King of Darkness and The White Flame

Chapter 2

Asher and the men are waiting for me outside. All are armed. Every single one of them is dangerous. “We might have a slight problem, Your Highness.” Asher takes me aside as the men mount the few horses we own, others would have to march the long way. “What’s going on Asher?”

“From the intel we’ve gathered about Mole City and their men, we might need reinforcement. We can take them as we are, but it might be a little better off if we had a little more man power.”

“Right. Well, perhaps we should ask Jessie?”

“I’m sorry Sir, you want to ask The king of the chosen? With all due respect Sir, I don’t think -” 

“You’re right Asher, you DON’T think, because if you did, you wouldn’t be questioning your King. Your King who could have you arrested and killed for being in contempt.” 

I was getting tired of Asher’s objections. For a Royal advisor I understand it’s part of his job description, but sometimes I just demand obedience. So do I. The whisper came from nowhere and everywhere, all at once. I knew who it was and it gave me chills. The same voice from my dream. My stomach turned. 

“Apologies Sir. I’ll send word at once.”

“It’s not necessary Asher,” I say. I glance around to make sure there is nobody else around but us,still spooked by the voice. “We’ll just go there, it’s on our way.”

Asher nods his head and gives the order to the troops, each one armed and a fierce look on their faces. 

The long journey to The Chosen has some of the men bickering about the heat, a lot of them stop to rest which has Asher whipping them to do as they’re told and get a move on. The road is desolate. The earth is resilient however, where there were burnt fields for many years there is grass sprouting. It’s been many years since anything wanted to grow anywhere after the raging fires from the sky, eventually a few trees had grown back at medium height. “We just need a short break, Sir please”

“You’re all a bunch of babies, just shut it and keep moving” Asher argues. The continuous bickering grinds me up the wrong way.

“You know what, let’s all take a short break.” The men sigh in relief but Asher looks irritated. He gives me a look but says nothing. “Something you’d like to say Asher?”

“No Sir.” 

I leave the troops and walk off into a nearby, newly growing forest. I kick a few stones and wonder about whether this is even a good idea. There is a figure leaning against a nearby tree. I bend down to pick it up. A charred doll. Or a part of it. Part of the head has melted, the hair is torched. What looks like part of a pink dress is still burnt to the rest of the body of the doll. In my head I can still smell the smoke. The fire consumes everything it touches. I can’t tell if what I’d dreamt was only a dream or if I had actually, somehow, experienced what had happened so many centuries before. I know that a lot of the materials and food resources were replicated and reproduced by the survivors. They had then taught their children to do the same and thus we’ve been able to survive for this long. This doll is most likely from a different fire event but the thought of so many children dying in that fire, I couldn’t begin to imagine. “How could you let this happen?” I whisper. I wait in the silence for a reply but get none. 

“Sir?” I turned around startled to find Asher standing and staring at me. How long had he been standing there? Did he hear me?

“What is it, Asher?”

“We should really start moving on, before we need to set up camp and call it a night. You know how dangerous that can be.” I knew well enough about the rogue animals that came out at night. 

“Let’s go.”

We take up our bags and start on. Walking as far as we possibly can, we still haven’t arrived at the Chosen before dark however. We decide that we would set up camp. The men pitch tents and others start a fire. The night howls and many go to bed while a few stay up and keep watch. I can’t sleep. My mind troubles me and I’m afraid of having another dream. Come to think of it, the only time I’ve had a good night’s sleep since that night, is the night Lilith slept over. My mind drifts to Lilith. I wonder if I’ll see her when we arrive at the Chosen. I couldn’t let Asher know that part of the reason for my decision to plead with Jessie for a few soldiers was to see if I could find Lilith. She never said why she was in The Skull. I hope she’s already returned. 

A loud growl brings me back to the present. I hear the whispers outside my tent and decide to investigate. Two men are standing with fire torches and staring at the darkness where the growl is coming from. The fire light does little to light up the pitch dark from the forest. All we see are eyes. The fire seems to hold it at bay, but it’s dying out and a storm looms up above. The wind picks up, whipping the already dying flames. “Sir, you need to run. It’s not safe for you here.” They whisper when they realize I’ve joined them. “No, give me the flame.” The wind calms a little and the flame remains in place as I slowly walk forward toward the predator. “Easy, easy there” I whisper to the creature. I’m hoping it's a bear but that’s the best case scenario. As I walk closer, it retreats slightly. If it’s a bear and I run forward, it’ll run away. If It’s not, it will attack me. Please be a bear, please. I plead in my head. The light gets closer, illuminating the face of the creature before me. No such luck. 

It’s neon eyes glow bright green and it bares its teeth as it realizes that I've seen it’s face.