King of the South

Chapter 1

On the third floor, in the one hundred and thirty-eighth room of a castle so formidable and regal, it could be seen for miles, stood a man so dashing, his appearance was whispered about across his land and beyond, so rare, he was the last of his kind, and so powerful, his very word was power. With his hands joined behind his back and his form ramrod straight, the King of the South, King Alithius Judah Caelan, looked every part the excellent and thorough royal that he was, and that was exactly what Alithius wanted everyone to see. Not the loneliness within him that festered. The strange… longing that he couldn’t explain.

His tired eyes found the moon and held.

It had started a little over a year ago, and as time went on, everything had begun to look and feel… damp. Nothing excited him anymore. What was even more frustrating for him was the fact that he didn’t know why and try as he might, he could never figure it out. It was like a deeper part of him yearned for something he didn’t have the wisdom to understand, nor identify, but as the years counted, he steadily felt himself weakening within and withering away. Not physically, but deep within his soul.

It only got worse.

Not wars nor meetings, nor his habitual sparring at dawn, or his weekly visits to the children within the castle helped him feel better. If anything, it had only pronounced to him that something was missing. Something so crucial, his beast restlessly thrashed about within him, longing for something that didn’t exist. If it did, in his one hundred and twenty-seven years of existence, he would have found it, no?

Or maybe it existed long before he did?

As soon as the thought came, he shook his head to banish it. Sighing, Alithius turned away from the gleaming moon and went to lay in bed, happy that the long-awaited lull of sleep had finally come to grant him reprieve from his confusion.

The next day, he rose with the sun. Dressed in his robe, hastily thrown on pants and nothing more, he stormed out of the palace and into the streets. Striding for the forest that began a few miles behind the palace, he moved like the hounds of hell were after him, and as soon as he broke through the forest line, he finally pulled in a deep breath, but kept on going, desperate to reach…

Nowhere.

Yes. Nowhere.

The king didn’t know where he was going, but he was going anyway. After a night of restlessness and dreams of an animal… a panther to be exact, the day had broken with the sudden itch to be in the wild. Alithius had thought it the final peak of insanity, but as he heeded, he saw that it somewhat sated the growing, unexplainable wildness within him, and it was a lot better than being restrained in the palace. With every step he took, he inhaled deeply and reveled in the deep stretching of his lungs. The warm sun, the vibrant trees, the moist soil right in-between his toes…

He felt free.

Ducking under a fat branch, Alithius spotted small paw prints and boredly scoffed at himself as it promptly reminded him of his confusing dreams.

The mad king…

That had a rather nice ring to it. If his popularity wasn’t already at a max, that would do it. Why on God’s green earth he, a Griffin, had dreamed of a panther, he might never know, but with the speed of things, he might as well dance naked in the streets.

He had heard of mad humans and had even seen one once, and the memory wasn’t pleasant. Then again, if shouting down the walls of the palace and biting everyone he came across, like the human did, would make his proud and dramatic mother turn in her grave, then maybe madness wasn’t such a bad thing. As the thought of biting his too perfect royal advisor graced his mind, his lips hiked up for the first time in weeks.

But did he really have to be mad to do that?

‘A king doesn’t go around biting his subjects,’ his beast, Anjaelo, murmured in his head, speaking to him for the first time in however long.

Raising his brows but not stopping, Alithius responded,

‘You have never wanted to bite Jaffar?’

‘Oh, I have. I'm just bound by my duties.’

‘As am I. Welcome back to the land of the vocal, old friend.’

All Anjaelo did was hum.

‘Where to?’

‘I do not know. Let us just move.’

‘My king.’

Speak of the devil. Alithius barely held himself back from rolling his eyes, but Anjaelo growled.

‘Jaffar,’ the king reluctantly sent back in acknowledgment.

‘My king, where have you gone? The province leaders are waiting for you and I can’t find you anywhere.’

Already?

How long had it been?

Lazily sliding his hands into the pockets of his robe, he casually sent back,

‘I am unavailable till further notice. Take care of it.’

The silence that responded to his words alerted him of Jaffar's confusion and alarm, but Alithius was ready to be stubborn. Sometimes, he wondered which would kill him first, the weight on his shoulders or his progressing madness.

‘Unavailable? May I know where you are going to, my king?’ Jaffar finally voiced.

A straight, ‘No,’ was Alithius’ response back. And it was not because he also did not know.

There was a pause, then, ‘King Alithius.’

Anjaelo growled again at that and Alithius sighed to mask his irritation. He couldn’t run the kingdom without befriending their royal advisor, sadly, and Anjaelo knew that. It was the only reason why Anjaelo condoned Jaffar. Over time, Alithius had been able to mask his beast’s discomfort around Jaffar, and had even been able to feign indifference to his rather annoying, prudish and ancestral ways, well enough to establish some sort of friendship with him, much to Anjaelo’s displeasure. His, too, sometimes, if he was being completely honest. There was just something about Jaffar that they couldn’t stand… but no matter what Jaffar was, he was loyal, violently so. As self-righteous as he was, Alithius and Anjaelo could trust him with their life. Had done it before.

‘He’s lucky he’s our advisor by birth. I would never have picked him otherwise,’ Anjaelo pushed to Alithius, and Alithius nodded to that.

Ignoring Jaffar’s chastising tone, Alithius sent back,

‘Take care of everything that I would have had I been there. Unless you need immediate help, let me be for a few days.’

‘Alithius—’

Anjaelo breathed out an impatient growl in Alithius’ head, and faster that he could blink, Alithius broke the connection and shut his mind off to Jaffar. A few days of peace. All he needed was a few days.