The Emperor's Lament

The light coming from the crack dimly illuminated the darkness. Safwane walked towards it, thinking about finally leaving this place.

The darkness around him seemed to wither as the young man tried to leave the place, as if it would disappear after he left.

Safwane tightened his grip on the handle of the katana in annoyance and sheathed it.

The creatures no longer tried to attack him, after the appearance of the crack they only tried to get out of it, as they could no longer confront Safwane.

Still, after this period of time the young man could notice that in this place there were only weak creatures, but a large number of which appeared from the muddy ground. As if this was their birthplace.

Safwane finally stood in front of the crack.

Without much thought he entered the crack, it's not like he had any good memories of this place.

After crossing the rift, a blinding light illuminated the young man, who had to cover his eyes to keep his sight.

The light slowly began to weaken and when Safwane opened his eyes, a sharp pain appeared in his body.

He grimaced in pain.

The pain pierced every part of his skin, causing him unbearable pain.

Finally, the light disappeared and surprisingly, the pain disappeared as well. Safwane leaned on his katana, his breathing labored and sweat running down his body.

He slowly began to regain his composure and looked ahead, but that made him gulp.

His eyes showed disbelief, his hands trembled trying not to believe what he was seeing.

Safwane looked down again and clicked his tongue in anger.

In front of him was the throne room he once sat in. But it was worn out, the floor was full of cracks, large pieces of the walls were exposed and weeds grew around the place making it look abandoned for a long time.

In addition to the putrid and dusty smell of the place, but Safwane did not stop thinking of this place as his home, he walked slowly towards the throne.

The dry sound of his steps echoed through the place causing some small pieces of stone to fall to the ground.

Finally he was in front of the throne, the gold surrounding the throne was full of dust, revealing how even the noblest material had fallen into impurities.

Safwane sat down tiredly, causing the dust to fly agitatedly, the young man slightly extended his legs and rested his head on his hand, which was resting on the armrest while the other was extended.

The young man sighed, lost in his thoughts.

There could only be two options: They had destroyed his empire or it had been a long time since he abandoned it.

The memories of that day kept coming to his mind, people crying and dying, knights trying to protect them without success and above all the encouragement they gave him.

Safwane kept wondering if he should really be considered the greatest emperor and if he was, what good did he do if he couldn't protect his citizens?

He couldn't help but feel an emptiness inside him. Safwane had come out of the abyss, but he was still clinging to him.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps filled the shattered room, the footsteps seemed to be more than two people heading towards Safwane.

"We haven't found any nightmares in this place." a voice was heard saying.

"...Don't let your guard down, there might be one in here."

Because the walls were weakened, Safwane could hear the voices even though they were outside the room, but strangely he couldn't tell what they were saying.

After a moment of awkward silence, the door guarding the room began to open. The creaking sound of rusty metal echoed, accompanied by the stones that trembled on the floor.

"What is this place?" asked a young man wearing rounded glasses in a trembling voice.

He was accompanied by five people, who watched the place with caution.

The group walked through the room, alert for possible danger.

"This place seems abandoned..." said a disappointed man.

"Damn it, you said this place was going to make us rich!" shouted another man towards what seemed to be the leader.

"..."

"Answer, damn it!"

"...What is that?" said a young woman in a trembling voice, her hands trembling and her breathing altered. The man who was complaining looked at her strangely.

The woman pointed towards the throne.

The others looked towards the throne, making them gulp, a man sat there watching them with his intense red eyes.

The group did not know how to react to the threat, all they could do was watch.

"Who are you?" Safwane asked with a cold voice.

There was no answer, but from their reactions the young man knew that they did not understand him.

"We are nightmare slayers..." said the young man with glasses.

Safwane raised his head slightly when he saw that he could talk to someone.

"That's right... This useless man knew how to speak runic language, tell him that we are not a threat." ordered the complaining man.

The young man could only nod his head, he had a weak appearance so he did not seem capable of defending himself.

"...I don't think you are a nightmare, so we have no intention of attacking..." said the young man.

"What is this place?" asked Safwane.

"Excuse me?"

Safwane gave him a cold look making the young man shiver.

"...They are just some strange ruins."

'So strange ruins huh?' thought Safwane letting out a sigh.

"Explain to me where I am then."

"You don't know where you are...?" asked the young man surprised.

The young man had barely met this strange man, but he did not want to continue living the way he was doing. As if making a pact with himself, he spoke:

"I'll tell you, if you do me a favor..."

Safwane watched him silently.

"...They have been abusing me for a long time, kill them." he said with fury in his eyes.

After seeing those eyes, Safwane remembered himself in that abyss, eyes that sought revenge at any cost.

"Good..."

Safwane stood up.

"Well done... Now we will simply take advantage of his departure to steal the gold from that throne." said the leader with an ambitious smile.

The group could not stop thinking about what they would do with that gold after leaving the place.

"I will try to go to the safest citadel and live quietly..." said the young woman happily.

The young woman's cheerful smile was soaked in blood, when she opened her eyes in surprise, she saw how the leader of the group had died.

There was a moment of tense silence.

"Arthur... You haven't made him be on our dirty side useless!" the man shouted complaining.

Arthur just watched the carnage before him.

"Gather together... We're going to attack him using our singularities!" the man shouted complaining again turning his head in the direction of where the group was.

But all he could see was his deceased companions on the ground, the strange man walked towards him slowly while swinging his dark katana.

"You're a monster..." the man stammered.

In his mind he could only think that young Arthur had told the strange man to kill them, that made him fill with hatred.

"I'm going to take you with me to hell!" he shouted throwing a strange and pointed piece of ice, which tried to kill Arthur.

However, it was cut in half before it hit him.

"I hate ice, idiot." said Safwane annoyed.

After these words, Safwane attacked at high speed and without the man being able to react, he ended his life.

"Now answer my questions..."