For All of Eternity

Kyprioth was exhausted, too weak to do anything effective. The battle had been dragged out for too long, and he could fight no more. His brother and sister, with their combined power, were invincible and untouchable. It hurt him to surrender, but he had no choice.

He felt as if he should have some trick up his sleeve now; he felt as if he should have some strategy to topple them down and regain his throne.

But he did not.

He had run out of options; he had exhausted his resources; he could not keep this going any longer, no matter how hard he had tried.

His people were going to be defeated by their luarin invaders, and there was nothing he could do about it because he was being defeated by their invaders' gods. This was not only a loss for him but a huge loss for his people.

Yet there was nothing he could do.

So he had approached them, this time not with a battle planned in his head and weapons in his hands but quite the opposite. He had lost his all-encompassing aura of confidence; he walked toward them with slumped shoulders and a downturned head.

The Great Goddess and Mithros were in front of him, barely affected. They had a feeling that this day would come soon, and a feeling of smugness filled the both of them.

''Hello, brother,'' they said simultaneously as their brother approached them.

Hearing the smugness hidden beneath their artificial solemnity, a wave of anger washed over him. He suddenly had the urge to fight them once more, instead of surrendering.

''I surrender. I give you the Copper Isles now.''

Mithros smiled slightly, his face malevolent. ''So we thought,'' he said.

Kyprioth's anger increased, but he hid it with his usual rakish manner. ''I'm coming back,'' Kyprioth said. ''This is only temporary. You'll see.''

The Great Goddess let out a derisive laugh. ''I don't think so, brother.''

''You are defeated,'' Mithros said. ''Prove that you possess some dignity by accepting that.''

Kyprioth said nothing. He did not know what to say to his brother, because his brother did state some truth. While he was coming back, he still was defeated for the moment.

His siblings had finally defeated him.

Kyprioth averted his eyes away from Mithros, not having the courage to look him in the eye. While that may have rendered him unable to see his siblings' faces, he could feel their smirks.

It was so unfair! They were their parents' favorites, rulers of very powerful people and they were having his Copper Isles. And he had always been the odd one of them, so they had banded up against him, naturally.

''We'll be merciful, Kyprioth,'' the Great Goddess said. ''You can have the seas.''

Oh the seas. Like that was such a gift. But that was the only thing that he would be able to have for now, so obviously he had to take it.

''All right,'' he said, ''I'll accept it... for now.''

The Great Goddess shook her head. ''No,'' she said. ''Forever. We will rule the Copper Isles for all of eternity, brother.''

For all of eternity. Those words echoed painfully through his soul.

I had a bit more writing this one than any of the other prompts. I barely made the 500-word mark. I hope you enjoyed it, though.