The Golden Throne

Prologue

It was the darkness of midnight that kept him company. The only source of light came from a street lamp outside the abandoned building he was in. They told him to wait here, in the dank and dim of a musty room till his Master arrived. He and his comrades had risked their lives to deliver the intelligence he had now. He found it amusing how a few sentences could dictate the future, the lives of others... the fate of a nation.

"It's sick, really," he sighed.

"What is?" said a gruff voice from the doorway.

Immediately, the informant inhaled sharply and stood up straight. How long was he watched?

"N-Nothing, my lord," he said as his face filled with dread. This is what it was like serving the Master; constant tests to your loyalty. He squinted hard to see anyone in the darkness, but all he could make out was the outline of two figures. One- tall and slender; a woman perhaps, and the other, a shorter figure moving towards him in an awkward gait. This was the one he was waiting for. But who was the woman?

"So," the short one spoke while walking into the sparse light. "Do you have anything for me?"

The light revealed a man who was as intimidating as he was deformed. His face was disproportional- tiny beady eyes paired with an abnormally large mouth that could create something resembling a Glasgow smile. His head was bald and he moved about with an awkward trot- as if one leg was a little shorter than the other. But his most striking feature of all was a metal clawed hand in the place of where his left hand should be.

The messenger had heard stories of the deformity of his superior. This was the first time he had to witness it for himself. After a moment of speechlessness, the messenger managed to regain his composure.

"Milord Zultan, while the Emperor is giving his speech on the eve of Eburo's Dusk, the Grand Council will be on the airship we prepared, flying above Lake Aeiri. We've also ensured that the ship will not be heavily guarded before take off. Everything had gone according to plan."

"And the Silver Guard?"

"Taken care of. That would mean we won't be having any trouble adding a few," the messenger's voice trailed off, "...modifications."

"They're more of a fool than I thought. That's fortunate for us. I'd be ashamed to claim to be a son of such an empire," the man known as Zultan snorted a chuckle.

There was something about Lord Zultan's bestial laugh that bothered the messenger. It reminded him of a feral Pokemon. And feral Pokemon are unpredictable. His skin crawled.

"Well, boy," Zultan said after a blaring laugh. "I hope you ran into some trouble while you were on the job. It's good sport to kill a few empire stooges. Sends a message you see."

"If almost having my leg chewed off by an Imperial-trained Garchomp counts as trouble, then yes," the messenger continued, "we ran into a little trouble."

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT!" Zultan suddenly laughed. "So, what did you do? You're talking to me right now! That means the bloody stooge is dead. And a dead imperial is a good imperial."

"Pretty boy Lucius managed to take the Garchomp down at the last second. After that, Lucius and the boys cornered and killed the beast. The Captain who owned it shared the same fate."

Zultan began to laugh maniacally, commenting on how much he wished to deal with the captain of the Imperial Guard himself, but he congratulated the young messenger anyway.

The messenger felt flattered that the great Zultan was impressed in him, he decided to bite the bullet and impress Zultan some more.

"That's not all my lord. You see we came up with the perfect plan to hide the body. Lucius suggested th-"

"You what?" Zultan interrupted suddenly. He had a horrified look on his face.

"Uh," the messenger gulped. "We, I... we had to," his mouth stuttered. Zultan's sudden interruption brought down a chilling silence to the room. Sweat trickled down his forehead. He had said something wrong. The feeling of dread he had earlier began to churn in his stomach once more. "My lord, w-"

"WE DON'T HIDE BODIES!" Zultan screamed. "WE LET THEM FIND THE BODIES NAKED, MISSING A LIMB, MAULED, MUTILATED, DECAPITATED, INCINERATED."

"B-But my lord," the messenger felt like crying now. Why. Why did he take part in this? For the first time in many years he remembered his mother's advice to him when he was a boy: To never mix with the wrong crowd. Now he wished he listened to her. Now he was face to face with this maniac. "W-wouldn't it b-be wise if w-we remove th-he the evid-"

"WE WANT THEM TO FIND THEIR DEAD! YOU FOOLS!! WE WANT THEM TO KNOW WE ARE THEIR WORST NIGHTMARE. WE WANT THEM TO WISH THEY WERE NEVER BORN THE NEXT TIME WE COME FACE TO FACE,"

"My lord, I... I'm so sorry," he muttered between fear-induced sobs.

"THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE,"

Before the messenger could reach for his Pokeball, a gunshot pierced the night. A sickening thud followed.

Unpredictable. Like a feral Pokemon.

"Tyrantrum come out!" Zultan ordered and immediately the ferocious titan emerged from its Pokeball. The beast glared at the dead body with insane bloodlust. One would think Zultan and his Tyrantum were similar in many ways. "I've got dinner for you," Zultan gestured to the limp body on the cement floor. Immediately the monster started chomping down on the generous treat from its master. The sickening sound of tearing flesh and crunching bones echoed in the sparse empty room.

"That was too much Zultan," the woman behind the maniac sighed. The rage Zultan had in him faded away at the sound of her voice. It had a natural, sweet melody which Zultan loved to hear. He purposely ignored her to hear her speak again.

"Don't be too greedy now!" Zultan cooed to his monster. "We need to leave something behind to remind the empire who they're dealing with."

"Zultan," she said again with no hint of friendliness. Zultan smiled.

A clacking sound of high heels echoed in the spacious room. The rhythm was slow and steady; confident... and self-assured. She did not fear the maniac who stood in the pool of blood before her.

Zultan glanced at the woman and saw her glaring right at him. "What?" he barked. "The kid needed to be thought a lesson."

"How many people do you have to kill before you realize that you can't teach a corpse anything?" She rolled her eyes. "Or are you just that much of an idiot?"

"Bah! We got what we wanted. Eburo's Dusk is fast approaching and the pieces are in place," Zultan's eyes met hers, and his mouth twisted into a menacing grin. "We will bring the Empire to its knees."