Into Darkness

t h r e e

t h r e e

I FORGET TO breath, the lack of air making me feel lightheaded and feel myself start to sway. Although I never saw him do it, the weight that this man carries suffocates me just by looking at him.

This man killed my family.

My breathing quickens and the blood roars in my ears with both anger and pain. Suddenly I don't know if I can just stand still and pretend I'm just a lowly servant who has no idea what this tyrant has done. I can feel myself wanting to break away from the group and-

I jump slightly as I feel a hand gently rest against the middle of my back. As I realize it's Carter, it's like a floodgate is opened in my lungs and I can breath again. The urge to surge forward and attack fades in an instant and I fall into a startled silence at what I was about to do.

Carter's touch fades from my back but I can feel his gaze boring into my soul, and I know he's worried. It's one thing to go to a tavern, get drunk, and steal from someone, but it's another thing entirely to almost go on a suicide crusade, completely hell bent on revenge. I can tell I'm scaring him, my behavior so erratic he doesn't know how to anticipate my actions or prevent them.

I don't look towards him, still in shock myself about what I was about to do and almost terrified of the rage that still swirls in the pit of my heart. Carter has a right to be afraid. It's like a caged lion, pacing back and forth and staring at its captor with bared fangs, waiting for its moment to attack. I don't know what this feral rage will make me do, what measures it will make me push to quench this fire and that scares and thrills me more than anything.

The nobles of our household bow to the king, stiff and impersonal, who simply nods in response. Lord Lumen rises up from his bow first, and though he remains polite and expressionless, like all nobles are taught to be as a way to protect themselves, I see the smallest of frowns furrow his eyebrows.

"We are honored by your presence, King Erebos, but if you don't mind me asking, to what do we owe this pleasure?"

Erebos smiles and clasps his hands together. "Tell me, Marcus, do you know what happened just over two years ago?"

Lord Lumen hesitates for a moment before answering: "Why, that was the time you overtook the Grey Castle and took your rightful place as king."

"Quite right." Erebos says, and from the way his face both emulates a smile but doesn't show it, he sets unrest throughout the entire room. "And what would I do if my status as king is threatened?"

Lord Lumen shifts his feet, the frown on his features now more prominent. "We would put an end to whatever uprising that may be, my lord. Through any means necessary."

"Any means, you say?" Erebos toys with him. "Including execution?"

"Yes, my lord."

The king smiles at Lord Lumen's response, and starts to pace forward, slowly and deliberately like a cat circling a mouse. "Recent findings have led me to believe their may be betrayal among some of the seemingly most loyal houses of the Light. A resistance is spreading and infecting their polluted messages into the minds of even the most loyal subjects. These findings led me here, Marcus, to your house."

Lady Lumen gasps at the accusation, and Lord Lumen's eyes go wide, his mouth already opening like a floundering fish out of water, desperate to defend himself, but Erebos waves them off.

"I'm not accusing you personally, though there are guilty members of the resistance, here, in our midst." He pauses and looks around the room. The lords and ladies of the houses finally look towards their servants and guards, who both freeze. The guards stationed at the doors squirm uncomfortably in their armor and all the servants down the line resist the urge to look around and try to spot resistance fighters among themselves. Most of all, I feel a fear rise up within me.