⚓ Year 90: The Breaking Point ⚓
Ninety years of loyalty. Ninety years of guilt. One moment when duty demands betrayal.
The Watch
Angelo stood in the throne room, watching his King address the court. Ninety years since the Whispering Woods. Ninety years since the hallway.
Ninety years of watching Xanther deteriorate.
The King barely looked human anymore. Golden eyes blazing with constant chaos energy. The Obsidian Heart fused to his chest pulsing with dark light. His skin had taken on a faint luminescence, reality bending around him even when he wasn't actively channeling magic.
Relana sat beside him, looking exhausted. Theron stood behind the throne, eyes glowing with the same corruption, eager to inherit it.
And Diaglo... Diaglo watched from the shadows. As he had for ninety years.
"For King. For Nexus. For Lumina."
Angelo had sworn that oath ninety-five years ago, when he first joined the royal guard.
He'd meant every word.
But what did you do when the King was destroying himself?
When Nexus was rotting from within?
When Lumina's plans meant everyone's destruction?
The Incident
It happened during a routine council meeting. A minor dispute about trade routes. Nothing that should have triggered a response.
But one of the councilors questioned Xanther's judgment. Gently. Respectfully.
The King's eyes flared. Chaos magic erupted. The councilor's body twisted, reality warping around him. For three horrifying seconds, the man existed in multiple states simultaneously. Screaming. Silent. Alive. Dead. Both. Neither.
Then Xanther released him. The councilor collapsed, gasping. Alive but fundamentally changed. His eyes held the haunted look of someone who'd experienced their own death.
"Does anyone else wish to question me?" Xanther asked calmly.
Silence.
The Confrontation
Angelo found Diaglo in the kitchens afterward. Preparing the King's evening meal. The same routine. The same poison.
"How much longer?" Angelo asked quietly.
Diaglo didn't pretend not to understand. "Ten years. Maybe less. Lumina's army will march when he's completely lost control."
"And you'll still be poisoning him until then."
"Yes."
Angelo grabbed Diaglo's wrist. Ninety years of suppressed rage finally surfacing. "Why? You know what she's planning. I saw the letters Kael sent from Farendale. You've been feeding him information for twenty years. You know this is wrong."
Diaglo met his eyes. "I know. But if I stop now, she'll know I've turned. She'll find someone else to finish the job. At least this way, I control the dosage. Keep him functional enough to prepare defenses."
"Functional?" Angelo's voice cracked. "He nearly killed a councilor today for asking a question. That's not functional. That's monstrous."
"I know," Diaglo said again. Quieter.
"I carried the first dose," Angelo whispered. "Ninety years ago. In the hallway. You poisoned his food and I carried it to him without knowing."
"I know," Diaglo repeated. "I'm sorry."
Two men. Two different guilts. Two different failures.
Both watching their King destroy himself.
Both powerless to stop it.
The Decision
"I can't do this anymore," Angelo said. "Ninety years. Ninety years of watching and waiting and hoping it would get better. It's only gotten worse."
"What are you going to do?" Diaglo asked. "Your oath binds you to the throne."
"My oath binds me to protect the King." Angelo straightened. "Even from himself. Even from Lumina. Even from you."
"You'll tell him? About the poisoning?"
"He won't believe me. You've spent ninety years making yourself indispensable. He trusts you more than he trusts reality itself."
Angelo turned to leave, then paused. "But when Lumina's army marches... when the war comes... I won't fight for a King who's become a monster. I'll fight for Nexus. For the people. For what Xanther used to stand for."
The Breaking Point
Ninety years of loyalty didn't end in a dramatic confrontation.
It ended in a quiet kitchen, with two broken men who'd both failed their King in different ways.
Angelo walked away from that conversation knowing the truth.
When the war came, he would have to choose.
The man Xanther used to be.
Or the monster he'd become.
The Preparation
That night, Angelo sent his own letter to Farendale. To Kael. Short and simple:
"Ten years. Prepare your defenses. When Lumina marches, some of us will remember our true duty."
He didn't sign it. Didn't need to. Kael would know.
Then Angelo returned to his post outside the King's chambers. Standing guard. As he had for ninety years.
But now he was guarding something different.
Not the corrupted King who sat inside.
The memory of who that King used to be.
And when the time came to choose, Angelo knew which one he'd fight for.