Chapter 23: Chapter 23

King Dyron

Kingdom of Havocc

In his eyes he saw the chaos that plagued the kingdom of Howard, there were various patrols of soldiers and guards searching for the missing prince. In the midst of it all, they did not notice the looming threat that had embedded itself in their midst quietly and creepily. They had watched ever so closely at what happened, hidden by the shadows of the darkest part of the forest.

The vultures that they paid no mind of, they waited patiently, observing the madness that was brought upon the kingdom by the disappearance of Colter. A flock of them had gathered on withered tree, a vantage point that gave them a nice view of what was happening at the moment.

The guards were disarray, huffing to and fro, trying to find traces of the missing prince. Malik had grown angry at the results of their kingdom-wide search. It produced nothing. It was as if the prince had disappeared into thin air.

In his own private chambers, the king of Havocc laughed maniacally. He had waited for an opportune moment, when Malik was most vulnerable. It was finally in his grasp. Satisfied with what he had seen, he ordered the vultures to flee the area and return to the kingdom.

Shutting off his link to their eyes via the animus, he turned and saw his greatest minions gathered before him. Their eyes were filled with delirium at the king’s own intoxicating laughter.

“Something’s happened, hasn’t it?” Besnik said smiling at the king’s triumph, Dyron nodded with a sadistic smile rubbing his hands together like a child about to wreak havoc on a set of toys he had just found.

“The Kingdom of Howard is in disarray, it seems one of their beloved princes is missing in action” Dyron announced to his men who let out a hearty cheer at the news, the bloodlust filled his chambers and he basked himself in their thirst to shed blood.

“We should attack, my king!” one of them shouted, and the others roared their approval at this.

“One of their best fighters is gone, we can strike while he is missing!” another one followed.

“That fire freak will be their undoing!” said one with vile and putrid hatred of Colter.

King Dyron motioned for silence and calm with a smirk still pasted on his malevolent face.

“Indeed, that the ever-beloved Prince Colter, champion of the commonfolk is missing. That leaves them with one less capable fighter. We have Colter the roaring inferno, Aimon the weapons master and Vergil the torrential ocean.” He had information gathered on these people and they were the biggest threats in occupying Howard.

“I agree that the time to attack is nigh and ripe” Dyron acknowledged his allies, “But I want Malik” the venom in his voice rose as he mentioned the king’s name, “To suffer even more, so I want all of you to listen to me.”

He moved towards his throne and sat down, the others crowded around him and listened to every word that came out of his mouth.

“From what I’ve heard, Colter is quite the firebrand for royalty, pardon my pun.” Dyron chuckled at his own foolish joke, “And I believe we have some use of this fiery Ecanus. So, what better way to raze down the walls of Malik’s false kingdom but to use his own flesh and blood against him.”

The creatures around him were unsure of this, as they had known Colter to be quite apprehensive of them and would not hesitate to burn them to ash.

“The little birdies” Dyron continued, affectionately talking about the ugly and creepy vultures that gathered information for him, “gathered information that he was at odds with both his brother and father. It was my own mistake not to train their eyes on him, because I was too busy memorizing the troop movement of Malik’s men. So, my beloved ones, we shall search for this rogue prince and bring him here.”

“What joy it would bring me if he would be the one to tear down the kingdom of Howard with his own flames.” There was an obsessed tone in his voice as he talked about the destruction of the Kingdom of Howard, Dyron’s eyes glittered with sheer malice and ecstasy. He wanted to see the look in Malik’s face when he realizes what was about to hit him.

Yet the creatures around him seemed uncertain and doubtful, they did not want to meet the prince in any kind of situation.

King Dyron frowned at their doubts and snapped his fingers. The air around them tensed up and the walls shook, “Must I truly enforce this upon my beloved allies?” Those words echoed around the walls like a sinister echo in a cave.

Fear raced through their veins as they nodded their agreement at Dyron’s instant irritation with them. They lay prostrate in front of him, acknowledging his orders.

“Good.” The King of Darkness crooned as they left his presence, vowing to do their best and find the missing prince.

He left his throne and walked straight outside towards his balcony.

“My beautiful creatures of the night, come to me” he chanted raising his arms and immediately, a flock of vultures appeared over the distance flying towards him. They perched on the railings of the balcony and he caressed them lovingly. “My beauties, how have I missed your presence. But I am saddened to send you away once more. Fly towards the Kingdom of Howard, I shall lend you some pieces of my essences.”

The vultures stared at the king incredulously, and he simply smiled, “Search for the missing prince, with the powers I shall grant you, be cloaked as normal citizens of that wretched kingdom. Ask, prod, search and bring me information about Colter’s whereabouts. I know you will not fail me.”

With that, he unleashed a sinister black aura that enveloped the vultures . They made raspy, hissing sounds as they absorbed the essence of the king.

“To my loyal subjects, I bestow upon you all the power of shapeshifting and verbal communication. Take my essence and bring glory to the dark kingdom of Havocc!”

Thunder roared over the dark skies of Havocc as Dyron transferred some of his powers towards the vultures that he adored so much.

Some time passed and these faux-Ecanus entered the kingdom. In the chaos of everything, no one noticed or realized that they were impostors.

Dyron grinned as he viewed all of this from his animus, “Now let us look for breadcrumbs that our little prince has left” he whispered to himself as all his forces began their search.

The vultures, posing as citizens, asked everyone, gossiped even for even a whiff of information about Colter’s disappearance.

Yet, the information gathered so far was baseless and sparse.

Dyron, ever the patient one, allowed this to pass. All he needed to do was work quietly in the shadows as he tried to figure out where the prince could have gone. His desire to corrupt Colter to his side overshadowed everything else.

“If I have to burn down the whole world just to watch Malik suffer… I will.” Dyron told himself selfishly, still observing the actions of his spies from a long distance.

Then, of all things that he had heard as he listened in, gossip.

There were hushed whispers that the prince had ventured into forbidden territory. He had talked to a sinner named Samuel and asked about a foreign world.

“I heard that the prince went to Tralfagar to talk to that criminal Samuel” the gossiper told a disguised vulture, “He was curious about this ‘world’ that Samuel went into, it was something they called the forbidden… what was it again?” She turned to her friend who shrugged in reply.

Dyron gripped the arms of his throne, his excitement grew at this information, although from idiotic gossip, it had substance.

“Ah yes the forbidden portal!” the woman told the vulture, while at the same time Dyron let out a triumphant roar.

“Now then” he cried out in his throne room, “Let us search for this forbidden portal and start looking for Prince Colter Howard. But first, we’ll need more information from this sinner Samuel…”