The First Scene of Act One of
The
Final
A Play by Samuel
Prologue
Enter Narrator
Narrator: “It is 10 years since old King Strom, the ‘Tyrant’ of Courtenay died with no hair. The Estates General, of the Commoners, Nobles, Gentry, and Clergy met in the capital of Courtenay, Bariton, to decide a new king. During the interim, they would rule the country in the king’s name. They are still in session, all but a few having abandoned any real intent to give up power to one man.
“But the winds of change are blowing, softly now, and soon the whirlwind shall be upon them. Will they seek shelter in the eye of the storm, or will the last remnant of the ancient Empire be destroyed? Only time will tell…and time is now moving…”
Exeunt.
Act One of The
Final
Scene 1
Enter Fate with a
full length mirror.
Fate: “Mortals dance and morals pray, but their lives are always Fate’s to play. They not tremble fearfully, in their boots, but do their lives have so strong of roots? Live or not, they cannot say, for only Fate knows how will end today.”
Enter Luck, Fate Turns to her.
Fate: “And who for the wolf howls and the owl hoots, it is Lady Luck, Forsooth!”
Luck glares at Fate and then the mirror.
Luck: “must you speak in rhyme, Fate? Yu know it annoys us all, and to top it, you do it horribly. What’s this about mortals lives are for you to play? You have no control over a man who does not accept the role given him by life! Aye, there are some things that will happen that they cannot control, but do not assume that it is you who pull those strings.
Fate: “Speak not in riddle, Green-Eyes! In was placed by the pantheon as the guardian of humanities plan! It was fated that the Empire fall, and fall it did, as is fated by the coming storm. The waters shall rise and cover that last bit of Empire, and there is not escaping that end. Are you challenging my dominion and my expertise, or are you bubbling at the brain?”
Luck: “Your domain, hardly, nor do I challenge you. You proclaimed the Empire’s death long ago, and planned its fall. Yet to no god did those mean cleave to, or play to, when their fortunes turned, only to their own inherit strength. They knew, as I say, that a man can deny his fate and avoid it. I remember how wrought you were, when time after time those noble men refused to take your decision sitting down, thought they knew naught of you, personified. They denied their fate…”
Fate: “And the Empire is no more!”
Luck: “And yet lives on. Hallowed is the memory of the Empire, its legends and culture live on in all the lands its reach ever touched, repaired; their buildings, maintained; their roads. To kill the Empire, you must kill all men.”
Fate: “You challenge me on my own domain, disrupting my power. Time will forget the Empire and so in the end I win!”
Luck points an accusing finger at Fate.
Luck: “You say I challenge you, but you have challenged me. The challenge is on your powers –I choose now - and you choose what.”
The Mirror smokes, then clears, with Mark
of Rhygon now shown in the surface.
Fate: “I see this mans future to be. In the coming storm on Courtenay, he shall die, futility, in the name of the Kingdom and the ideals of the Empire. There is no way to avoid it, me thinks, short of suicide, which is not an option. Should he die eye the breaking of the storm, forever depart your question.”
Luck relaxes.
Luck: “And if I win, if this man lives?”
Fate: “I shall forever cease the enforcement of my edicts. Fate exist and always will, as will I. The need for someone to order fate, even if men can deny and refuse it, will never cease.”
Luck: “And the limitations?”
Fate: “He is not to know any but his current fate.”
Luck: “No other limitations placed upon me?”
Fate: “None other than already placed.”
Luck: “Then I agree to your little game.”
Fate: I hear reluctance, in your voice?”
Luck: “To me, these odds are tame.”
Fate turns her back and starts to walk away.
Fate: “Humph, her pride leaves no choice.” Exit.
Luck watches Fate leave, then turns toward the mirror.
Luck: “Mirror, mirror, in the hall, who is this who stands so tall? What fate does he believe himself to have, with those eyes so bright? It is good that I choose now to challenge the Dictatress of all lives, if only to try to save him.” Exeunt.