Elijah's Arrogance

A Kingdom Fallen

A short story.

A cold laugh echoed through the underground caverns. The cave floor was covered in the remains of puppets long-forgotten, and new ones only half-made. A human-like figure stood in the shadows. It reached for a puppet with gnarled limbs, long fingers flashing over the poor puppet, completing it. The figure had no face, no mouth, but still it muttered, "It's almost time, soon another show must begin. I will find this quite enjoyable." The puppets that hung on the walls and littered the floor shook violently. Then, as if caught in a whirlwind, the puppets swirled around the figure as cloaks of inky blackness seemed to seep into it. The shadows on the floor crept towards the mass of puppets. Finally, with one last cold laugh, the puppets clattered to the floor. No one else was there.

In a newly founded kingdom, bustling with people, there stood a cold, stone castle, which seemed to leech life out of the surrounding air and people. Inside a gilded chamber, a rather old man was pacing as a minister entered the main corridor. "My king. I apologize for interrupting, but the neighboring kingdom of Arsthlath has officially declared war."

"What?" The king's outraged cry echoed throughout the room. His wrinkled features twisted in rage. "That misbegotten son of a wyvern! I will rip him limb from limb! I will split him, bow to stern and feed him to the pigs! Well?" he spat, turning towards the interrupting minister. "Do we have enough resources to engage them in battle? Spit it out!"

"I d-do n-not know, your majesty," the minister stuttered. "The rest of your council awaits you, if you would like to formulate battle plans."

"Leave me. I will deal with you later."

"Yes, your majesty."

And with that, the minister gratefully fled from the room.

The king sighed, "Fools. Imbeciles." The king grumbled to himself. "How, in all the realms, am I going to fix this?"

Throughout the afternoon, and well into dusk, the king formulated new plans, none of which were up to his expectations. Just as he was about to leave to deal with his advisors and the possibility of war, he heard an ageless voice call out, "Wait, little king."

The king nearly jumped out of his skin with fright, turning around so swiftly, he almost fell over. "Who are you? How did you get in here? What do you want?" A tinge of fear crept into the king's voice, even as it was full of anger.

"Me?" the voice replied. "You are going to have to guess who I am. As for how I got into this chamber, you would not believe me, even if you were a witness. What I want isn't important right now. At the moment, I am here for your desires. You are King Elijah, yes?" The voice seemed to emanate out of the shadows, with no exact location. But not even the oddities of the voice, could distract the king from what the creature had said.

"You help me?" the king sneered, a snobbish lilt to his voice, "I am a King, a thousand times more powerful than you. How could you possibly help me? You should be more respectful to your King." The cold voice cackled mockingly, "Little boy, there is no one more powerful than me. So, why should I be respectful towards you?"

"You?!?!" As Elijah shook with fury, the shadows condensed. When the shadows had dispersed, an elongated figure stood in the middle of the room. All of Elijah's rage left him, replaced by fear of the creature before him. The monster had gangly limbs and spidery fingers, it's cloak was made of a swirling mass of black fabric, constantly in motion. But the scariest thing was it's lack of a face. There were no features, just the space where a face should be.

"It's nice to meet you in person, Elijah. My name cannot be spoken by your tongue, but you may call me, Hedeon. I am a deal maker. Ask anything, there is no limit to what I can do... for a price of course."

King Elijah just stood there shaking, mouth agape, unable to speak a word.

"Hmm, no request yet? That's fine, do come along, little Elijah. Your advisors are waiting."

That simple phrase reminded Elijah of the impending war. He pushed down his fear, and said, "If you are everything that you claim to be, then destroying a kingdom would be easy for you, correct? Of course, you can't, can you?"

"I could,-" Hedeon swirled around Elijah, "but what would I get in return?"

"I don't care what it costs," Elijah said, "As long as you destroy the kingdom of Arsthlath."

"Fine, we will talk later. As I said before, your advisors await." And with that Hedeon disappeared.

In a pure black space, with no visible end, a huge globe floated. The globe revealed an image of a King arguing with his advisors, although no sound could be heard. Before the globe, Hedeon appeared, stroking a puppet, with no face as of yet, but a strong resemblance to the king. Hedeon cackled while watching the image, crooning to the puppet, "Soon my dear... very soon. The show is about to begin."

King Elijah sat upon his gilded throne, his advisors behind him. Guards lined up throughout the room, waiting for Hedeon.

The King gritted his teeth, Hedeon had to show up, he had told his advisors that he had a solution. It had to work. Elijah blinked, and Hedeon appeared before him. Bowing mockingly, Hedeon asked "Ready to discuss the terms?"

One of the ministers behind the King piped up - a fat old man, with loose jowls, and a rountound middle. "How dare you speak so rudely to our King!"

"Our king?" Hedeon's voice echoed through the throne room, "I answer to no one, but myself. Why should I bow down to a mortal king? Do continue yapping, it is always more fun to silence a yapping dog than to sit here and wait."

The minister trembled before Hedeon's cold gaze, then squeaked and shut his mouth.

"Now that that's out of the way, I understand you want a kingdom destroyed?" a note of mischief entered Hedeon's voice. "All you have to do is sign here." In a flourish, a contract with a feathered pen appeared. King Elijah signed impatiently.

"There. Now do your part, devil." Elijah snapped.

Hedeon snapped it's fingers, and with that, King Elijah and his council found themselves standing in the ruins of what looked like a once impressive castle gated by iron dragons. "Is this...?" they trailed off, their mouths agape.

"This is the ruins of your neighboring kingdom, the Kingdom of Arsthlath." With another snap of Hedeon's fingers, everyone found themselves back in King Elijah's throne room. "I believe it's your turn to hold up your end of the bargain."

Elijah began to worry, What on earth could Hedeon possibly want? He is powerful enough to destroy a city, why would he want something from me? When Elijah had composed himself, he voiced the questions running through his mind. "What do you want? If you can destroy an entire kingdom in an instant, why would you want anything from a newly founded kingdom such as mine?"

"Because what I need is not something that I can magic into existence. I need your soul. Of course, if you can't give me what I desire, I shall be forced to destroy your kingdom the same way I destroyed the Kingdom of Arsthlath."

"No, no, I understand. It will be done," King Elijah hastily replied. In the back of his mind, he worried, for his people believed that it was a man's soul that allowed him eternal immortality in the sanctum of Sanju, the underworld. But this was more important. This was HIS country and it must be protected at all costs.

Hedeon laughed - the show was running smoothly, soon it would have another kingdom to play with. Hedeon turned to the king and his counsel and said, "At dusk, meet me in the village square with a gilded vessel, I will use it to contain your soul. Remember what is at stake if you do not appear." And with that Hedeon vanished.

A few hours later, in the village square, a royal entourage stood, paying no attention to the surrounding peasants. Murmurs echoed throughout the dusty square, and questioning gazes were directed at the royals - wondering why they were there, when they so rarely left the castle.

The watching commoners enjoyed the sight of the royals as they grimaced, holding their robes so as to not get them dirty. "Pansies", they thought.

This time Hedeon appeared on top of the royal entourage, floating in mid-air. The sudden appearance startled everyone, including the bystanders.

"Do you have what we agreed upon?"

"Yes," Elijah sputtered.

A soldier walked forward, carrying a small, gilded vase, he passed it up to Hedeon.

The nervous energy filled the air, while the kingdom waited to see whether or not the vessel would satisfy Hedeon.

"It will suffice." Hedeon replied. The air relaxed, as did all of the people watching. "Ready for the removal of your soul?"

"Yes." Elijah swallowed nervously, but stood with determination.

"Done." Hedeon said, only seconds later, Elijah felt no different, there was no way to know if Hedeon had truly taken his soul.

" If ever you wish to make any more deals, well, I will be there." With those final words, Hedeon disappeared.

"My King, the counsel has an idea." A minister said in a sly voice, as soon as Hedeon had gone.

Back in his cavern, littered in puppets, Hedeon was spying on the counsel again.

They finally figured it out, He mused, took them long enough. Calling me again are you? This will be fun.

"Hedeon!" the King was screeching, standing in the grimy village square. It was late in the afternoon, but not a soul could be found apart from the King's entourage, and the occasional soldier. A fortnight had passed since the Kingdom of Arsthlath was demolished, it had taken longer than expected to create ashwood arrows.The counsel watched from behind the King, waiting for Hedeon to appear, so they could set their plan in motion.

"You want to make another deal so soon?" Hedeon appeared, standing in front of the royal entourage, a questioning tone in his voice.

"No, I've decided that you are going to work for me. Guards!" King Elijah yelled.

Hundreds of guards filed out from behind buildings of various shapes and sizes, surrounding Hedeon and the royal entourage in seconds. "Now there are two ways that this can go, one, you surrender quietly, and grant all my wishes. Two, we kill you." The King sneered, it was going according to plan, with Hedeon as his personal weapon he would soon rule over the entire world. Eyes shining with greed, he waited for Hedeon to surrender. Instead, Hedeon laughed. With no face, his laughter didn't sound joyous, but mirthless and cold. King Elijah felt a shiver run up his spine, but he didn't care, not when he was so close to fulfilling all of his dreams. Steeling himself, he called out, "We can kill you. If you wish to avoid death, all you need to do is work beneath me. I will be your new King."

"I will never bow down to you, you petulant, spoiled little king. If it's all the same to you, I choose death." Hedeon's resolute voice ripped Elijah's plan to shreds, leaving the counsel gaping, while their king shook with rage.

"Ungrateful wretch! Guards kill him!" Elijah hastily screamed. "That beast! I offered him a chance to join me in glory and yet he threw my generosity back in my face!" Elijah thought, "It will be gratifying to kill him."

King Elijah's guards pulled ashwood arrows and iron swords from the sheaths on their backs - the only known weapon capable of killing fey- the only creature King Elijah imagined Hedeon could be.

"Oh dear," Hedeon sighed lazily. "I hope they do not get blood on my robes again."

And with that a bloody battle ensued.

The soldiers dove toward Hedeon as he summoned silver twin swords that seemed to dance as they severed limbs and heads. It looked odd, Hedeon's ethereal method of fighting against the crude hacking slashes of the soldiers and hired hands. Arrow after arrow rained down upon Hedeon, from guards surrounding the blood slicked square. Soldiers hacked away at Hedeon's defenses, but never once did Hedeon falter. Soldier after soldier was run through by Hedeon's swords, as blood pooled across the cobblestone square. Bodies lay everywhere, while the counsel stayed hidden behind the King and his guards. Arrows protruding from the back, Hedeon tore through the soldiers toward King Elijah. Pale with terror, the counsel abandoned their King, running toward the stone castle, away from the bloodbath unfolding before them.

Elijah felt panic curling in his gut, but he stood his ground, knowing that Hedeon's demise was certain. He offered no help to the soldiers fighting, never once did he touch his sword. He stood behind his mountain of guards, watching. The battle felt like it had lasted an eternity. Faster than the King could imagine, Hedeon approached covered in gashes and arrows, but victorious, for not one soldier was left standing. Only Elijah and his guards remained, the counsel long gone.

"Bring it out!" King Elijah commanded, knowing that if he waited a second longer, he would join the bodies lying in awkward angles across the ground. A few of Elijah's guards nodded, they turned and ran deeper into the village, returning with a small book bound in a dirty cover with iron wire details.

"A book?" Hedeon asked, sounding confused. "What can you do with a book? I expected an impressive weapon at least. Will you read me to death, little king?"

"This book will be your demise. A family heirloom, you might say. It's powerful enough to deal with you on it's own." said King Elijah, sounding confident, while in his head, he pleaded with God, praying his plan would not fail him.

"Go ahead and play with your dusty, old book, little Elijah. However, I won't wait." With that last sentence Hedeon barreled toward King Elijah, swords dripping with blood. Frantically, Elijah fumbled with the wire, cutting himself as he pulled it off. As soon as he opened the book, words in a different language poured out, wrapping around Hedeon as if they had a mind of their own. Hedeon fought, but the magic in the book was much stronger. The words tore Hedeon's essence apart and dragged the pieces straight into the book's pages. Moments later, the book's covers flipped shut, and it fell to the ground. The wire whirled, entangling itself again, binding the book closed. Hedeon's lifeless husk remained standing in the square for a time, before collapsing. Slowly, Hedeon's corpse dissolved into dust particles, before drifting away on the breeze.

Elijah starred, completely shocked, wondering if Hedeon was truly dead. "I did it…." Slowly, his lips curled into a victorious smile. His voice echoing throughout the square, breaking the eerie silence which had blanketed the entire village since Hedeon's defeat.

"I did it. Today, I am victorious!" King Elijah's joyous cry was joined by the few survivors, a wild and joyous cheer to celebrate their victory.

Day's later, when the blood splatters in the city had finally been cleaned off the houses, and the bodies were properly cremated, King Elijah captured his counsel. Hours later, a public executionional scaffold stood in the center of the square, ropes hanging around the necks of each council member. King Elijah stood before them, with a cruel expression on his face he said, "It was your plan which put my life in peril, you who abandoned your King. In return for your years of guidance, I will permit you a merciful death." Many members of the council looked up with faces full of anger or grief. None accepting their fate. They screamed curses or insults, a few pleaded for their lives. Some cried before the executioner kicked the stools out from under them. They hung and swayed for a time before the executioner cut them down and hauled them away. The crowd showed no disgust, many even cheered. When Elijah had returned to the castle, he gathered the book - which had defeated Hedeon - from a locked chamber deep underground. In the front courtyard, Elijah set the book aflame. The flames licked the book, before devouring it. Soon, not one shred of the book remained - a safety precaution to ensure Hedeon would not rise again. But still Elijah worried, What if my soul never comes back? Our agreement must have ended with Hedeon?

A cold, yet amused voice echoed off the cavern walls, "The end.", but there was no one there to respond. Outside of the dilapidated walls lay a barren wasteland, not a soul to be seen. Hedeon lounged on a broken throne, watching puppets swirl through the air. One puppet resembled King Elijah, down to the last detail, a joyous expression on its wooden face. Many more puppets lay strewn about the floor, some broken and cracked. A few of the broken puppets resembled King Elijah's council members, unblinking eyes and broken necks, slowly deteriorating. However, not one of the puppets looked like Hedeon. Not a single one. Hedeon laughed, the only sound besides the whistle of wind through crumbling arches of the cavern. They still believe they are in control, that they could never lose. Such is the price of arrogance. Hedeon thought, How foolish. I wonder how they would react to knowing they are my playthings. How entertaining. The puppets continued dancing to Hedeon's tune, never once suspecting their world was a lie. They did as they were told, believing all the while that they were the masters of their own fate. That they had been victorious. And Hedeon continued to pull their strings at will. Tricking them, playing with them for all eternity. Thus continued an unbreakable cycle, for humans are far too predictable, and the endless greed of mortals gave reason for Hedeon to be forever entertained.

The End.