It was the doors that alerted him first.
He'd always mused to himself that he needed to get those blasted hinges oiled; they screamed almost as badly as his regal captive whenever someone pushed the doors open. Indeed, it'd been an annoyance, but over time, the fallen templar had come to treat the screeching sound as a kind of advance warning. It gave him several luxuries he hadn't previously been able to afford…one of which was the sinister (and mind-blowingly chic) ability to stand with his back to the door, gazing off as if contemplating things unknown to this word, things far above and beyond any mortal's comprehension.
So it was that the shriek of the hinges awoke Garland from his afternoon nap. Hastily jolting back into an upright position, he immediately assumed the first stance that came to mind: a hand on his chin, the other on one hip, surveying the chained form of the Princess Sarah as she hung, imprisoned, from the wall of his chamber. Ahhh, the Princess. How crushed the royal family of Cornelia had been when he'd snatched her, kicking and screaming, from her quarters in the dead of night. Yes…his revenge was nearly complete. Soon, the years of meaningless paperwork and hour-long parades in the hot sun under the maddening Cornelian regime would be avenged. The king and queen would be indisposed with grief over their daughter's fate, the greatest heroes the kingdom could afford would be dead, and there would be nothing left to stop him from taking control of the castle…and with it, the entire kingdom! Yes, at long last, he could move out of the Shrine of Chaos, far away from those damned Keese that constantly resided in his chamber. Oh, how Garland loathed those Keese, and their penchant for annoying him. Fluttering in front of him and obscuring his image during his evil laugh, leaving droppings on the steps of the Altar of Chaos (and there were ten steps; it was a legitimate safety hazard)…it had to stop. And it would, with the deaths of these final four warriors.
He knew, even without turning around, that it would be four. They always came in groups of four, usually diverse in their callings, although he recalled a short-lived party of four white mages several weeks ago. But that was the past, this was now. It was time to deal with these intruders. With a sweep of his violet cape, Garland whirled to face his adversaries, and an authoritative "Mwahahahahahahaaa!" echoed over the chamber, stopping them in their tracks.
There they stood, good and evil face to face at last. Garland paused, partly to cast a baleful stare at the heroes and partly because he was musing on that villainous laugh. Perhaps the final "ha" had been a bit too drawn-out? Eh, no matter. He'd managed to sweep around without tripping over his cape this time, and had previously had the foresight to sweep the damned Keese droppings off the platform. Two out of three wasn't bad, after all. "So," boomed the dark knight, "you've come at last!" He threw both arms out in a grandiose and hopefully-intimidating gesture. "Prepare yourselves for death!"
Despite Princess Sarah's shackled and gagged state, she could still plead with the heroes for her freedom, and the terrified expression in her eyes more than spoke for itself. He cast her a brief leer, chuckling at "her Majesty's" helpless state, then admonished his challengers for even daring to THINK such a thing. "Nobody touches my princess…" And no one would…none of these peasants stood a chance against---what was that? He'd known something was different about this group, but assumed they'd simply experience whored out in the field prior to entering his sanctum…but wait. It wasn't through any prowess of their own; around each of the party's necks rested a glowing stone on a chain. What was this? Could they be…"Light Warriors?"
The thought itself boiled his blood. "HA!" Garland dove down from the steps, fortunately making a stable landing, and managing to unsheathe his dreaded broadsword without any unfortunate accidents this time. After all, cauterization was a painful process, even for evil overlords such as he. But anyway, how dare they! How dare they come into his Shrine of Chaos, proclaiming themselves to be anything different from the legions he'd slaughtered already! This was their final stand, though they did not know, and once these four were gone, nothing would stand between him and city-wide domination. Garland hoisted his broadsword high, and roared out his final challenge:
"Impertinent fools! I, GARLAND, WILL KNOCK YOU ALL DOWN!"
-Fin-