The Twilit Reign

Prologue: The Beginning and the End.

The man's footsteps echoed endlessly on the stone tiles, as he walked slowly and in a calculating way down the hallway. He held a rather large book under his right arm, meant for his and His Majesty's eyes only. The only exception to that was, sometimes, His Majesty's daughter, Rain.

The man's name was Sakial, the king's advisor. He always gave the king advice for the tough decisions he couldn't make on his own. This was a very important job, but despite the rumors, the king was no fool. He could make his own decisions just fine.

Unfortunately, His Majesty had passed away the previous night.

This explained the solemn aura of the castle, the reason why everyone stood at their posts, head bowed, in mourning. It will pass soon, Sakial thought. He did not grieve for His Majesty. He had died peacefully, without a pain in the word. He had been four score and six years old at the time. Eighty-six years was a very healthy age to pass away at.

Rain Agoai was the new queen of Corasion, and she had not taken long to get over her father's death, or so it seemed. In fact, she seemed to have never mourned over her father's death, which surprised many people. She went right on to have her coronation, not but half a day later. Many thought that Rain had killed her own father, but dismissed the thought immediately when they heard her burst into tears, crying out her father's name, as soon as the coronation was over.

Sakial had never suspected Rain of murder. She was a very sensitive girl -- and very romantic. She fantasized of one day going out into the open wilderness to find a man to be her king. She wouldn't get far. Most men only looked at a queen as that -- a queen. They would all have money and power on their minds when they saw her. The poor queen's heart would be broken if anyone revealed this news to her, so they simply just ke-pt her locked inside the castle, forbidden from leaving to find this 'mystery man.

But right now, none of that was on Sakial's mind. He was on a mission. He was going to show Her Majesty something he had found in one of the old tomes in the castle's library. It predicted a grizzly past -- one of terror, destruction, murder, and many other things. Sakial had disapproved when the bookmaster ordered him to show this to the queen immediately. It w-asn't something you would normally show to a sixteen-year-old.

"Suck it up!" the book-master had snarled. "She is the queen. Though she may be sixteen, she needs to learn how to handle this kind of thing! It is a part of being queen!" Sakial had accepted this solemnly, and was now on his way to Her Majesty to show her what he had found.

As he neared the door to the queen's throne, he noticed no guards were stationed there. His face turned red with exasperation and rage. "What is the meaning of this?" he growled, and opened the door, about to report this to the queen, when she found her on her feet, shrunken behind a guard. They were all holding their lances out in front of them, at some enemy on the other side of the room. Sakial glanced around the corner, and gasped.

A strange man in an even stranger robe-like outfit was walking down the aisle, followed by many monsters, outnumbering the Hyrulian soldiers ten to one. The soldiers were brave, however, letting out a fierce battle cry, charging towards the monsters.

It was brutal, and immediate. The soldiers were beaten unconscious immediately, but left alive to suffer the pain of their broken bones. Sakial ran to the queen, and was about to comfort her, tell her that everything was alright, when the man spoke in a snake-like voice.

"You, remaining guard." It was also slow, and evil, and decisive. "Drop your weapon, and I won't have to kill you." The guard instantly dropped the lance. "I have a choice for you, princess..." Sakial was about to protest, when a raised hand from the man stopped him. "One, you could surrender your castle to me, thus keeping every guard here alive and well. Or," a snarling laugh came from behind the fish-like helmet on the man's face, "you could all die, with the name 'Demas' being the last thing you hear..." So his name is Demas, Sakial thought.

The queen straightened up. "I am a not a full queen, so you are correct with the princess title." Sakial was taken aback. She was admitting that the evil man was right? "On topic, I will...surrender. Please, do not harm anyone more than you have already harmed them..." The man named Demas laughed maniacally, making the princess flinch.

Instantly, the monsters backed off, snuffling at the bodies for a second before going back behind or beside Demas. "Perrrfect," Demas hissed, purposely trilling the 'r' in 'perfect'. The princess held her ground, though she did sniffle slightly when Demas sent a couple of monsters to take the princess to the highest tower. She didn't struggle, just walked peacefully with them. Demas turned on a heel, and walked out of the room. Nurses and doctors helped the injured soldiers to the hospital quarters, leaving Sakial and the remaining guard standing in awe.

"Unfortunate," Sakial said finally, "but we can't help it now." The guard nodded. They both turned to the side door, and walked through it, just missing the early and mysterious twilight come over, just not the castle, but the whole Poiasi province.

* * *

Demas sat on the throne in the Twilight Realm, where the (recently usurped) queen had once sat. A servant came up to him, and said in a snarling voice, "Preparations to cover the rest of Hyrule are ready, sir. Shall we commence the operation?"

Demas shook his head. "No. Wait until I give the signal," he ordered, and the servant bowed, walking backwards out of the room. "Soon, Andim, soon, you will see the true power Demas can release on the world -- both ours and the light dwellers'!" And he laughed maniacally, the sound reverberating throughout the entire castle, making every servant flinch involuntarily. They knew their master was happy -- and that made him even more dangerous.

It was the beginning of the end for Hyrule, and maybe even the Twilight Realm.