Dedicated to JiyaMas for an awesome cover.
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Chapter 1
Past Ghosts
Young Hayden sank deep into the gore of crimson he had wrought on his village, panting. His hands were as scarlet as the eyes that stared deep into his mother's. A frightful scream of murder pulsed through the thick air. She quivered and squirmed quietly at his gaze, too scared to startle her son into another rampage. Her eyes drenched with tears, falling on limbs barely recognisable as the Royal Corps laying on the meadow below them.
Another figure wearing the royal blue colours gasped for air as he crept away slowly. "Demon...Demon," he whispered.
His eyes gauged out at the terror he had just witnessed, spouting blood as he spoke. He was left stern with a determination to warn the rest of his squad about Hayden; they lay scattered in chunks on the ground however. Grim impressions left on their faces, detached from their torsos. Hayden twitched at the man's raspy breathing, slowly taking his steps towards him; a ten year old demon midst the commoners in the village of Delondor, set to finish off his prey.
A sinister blade as black as the darkness that resided deep within him carved its way through the man's skull, plunging his lifeless body back into the dirt with a bloody last breath.
"Ahhh!!"
A woman squealed in terror as the village behind them was engulfed in a fire fierce with the rage of hell. The war between the Regalia Kingdom and the Ronins had finally spilled over the Eastern border into civilian turf as the King had anticipated. Despite thorough diligence to ensure the contrary. His soldiers' blood seeped into the barren Earth, reaping the plagues the village had suffered over the years. Unable to perform their assigned duties to protect the village, they became nothing but bloody flesh.
A red dawn painted the sky with sorrow as smoke rose from the ashes. Raided structures were reduced to nothing but rubble and crisp corpses fouled the air. A strong hoof crushed one skull to black ashes, with taut muscle straining at the weight of a giant man brimming with royalty and fresh battle in the blue colours; the King's majestic General Byrenn. A legion of soldiers sent to clean up the Ronin vermin that had infested the kingdom's outer border- Delondor- accompanied him, but all that remained was a boy with puffy eyes in the debris of the carnage, like a reborn phoenix.
This was years ago. Relentlessly, past demons woke Hayden in the middle of the night. He sat facing a dull wood in the candle light some feet away. Dogs barked pitifully in the mud across this pigsty of a bar. Cursing their owners for their greed. Laughter and chatter brought him back to his cursed reality. The air stank like rotten cheese scented with vomit, stabbing his nostrils profusely. The soloist played at a happy tempo, as if it would ever make up for the misery that had swarmed them.
But this was the better of the bars in these lands; they knew how to respect his space more. He sat reserved in the comfort of his darkness, in a corner of solitude all to himself. He could feel sin in the souls of the murderers, thieves and rapists reach out from beyond the table. Only to retreat- immediately impaled by his. The Demon Prince, they called him. The name Hayden Thaw had lost its grip on his identity since he transcended the boarder between humanity and the sinister deities of Arcadia.
The rotten creak swung open at the door and two figures entered. The whole bar stood still for a moment, eyes wide. The two stood in front of them cloaked in long black robes, but they couldn't possibly fool Hayden. He was all too familiar with royalty. The whole bar stared as they progressed to the back, all the way to Prince darkness himself. One of them had a limp and the foul smell of blood, severing an arm off a thug too stupid and too drunk to keep his distance in a split second.
They approached Hayden's table to everyone's surprise. Surprised not only by their pursuit of death, but also by the fact that they had managed to do so without succeeding.
The only sound came from the man rolling on the ground screaming, "My arm! My arm!"
One of the pair, a girl with dark hair and green eyes, unveiled to face Hayden fearlessly before sitting. She had a fair, noble face of strange familiarity. The other, an elderly man with fading blue blue eyes and gray hair, grimaced at the pain from his right shoulder. It was his rotten blood Hayden smelled earlier, not the intent for some. His face was only moments from death, pale. In need of immediate medical attention for his infected wound.
Clink!
A golden pendant crested with a phoenix dropped before Hayden. He glanced at the crowd in the bar eagerly anticipating more blood; they immediately turned back to themselves with the music commencing once more. The thug with the severed arm was now quiet, ravaged of all his belongings but a newly earned blade hole in his right eye stained red.
"Hayden Thaw?" the girl asked.
He had not heard anyone call him by that name in a long time, a very long time, nor had he seen the insignia crested in the pendant for a while. The first time he saw that particular type of pendant was ten years ago - around the neck of one General Byrenn back in Delondor. The General thought it to be fate that he would find Hayden in the ashes of a ruined village. Like the phoenix bird crested on his family's pendant.
"What do you want?" Hayden's voice was raspy and fearsome. The girl's companion clutched his weapon harder, fueled by shear will.
"My name is Ayala, my father gave me that pendant and told me to look for you if I ever needed help." Her voice was soft, sincere and desperate. She gave a quick frightful look towards the door as it creaked again, but nothing walked in. She was nervous.
Several men shouted outside, following the gallop of a horde of horses. Hayden's new acquaintances quickly slithered back into their cloaks, scared.
Three men presently walked into the bar wearing black robes; mercenaries with heads held high, feeling all mighty. The dead silence they faced was not any different from that which Ayala had faced.
"Those men are mercenaries working for Drake Gondor, with strict orders to capture me at all costs. We must avoid them." Ayala ranted as quietly as she could. Her companion's face scrunched up even more. Hayden's reputation did little to reassure him of his eagerness to lend a hand.
"Help us!" Ayala whispered quietly, sounding even more desperate. The men started walking towards them, peeking at every face as they did.
"Miss?" The man accompanying Ayala pleaded with her desperately. But she planted all her hopes onto Hayden.
Clamp.
The three men's footsteps braced the floor.
Clamp.
Every step taking them closer.
Clamp.
Ayala's royal bodyguard's face lined with cold sweat, his warm breathe inspiring steam in the stale cold air. Ready for a fight his body couldn't possibly manage.
Clamp!
Anxiety lingered in the air itching to erupt at the any moment.
Clamp!
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Hayden Thaw: Kingdom Lost
Fantasy"Young Hayden sank deep into the blood stained gore of crimson he had wrought on his village, panting. His hands were as scarlet as the eyes that stared deep into his mother's. A frightfully scream of murder pulsed through the thick air. She quivere...
