single moment, and I swear to you, I will see him cut down. I will kneel to another man, if that is what you require of me."

"There will be no kneeling, no words," the fairies said. "You have spoken it, and so it shall be made so, in ways that you humans would struggle to imagine. You have surprised us, General Karstly. You do not seem like the sort of man that would go this far."

"I would go further still. Take my heart, take my eyes, and take my hands. Make me a weapon of one purpose, and then see me unleashed. I shall go all the way, it matters not. I shall become it entirely."

So it was done.

When Karstly opened his eyes again, he had his change. He looked at his hands, and saw no different, and he looked down at his chest, where his heart still beat, and could discern no change. Yet there was change regardless, he was certain of it, for his mind that had been so full of storm for so long now was finally as calm of the surface of a tranquil pond, and his path became clear to him.