Throne of the Lords

The song has been sung

Serving as an attestation for the coming apocalypse

Humanity’s sins feed the dark

Thus Nar' Agrun overspills

Its darkness imprisons all but one

And kneels at creations eclipse

His gaze will touch humanity's mark

And he'll enact his will

So raise your flags and stand as one

Use your courage and wits

To stave his army's march

Lest your numbers be reduced to nil

The song has been sung

Fear the coming of the autarch

.

..

Kreaven was shaken awake by a myriad of horrible noises.

Something or someone was making those oh so dreaded sounds and they went off like bells inside Kreaven's ears.

He opened his eyes to find himself submerged in darkness.

He could feel his toes, his hands and his head, even though he couldn’t see them. He knew that they were there.

He felt a sharp pain in his chest.

He needed to breathe, but he couldn’t.

He tried moving his arms while shifting his body, which made him realise that the darkness had substance. It moved when he moved and if he moved a certain way, he would propel himself through the darkness.

The noise from before grew ever louder as he moved.

His chest ached again, more intensely this time. He moved even faster and eventually saw a dim reddish glow.

He followed the glow, hoping that it would relieve him from the pain in his chest, but the pain only grew stronger.

It was like something was pulsing deep within his chest.

Kraeven then felt something pulling him somewhere. He desperately tried resisting, but I was futile.

Kraeven eventually felt himself crash into something and although it wasn’t painful, he knew he had hit something with a considerable amount of force.

Then, the darkness started moving. In opposite directions, both left and right, the darkness parted before Kraeven.

Its parting revealed that Kraeven was at the very bottom of a dark place.

He looked to his sides and saw two towering walls of darkness.

Wait a minute! Kraeven thought as he realised that he could see and breathe and feel.

His body collapsed on itself as the sensation of being was new to him.

His lungs gasped for air as his eyes took in the faint light around him. His body ached, as though it was begging for him to move and his eardrums pained as the awful noise from before grew ever louder.

Kraeven’s attention was drawn to a sound coming from just in front of him.

He tried turning his head to face the source of the sound and saw a large dark creature. It had a large central body and eight legs.

They approached Kraeven as he inspected it. His curious gaze danced around the dark creatures shell.

The creature then let out a loud noise that hurt Kraeven’s ears even more before it increased its speed. It was then that Kraeven realised just how much large the creature was compared to him.

Kraeven didn’t even know how big he was or how he looked. So he tried getting up, paying no attention to the approaching creature.

He placed his arms in front of himself and kicked himself upwards.

He landed on his feet and clumsily balanced himself in a position that felt the most natural.

He then stood upright and face the dark creature only to be bashed in the face by one of its legs.

Kraeven’s body was sent flying backwards and he felt a sharp pain in his face and head.

Upon landing, Kraeven wondered why the creature hurt him. He assumed that it was by accident so he tried communicating with the creature.

The only problem was that Kraeven didn’t know if he could even make sounds.

“Ey-" A sound came from Kraeven’s face, which made him jump in surprise.

He then noticed that the dark creature from before was charging in his direction again.

“Hey!” Kraeven yelled before the creature bashed him in the chest again.

“Hey!” Kraeven yelled as a strange feeling welled up inside him.

It was a burning, itching desire to hurt the creature back for hurting him. He stood up again before facing the creature. He felt his face stiffen and his eyes focus solely on the creature before him.

The creature charged towards Kraeven again, but unlike last time, Kraeven ran towards the creature as well.

He didn’t know how, but his ability to run came naturally to him. Just like his breath. It all felt so… automated.

The creature sent out its leg in an attempt to bash Kraeven again, but Kraeven caught the leg and squeezed it with all of his strength.

This resulted in cracks forming all over the hard shell, but Kraeven wasn’t satisfied.

The creature had hurt him several times for no apparent reason. He wanted it to learn not to randomly attack whatever it saw and so, Kraeven squeezed even harder until his hands completely crushed what turned out to be a shell.

Dark juices sprayed out of the creatures leg as it scratched out into the darkness.

Kraeven let go of the creatures leg and walked backwards.

“Hey.” He said gently as the creature limped around the dark space they were in.

The creature then turned what Kraeven assumed was its head towards him and charged at him again.

“Hey?” Kraeven wondered out loud as the creature tried kicking him with one of its other legs.

Kraeven wondered why the creature was even attacking him in the first place, but he didn’t have much time to think as the creatures foot was mere inches from his face.

Kraeven grabbed the leg and smashed it with his right hand. He decided that if it would continue to use its legs to harm him, he’d just have to take its legs.

Kraeven ran around the giant creature, breaking its Legs one by one and it wasn’t long before the creature lost all of its legs.

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He stood over it as it hissed at him. He saw continuous streams of black liquid pouring out of the creature as it slowly stopped moving.

Kraeven didn’t know how, but he felt as though with each drop of black liquid it lost, the less it moved.

It was as though it was fading right in front of him, even though its physical form remained the same.

Kraeven wondered if he had done the right thing.

Maybe it was protecting something. Kraeven thought.

Kraeven looked around but saw nothing other than the two walls of darkness. That and a gigantic tower in the distance. Above it was a bright light that Kraeven deduced was illuminating the dark world he found himself in.

Kraeven then heard what sounded like muffled screeches coming from all around him.

He looked around and saw multiple eight-legged creatures emerging from the darkness.

They looked exactly like the one he had just broken.

Kraeven wondered if they had come to see what happened to one of their own, but that thought was crushed as soon as the other creatures walked over the remains of the one Kraeven had broken.

Kraeven sighed as he concluded that the creatures in front of him weren’t capable of complex thought. Otherwise, they’d at least try to communicate.

Kraeven then squeezed his hands into a fist. He would only attack those that attacked him.

.

..

Kraeven finally destroyed the last of the dark creatures. He wasn’t sure, but it felt as though he had been doing so for a long time.

He looked down and saw a mountain of corpses.

Kraeven sighed.

He wished that at least one of them tried communicating with him.

Kraeven instinctively stood up and looked for the source of the sound only to find that it was coming from inside him.

He felt his mouth fill with a strange liquid and so he spat it out. He knelt and saw that it was translucent.

He then realised that it was his mouth that had made the liquid.

He wondered what its function was.

Kraeven heard the noise again and this time, it was accompanied by a pain in his abdomen.

His body was begging him to put something inside it.

Kraeven looked at the mountain of corpses.

Yes, the creatures had extremely hard outsides, but their insides looked soft.

Kraeven grabbed some of the soft flesh that leaked out of one of the corpses and shoved it into his mouth.

It took only a moment for Kraeven to realise that the creature tasted horrible.

Yes, he had never tasted anything before, but Kraeven was sure that the creature was one of the worst tasting things he’d ever taste, but then as he had such thoughts, he accidentally swallowed some of the black liquid that oozed out of the meat.

He panicked at first but then realised that his stomach's cry's had subsided slightly.

Kraeven swallowed the nasty tasting meat to find that it indeed filled the void be felt.

Kraeven then turned a hungry eye towards the mountain of corpses beneath him.

He took a deep breath before sinking his teeth into the feast at his feet.

.

..

Kraeven burped after slurping down the last of the innards he had gouged out.

He then got up and looked at himself.

His skin was grey and he had some curly stuff on his head. He had ten fingers, ten toes, two arms, two legs and various other components.

Kraeven then focused his vision on the tower in the distance.

Below it was a structure that he couldn’t quite figure out, so he decided to check it out. He would have gone there regardless since he had nothing else to do.

.

..

Kraeven walked for what seemed like an eternity. Or maybe it wasn’t. He wasn’t sure what time was as a concept and so he didn’t know what counted as a long time to a short time.

Kraeven then saw the dark wall ripple at his sides. Out of those ripples emerged several creatures. A few at first, but it didn’t take long before Kraeven was surrounded by an army of creatures.

Kraeven felt the darkness pulsating within each and every one of them.

He heard their vicious snarls and malicious cries.

Some of them were big and some of them were small, some of them had four legs, others had two, but they all had one thing in common. They wanted to hurt Kraeven.

He didn’t know why, but he could feel their animalistic desire to claw away at his flesh.

Kraeven was about to ready himself for battle before one of the creatures stepped forward.

“What are you?” The creature asked.

Kraeven was taken aback.

He had never heard anyone or anything speak before and yet he perfectly understood what the two-legged being in front of him said.

“Uh- I- Kraeven,” Kraeven said shyly.

The grey being in front of him looked up in thought as it scratched its smooth bald head.

“Kraeven? As in King? What do you rule over?” The being asked.

Kraeven was shocked.

If his name literally meant king, then what was he the king of?

What If his name was more figurative. Then it could mean nothing.

“I don’t have a domain. also, I woke up quite recently so I’m not sure what’s going on.” Kraeven spoke. He was surprised by his sudden fluency in a language he had never heard before.

“Is that so? Well, Kraeven, this is Nar' Agrun or the dark realm. From the looks of it, you are a dark being, just like us and we dark beings have one purpose and one purpose only.” The being said as it turned around.

It then pointed at the tower and smiled brightly, revealing sharp teeth.

Kraeven rubbed his tongue against his teeth. His were mostly flat, with some sharp ones here and there.

“Ascend the spire of sin and reach the throne of the lords. The one who successfully reaches the throne room will be given the title king and they shall rule over the dark realm. Simple.” The grey being said as it looked back at Kraeven.

“So, Kraeven, what will you do?” The being asked as howls, screeches and various other cries filled the air.

“I’ll ascend, but I just want to see the throne room. You can take the seat of king if you want.” Kraeven said.

“Oh? That sounds mighty interesting, but these guys behind me all want you hurt for some reason and I feel compelled to help you- no, to aid you with all the strength I have.” The being said as it walked to Kraeven’s side.

The being them started releasing what looked like particles of darkness from its body.

Kraeven defensively raised his hands, but the dark particles didn’t harm him.

Their presence felt soothing.

“Come on. Show me that you’re worthy of my help. Lest your bones feed the horde.” The being said.

Kraeven looked at his hands and felt that pulsating feeling in his chest as it grew stronger.

Something inside him was begging- no. It was demanding to be freed.

Kraeven took a deep breath inwards and call out to the monstrous feeling inside him, then in an instant, the world was bathed in a torrent of pure darkness and unlike the dark particles belonging to them being next to Kraeven, this darkness ate away at the very fabric of reality. It challenged existence as it pushed and pulled reality at will.

“Whoa!” The dark being exclaimed as he struggled to remain on his feet.

He then assumed the most natural position in this situation and knelt as Kraeven called back his rampant power.

“Your highness. Allow this lowly Velzen to serve you.” The dark being begged as it clasped its hands together.

“Mmm? What do you mean, I thought we came to the understanding that I wasn’t a king.” Kraeven said as the dark walls ripple violently.

“Only a Ruler of the highest order could command such power. You are no mere king, no. You are an Autarch. An absolute ruler. Look around you. The darkness. It cries out your name.” The dark being said making Kraeven realise that he had been blocking out the mind-numbing noise that filled the air.

He focused on the noise, but he still couldn’t make out anything.

But he did remember hearing a voice before he woke up.

Kraeven sighed.

“Ruler or no. I think we should work together to clear this horde, no?” Kraeven asked as he stretched his arms.

“It would be an honour.” The dark being said as he readied himself for battle.

“What’s your name?” Kraeven asked.

“I have none. I am a simple Velzen and although I rank pretty highly in this realm, I am but a pebble compared to your awesomeness.” The being said.

Kraeven felt like giving a name so that he could tell him apart from any other Velzen they might meet on their way to the spire.

“Mmm… how about I call you Divon?” Kraeven asked as the horde rushed in towards the two.

“It would be an honour,” Divon said with a toothy smile before dashing towards the horde at a speed that Kraeven had never even imagined was possible.

Kraeven tried emulating his new acquaintance, but his speed remained normal.

Kraeven punched several dark beings as Divon clawed away at his opponents, viciously ripping apart flesh and bone in the process.

Kraeven realised that he too would need a faster method of killing if he was to keep up with Divon and so he released his power again and for the first time since waking up, he closed his eyes and channelled that darkness into streams that danced across the battlefield.

He opened his eyes to find that the dark realm had completely transformed.

“Look, my lord! This is your power! Show these lowly beasts the limits of your strength.” Divon exclaimed as he narrowly dodged one of Kraeven’s death beams.

Kraeven looked at the path ahead of him and waved his hands in an attempt to control the chaotic streams of power that eminated from his body.

With each creature he killed, he felt their life force leave their body as it returned to the darkness.

Kraeven then channelled some of his dark power into his right hand as he charged towards the thinning horde. He then punched one of the dark beings, sending tonnes of darkness into it in the process.

The creature blew up and sprayed black blood all over the place. It was also the last one.

Divon quickly ran over to Kraeven’s side and fell to his knees.

Kraeven then noticed that Divon was making weird sounds.

“What’s wrong?” Kraeven asked.

“It’s just- after watching you effortlessly destroy an army of what could honestly be Nar' Agrun’s strongest… I’m overcome with great fear and great joy!” Divon said as he sniffled.

“Hehe, It wasn’t that great. You should’ve seen yourself. Your claws must be super sharp.” Kraeven said as he walked toward the spire of sin in the distance.

“Well, they are pretty sharp, but all velzen are born with them so I’m not that special,” Divon said as he followed closely behind Kraeven, who had reabsorbed all of his power.

“Is that so? Speaking of velzen. Are all of your kind as… reasonable as you are?” Kraeven asked.

“Well… anyone would stop to think if they ever saw your mighty form. But yes. Velzen are typically intelligent creatures. Unlike Pulae, or even traeltors who are mindless beings.” Divon said with a shrug.

“Is that so? Tell me more.” Kraeven said as the two made their way toward the spire.

The dark walls kept their distance from Kraeven as the dark realm trembled.