O' Drăculești (The Count)

I didn't know what to think...

I didn't know what to do....

All I could think about is how I failed you.....

"Vladimir Tepes...." an unfamiliar voice rang out, "from the House of Drăculești."

I shifted my head slightly to the sound of the voice. The sun was sitting idly behind a large burly man to my right as he towered over me. He wore worn golden armor with crimson red undertones. He had large chainmail boots that ran all the way up to his shins that wrapped tightly around his legs. He had a long well-groomed beard that nearly covered his entire face. The only description that could really be made about his face were his eye. They a saturated yellow. Beady. Completely sinister.

I could feel the enemy begin to surround me. Their haunting gaze piercing me as they grew ever so closely.

"The Turks," I thought.

The name itself left a burning hole filled with disdain in my mind. The Ottoman Empire should not even be here. Yet, they were. My mind began to race as I thought our past encounters. The Ottoman Empire were trying to negotiate a deal long ago on the terms that they could have some of our lands. I didn't agree to their terms. I didn't like the idea of them expanding into our territory no matter what their agreement was. Nor, did the religions of our people match up. A month or two later, I hear news that the Turks were invading our lands even though I specifically said not too. Invading. Pillaging our livestock. Raping our women. Killing our children. All because they couldn't get what they wanted. So, an example had to be made.

We went to war with the Ottoman Empire in a effort to protect our lands. I more or less attacked to prove a point. That nobody gets to think of me as weak. That your god can't protect forever. They encroached our lands thinking that we would be easy prey to steal from. I couldn't quite let that go unchecked.

So, after every battle the Turks would have stragglers (those who surrendered in battle). My army would take them and subject them to slow extreme torture. Most famously, we would impale them. Alive. We would grease the sharpened end of a wood pole fashioned from scratch and impale them from the ass end. We would watch as the men slowly slid down the poles for days on end as the pole continued to slide upward through the body. The men would scream and moan for days as the pole slide upward rupturing organs and causing internal damage. My men... I should have paid more attention to them. They had to listen to their screams almost every night. That's where the discord came from. That's where most of the resentment resided. That and my growing paranoia. The growing madness as the years pressed on trying to keep the kingdom safe. I pushed them away and it eventually led to this.

I felt the cold tip of metal grace the nape of my neck. My mind was blank now. The only thing that filled my mind was the imagery of Justina's now displaced head that currently rest at my feet.

"I'm not ready to die," I thought.

I wasn't. This couldn't be my end. I wasn't done yet. At the time. I could only see what others had done to me. Not what I had done to others. In truth, I was a terrible ruler. Yes, I kept my people safe. However, my people never felt safe. Not with me in rule. So, it was no wonder why some of them abandoned me at the end. My own people sided with the opposition. At the time, all I could see was betrayal and treachery. All I wanted was blood and revenge. I continued to look at the blood around me as I cursed those who "wronged" me. Then....... actually, I don't actually know what happened then. Everything went dark.

The only thing that rang in my mind was Justina's smile as I drifted down the darkness below.

I sat in the darkness for a while before a heard a murmur. It was feminine in nature and very familiar.

"Well fuck," said the voice, "so that's who you are."