Legends of Amacia Heart of Darkness

The Emperor sat on his throne with a scowl on his face as Kronos, Gulez, and several messengers from the front at Arionath walked in. In the customary manner, Kronos and the messengers bowed at the foot of the dais and Gulez gave a stiff bow and salute to the Emperor. The Emperor looked at them and said with seething hatred, “Rise and report, Kronos. Where are these traitors in my very walls? Where are they?”

Kronos rose to his feet, followed by the messengers. “The search continues, your majesty,” he reported. “Whoever they are, they’re very well hidden and cunning. No one seems to know who they are.”

The Emperor got up from his throne and stepped forward in a menacing manner. “I don’t want excuses, Kronos. Didn’t I tell you no more mistakes?” he hissed venomously.

Kronos bowed, saying, “Yes, your highness. We will find the traitors.”

The Emperor looked down icily at him. “You had better or I shall have to find a new vizier. What’re they doing here?” he asked pointing at the messengers who were literally trembling in terror because of the Emperor’s foul disposition.

“News from Arionath, as per your orders,” Kronos replied. “Tell him what happened,” he ordered the lead messenger.

The messenger fearfully stepped forward and bowed, face to the floor. “Your highness, there’s news of the gravest nature from Arionath. We swarmed the countryside, killing and burning everything we encountered. When we breached the valley, we were attacked by a draken, who harassed us all the way to Kaal Bek.”

This news caused the Emperor to pause. “A draken; you say a draken attacked you?” the Emperor asked pointedly.

“Yes, sir; it was a draken without a doubt,” the messenger replied. “I’ve never seen one in the flesh before and the books don’t do justice to how destructive they can be.”

“I thought I had eradicated them long ago,” the Emperor scowled. “The drakens were a terrible problem. How is it that we now have a draken protecting Arionath again?”

Kronos shook his head, saying, “I know not, sire, but it was a draken for certain. It, however, did not hinder the movement of the army seriously. It was just one draken.”

The Emperor’s eyes flashed angrily as he retorted, “You obviously don’t know what a single draken is capable of. Do not underestimate those beasts. They are powerful, intelligent, and extremely cunning, much more so than you could ever hope to be. I learned that the hard way in the Battle of Drakonia. What kind of damage did the beast inflict on your forces?”

The messenger shook fearfully, saying, “It destroyed a couple hundred of our troops and knocked out about a dozen of the machines, hindering our forward movement some. However, we easily overran the rebel positions in spite of the attacks. We thought we had them when we forced the rebels into the fortress, but it was a trap, your majesty. After the Zarukar and Xenian divisions overran the fortress with the armor of the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 8th Divisions backing them, the rebels blew up the castle and we lost at least half of our forces.” The Emperor’s face darkened dramatically at the news as the messenger continued, “It had to have been carite explosives used because it totally destroyed the city and with it a sizable part of the army. Everything within two-thirds of a league of the fortress was consumed. Nearly three-quarters of your Zarukar and Xenian shock troops were incinerated along with large numbers of the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 8th Divisions. Many of the machines were destroyed along with it.” He looked at the Emperor, who was literally seething with fury, and then at Kronos, who had a very concerned look on his face.

Kronos motioned for the messenger to back away slowly, which he did. “Sire, the draken was spotted heading west with a couple of riders after the explosion,” Kronos quickly added, trying to insert some good news into the bad. “They may have escaped into the highlands being that the draken went that way.”

At that point, the Emperor exploded, ignoring the last bit of news. “First, Beowulf escapes from under my very nose, and now this!” he raged with all the fury of hell. In an instant, his eyes glowed like hellfire and he thrust his hand out against the messenger who had given the bad report, instantly hurling a fireball at him. The man had no time to react. The fireball hit him and incinerated him to ashes in a second, his shriek echoing throughout the throne room. The other messengers fled from the Emperor’s fury, leaving only Gulez and Kronos to take his wrath. The outburst flabbergasted Gulez, who started moving away from the Emperor very quickly. Before Kronos could do likewise, the Emperor turned his rage on him. With his eyes still a glow, he stretched forth his hand against Kronos and the vizier cried out in horrible pain while floating off the floor.

Gulez beat a hasty retreat, thinking, What in the hell have I gotten myself into? Beowulf’s not my enemy and never was. I should have never followed him here. He found a column near the doors of the throne room and hid, watching the Emperor punish Kronos with sadistic demoniac cruelty.

“I told you no more mistakes!” the Emperor roared as the Black Prince’s voice came out of his mouth. “Now, you will pay for your incompetence!” Gulez watched in legitimate horror for the first time in his life as he saw the Emperor literally turn into a monstrous demon, physically changing into the feline-like form of the Black Prince, growing from twelve feet to over twenty-five with enormous bat-like wings spread in a fearsome display. Energy bolts erupted from the Emperor’s clawed hand and seared Kronos’ body as he cried and screamed in agony, knowing his life and soul were forfeit. The screams echoed throughout the Black Fortress, even reaching to the Harem.

For nearly ten minutes, the Emperor tortured Kronos, and then with a pitiless look on his demon face, roared, “Now, you die for your incompetence, pestilent human germ!” The Emperor pointed his open clawed hand toward the ceiling, palm up. Kronos levitated to nearly thirty feet where his burned and bleeding body swelled like a balloon. The Emperor clenched his fist and with one last blood-curdling cry, Kronos exploded into a spray of a hundred gory chunks that coated the floor over a twenty-foot radius. His head fell to the floor and rolled over to column where Gulez took cover. It came to a rest with the face up staring Gulez in the eye. The head was nothing but a bloody skull with all of the flesh stripped off it. Kronos’ eyes remained in their sockets as it gazed up at Gulez.

Gulez’s stomach turned at the sight of it and he looked toward the Emperor again. Kronos’ heart had fallen at the foot of the dais, still beating. He watched the Emperor in his devilish form descend the stairs and stoop down, picking up the still-beating heart, and feasting on it with great relish. Blood spurted from the heart, dripping off the Emperor’s demon chin as he ate it like an apple. At that point, Gulez fled the throne room with only one thought: finding Beowulf and escaping.