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The Music
The Music. All that he could hear was the Music, so uplifting, so utterly joyous. Then he saw the guard pull the trigger and he died with the Music in his ears.
2 years earlier...
He was emperor. He was the ruler of this country. This country, albeit small, was a vitally important link in a larger form of symbiotic relationships between kingdoms. He was ruler supreme over its people and charged by the higher protectorate of these nations to ensure the proper travel across its lands roads, trails, and rivers.
He was born into the position, reared from birth to rule. He knew naught but ruling in his life, nothing but the toiling to make people agree, knew nothing but the harsh master called diplomacy. But know it he did, and he knew it well. Diplomacy was his lifemate, his partner in his kingdom, his cohort in continuing his life and standing before the larger nations whom had given him this land. Whom had deemed it not worth their while to just take it over, though it was certainly within their power. Instead in an almost unheard of act of benevolency, they allowed this kingdom to stand in place and him to rule over it.
This decision could have been a fluke, could have been a wrinkle in the mind of the collective nations...or it might have been his lifemate diplomacy that had perpetuated this single act of kindness by the greater conquerors. No matter the reasons why, it was the details on how to keep this small country alone and running smoothly without being, as they had kindly put it, 'integrated'. Again these details were taken care of due to his lifelong love in diplomacy.
His life consisted of uninterrupted days of talking, matching, agreeing, and overall mediating. From dawn to dusk, from waking to sleeping, these were the details that made up his life. He would awake to the sound of his alarm, and immediately press the 'plans of the day' button upon his talky.
In the synthesized neutral voice it replied per day:
7:30 – Breakfast
7:45 – Meeting the Triumvirate via satlink
8:00 – Settling Disputes between WaterPow and HydroLINK Electric
and it went on like this every day.
The plans of meetings, meetings, meetings, and too few breaks. But he did not mind the breaks, he had never been allowed one day in his entire life to sit back, do nothing, and let silence fill the moment. After the plans, he would call his chief executor on the talky and speak with him about the days events. After this he went to diplomatic meeting after diplomatic meeting. Then on his way home from the meetings in the evenings he would have a quick bite to eat while going over the next months general plans. As he went to his shower, his talky was constantly chattering about problems, big ones, little ones, natural, and human, all kinds. Then as he fell into his bed to sleep the talky continued on droning, except that it was now on the news of the day. News which the emperor had already heard due to the fact he caused 99% of it.
It was another day this one. Another shovel of dirt to fill in the grave. Diplomacy, his greatest ally, was guiding him through another meeting. After the meeting ended and the people had left and he pressed his talky to call his ride and his guards as usual. Then the day started to behave differently from the other days. The talky did not work. Seeing as how he knew of no other way to contact his vehicle, he decided to walk. He heard it then. The Music. It filled his mind, his ears. He wondered at where it came from, tried to use his gift of diplomacy to reason its existence in his mind. But each time diplomacy was brought to the front to explain matters out, the Music disappeared. This new Music was incompatible with his friend diplomacy. It was intriguing.
The Music drew him on, gave him new ideas, thoughts and abstracts. He could not but help to compare this new Music and his old diplomacy, and when he did he found the diplomacy lacking. The Music was so new, so overpowering that his mind was filled with wonder. But he also recalled the diplomacy and how it had guided him thus far in life. Then he thought hard about his life, and he compared the results with this music. He thought much was missing. Diplomacy was a cold art, practiced while appearing to wish to compromise while in the heart very willing to cut the talks as soon as a better deal was found. This new music was unlike anything so far. There were beats, there were rhythms, and there were small pauses of silence. It warmed him. After much thought and listening to the Music with both his ears and his heart, he stomped on the talky and threw his gift of diplomacy to the 4 winds.
He felt free for the first time, driven by this Music. He soon saw other people on the road, the simpler folk that he used to protect through diplomacy. He saw that they had the Music as well, saw it in their eyes, their step, and most of all their actions. There was no need of diplomacy here where all had the Music!! Everything was give and take freely as driven on by the Music. Diplomacy, the emperor now realized was a worthless art, the wrong way of doing things that had cost him his years thus far. It was much to formalized, too stifling he now saw. He was tainted by the Music, and with that he became like the common folk and lived like them. He did it so that he could keep the Music, because he knew that if they dragged him back to diplomacy, the Music had no place and would fade, leaving nothing but, as he now saw it, the slavery of diplomacy and ruling. He decided to live the Music.
He stopped one of the persons to speak with him about this new music. "Good day sir!"
The man looked startled, and stared at him very closely.
"Aren’t you the emperor? And what are you doing out among us?", the man asked.
"Well, you are correct. I was the emperor. Until I was finally free of the government today, I did not know what I was missing.", The ruler replied.
"And just what is that, your lordship?"
"This wonderful music. It surrounds one, and makes one realize the many options he has....."
The commoner looked at the emporer strangely.
"Sir, I don’t rightly know what you are talking about. All I hear is the chattering of the women, the squealing of the children and all too rare, the moments of silence."
"This is not music to your ears?", the emperor looked incredulous.
The commoner took a step back, frightened at the prospect of upsetting someone of so high a station.
"Well, m’lord, it just seems to me to be normal. I don’t see anything particularily special about it...."
"But there is something special about it!! This is the song of life! Of normality! I am absolutely enchanted by it!"
"Your lordship knows better than I. But mind ye of the Guards, they are searching for you according to all the news. They are not too happy about you dissappearing. If you plan on staying out, you may want to blend in a little, if’n you don’t mind me saying so."
"Ah! A splendid idea. I shall go and buy different clothes, and a room to rent!"
The emperor looked quite pleased with himself at the prospect of starting over. He walked off, mind full of the music, to find a tailor’s shop.
The Imperial Guards found him two weeks later. They apprehended him and brought him before a tribunal convened by the larger countries. He tried to bring diplomacy to his aid, but he found that once cast aside it is nigh impossible to call it again with the Music in his ears. Then he realized that he did not care. He realized that no matter what they do to him he would be perfectly happy with it. He realized something that they did not. He had the Music and they didn't, and he realized that they knew nothing of the Music and therefore could not take it away from him, nor could they ever hope to comprehend why he had cast aside his life. Thus he accepted his death sentence serenely to the surprise of the tribunal and the Imperial Guards, his mind completely filled with the Music.
The last spoken words he ever heard, only barely because the Music was so heartliftingly loud, were these:
"Former High Emperor of the city state of Kiz'Al, you have been found guilty of betrayal of your sovereign duties. Failure of which led to delays which set the Nations of the Symbiote back and led to the unfortunate lack of completion to many agreements which would have allowed lives to become better. This punishment for these charges is death..." the guard talked some more, he could see due to the lip movements, but the music captivated his attention. Captured his heart and mind's attention more completely than the paltry sentence of end of existence. The Music would be his existence...he became the Music in his mind's eye