The Monarch

Chapter 13

A cold draft entered the room as Dr. Isil introduced himself.

"What do you want?" I asked. Dr. Isil chuckled, then frowned as he looked at his dead familiar.

"Just a bit of personal gain," Dr. Isil said, "of course, it's none of your business, truthfully. I applaud you, Monarch. You came all this way without dying. Very valiant."

He walked over, his footsteps echoing like death ticking down.

"If I were to grade your efforts thus far, however, I wouldn't even give you a C," Dr. Isil said, stopping just before his dead familiar. He turned his head toward me, his irises glowing noticeably red through his glasses.

"Run!" I whispered to the other two. They looked at me, a confused expression on their faces.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, slowly walking behind me.

"He's not human," I whispered back, "you have no chance."

"You're the one that has no chance, Monarch," Dr. Isil laughed. He touched his hand against the bird's body. A moment later, the bird's body started to be turned inside out. Its skin turned backward, revealing the bones and red flesh underneath. The bird's eyes popped out of its sockets before exploding on the ground. The feathers fell off of the bird before being drowned in a puddle of the bird's blood, "But, I will spare your friends. They have exactly thirty seconds to leave before I begin. I suggest they leave this place before that countdown completes itself."

"Run!" I finally yelled, startling the other two. Rose ran for the cavern's exit. A moment later, she was blocked by a giant iron door that wasn't there before. I turned to Dr. Isil, "What's the big idea! You were letting them go!"

"I never said I was letting them go. The difficulty of leaving this place was never specified. Simply that if they were able to leave, I would spare them."

"You bastard!" Josh yelled, charging forward.

"Josh no!" I yelled out. Josh ignored me, swinging his sword upward. He brought it down on Dr. Isil, who remained unfazed before the bird's body. When Josh was just an inch away from Dr. Isil's head, his sword stopped. I took a moment to register what had just occurred. Dr. Isil was standing, holding back Josh's strike with a single hand of his. Josh was frozen in motion, his skin showing a dark grey color. Cracks in his skin were found all over his body, along with several patches of moss.

"No, Josh!" Rose cried, tears coming to her face.

"Unfortunate," Dr. Isil sighed, pushing over the statue with ease. Josh crashed into the floor, breaking into a million pieces. Even his insides were stone, as there was no blood. Dr. Isil turned back to me. His mouth smiled at me, but his eyes remained full of bloodlust.

"You aren't Dr. Isil," I muttered, "Who are you?"

Dr. Isil, or rather, the person occupying Dr. Isil, widened their eyes in surprise.

"I'm surprised you realized," the imposter laughed, "I thought for sure I was able to act this out as the good doctor. No, I am not the Dr. Isil you're talking about. You see, my true name is Amadeus. I am a monarch, much like yourself. However, I am much much stronger."

"and you kill other monarchs?" I asked. The imposter looked at me, confused.

"What's that's what you're supposed to do?" The imposter said. I stared at him, confused myself. The imposter stared back before bursting into laughter, "You don't know what a monarch is? God, you're slow."

Rose slowly crawled over to Josh's pieces. She slowly started gathering them from across the floor, then started to assemble them like jigsaw pieces. Amadeus looked at Rose with disgust, then slowly walked over to her.

"Just die already, trash," Amadeus muttered. He rose his foot a bit, then brought it slamming down.

"No!" I yelled, rushing forward. For the fifth time since I was summoned to this world, time seemed to slow down. My body was propelled forward in Amadeus's direction. His foot was just inches in front of Rose's face. The air around me seemed chilly as I flew through the air.

When time resumed again, I crashed into Amadeus's body. He flew against the wall of the cavern. When he landed, I heard a loud thud and a c***k echo through the cavern walls.

Amadeus laughed as he rose himself to his feet, "you're good," the imposter said, dusting himself off. I winced, realizing my entire shoulder was in pain. I looked at the wound, then was shocked to find the majority of it was frozen over, replaced with stone skin.

"Monarchs," Amadeus sighed, "Are the gladiators of this world. They come from other worlds without warning or reason, just to fight the others. That's all it is, kid. It's a deathmatch from beginning to end. Haven't you heard your servant in your dreams? The one that's been calling for you? Have you denied their hospitality?"

Was he talking about the shadow from my nightmares?

"The only way to win is to survive," Amadeus laughed, "Kill, eat, sleep. Kill, eat, sleep. The cycle never ends. Each kill, you live a bit longer and become stronger. Until you're like me."

"How many monarchs have you killed?"

"I have a bit of a streak," Amadeus laughed, "I've been on this world for six thousand years. Since the dawn of their first empire, I was the monarch they called the devil. Oh, how they adored me! They treated me like a god! Somebody to grovel before and bed mercy! How great those days were, huh? Now, I've been reduced to possessing other people just to survive. I've lived that long. Monarchs? Pah, that's child play. Living so long your body rots while you're still in it? That's really living kid."

"How many?"

"More than you can count," Amadeus chuckled. He charged forward, directly at me. His speed was incredible, but I still felt like he was jogging at me. He was playing with me and yet was much stronger than me. I barely dodged his first attack by jumping out of the way. I landed against the ground, but then was picked up and thrown against the wall. My shoulder snapped and my arm fell off. yet I felt no pain, "Fight back you weakling," Amadeus yawned, "This isn't any fun."

Amadeus struck again, this time in the stomach. Immediately, a giant hole formed below my rib cage. I doubled over, coughing up blood. How I wasn't dead amazed me. However, that wouldn't remain the same way forever. I covered my wound with my remaining arm, then quietly spoke the enchantment for root heal.

"That was it?" Amadeus sighed, turning around to Rose. She had a dazed expression on her face as he started walking toward her. He slowly walked over to her, his irises glowing bright red. I removed my hand from my stomach after I finished healing. Then, I quickly rose to my feet and ran at Amadeus.

From across the room, I saw a wicked smile spread across his face. He slowly raised his foot just above Rose's.

"No!" I yelled, quickly throwing a root rope at him. It tangled around his arm, distracting him. He turned to me, a look of disgust on his face.

"Sit down, son," he told me. His words echoed through the room and vibrated my bones. My body immediately dropped to the ground. He faced me, an enraged expression on his face. He ripped the roots from his shoulder and threw them on the ground, "You annoying brat sit still when it's not your tu-"

A giant hand, covered in dark red blood, shot out from his chest. The hand was covered in a metal gauntlet in a closed grip position. Rose, from behind Amadeus, had a terrifying expression of anger on her face.

Amadeus looked down as blood startled to trickle from his mouth, "s**t. Well, this body didn't last long."

Taking my chance, I shot out another rope of roots from my wrist. Almost guided by fate, the roots found themselves directly atop Amadeus's head. They continued their momentum from there, crushing his skull.

Amadeus fell to the ground, blood spurting from all over his body. Then, a faint grey ball of dark smoke rose from his body.

"What's that?" Rose asked, her voice trembling.

"It's Amadeus," I told her, "In his true form. We need to leave, now! There is no way we can defeat him again with our skills. Run!"

"But Josh!" She yelled, "I can't just leave him behind!"

I froze for a moment, then looked at all of the pieces on the ground. My jaw dropped as I realized there were more pieces to count.

"Have you found his heart?" I asked, "Josh isn't dead, but there isn't a way to revive him in his current body."

"He's not dead?" Rose asked. I nodded.

"He's been petrified," I explained, recalling my three years studying in the Baone Woods, "Which means all of his life essence has been transported to the heart. Everything else is dead, but his heart is still alive. Find the heart!"

Rose bent toward the ground, searching among the rock pile. I turned my eyes to the grey ball of smoke. It had started to vibrate violently as if it was trying to break through an invisible barrier.

"I found it!" Rose yelled in triumph. She held up a heart, perfectly intact. As I looked at it, I saw that the skin was still stone. However, it was beating while in her hand.

"Run!" I yelled again, grabbing Rose's hand. I turned one last time to the grey ball of smoke, then back to the cavern hallways. As soon as we exited the cavern, a giant explosion was heard behind us. The walls started to shake as dust and rocks started to fall from the ceiling.

"He's set this place to cave in!" I yelled as we dodged through hallways. The further we ran, the faster the cave-in seemed to be. I held tight onto Rose's hand as we treated the laboratory like a speed-run maze. We turned left, then right, then a sharp left again followed by a staircase. Then, we took a quick shortcut through an empty library and dodged over kitchen tables. Then we took another left and squeezed through a small gap in the wall. Then, we kept on running as the cave in seemed to be right behind us, following us closely.

Eventually, when we took our sixteenth right, we stumbled into Constantin. He had returned from the village and found himself in the labyrinth. He stopped for a moment before he saw what was behind us. Then, he followed Rose and me as he ran full speed.

With the three of us, we continued to go through small corridors, lefts, rights, staircases, kitchens, libraries, study halls, long corridors, and finally the front doors of the labyrinth before we stopped running.

We stopped for a moment to catch our breath before Constantin was the first to speak.

"Where," He said in between large gasps, "Where is Josh?"

"Here," I said, holding up the stone heart. I had taken it from Rose soon after we started running, "The magician inside the laboratory petrified him. This is all that remains."

"He's dead?" Constantin gasped, his eyes widening. I shook my head, then held the heart up one more time.

"If we can find an advanced wizard, we can give him a new body. Something as simple as a scarecrow or fighting dummy would work just fine," I explained. As I finished speaking, the laboratory started to vibrate again. The walls started to fall apart as a dark mist started to spread from the loose corners. The dark mist spread to the ground and roots. The roots reacted terribly as they started to writhe uncontrollably. As the mist continued, contaminating all nearby plants, I finally realized it reached the tree giant's dead body. I gasped as the tree giant started to shake. It slowly stood up as a low growl echoed from deep within its chest. Even with no core or head, it still operated successfully.

"Whoa!" Constantin yelled, pulling out his sword, "The big guy wants more action, huh?"

"No," I said, pulling Constantin back. I watched as the grey mist spread to the trees, whom all uprooted themselves and started to slither around. Dark faces appeared on their stumps as their leaves turned into razor-sharp blades, "you evacuated the village, correct?"

Constantin nodded.

"We need to regroup with them and make sure they're safe," I said, "I don't know what this grey stuff is, so I don't know how to defeat anything here!"

"Our enemies are growing by the second," Rose said. I handed Rose Josh's stone heart.

"We don't have a moment to lose. Both of you, run to where the villagers are. Send a message to Alistair if you can and explain the whole situation," I told them.

"What will you do?" Constantin asked, "There's no way you can fight back everything here? You're just one man, a boy! You aren't strong enough!"

"I defeated that thing," I nodded toward the revived tree giant. Constantin's voice stuttered as he looked at its wounds. An expression of confusion was on his face before Rose took his hand.

"Lead the way!" She told him. Constantin nodded as he ran toward the trees.

"I'll clear your way," I whispered. Then, I closed my eyes, and a bright green light resonated with me. The process was painful, but not as painful as last time. When I opened my eyes, I was standing at equal height to the other giant. I saw Constantin and Rose below me, both of them nearing the treeline. I took a few steps toward them, knocking over any contaminated trees as they neared them.

When they were gone, I took a look at my hands. The trees were indeed strong. I took a moment to materialize armor much thicker and stronger than the base roots of my skin.

"I will kill you," I heard a voice behind me whisper. I turned around, then saw the revived giant take a swing at me.

"How long has he been able to do that?" Constantin asked Rose as they darted through the forest. Constantin tried his best to ignore the loud roars and noises of battle behind him. Rose ignored him for a moment as she clutched Josh's heart tightly. He turned to her, angry, "Answer me!"

"Today was the first day I saw him do it," She admitted. Constantin turned toward the battle.

"So he is a druid," Constantin sighed. Rose tried to shake her head, but Constantin continued, "The f*****g liar. Let's continue, we must find the villagers!"

"Constantin he's not a druid!" Rose yelled at him, "He's trustworthy, he's our friend!"

"He's not human!" Constantin yelled back. They had stopped in the road now as they argued to each other, "Have you seen his strength? Or his speed? He's unnatural, every part of him!"

"He's your friend! He's the party leader, isn't he?" Rose asked. Constantin groaned in anger at her.

"He cheated on the ranger trials," Constantin yelled, "he must have! There's no way I could follow a f*****g druid otherwise!"

"You seek revenge, don't you?"

"He's a cheat and a liar! He's a twisted, cold-blooded killer!" Constantin continued to yell. Rose was lost for words as she trembled in front of her friend, "He's just like those druids! He's been giving us hints this entire time, but we believed his lies!"

"He's not a druid!" Rose yelled back.

"All you need to do is let me in."

"He is! He is!" Constantin yelled, "He's just like the ones that killed my family! They came to us without warning, Rose. Just a group of five of them was strong enough to destroy my entire village!"

"Constantin!"

"Yes, that's it, child."

"You should've seen it, Rose. It was horrible. Those druids had no mercy! They pillaged and burned everything!"

"Constantin listen to yourself!" Rose pleaded, "You aren't yourself!"

"So what if I'm not myself!" Constantin yelled. Rose heard a second voice, a familiar one, echo from Constantin's voice. A great wind originated from Constantin's body, pushing aside everything. Constantin/Amadeus felt his body change as his anger took over his body. His eyes started to glow bright red in the darkness. Fangs grew in his mouth, as did horns on his head. A long black tail also grew from his body as it wrapped around his legs, "That man will die for insulting me!" Amadeus finished, having taken control of Constantin's body.

"Finally," Amadeus smiled, his voice echoing through Constantin's body, "A body that speaks to me. This boy was in every way worthy of being my vessel, unlike that weakling Isil Crimsonblood!" Rose fell to the ground, tears coming to her eyes. Amadeus noticed her, then sighed, "You aren't worthy of my time. That boy is too weak as well. I will not fight you now, so train yourselves mortals! I will take over this world. You may do your best to stop me."