Infinity Blade 01- Awakening

Siris reminded himself, looking at the bandaged eyes.
    “Do you mind if I sit, great master?” Kuuth asked.
    “I don’t.”
    The great beast tested with his large staff until reaching the steps to the throne, then settled down quietly. “Thank you, great master. It is growing difficult to stand in my age.”
    “What happened to your eyes, Kuuth?” Siris asked, sitting on the lip of the throne dais, hands clasped before him.
    “I put them out.”
    “What? Why would you do that?”
    “Among the kavre—that is what we call ourselves, great master, though many just call us ‘trolls.’ Among the kavre, the most powerful lead. I was wounded many years ago, when . . . well, it would have been when your father entered the palace. I fought him, and I lost.
    “My wound was great, and I should have been slain by my kin in mercy. That would stop a younger troll from killing me and taking my honor, you see. However, the blind and the mute are not to be killed—they are left alone in the wilderness to die, as they are marked by the gods.”
    “So you . . .”
    “Blinded myself,” Kuuth said. “So that my kin would exile me rather than killing me. It also made the younger trolls see me as lame and blemished, to be left to rot, rather than to be slain as a rival.”
    “That’s horrible,” Siris said.
    Kuuth chuckled. “Yes. Horrible. And our way. At times, I wonder at what I did. A troll is not meant to reach ages such as I have. Still, now that I am of this great age, the others have begun to respect me.”
    “The other daeril . . . he said you were forty years old?”
    “In another two years,” the troll said, shaking a long-snouted head. “Ancient. But, great master, my concerns are not yours. I wished to speak more softly with you. Most of the denizens of this castle do not think about the future, and I do not wish to make them question.”
    “Very well.”
    “Over the years,” Kuuth said, his voice quiet, “I have seen many things. I have thought many things. Perhaps these thoughts will be of use to you. You see, this castle has no servants. No maids, no groundskeepers, none of the things that are kept by the lesser lords beneath the God King.”
    “I’ve noticed that,” Siris said. “I would have assumed that the God King would want comforts for the place where he lived.”
    “You see,” Kuuth said, “he did not live here. He only came to the castle on occasion, usually when there was news of a warrior of note fighting his way through the wilds.”
    Siris fell silent. “So this place was a trap.”
    “Trap? I do not know that I’d say that, great master. But a destination . . . yes, that is what it was. Like a metal pole set up high to draw the lightning when it comes, this castle was placed here to draw the warriors who sought to kill the God King.”
    “He dueled them,” Siris said. “He could have just used his magic to kill them, or overwhelmed them with his forces. Instead, he faced them in person. Why?”
    “What do you know of the Deathless?”
    “Not much,” Siris said. “Seven lords, ruling together, with the God King above them all.”
    “Yes, though that is mostly just the illusion they give to others in the land nearby. The God King was but one of many who name themselves Deathless. They are immortal—truly immortal. They need neither food nor water to live. They do not age, and their bodies heal if wounded. Chop them to pieces, and their soul will seek out a new receptacle to be reborn. Often they are reborn into what the God King called a ‘bud,’ a replica of themselves, prepared ahead of time.”
    “I saw some of those,” Siris said. “Below.”
    “Yes,” Kuuth said. “But even without a bud, the soul of a true Deathless will find a new home. Unless . . .”
    “Unless.”
    “The God King’s sword. You mentioned its magic before. You have the weapon?”
    Siris reached to the side, fingers resting on the blade.
    “The Infinity Blade,” Kuuth whispered. “Crafted by the Worker of Secrets himself.”
    “But he’s just a myth, isn’t he?”
    “What better creator of a sword that should not be, a sword to kill the unkillable? Great master, that weapon is designed to slay the Deathless. Permanently. It is a terrible and wondrous thing. The Deathless have lived for thousands of years, and have come to see themselves as eternal. But if one of them were to gain access to a weapon which could finally threaten them . . .”
    “He’d be