The hallway grew colder with each step he took as if the very stones beneath his feet mourned the fate of the kingdom. The distant cries of the people, the clang of warning bells, and the death-screams of his soldiers formed a maddening symphony in his ears.
He pressed his palms to his temples, staggering as the weight of reality crushed him.
They were here,even before he could process it. The enemy troops had already advanced to his kingdom.
"You are a king. Command! Dominate! Reclaim!" A voice in his head told him. But then he bought against it. What army was he to command? The elite palace forces that reminded after he sent the rest of his men out on battle?
Those men are meant to protect him and royal household and not meant for battle.
"No one has to know." Another voice whispered in his ears.
"The throne can be restored. Your legacy rewritten. Let her go… for one night." Another thought crept in his mind again.
"He said he'd give you victory, didn't he?"
"What is one night… for the survival of an empire? You've had her for countless nights. What is a night's sacrifice compared to your pride?"
The voices came, hissing, whispering and clawing at his pride. And they were right.
Not just was he scared of the prophecy happening or the possibilities there were for him wife to possess more power than he did, but he has to save his honor and pride. Lest he would be taken away as a fallen king.
A coward who hid behind the rooms of his palace while sending thousands of men away to die in a distant land for his sake.
He had lost the respect of his men, the strength of his armies, and the dignity of his crown. But if he could still have the throne… if he could still be king… If he could still save what was left of all that he had lost.
He turned around.
His legs moved faster than they had ever done, driven not by courage, but by desperation. The Ming were already at the gates. There was no time left for honor. No room for morality.
When he entered the throne room, the air was heavier than before, thick with silence and shadow.
The torches that had been extinguished before were lighted, causing illumination in the throne room once more.
And there he was.
The stranger.
Sitting on the King's throne like it belonged to him. One leg crossed over the other with his fingers resting against his cheek and golden eyes watching as if he had known the King would return all along.
He said nothing.
He didn't need to.
The King dropped to his knees before him. The same knees that had never once bent before any man—even emperors. Even gods.
Now, they kissed the cold floor he had always commanded others in, in reverence… or perhaps surrender.
Total surrender to this immortal stranger before him who seemed to possess the divine powers of restoring his kingdom and all that he had lost.
"I…" the King choked on the words as his pride was thick in his throat. "I agree."
Still, the stranger remained silent.
The King's voice grew hoarse again. "Do as you said. Bring victory. Restore my armies. Protect my kingdom"
"And take her… for one night." he added after a few minutes after a brief hesitation.
The silence held.
Then the stranger finally rose.
The air seemed to tremble with him.
"Wise men break before they bend," he muttered while stepping down the throne's dais. "But you… you bent and broke. I find that admirable."
The King shuddered, unsure whether it was praise or mockery.
"I will keep my promise," the stranger whispered.
And then he vanished in a swirl of darkness, leaving behind a dark smoke.
The doors to the throne room flung open as soldiers came running in and shouting in disbelief.
"The Ming… they're retreating!"
"They're dying in the forests! Screaming! Something unseen is tearing them apart!"
But the King couldn't move. Couldn't celebrate.
He simply sat on the floor, staring at the remaining trails of the dark smoke knowing that something had shifted in his world.
And it would never shift back.
Days later, he has kept his own end of the bargain by going through the torture of hearing his queen screaming from pain of another man's lotus.
But he and been unable to do anything and had quietly waited for it to be over.
The stranger never returned ever since but after a few months,the queen had taken in.
Hoping against hope for it to be his child since he had been childless for years but after the ninth month,the queen had given birth to a child that did not look anything like a human being.
For she was bigger compared to how normal babies were and this had caused complications during her labour as she had a slightly bigger head more than the 10cm normal contractions.
Her birth has since put him on an edge. The stranger didn't return to claim his child but he was still in a tight spot for fear of her choosing to take all the kingdoms he had acquired one day.
Given her immortal origins,such a task wouldnt be hard for her and more than anything,he didn't want to loose his power and strongholds in the kingdom.
"Father!!!!" Libertha De Hayes screamed, calling him back from his trance.
He stared at her diligently,lost in what decision to take.
She hadn't acted ever since but she Still possessed powers and strength that was beyond human, there was no way he was going to let her live. Not even her children,hence why he had made sure to kill the other.
"Father pleaseee….." Libertha continued to plead, seeing the indecisive state that he was in.
He looked at her one last time and all he could see were the years he had spent watching her defeat huge monsters and demons that came for his kingdom in later years.
No human could defeat them. Not even the previous demon slayers.
Even during the training of the new demon slayers,the humans who were selected to be part of the trainings left out of fear and cowardice but only Libertha remained. And single handedly,ever since then,she has always been fighting the demons herself.
The humans existed after she did. Perhaps if she were to disappear, they would with her as well. Perhaps if he was to exterminate her light, then he wouldn't have to bother about her deciding to take the throne from him one day.
She was more powerful than a thousand men combined. A chance like this one won't present itself again. He needed to act and not just to act for the sake of it, he needed to in order to protect his throne.
Libertha followed his eyes as she saw him retracing his glance from her and to the wizard.
"What are you going to do? What are you planning to do?" She questioned hysterically.
" I thought you demons had spiritual eyes Libertha? How come you never saw that I was the one who stabbed your child in the rain that day?" He leaned towards her and taunted.
Libertha's mouth remained open as she recalled the night the demon had attacked her family.
"He did what?" the voices screamed in her head.
And for years she had believed her daughter died from the Pierce of the demon, without knowing that her father had been the one who stabbed her child to death. What manner of man was he?
She recalled the rainy night how she had been out chasing a demon that had been hunting the kingdom for days now. Before she returned,the villagers had gathered at her home but none of the could go into her rooms to try and save her husband and daughter.
Out of the desperation of he moment, she had done so herself but had been late as she watched from the windows, a long knife being driven into her daughter's heart, and another to her husband.
Her father had been the man behind it all along?