Death of Elijah Ayreon

The death of Elijah Ayreon took place in XI.1598. What follows is the story of his death, as it has been compiled in the secret archives of the Jingdaoese Empire.

Excerpts

The Council of Nobles convenes at the request of the Lord von der Neurändern. Elijah rises from his seat at the round table in the Palace's deliberation room and speaks, without reading notes, softly.

Your Imperial Highness, My Lords and Ladies of Wahlstadt,

I have to bring up a matter with you. I am very concerned with the recent developments here in this principality of ours. The Sangunese minority, and those aligned with it, are subjected to some very sad restrictions. They have been their freedom and more than that, they have been denied their humanity. We cannot have it like this.

They are people just like you and me. Under this skin of ours, we are all people, we have hopes, dreams, memories… We have our joys and our tears, we have our worries and our loves. We are all born equals and we all die as equals, why not let us live as equals?

No one has the right to deny someone his or her freedom. That goes against Nature’s law and all principles on which civilization is founded. Please, let us become human again, let us show our equality, our wishes for a people being sovereign, for a people, united as equals, determining their own future and their own laws.

Not long ago, this kind of evil had Babkha blown up. Millions, hundreds of millions, perished because of humanity being denied, because of the oppressed wanting to be seen as what they by divine right are: human, free, independent and worthy of respect and, of course, of love.

We cannot go along this path. It is an evil path. Your Highness, Lords and Ladies, we must reconsider the path taken now. We must submit to the values of enlightenment, civilization and humanity.

“Have you compiled a list?” Sisera asks her secretary who silently nods and hands Sisera a paper.

“These people are of particular importance”, the secretary points at two names on the paper which are underlined with pencil. “Rei has been sold to Tyrenia and should not be a problem but Elijah has a considerable following in Wahlstadt and could start a civil war. One of his friends came forward to us and she will help the Pink Guard to arrest him.”

Suddenly a knock is heard on the door. Sisera hides the paper in a drawer and allows the door to open. Judith, a former minister during Elijah's reign enters the room. “Your highness, I know you are busy but I want you to inform that my good friend Elijah is holding a lecture in the deliberation hall on our future, it is really good and you ought to listen it.” Sisere pats her secretary on the back and smirks, “You mean you didn't even have to pay her? She betrayed Elijah out of naivety? Oh I love this, you are making my day!”

As they are laughing and Judith gives them puzzled looks Sisera rings a bell and a Pink Guardswoman enters the room, Sisera orders her to scramble the Pink Guard and then escort her there as well.

As the guards enter during the deliberations, Elijah senses that something is wrong. The Pink Guard, some fifty of them, start forming a line along the wall behind him.

Complete silence.

One of the other nobles looks terribly nervous, and soon others do too.

Elijah rises again, turns so he faces the Guards. He deliberately chooses to get eye contact with each Guard.

My Sisters, the fate of this country is in your hands. Please, make it a country that is humane and that honours our commitments to civilization, humanity, freedom -- all these things we should abide by. Please... have no other lord or lady but your conscience. Please, do not obey the orders of those corrupted, of those who have intoxicated themselves with evil. You owe no allegiance but to humanity, to equality, to the spiritual communion of our people. We are all one, ladies. I am you and you are me.

Don't obey orders, sisters, that denounce this make-up of the uniniverse, that try to make you pawns, robots, pieces of machinery, to effect the will of a sick queen. She is sick, my sisters, she wishes to enslave people! She has already enslaved one of the noble ladies at this table and sold her to Tyrenia!

Do you even have any idea of what slavery is?

I think you do. I think you are slaves yourselves. Maybe not on paper but in your hearts. I think you've been programmed to follow your princess's command without even giving it a thought of its morality.

But you have a chance now. I will close my eyes, and you will close yours, and we will meditate over this, you and me, and we will search our souls for what is right, what is just and what isn't.

Please, sisters, let us share the wonder of being human, of loving, of dreaming, of caring, of being here, right now, together.

Elijah closed his eyes.

Sisera stood behind the guardswomen as Elijah spoke to them, when he had finished speaking she came forward and face him. The expression on her face was cold.

"Stirring up trouble again Elijah? You speak of the evils of slavery but you have no eye for those who fall needlessly during rebellion when one tyrant is replaced by the other. You are a silver-tongued devil, bringing only chaos to this world. And you accuse me of being evil? I who brings order and stability to Micras? I will do what so many other rulers should have done before, where the man from Northern Absentia, who could see further than any other male, failed I will succeed."

Sisera looked at the guardswomen, they were nervous but seemed to look up at her, she smiled at them. "Shall we take him away girls? We will give this man who suffers illusions of grandeur the ending he desires."

Four guardswomen cuffed Elijah and dragged them out of the palace while the others made sure the remaining nobles did not leave their seats. Sisera and a few other guardswomen followed the captive and his escorts. They walked for fifteen minutes and Sisera and the guardswomen happily chatted about their plans for the weekend. Finally they came to the place, which was called Mandible for its notable rock formations. A large wooden cross lay on the ground and guardswomen carrying ropes stood around it. As Elijah was handed to executioners they tore away his clothing and tied him to the cross by his hands, they stepped back to admire their own handiwork. Sisera clapped her hands and commended the executioners on their work "Well done girls, perhaps Elijah will now take back the evil words he uttered just minutes ago?"

Elijah could hardly sense what went around in his head. Thoughts of his dad, his beautiful husband, his son, mingled together with his anxiety for death. He really feared death. He hadn’t told anyone about it. He lost his faith in the Church of Elwynn when his father was ruthlessly killed. He tried exploring the spirituality of his ancestors in Hurmu. Of course, he did find peace and meditation by those holy lakes in the primeval forest, but there wasn’t anything more.

He had learnt one thing in his life though. There was no afterlife, as far as he could tell, but that made life so much more precious than any religion would say. The religions would promise afterlife, or at least a hope for an afterlife, but Elijah believed that there wasn’t. We live only a short few years on this world, we are born out of nothing and die into nothing. A short time to bloom, and be true to those years.

Elijah sighed. “I cannot take my words back”. He cried a bit. He felt for his loved ones. He looked up to Sisera’s face once more after a few moments.

“Sisera, you need help. You're sick. You need help. Please, don't do this. There's another way, you can be free, you can be saved. You don't have to do this. Sisera, please? Let me go, I'll help you get through this.”

Sisera looked down at Elijah who was pleading to her. She thought hard about what he said to her but it didn't make sense to her. Finally she interrupted him, "Elijah, don't make this harder than it is. put your feet on the cross! I'm getting annoyed." In a reflex Elijah did as he was told and two guardswomen grabbed his feet and tied it to the cross. Sisera was handed a hammer by one of the executioner while the others held a nail above his feet. "You would honor us by putting in the first nail Your Highness." Sisera complied and hit the nail hard with the hammer, she giggled as she saw Elijah squirming. She then gave the hammer back to the executioner and sat back on a bench. For five minutes all that could be heard was the sound of the hammer driving four nails into the feet of Elijah and the cross and Elijah screaming. When the executioners were finished with the nails they raised the cross and the weight of his body tearing his arms added to Elijah's misery.

Sisera looked Elijah in the eye and spoke to him: "You put your faith in freedom, but where is your freedom now?".

Elijah was losing it. He really was going to die now. Oh, the pain! The pain! He couldn't think, all he felt was pain. He saw Sisera there, smiling as if she were blissfully happy. This was wrong. So wrong.

"My soul is free!" he shouted. "You will not take my soul with you!"

Suddenly, he started remembering things. Scenes from his life started playing before his eyes. He remembered his childhood days, how he played in the park. He remembered Eldore, the innocent infatuation he had for this neighbour. They killed him, the Babkhans killed him. They took Eldore. He loved Eldore, he missed him.

"I miss him so much…" he whispered to himself. He started thinking about Nathan, oh Nathan with the beautiful smile. Nathan always made him laugh. He was fun. They had their difficult times. He remembered Nathan shielding him in the Senate. He remembered the wedding, he remembered the night at the Border Palace where they first... Ah yes... those were good memories.

And he remembered Nau. Oh, Nau, let Nau know that he was loved! So incredibly loved. His darling son, how he had hurt his son... Perhaps he wasn't a good parent… but he did his best.

He remembered his friends from all walks of life. He remembered and pictured each one of them before his eyes. He almost felt as if they were with him there. He wasn’t alone in the terror. He was among friends and those he loved.

His soul cried. "I love them!" he shouted. "I love them all.... so much."

The pain was getting unbearable. He wished for being free. Soon he'd be free.

And then the pain subsided a bit and a sense of calm came over him. He was getting dizzy but it was okay. Freedom had come. It had finally come.

And Elijah took his last breath. And pain was no more.