The castle was cold and silent as usual and by extension, his room. Books, papers, and pens meticulously lined his shelves, cast in a molten yellow from the light of his desk lamp and only the scratching of pen on paper filled the voluminous silence as Velderoth worked.
He frowned in distaste at the reports in his hands sent in from his scouts surveying the damages to the army.
Kaiser was making a nuisance of himself again.
Well, no matter. Let him have his petty victories and over-bloat his ego a little while longer. It'll be all the sweeter when he knocked him down.
Smirking in pleasure at the idea, Velderoth signed his signature and moved on to the next report but abruptly stopped and put down his pen, rubbing his eyes.
He had been working nonstop for a few hours now and he was starting to grow tired.
Standing up from his desk, he stretched and moved towards the open archway to gaze out into the beautiful Grandis night sky and the pristine, majestic architecture of the ancient Nova when something in the distance caught his eye.
Flashes of multi-colored light danced through the black of the sky and he could even make out the faint sounds of cheering from what looked like downtown.
Velderoth narrowed his eyes as he stared at the sight.
What in Grandis was going on over there? Were they having some sort of celebration? What could they possibly be celebrating? Their victories? Ha! What victories? Lord Magnus was still standing. He was still standing! Were they mocking him?
Velderoth let out a low growl as he felt a familiar intense anger start to well within him like a rekindled fire, burning his chest in a steadily growing inferno.
How dare they look down on him, to underestimate him just because they had their precious Kaiser? He'll show them his true worth! He had power now; the power to command thousands with only a single word and the power to obliterate whole cities with just a flick of his finger, all in the palm of his hands! Incomprehensible amounts to those fools below!
Velderoth clenched his fists as he stared balefully down at the festivities a distance away, gritting his teeth.
They have no reason to celebrate when he was still a threat looming over their heads! While he was still here!
He smashed a fist against sturdy stone walls and the heavy thud echoed hollowly back at him from the empty recesses of his immense, immaculately dim room.
How could they act so careless in enemy territory? How dare they underestimate him! Fools! He'll crush them! He'll crush them all! He'll show them! How dare they! How dare they have fun at a time like this? Fools the lot of them! Let's see if they'll be celebrating when he razes Pantheon into the ground and present them Kaiser's head on a silver platter! Fools the lot of them! All of them! He'll show them! He'll show them if it's the last thing he did!
He swiveled away from the view in disgust, seething in rage, and returned to his desk, eyes fixating resolutely on the words scrawled on his papers with anger storming through his mind and calls of vengeance thundering through his head.
Fools.
5/6(+) stories completed.
My attempt at making Velderoth look a little more human than the stereotypical power-hungry villian.
I hope I'll be able to finish my last project in time before life gets hectic for me again because I find it the most meaningful out of all six (seven counting the holiday fic) of the stories I've written over the course of my winter break. I hope to meet you all there.