by A. Evermore
Sweat rolled down his cold skin as the demon magic flowed around him. They called the magic of Maioria the Flow but this was not the Flow, no this was demon magic from the Murk, dark and shadowy, the opposite of light, and his prison chamber was thick with it. Karhlusus strained against the chains, could feel his muscles bulge as the demon Kull within tried to come through him and then receded. The shadow magic flared and screeched as it built.
‘NOW!’ He cried, in a voice a mix of King Kull’s demonic voice and his human one.
Bright light flashed and the chamber shook. Shadows thickened and swirled. Karhlusus collapsed in exhaustion and flopped in his chains against the wall.
It was several hours later before Karhlusus came around again, the chamber still thick with demon shadows and shadow magic. His arms and legs were dead from sleeping in his awkward hanging position. He feverishly peered through the strands of grey hair that were plastered to his sweaty face. His gaze fell upon the small vial on the floor. The final symbol he had cast, a square inlaid with demon lettering, still pulsed red beneath it and shadows swirled around it.
‘It worked,’ he hissed, his voice weak and broken and hoarse from the demon tongue. ‘It worked!’ He laughed long and loud and uninterrupted, the laughter echoing off the walls.
‘King Marakazian, I have before me your utter destruction.’ Now it was time to sprout the seeds he had sown in the stupid king’s mind, now it was time for revenge.
‘Lord Marakazian, Lord Marakazian, I have what you most desire,’ he whispered in the mind of the sleeping king. ‘You can be so powerful, so rich, if you take what I have to offer. I have what will make you a god, if only you release me.’
Night after night, over and again, he whispered of what the king could be, of the greatest powers that could be his, of the world that he would rule, until the king’s blood ran hot with greed and desire.
King Marakazian could resist the torment of power, the desire to rule, the kingdoms that would be his if he listened to Karhlusus, no more. Was Karhlusus infecting his mind? Did the demon wizard really have what he most desired? He had to find out, he had to end the torment of his dreams. In the dead of night he left his bed and went to the bowels of the castle.
‘Open up the prison,’ he demanded of the sleeping guards.
They looked at each other with a worried frown but knew better than to try their king’s short patience. They opened the heavy door that led down into the dungeons far below. With lit braziers they finally came to Karhlusus’ cell, the guards’ faces were pale and fearful as they opened the heavy iron door. The bolts were rusty and stiff to lift, the key took several minutes to grind through the locks, the noise echoing loudly in the otherwise empty dungeon.
‘The door has not been opened since it was shut over a decade a go,’ the sweating guard said as he hefted the final wooden bolt off its slot. Only the small spy-hole was ever opened to shove food scraps in.
‘The bastard just won’t die,’ the other guard muttered.
‘No one possessed by a demon can die without being killed deliberately,’ Marakazian said between gritted teeth. ‘Perhaps it’s time the bastard was put to death,’ he growled as he stepped down the stone steps into the darkness. ‘Bring torches.’
The guards obeyed and shuffled down beside him.
Marakazian slid his sword free with a loud ring, making sure the demon wizard knew he was armed and ready to kill him. ‘Ugh,’ he gagged at the stench of the chamber and held a handkerchief over his nose and mouth. A mad cackle came from somewhere in the darkness. The guards stepped back afraid.
‘Give me the torch, coward,’ Marakazian snarled and snatched the torch from the nearest guard. He stepped forwards and the light fell upon the filthy bound demon wizard.
‘You,’ Marakazian growled and shook his sword tip at the wizard. He had not seen the disgusting man since that vicious final battle with the Grazen when he was dragged screaming from the back of his demon. Marakazian hated him now as he had then. ‘You plague my mind, wizard. They were right, you are a cancer that festers and grows. It is time you were done away with.’ Marakazian swallowed, he wanted desperately to be gone from this stinking place, from the skin crawling feel of demons close by.
The wizard chuckled fearlessly, ‘Oh powerful King Marakazian, we all know why you really came here to see me,’ the wizard’s voice was broken and hoarse from lack of use, ‘kill me you may wish, but that is not why you came here, is it.’
‘You lie, all demons lie. There is nothing you have that I would want.’
‘Ah, what about magic, power and rule? I have a potion that would make you a god,’ the wizard laughed again. Again fearless, again confident, and this unnerved Marakazian.
It could not be true could it? He had seen in his dreams a vial containing power that could be his. He is a liar! Never to be trusted!
‘Give it to me then, this potion of which you speak and dangle like a carrot in my dreams!’ he snarled. ‘I know it’s you infecting my sleeping mind.’ There was no potion, it was all a trick.
The shadows moved then and came closer, felt like a cold wet blanket settling against bare skin. Marakazian shuddered, heard the guards behind shuffle further away. We should have killed him, even here he can work his evil magic, even our own most powerful wizards cannot bind a wizard possessed by a demon.
Only his human body can be bound and chained with iron and magic, but not the demon within. Marakazian stepped closer slowly until his sword was less than a foot away from the hated wizard’s throat. Karhlusus grinned at him, stained and broken teeth between bloodless lips. A luminous symbol flashed briefly in the wizard’s chained hand and Marakazian saw he held a vial.
‘Woo-hoo,’ Karhlusus laughed insanely, dangling the vial back and forth.
Marakazian took a subconscious step forwards, ‘The vial?’ he breathed, ‘it’s a trick!’
But there the vial was clear as day, he could hear the liquid sloshing inside. Karhlusus grinned, eyes gleaming in the dark. Marakazian could not help himself, he had to have that vial. It was like a sickness of desperate need within him. He lunged forwards but with a flick of the demon wizard’s chained wrist the vial disappeared.
‘What? Where is it?’ Marakazian stared about the chamber feverishly. ‘I knew it was a trick!’
He whirled and sliced his sword through the air, bringing it to a dead stop an inch from the demon wizard’s throat. But again Karhlusus only smiled. He was not afraid of death, something which Marakazian grudgingly respected.
‘If you kill me there is no vial. If you release me you will have the vial. I am not a fool,’ Karhlusus said flatly.
Marakazian considered this for a while, the greed for power battling against his conscience in an age old war. He knew he should refuse, should kill Karhlusus there and then, but his mind was sick with the need for that power.
‘You shall be released from your prison but your hands will remain bound. If you even so much as look at a weapon I will chop off your head in an instant. If you so much as mutter a demonic word or attempt to use magic I will cut you down and my wizards will destroy you where you stand. When the vial is mine you will be returned to the Murk where you belong,’ Marakazian growled. He expected the demon wizard to protest but Karhlusus only bowed his head in acquiescence.
‘As your great lord-ship wishes,’ Karhlusus snivelled in laughter.
Marakazian never for an instant trusted the demon wizard to keep his word and he kept his hand ever at his sword. When the vial was his he would kill the wizard. When he was powerful the wizard would be no match for him, something Karhlusus had foolishly overlooked.
Half a day later the demon wizard sat in a chamber. He was a little cleaner, having been dunked in the moat before dawn, and clad in a simple rough woollen robe. Two guards and two wizards stood beside the manacled Karhlusus, each of them nervously watching the hated man’s every move. Six more guards stood outside the door. Candles flickered around the dim room. Bright su
nlight pierced through every gap in the closed shutters and every hole in the drawn curtains. The demon wizard could not abide the light.
Karhlusus showed him once more the vial and once again Marakazian forgot all reason. He lunged for the vial, desperately wanting the power, desperately wanting to be rid of this hideous man and the awful crawling feeling of demons nearby.
‘Give it to me or lose your head,’ his sword hovered once more at the demon wizard’s throat.
‘Patience, King Marakazian,’ Karhlusus grovelled. ‘I am not without reason.’
Marakazian snorted.
‘It is true, all you have to do is unstopper the vial and smell its omnipotent contents. But it must be done in my presence because the vial is linked to me, if it leaves my company too far it will disappear and return to the Murk. But what better way to show your new god-state than to transform into it before all of your knights? Before all of your kingdom? With so many near you how can you not trust me? If I should do something you can easily kill me,’ he held out his skinny, purple-veined and manacled hands helplessly.
Never trust a demon, he may look like a man, but inside the demon lives. But how harmful could it be? Marakazian thought as his desire for adulation overcame his suspicion. It should be as Karhlusus said, all should watch their beloved King in his transformation. It was safer too. When it was done he would kill the wizard for them all to see, which is what they all wanted anyway.
He would command his guards to kill the demon wizard as soon as the vial was unstoppered. The people would cheer that he was finally dead and the vial would be his before it could be taken away.
Marakazian smiled, Karhlusus is a fool. I expected more from the demon Lord King Kull.
‘So be it,’ Marakazian grinned, the demon wizard inclined his head. ‘Get this bastard out of here,’ he motioned to the guards. ‘I will gather the Knights of the Shining Star and tomorrow… Tomorrow will be a great day.’
A sunny day dawned on the hilltop City of the Star. King Marakazian addressed his Knights of the Shining Star when the sun was highest. The city dwellers and nearby villagers had flocked to see their once beloved king and the hated Karhlusus. Today was a day to go down in history and it reminded him of their days of glory and victory, it reminded all the knights of those days, when the crowd hurled flowers upon them and chanted their name aloud.
All stood proud again in their shining armour and star embroidered tabards, their white horses clean and brushed like they had been in the glory days. In all the minds of the knights was the same question, “Had their king returned to his former grand and compassionate self?”
If he had not then soon he would be for Karhlusus would be dead once and for all. They had been ordered to kill the demon wizard swiftly once the vial was in the hands of the king and the command given with a gesture of his hand
The crowd was shifty, nervous smiles on their faces as they fidgeted and murmured uneasily amongst themselves. It was clear to Marakazian that they detested being so close to the demon wizard, despite the chains about him. Standing beside the bound and gagged Karhlusus he delivered his speech to the people.
‘Beloved people of the City of the Star and those from beyond. We are gathered here today to remember our victories over the evil Greater and Lesser Demons from the Murk and beyond, and to remember our glorious Knights of the Shining Star.’
The crowd cheered. Karhlusus smirked and hid his face under strands of grey hair. He shuddered now and again in the sunlight, even though a canopy had been drawn over his head especially.
‘Our most hated enemy stands before us in chains!’ he gestured to Karhlusus and the crowd screamed and booed angrily. Some punched the air, others had tears in their eyes, perhaps for loved ones that had died at the hands of the demons. ‘We have kept the demon wizard Karhlusus imprisoned for years as a reminder of how close we came to complete annihilation!’
Karhlusus seemed to be laughing to himself but Marakazian ignored him.
‘But for his murderous actions and the hell the demons from the Murk and beyond wrought upon us all, for all those that were slain, possessed, turned mad so as they killed their own and then themselves. Oh yes, we will never forget the bloodshed, the pain, the torture. No longer do we want our enemy close. We have magnanimously showed mercy, something which demons are unable to do, and will be sending him back to the hell from where he came!’
The crowd cheered again, and shouts of, ‘get rid of him,’ ‘send him back to the Murk,’ ‘Kill him!’ echoed across the open square. Marakazian held his hands up for calm.
‘In return for this gesture, the demon wizard has made a potion, a potion so powerful it will make our city rise to become the greatest Maioria has ever seen. We will become the most advanced, the most civilised, the most prosperous nation in the world!’ The crowd was a mix of smiling faces, frowning faces, and people looking at each other in confusion.
Is this not what they want? Marakazian asked himself. Don’t the fools know how grand this will be? How rich they will be? Perhaps they needed some help.
‘Imagine having no enemies, no demons, not even goblins, for they would not dare attack so mighty a race. Imagine a life without sickness and one day no death! Imagine your children never getting sick and dying, imagine all physical ailments healed, imagine not even ageing! Imagine having all the wealth you could ever want!’ The crowd smiled and nodded to each other. ‘I can bring all this to us, through my power and will… and this vial!’
The crowd squinted at the small green glass bottle in his hand. Some looked nervous but most looked on in awe. Marakazian did not lie, he truly believed such a reality could be theirs, he only had to bring it to them, he only had to become their god. Any remaining doubt he may have had about the vial and its contents was forgotten before the large adulating crowd.
Hushed anticipation silenced the people as their king turned his attention the to vial. The guards and knights surrounding him were ready. Some had their swords drawn right from the start, others glared at the demon wizard with hands on their pommels. Karhlusus was also ready. Marakazian’s own wizards were dotted all about the place, two stood close by and he felt the familiar feeling of magic tingle his skin.
Marakazian glanced sideways at the chained demon wizard. Karhlusus took a step forward, as far as his chains would allow him. His eyes wide and staring, red tongue licking bloodless thin lips.
Bastard. Your time has come. You really thought you would see the Murk again? Well I hope your demon comes for you!
Karhlusus blinked. He couldn’t believe it was happening, was the fool really going to do it? He could feel the demon Lord King Kull squirm within him. Not yet my lovely, he soothed, not yet. Soon we will be free again. Even Karhlusus did not know exactly how the potion would work when opened. Demon Magic had a will of its own, the shadow energy from the Murk answered to no man and seldom even to demons. It was a barely controllable demonic force in its own right. He giggled quietly, how easy it was to make the greedy dance to his tune.
Marakazian unstopped the bottle, Karhlusus breathed in sharply but no one noticed. All eyes were on the king. Nothing happened.
People shifted. Seconds passed. Nothing happened.
Marakazian glared at Karhlusus dangerously. The demon wizard nodded and smiled that insane smile in encouragement. Marakazian tipped the vial to his lips. The liquid, if you could call it that, was so thin and light he could barely drink it. It was in fact a liquid gas. Tasteless. He pulled the empty bottle away with a gasp.
‘Behold your god king!’ Marakazian cried aloud, holding the bottle aloft.
Karhlusus chuckled quietly, but still no one noticed him. At first there was nothing and then slowly a pale orange gas spilled forth from the bottle as the remaining liquid evaporated. It seemed a lot of gas, for so small a bottle. Marakazian lifted his arm to give the signal to his guards and knights to kill Karhlusus.
And then it began.
All Marakazian knew was pain; in his eyes,
his head, his feet, his entire body screamed out in agony and he fell to the floor retching upon the fowl liquid. The people and knights looked on aghast as the orange gas spewed forth now in great thick bouts that spread and engulfed all. The knights and guards lunged towards Karhlusus but he had moved into the mist and it was too thick and stinging in the eyes to see.
Then came madness.
Marakazian strained to see through the orange fog as to where the screaming came from but he retched again and his eyes streamed. The demonic madness reached him and rage built behind his eyes.
‘You!’ he choked and staggered toward the shrivelled wizard who appeared before him. All about him his knights and guards clutched there heads, vomited, their noses streaming foul black slim, their eyes red raw and unseeing. Marakazian forced his body forwards but it convulsed and he fell again.
‘You!’ he choked, fumbling for his sword. ‘Kill him!’ he screamed, ‘kill him!’ but his knights did not obey, could not obey, perhaps they could no longer even hear him.
Karhlusus grinned down at him. His eyes flashed from washed-out blue to all black demonic eyes with a red slit down the middle. Marakazian shut his eyes, trying to blot out the madness, trying to blot out those demon eyes, eyes he had long thought he would never see again.
‘Argh!’ Marakazian screamed as Karhlusus roared laughter so deep it was barely human. A demon’s laughter. Marakazian’s clumsy fingers pulled on his pommel, the sword slid free cutting his own side as it did. He gripped it tightly. With a howl louder than the demon’s laughter he flung himself up from the ground to standing and in the same motion swung his sword.
Karhlusus’ head flew from his shoulders.
Markazian spun off balance from the momentum of his own blow. He glanced up, choking orange mist, snotting black foulness. The body of Karhlusus still stood, the mist wafting around him. His head still rolled, rolled towards Marakazian. The horrid thing still laughed, the lips still moved, the demonic eyes still blinked and even without lungs the laugh still came, came from the demon Lord King Kull. Then those awful eyes dimmed back to watery blue and the face of Karhlusus stared back at him empty, mouth in a permanent howl of laughter.
