Chapter 1

Let Them Burn

A frisky breeze rolled across the battlefield, cold enough to give Triple H the goose bumps. The full moon had ascended high in the dark blue sky, along with a few stars it was the silent witness of the King of Kings' victory.

It was hard to believe for Triple H that in the afternoon the battlefield was filled with the death screams of soldiers and the clanging of swords striking each other. Blood had colored the grass red, bodies dropped dead to the ground. Triple H himself refused to watch his soldiers die at the hands of the Teannian soldiers, so he decided to fight along with his men. There was no time to fear for death, it was them or him. Thanks to all the training he had during the past years, he brutally killed his enemies with his weapon of preference; the sledgehammer. The sounds of the skulls he crushed underneath his sledgehammer would make every human's stomach clench together. Bones broke, skulls cracked, blood splattered on his golden armor and teeth were knocked out. Being beaten to pulp by Triple H's sledgehammer was an even more cruel death than being decapitated by a sword.

Triple H was the almighty king of the country Rexxan. He wasn't called the 'King of Kings' for no reason; storytellers in faraway countries told the stories of all his battles during the war between Rexxan and the neighboring country Teann. The stories told how Triple H had won numerous battles against different countries, whether they were far away or close by. It was the will to protect his kingdom that drove Triple H to win so many battles. The kings and queens of the opposing countries surrendered as soon as they realized their own army was no match for Triple H's army. But Triple H wasn't a power-hungry king. He didn't claim the country for his own when he won the battle. No, he wanted to put those countries on their place, even if it meant killing their soldiers. I am the mightiest king of all, so you should know your place and keep it down. The kings and queens who declared war to Rexxan were arrogant, convinced they could overthrow the mighty king. But as soon as their soldiers' heads were crushed underneath Triple H's sledgehammer, they all grew silent. The queen of Teann was no exception. She had the arrogance to think she could put him on his place, claiming to be the mightiest queen on Earth. But after many battles against Teann, this bloodbath should have ended that delusion. Many of Triple H's men were killed, but the queen's army was as well as vanished out of existence. Only a few soldiers had survived the battle; those unfortunate men were now awaiting a slow and painful death.

Triple H turned around and walked to the middle of the field. His wife, queen Stephanie, demanded from the soldiers to gather wood from the forest to make five big pyres. To each pyre, three Teannian soldiers were tied up, stripped from their armor, nowhere to go. Judging by the fear on the faces, they knew exactly what was coming to them. Not only did the storytellers from the other countries have great stories about the King of Kings but also about his wife. But the stories about queen Stephanie weren't pretty, far from it. It was widely known that Stephanie had a taste for sadism. Witnesses told how the cruel queen from Rexxan would smile in delight when she watched the enemy's soldiers suffer immense pain before they died a horrible death. Her preference of execution was burning her victims alive on the pyre. Battlefields would smell like burned flesh for days after the execution.

Standing in front of the pyres, Stephanie watched in devious glee when she saw the facial expressions of the soldiers. Right now they would regret the day they decided to fight against the King of Kings.

'Look at you now...' the queen taunted. 'Thinking you were invincible while you were killing off my soldiers, now even lower than an insect! Watching you burn will make me so satisfied.'

Some of the soldiers were now literally trembling in fear, but one soldier changed the expression on his face. Glaring at the queen, he spat a mix of saliva and blood right in front of her shoes. 'Fuck you, you Rexxanish bitch.' the fallen soldier hissed. But this amused Stephanie only more; those foolish soldiers thought they were so brave when they were making their last stand by insulting her.

'Seth.' she said. 'Give me the torch.'

A man with his hair dyed in two different colors and wearing an armor only a captain of an army would wear passed the queen a torch. The light of the fire illuminated Stephanie's face in the darkness, giving her grin something devilish.

'Burn, insects.'

The sadism of the queen from Rexxan was immediately proved when she held the torch against the first pyre, setting the dry wood on fire in an instant. One by one, she lightened up all the pyres. Frightened whimpers escaped from the mouths of the soldiers when the fire grew bigger, nearly touching their skin. It was just a matter of seconds before the fire engulfed their feet, the soldiers started to emit their first pained screams. Soon their pain turned unimaginable as the fire climbed higher and higher and burning their body. The screams of the soldiers reached its highest peak as their entire bodies were swallowed up by the fire. The smell of burning flesh filled the air and their screams echoed through the night. Triple H, Stephanie, Seth and the remaining soldiers watched as the soldiers suffered the worst pain a human could ever imagine. Soon the screams slowly died, growing softer and softer, until it was completely silent. The bodies of the soldiers were now nothing more than scorched carcasses.

'That should make that bitch back off.' Stephanie said with a grin when the last fire finally died out. Triple H agreed to that; this horror should make the queen of Teann step back. Now she would see of what Stephanie was capable of doing, if she was smart enough she would retreat the rest of her men. The King of Kings would still reign, upholding his name.

'Your highness, what are the plans now?' Seth asked.

'We will wait for the next move.' Triple H answered. 'If she doesn't want more lives to be wasted, she will surrender. But if she doesn't... then more blood will flow.'

Stephanie chuckled, her voice had something dark. 'Don't worry, Hunter... I'm pretty sure this will scare her off.'