Arcus story

Chapter 10: A king or a puppet?

House of wolves – My Chemical Romance

They made their way back to the castle and with a short greeting of the guards they went inside. His uncle was with his daughter in the cave, leaving them alone in the castle. It didn’t take them long to make a plan to get all the air dragons home and destroy any alliance with the other elements.

”I’ll head of to bed, and we’ll take the rest of the dragons back first thing tomorrow,” Arcus sighed tiredly.
He started walking into the corridor, before turning back to Venero.
”You can have the guest room across from mine if you want,” he added.
Venero nodded and followed him through the corridors. Arcus avoided the throne room, taking the long way to his room. As they arrived in his corridor, he pointed lazily at the door on the opposite side of his own before walking into his own room.
It didn’t take long before Arcus was sound asleep. He had cried away any energy he might have had left, and soon enough the sun rose.

Arcus woke up feeling more numb then ever. The realization that Venero put in his head had his mind a mess. A knock sounded from the door, pushing him out of his thoughts. He opened it to find Venero smiling sympathetically at him.
”You ready to go get your subjects back home?” he smiled.
”Ready as I’ll ever be,” he answered shortly before pushing past him, heading out the castle. They flew in silence, leaving them both to their thoughts.
While Venero was celebrating this small victory to his plan, Arcus was questioning everything. One part of him was raging, feeling the betrayal and lies dig deep within his skin, while the other, which was much quieter was going around in circles trying to explain both Veneros words and the actions of those who he called friends.

They arrived to the air tunnel, which unlike the others came from the top of the mountain. Arcus paused for a moment, before going down with Venero behind him.

A burst of air filled the tunnel as Arcus entered, causing everyone to look up and quickly gather around. The guardians rushed to the front of the crowd. Ignis was the first to notice Venero as his eyes glowed with rage-fueled fire. He let out a loud hiss, looking ready to murder. Though before he could do anything, Arcus met his hiss with one of his own, causing the fire dragon to physically take a step back.

”Step. Back. All of you, and let us through,” Arcus ordered coldly, causing the crowd to open up a path. There was a flat rock in the middle of the cave which had been worn down into a flat stage by generations of dragons which he leapt up on with Venero following closely behind.
”Subjects of the air kingdom, gather around!” Arcus called, giving the crowd a minute to gather comfortably around the big rock.
”As of today, I want all air dragons moved back into their respective homes in the kingdom and out of this cave. But before that, I want to introduce you all to my new head adviser, Venero Sanies!” he called out.

Ignis, who had previously been left at the back of the crowd, flew up into the air. Small specks of fire flew from his wings as they lit up in rage.
”What is the meaning of this?!” he roared, looking both outraged and hurt.
”I needed someone I can trust to help me rule, so I picked the one person in here who hasn’t lied to me. Though I don’t see why you should care,” Arcus growled in response.
”Arcus, you can’t be serious,” Terra had made her way to the front of the crowd and was now looking up at him.
”Why should that bother you, queen of the earth?” he growled coldly, glaring at her.
”Arcus, do you hear yourself?! You’re letting HIM manipulate you!” Nympha glared at the venomous dragon.
”Take care of your own kingdom, and leave mine to me, Queen Nympha. Now Venero, go ahead,” Arcus growled before shifting his gaze to the crowd.
”Air dragons, start moving out! We want every single dragon out of this cave by dawn tomorrow! You’re dismissed,” Venero called out. The crowds gaze shifted to Arcus, and with a simple nod, he had them packing up.

He stepped off the rock with Venero by his side. The other guardians were in front of him in a second.

”This better have a good explanation,” Ignis growled.
”Why should I explain myself to you, King Ignis? It’s my kingdom to rule, and my choices to make,” he asked coldly.
”But why him?” Ignis pleaded, glaring at Venero.
”I’m not the one who’sss been lying and hiding thingsss from him since the day I met him,” Venero hissed softly, draging out the s as he moved closer to the prince.
”Now, if you excuse me, I have a coronation to plan and a kingdom to rule,” Arcus said stiffly before pushing past the others.
He only managed to move a few meters before Ignis caught up to him.
”Arcus please. Can you at least stop and talk to me?” they pleaded.
”You can go on Venero, help the others pack. I’ll meet you in the castle later,” Arcus smiled at him before turning to the fire king.

”That’s prince Arcus to you, king Ignis. What do you need? And make it quick,” he asked.
”What’s going on? Did Venero threaten you or anything?” they asked worriedly.
”He didn’t need to. After all, you’re the one who’s be lying to me. I trusted you, and you hurt me,” he snapped, real emotion coming through for a moment.
”Arcus, I-” they started, before being interrupted.
”Look, king Ignis, I don’t need your input. I rule my kingdom, you rule yours. We don’t need to cross paths anymore than necessary,” he sighed.
Before Ignis could say anything else, Arcus ventured off to find his cousin and help her pack.

Over the next few weeks, Arcus had called off the alliance with the Earth kingdom that his great grandparents set a thousand years ago, and declared that he and his kingdom would not be open to any alliance or collaboration with any other element. The air kingdom would continue upholding their part of the balance that the kingdoms needed, but nothing more, which caused worry both outside and inside the kingdom.
Within a day of that announcement, he had also called a gathering for the entire air kingdom. He was now stood upon a ledge above the crowd of air dragons. His gaze remained cold as he watched his subjects. A horn sounded and the entire crowd turned silent.

”Greetings air dragons! I have two announcements to make today, which I’ll try to make quick.
First of all, me and the royal advisor have decided that my coronation will be held two days from now at dawn. And with me, I hope to set the era my parents had before me, into a new dawn for this kingdoms greatness. I will do everything it takes to ensure the safety and power of my kingdom, and may no other kingdom look down on us ever again!” he paused to let the crowd scream and cheer before moving to his second announcement .
”You see, the other kingdoms and their rulers have BETRAYED us. They kept me, your KING, hidden away to keep me from reaching my power and throne. They have hurt this kingdom almost beyond repair and they will pay for their deeds someday soon!” he watched with a pleased grin as the crowd murmured among themselves. It didn’t take long before some older dragon shouted out the first threat, ”They’ve always looked down on us!” and soon enough the entire crowd was cheering on anger-fueled screams.

Arcus let them go on for a bit before raising his tail and signaling silence.
”And I know, that with this powerful kingdom behind me, they will get what they deserve! And if anyone here dares to doubt that,” he paused, waiting for anyone to speak up, which no-one did, ”they will be punished severely. I want ABSOLUTE loyalty from EVERY. SINGLE. DRAGON here. No dragon may travel in or out of this kingdom without mine or Veneros DIRECT permission. Any dragon who dares question me can come forward right now,” his smile disappeared as he said the last statement, looking into the eyes of his subjects. He was met with stunned expressions as his subjects looked up at him, murmuring among themselves, yet no one dared step forward.
”Then, I hereby announce this meeting over. You’re all dismissed,” he declared.

The entire castle was filled of light and sound the morning of the coronation. The servants and chefs had been working almost since the sun set, and almost all of the air dragons had gathered in the throne room. Arcus himself was sat down in a room nearby as his butlers and maids were polishing his scales and horns. Venero was stood beside him, talking quietly.
”We can’t be completely sure the other kingdoms haven’t heard of this coronation, so we have to expect one or two surprise guests. I have already upped security around the castle, so I will be alerted of any unwelcome guests as soon as they are spotted,” Venero informed the prince. Arcus only nodded, his eyes locked on the mirror.

What no one seemed to notice was the purple fog that covered his pupils.