The Tale of Fiery Revenge

The Mad Kings Folly

    Jaxon walked through the front gate and towards the hollow shell of what was once the royal palace. It's once grand splendor had turned into something that would house the dead dreams of children. The pure white paint had chipped away, revealing the dull gray bricks that made up the walls. The huge door that was designed to hold back a whole platoon of men, now stood barely attached to it's hinges and looked as if the breeze was about to knock it to the ground. The windows were like hollow pits of despair that revealed the gray interior of the palace. The royal garden that once contained every type of flower imaginable, was reduced to a wilted grey mess.

    No guards stood watch, letting Jaxon freely walk through the front door. He cautiously walked through the halls, his footsteps making thumps echo through the empty corridors. The grand art and treasures that once decorated the walls was gone, and the wallpaper was torn and falling away in large strips. Jaxon was genuinely surprised. He had expected no smaller than a battalion to be guarding the palace. He wandered through the palace for what felt like hours looking for Alfonso. When he reached the ballroom, he was floored by what he discovered.

     He found the room filled with gold and treasure. Mountains of gold and precious gems filled the room, along with rare artifacts that ranged from ancient swords, to gold plated pottery. In the center of the room, was a man sitting on the floor with his head in his hands. He made inaudible mumbles as he sat there, rocking back and forth. Jaxon instructed Ignus to stay at the door to the ballroom, and started to walk towards the man. He walked slowly and carefully making sure not to frighten the man.

    "Hello my friend. Do you know where I could find Alfonso?" Jaxon said, as he knelt down in front of the man.

"Alfonso? Hahaha! You seek Alfonso, and you asked him yourself!" The man replied in the crazed voice of a madman.

    "What?! You mean to tell me that you are the ruler of The Kingdom of Wolves." Jaxon said snarkily, "You must be mad if you think I would believe such a story! Do you know where can I find Alfonso!"

    The man stood up, revealing a medallion around his neck decorated with the wolf seal of the royal family. The man wore a tattered red and purple robe that looked like it would fall into pieces at any moment. The man looked Jaxon in the eyes with a crazed look, as if he had lost his mind long before Jaxon's arrival.

"But how? What happened to you? Why are you not out restoring the kingdom!" Jaxon yelled violently shaking the shriveled Alfonso.

     "I couldn't! That would require me to spend my gold! It's all I have after those crazy generals locked me in here, and I already paid so much to the mercenaries that now make up half of our population! If I restored the kingdom, I wouldn't have any gold for myself! Each one has a name you see, and I swear each has a voice but no one else can hear them. They are my best friends! Plus Lupus doesn't want us back to where we were! That's why he cursed us! Yes, yes it was Lupus who did this! He abandoned us! Convinced me to lead the army to slaughter! We have been falling apart since he turned on us!" Alfonso babbled on looking around the room as if he was being watched from all directions, "And not to mention that some madman is out there who wants my head on a plaque!"

     "I know all of this!" Jaxon yelled, "I am that man!"

     "So you're the one that has been destroying the entire continent to get here? Did you not know that there were faster ways? Did you really need to burn down 277 villages and kill every person between here and your start point?" Alfonso yelled loudly, "Do you know how many angry families and diplomats visited seeking help before I was locked in here? Dozens per day, day after day, for years! And you even killed our diplomats that were trying to negotiate with you! The pressure was insane! But then one day, it all just became humorous to me. I didn't care about all the deaths. I found my self laughing at the reports when something new would happen." Alfonso rambled.

     "So in other words you went mad from the pressure, and so they locked you up?" Jaxon asked.

     "Not mad, no that implies that my sanity left me. No my sanity just flipped. It almost became backwards. I used to want to go out and do new things but now, I find pleasure in retreating deep into myself with the voices of the gold. They locked me up after saying I brought the kingdom to ruin" Alfonso said waving his hands around his head to exaggerate his words.

     "Oh... Well... I'm gonna help you out after you answer my question. How can I find Lupus Ardens?" Jaxon asked.

    "Oh yes I know. But it is indeed forbidden. You need this." Alfonso said, pulling a small vial filled with an orange liquid out of his robes. " Anything for a friend."

    "Friend? I'm sorry but you must be confused. I am here to kill you." Jaxon said with a hint of doubt in his voice as if he was beginning to wonder if he should.

     "No I am not mistaken! You set my mind free! And now you have come to escort me to where I can finally keep my golden friends safe forever! Or at least that is what the voices said I'm so excited!" Alfonso said excitedly.

     He handed Jaxon the vial, and then proceeded to walk around the room like a child that was too excited to sit still. Jaxon looked at him sadly. He had come for revenge on a selfish tyrant, and found a broken fragment of a man with no sense of reality. He wondered if he should even kill him, or just let him continue to live in his delusional fantasy. He brought his sword from his shoulder to his side, as he began to walk towards Alfonso.

     As he neared Alfonso he brought his sword up and took ahold of it's handle with both hands.

     "I'm so sorry." Jaxon said remorsefully.

     Alfonso looked back at him just as the sword came down across his chest. He fell to the floor, with a bloody slash across his torso. Alfonso looked at the ceiling sadly, as tears began to run down his cheeks.

     "No... please... come back... the voices... their gone... please... don't leave me..." Alfonso said quietly, as his eyes closed for good.

     Jaxon stared at Alfonso's corpse wondering if it was really worth it. Killing Alfonso felt more like a cold murder than a well deserved punishment. During all of the years that Jaxon had thought about destroying Alfonso, he had imagined that it would be a battle for the ages second only to the battle with Lupus. What happened was a mercy kill performed on a broken shell of a man, greedy or not. But what Jaxon had never expected, was that Alfonso would go out crying. He had cried the tears of true despair as he was forcefully ripped back into the real world, and out of his fantasy of talking gold.

    Jaxon looked down at the vial he had received from Alfonso before he had killed him. He was disgusted with what he had done to achieve the means to fight Lupus, and didn't know if he could ever forgive himself. He began to ponder, what if he didn't kill Lupus? He had the ability to bring the kingdom back into order, and win any conflict they entered. He could restore The Kingdom Of Wolves. Ignus was becoming impatient at the door, and barked to show it."

    "I'm coming Ignus, let me just do something real quick." Jaxon said just loud enough for Ignus to hear.

    Jaxon looked down at the vial, and made up his mind. He dropped the vial on to the ground, and stomped on it. The orange fluid spilled out onto the floor leaving a discolored puddle on the floor. Jaxon turned around and with a slight smile on his face, began to walk towards the exit where Ignus stood guard. He was almost out of the room when the sounds of fire stopped him in his tracks. He turned around to see the puddle on fire and the gold beginning to grow.

    The gold glowed brighter and brighter until it began to melt and flow towards the puddle, where it was devoured by the flames. Suddenly out of the flames burst five pairs of thin arms, made of molten metal, and featuring sharp claws for fingers. The arms lunged towards Jaxon, entangling him in a web of arms. They picked him up and quickly pulled him into the flames and into the place he would face Lupus. The last thing he saw before being pulled in, was Ignus rushing towards him.

     He awoke in a place he had never seen before. It was made up of jagged broken mountains, and lava falls and streams. The world was filled with smoke, but it was surprisingly easy to breath. He was in the land of the god of fire. He was now in the home of Lupus Ardens.