Fifth Lord

Prologue

In the village there were four lords, each held their domain. The Dimitrescu in their castle, the Beneviento in their home, the Moreau in the reservoir, and the Heisenberg in their factory. Each ruled their land with power and fear, worshiped as guardians in the village in return for their sacrifices: animal and flesh.

Above them was Mother Miranda, the seraphim, the vaunted goddess. Ruling the lords by fear. Her shapeshifting abilities allowing her to personally control the village through the persona of the hag and her sheer power over the mold providing the rest. They freely gave their people as maid, experiment, and sacrifice.

Lady Alcina Dimitrescu feared not being important, not being the favorite, being equal to the others. She feared losing her perceived status. Donna Beneviento feared losing her children, her dolls, losing what she had built. Losing her playmates, letting them leave would be worse than death. Salvatore Moreau feared losing his family, being abandoned and left to rot. He believed that he had to please or else he would be worthless to his mother, in his beliefs he would be correct.

Karl Heisenberg is different from the others. His fear is simply that he will not be ready to over throw Miranda when he does, and so he waits and he builds. He builds up armies and battlements and fears it will never be enough. He hates what Miranda has put him through, he hates what she forced him to become. He is the only one of the four that thinks this way.

His fear is his weakness and his strength. He would never take the chance of destroying Miranda unless he was absolute in his ability, assured that every piece of the scenario is under his control, and yet this has kept him alive. His fears keep him trapped in a gilded cage, fed and watered but trapped and singing for her amusement. But unlike the rest, the bars on his cage had long since rusted but he is blind too its weakness to assured in his own.

And so the four lords ruled with tooth and claw under Mother Miranda, feasting but never to fill. Terrorizing the village with slaughter and nurturing it with fear.