Rise of an Evil Lord

---Katherine---

"!!!!" Annalise gurgled and writhed behind Kendric, her eyes red. She couldn't speak, but her expression was full of anguish and heartbreak. Still on her knees, Annalise began to crawl towards Marcellus. Kendric nodded to one of his men behind her, who stepped forward with his sword raised.

"STOP!!" Victor screamed as he leapt from the tree, a dagger already flying out of his outstretched hand. He was still a split second too slow. The man's sword stabbed Annalise from the back, hard enough that the tip of the sword protruded three inches from her front. She fell to the ground just as the man toppled back with Victor's dagger lodged in his heart. Victor landed in a crouch next to Annalise and reached out to shake her shoulder.

"Annalise…Annalise…" Victor's voice trembled. His hand shook. "Annalise, we came back …Please, say something…"

Annalise remained silent, her hazel eyes forever looking toward where her boyfriend had fallen. They were only a few meters away, but neither would ever be able to reach the other. Victor hesitantly tested for a pulse. He drew back with a choked sob.

Ignoring Kendric and his men, Victor stood up and ran to Marcellus, kneeling beside his best friend and shaking him as well. "Marcellus, talk to me. Talk to me! You can't leave me here by myself. You promised you'll accompany me to the edges of the universe. You promised!" Victor tested for a pulse again. His anguished scream told us that there was none.

"Why? WHY?!" He glared up at Kendric, who now pointed his sword at Victor. "It's me that you want. Why did you kill them?!"

"Because they betrayed the Elders. They are the enemy of the state." Kendric said calmly. "But if you had shown yourself sooner, Victor, perhaps your friends could have avoided their fates."

"What Elders?! What state?! Damn you all! You all deserve to die!" Victor screamed, his eyes burning. He stood up slowly, facing Kendric, and his body shook all over. "People like you should rot in hell! You deserve to be killed by Evils! After all that we had done, after all that we had sacrificed to protect this kingdom, to protect you, this is how you treat us! You forced us on this path of no return. You, and all of the other cold-blooded Elders who have no right being the Elders!

"Caspian. Gemma. Hugo. Atticus. Bianca. Annalise. Marcellus." Victor named all of his fallen friends, his chin quivering with every name. "They all died because of you! Because of you!"

Kendric's men were slowly surrounding Victor, whose blazing gaze held only Kendric. Victor reached into the folds of his shirt and pulled out the orb. "Today, I'm going to avenge them. I will commemorate my friends with your blood!"

He threw the orb up into the air, and the sky darkened. Lightning flashed. Thunder boomed. The orb began to glow blood-red, blinding everyone in the clearing with its powerful light. There was shouting and yelling, and everything descended into chaos as Victor made the power within the orb his own. Then came the massacre.

"I killed every single one of Kendric's followers, but I kept Kendric just barely alive. Death was too easy for him. I wanted him to suffer a thousand-fold of what he put me through. I wanted him to witness the destruction of everything and everyone he loved." As he said this, Lord Victor's lips turned up in a cruel smile. I shuddered involuntarily. This was the merciless evil lord that we all knew. This was where he began.

"I buried Marcellus and Annalise together. If they couldn't be together in life, they deserved to be together in death, at the very least. Then I summoned a new army of Evils and headed for the Academy. Of course, the Elders were already waiting for me, but I had unlocked the ancient power from the orb. They were no match for me. I killed them all, one by one, with my own hands. The Evils took care of anyone else who dared to stand in my way." The cold smile widened on Lord Victor's face as he spoke.

The memories were gruesome, and I watched with sickening horror. Blood ran in rivers. The screaming never stopped as people were slaughtered. The Evils were like starving wolves that descended upon a flock of sheep; no one could stop them. The Academy burned. Students, who once studied alongside Victor and perhaps called him their friend, were killed by the dozens. Victor hovered in midair, watching the destruction and massacre that occurred below. He was laughing manically.

Beside him, Kendric was covered with blood and thrashed in his invisible bonds futilely. He could only watch and plead and scream himself hoarse as Victor found his family and personally killed them one by one in front of him. Each died in a different grisly fashion. When Victor finally turned on Kendric and unleashed his final wrath, I tore my eyes away. The screams rang in my ears. I wanted to throw up. There was so much blood. So much blood.

"Do you know why there are no records of our group, or this event?" Lord Victor asked, but he didn't expect an answer from Aaron or me. "Because people told the story wrong, so I killed everyone who knew. I burned all the books and records that they wrote condemning us. Bianca was never a traitor, and neither were Marcellus and Annalise. We were not heroes who descended into villainy; the real villains were the Elders. So instead of having their names be forever tainted, I made it so that no one could ever speak ill about my friends. They were heroes, and I will not allow anyone to say anything otherwise. If the price I had to pay was my reputation, then so be it. Marcellus and Annalise gave me their lives, so I will spend the rest of my life protecting their names.

"I rebuilt the stronghold of the previous evil lord. I chose to stay in the Northern Mountains, where it snowed eternally, because snow was Marcellus's power and winter was Bianca's favorite season. It gave me the illusion that they were always with me.

"People said I was evil, cruel, and ruthless, so I satisfied them. I became the evil lord they all feared." Lord Victor's face, illuminated by the flames in the memories, was frightening. "But who forced me to become like this? Who forced me to live alone with the memories and the truth for centuries, forever trapped at the age when my entire life shattered? Was it wrong of me to seek revenge on those who killed the people I loved most? Was it wrong of me to fight back when they were trying to kill me?! After all that we had done for the kingdom, for them, they were going to slaughter us because we were of no more use and threatened their rule. Was I supposed to just sit there and let them kill me?!"

Lord Victor turned and glared at Aaron and me, both still lying on the ground. His angry voice echoed in the empty throne room. I was still reeling from all the information I just received and the tragic story I just learned. The memory playback slowly shrunk back into a silvery wisp and disappeared. There was a long silence.