Shadowlove

In the cold darkness of his own throne room, there, he sat. The King of Darkness. The man whom the world and it's people despised and fear. And despite having all this negative emotions aimed at him, he continued to sit there calmly, taking it all in. It was all he could do. For now.

"My master!" A woman's voice cried out to him. Just as the doors to his throne room are pushed open, letting the dim light from the hall to enter and give some illumination. The woman whom entered looked like a true Knight. Padded all over in armor, she stomped over in front of him and quickly took a knee. The King did not flinch.

"The enemy. They have all gathered around the castle as I speak. It seems they have finally joined the Queen to fight against us!" She exclaimed to him. Thankful that her full armor suit was sturdy enough to not rattle as she shook and the helmet keeping the look of partial fear in her face be shown to her beloved master.

"What is the enemy of the day?" He asks, his eyes darting to one end of his viewpoint.

A woman dressed in all black fabrics, barely can be called armor, stood out from behind his throne, with a large dark orb hugged in her arms. "It would seem that the Champion of Light is leading the charge. He managed to have a army composed of all the kingdoms of the world to join under one flag. They are hoping this will be the final battle with us." The King then drifted his eyes toward his other subordinate. She responds by jerking her head to duck down as she spoke up.

"My master. Our soldiers can be prepared with such haste to counterattack and defend our castle. Thankfully. We have been inactive with raids. So our numbers are extremely high against theirs!"

The King gave no signs of acceptance to the news, nor did he need to, as he was more concerned with something else.

"As for the device."

His eyes finally turned away from his two henchwomen and looked from the corner of his eye at the back end of the throne room. A blank wall only greeted him, or so onlookers would believe. The woman in black priestess clothing held the orb in her hands out in front of her and the orb began to materialize a image inside of it between her hands. Her fingernails tapped the glass with a soft click and the image cleared up more and more until the King could distinguish the vision.

It showed a cloaked man tinkering with a large contraption that was too large to show within the orb's space. The cloaked man paused and looked up toward the direction the orb was watching him. He gave a light now. Indicating that he is aware of the distant presence.

"Master, progress is going as we predicted. The machine is now in the progress of fueling itself with the life energy it needs."

"Excellent. And we can expect it to be ready during the eclipse?"

"Yes. As we discussed. It will be done."

With a wave of the King's hand, the vision began to disperse and be lost within the storm once more.

During the discussion, one of the underlings of the Dark King crawled into the room and began to grunt in a language that can only be heard as gibberish to anyone outside of their race.

"Is that so? That's strange."

"What is it, my liege?" The women unisonly asked.

"It seems the Queen will be joining her minions in the field as well."

The two gasped. Although the priestess stood there quietly, the other held up a fist.

"That cursed woman, she'll finally pay for everything. I'll make sure she receives a terrible death and-"

"Silence!"

The woman in armor clamped her mouth shut as she lowered her head in shame.

She then stepped over next to the woman with the orb, to the side. The king raised his hand and the priestess summons her orb once more. The vision was shifting around, circling over the army as they began moving to the side, changing into a different viewpoint, it showed that the army was beginning to descend a path that lead down. With the shine that was glimmering in the window before being at the front of the mob.

"It seems the enemy is beginning to make their move. We must focus on defenses and buying as much time as to stall the enemy. from reaching the device."

The two women nod.

"As for the Queen's Champion. Be wary of his location, if he gets anywhere close to the throne, come report to me at once. I will use myself as bait."

The women nod once more, although more troubling than before from hearing their precious master remark himself as a tool.

"Good. Now go. Pave the entrance and castle grounds with their blood. This is the final act of their reign!" He waves his hand at them and they quickly bow before leaving the room. The door creakily closes behind them, leaving him to his solitude.

His eyes closed slowly, leaving him to just his thoughts. His large fingers clench on the ends of the throne's arms.

The sounds of a commotion happening outside the window was barely audible from the window and to his ears.

"There's that familiar sound." He says softly to himself as he closes his eyes and expertly pictures the scene of the battle occurring outside. Having been living for this long, having been fighting for this long, the sounds of the battlefield became something of a lullaby to him. But knowing what was to happen, the sounds of the battlefield was a bit painful, like a friend you have been with your whole life is going to disappear and never to be seen again.

The battle could only be described as a massacre. No matter what the reports say at the end of it, it will always be remembered as a massacre to the Champion of Light.

He slashed his way through hordes of enemies as he went through the maze-like

halls of the castle. Along the way, he encountered a strong enemy, a beast among their ranks. His pace was halted as he was having difficulty taking it down, and the multiple fights along the way were wearing him down. He suddenly lost focus and was launched back from a terrible strike.

But before the beast attempted it's killing blow at him, a flash of light appeared from nowhere, and then the sound of something hitting another occurred. The beast let out a screeching roar, as it keened over against a wall and grew motionless. Hiro moved out of the way, which was enough to pull his blade out. It regained it's mystical light. But it wasn't the only source of light and easily not the one that was igniting the whole room, giving Hiro the pleasure or displeasure of seeing his foe for the first time. He wasn't concerned by the beast as it continued to wail from the pain it seemed to be having, he turned his head toward the doorway and was greeted to a woman.

"My queen." He muttered as he made his way toward him. "You arrived sooner than you told me."

"Hmm, I'm fairly sure I arrived at exactly 1 hour." She calmly to him. The tone of her voice imitated of one of a mother when speaking to their child.

The two get interrupted when the beast lets out another roar, indicating it has recovered from the attack. Hiro steps in front of her and holds the sword out in front of him.

"Stay back, your majesty, I can take him on my own."

The queen let out a giggle, forcing him to look behind him at her. She raises her hand up in front of her and a light begins to form on her palm, it glows strongly, similarly to his sword.

"I'm sure you can take care of him, but need I remind you that we must not waste enough time for such trivial things like revenge."

She then waves her hand and the ball of light shoots from her hand at the beast, who barely blocks it with his arm. As the light disperses, a patch of his fur flares up and burns away, leaving a scorch mark on his arm. Hiro adds to the attack as he charges at the beast. The blade dives deep into the beast's arm, going through it the even piercing it's body. The attack before seemed to weaken him as Hiro didn't sense any struggle at all when he pushed his blade against him.

"He's pinned down, my queen. One more should do it."

The queen seemed to have read his mind as she was already withholding another of those balls of light. With another arm swing, the ball flies toward the beast, this time, aiming right at its face. The ball displeases in front of it and it's face begins to steam as it roared, soon the roar began to sound disjointed, as if it's lungs and throat were melting. Hiro pulls his blade out of the beast and jumps back. The body slowly leans forward and without another sound coming out of it, it falls onto the ground with a loud thud.

Hiro lets out a sigh as he then sheaths his sword.

"Hope my friends are at peace, now that they have been avenged." He says quietly while he turns to the queen and bows lightly. "Thank you for your assistance, my queen."

"Think nothing of it, and I'm sure your friends are finally at peace, as will everyone when we return to the kingdom."

Hiro silently nods.

The queen nods to him as well and then begins to walk into the wall, with Hiro walking behind her, hand on his sword handle. Ready to defend her from the enemy at anytime.

The door to the throne room burst open, and the woman in armor and the woman with the l

orb rush in, with a face of distress.

The king remained in his seat, eyes opening up, and slowly turned his head at them.

"What troubles you both?"

The two kneel right in front of him. The woman with the orb was slightly panting. And the other began to speak.

"My master, the queen has entered the castle. Not only that, but she met up with the Champion and both has slain the Dark Beast."

"Yes." The other poke up, finally catching her breath. She then holds the orb up above her head and in the orb, the image of the queen and Hiro appear, both are running through the hall, easily taking down many of the soldiers that are blocking their way. The King's eyes narrow as he continued to watch them run through the halls. The Queen clutching something against her breasts. "As of now, our forces are down 50%. With our best ones being prevented to advance at them due to their stubbornness."

The king shakes his head. "They are quite thorough on defeating me. And from their movements, they seem to be searching for something. Perhaps the device."

This made both of them raise their heads, with a shared look of shock and confusion.

"But, how would they possibly know about the device? From my perspective, our actions were too far obscure to even predict our intentions?"

"A spy, perhaps. But it is too late to do anything about that."

With that said, He puts his hands on the middle of the arms of his throne and begins to pull himself up. Both the woman take a few steps back, their eyes slightly open up to this rare sight.

Standing up on his feet, He stood well over 12 feet. Much more bulkier looking the beast, The cape that covered most of his body drifted to his back, revealing his elegant but gothic attire underneath.

"Master?" Both the woman speak in unison.

"I will tend to the device and see to it, that it is protected and secure. They'll likely come here, so you will be here to distract them further. But don't throw away your lives, I might need you with me in the room to protect it while I tend to them." He begins to walk to the back of the throne room. The women follow him without question. As he stands there for a few seconds, the sound of some rumbling began to occur. Then the wall in front of him began to move on it's own, revealing to them a pathway with a light illuminating at the end of it. Without another word, the king steps into the back of the room and proceeds to phase through the wall, it rippled like a puddle's surface

"We will oblige, my master." They answered him in unison, just as the stone wall began to grow still as before.

Reaching the very bottom, the king was met with a room that was filled to the brim with light. Half of it was coming from the strongly lit torches plastered all around the room. The other was coming from a metal contraption, standing in the center of it. Towering the king as it glowed a mysterious color. Standing at its feet was the hooded mage from before, rushing back and forth between portions of the machine and checking on something within his cloak.

"You seem to be in quite a rush there." The king replied. Folding his arms over his chest.

His words startled the young mage as he nearly drops something from his hand, he barely catches it before it fell onto the floor and quickly shrouds it in his long sleeve, as if attempting to hide it.

"M-my master! I-I did not expect you to come here so soon. H-have the warriors of light already cornered us?" He asked, unable to contain his nervousness.

"It would seem so. They were oddly prepare for us, the traps and strategies that we have made were easily countered and backfired. And making things even stranger, the queen is with the champion searching through our castle as we speak."

The Knight fidgeted at the news, thankfully his hood was shrouding his face, so his expressions weren't a dead giveaway.

"I-I see, how unfortunate. And the machine is still in the middle of gathering energy. We only need a bit more time and it would work without fail." He began to shift the conversation onto the machine. Turning his back on the king as he looked at the great machine standing behind him.

Lights radiate through the scraps of metal that formed the shell. As if it were breathing, the shell would slowly bloat up, then shrink back to exceptional size.

"I don't remember the blueprints indicating the machine was supposed to breathe like that as it gathered energy." The king remarked as he quietly watched it.

The mage said nothing as he continued to quietly fidget with the controls of the machine. Various sounds of buttons being pressed, along with the sounds of the metal moving were the only things that could be heard in the room. Which gave the mage some hope as he felt his heartbeat ringing in his eardrums.

Just then, the sound of a door being burst open, followed by some yelling and then some small explosions echoed down to them from the stairs.

"It seems our guests have arrived."

"Y-yes, it does. Allow me to go fight them in your honor, my master." He says with slight haste as he retrieves his staff that was leaning against the control bad and began marching at the stairs, until the king took a giant side step to block his way.

"M-my master?" He called to him, not daring to tilt his head up to meet him face to face, instead, his head lowered down, the grip on his staff tightened as he felt his sweat was beginning to coat his hand.

"Honestly mage, you should have known better then to be their spy and be the only one to help me with the device."

His words were like as if he was holding a weapon against him, as the mage took a step back and clutched his staff with both hands, making it as a form of barrier between him and the king.

"My master, I do not understand-"

"The queen looked at the back wall for a brief moment as she entered my throne room instead of being fixated on me or my generals. The only people to know where the design is and how to reach it is you and me. Now what are the chances of me giving them such important information is?" He continued on, pulling on a chain that was underneath his clothing. Hanging on the chain was a long key-like object. With a sun model on one end, and a crescent on the other.

The mage could no longer find any way to hide anything. He takes a few steps back as he continued to be on the defense.

The mage gripped onto his staff enough for it to make a small muffled rumble from the woof scratching his palm.

"It's not as if I wish to join the Kingdom of Light! As if I would like to join their ranks. I tested out what the machine is capable of. It's madness that you are even attempting to create such a thing. It would destroy everything, not just the Kingdom of Light!"

The king gave off what seemed to be a scoff, but his tone was so low, it could have been heard as a bark. "It seems like I'm the only one who sees the true potential of such an outcome. This must be why the world has positioned me to be the King of Darkness. Only I have the insight of looking beyond just conquest." He clutches the key in his hands grip, ripping the chain off his neck as he begins to move forward.

The mage took this as a sign of him attacking him. The tip of his staff began to catch fire from nowhere, and burned brightly, but the staff seemed to be ignoring the fire. He then aims the tip at him and the fire magically flies off toward him and strikes the king, straight in the face. His entire head catches on fire and it burns far brighter than the flames on the torches surrounding them.

Seeing the attack land, gave the mage some hope as he lets out a small sigh of relief as he begins preparing another spell. Until he heard a soft laugh. Soft at first, but it gradually grew stronger. The room amplified its power as it echoed off the walls, giving the sense that the laughter was coming from all around him.

"Even the best of the mages stand no chance against me. Seems like the world only favors just 2 people, it seems."

The flames began to disperse, showing that the Dark King was wearing a sinister smile. The mage nearly dropped his staff in disbelief if he didn't have the compulsion to grip something just then. Without another word, the mage suddenly de-materialize before the King's eyes.

"Hmph, never considered him to be the cowardly type. No matter." He gazes up at the machine as it continued to breath.

The sounds of the fighting taking place in his throne room finally began to die out. Then he could hear faint sounds of someone speaking getting more and more audible. Then came the sound of something being forced to be open.

"This is it." A voice, now clear said.

Sounds of a group going down the steps echoed to him. He turns to face the entryway.

At the entrance stood the Queen of Light herself, holding an orb of light in her hand. Next to her stood, Hiro, holding his sword, burning brightly similarly when he was fighting the Dark Beast earlier. And on the other side of Hiro's stood the mage. His entire staff was on fire, and as before, the staff behaved as if nothing was happening to it.

"So, you are only confident when you have the defenders of light backing you up? You disappoint me greatly, mage."

"Quiet, you maniac and shut the machine off already." He responds sharply, the weakness in his voice was clearly gone and in its place. Strength.

"Hmph, what's the point of asking me such a request, when I've worked hard to create it into what it is now. And now that it is nearly complete, you expect me to turn back now and return to the world that casts me to the shadows?"

"And that's your reason to build this dangerous machine? Just because the world doesn't like you? That's pathetic, even for you." Hiro spoke up, clearly uninterested in the Dark King's reasons.

The Dark King looks at Hiro and unfolds his arms and then points at him. "Quiet. As if you are even capable of even understanding suffering. You have only been living in complete bliss because you and Mona are the world's favorite!"

"Mona?" Hiro asks under his breath, he has had enough experience to never pester the enemy with various questions when they aren't cornered. A tactic used to distract the enemy as they make their escape. Something he absolutely did not want to have here and now.

"Is that why you're here as well? To stop me and ensure I don't use the machine?" He asked, his eyes drifting above Hiro's head, giving away to whom he was addressing.

The Queen simply stood there, silent. Her eyes fixated on the King. She had the look as if she wanted to reply or at least say something that was on her mind, but to Hiro's surprise and amazement, she was unable to speak. Was it out of fear? Impossible, Hiro thought. The mage shared his thoughts. Despite working for the Dark King majority of the time, when he revealed the device to the Queen and Hiro, she wasn't this worried and carried on his leadership as normal.

The king didn't bother to wait for a response as he turns to look at the machine in time for a chime to ring in the room. The heroes were startled, but between the three, the mage was the only one who began to sweat.

"Seems like time is your enemy in the end." The Dark King remarked, due to him facing away from the three, they couldn't see his sinister but childish grin growing on his face. "How unfortunate." He steps over to the panel, gripping the key in his fist tightly as he begins to hold it over the roof of the controls.

"Oh no you don't!"

Hiro shouted as he crouched forward and attempted to leap at him, but something grabbed him from behind. The grab caught him off guard and he loses his footing and falls over. The being behind him falls over, and with her added weight thanks to her charred armor, she made it impossible for Hiro roll to the side and escape.

"Hiro!" Both the Queen and the Mage called out to him and barely leaned over to pull her off, but they froze. The only thing moving was their eyes. They turned to the stairs to get a glimpse of the woman holding the orb standing there, her veil pulled off and her eyes were emitting bright red lights.

"Master, we are sorry we took so long to awaken and come to your aid."

"No no, it is fine. Your timing is perfect." He thanked them as he begins to move his hands down, the key disappearing under the edge of the panel.

"Please don't do it, Zero."

The queen cried out with all her strength. Managing to surpass the woman with the orb as she struggled to turn her head to look at the Dark King with pleading eyes.

The Dark King looked at her, his hand faintly shaking. The machine began to rumble, the being fairly alien. Even the Dark King was affected by its strangeness. Then a knock was heard. And then another, and another. The knocks gradually sped up and grew more aggressive. By the time the knocks all synced together, all of the events that occurred were too fast for anyone's mind to fully process, all accept for two. The Queen only looked shocked while her ears were floored by the maddening laughter of the King.

The End.