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All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cK8OXhmhId7vR6__T1V-oUhFEAllGz0aY9m4Q2op-fE)

For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included.

FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/

Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/

For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse

First Chapter | Previous Chapter |  Next Chapter

SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS:
SPECTRI, NO NAME, & ENGLISCE NAMAN

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Z51Gh7qvdbt2g0xxPepOhEizpaHRkVtVWEauhe_3hS4)

For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included.

FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/

Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/

For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse

First Chapter | Previous Chapter |  Next Chapter

SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS:
SPECTRI, NO NAME, & ENGLISCE NAMAN

 

 

Chapter 25: The Royal Burning

Dim sunlight cascaded through the glass windows; illuminating the structure Marvelous Man stood in. It seemed to be a hallway within a castle, and from the muscle demigod’s deduction, styled from England’s medieval era. The walls were completely comprised of stone, and the floors were made out of old wooden planks. As the hulking bodybuilder shifted about to survey the new area, the floor beneath did not groan under his massive weight.

He then continued further down the hall and noticed on his right a painting. The size of the canvas was bigger than the musclebound superhero; its height nearly touching the ground and ceiling, and the width stretching slightly beyond Marvelous Man’s immense shoulders. It was the painting of a family clothed in royal attire. The family size consisted of a king, queen, an elder princess, and a young prince. The entire family carried the same neutral facial expression with cheeks flushed in a rosy color and eyes an emerald green.

The tapping of gentle steps echoed behind the hulking bodybuilder. Turning around, he spotted a man walking towards him. The man appeared exactly same as the king in the painting; complete with royal gowns and a golden crown atop the head. But the most distinguishing features to Marvelous Man was the cape and skin. The cape was the exact same shade of red and lining of white fur as the Skeleton Lord’s. The skin was a deathly pale white; the same as the ancient villain before Sugar Skull’s poison. But instead of having the physique of just skin and bones, this king still seemed healthy and slightly plump. Marvelous Man then noted that despite this king having a more meaty figure, this ruler seemed much older and with sunken cheeks than the royal highness in the painting. It was obvious to the muscle demigod who this king is...Or rather, who this king used to be.

Marvelous Man bowed at the king, “Uh, hello!...Your highness!”

The king said nothing, as he continued moving forward. With the gap between this royal majesty and the muscle demigod coming to a close, Marvelous Man looked up from the bow and immediately stood up straight.

Making way for the king, the hulking bodybuilder shifted his weight and braced his back against the hallway wall. The king passed by without flicking an eye towards the musclebound superhero. Marvelous Man then mentally questioned as to why this person was not staring at him. Especially since he appeared to have broken into a castle and is a muscled giant nearly scraping his head against the ceiling.

Marvelous Man flung his arms out with urgency, as he felt his sense of balance being temporarily misplaced. He knew there was a wall behind him, but his senses perceived the muscle demigod to be pinning against thin air. Leaning forward, he regained stability over his massive body. Marvelous Man turned around to discover, the cause.

The wall he turned to face appeared to lose shape; slightly dissipating into the same whisping blackness as Digz’s essence. A second later, the affected parts of the wall his body had touched morphed back to its original shape. Marvelous Man’s mind then flashed back to minutes ago when he asked Digz a question and was instantly swallowed by the black fog. He remembered what Digz had said about Gene being spirited away to a memory. The musclebound superhero connected the dots and deducted he was in an illusion similar Puzzles’ smoke illusions; though appearing much less stable than the smoke imp’s when confronted with physical contact. He realized he could walk out of this memory at any time...But that would waste the golden opportunity he was given to understand the Skeleton Lord.

Marvelous Man chased after the king, who was now reaching the end of the hall and entering another room. The hulking bodybuilder entered in after the Skeleton Lord’s past version; ducking his head underneath the doorway out of instinct. He then gazed about at the new room he stood in; the furnishing giving the area an identity to be some sort of war room.

Weapons of different shapes and sizes hung against the walls. On the other side of the room was a fireplace still lit with some logs. The soft glow from the fireplace illuminated a wooden table in the center of the room. Atop the furniture was a map; sprawled out and completely covering the tabletop with miniature figures on the map.

The king shuffled over to the fireplace. His eyes watched the wood inside of it almost completely digested into ash by the fire.

The past Skeleton Lord spoke up, “The healers should have finished painting the runes on our volunteers by now. It should be fine to begin our ritual now.”

Marvelous Man heard a familiar voice reply; sounding as if it were held underwater. The musclebound superhero tried to locate the emanation but could not seem to place the echo’s origin.

“We do this every week, yet I see no reason as to why we take these precautions. They’ll eventually die, so let me just drink in all their mana. It’s not like the people will leave,” said Digz.

The voice echoed as if it were in Marvelous Man’s own head, rather than bouncing around somewhere in the room. The muscle demigod gave up trying to find Digz and decided to focus his attention on the dialogue.

The king chuckled, “But they can. Or worse, turn traitor. We have many enemies that would love to see me killed and seize my kingdom...Though I suppose many, many, many have tried already. Hm, I’ve lost count of all the times I have been stabbed and poisoned for you to put me back together.”

“The point is, one that has grand responsibility over the lives of their people must project themselves as salvation. Many would follow or go as far as die for their ruler, if the ruler appears to be the ultimate answer to all their woes. And if all they have to do to guarantee their safety is for one day out of the week to allow a selected hundreds for their mana to be drained, then it would seem like a fair trade,” he continued.

Marvelous Man walked over to the past Skeleton Lord, while the conversation continued.

Digz hissed, “They will turn on you one day because they want my power. You’ll see! You should never have told the people about how you obtained the power over bones.”

The king sighed, as he continued to stare into the fire.

“Such the optimist, you are. I know you want to avoid reliving the same event that had befallen to Kenelm, but it does not mean that it will happen to us, my old friend. Our subjects are loyal to us, lest they have some radical ideal of heroism that somehow makes us the evil ones,” he remarked.

Digz harrumphed, “Then I shall observe your so-called subjects before we begin.”

The scenery around Marvelous Man exploded into whisping blackness. A second later, the detonated darkness reversed itself. Digz’s essence sucked back into place, but it seemed to reformat itself into something new. Grass and mud materialized on the ground, and small huts made of sticks and straw appeared near the muscle demigod. A fog, similar to Digz’s fog in Marvelous Man’s current era, had taken over the scenery and clouded any other structures in the distance.

Digz then materialized his incomplete form in front of the hulking bodybuilder. Marvelous Man did not know how, but it seemed as if the corrupted imp faced his nonexistent head towards one of the huts closest to the Skeleton Lord familiar. Digz’s voice rumbled from the blackness rising out of his neck.

“I know you’re there! You cannot stop the ritual my dark master is about to commence,” he boomed.

Silence drifted in the fog for a second before the stirring of footsteps echoed. The sounds of multiple people drew closer to Marvelous Man. From out of the fog revealed what appeared to be a small troupe of adventurers; led by a woman in silver armor.

The leader brandished her sword at the imp, “Still thy words, evil creature! I will not tolerate your tauntings any longer. For we heroes shall triumph against your Skeleton Lord.”

“Now tell us where your king resides in the castle, so we may slay him. Lest all your jeer has been naught for distraction, and your dark master is not as powerful as you say he is,” continued the leader.

Digz voice became catty, “Oh, I have no intention of telling you that. Lest I make things too easy and assure my lord’s defeat. That would make me a traitor. But I suggest you make your choice immediately. For we begin now.”

The incomplete imp cackled, as the scenery exploded once again into whisping darkness. As before, the blackness sucked itself back into place and reformed the area into something new. The brick walls of the Skeleton Lord’s castle appeared around Marvelous Man, while Digz emerged in front of the muscle demigod once again. The area seemed to be in another part of the castle but more well-illuminated due to the oil lanterns lining the walls.

With a flick of his feathery wrist, a wand made of bone emerged out of thin air. The corrupted familiar took grasp of the wand before making his way down the lit corridor. He playfully tapped the white wand against the walls, while his bird-like feet softly echoed against the wooden floor.

Marvelous Man made sure to follow the creature; not wanting to be left behind and accidentally leave the memory. With nothing else happening but the incomplete imp wandering around corners of the castle, he had a moment to think. He had assumed he was going to be viewing the Skeleton Lord’s memory, but what he had seen led to a different conclusion. His train of thoughts soon came to an end, as Digz slowed his pattering footsteps.

Digz came to a stop upon turning into another branch of the castle. Marvelous Man spotted a room in front of them that seemed to be a room for solitary activities. A small fireplace on the side of the room was lit with a strong fire; crackling loudly. At a table in the center, there sat three humans draped in royal clothing: one of them appearing to be a queen, an elder princess, and a prince. Marvelous Man noticed the three individuals looked exactly like the family painting he had seen earlier, but their skin had the same ghostly paleness as the Skeleton Lord’s.

Marvelous Man’s eyes then took notice and drifted to the figures huddled around the royal family. It was a small squad of armored skeletons that looked similar to the skeletons the muscle demigod fought in the first encounter with the Skeleton Lord. They were equipped with the same kind of foreboding, black armor but appeared to look more durable and had a dark shine to it.

As Digz waddled into the room, the bone soldiers, standing between Digz and the royals, faced their heads down towards the corrupted familiar. The minions stepped aside; creating a pathway before resuming their sentry position. The royal family looked over to where the incomplete imp stood, as the skeletons’ armor clanged from movement. Immediately standing up, the queen extended her hand outward in an attempt to shield her children.

“Have you come to torment us some more with your vile words, imp? I hope you come with new material, as talks of our worthlessness and your ‘gift’ of immortality to us have become stale,” said her majesty.

Digz chuckled, “My, is that wit I detect? You sure have acquired quite the gumption, since our previous encounter.”

The queen’s face showed no emotion; frozen like a plain doll. Marvelous Man wondered how long she and her children endured Digz’s harassment.

“Only because I realized that you will take no further action beyond the threat of bringing harm to my children were I to speak to my husband about what you have said to me. Beyond that, you cannot truly hurt us,” she said.

The incomplete imp replied, “And I’m sure you would like to keep it that way. But I’m here to give you what your family has always wanted.”

“Which is?” questioned the queen.

“Freedom,” answered Digz, “To be broken of the shackles of this accursed life. That is what you and your children want, yes? I know of how you three are miserable with existing the same way for centuries.”

The royal highness’s face broke into confusion. Her feet slightly shifted backwards.

She inquired, “And what sort of trickery do you play now?...I see...But know that inflicting pain on others will only relieve your own for a brief moment. I suppose Kenelm would be most disappointed in how pitiful you have made use of the gift he had bestowed to you.”

Digz pointed his bone wand at the queen. The white item extended itself; immediately reaching the Skeleton Lord’s wife. The pointed end stopped just before it could puncture her throat.

“Mother!” shouted the children.

The incomplete imp shouted, “DO NOT SAY HIS NAME! How does a wench like you even know of him?! Alden has never talked to you without my presence! I’ve made sure of that!”

The queen’s face morphed back into her frozen, neutral expression, and her eyes becoming cold once more.

“It is true that I cannot speak to my husband without your supervision, but I have my ways. Perhaps you have forgotten already of my own power that lent to our victory over this kingdom,” she stated.

Digz retracted his wand, “Hmph. Reading the castle’s past might have given you excellent gossip, but it does not help you control the future I have prepared. Now come. Let me direct you all to your freedom.”

The corrupted familiar turned away and proceeded out of the room. The skeleton soldiers from behind the royal children and queen nudged the family forward. Marvelous Man followed the group exiting from the room and down the twisting corridors of the castle’s hallways.

The musclebound superhero had a clear idea of what Digz’s relationship was like with the Skeleton Lord and the rest of the family. He then wondered what the incomplete imp’s talk of freedom was but became fearful that it was nothing more than an insidious conclusion. In his heart, Marvelous Man continued to hope it was not the outcome he supposed it could be.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The travel through the stone architecture continued for minutes before stopping at a set of doors. Marvelous Man noticed that the doors stood taller than himself and had a set of large, metal rings as the knobs. Two of the skeleton soldiers stepped forward and pushed open the doors. As the doors groaned to a stop, a spacious library revealed itself to the group.

The row of armored skeletons behind the noble family pushed the relatives inside. The three royals stumbled forward before regaining their steps. Turning around, the family faced the incomplete imp and the small troupe of skeleton warriors.

As the mother began to mouth words, Digz’s soldiers retrieved the oil lanterns hanging on the walls. The skeletal minions then threw the lanterns; shattering glass and oil against the rows of books, furniture, and the entrance. Flames of red and orange were born instantly from the spilled lantern oil and began to feast on wood and paper. The family stood paralyzed with their eyes gazing at the growing fire about them, while the skeleton soldiers closed the library doors shut.

Muffled screams echoed from behind the wooden doors; pleading for help. One of the armored minions stepped forward and placed their skeleton arm through the door’s large, metal handle loops. Digz swished his bone wand at the soldier; causing the arm in the door’s handle to break off from the skeleton. The detached arm then gripped its other end to form a loop and chain the library doors from opening.

Marvelous Man’s eyes bulged at the inhuman treatment. He reached out to grab the skeletal chain...but his hand phased through smoke instead. The hulking bodybuilder’s eyes began to well up with tears. He knew that this was an illusion showing a past memory...but he could not help himself. Marvelous Man wished he could have been there to save that family; regardless of how impossible time magic was.

The skeleton soldiers departed from the scenery in different directions. Some of the boney minions stopped at the wall-mounted lanterns; only to pick it up and smash it on the wooden flooring. The bushes of flames grew throughout the hallways and seemed to be extending throughout the castle with the armored skeletons’ assistance.

The scenery then exploded into smoke before reforming into the war room the Skeleton Lord resided in. Marvelous Man looked about, but could not find the incomplete imp. He then heard the room echo with Digz’s voice.

“ALDEN! COME QUICK! WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!” shouted the familiar.

The Skeleton Lord looked up from the fireplace he stared at.

He called out, “What?! Where?!”

“The castle! They’ve set it ablaze to smoke you out!” replied Digz.

The Skeleton Lord scurried over to a window from the other side of the war room. As he did so, eight spider-like legs made of bone extended beneath the king’s robes. Two of the boney limbs lunged at the window; shattering through the glass and anchoring onto the outer brick wall of the castle.

Alden commanded, “Get the skeletons to escort my family to safety.”

The skeletal spider legs hoisted the Skeleton Lord through the window. Marvelous Man gave a slight gasp, as the scenery yanked him outside the castle and floating high up in the air. Had this been real and the hulking bodybuilder not transformed, the fall of five stories would most certainly have crushed and killed Justice Starr. Upon dangling the king outside by the boney limbs, the white spider-like legs scampered across the wall. Black smoke could be seen pouring out of the other windows alongside the brick siding. Marvelous Man had difficulty spotting the difference from the fire’s smoke and Digz’s whisping essence blanketing the kingdom. Even high above, the muscle demigod could not see the sky nor sun.

“I can’t feel them anymore! I fear they may have been attacked by the invaders already!” lied Digz.

As the Skeleton Lord darted around a corner and reached the front of the smoking castle, the wall he crawled on exploded with a deafening boom. Five of the boney limbs broke from the king’s body; splintering off with chunks of bricks that were big or had been immediately blasted into dust. Marvelous Man could almost feel the sudden burst of wind and heat buffeting against his own smooth skin. Seconds of falling towards the ground quickly drifted by, while the three intact spider leg bones struggled to grasp at the air. Out of instinct, Marvelous Man raised his arms in front of his face in an effort to brace against impact.

Alden slammed into ground. His body immediately sprayed the area with bits of his blood, while a wet crunch echoed from him. With barely a second passing, his body began to put itself back together. Bones snapped back into place and sinew reverting to where it previously was, while the Skeleton King slowly stood up on his knees.

Chains made of shining light streamed from the fog. The animated links circled around the reforming Skeleton Lord before instantly squeezing in a tight ensnare. The three remaining spider limbs made of bone had no room to struggle, as they were pinned against Alden’s body by the chains of light. When the king gasped from the tight restraints, a small projectile ejected from the fog. The object was a grey slime that slapped against Alden’s mouth; sealing it shut in what Marvelous Man supposed was to prevent verbal spells. The muscle demigod then heard the Skeleton Lord speak again, but it carried the same echo as Digz’s voice when the incomplete imp was not visible.

The voice of the Skeleton Lord screamed, “Digz! Release me from the binds!”

“I can’t!” shouted Digz, “The magic in the binds prevents me!”

Marvelous Man then realized the two were speaking to each other telepathically. It was now obvious that Digz could not be seen, because the incomplete imp had fused back into Alden. The musclebound superhero briefly wondered if Digz was lying about the magic binds due to the wicked betrayal that had happened earlier.

A small group of humanoid figures exited the fog; revealing themselves to be the wandering heroes the corrupted familiar provoked. Marvelous Man saw that the group was still being led by the woman equipped in silver armor. He then noticed that behind the female leader were two men adorned in robes that covered their faces. The muscle demigod could see only the mouths were not covered and were constantly whispering towards the Skeleton Lord. It became apparent to Marvelous Man that the two were most likely wizards uttering incantations to maintain the magical chains.

The leader spoke up, “Skeleton Lord! Your vile ways ends tonight! No longer shall you prey on this town!”

The king tried to scream urgency, but it was muffled from the slime covering his mouth. The female knight looked down at Alden and gave a look of disgust. She then trudged towards the binded Skeleton Lord, while reaching for a sword tied to her waist. The leader drew the weapon from her scabbard; the blade gleaming like moonlight.

“Digz!” mentally shouted the king.

The incomplete imp replied, “I’m trying, but the spell is too strong!”

The knight raised her blade.

“Stealing the mana of this kingdom just to feed your own self-preservation. Such a sin is unforgiving, and such a sin you have sown. I take no pleasure in ending you. Only justice,” she said.

The armored leader continued, “Your people put their trust in you, and you repay them with a devil’s deal. A deal to gift you the power to raise the dead. Tis not a wonder that the people frantically sing praise of you. Lest they be found disagreeing with you, killed by your hand, and raised for your appalling undead puppetry.”

The Skeleton Lord conversed with his thoughts, as his eyes widened at the knight’s words.

“What is she talking about Digz?! She knows only fragments of our ways! She misunderstands our people!” he exclaimed.

Digz replied, “...Does she? I fear we have been betrayed.”

The tone of the knight’s voice rose. Her body shifted to execute a swing with her sword.

“And as for that demon every person here refers to as an imp,” she said, “They shall-”

A white spike made of bone torpedoed out of the Skeleton Lord’s cloak. The spike collided into the leader’s face; echoing the collapse of her face with bone crunched and flesh shredded. With the force of the projectile lodged into the knight’s destroyed face, she flew backwards. She then landed limply, as her body tumbled to a stop upon reaching the feet of her wizards. Blood slowly oozed from around the bone spike.

The group of heroes froze, as the wizards’ incantation became choked from shock. The chains of light that incapacitated the king shattered; pieces of the chain glittered in the air before fading.

One of the boney spider legs attached to the Skeleton Lord extended itself towards its master. The limb then wiped away the slime sticking to Alden’s mouth with only a stroke. At the same time, the other skeletal extensions wedged themselves into the ground. The two spider legs pushed; assisting the Skeleton Lord into the air before placing him onto his feet.

A second ticked by, while nobody made an attempt to move. Spikes made of bone erupted from the chests of the adventurers. Marvelous Man gripped his hands. Even if he could go back in time, he could not have prevented their deaths. The source of their deaths came from columns of bones erupting from the fog behind the heroes; immediate and unseen.

Digz voice quickly echoed, “...I managed to overpower their binds in time!...What luck!”

The Skeleton Lord stood in silence. His head then cocked in acknowledgement, as his eyes became horrified.

“My family!” he exclaimed.

He turned to the castle now heavily engulfed in flames. Black smoke escaped from every opening in the stone home. Marvelous Man’s heart sank at the scene before him. He wondered how long Digz had planned this deception for everything Alden loved to come crashing down in one fell swoop.

The king shouted, “I...I don’t see them anywhere! We must go back inside to-”

“No, we can’t!” replied Digz, “The fire has grown too big, and we’d surely perish if we tried to go in there! I can’t bring you back if there’s nothing left of you. Especially if my totem has been destroyed!”

Alden fired back, “The cloak can protect it! Now come on!”

The Skeleton Lord charged towards the burning architecture.

“The Pilgrim Cloak only shields us from enchanted sight and cannot be taken off by others. That doesn’t mean the cloth is indestructible!” reasoned the corrupted familiar.

The king said nothing, as he arrived at the castle entrance doors. A row of bone columns fell from above with a sharp whistle and landed in front of the Skeleton Lord; barricading the doors from him. Alden slammed his hands on the barricade.

He screamed, “What are you doing, Digz?! Open the way!”

“Alden, please! Listen to me! When I said I couldn’t feel them anymore, I wasn’t just talking about the skeletons...I can’t detect your family anywhere…” said Digz.

Tears began to stream down the Skeleton Lord’s cheeks, while his lips quivered. The king continued to slam against the bone blockade.

He exclaimed, “No, no, no, NO...It can’t be...Have to get in there!”

Digz voice rose in an authoritative tone.

“Look at this castle! It is completely engulfed in flames! They couldn’t have survived this, and neither will we if we sprint in there!” stated the incomplete imp.

Alden sunk to his knees, “Then...then...you can bring them back! Right here, you can make them rise from the ground! Right? You said a long time ago about being able to resurrect, and, and…”

The corrupted familiar sighed. His voice became softer.

“Only when they’ve binded their soul to me, remember? None of your family members wanted their existence linked to my totem. Not even you. We never even gave time to testing it on your steeds,” corrected Digz.

He continued, “I’m sorry, Alden. They’re gone. If they were in my presence as they perished, I could have saved them. But I didn’t see their disappearance until it was too late.”

“No…”whimpered Alden, “What did I do wrong?”

Marvelous Man now realized that this was the Skeleton Lord’s turning point. When the king had hit his lowest point and had nothing else to live for, he would believe anything just to feel better as any other person would. And for the Skeleton Lord, what Digz would say next would become the lifelong goal. The obsession that has killed so many people.

Digz replied, “...You have done nothing wrong, Alden. It was everybody else that is.”

“We were so happy having everything stay the same. You’re like a god! Your family had immortality, and you protected this kingdom from all invaders. This was our own corner of the world,” he continued.

The muscle demigod felt as if the corrupted familiar had been practicing these very lines. Down to even the volume he used on certain pronunciations, Digz made his words seem they were of the gospel...And Alden drank it all up; his face dawning with the newly tainted enlightenment.

The incomplete imp spat with disgust, “But then those ‘heroes’ came and ruined everything! All for what?! For glory?! For wealth?! Just because of what we can do, that makes us evil? What pathetic ignorance.”

The Skeleton Lord nodded, as he wiped streaks of tears going down his face. The flow of his tears came to a halt, and his eyes seemed to become emotionally withdrawn.

“Then...why didn’t our people stop them? If there was any doubt about our evil...surely the citizens would have corrected them, right?” he questioned.

Digz did not reply, as seconds awkwardly ticked by.

Alden gritted his teeth, “Why would they let them set fire to my home?! Why would they let those...heroes just walk right up to my home and destroy my family?! Do they still hate me deep down? WHY?!”

The unseen familiar spoke up.

“...I-I’m not sure anymore...Even though I said many negative things in the past, I just wanted to keep you aware of possibilities. I came to thinking the same as you because I believed you knew your people…” he answered.

The king gripped the ground, “...You were right...You always are.”

“Feared our power, jealous of it...It doesn’t matter. They have betrayed us. They’re not my people anymore. They have burned away all the benevolence that I had,” he continued.

The Skeleton Lord commanded, “Digz! Begin the ritual! Take everybody’s mana until there’s nothing left! Those protected by the blood runes will eventually die, since there will be no one to care for them in their time of recovery.”

The incomplete imp replied back in a tone that poorly attempted to hide a twisted glee.

“Of course. I’ll make sure to exact our revenge on those bastards!” he suggested, “And then we start our coming.”

“Our coming?” said the king.

Digz replied, “Yes, our coming. We’re not going to sit here till we turn to dust. We will make ourselves known and make the world burn! And when the whelps wonder why death will be arriving to their doorsteps, all they will know was that the Royal Burning was the cause of humanity’s fall! No one deserves to be happy! Only death!”

The scenery in front of Marvelous Man began to fade. The whisping darkness that had swirled around his muscled mass began to bulge about, as light started to flood the muscle demigod from above. Looking up, Marvelous Man noticed the black fog Digz had cocooned him in was becoming shorter.

It was definite that Digz had answered Marvelous Man’s question about the Royal Burning...but the response seemed to lead to more questions. The musclebound hero’s heart sank, as he realized he had gained no new insight to help win the battle without violence. What he had learned was only the surface of deeper things that led to this tragic event.

The Skeleton Lord had depended on Digz so much, that simply speaking of the corrupted familiar’s deception would not be enough to change the ancient king’s mind. Marvelous Man wished he had more time to think of what he could say, but the curtain of darkness descended faster than he could put together a new plan.

Upon the fog dropping beneath his face and no longer limited his eyesight, his eyes stretched wide at what he saw. A chill ran down his back with flashbacks of his abduction playing in his mind. The red cloak Marvelous Man had seen too many times screamed into his retinas.

The present-day Skeleton Lord, in all his skinny, withered glory, stood a small distance away.

Next Chapter

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What a turn of events. Now if only there was a way for MM to show the Skeleton King what he has seen in the memories of Digz. To show what it has done and that everything he has done since that point and before it, were all machinations of his incomplete Imp. ='(

I really feel so bad for Alden (I really like his name. 83), his life really was ruined. But not by "heroes" but by the incomplete familiar that he summoned/created and he doesn't even know it. ='( Alden thought he did good for the people, and when he was unknowingly betrayed by his imp and lost his family (I knew that his family would be killed in a fire. I didn't know that it was his wife and his children though. x3 When you said royal burning I though it'd be his parents and thebrest of his family. xD lol), it really did destroy his world. ='( Man, i can hardly wait for chalter 26. 8D Though i am almost sad to see book 1 end soon. ='(

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Yeah, let's hope... :(

 

Thanks X3 Originally, the Skeleton Lord was supposed to be nameless and faceless. I wasn't trying to make him too sympathetic; only complex XD But we had to see a tangible motivation, soooo...he now has a name and face lol. When I chose the name Alden, it was cause it sounded very "ye Olde English" X3 Turns out it's an Old English name that means old friend. So that's a fun coincidence. Yeah, parents and siblings were an idea but having his own wife and kids killed seemed like better motivation for destruction of the world.

 

It is sad...but it's been quite a journey that I'm happy to see it come to a close. Besides, there's always Book 2 X3 I just wish I knew how out of hand this was gonna get, haha. This was supposed to a sexy action comedy lol but then the characters felt too real to me and I had to respect the drama that ensued. However, happy days and sex will come at the end >:3 But standing in the face of absolute evil needed to be treated with seriousness.

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