King of Darkness

Desires

We were still losing though, heavily. Bodies were piling up everywhere and unfortunately, not a whole lot were wearing burgundy clothes. I didn't know how many men I had killed when I felt an arm wrap around my waist and pulling me off my most recent victim. I felt a growl leave my throat, though I couldn't really connect as to why I was growling. The arm didn't leave until I was safely hidden behind the tree line. 

When it did let go I swiftly turned around and shoved the person who had pulled me away from the fight. I was having fun, I could have carried us to victory.

It had been our leader who pulled me back. He was looking rather disgruntled that I had shoved him, but then again he was also covered in blood and dirt and had clearly been fighting as well.

I couldn't remember if I had gotten any blood on me, it all seemed so distant. I had let the anger take over and I had enjoyed it thoroughly. I would have walked straight back onto the battlefield then and there, if it hadn’t been for Amelia appearing at my side.

"You're safe!" She said and before I knew it, her arms were around me in a warm hug. I hadn't expected her to hug me, I couldn't remember ever hugging anyone. She seemed to genuinely care about my safety, what an odd feeling.

When she pulled back she looked at our leader expectantly. From the seemingly hundreds of people we had come with, only about a dozen were left. Some were laying on the ground, catching their breaths. Others were more like me, ready to go a few more rounds. Our leader glanced back over at the meadow, there were still some people from our side fighting there.

He looked back at me. I felt his hand wrap around my arm and we were swallowed by the thick, black fog.

He was the only person transporting us back now, the other two were nowhere to be found. We arrived in a completely different place, there was no cave to be found here. Instead, it was a small house that looked like it could be blown away by one gust of wind. We were in the middle of a large field, with crops growing all around the wooden house.

Amelia stood beside me, being the second one he brought here. She kept glancing over at me every few seconds. It was driving me insane.

"I'm fine, Amelia," I told her. "Only a scratch, that's it."

I had spotted the gash in my shoulder rather than feel it. I believe there was a knife at one point, but I couldn't remember anyone slicing me with it. The wound wasn't that deep and it barely bled, it just looked rather dramatic.

"So, all that blood," she cleared her throat. "It... It isn't yours?"

I looked down at my clothes, I suppose there was quite a bit of blood on them. "No, it's not mine." I answered her. My hands and arms were the worst, they were stained red. I tried not to think about it too much. Even if I had unleashed some of my anger, it hadn't been nearly enough. I still felt angry and agitated, I still wasn’t free of the pain.

Our leader returned for the final time, transporting a large boy who fell to his knees the moment they returned. He had a new bleeding wound on his face and I soon saw that the boy had fallen down because there was a spear coming out of his back. The leader let go of him like he was something nasty he shouldn't have touched.

"In there." He pointed at a hole in the ground. Everyone else moved to it like magnets. It was the entrance to a basement. Amelia was one of the first people to walk down the steps into the darkness, quickly followed by the rest. I couldn't though, I needed something.

"You told us we would be given what we most desire," I said once I felt his eyes were on me. The last person had just disappeared into the darkness. "I still desire it."

He seemed surprised by me and it wasn't hard to guess why this time around. I had seen enough today to know that we aren't humans, not anymore. This new anger and my ability to take down a grown man without any training, it wasn't natural. He held a power over us, it was why they were all so quick to follow his commands without asking for his reasoning. I wasn't like that.

"You fought well." He said, his eyes scanning over me and following the trails of blood on my dress. "Very well, it was why I pulled you away. I needed you to survive for our next battle."

He didn't answer me. Instead, he was hoping to flatter me into submission. I could feel his powers strain against my mind, but I wouldn't give in.

"What is it I most desire?" I asked, taking a step closer to him. I had killed today, I could kill him too. He grabbed a pocket watch and hastily checked the time.

"It's down there." He said. "Your fellow soldiers are already enjoying it."

I had survived his powers, but not my own stupidity. The hunger, the pain it brought with it, was too much. I took his word for it and went down the steps and into the darkness. Only to see another empty room that smelled horrible with grey walls in front of me.

I heard the boulder land in place behind me, and we were covered in darkness. 

During week one most people were still convinced that the same thing would happen. They would come for us and we would then receive what we most desire if we managed to beat the troops. We hadn't this time around and therefore we did not deserve it.

During week two most of us started noticing some differences from last time. No new people were being brought in, though there was room enough for them, and there weren't any guards outside either. I tried moving the boulder by myself, but I couldn't get it further than a c***k and no one would help me. In fact, most were still convinced our leader would return and that we would be punished if we moved it.

Week four was when the doubt hit. Last time we had been under some sort of spell, we couldn't tell how much time passed when we were in there. This time there was no such thing in place. We could tell it had been over a month already, me moving the boulder had allowed some sunlight to enter. Two people had an argument and our numbers went down by one. 

Week six was a rather successful week for me. They finally started realising no one was coming back for us and more people started listening to me. Myself, Amelia and two other boys tried to move the boulder but unlike before we couldn't get it to move. We started to feel worn down.

From week six to week twenty, we were desperate. Only two people still believed that he was coming back for us, but even they admitted to feeling weaker. That animal-like anger had completely died out of me and was replaced with a mix of desperation and sadness. They should have listened to me before, I liked to remind them, if they had we would all be out of here already.

During week thirty we all decided to kill the leader on sight. We also all worked together to try and get the boulder out of the way, but we might as well have saved our energy. We weren't getting out of here.

Week eighty, no one could really move anymore. Amelia had fallen asleep on my shoulder. There was a corpse in the corner of the room, he did nothing to improve the smell, but if I didn't know any better we all looked like corpses. People were either slumped against each other, against the wall or laying on the dusty floor. I managed to turn my head to the exit, watching as the seasons flew by.