We left at dawn.
Nobody gave a speech. Nobody banged a drum. Nobody hung a banner. We stole three carts from the old stable. The first one had all the dynamite. The second one had three barrels of beer. The third one had Dona Mara's picnic basket.
Nobody asked about the picnic basket.
We drove slow up the mountain road. The sun came up yellow and warm. For the first time in almost a year it felt like a normal day.
Half way up Jian made us stop so he could pee. We all stood around leaning on the carts waiting for him. Nobody complained. Nobody said this was undignified for the end of the world.
When he came back he wiped his hands on his pants and said "We are all going to die up here aren't we."
Mina said "Probably."
Nobody argued.
We got to the top an hour later. The temple was exactly like all the stories said. Big white stone. Big columns. Very impressive. Very boring.
The doors opened before we knocked.
The twelve of them were sitting in a big circle on thrones. Old men. All wearing the same grey robes. All looking exactly the same. All very very bored.
They were not evil. That was the worst part. They did not look like monsters. They looked like twelve old men who had been sitting in the same room for ten thousand years waiting for a meeting to end.
The oldest one sighed.
"You are early", he said. "You were supposed to turn into the Asura King three days from now. You have ruined the schedule."
Kelser did not draw his sword. He did not light up with ice power. He just leaned his shoulder against the door frame.
"Nah", he said. "I decided not to."
Silence.
None of the old men had ever heard those words before. You could see it in their faces. For ten thousand years every single candidate had screamed. Or raged. Or cried. Nobody had ever just said nah.
"What do you mean you decided not to?" the old man said. He sounded genuinely confused.
"I mean I am not going to play your game", Kelser said. "I am not going to burn the world. I am not going to be your king. I am not going to do any of it."
"It is written", another one said. He sounded angry now. "It has always been. You have no choice."
"Everyone always says that", Kelser said. "And it is always bullshit."
He took one step forward.
"You made me hurt. You made me angry. You killed all my people to try and make me break. And you know what? It almost worked. For a little while. But then I realized something."
He smiled. It was not an angry smile. It was not a hero smile. It was just tired.
"I would rather be happy than right."
That was all. That was the big speech.
Nobody cheered. Nobody drew their sword.
And then Dona Mara walked past all of them.
She walked right past Kelser. Right past Jian. Right past all twelve old men on their thrones. She walked right up to the oldest one.
And she hit him in the face as hard as she could with her picnic basket.
The basket broke. Bread and cheese and an apple rolled all over the floor.
The old man fell off his throne.
"THAT", Dona Mara said, very loud, "IS FOR THE BAKER."
She turned around and walked back. Leaned her scissors on her shoulder.
"Okay", she said. "You can blow it up now."
Mina lit the fuse.
We all walked outside. We sat down on the grass. We passed around a bottle of beer. We watched the temple blow up. It was very loud. Very impressive. Lots of fire.
None of us said anything.
On the way back down the mountain Jian said "So what now?"
Nobody had an answer.
Three months later we opened the bar in the middle of the square. Exactly like we said we would.
Jian runs the kitchen. He burns the toast every single morning. Nobody complains. Mina runs the dice game in the back room. She cheats. Everyone knows. Nobody cares. Dona Mara sits on a chair by the door all day. She scares away the tax men.
Tian comes to visit once a month. He and Kelser get drunk and argue about absolutely nothing for six hours. Then he rides back to his mountain. Nobody ever mentions the war.
At night Elara and Kelser sit on the roof of the bar and watch the city.
One night Kelser said "They will come back. One day. Some other group of old men with some other stupid game."
Elara nodded.
"Yeah."
She leaned her head on his shoulder.
"But not today."
Somewhere down in the square someone laughed. Somewhere a dog barked. Somewhere someone was playing a very bad song on a flute.
The world was not perfect. It was still broken. There was still a lot of bad things.
But it was theirs.
And nobody was playing the game anymore.
The end