Kingdom From The Ashes

Sovereign

A metal door clangs open into a blood-stained chamber adorned with chains and devices designed for painfully breaking captives. Through the doorway an unwilling casualty poured blood from his trembling wounds. Each breath he breathed just wheezed and crackled while strapped to an upright panel of timber. His bare back was exposed revealing blood flowing from fresh lesions. Steam rolled from the open flesh lacerated by a spiked whip.

The booming voice of a towering armored conqueror amplified the fear of the immolated prisoner. “Your vigor could be useful among my ranks.” The tormentor, still holding the bloodied whip, granted a kneeling gesture to his lordship who casually passed by with exaggerated steps. “All you have to do is tell me what I want to know, and I will see to it that those wounds of yours are treated.” The conqueror faced the beaten prisoner eye to eye and a sinister snare surfaced from his face. A golden glow of the irises and a crooked grin sealed a certain fate for the prisoner.

The captive attempted to reply. “K…k…” His weak voice and trembling from the pain of the lashings made it difficult to speak.

“Kill you?” The conqueror chuckled. “I get it, your mouth can get a little dry when screaming from pain.” He mocked. “Perhaps I tell you a story, and when I am done, we’ll try again.” He turned his head over to his grunt who was still kneeling with the spiked whip in hand. “Go fetch the shaman we picked up the other day.” He commanded.

The grunt returned to standing position and placed the whip on a hook along a wooden post before exiting through the metal door. The wooden panel that the prisoner was strapped to was held by a chain and pulley system that suspended it a few feet off the ground. The conqueror released the chain to lower the panel. Without so much as a grunt of effort the brute clutched his prisoner by the back of the neck and flung him into a solid wooden chair. His shredded back collided with the back support of the chair and immediately let out a terrible, haunting scream before slumping over unconscious from the pain.

A malevolent expression came over the crimson leader of invaders all while he looked down at the pathetic unconscious waste of meat hunched over in the chair. With one hand he clutched a wooden board and struck his prisoner along the temple of his head. The impact of the board forced the unconscious man over the chair arm and onto the floor.

“I didn’t give you permission to pass out.”

The man gasped for air and coughed while attempting to hold himself up. The strike from the board left an imprint around the right temple of his shaved head.  Heavy footsteps proceeded towards him. He could sense the sheer rotten energy of his captor’s malice radiate off his fowl existence. Too weak to do much else than breath, he waited for the next blow to hit him. Maybe this time he will finally die.  

Massive fingers wrapped around the top of the prisoner’s head and like handling a boot the brute lifted his limp body from the floor. “What is your name?” The conqueror demanded.

It was just a moment but a long moment as the prisoner was forced to stare his captor, a mass murderer responsible for world g******e, in his soulless eyes. It was hard to grasp the potential of such a massive enemy. One thing was known for certain, even if he did leave alive, it wouldn’t matter. The world he lived in prior to all of this was certainly gone and there was no one powerful enough to stand up to him.

“Before you lie, I want you to think about Mina.”

His eyes widened and with what little strength he had, the prisoner reached up and grabbed the hand he was being held by and attempted to wrestle the conqueror down. Just then the door opened. It was Mina.

“Arieul!” Mina bellowed from the doorway as the grunt pushed her the rest of the way through.

“Arieul?” His captor repeated with a slight change in tone. “The commander who prevented my success on Serria’s kingdom in the north east?” He smiled. “How impressive, you must be a good leader to have accomplished such a feat.”

“Should I proceed with our interrogation protocol my lordship?” The grunt inquired with a modest bow.

“I hear there is great magic in these lands.” The conqueror stated as he dropped Arieul before Mina who was already kneeling on the floor. “Allow this shaman to heal her beloved and then we will go from there.”

“No!” Arieul cried with a weak raspy voice.

“How quickly can you do it Mina?”

Mina looked over Arieul with tears in her eyes and with a small voice she answered. “After I give him strength, I will need to mend the wounds which will take several weeks.” She sobbed.

“How long until he has his strength?”

“I can get him well enough to begin treatment of his wounds in just a few seconds.” Mina in her emotional naivety provided.

Mina was young and had flourishing blue hair that grew shoulder length. Much like Althred, she carried a pale skin tone but also brilliant pink eyes. As she pushed out her energy and intention a dim glow surrounded Arieul. Within seconds his wounds had finally stopped bleeding.

“How is he?”

Mina’s head raised as she continued to focus. Her eyes peacefully closed without any tension. “I can now begin mending the lacerations.”

Arieul became able to open his eyes and gave a full exhale of breath without the wheezing. Mina let out a scream just as his senses returned. Arieul pushed himself up to his feet wincing from the pain of his wounded back. It didn’t take long to find his target and he charged his captor. Mina was suspended a foot or so off the ground by her blue hair and just as Arieul made his move the brute countered, landing a solid strike with his right fist.

Arieul slowed his momentum to apply a block but the strike had enough force to alter the commander’s path, knocking him into several tables which tipped over on top of him as his body thudded against the floor. Mina grabbed the conquerors hand extending an electrical shock up his arm that forced his grip to release her hair. With a bound she reached Arieul and helped him to his feet again.

“Arieul, I must say that even well below your full potential, I find your speed and tenacity impressive.”

“I won’t tell you a thing!” Arieul decreed.

“No, you’ll join my ranks as an elite warrior instead.”   

 “We’ll both die before either of us serve you!” Mina snapped.

 “Maybe you won’t.” The conqueror grinned and shifted his sight right at Arieul. “But I can just tell he’d do anything not to have both of you killed right here in this room.”

            Arieul scoffed thinking just how right the tyrant was. There was no way either of them would walk out alive unless a bargain could be made.

“Let her get as far away from here as possible and then I will join your armies.” Arieul declared.

“How is it that your kind honor a deal?” The conqueror asked attempting to sound genuine.

Mina looked to Arieul. “You cannot do this.” She pleaded as tears filled her stargazing pink eyes.

“You have to make it out of here Mina it is the only thing that matters.”

Without warning the conqueror struck Mina across the head with his abominable crimson fist. The crunch of her skull cracking could be heard as it collided against a large wooded pillar standing just a foot from where she was standing. Her head remained lodged between the tyrants clinched hand and the pillar. Before Arieul could process the brutality of the situation his face was quickly covered by the conquerors other hand and just like a toy he tossed the commander across the room and into the metal door that sealed the entry point.

“You know I thought it was that but now that I think about it…” He released his hold on Mina and watched as her lifeless body collapsed to the floor. “I think you shake hands to fulfill a deal.”

“Lordship, what should I do with her body?” The grunt requested standing at attention next to the metal door.

Arieul was slowly returning to his feet. “I’ll decide what to do with her!” He snarled.

“Really?” Arieul’s captor sounded intrigued and grinned. “If you can land one strike on me, however small, I’ll grant a special request.”

At the time Arieul was struck into the tables he managed to snag a sharp device and managed to keep hold of it even after being thrown into the heavy door. He peered up at the grunt who stood before him, still standing at attention. The grunt had a larger weapon strapped right to his back. He thought.

“Well?”

Arieul swept his around to catch the back of the grunts knee bringing him down on one leg. In the same motion he pulled him self close enough to drive the hidden weapon through its neck. Blood poured out onto the floor and spatter into Arieul’s face. The grunt rolled forward onto the floor, his face landing right into his own pool of blood as more gurgled in his through on his final exhale of air.

Arieul rose from the ground, taking the sword from the grunts sheath. The conqueror took pleasure in the commander’s vigor. Prior to his capture, Arieul did successful kill the conquerors grunts by the hundreds by his own hands but didn’t fair well against the more elite combatants. Given that a lot of fear surrounded this conqueror and his abilities it was hard to say that he even stood a sliver of a chance. So he took his time analyzing for any advantages.

 “Oh don’t worry about the blood, I’ll have my servants clean up.”

An inner fire seethed from within Arieul as he scowled with an intense glare and grit teeth. Over and over he replayed that instant in his mind. Mina didn’t deserve to die… Not like that. The more it raced through is head the more he focused on the stupid smug look across that abominations face.

With the sword clutched tightly in his right hand he charged towards the tyrant, breaking passed the mental terrors that made him hesitate. “I’m going to kill you!”