Behold the Dark King

By: Kingdom of TJ

"...Nabs, you sure this is a good idea?"

He was a young boy at the time, with dark, dirty skin and fiery red hair that flew off in different directions. He was rough and common, and had been living on the streets for long enough that he'd become easily ignored.

"'Course I am," replied the girl, who couldn't have been any older nor younger than he. She, too, had dark skin and red hair, but she was naturally beautiful, and rich, and had a name for herself. However much money she may have owned, however, she was potentially as dirty as the boy, and was proud of it.

She leapt from the ledge down to the dusty, sandy streets of the bazaar. Sounds, smells, and sights came from every corner of the busy town. The aroma from food stands with fruits and spices and breads came to surround the dirty boy, who was hungrier than he'd been in weeks.

"Well?" asked the girl, glancing up at the child, "you coming or not, Ganon?"

The boy jumped cautiously over the edge, creating a cloud of dust when his bare, coarse feet hit the hot sand below him.

The sun beat down in their eyes as they sneaked across the bazaar.

Heads turned in their direction even though they tried to stay out of sight. This was hard to do, of course, because Nabooru, the girl, was a princess, and Ganon himself was a boy.

Just a boy, was he? Not just a boy. He was the boy. The only boy in all of Gerudo Valley, the only male that had been allowed life after his birth because he had come just at the right time: the summer solstice of the new century.

Few of the Gerudo possessed the knowledge that this boy was made to be their king, the one King that had been born at the turn of the century. Most times he was disregarded. Over the years, he had taught himself to stay out of sight and not to be noticed. Only once had he made a friend, and his friend was found in the Princess of the Gerudo, for she, too, had no care for responsibilities.

"You done this before?" muttered Ganon once they'd neared the food stand.

"I stole from my own kitchen," she responded. "Can't be any harder here; I never been caught, and there's guards in my palace and everything."

"You gonna do this, or me?"

"I'll do it, if you want."

"No," said Ganon. "I don't want you gettin' caught. If they find you, you'll be all disinherited 'n all. You got a kingdom to run. You're a lady, after all."

Nabooru narrowed her eyes. "I ein't never gonna be a lady, Ganon! I'm gonna be just as much a thief as everyone else in this hated desert! And us, we're gonna be partners!"

"I know," Ganon replied sullenly. "I'm sorry, Nabs. So, I'm gonna do this, then?"

"Yeah. Good luck, Ganon."

The boy stood up and took a cautious step forward towards the food bar, and when the attendant's back was turned, he grabbed a piece of fruit and slipped it into his pockets. The attendant didn't notice, so he took another. And another. And another. Nabooru smiled at him from her hiding spot.

Ganon smiled back, proud, and smugly nicked another.

"Hey!"

Ganon looked up, taken by surprise. "What in the…"

"Run, Ganon!" yelled Nabooru, as two guards were advancing upon him. Ganon stumbled around and began to run as fast as he could, and as he was small and lithe, he almost escaped.

Almost.

The attendant from the food stand was running at him as well, and two more guards came from the other side, their red hair flying. One caught Ganon by the elbow, and he tripped, fell to the ground, and was pinned down by one of the guards.

"What's this?" asked one of them. "It's a boy! What's a boy doing here?"

One of the Royal Attendants, who happened to be Nabooru's handmaiden, emerged from the castle gates.

"What is going on here?" she asked.

"We've got a boy," one of the guards replied, and Nabooru emerged as well, a sheepish look on her face.

"Were you playing with this boy, young lady?" asked the handmaiden, who was called Cirbé.

"Yes," said Nabooru. "But don't you blame him! I told him to steal that food, anyway."

"You are a child, so I will not blame you for your foolishness. But you must understand that men are dirty cheaters, and you rest your faith where one should not. Come with me."

"I'm sorry, Ganon," she whispered to her friend, and followed Cirbé away.

"As for you," said one of the guards in Ganon's ear, "you'll empty your pockets right now."

"What happened to a Society of Thieves, or whatever you stupids call it?"

"Such disrespect," a guard said, though not in awe. "Why should a man be let live? Honestly…"

"You steal all the time!" cried Ganon, and the guard frowned from under her veil. "That is different. We steal primarily from the Hylians, who have themselves wronged us. They deserve nothing. But to steal from your own people, who have so graciously let you live in luxury…"

"I ein't been living in luxury!" cried Ganon. "I been living on the streets! No one here takes care of me! You leave me to starve with no money, and you say it's a luxury?!"

"Freedom itself is a luxury," the guard replied, narrowing her eyes. "Be glad we're giving you at least that."

And they let him go.

Nabooru didn't come back the following morn, nor the morn after. Ganon remained in his traditional spot, though, because Nabooru had never betrayed him before, and surely she wouldn't now.

When he awoke on the third day of her disappearance, he found a scroll beside his head. At first, he didn't bother reading it, for he wasn't literate in any language whatsoever.

However, he knew the symbol that they shared- *(GN)*- which symbolized their friendship. It was written atop it and, desperate for at least one link to his friend, opened it.

To his delight, he found that the message had been written in pictures. It was telling him to meet Nabooru at the oasis!

When he arrived among the ferns, he saw nobody in the garden but a stranger, who was standing beside the pool. He looked around, but still he could not find his friend. Where had she gone to?

"Ganon."

The stranger turned around, and lo! it was Nabooru herself!

Why she had gone unrecognized was no mystery to Ganon. Instead of being dressed in dirty clothes with her hair flying out, she was completely decked in silks in every shade of purple, with golden plates across her shoulders and in her hair and hanging from her ears, her hair tied back neatly and held in place with a golden clip. Her face was clean and her posture much improved, and she herself carried a pleasant manner.

She was… ruined! What had three days done to her?!

"Ganon!" she smiled, and rushed forward to embrace her friend, stopping a moment before impact to look him over. "Why, Ganon, how dirty you've become! Or, perhaps it's just I, after being cleaned and left alone for three whole days! You see, you were on my mind the entire time we were apart, and I've been waiting to talk to you ever since! But… I was hoping that you might present yourself with a little more pride than that! For, you look so sullen. Why ever so?"

"I ein't sullen!" he yelled, though he wasn't quite sure what sullen was. He felt an urge to deny her every phrase. "And I ein't dirty!"

She smiled. "Well of course you wouldn't think so! I don't believe you've ever been washed!"

"I been in the river! That's close enough!"

"But that river's very old, and that's dirty water! You need pure water!"

"What happened to you?!" he cried. "Where's my friend?!"

"Oh, and of course you must have been very lonely! I'm so sorry I left you for three days!"

"I wasn't lonely!" he stormed once Nabooru had grown silent. "I didn't miss you at all!"

…he hadn't missed her then. Now, he did. Where had the real Nabooru gone? Why was she suddenly so… clean? And perfect?

Nabooru was stricken silent. "Oh, well… of course you didn't. I didn't miss you, either. But… I have one request, and it is that you might come with me to the palace."

"The palace? What do they want with me there?"

"Forgive me if I seem secretive, but I've been ordered not to tell."

"'Course you can't," Ganon muttered, and followed her retreating figure.

They went down a path, and walked up the many steps to the palace, and once they were inside, Cirbé appeared, regarding Ganon in a cool and unpleasant manner. Ganon returned the favor.

"As you may know," said Cirbé, "you were let to live after your birth. There is very much a reason for that."

"Yeah?" Ganon said, already bored. If he wasn't here to be scolded, then why couldn't he just leave?

"You see, Sir, according to an old Gerudo Legend, you are to be made King when you come of age."

"You want me to be king?" replied Ganon, mildly interested. Perhaps, then, he and Nabooru would be allowed to see each other again. If he was a king, then perhaps he could lure her back to her old ways… they could cause mischief again, and they wouldn't be punished because they were in charge.

"I wouldn't say that," said Cirbé. "I don't want you as King, but there is a taboo put on the rule, and if we do not obey, it is one thousand years of misfortune for the Gerudo."

Ganon smiled. "Right to it, then. Cirbé, you're fired."

"What?!" stormed Nabooru. "Hey, you can't do that!!"

"No," said Cirbé, "he can't. If you want to be a king, boy, you'll have to work your way up to it."

She handed him a broom. "Go and sweep the sand off of the palace steps," she told him. "And you," she said to Nabooru. "Go and take care of your studies."

And so it went. Ganon had come into great expectations, and he was a king. He was in charge…

…or so he thought.

He spent the next six years sweeping, shoveling, combing, washing, serving, guarding, cooking, gardening, and cleaning for the Royal Family. Never once was he given any privileges to take care of his kingdom, and never once was he worshipped.

Nabooru came out to him one evening, when they were in their sixteenth year, while he was shoveling sand and said to him, "Ganon! You have been working hard and diligently, and I am very proud of you. You will make an excellent king!"

Ganon paused his shoveling and grimaced. "King? I've hardly learned anything that will help me to rule."

"You are acting very indecent, Ganon, and so dark. Why are you so grim? Only a few more years working here, and you will have been made a proud and honorable man. Honorable men are rare in Gerudo Valley. You should be glad that you are on the brink of being a part of history."

Ganon had grown cold and upset, however, and did not care whether his Kingdom cared for him anymore. He had been treated as a slave too long.

"Proud? Honorable?! Nabooru, I do naught here but a servant's work! What can possibly convince you that I will be proud and honorable? Even I do not take pride in my own work!"

Nabooru was hurt. "You are merely making your way up to Kingship, Ganon. There is no need to be so reactive!"

"Don't tell me that!" cried Ganon, growing angry.

"Then I will say no more of it," said Nabooru. "But I do wish you would tell me what the matter is."

"I have already told you!" he yelled. "Now be gone!"

That night was a whirlwind of decisions for Ganon. As he lay awake on his cot beside the window, he said to himself: "I will be a servant no longer! I will leave this hated desert, and become what I deserve!"

He finally understood that he could not prove himself by endless work. He would prove to the Gerudo that he was an honorable man, and he would do so by becoming the greatest thief ever!

He stood and packed his belongings, and before he left, he stopped and looked at peaceful Nabooru as she lay sleeping. She could stay and rule her people, and Ganon would cause chaos elsewhere. The uproar would be so big that not even the foolish desert people would be able to ignore the sounds that Ganon had created.

"Nabooru," he whispered as he stood beside the sleeping maiden. "I will go and become the greatest thief to ever set foot in this realm! The Gerudo will have no choice but to worship me, and together you and I can make this desert what we wish it to be! I will be Ganon no longer… from this day on, I shall be known as… Ganondorf! …yes, Ganondorf, the Greatest Thief, will bring his people to justice! Know that I am doing it for you."

Slowly, he bent down and kissed Nabooru gently on the forehead, before leaving the room.

Nabooru had been awake the whole time, and had heard the entire speech he had made. She had loved him dearly; now he had made into himself what she knew she could never follow.

She stood silently and watched him as he disappeared down the long corridor. When he had turned, she walked out onto the balcony and stood there, even though the wind chilled her and her feet were bare. She watched him walk from the courtyard and into the village, and from there, outward, and beyond the Valley to the Land of Hyrule.

"Goodbye, Ganondorf," she whispered, and a tear fell from her eye and landed again on the sand fifty feet below.

In Hyrule he found himself a small job as a clerk in a small, dirty shop placed in the slums just off of off Castle Town Market. The shop offered deals in all types of Dark Magic and cursed objects; it was here where he spent his days in the company of dark masks, black wands, and notes that told of the darkest Hylian legends.

And it was also in this small shop that his destiny was shaped. As there were no customers, there was plenty of time to nose around the shelves. At one point, he uncovered a dusty antique book that told of the oldest Hylian legend there was: the Legend of the Triforce.

He became immersed in this legend, and would return to the shop every day to read of the Legend. The Legend told that he who took the Triforce would possess dominion over all who walked the Earth.

And now he knew what he was going to steal.

Ah, the Triforce! The perfect talisman to return to the Gerudo with. The Greatest Thief on Earth, he would be. The first one to possess the essence of the Goddesses, he would be! There would be no kings, no queens, only he, Ganondorf, the One Ruler, and even Nabooru would bow to him—

No! Nabooru would rule beside him. She still had never wronged him. She would be his Queen!

It was on one of these days that he was immersed in his book that the doors to the shop burst open, and who walked in but the King of Hyrule! He was fierce and angry, and Ganondorf dropped his book and stood, his dusty apron being his only attire beside his trousers and boots.

The King told Ganondorf that the shop was illegal, and that it was to be shut down immediately, every employee to be arrested. He stole the apron from Ganondorf, leaving his back bare, and the soldiers that had come with him seized Ganondorf by the arms and attempted to carry him away.

Ganondorf, now a young man, was stronger than the guards from his six years of servant's work. Due to this difference of power, a myriad of soldiers had to throw themselves atop him to pin him against the wall.

"What do you want?" asked Ganondorf, his voice low and gruff.

"We have told you already," stated the king, "that you are to be arrested immediately, though… if you would allow me to comment on your rather… husky… appearance, may I question your descent?"

"Gerudo," Ganondorf replied. "But I'd much rather find myself under a finer ancestry. Gerudo are foolish and weak."

The King smiled. "Whether or not you appreciate your ethnicity is not of my concern- only that you are, in fact, of the Gerudo race, and that I am in need of a Gerudo on my council. Would you abandon life in this shop and come to me as an ambassador for my prosperous kingdom?"

Ganondorf's first reaction was to spit in the king's face; his second reaction was to take advantage of the situation. The Royal Family had a connection to the Three Goddesses themselves. A true link to the Triforce had appeared here. Perhaps this was a work of fate; this was meant to be. It was leading him straight to the Triforce.

"I accept," he said deviously. As he spoke, a young girl of perhaps four tugged on her father's robes. The king turned to her.

"What is it, Zelda?"

The girl motioned to be picked up and whispered something in her father's ear that which Ganondorf could not attend. An amused smile grew on King Harkinian's face.

"How dare you scorn this young gentleman? He is now an ambassador for our own kingdom; not to trust him would be simply naïve. He is above you, Princess, until you've come of age, and you must do as he says."

As an ambassador for the King, Ganondorf soon found that he was of importance and was followed here. This would have been enough for him when he was still in the Desert; he was not, however, and because of this he still wanted more. Nabooru would be proud. Everything he did now was for her.

At least, that is what he told himself so that he may not be too convinced of his own selfishness. He would tell himself that Nabooru was the reason for his mishaps; greed was the real root of his fate, yet he had told himself so many times that what he did was for Nabooru that his lies became the truth.

Being an Ambassador seemed less work and more play. He would attend the King's council every morning, spend every afternoon wandering the grounds, and sit through each night quietly in his chamber, reading about the Triforce and how it had the power to either enlighten or corrupt a person.

He lied to himself more than he needed to, positive now that Nabooru would be proud and would love him for his triumphs.

The days that he spent as ambassador turned into weeks, and those weeks turned into months, and the months turned into years until it occurred to Ganondorf that nothing was happening, and that he was no nearer to retrieving the Triforce than he had been years before.

By this time the Princess was of eleven years of age, and had grown quite as beautiful as her mother, and as wise. Yet she still had not learned to trust Ganondorf. And neither had he, to trust himself. He had given up trust in himself long ago; all he had left was conceit.

Yet still, somewhere—hidden, maybe—was love for Nabooru, who had begun his adventures…

And would ultimately end them.

The time had come for his adventure to start. The Princess soon came into the company of a Forest Child from her prophecy, and, sensing danger, Ganondorf began his attack. In only the short span of time that equaled a month, the Princess and her companion had played out their plan…

A plan that Ganondorf would use to his advantage.

The two benign companions opened up the doorway to the Sacred Realm, and Ganondorf recognized them as fools as he entered the Golden Chamber. Before him was the Triforce.

Yet, when he touched it, his moment of triumph turned instantly into a moment of failure. Instead of obtaining the Triforce, the two pieces that symbolized Courage and Wisdom flew off in separate directions to their own destined holders.

At this moment Ganondorf was ultimately corrupted.

His love for Nabooru vanished, his sense of commitment disappeared, and in four seconds he was transformed from a young man into a hideous beast.

It took him days to tame himself. As Link began his long rest in the temple for seven years, and the young Princess fled from Hyrule, Ganondorf underwent endless hours of nameless suffering. He was ruined.

He managed to overcome his new anger and used his newfound power to return to his human form. Now, however, he was much changed. He was taller and stronger, and appeared to be a man of at least forty years. His shoulders were broad, his voice loud and deep, and his eyes filled with nothing but arrogance. He didn't have the entire Triforce, but he now possessed enough power to make himself a King.

He wasted no time in building an empire. He ruined Castle Town and its surrounding lands, wreaking havoc upon all who disrupted or defied him. Those who survived sought refuge in the small village of Kakariko, protected by the loyal remaining Sheikah.

Yet… still Courage and Wisdom pulled through in the form of the Princess and her Hero, and the legendary battle was fought that ruined Ganondorf.

The time had come for the Final Blow upon the King of Evil. The sages, their faces alight with confidence, were all exiting the chamber.

"Aren't you coming, Nabooru?" asked the small forest girl, Saria, to the hesitant protector of the Desert.

"I… yes," said Nabooru, and exited the chamber with Saria. When the time had come to execute her force against Ganondorf, however, her effort faltered and vanished, and it was because of this that the curse against Ganondorf was reduced such that instead of wasting away in the Dark World forever, it would be but a millennium before he returned to this world.

With Ganondorf gone, and Nabooru now committed to the Sages, it was the job of Cirbé to hold and protect the Gerudo Valley. She had not been born a leader, however, and within only years the entire village faded away and died, and one thousand years later it was nothing but a desert.

And when these thousand years had passed, Ganondorf descended from the Dark World back into the land of Hyrule. The legendary kingdom was much changed, now; what had once been Old Hyrule Castle and the Temple of Time had turned into ruins, and his desert was now empty, save only a single chamber that held a mirror… a mirror that hadn't been there before.

The sages had built the Mirror of Twilight as a means of communication with the Twili, and the location of the mirror had been chosen with the utmost caution. Over the years, the forms of the sages had turned into that of old men, as all sages did. The Sage of Spirit, who had once been a strong and beautiful young woman, was now identical to all of the others. She suggested that the Mirror be hidden in the desert, as it was the last location they suspected Ganondorf to go when he returned.

But the King of Darkness wasn't quite as stupid as they assumed.

He knew of the Twili, as he had read about them when he was a clerk in the shop. His plan was to make an army of them; their hatred and lust would drive them to fight for what they deserved, exactly as he had done.

And thus he rode across the desert on a newfound steed, and he charged through the fences that protected the chamber, casting it down to rubble. He found his way into the chamber, and confronted the mirror—

And stopped.

For, his reflection in the Mirror of Twilight was that of his appearance when he was but a small boy in the Gerudo Village, when there had still been peace.

"Welcome back."

It was the voice of the Sage of Light that said this, still Rauru, but with a different appearance. He descended down from his post and used the power he honed as sage to pin Ganondorf to the wall. Cuffs enclosed his wrists, and he was bound to the stone tablet behind him.

The other sages followed after, all old men, yet all the same as they had been before. Nabooru, Ruto, Saria, Rauru, Darunia, and Impa, but appearing as wizards. It was… strange.

"We are the incarnation of the Sages you remember," said the Sage of Water, who stepped forward and pulled from thin air a sword. He narrowed his eyes. "You have taken what was never yours, but you will not wrong the innocent!"

He lunged forward and stabbed Ganondorf through the chest…

It did not hurt him. Ganondorf wrenched the blade from his heart and lunged forward, his strength able to overpower the shackles that bound him.

He stabbed the Sage of Water.

Rutis, the incarnation of Ruto, was dead.

Rauris, Saris, Darunis, Impis, and Nabooris all backed up, and, in horror, opened the Portal to the Twilight Realm and Ganondorf fell inside.

And for the second time, Ganondorf was cast from this world.

"No, Zant. We have stated our point. You have shown us cowardice and a lust for power that we do not approve of. We cannot take the risk. It is for the good of our people that we must overlook you as Ruler and put Midna in your place."

The young woman smiled sheepishly and kneeled, while Zant scowled in the background. This was the girl he had loved growing up? If he had known that she was to become the superior one, he would have stayed away.

A headdress was placed upon the woman's red hair, and she stood and turned around to face the onlookers, who applauded heavily.

Zant had been the sole Twili to object to the coronation of the Twilight Princess. Enraged, he ran from the ceremony, and he could feel Midna's crimson eyes watching him as he went.

He ran to the topmost balcony and fell on his knees, pounding his wrists on the ground. Tears fell freely from his eyes, and in the distance, a light grew.

It was a face.

Zant looked up in amazement. "My god… my god…" he repeated to himself, as the light enclosed him.

"I shall house my power in you…" stated the fiery face. "…You may take your Kingdom by force and do with it as you please… but in return, you must free me from the Hell I've been cast in to…"

"I don't understand!" the Twilight Princess cried in horror, as the Usurper King donned a new, fearsome helmet and advanced upon her. "I thought you'd said you loved me! Shouldn't you be happy?!"

"How can I be happy," growled Zant, "when I am living under your shadow?! I have been granted power by my god! Now worship it, or be gone!"

"You are making a mistake!" she yelled, only to be cast down by a man she'd once trusted with her entire heart. When she fell, her form had vanished, leaving solely an imp.

"You fool!" cried Ganondorf to Zant. "How did this happen?!"

They stood alone in the Throne Room in the Palace of Twilight, Ganondorf having regained his form after Zant used the Fused Shadows to restore it.

"I merely embedded a crystal into the boy's forehead—I was sure that by trapping him in his wolf form, and nearly killing his companion, I'd be able to stop them!"

"Well you were WRONG!!" stormed the King of Darkness to his minion, and Zant shrank back. "You are a coward!"

Zant winced. "I am sorry, My Lord."

"Your guilt is not of my concern!" Ganondorf retorted. "What you have done, however, is! You have allowed the Hero and his friend to enter the Sacred Grove, the Ruins of the Temple of Time, and pull from its remains the only blade with the power to destroy me! You must understand what you have done!!"

"I do, My Lord."

"YOU LIE!" Ganondorf shouted, and Zant was thrown against the wall, where he fell back to the ground in a crumpled heap.

"Because you have failed me," said the King, "I am going to aid their way through the Desert Colossus and to the Mirror of Twilight, so that they may come here and kill you! Only that will be fair punishment. An eye for an eye."

"But My Lord, I am merely aiding you! I am helping you to victory!"

"Don't play that card with me!" yelled Ganondorf. "You and I both know that I am the one who built you up, and now I may be the one that will tear you down!"

Zant still had some sense of what he was doing, and he broke the Mirror of Twilight into four shards so that the Hero and his Companion would never reach him. But the Sages saw it all happen, and they came to the aid of the New Hero and told him where to find the shards.

The companions did so and renewed the Mirror of Twilight, breaking into the Twilight Realm and stealing back the Sols that Zant had hidden to further prevent their arrival. Still they were able to invade his throne room and battle him to the Death.

When they had all but finished him off, he started to speak.

"You… have killed… me… but… you haven't… killed me… yet."

His eyes lit up suddenly into an expression of wonder. "You think you can destroy me, but you must understand that my master will resurrect me whenever I die! My god will do whatever it takes to revive me!"

Then, he drew into a phase of anger. "My master… he let this all happen! My death is his doing!"

He grew excited again. "My master is my benefactor! He will raise me for every time I pass!"

And then, with aggravation: "Please! I beg of you! Murder my master so that I might still get my revenge after my death!

"I will never rest until he is dead! His figure will haunt the whites of my eyes until I know that you have killed him!"

And then an unearthly scream erupted from him as the Twilight Princess donned the fused shadows and killed her lost lover.

The King of the Desert, filled to the brim with triumph that Zant had been punished, at on the throne he had stolen, and above him hung the limp, lifeless body of Princess Zelda. His full power back, he had been able to form a crystal around the Castle so that Link and Midna would never arrive and kill him with the blade that Zant had allowed them to obtain.

No matter. Zant was dead, now. The Twili were fools. Why he had wanted them for an army made no sense anymore.

With perfect timing, his enemies walked through the entryway to his throne room.

"Welcome to my castle," he said, smiling. He stood and looked over the boy; a spitting image of his ancestor, the one who had destroyed him last. This time, there was no Princess of Destiny to help him. For the hero, it was a lost cause.

Possibly.

The battle began, and Ganondorf invaded the body of Princess Zelda.

They fought.

He lost.

Filled with anger, he underwent a transformation into a hideous, hairy beast, and charged forward at the young boy, who dodged his attack just in time.

They continued to fight. He murdered the Twili. It didn't matter to him; the Twili were useless scum. The fewer the better.

He regained his form as a human and battled the boy and his princess on horseback. Another loss.

He was not finished yet.

He pulled from his scabbard the sword he had stolen from the Sages, who had wronged him enough.

A one on one battle took place, and the Princess watched in horror as her Hero gave his blood for his Kingdom.

Yet this is not the story of the Hero.

This is the story of Ganondorf, the Desert King, the King of Darkness, and his corruption.

And his story ends this way:

The King fell to the ground, a blade in his chest, and his power drained from his hands and his heart.

Power drained from his head.

Power drained from his dark eyes.

And powerless, he died.