Tobias clambered up the slope to the tent, slipping on the loose gravel in his excitement. Eventually he reached the entrance and threw the flaps wide, pushing his way inside.
“Professor! Professor! We found something,” he called out to the occupant of the tent.
Professor Albrecht was standing by a table within the tent, reviewing a series of maps that were strewn across it, comparing them to photos he was holding in his hand, and muttering to himself.
“Professor!” Tobias called one last time as he thumped a book on the table.
“Careful boy! Some of these maps are delicate…” Professor Albrecht began to berate Tobias until he saw what had just landed on the table, “Ooooh, is this what I think it is?”
He looked up at Tobias and saw the excited gleam in his eyes. Gingerly he reached out and picked the large tome from where it lay, taking his time to run his fingers over the aged binding and cover.
“Let’s take it over to the chairs, boy, and look it over better,” Albrecht said as he started walking over to a spot where two chairs where sitting opposite a small table. A chess set currently adorned the table, but it was quickly brushed aside and the two sat on opposite sides.
Albrecht was a Professor specialising in Archaeology, his aged and weathered features making it hard to place his nationality. His name sounded Teutenic, but he had no hint of an accent, and he appeared to be able to speak a number of languages fluently, several of which were considered ‘dead’ languages. Anyone in the business could tell you of Albrecht, it was almost like he had always been there, part of the furniture now.
Tobias on the other hand was a student who Albrecht had taken under his wing. He was small and skinny, and currently on his summer break from University. He helped Albrecht out on this current dig site, somewhere in the mountain range that stood between five different nations and had a different name in each, none of them very welcoming.
“Oh Tobias, we found this a lot quicker than I had expected, we’ve only been here a week or so.”
“The location you directed us to Professor was spot on. The workers have uncovered a series of old rooms which could have belonged to a castle of some sorts. Seems to have suffered some extensive damage, and I don’t just mean from age. Almost looks like it was hit by a volcano but there are no recordings of any in the area.”
“You are right there Tobias, there are no volcanoes in this area. We will have to explore further into the ruins as we can, but this is an amazing find, and we should look into it while we can. Tell me what you know of where it was found.”
Albrecht was running his hand over the book as he spoke, testing its durability and current condition. He didn’t do more than poke and prod at it now, as he had an ear waiting for Tobias.
“Well, Professor. The area looked sort of like a library, a small one. There were shelves cut into the rock wall of the mountain, and it looked like it had originally held, maybe, a hundred books at most. There are a few scraps of other books in there that they are trying to recover, but this one came out almost unscathed, and has survived all this time.”
“It is amazing, isn’t it? I wonder how old it is? This could be an amazing find. Are you aware of the history of the area?”
“Only folk tales and legends. Talk of heroes and villains. Stuff of nightmares.”
“Ah, but this is the best part,” Albrecht appeared to be getting even more excited and was wholly focused on Tobias now, “These legends, they have their foot in some truth. If you dig deep enough into the legends you can see that what all the different nations around us say the same thing about these mountains. Even Teuten says that these mountains used to be the home of demons. And from all my digging and delving into the past I have discovered that this is the location of a lost Kingdom, from some few thousand years ago, and what we are uncovering is the capital, the castle from which the King presided. The capital of the Kingdom of Damonica. Did you ever wonder where our calendar came from? This year is 2703 KDC. We know this as Kitik Disea Codere, or as the translation reads the Pact of the Five Nations. And we are content to believe that. But I have learnt that in the beginning it was called the Kingdom of Damonica Calendar,” Albrecht’s eyes appeared almost feverish, “But I ramble. Let us open the book and see what we have found?”
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The two of them moved closer to the tome, Albrecht with greedy eyes and Tobias still trying to process what he had just been told. Slowly they opened the book where the bookmark appeared to be, or what remained of it. The text on the page was neat and legible, if not in a language Tobias knew. He could tell however, that this page seemed to be the very end of the book. Albrecht was mouthing words though.
“Tobias, this is a journal. In a very old language which no one has spoken for at least a thousand years, if not longer. Let me see if I can read it for you though.”
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25th day of the 10th month of the year 721 KDC
This will be my final entry, on this day, the day of my birth these twenty-one years ago.
It is hard to write this, knowing it will be my final entry, now that I have reached the last page of this cursed journal. Cursed it is, cursed to follow my blood. From the blood of my fore fathers down to me has this curse followed us, as I am sure it will follow those of my line who come after me.
Hopefully this teaches those who come after. I should have learnt more from the other journals, but I did not take as much time to understand as I should have. My only wish is that the other curse of my blood ends with me this day, and that my son and his son do not have to live with the same cruel fate as I have.
Because of this curse
I have done wrong, some would say sinned. I so wish to blame this curse, but I know it was by my own hands and my own actions that these things have been done.
With these hands I have hurt my friends those I once considered friends. I sent them to their doom. It did not need to be this way. Something could have been done differently, they could have been spared. But I was too caught up in what seemed important. I missed the little signs.
I have killed.
I have killed those that deserved it, and I have killed those that did not.
There is no excuse. This was by my own hand. I physically wielded the blade which brought an end to their lives. All in the name of power, of obtaining more. I lost sight of who I was.
I used to be…
I used to be Ignatius.
I still am Ignatius.
But now all anyone sees is the Demon King.
I AM THE DEMON KING!
I am but human though.
This day will be my last. I have demons, which chain me down, and today I go and face them. The demon that haunts my blood, today I go and face him. I will not return alive. I cannot. Not if I am to achieve what I need to achieve.
On this day, my 21st birthday, I go and face my demon.
I AM THE DEMON KING!
And all the demons tremble when I draw near, except that which haunts my blood. How he mocks me so…