Chapter Text
Metal footsteps clanged on the stone roads of the city. A man clad in armor made of pitch black steel with accents made of brilliant rubies walks with determination through the city streets, a bag hangs at his waist with papers inside it. A tattoo of a tiger is partially visible on his neck. His face is intimidating and instills fear in the people wandering the streets causing them to quickly move away from the man and move to the sides of the road. They all stare in fear at the hilt sticking out of the scabbard at his waist. He smirks at their fear and continues towards a large stone castle. His head is covered by a black steel helmet with ruby accents. Black hair that fades into yellow peeks out from under the helmet. His cloak bellows in the chilly wind. A child runs into the road in front of him after a cat the child had been chasing. The man stops narrowing his dark gray eyes at the child and puts a hand covered with a black steel gauntlet on the hilt of his sword. A woman with green at the end of her hair runs to the child and holds them close. She looks at the man with a look of desperation and fear in her eyes.
“General Zion please, my son doesn’t know any better, he hasn’t learned yet.” She frantically begs the general. Tears begin to fall from her eyes. “I promise it won’t happen again. Please spare him!” She begs with tears in her eyes. Zion’s eyes narrow.
“You’re right he’s too young to know better,” Zion says. The people around them see the anger in his eyes and back even further to the side. “So I shall spare him,” Zion says while tightening his grip on the hilt of his sword. The mom doesn’t notice this and hugs her son while crying still.
“Oh thank you thank you!” She happily cries.
“Do you have anyone else that could take care of him?” The general asks her. The mom isn’t paying attention and answers his question honestly.
“No, it’s just me taking care of him.” She says still hugging her son.
“No father?” The general asks while slowly taking the sword out of the hilt revealing a serrated blade made of dark steel. The woman doesn’t notice but the crowd does and most of them look away for what’s about to happen.
“No, he died during the takeo-when the new king came into power.” The woman corrects herself. The general now has the sword fully removed from its hilt.
“Good that makes this less complicated.” The general says. The woman looks up and freezes in fear.
“Wait, but you said-“The woman frantically says.
“I said HE doesn’t know better. But you should know to keep your child out of my way,” Zion raises his sword. The moms’ eyes widened. “And you should know never,” He says with accentuation at the end of the sentence. “Ask and especially beg, for anything from a controller, especially a general.” He brings the sword down as the woman frantically pushes the child out of the way. His sword comes and slashes open her chest and stabs into her stomach. The woman gasps and goes limp. The general takes his sword out of her stomach serrading the edges of the wound and blood drips from his sword onto the stone ground dying it red like the ruby on his armor. The woman slumps to the ground and coughs up blood. Zion puts his sword with the blood still dripping into the scabbard again. The woman’s hair loses the green as it fades away. Her eyes lose focus as her body limps upon the cold stone road. Blood flows from the wound and stains the road underneath her scarlet like a red river. The child is on the ground a few feet away confused and fearful.
"Mommy?" The boy questions and takes a few cautionary steps toward the mom dead on the ground. Zion waves a controller over. This controller has a mask shaped like a dragon's head made of scales. They also have a hood covering their head except for a bit of hair colored black into red, peeking out from under the hood. Their eyes are also an unnatural red with pointed pupils instead of round pupils.
"Yes, General Zion?" The controller asks.
"Dispose of this woman and take that thing-"Zion points to the child trying to shake his mom awake. "To the Correction Facility. Maybe it will be of use to the people there." The crowd murmurs among themselves. The controller throws the mother’s dead body over their shoulder, painfully gripping the child's wrist, and pulls him towards a large stone building in the distance. The child starts crying as he is pulled away. Zion turns to the crowd.
"Does anyone else want to try to ask me for things?" Zion yells at the crowd causing them to flinch back. Absolute silence surrounds him.”That’s what I thought!” Zion yells. He continues his walk towards the large castle ahead of him. The large stone castle towers above the city with dark wooden accents. Above the large entrance doors is a stone and wood balcony overlooking the city. Surrounding the entrance to the castle is a tall metal fence with a gate guarded by two more controllers who look identical to the one from earlier. Zion walks up to the gate and the controllers open it as they bow to him. He walks through the gate and the large courtyard. Flowerbeds surround the small courtyard. They have been unused for a long time. Zion opens the main doors and walks through them. The room he enters is a short hallway into a large ballroom. The doors shut behind him echoing through the room.
Zion enters one of the hallways leading away from the ballroom and begins walking through the hallways. Torn banners line the walls between windows covered by long curtains. The halls are dark and dismal; barely any sound except his echoing footsteps can be heard. Faint blood stains and scorch marks can be seen in parts of the floor and walls. As Zion walks through hallways he turns right into one of the center hallways. He passes a person cleaning the floor. The person flinches back and bows to Zion. Zion continues walking and comes upon a large staircase that he goes up. He continues through the hallways and comes upon a large hallway lined on one side with windows and the other side has a hallway leading to the right. At the end of the hallway is a large set of wooden doors. A single voice yelling at someone can be heard from the room behind the doors. Zion knocks on the door and the yelling stops.
“Come in.” A deep voice yells from inside. Zion opens the door which leads to a large throne room. A red and black carpet leads to a large stone throne surrounded by red, orange, and yellow crystals that appear like fire surrounding the throne. Surrounding the room are tall stone pillars with swirling red crystals embedded in them. Behind the throne is a large doorway leading to the balcony outside. Above the doorway is a torn and burned portrait too damaged to make out what was painted. A man sits on the throne with a wooden desk pulled in front of the throne covered in papers and journals. The man wears very regal-looking clothes made of black, gold, and red. Atop his head is a golden crown with a blue gemstone in the middle of it. He has pitch-black hair that fades into red and is brushed back down the back of his head. He also has a pitch-black beard that is well-groomed. There is a very faint gray aging in his hair. The man is sifting through the papers with a look of frustration in his bright red eyes. No one else was in the room with the man.
“Aaahhh! It’s not here!” The man yells. He stands up and flips the desk over sending it and the papers on top of it flying across the tiled floor. The man grips his brow in annoyance. Zion stands firm without a reaction to his anger.
“Your majesty,” Zion says as he bows to the man. The man whips around to him.
“What?! This better be good news!” The king yells. "I swear to Galaxia if this is one more report about issues at the Correction Facility, not being able to find the princess or prince, or that damn rebellion causing more issues, I will fucking personally torture and kill you myself in that damn Correction Facility!" The king yells. Despite the king's anger and threat, Zion remains unfazed by it. Zion bows with his hand across his chest.
"Quite the opposite, Your Majesty." The general says. The king removes his hand from his brow and looks at the general with peaked curiosity.
"Well go on then, what's this good news?" The king says with urgency. Zion stands up and removes the papers from his bag.
"You might want to see for yourself your Majesty," Zion says as he hands the papers to the king. The king snatches them out of the general's hand and begins to read them."We just received this report from an interrogator at the Correction Facility in the city. He was interrogating a man who worked at the castle, and we got him to reveal the town in which the princess is hidden. However, he died from the torture before he revealed the house she's being kept in, her description, or her caretakers’ description." Zion explains. The king's mouth twists in a creepy grin.
“Oh, this is great!” The king exclaims. He looks up from the papers. “We finally know where she is!” He happily exclaims. He hands the papers back to Zion. The king waves his hand and something teleports into the shadows. The sound of chains rattling can be heard from the shadows. A groan of pain comes from the shadows as well. “Oh, Matthew!” The king calls to the shadows. “Why don’t you come over here? I have great news.” The king sarcastically says. The chains rattle more and a man limps from the shadows. Chains are tightly bound to his wrists and ankles leaving bruises underneath. His light tan skin is littered with nauseating scars and bruises. His dark brown hair fades into a deep blue and is severely matted and dirty. His only clothes are a pair of tattered and worn pants covered in stains and dried blood. He has a tattoo of a wolf wearing a crown snarling on his back that has a large scar shaped like an ‘x’ over it. The scar has very jagged edges and stands out on his tan skin. The man looks up at the king with a face devoid of fear. His eyes are narrowed at the king and his mouth is twisted in a frown.
"Yes, Azar ," Matthew says in a mocking tone. The general quickly walks over to where Matthew stands crouched over. Zion smacks Matthew across his face with his armored hand. The blow sends Matthew to his knees on the floor. Despite this, Matthew’s face remains unmoving and although he rubs the mark already forming on his face from the blow, he still does not show fear or pain on his face.
"You will respect your king and call him such traitor !" Zion says with a bite to his words. Matthew glares at the general.
"He is no king so I will not call him such. He has done nothing to deserve that title so he is not worthy of the respect that comes with the title." Matthew says with no fear of repercussions in his voice. Zion raises his hand to strike Matthew again but Azar raises a hand to stop him.
"No need general," Azar explains. Zion lowers his hand. Matthew smirks."When he learns what we have discovered he won't be so confident." Azar says with a smirk. Matthew’s smirk falters for a second but he quickly masks his reaction and sneers again.
"What are you talking about? There's nothing you can do that will make me fear you." Matthew sneers. Azar grins creepily.
"Oh really? Not even your..." Azar questions with a mocking tone."Hidden little secret down south near the SpiritWood?" Azar grins. Matthew’s smile falters for the first time and is replaced with a look of true fear. "I believe in that small farming town called Woodside?"
"No, you didn't." Matthew hopes.
"Oh, but I did. I found your little wolf that you tried so hard to keep hidden from me. But you failed and I now know where you hid her." Azar mocks. Matthews' face twists in anger and fear. He jolts up and lunges at Azar.
"Don't you dare lay a fucking finger on her you bastard!" Matthew screams. Azar scoffs and his eyes glow red as he waves his hand in a circular motion with black energy surrounding his hand. Matthew’s face twists in pain and he falls to the ground gripping his left lower leg. No visible wound can be seen but to Matthew, it's as if his entire lower leg is being crushed in a vice-like grip. Despite this Matthew finds the strength to rise and try to go after Azar again. He manages a few steps before Azar waves his hand again and another jolt of pain rips through Matthew’s leg, this time through his whole left leg. Matthew falls again but crawls towards Azar instead. Azar raises his other hand and waves his hands in a circular motion with black energy covering both hands. This sends a jolt of pain through both of Matthew’s legs immobilizing him on the floor. Tears prick at Matthew’s eyes from the pain but he blinks them away. Azar keeps his hands covered in black energy in the air but he steps towards Matthew on the floor. He waves his hands transferring the black energy to Matthew’s legs keeping him in pain and on the floor. Azar kneels in front of Matthew and pulls his hair forcing Matthew to look at him.
"What keeps you going? I have stripped everything from you yet you still try to fight me? Why?" Azar questions.
"Because," Matthew groans through the pain. "I can't let you win. And...if you get her...you win-"Matthew groans through gritted teeth but is interrupted by Azar's creepy deep laugh.
"Let me win?! Ah ha ha!" Azar laughs. "I've already won!" Azar scoffs. He lets go of Matthew’s hair causing his head to fall and smack the tiled floor. Azar holds his hands up bringing the black energy back to his hands. Matthews' face twists in fear. "Your people fear me!" Azar waves his hands and the pain moves to include Matthew’s lower back. "I have twisted those who opposed me!" Azar clenches a hand and the pain is enlarged to include Matthew’s left arm. Matthew groans in pain. "I've killed those who try to fight back!" Azar clenches the other hand and the pain spreads to Matthew’s right arm. He screams in pain. " I have the army of controllers! I have the riches! I have the crown! I have the power! I took your family away! You are just the man who chose the wrong side! You are the fucking traitor who left!" Azar yells. Azar leans into Matthew's fearful face. "You, have, NOTHING!" Azar whispers. He clenches both of his hands and jerks them outward. Pain shoots through Matthew's body and he screams in pain. He begins to lose consciousness from the pain.
"She will... beat you!" Matthew gasps out. "By the end... of the year... you will... fear... the name..." Matthew gasps. Azar leans forward with anticipation to hear the name of the girl. Before he can reveal the name Matthew's eyes roll back and he passes out from the pain.
"Damn it!" Azar yells and he stands up. He waves his hands and the energy dissipates and his eyes stop glowing. He grips his brow and wanders to the balcony behind the throne. The general follows behind him but stays a few feet away. Azar leans on the balcony’s railing and looks at the city and the land beyond the walls. He appears to be thinking deeply about something. "You know something?" Azar says with a low voice. Zion looks at the king with confusion.
"What, your majesty?" Zion responds. Azar sighs.
"This kingdom used to be thriving before I became king. But when I became king and annexed Adalwolf into the kingdom of Lacertini, it was like the Guardian Spirits were punishing me. Famine and disease spread throughout the kingdom. Our livestock became weak and barely sufficient. Otherworldly storms ravaged the lands and massive hurricanes destroyed our ships,” Azar becomes visibly tense as his brow furrows and his hands clenched into fists. He is now ranting. “Trees and plants started dying. Death started working double time and caused the deaths of more people than usual.” Azar looks to the nearest building. It is a towering stone building with pointed towers and a large magical stained glass window depicting a hand holding a book and 10 otherworldly beings around it.
A cat-eared, winged man with a purple-themed aesthetic and gold stars around him. His depiction is the largest and right above the book. The other nine depictions of otherworldly beings surround the book in a circle.
A middle-aged winged woman with a white and pink aesthetic and a motherly appearance. She has a baby in her hands and children around her.
A middle-aged winged woman with a hooded cloak and a black and red aesthetic. She has a scythe and spirits floating around her.
An older barefoot elf woman with bunny ears and a tail. She has a dress made of plants and a green aesthetic. She is surrounded by animals, plants, and various forms of weather except for snow.
A young gender-neutral person with reindeer ears and a tail. They have a winter aesthetic and have an eyepatch over their right eye. They are surrounded by snowflakes and ice.
A shadowy man with a huge cloak concealing most of their body except for his bright red eyes that glow. He holds a dark sword dripping with blood and there are skulls and dark figures surrounding him.
A middle-aged dark-skinned man with hair like a lion's mane, a lion's tail, and a golden aesthetic. He has a sun behind him and is dressed like royalty.
A young woman with cow ears, a tail, and an aesthetic of natural colors. She holds a shovel and a watering can. Behind her is a field of crops and farm animals.
A young man with a unicorn horn and tail. His hair is flowing and made of vibrant colors. His clothes are black and white. He holds a paintbrush and a rainbow stands behind him.
“The Guardian Spirits even revoked all connections with the Soul Seers! When we consulted the Elf High Priest he claimed that ‘You have disturbed the balance of the spiritual world and the Guardian Spirits have chosen to punish you for the dark energy your actions have caused. Your terror and bloodshed have caused many lost and corrupted souls, thus disrupting the balance of the Spirit Realm. Unless you change your ways and halt this brutality then the Spirits will continue to punish you and your followers by making your empire unlivable and a nightmare to live in.’ When I began to argue with him and threaten him, he reminded me that an act of aggression towards the Elf High Priest is the most heinous crime a person can commit.” Azar exclaims his anger rising. “Do you know why that is Zion?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. It is a required part of all education. It is the most heinous crime because the High Priest is the highest in the world spiritually. They are the bridge between the Spirit Realm and our realm. So an act of aggression towards them is essentially an act against the Guardian Spirits themselves.” Zion explains.
“Correct. Due to that, after he said that he told me the Guardian Spirits wouldn't take kindly to it.” Azar angrily says. His eyes are beginning to glow red as his anger begins to boil. “After that the punishments became even more severe. So to prove I wasn't scared of some spirits I increased my punishments. More experiments, more torture, etcetera.” Azar is now rapidly breathing in and out and clenching his fists so tight it causes indents of his nails on his palm.
“But of course that meant more infernal countermeasures from the spirits. Which meant more people coming to me for help and more people blaming me.” Azar whips around and continues yelling.
“It is not my fault that I am simply exercising my birthright! Matthew is the one who was weak and ruled with a weak hand! Apparently, it's considered violent to rule with a firm hand and punish those who oppose you!” Azar is yelling at this point with black sparking energy surrounding his hands but Zion remains unfazed by this.
“How come HE gets the happy ending but I am stuck with this, this, this infernal darkness!” Azar slams his fists on the railing behind him shattering the stone railing. The pieces of stone clatter on the floor around him and his hands are covered in dust.
He breathes rapidly a few times and then sighs. His eyes return to their non-glowing state and the energy around his hands dissipates. "Well the past can't be changed, only the future." Azar composes himself and then turns to Zion. "I need you to follow these orders." Azar commands. Zion nods.
"I need security and patrols to be heightened in all the towns and cities. Especially in the village she is in. I need walls built around the village to regulate travel in and out of the village." Azar commands. Zion is taking notes in a small notebook. "I need more controllers made in the Correction Facility as quickly as possible. I need the torture and punishments in the Correction Facility to be upped tenfold. More people in them, harsher punishments, no kindness whatsoever. We must attempt to weaken the morale of the rebellion and the Spirits. They won’t be able to watch this torture forever." Zion nods.
"Is that all your majesty?" Zion questions.
"No, send for someone to fix that railing. That will be all. Go, and leave me here." Azar explains. Zion nods and leaves the throne room shutting the door behind him. Azar sighs. He waves his hand and Matthew and his chains teleport back to where he came from. He pinches his brow again sensing something otherworldly in the shadows. "Do you find joy in my misery? You know I regret that day and the decisions I made!" Azar yells to the shadows. A shadowy almost see-through woman with bright red eyes and dark flowing hair stands in the shadows. Her black gown is coated in blood flowing from the large gash in her stomach. Tears pour from her eyes yet she doesn't cry. She had been in the room the whole time yet Zion had never noticed her.
"No, not yet you don't. Your latest display shows your true regrets. That you have none." The woman says, her voice echoing and sounding layered. She fades away and Azar sighs. He glances at the portrait above the throne deep in thought. He stares at a part of the portrait torn and burned beyond recognition. "Whoever you are, I will take away the last of Matthew's happiness. I will win and you will die like all the others." Azar exclaims before leaving the throne room in a storming rush slamming the doors behind him. What he did not see as he left was a young man with black hair faded into red, and gray eyes, wearing clothes of noble stature and a gray steel crown decorated simply compared to Azar. The young man had been hiding behind a pillar and watched the whole interaction. His face is one of determination and joy at this information.
"I have to tell Queen Katherine so she can tell the rebellion! This could be what either forsakes us to lose or allows me to avenge Mother and return the crown to its rightful owner, the Wolfsbane family.” The young man declares. He leaves the room and walks with determination to a bedroom near the throne room. He closes the door behind him and writes a letter to Katherine detailing the information. He wraps it with twine, attaches it to the leg of a raven seated nearby, and sends the bird flying outside the window towards a large forest outside the city walls. As he watches the bird fly Azar's voice can be heard.
“Rai! Come here! We are going to discuss attack plans towards the rebellion!” Azar yells from the hallway.
“Coming, sir! I’ll be there in just a minute!” Rai responds.
“Rai Dragonheart, now! That's an order!” Azar angrily yells.
“Coming!” Rai runs out of the room shutting the door behind him.