Chapter 1 - All The King's Men
The castle walls shook as explosions rocked its very foundations, the sounds of panicked voices filling its exquisite halls. Through the mess, a single man ran towards the origin of the attack, protected by a heavy, intricate set of white and gold armor. Beneath his helm his black bangs bounced as he ran as fast as he could into the queen's quarters. As he saw the beautiful queen, he shouted commands to the guards around her. "You there! Get the Queen to safety! NOW!"
Almost immediately, another explosion rocked the walls of the Queen's bedroom as a ball of fire blasted through the wall and collided with one of the soldiers that was a mere few feet from the queen herself. Instantly, the authoritive man pointed at the other soldier near the queen. "Screw that last order! Get the rest of the residents to safety, I'll take Queen Aria myself." With the order given, the soldier saluted the First Knight and then ran off, yelling at the servants and helpers to evacuate the premises as quickly as they could.
The First Knight turned to his queen and took her hand in his immediately. "My love... You need to come with me... Now... Okay?" His darkened-rainbow hued eyes showing concern, to which the queen responded with a small nod of understanding and acceptance, before the two began to run through the halls to a secret area behind an illusionary wall.
Suddenly, throughout the halls of the castle, echoed the sounds of shots being fired and explosions destroying walls all over the immense masterpiece of a building. Saddened by the destruction of his home, yet determined to save his Queen, the First Knight led her to a secret chamber, where they met up with a large male with a long, golden mane of a beard. "Queen Aria... King Tehide... I'm glad you two are safe... Should I go and try to counter-attack now that I know you two are safe?"
The King shook his head and frowned. "No, old friend, I want you to take Aria and get her to the safety room... I'm going to battle with these attackers myself... This is my castle... My HOME, and they dared to attack it... They have no-" before he could finish, he was silenced suddenly by the lips of the queen covering his own. "Tehide... I trust you and understand what you're doing... Please... Just get out of this alive... I love you..." He nodded to her, then looked to his good friend and smirked a bit. "Gufu... If she gets hurt... I'm going to take it out on your ass... Got that?" he joked, before he shook the larger man's hand and turned away. "You two... If I'm not back in twenty minutes, seal the room off..." He said with a firmness in his voice that was unmistakable. The Golden Phoenix General nodded in response and looked to the queen. "As you wish, King Tehide..."
With those words, Tehide turned away and ran down the hallway. He turned the corner and navigated his way through the castle that he'd grown up in for so long. As he turned another corner, he came face to face with the invaders of his castle. The face of his ex-ally and his army of rebellious followers. With a scowl and a glare, Tehide drew his sword from its sheathe and pointed it at the bastard. "We trusted you and you betrayed us! For that, I will destroy you!" He then charged forward and took a diagonal swing from above down at the bastard's shoulder, which he blocked with his own sword, before kicking the King in the gut, pushing him back. He then ordered his troops to attack, and they did. They ran forward, some getting lucky enough to damage the king a little, but most just running in to the slaughter like feeble-minded lambs. As many of the men died, a few did pass by the King unstopped. As the numbers started thinning, the bastard marched forward pridefully and began to swing his sword quickly at the king, who was wounded and tired from the previous fighting.
"You cowardly bastard! Why can you not fight with honor?" King Tehide shouted with rage. He was met with a flurry of slashes, only a few of which he was able to defend against, before he was punched in the face and spun backwards to get a little distance. "Because, Tehide... Those that fight with honor... Are those that are fodder for the truly strong to step upon on their way to the top..." And with those words, the man suddenly lashed out and feinted with a downward slash, before using the feint to thrust his sword through the stomach of the king. "Your usefulness has long since been expired, old king..." the man said with a rasp in his voice, before he twisted his blade inside of the king, who coughed up blood, then slid his sword through the side of his body, practically disembowelling him, before the king fell to the ground, dying. The bastard flicked his sword to the side, cleaning it of any excess blood, before he sheathed his weapon, stepped on the king's skull with a massive force, and everything faded into nothingness.