📖 Year 70: The Revelation 📖
Seventy years of service. Seventy years of lies. One moment of horrifying clarity.
The Routine
Diaglo prepared the King's breakfast exactly as he had for the past seventy years. The same substance mixed into the food. The same careful measurements. The same ritual that had become as natural as breathing.
He'd done this 25,550 times. Give or take a few missed days when Xanther was traveling or fasting.
Seventy years of corrupting his King.
For Lumina. For the plan. For the greater good.
That's what he'd been told. That's what he'd believed.
Until this morning, when he found the letter.
It was hidden in the secret compartment of his desk. The one he thought only he knew about. Written in Lumina's handwriting, addressed to someone named Lyra.
Dated seventy years ago. The day after Xanther's wedding.
"The fool believes he serves me. Let him poison the King. When Xanther falls, Diaglo will take the blame. Two problems solved."
The Crack
Diaglo read the letter three times. Each time, the words remained the same.
The fool believes he serves me.
He looked at the breakfast tray. At the carefully measured poison. At seventy years of loyal service.
At seventy years of being played.
"No," he whispered. "No, that's not... I chose this. I chose to help her. She promised me—"
What had she promised? Diaglo tried to remember. Power? Position? Recognition?
He couldn't recall. The memories felt fuzzy. Distant. Like they'd been planted rather than lived.
The Pattern
Diaglo spent the day in the archives. Searching. Digging through seventy years of correspondence, orders, instructions from Lumina.
The pattern emerged slowly. Then all at once.
Every instruction had been designed to isolate him. Make him dependent on her approval. Convince him the poisoning was necessary, righteous, crucial for balance.
But the letters to others—the ones he wasn't supposed to see—told a different story.
"Diaglo is useful but ultimately expendable. When the war comes, ensure he's blamed for the corruption. The people need a villain who isn't me."
Seventy years.
Seventy years of thinking he was the architect.
Seventy years of believing he had agency.
Seventy years of being the perfect patsy.
Lumina had never intended to share power with him.
She'd intended to destroy him alongside Xanther.
The Choice Point
Diaglo stood in his chambers, the breakfast tray still waiting. Xanther would be hungry soon. Would send for him. Would trust him completely, just as he had for seventy years.
Because Angelo had carried the first poisoned meal without knowing. Because Diaglo had been so careful, so patient, so thoroughly convinced of his righteousness.
He had three choices.
Stop the poisoning. Confess to Xanther. Hope for mercy he didn't deserve.
Continue the poisoning. Accept his role as patsy. Die when Lumina's war came.
Or...
There was a third option.
If Lumina had manipulated him for seventy years, she'd manipulated others too. Relana. The court. The other kingdoms.
Someone else must have discovered the truth.
Someone else must be looking for allies.
Diaglo thought of Kael. The older son who'd fled to Farendale twenty years ago. The one who'd accused Diaglo of poisoning the King.
The one who'd been right.
The Decision
Diaglo picked up the breakfast tray. Walked to the King's chambers. Knocked.
Xanther answered, golden eyes glowing, Obsidian Heart visible through his robes. Seventy years of corruption made manifest.
"My King," Diaglo said quietly. "Your breakfast."
Xanther took the tray. Didn't suspect. Why would he? Seventy years of trust.
Diaglo bowed and left.
But in his pocket, he carried copies of every letter. Every piece of evidence of Lumina's manipulation. Every proof that he'd been a pawn, not a player.
That night, he would send word to Farendale. To Kael. To anyone who might listen.
The poisoning would continue. For now. Because stopping would alert Lumina that he knew.
But Diaglo was done being a patsy.
Seventy years too late, Diaglo chose his side.
Not Lumina's.
Not even Xanther's.
His own.
And he would make sure when the war came, everyone knew who the real villain was.