-CHAPTER ONE-
A quiet night folds over Regnus.
The Kingdom begins to settle as the skies shift orange into blue, then black into cold. Babes are shushed, and cattle are left their evening feed. The people know another day of peace.
Far and away a man walks alone, leaving behind a trail of flattened grass blades. A black-fur edge of cloak drapes over the ground beneath him, a walking wash of gold thread and intricate work.
Though beautiful and striking is the man's image, his soul resides within as a wisping flame, diminished and flailing. The man wishes, and doesn't, to remain solemn and inconsolable, trying to hide his wanton pain behind his frozen pearl eyes.
Left with nothing but his strides and the wind as the only sound heard, it's quite easy for his mind and memories to wander.
Memories strike incessantly, wincing his face and missing a step, the man carries on.
"You'll fail them all." A voice secretes into his mind, quick to shake off the venomous words he lands his next step.
Adorning the long golden cloak around tall shoulders, leaning one half onto a jewel-encrusted cane, a King strolls through the night. Shoulder-length hair, falling strands of electrum, wears under a sharp and slightly minacious crown.
A soft wind makes the trees and brush sing, and the Moon and Stars rain blue-yellow onto the field before the man. He steps heavily and wearily as he continues, beginning to peer from the side of his eye as he tilts ever sightly to his right. A feeling of unease creeps at his neck, and he slows his pace to a halt. Puffing his chest with hot air, he leans head first into a side stance. Focusing in on the uneasing source, The King's nose twitches,
"You might consider showing yourself…" He announces, seemingly to nothing.
A calm comes over the trees, crickets silence their chirps, the grass almost bows itself to the intensity, and the wind holds its breath. A smile cracks along the monotonous face of the King, inhaling deeply, taking in his freshly caught guest. "It is a King you're tailing, and I find it rather rude."
A hiss from afar, "Whatever you say…" Growled through the treetops. The air chills.
"Pretty Boy."
The eyes of the hidden man alight, dropping onto the King's path and into sight of one another.
Stalky and armed, the man slinks his hand across his sword hilt strapped to the side of him, ready to unleash it to feast on the King's flesh.
The King's smile breaks his regal visage, letting loose a "ha" with every crack. The man storms towards the King and raises his hand, pulling back his arm and swinging as hard as he can, thrusting it towards the King's shoulder.
" You son of a bitch!"
The King roars in hearty laughter, jabbing the man in his ribs lightly, making him dip, bringing his shoulders down from his immense stature. Greeting him in a kind embrace, the King hugs his most trusted advisor and friend.
"Diagis," said with a warming heart. "My King" a response in kind. "Please, Di, Mal, or Maloin is fine. I am but the same man from before my ascension to the Throne." Maloin's words scent of melancholy and loss. Diagis dips his head."If it pleases my King."
"It does." Settling the matter. The two hold each other's arms at their length and look kindly in the eyes, it's Diagis who disturbs the moment by letting worry wear across his face.
"Sire, you know you mustn't walk the grounds this far out, and at this hour-" Diagis paces a step back towards the outskirts of the town just disappearing behind a tree-line's height. And around them, crowded with branches and darkness of the shade, the sense of danger is unrelenting in the Captain of the Guard.
King Maloin brings down his hand to his friend's shoulder, slightly gripping his cloak.
"I apologize, my friend, it's-"
Maloin pulls away to sharply gaze at the moon, he inhales deeply then lets out a laboured sigh, full of pain and restlessness. "On nights like these, I feel I am haunted by visions of my family, abounded by their words!" He turns to Diagis, showing his pained expression.
"By my Father's words…" The lingering whisper of his voice hovers softly into the chilly night.
"Ever since I took the throne, I've been dealt this hand of woe and worry… realizing my family is now the entirety of Regnus. I have every single one of you to keep safe…" The King paces, swinging his arms in frustration. His age lies at this moment, nearing a young child's tantrum and a strict notion of being afraid. This is the behaviour of the boy who was thrust unto Kingship.
Diagis steps in closer to the pacing King.
"You've done wonders for your Kingdom, and I can think of no reign that hasn't had a patriarch leave the Kingdom to the heir, feeling like the country-wide rug has been pulled from under them," Diagis assures his friend, nudging his shoulder as if to let some weight fall to the grass.
"And Regnus will always be thankful for the work of their mighty protector..." He grabs both of his shoulders standing firm in front of him, shaking him as he says, "Then again, being the great protector I am, maybe they'd make me King instead, then you wouldn't have to worry!" Diagis laughs and pushes him a little, Maloin is taken aback but quickly returns the push, lightening the mood successfully, Maloin lets his worries wash away.
The stage is reset.
An unfamiliar gust of wind falls on the trained ears of the Captain Guard, and he dashes around, slightly weary.
In a split second, a thrown tree crashes into the opening behind the two men, Diagis grasps his sword firmly. The King still allows his worry to fade, looking at Diagis and smiling quizzically. "Still trying to play games… old friend?" King Maloin's throat catches as he walks a pace towards the open field.
The plain ends in a forest bathed in darkness, Maloin's arms swing wide open to welcome Diagis' assumed jesting colleagues. "Come now, the fun is over, you may greet your King!" His teeth chatter. "Sire, get back!" Diagis barks at his friend, the fear, and ferocity unleashed through his teeth. "Di- Diagis, it's quite alright… right?" Maloin's lips tremble, and their flesh colour sinks pale.
Diagis unsheathes his sword and lets it sing, reaching for Maloin in the same movement behind him. "Get the hell back!" He yells as he rips Maloin's shoulder behind him. Maloin falls to the ground, letting free a small yelp.
Diagis scours the treeline as if his eyes alone could burn them away to see, seeking out this immense danger he feels. Maloin is left to the ground, scattering to make sense of why his friend is behaving this way.
"I-It's hilarious, Diagis… you… you can stop now." Having a semblance of the danger, Maloin ducks behind his friend and breathes rashly, not having control over anything in this situation. Diagis braces his legs, giving the King a stern backing to crawl into. As uncomfortable as it is, it's at least a place where he can recognize the King's placement, fearing the second he loses sight of him that he'd make a mistake he's seen too many green rookies make.
Diagis is resolute in the coming fight, and purses his lips tightly, whistling a call to his fellow guard- a cry that would ring the ears of any creature within a mile. The wind stops, the trees still, and the air saddens.
It's as if the animals and insects of the forest have all been struck dead. An eerie stillness takes over the very soul of the open glen, and a dense fear of movement washes over the very space.
Diagis lowers his head, keeping his eyes on the shadowy brush, tilting his ear towards where he knows his men reported themselves last. The sounds are like strangers, unknown and dangerous. Diagis can only grip his sword tighter and wince at the King desperately gripping his calf below.
"This isn't right… you're- you're just being funny, Di. Right?" The King's breath races to leave his lungs, fear swarms him. For as long as he's known Diagis, he's never known him to be this weary of a threat so easily, usually maintaining a calm that could flow through the King as well.
"Sire, get up" Diagis turns his head down and takes hold of his King, ripping him upwards and meeting his eyes, "When I tell you to run, you run! Got it?" He barks at his friend, with all sincerity in needing him to be safe.
***
In another part of the forest, a worried and stern Commandant paces ferociously, her flowing cape whips over elbow and shoulder with every turn she strides. A sharp and angered sigh is spat.
In an instant, a leer is shot towards the Moonlit night sky, feeling the coming danger on the wind.
The whistle of Diagis directs her ears almost instantaneously, her feet dig deeply into the trodden mud, using it beneath her to grip and launch off into the direction of her King and Diagis.
Damning any objects in her path, she storms through the dense and murky forest and before too long finds the strenuous situation, arriving to see Diagis manhandling her King, currently.
"What do you think you're doing!?" D'tera- the right hand of the crown blares at Diagis. "You will unhand-!" "-Get him out of here! Now!" Diagis spares no time, D'tera takes a moment to survey the area, catching even before Diagis does, a new shadow casts and is thrown far above the field.
A shape speedily races towards the moon, D'tera braces herself and grabs hold of the thick hilt strapped to her back. The quickening mass drops closer, eventually taking the shape of a man, D'tera swings her sword from her back in a twist, carrying a gust as it's brought to her front.
Diagis now recognizes the coat and colour of this man, and just before D'tera swings to eviscerate him, Diagis jumps up to catch him before her slow and heavy blade can land. Diagis clears the face of the man's hood, and his eyes are forcibly widened by the horrifying state of his companion's head and face.
Eaten and halved. Left with a horrifying expression and thrown to give warning of what's to come. Maloin is silent. He has nothing left to let out, all the while he's been crying and biting his cheeks, his tongue and his own cloak, writhing in fear below the others.
"Alright, enough of this! D'tera, you're going to take the King and flee!" Diagis orders her to protect him. "Like hell, I can take this thing!" D'tera takes up her sword again. "Not if it can do this to my Elites!"
Diagis shouts, he begs and fears for her.
D'tera clenches her teeth at the notion but spits in agreement that she has to return the King to safety. Maloin is cold and washed of all colour, D'tera pulls at his arm and places her giant blade on her back, using both arms to hold Maloin ahead of her, and starts to pace slowly and angrily away.
Diagis barks away from them, facing the growing shadow. "You're going!"
So she goes.
Diagis hears the screams of his men around him now. Realizing that he's actually been hearing their muffled horror for a while, he drops his cloak off his shoulders and unsheathes his sword. Glaring intently at the darkness of the dense black and green, witnessing the very abyss leering back.
D'tera is away, Maloin is safe, and Diagis is ready and willing to die for his King, comrades, family, and country. As Diagis digs his feet into the grass, ready to charge,
King Maloin regains clarity and can only scream in a horrific warning. "You won't beat him!"
D'tera pulls him closer and quickens her pace, trying to silence the King from saying anything further. Maloin kicks and punches now, refusing to be carried off so easily. He desperately rips at her face with his fingers inside her mouth, pulling at her face as a fish hooked on the line, and she winces momentarily. Maloin takes this opportunity to spring free and run back towards Diagis, so he can relay his message again.
"Diagis!"
His throat nearly fails him, dried with tongue blood and quickly sucked in air.
"You can't beat them, you don't understand!" Maloin's voice shrills, quickly whisked back by D'tera.
Diagis can hear his friend's cries and only laughs, not looking in Maloin's direction.
Without another thought, He readies his blade and dashes toward the unknown enemy.
Within feet of his attacker, his eyes close as if to fall asleep and whisper a good night - he can only muster,
"Pretty bo-"
The resounding metal clang of his sword is heard through the forest. Eventually, the Quiet Night returns and blankets Regnus. All in preparation for what will be humanities waking nightmare. But will they even see it?