Sanctuary

Chapter 4

Listen.

When the world was different, when the land was alive and death walked the earth like an old friend, there was a king.

He and his queen were well loved by their subjects, and they ruled wisely and justly for many years.

They say he loved her very much.

In fact, he loved her so much that when she died, he traveled to the ends of the earth and into the realm of the dead to bring her back. He made it all the way to the shores of the dead before death caught up to him.

Death was furious that the king had tried to steal what was rightfully his. Knowing there was only one thing the king could ever want, he cursed the king with that which was his to take. From that day forth, nothing on earth could kill the king.

The king tried everything to end his own life. Starvation, impaling, disease, drowning, cutting his own throat… he even tried time. Years passed.

The king endured.

Obsession with his own death had driven him to madness. One day, he summoned his advisors and demanded every resource on dark magic that could be found in his realm. In the highest room in the tallest tower, he began to experiment, to create something not of this earth that could end his misery.

In this tower, he created every nightmare creature mankind has ever feared. He put a little of his own soul into each new project to give it life. But yet, the werewolves, the vampires, the sirens, the ghouls and ghosts and monsters that hunted his own people nearly to extinction – none could kill him. By the time he created his last monstrosity, the king had no soul left to give, no care for his wife. To join her was just a distant thought of a distant dream. The king could no longer remember the softness of her skin, or the light in her eyes when she laughed. So, as the people who once loved him became corpses the piled around the walls of the tower, the king endured.

They say he did it for love.