The Voidbreak Crisis

19. Long Live the King

Matilda dreamed she was walking in a forest, a small child prancing about in front of her. The trees around her seemed to be melting, but never reducing in size. She couldn't tell if it was day or night, and whenever she looked at the child, she would vanish and appear just outside the edge of Matilda's vision. Suddenly something became clear. Standing in front of her was Reaper, staring at her, confused.
"Reaper?" She asked softly, her voice echoing around her and making her head pound.
"I'm lost... I'm so lost." Reaper said softly, looking around him.
"Where are you?" Matilda asked, but her voice was stolen by a deafening pulsating noise. Her head felt like it was going to pop, and she awoke suddenly, sitting bolt upright. Persephone was sitting in a chair next to her bed, and Kane was nowhere to be seen.

"Morning." Persephone said emotionlessly.
"What happened?" Matilda said, sitting against the headrest.
"You passed out, obviously. Why? No idea." Persephone said, sighing.
"What's wrong, child?" Matilda asked softly, holding her hand out to her. Persephone hesitated, but took her hand slowly.
"I'm so confused." She whispered.
"I know, love. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Matilda said, holding her hand in hers.
"Stop saying that. It doesn't make it better." Persephone said softly. Matilda was silent, her ears folding against her head as she looked away.
"I know you're sorry." Persephone said.
"I know. I don't want you to be sorry. I want you to be better." She said softly.
"I will try, my child." Matilda said softly, squeezing her hand gently.
"I've only just learned how to feel, my baby. It will take some time. But I promise, I will never stop trying." Matilda said, sitting on the edge of the bed facing Persephone.
"I can be patient, I think. I'm not really good at it, though." Persephone said, smiling at her briefly.
"Then we will grow together, my child." Matilda said as a tear ran down her cheek. She had cried so much these past few weeks. She was glad this was a tear of joy. But that was about to change.

"So what crimes, exactly, are we highlighting?" King asked, sitting down in the special throne Zavoyevatel had created for him.
"Would you like them chronologically, or alphabetically?" Zavoyevatel asked. King laughed once, but then realized he was dead serious.
"Chronologically, I suppose." King said, grabbing onto the steel handles as he felt a pulse of mana flow through him. Zavoyevatel sat down in his own throne and closed his eyes as the room began to hum.
"Then take a deep breath, mortal, and brace yourself for horrors unlike anything you've ever seen." He said softly. King felt his mind expand, and was pulled into the maze that was the God-King's inner mind.
"To her first kills, King. Take a moment to gather yourself." Zavoyevatel's voice echoed around him.

King created his psychic blocks as he was pulled downwards deeper into Zavoyevatel's mind. Matilda was there, a young creature, barely old enough to walk on her own, walking into a village. King saw an old woman catch sight of her, and offer her a drink. Matilda nodded and slowly took the drink. She followed the old lady into her village, where she was given a bed and supper. In the dead of night, Matilda rose from her bed, and silently cut the old woman's throat, and watched in fascination as the blood poured from her wound and pooled on the floor. She walked through the old woman's house and silently murdered each of the inhabitants, before walking out into the village and continuing her crusade of silent death. Decades later, Matilda seemed only slightly older, and met a traveling tradesman. He took her in, and gave her a bed. She traveled with him for a few weeks, before brutally murdering him and his entire family one day, seemingly on a whim. She showed no remorse, no pity. She only seemed to feel the thrill of the hunt, the satisfaction that came from killing her prey when they least expected it. Years passed, filled with murders, psychopathic rampages, and violent massacres at Matilda's hands. She found an ancient tome a merchant had been hiding, after tearing his entire extended family in half and hanging them from the town gates. She took the tome deep into the caverns underneath Ak-Dovurak, and bound herself to the aspect of lust. From that point on, her killings became ever more inventive. She seduced her way through positions of power, rising through the ranks as the favorite concubine of hundreds of rulers over hundreds of years, and brutally murdered them all in cold blood. She slew millions of souls, soaking whole cities, whole countries in blood as men and women tried and failed to halt her bloodthirsty advance.