The Fall of The King

The Steel Prison

Chapter 31

 I opened my eyes to see i was in a stone chamber, all around me was nothing but devices that seemed to be used for rituals of some sort. I was strapped to a wooden table that was crusted with blood. I looked around to see if i could find anyone else, but the room was empty and held no exit but the thick steel bars that was the only entrance (or exit) to this stone room. I moved my hands to find I had limited room for any sort of movement. I summoned my spear to try to see if I could cut myslef loose, but i had no way to move it near the thick pieces of steel that held my wrists in place. Suddenly i heard the door to my prison creak open and in came a small old man that seemed to have aged thousands of years, yet was still somehow living. "So you are the legendary king slayer i have heard so much about. People wisper your name and the demons tremble with fear. You even hold a legendary stone that gives you the power of thousands, your feats of defeating the family of the Demon King havent gone unheard of. You accomplish so much just to reunite the land as it once was, but yet now you are trapped in a prison. You most likely wonder why we would hold you prisoner if you only planned to bring us peace. I can answer your questions, i want your power. You have the power that many wish for and one that i have long searched the lands for. You are immortal."  The old man said as he drew a knife and stabbed me in the heart. I gasped in pain and suprise as the world began to go dark, but then he slapped me and held my face to look into his eyes. "You arent going to fade away that easily, i wont let you begin to regenerate. No my boy, you are going to suffer and soon enough you will give me your power just to taste the sweet embrace of death. I will ensure you suffer before that happens though." He said this as he continued to stab my chest over and over again. He twisted the blade some of the times when he stabbed me, but he kept holding my face and forcing me to look into his eyes. If i closed my eyes he would slap me to force my eyes open again. After hours of this torture i began to loose feeling in most of my body, but the pain of the stabbing continued over and over again. Finally he stopped stabbing me and looked into my eyes with a smirk. "You want to die, i can tell. So I'll let you die, for tonight at least." The man said as he plunged the knife into my neck and pulled it out. He licked the blade and turned to leave me in the room as I faded out into darkness.

 I awoke to the sounds of screaming. My mind raced back to how i had gotten here, and i flooded back to me. After we had surrendered peacefully to the people of Calsen they quickly rushed at Kai and more than 5 men grabbed him and chained his arms. After he was chained the rest of us were led along a walkway that led to a large stone building, but to our dismay the building only was an entrance to a path that led down into the depths of a dungeon. They separated the five of us and ensured i was close to where Kai was being held. I stood up and a pulse of pain went through my heart, i fell to my knees and gasped with the pain. Those screams were Kai's. I could feel it in my heart. They were doing something to him, and they had no intention of stopping from the sounds of his pain. I summoned my bow and quickly unleashed a flurry of arrows at the door to cut the steel, and as my arrows flew they were somehow deflected. I stopped firing my arrows to see that I had done nothing to the door. I felt all hope of stopping Kai's pain lost as I dropped to my knees when i felt a sharp pain going into my neck. Tears rolled down my face, because I knew I had no way out of this prison.

I stood in front of the steel door awestruck by the fact that my flurry of slashes had done nothing to the door or the walls. I spent hours slashing the door and each wall, looking to see if i could penetrate even the slightest piece of the prison I was in. "I guess they expected us to try and break out, but what worries me even more is the fact that they know how to stop our weapons." I said to myself as i stopped my attacks to rest. "They know how to stop your weapons, but the king slayer is the one they truly couldnt stop." A voice said from seemingly nowhere. I looked around and saw nobody. "Who are you and where are you?" I asked the voice. "I am something other than human, but i am not a threat to you my boy. I reside above you, they forgot about me after all these years." The voice said as something loud dropped behind me. I turned to see a tall being that held strong features of a man, but his skin was tainted red and was littered with strange runic symbols. Upon his head was darker than black hair that seemed to flow like water as he moved his head. Sticking from his hair was a set of horns that were the same color as his skin and held the same runic symbols. "I am a race that should have died off long ago. I am what you may call a half breed between angel and demon, A Lavarin. Of course i really dont believe that bullshit myself, but its what im told and the sole reason I reside in this prison. They locked me up the day they found me in the street crying. I was just a baby then, but they did not care. I have never seen the light of day, I have never known the wonders of conversation. I only learned what I know from the beings that passed by my cell and sometimes the ones that resided in it. I haven't shown my face to one before, but thats mostly because they might have feared me. You my boy are different, you are a true elf. A mix between the two half races of elves, a being that was supposed to be long gone. You can control so much, and you were even blessed with the power of the spirit maidens. You are also my only chance of getting out of this accursed place, so i will lend you a semblance of my power and promise to repay my debt to you in the future, because trust me you will need it. So what do you say?" He said to me as he paced the room. I looked at him with wonder and awe, but I felt wary about his offer. "If i accept you must also help me free my friends, and I must know your name." I said as i looked at him. "Deal, and my name is Malpheus. I only know so because it is written on me several thousand times, apparently my parents decided once wasnt enough, either way you wont regret holding my power. Now give me your hand." Malpheus said as he extended his hand. I reached out and grabbed his hand. At first I felt pain rush though my palm, but then i felt a surge of energy and power. Malpheus's eyes began to turn black and the runic symbols on his body began to light up as he forced his power into my body. Suddenly he released my hand and looked at me with a smile. I returned his look with shock. He looked like a normal human being now, and not only that but he had grown large wings upon his back. Looking down at myself my skin color had changed to the strange red with the symbols on my skin. The horns had sprouted from my head, and i could feel a strange energy within my body. "We must hurry, the deomonic power will corrupt you if you let it linger in your body too long. If that happens then your dreams of a family will be long gone, because then youll have to run from your dear buddy. Now lets go, summon your blade." He said as I looked at him with awe. I summoned my blade to see that it had also changed. The hilt now resembled a dragons head and the blade itself was the flames of the dragon blowing out. The runic symbols from my skin now flowed down the blade and stopped halfway down. I looked at Malpheus one more time and plunged my blade into the door. The blade cut through the bars with ease and as soon as I finished cutting a hole through it  I rushed out, somehow knowing the layout to the prison and knowing that i had to make it to Kai first. Hopefully i could hurry, because i could already feel the temptation of the demonic side in my body.

My eyes opened to see the crusted blood on my chest and as i moved my neck i could feel the pain of the healing wound. My mind wasnt in my body though, it was wandering the prison. I could feel a demonic power surging towards me, but it wasnt my father. Somehow this power was friendly, but i could feel it crying to become one with me. The demonic power wanted to be in me, it wanted me to join my father. How can i resist its call?

I stood up as I felt a surge of energy rushing towards me, something wasn't right. It felt like Kai's father was coming towards us, but it didnt feel like him exactly. The energy felt similar to Roan's, but how could that be? I wouldnt believe he would give himself to Kai's father, So what was going on?

I had finally reached Kai's cell. I plunged my sword into the door and felt slight resistance, the demonic power was drawing me to Kai. Something didnt feel right to me, but this was the only way to save him. As i sliced the door open i entered to see him chained to the table and bloodied from what appeared to be repeated stabbing. His eyes shot open as he looked into my eyes, I felt my body draw towards him. I wasn't in control anymore. I reached my hand out and as soon as it touched his head I felt the demonic power surge into him. I felt the power drain from my body and i watched as his wounds healed and his body slowly began to change into a similar one to mine, but then his changes grew even more. Wings spread from his back and the horns he sprouted grew to be more than a foot off his head, i could feel the anger and pain surge in his body and he began to grow and grow. Soon he resembled what i imagined a great demon to look like, he had drained all evil from my body and now stood in front of me with a demonic look of rage on his face. Kai was now a demon.

The walls came crashing down as i looked to see what appeared to be a giant demon full of anger and pain, he looked at me and i saw the blue eyes i knew to be Kai's. My heart sank as i realized he had given into the demonic power. I saw Roan staring up at Kai in awe as he continued to grow in size, and then suddenly he summoned his spear. But the spear looked entirely different now, it was riddled with symbols and the entire spear itself looked like it had been made in the depths of hell itself. The tip was ridged and was barbed with a load of metal points. He swug it and took out half the walls in the prison. Blood sprayed everywhere as the prisoners were killed. He screamed out to the warden of the prison, who i saw to be a small old man. He looked up at Kai and shrank in fear as kai reached out and grabbed him in his hand and began to fly straight up. He flew through the ceiling and broke through to the outside, where he lifted his spear and as he did so beams of light flew from the spearhead and shot out and hit every human being that was above the prison. Then he lifted the old man in his palm and a beam of light came from his spear and shot him,  then kai threw the man down as hard as he could. When the mans body impacted the ground it hit so hard that a crater was made. Then kai rose higher and then suddenly dropped onto the old man. As he did so he came to his knees and let his spear fade. He began to cry as the power of the demon in him began to fade. I spotted a man next to Kai, who seemed to be taking the power from him. Once Kai had returned to normal he flew away and dissapearedinto the distance. I ran to Kai and reached out to touch him, but he batted my hand away. "I gave in to the power my father was given. I almost didnt want it to leave me, i almost wanted to go find my father and kill him only so i could reign in his place." He said as tears rolled from his face. I grabbed him and hugged him. As i did so Roan approached and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I hate to ruin the moment, but where is Atur?" He said, as not a moment later did Artur come strolling up yawning. "Damn all this happened while I was asleep?" Artur said with a smirk.

I looked back at the ruin of Calsen and felt pained at the fact that i had destroyed one of the lands i wished to reunite. I was also plauged with the fear that i might give in to the power of demons again. It somehow felt right, but i feared that power. I couldn't let it do that to me again.

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My son had felt the power of a demon, and the worst part about it was that he held more demonic potential than i did. Somehow he surpasses me in everyway without even trying. I did not fear him though, i want him to finally challenge me. He's going to take me from the throne and bring peace to this land once again. On the inside i could feel my true self rooting for him, but my demonic side wanted to rip his heart from his chest and feast on it. Sometimes i dont know which side to listen to.