The King of The Night - Short Story

The King of The Night

Throughout the Kingdom of Nyhat, one thing was known. Their beloved King, who had fought valiantly against the invasion of the Ulsterians, was not returning. Their Queen, who had ruled with an impatient overlook, tried her best to compensate for the lack of a paramount official, but she knew her efforts were in vain. The Castle had gone quiet. Its usual bustling community of servants, diplomatic envoys wishing to conglomerate with Nyhat, and common folk had all but vanished. The City of Nyhat, a once lively area filled with trade, with a feeling of home, had evaporated. Their King was not coming back.

The woman sat upon a large golden throne, her fingernails tapping impatiently against the hard wooden armrests to the side of her. She was sitting still, but the motion of her perfectly manicured fingernails and the impatient huffs of air that were regularly expelled from her taut mouth made her seem restless and agitated. Somehow, she gave off the impression that she never really stopped moving.

She was an angular exclamation of a woman, and she stuck out like a sore thumb among her subjects. She wore her dark hair short; it had been meticulously combed into an unforgiving style that cut into her sharp cheekbones. Her suit was an inky black colour, which only served to emphasise her militantly slender form. When she spoke, her voice was low and commanding, and her expression was set into a permanent frown that was half-angry, half-distracted, and wholly intimidating.

"Joseph!" she called.

"Y-y-yes Your Highness?" stuttered Joseph as he quickly moved into a bow before her.

"Any news of my husband, Joseph?" she asked while admiring her fingernails.

"Unfortunately, n-n-no, Your Highness. It has been a few months since the invasion of the Ulsterians, after all. I believe he is fighting off the Legion of Il with support of the Nyhat Navy Division. He will return victorious, Your Highness."

"Well, I can't say I didn't expect this. Marry a warring man, and you'll see him only for a little. Well, I'm glad that it isn't out of greed or malice, is it not so, Joseph?"

"O-of course. We only fight when provoked, and our industrial facets are placed #1 in the whole of Regalia."

"Hm." She sat there, the tapping of her fingers drew to a close, and her hand allowed rest for her bony neck. She hadn't really considered whether to put her foot down and tell her husband to come home or to allow the pointless war to drag out. She knew that Nyhat had the ability to smite the Ulsterians from the map of any country, but her husband had said to keep the true ability of the Nyhatians hidden so that their enemies would not think much of them. While certainly a good tactic, it felt frustrating to her that they couldn't reveal our true power to anyone, ever.

On the ocean bordering Nyhat, a legion of ships two thousand strong was effortlessly cruising toward a small ship. This small ship was different from the other ships that the Ulsterians had faced. The hull had been carved intricately out of silver, with no traditional sails, rudder, steering wheel or engine. It was perfectly smooth, with only one man stood atop it. The man was shrouded in a cloak of black, with few distinguishable features. He was a tall individual, with legs longer than most. A single green eye was visible from underneath the tattered garments, speaking of vitality and ruthless justice. Strapped to him appeared to be two sheaths for claymores, both around 5 foot in length and a foot in width. As the legion approached the ship further, he took off his leathery cloak.

A shining glamour of purple, gold, silver, and black armour shielded him, the style of armour similar to English knight battle armour, but quite lighter and sturdier. They were unsure on whether it was lighter or he was indeed that strong to be able to wear it. Still, they approached, and he brandished his two claymores. They seemed to be weightless in his hands, with runes glowing on them. The one on his right emitted a fierce orange glow from the runes and surrounded itself in an entire fire. The other, runes glowing a void of black, ushered forth an inky black substance from the sword, liquid in stature, which surrounded itself around the blade and hardened instantly. He lifted the flame of metal and pointed it straight to the command ship.

"Who is it? We need a visual!"

"It appears to be.. the King of Nyhat.."

"Aha, kill him, and we're able to take over Nyhat. Bring me his HEAD!"

"Uh... Sir?"

"What is it, Corporal."

"One of the swords took down around 200 of our ships."

"WHAT?" The Lieutenant yelled.

"Well, uhm, the sword sort of-"

"Spit it OUT, Corporal."

"The sword let out a gust of flame and 200 ships are going down."

The Lieutenant immediately took to the receiver next to him.

"All surviving members of the Ulsterian Legion, attack the ship!"

"But Sir, all of our ships will go down!"

"Listen to me, Corporal, I will not show fear in front of the Legion, especially to. One. Man. Now, attack!"

A flurry of cannonballs from the Legion hurtled straight toward the silver hull. In the clear blue skies, a flash of black, and the cannonballs were no longer travelling toward their target. Instead, they were heading back to their origin, like scared hellhounds returning to their masters. One by one, the ships went down. The Lieutenant looked on in horror, as the armoured man let out a pearly smile, his emerald eyes shining -no, piercing into the Lieutenant's heart. Clearly, there was no chance to win. It was still unbelievable to him, that a single man could utterly destroy the Legion of Ulster. He would need to report back to his superiors about this, but he already knew his rank was on the line. This would be the end of him, one way or another. However, he greatly treasured his life, so he took the helm and sailed away as fast as he could. The King, still smiling, gave a small gesture to the ship, and it glided across the water back to Nyhat. When he had arrived, the sword of ebony derived a floating platform of night from the tip, and with a single step, the King had returned to Nyhat.