Chapter Text
Zargothrax fell asleep after a long time, on a surprisingly silent afternoon, in his deadly towering black castle. There's no sign of any living creature, goblin or zombies, not even a crow to be seen.
Great achievement had been gained during recent months of conquering, not one single intact house could be seen over the entire southern continent, and the brainless goblins would ensure to kick off any half-wall they see anywhere. In short, all efforts were well worth it, but also exhausting. The all mighty, never rested evil lord had dispersed all of the noisy monsters in the city just to take a short nap.
And now he's lying in his room, having the black coat and heavy armor off, leaving only the red silk rope. The sun shone through the window, half blocked by the curtain, only his chest and below was illuminated. The delicate fabric reflected a soft luster that seemed heavenly. In this world of disasters, a possession like this must have been only worthy of a god…
Of course, all of these were just some weird delusions of the man standing by his bed. He also realized himself being a little bit misplaced, shook his head, tried to drag his mind back to reality.
Being the only living creature staying in the castle now, his master must have forgotten he existed, Proletius thought. He was wandering in the long hall, ended up outside of this room, by coincidence. The door left open, he pushed his way in without waking the sleeping one inside.
It must have been a rough time for Lord Zargothrax, he should not be disturbed in this precious rest. Thought that, he had already walked to the bed, and this peaceful scene was lying in front of his eyes.
He couldn't remember if this was the first time looking down on his master from above. A feeling of disrespect kept telling him to stand away, but inside which the string of itching held him still. Fortunately, these eyes were closed on this sleeping face, so he didn't have to worry about eyes being caught and unable to look away…
..Or is it? His eyes hadn't been moving for at least minutes. You won't get many chances to see the Dark Lord's face with his hood off, most of the time a pair of dim red was the only thing showing to you. This was a chance that can't be missed. Under the diffuse reflection of the sunlight, the wrinkles on Zargothrax's face and the black marks on his eyes were all visible. Proletius would not believe this is the one who could destroy a city with one movement of his mouth if he hadn't witnessed it before. He was so relaxed, long hair falling around his face, lips half-open that you could even see the teeth inside.
Proletius then realized he's getting too close, his body bent over at some point and his beard almost touched Zargothrax's face. Damn beard, should have cut them off with the hair back then. He needed to find something else to divert his attention before drowning in the scent of the breath that was coming out of his face.
It took Proletius a moment to notice that along with Zargothrax gentle breath, his body was moving slightly up and down. Having lived for centuries, traveled different worlds, he still needed to breathe to live, like all the normal creatures. As the servant, one of his purposes is to help the emperor ascend into godhood. Would Zargothrax still be breathing like this once he gained immortality? He could not imagine such a complicated thing, but for now, he could watch this nearly perfect body lying before his eyes.
One touch won't be wrong, right? He reached out and his fingertips touched the soft fabric, which was warm from the sun. Then the entire palm of his hand was lowered, he felt the texture of the skin under the shirt.
Perhaps the afternoon sun was too bright, bright enough to reach his brain, and the entirety of his eyes were covered by sparkling patches of light. Proletius slowly knelt down, with his body leaning on the bed, and gently pressed the side of his head on Zargothrax's belly. He could feel the breathing beneath his head, even faintly hearing a heartbeat in this quiet room.
Took a deep breath, it's the smell of dust being exposed to the sun, just like everywhere else in the castle. But clearly there's something more reaching the brain, that relaxed his whole body, closed his eyes, under this warm atmosphere.
—
Where did he go? God damn Angus.
The all mighty emperor entered the forest to chase such an annoying kid, and kept bothered by all pointy branches. Even more, there's always a little creature scratching his foot, a baby monkey, with green armor and messy hair. He kicked it off, but it came back again, screaming noises.
Nasty bastard, couldn't get rid of even in another dimension. Zargothrax kicked so hard that the animal flew hundreds of meters away. Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, the giant inflatable toy suddenly fell from overhead. It was the hammer, at the size of a house, crushed him before he could react. The balloon hammer wasn't heavy at all, but it was pushing him so hard that he couldn't move.
What could he do? Using his brain full of hundreds years of knowledge, Zargothrax soon found the solution: wake up from this stupid dream.
He struggled opening eyes, although his vision was still a blur, he could recognize it's his room. No more balloon hammer or monkey prince, everything was back to normal…except the oppressive feeling that hadn't gone away.
Rubbing his eyes, he now found there was a person lying on his stomach. It's his faithful servant.
"Hey." He pushed Proletius' shoulder.
No respond. Instead, Proletius mumbled, and buried his face in it a little more.
Zargothrax frowned, not in annoyance, but just a bit of a nuisance. He shaked Proletius harder a few times.
"Hey, wake up."
Proletius suddenly opened his eyes, butt dropped to the floor, then hastily sat back and backed up to the wall.
"I-I'm so sorry…" With the servant sitting across another side of the room, Zargothrax didn't see his face was so red that it was almost steaming.
He tried to say some words, had just opened the mouth, but couldn't control the yawn that followed.
Within a second, the panicked man had already stood up, with a serious look on his face, like nothing had happened before. "So I will leave now." Proletius nodded, walking out of the room calmly, with a rapid sound of running away followed.
It didn't bother him much. Zargothrax stretched out, ready to get out of bed.
As a tyrant feared by all, Zargothrax's only concerns were things like war, destruction, chaos and black magic. Besides that, he didn't care much about trivial matters. It's hard to say whether he hates it or likes it, indifferent might be a more appropriate word.
For example, if his trusted man asked for a nap together on one of these rare free days, which was a bit too much, he would probably agree to it, even though he wouldn't take it seriously. The age-stained face, the pupils that glowed nothing like he wanted them to, the magical aura that overflowed from his body, and the all-black outfit, all of these would have scared off anyone, friend or foe, from approaching him. Not to mention bringing up anything other than work.
But anyway, Zargothrax had no spare time to worry about the therapy of his servant, everything was fine as long as he finished all jobs. He simply didn't care that much.