"This ending is terrible."
Gilgamesh gave his assessment of the ending to the story Ruslan had told him.
"I don't deny it."
Ruslan's expression remained calm as he shrugged.
He had told Gilgamesh a story, one from tens of thousands of years ago.
A story about a hero and his four companions who rebelled against the gods, ultimately killing the chief god at the cost of their own lives.
Was that ending terrible?
Perhaps.
"Why did you tell this king that story? Are you trying to persuade me not to carry out my plan?"
An inscrutable look filled Gilgamesh's eyes as he watched Ruslan.
"No."
Ruslan shook his head.
"I merely wished to pose a question to you."
"I know that you are calm. Annanu and Enkidu's deaths have not completely clouded your wise mind. But sometimes, the decisions made when one is most calm are instead the ones that most betray one's own intentions."
"King, see this world clearly. And see this era clearly."
"Only then will you be a true king."
Ruslan's words plunged Gilgamesh into thought.
His original plan had been to use the Chains of Heaven to draw his own power out to its utmost limit, then use the Key of Heaven to completely unleash that power.
Then, while he was unable to bear that power, he would give the Anunnaki a vicious blow with Ea.
He knew that, with the Chains of Heaven and the Key of Heaven, he could accomplish it.
Yet under Ruslan's counsel, Gilgamesh could not help but begin to think.
Was this truly worth it?
In Ruslan's story, that great demigod hero had already been left with no path of retreat, with the gods determined to kill him. Only then had he chosen to face death with a smile, never allowing