The Golden Throne

Untitled

It was the darkness of midnight that kept them company. The only source of light coming from a few lit candles in the room. Two long haired men were standing in the middle of the room. They were dressed in dark outfits and wore masks that covered their entire faces. The dim yellow light revealed that the masks bore the image of an eyeball. In the darkness across the room were two other figures: one short and stocky, and the other, tall and slender.

"This place," the short and stocky one said. "Why am I not surprised that the two of you chose here?" He walked towards the nearest wall. He looked at it with admiration in his eyes- as if he was looking at a divine painting. "Now I remember. You both tend to be... poetic," the short man said as he caressed the walls with his clawed metal hand. This place brought to him memories. Both painful and pleasant. The stains of blood on the walls were just as he remembered. He rubbed his finger on the old dried blood and tasted it. It tasted just as he remembered too.

"Why did you bring an interloper?" One of the masked men pointed at the slender person standing in the shadows. Wordlessly, the person walked towards the dim light- revealing a woman.

"Forgive me, mistress!" The masked man apologized as he made an elaborate bow.

"Enough," the short man spat on the ground, "I have a contract for the both of you."

The masked men cocked their heads in fascination, "the great Zultan needs the help of the Macabre Twins? Are you in that much trouble?" One of them laughed. "I thought this was just a pleasant reunion," the other one said sarcastically.

Zultan glared at them with murder in his eyes. His mouth trembled and his eyes twitched. He was so overcome with rage he could not speak. The masked twins looked at each other nervously. They slowly reached for their Pokeballs but then stopped. They knew better than to attack him. The dried blood on the walls proved this. "Who is it?" One of them finally murmured.

Zultan was still speechless over their insolence. The mysterious woman decided to speak for him instead. "By now you must have heard about the airship explosion," she said.

"Beautiful work!" The masked men exclaimed. "As the last of our order, we extend our heartiest congratulations to the Zaff, mistress."

"Is it not?" She smirked. "However, not everything went according to plan. There was a witness. And now he's been tasked to go after us. He could prove to be quite a nuisance."

"Just one target? Why couldn't your men take care of it?"

"This one is different. He is a powerful trainer. We need professionals, so to speak," she put one hand on her hip.

"Is this that new outlander?"

"The interloper?"

"The encroacher?"

"The-"

"-Stranger from the north. Yes," Zultan finished their sentence.

...

"Get rid of him,"

~ End of Part I ~