The Dead King

Chapter 2 - Communication

Despite it being overcast, the light bothered him a bit. He squinted his eyes as he stared at all the bright snow around him. It was thick, and only getting thicker with the current snowfall.

Marin understood that Nocturne Castle was nestled in the mountains, but they weren't snowy mountains. Snow did fall during the winter, but this was ridiculous. It was almost impossible to walk. It would be exhausting trying to do any traveling through this, but Marin found out that becoming exhausted was not much of an experience for him anymore. He didn't have to catch his breath. He didn't sweat as his heartbeat raced to keep up. He knew for a fact that wearing this tight mask around his face would make it hard for anyone to breathe, but this presented no problem for him anymore.

He was finding out that his legs either moved or they didn't. There was no feeling in them. Same with his arms, or anything else. His nerves were completely inactive, and because of this, he didn't feel cold either.

Marin did not feel anything anymore. He just existed, and it was hard for him to accept this at first. As he traveled away from the castle he knew, he turned back to look at it. It was in great condition surprisingly. He hadn't seen it covered with so much snow before though.

He studied his surroundings a bit. He knew this area. He knew what used to be here. There were farms. Crops grew alongside townhouses. None of that was left. Planks of wood stuck out of the deep snow in some areas, leaving the only clue of what was once there. Everything had been destroyed outside of the castle. If anything was left, it was entombed under the snow now.

The crops provided food for the kingdom denizens. Servants had lived in outer homes from the castle, farming for the kingdom. It was all gone. Marin tried to put it out of his mind.

What a terrible fate. I'm not sure if everyone fled, if they were killed, no idea. I can only pray that they're alright, where ever they are.

He continued on. He followed a familiar trail down the mountain. Well, he believed there was still a trail under the snow. At this point he could only follow a rough outline of the terrain around him. It was impossible to see anything other than snow and rock from the mountains. He knew that the closest town was over ten miles down the mountain. It would take some time to get there.

What he really wanted to see more than anything else was another person. At this point, he was debating if he was the only person still alive, anywhere. What if he got down to the town, and it was completely destroyed as well? What if there was not a soul in sight there either? It was frightening to King Marin to think that he might be the last person on earth. What an awful existence to be in.

Has it been years? Decades? Even... possibly centuries? At this point that is possible as well. If I've been dead long enough for the weather patterns to change this much... Hell, I could've been out for a thousand years, who's to say? Nocturne could easily survive a thousand years, if it wasn't tampered with too much...

He kept walking down the mountain. His legs pushed snow out of the way as he descended.

Then suddenly, he froze. There in the distance, were two figures. Two figures. Two people! Marin gasped, even though that had no effect.

He waved. He jumped a bit. He tried shouting, but remembered that took air in his lungs to do.

Oh no.

He couldn't talk. How in the world would he communicate? The figures were getting closer. They now took notice of him. They crouched a bit and spread out. They were suspicious. Marin braced himself, and reacted the same. There was a chance that these could not be friendly people.