1 He the Empty

Korven raised his head for the last time. In this dying world he knew with a grim heart that he was the last alive. How long had it been? The seas had withered, and the sun began to fade. The cries of war still echoed, the scars still ached and bled…staining this world.

This world was on its last breath, and so was he. Korven licked his cracked lips as he looked to the blackened sky. A single ray of light was all that was left, a bereft piece of land illuminated on the far horizon.

Korven took a deep breath and climbed atop his mount. This beast had been with him for many years. It was his crown, his defining jewel as ruler of this bereft world. Today was the day, and he'd go out with the wind in his hair and the roar of his steel beast. It was all he could do now.

The weathered man put the pedal to the metal. His surroundings blurred as he accelerated to an insane speed. In the distance he could be seen, the last of everything that ever was chasing a single strand of light.

Korven didn't want to die. Now more than ever he felt the impending doom, and it scared him. He could feel the tendons in his body tense against his will. Shattered nerves kept him on edge. His once calm heart began to pound against his chest, wanting to break free.

Instinct kept him alive from the beginning, fear told him the end was now. Hatred stabbed at his heart. The notion of helplessness ate at him, the realization that there was nothing he could do a cruel blade that loomed above his head.

Korven outlasted them all, but he couldn't outlast the world. Damn it! He wanted to scream and shout. His will was burning, his desire to live stronger than the fear that took hold of him. Still, the man wasn't stronger than the world. Even if he didn't want to, this damned world would take him with it.

The man opened his mouth to speak, but no words could be said now. He didn't even know what to say if he could. Only emotion welled up within his chest. He looked away from the horizon beyond the barren land where oceans once laid, away from the last thread of light that illuminated the dead world.

Korven looked to a book that rested on the passenger seat. He had found this book years ago. Amidst broken warships new and old he had found something better than water for once. He had found something to read. He almost didn't believe it. A book had survived the Great Deletion.

It wasn't the bible or some other religious book. It wasn't a manual or anything philosophical by any means. The novel titled ''Ecstasy and Tragedy'' was nothing more than a book of wish-fulfillment for men.

Perhaps before the Great Deletion many would have scoffed and disdained for such a book, but not Korven. Despite learning how to speak and read letters, the man had never needed to put his education to use. It was the first book he had ever found and read, and his last.

It was like nothing he had ever experienced. Letters once read crafted images rich with color in his mind. Details of food made his mouth water despite not knowing what a rabbit was or chicken. Descriptions such as spice or tenderness of the meat were foreign, but he knew what they meant despite never having experienced them for himself.

It was torturous, yet wonderful.

Torturous because he would never be able to eat a rabbit or a chicken, nor sink his teeth into meat that would pull apart without effort. Yet wonderful was the discovery, able to imagine such things he had never known about beforehand. Knowledge was a curse and a blessing. He had heard such a thing before by a wise old man who died a gruesome death, but only after having read the book ''Ecstasy and Tragedy'' did Korven understand.

He learned of false concepts as well. Magic and the intricacies of the arcane. A made up thing that would never exist here. Earth operated and lived through the foundation of science. It was Man's miracle, and its ruin. Even this steel beast Korven rode upon in this moment in time was a construct birthed by science.

Nothing like the world written in faded ink. No. Gaea was a world full of food and water so plentiful even the weakest could drink and eat their fill. A world of men weak and strong, of creatures called women with plump rears and bountiful breasts. Within this world the sword forever battled with the arcane, kings arose and slaves toiled. It was a world where the gods and goddesses exist, below them even mortals able to curve the wind and temper both fire and ice.

What enthralled Korven more than anything was the women within the book. He had only ever seen one woman in his entire lifetime, and she died when he was born. Before this book he had never known what love was, but he fell for the women within the world of Gaea whom he would never know truly.

Was it foolish? Reading the book, he was made to be the destined hero, to woo the heroines and experience many a pleasurable endeavor with them. To fight and drink, love and rule. To be a benevolent king with a prosperous reign with many a wife by one's side.

…Perhaps it was. It was completely foreign to Korven, this world within the book. Water was everything in the forsaken world called Earth, but to Korven this book was worth more than water.

In a way he found salvation with the book, but also despair. He questioned why he continued on. For what reason? It didn't matter anymore. There was no need to search for an answer…

The blade that loomed over his neck was falling. Korven urged his steel beast to go faster. It roared in protest as it began to push beyond its limits. A single tear rolled down his face as he stuck out his hand.

He felt the wind in his hair and through his blackened fingers. The cold mercilessly tore apart his hand like nothing, eating away until his arm was gone. Frost began to veil the steel beast, the roar of its heart a thrum of thunder that shook the now desolate frostland. As he closed his eyes, he imagined the world within the book. How wonderful, he thought, if he could live in that lively and prosperous world.

The tear that rolled down his face froze. Even the blood coursing through his veins began to slow to a still, a thousand blades of ice tearing him apart. Korven smiled despite the fear of death. It was right there. So close, yet just beyond his reach.

The light reflected in his eyes was extinguished, leaving only a grim acceptance. The last thread of light faded. The Star of Earth was dead.