Conquest of the Dark Lord

Chapter 5: Confessions of a Dark Lord (part 2)

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"Your majesty! Your majesty!" The messenger shouted, rushing through the doors into the throne room. "I have a message from the church!"

The king, sitting on a golden throne nodded. "Very well," he said in a rather business-like tone. "Let's hear it then."

The messenger nodded and cleared his throat before reciting the message: "The church has reportedly found that this morning, a surge of divine power spiked in the area of the Blankwood Forest. The reason for which they haven't a clue."

The king stroked his pencil mustache, which was frayed with gray, and suggested, "Could it be Hermes bringing us the regular news from the gods?"

The messenger shook his head. "I don't believe that to be the case your majesty. The upper brass within the church don't either, and we both have reasons to doubt that being the case."

The king pondered this, then asked, "And what would those reasons be?"

The messenger took a deep breath before answering, "While I cannot speak of all the reasons and/or theories the council came up with because they sent me over before the meeting was done, I'll tell you the main ones. They believe it could not be Hermes because A: he visited us 6 days ago which doesn't fit in with his bi-weekly schedule, and B: if he indeed came to deliver urgent news, why haven't we received any yet?"

The king stroked his chin stubble and muttered, "Those are indeed good points." Then he spoke up saying, "And what theories had they come up with?"

The messenger tapped his chin and said, "One big one that came up during the meeting was that the gods have chosen another hero to help in the war."

The king leapt out of his throne. "Truly?!" he asked, excitement in his voice. "They've answered our plea and sent another hero to finally break this stalemate in the war we've been having?"

The messenger scratched the back of his head. "Maybe, but we don't have confirmation on that yet." He paused then said, "And besides, the Blankwood Forest is uninhabitable by humans. And if someone does indeed live there, I shudder to think how they managed to weather the conditions present in that forest from the unforgiving environment to the forest's guardian who hates humans."

He shuddered. "I've heard stories of the place being more unforgiving than even the labyrinth. But at least it's not underground."

He looked up at the king who was back in his throne looking down at him. He fell to his knees saying, "I'm sorry for speaking out of turn majesty. I'll take my leave now."

He turned to walk out the door, but the king called out "WAIT!" The messenger turned back around, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

The king looked around at the eight guards posted around the room and said, "Attendance, leave us."

The guards obeyed and they walked out the two side doors single file. Once they were gone, the king motioned for the messenger to come closer. He obeyed, walking forward until he was standing at the base of the small, wide staircase leading up to the throne. He stopped in his tracks and the king motioned for him to come closer still, and so he did until he stood 3 meters away from the throne. The king stood up and walked towards him until he stood in front of him and once he got there, he placed his hand on the messenger's shoulder.

He smiled. "Mercutio my good friend. I am not angry with you. In fact, I could never be angry at you. We both went to the academy together and you have proven time and time again that you deserve this job, so drop the formal talk. No one is here to witness us speaking casually, so speak to me like you used to."