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Title: The King of the Dead

Fandom: Danny Phantom

Alternate Universe: Post Canon (No Phantom Planet)

Pairing: None (Can be seen as pre-Iambic Prose)

Rating: G+

Warnings: None

Inspired By: World Building Week 2015 (Day One: Sandbox Characters)

Summary: Danny Phantom reads a story about Pariah Dark and how the Ghost Zone really attained its first king.

::

What came to be known as the Spirit World first came into existence along with the world that was known to only hold Life. Their existence alone was the first understanding among worlds as it was quickly found out that a world that breeds Life will always have Death following a step behind - slow, steady, and undefeatable.

The Spirit World, as was later discovered, was another plane of existence that was tethered to the world where Life ran wild and free. When Life's creations grew tired and sought rest, Death was there to greet them with a gentle smile and open arms.

Spirits have long since been thought of as different than today's ghosts. Once, long ago, ghosts were rare and despised while spirits - creatures born of the Spirit World's very energy - were the ones who controlled and influenced the world. There have been many great spirits in our history, but one ruled above them all. A lone spirit became King. He was a king who sought to seek control of the world of Life as well as Death.

Pariah Dark was a world born spirit who grew up traveling from place to place and sought to end war and conflict and unite the scattered clans of the afterlife. When he found what he called the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage, he believed he had found his opportunity to complete such a momentous task. He combined the crown and ring and with the massive power he had possessed he managed to elevate himself to the position of King.

He crafted an order of knights to follow him - his Fright Knight being the most loyal and powerful - as well as an army for any who would seek to oppose him. Tales speak of the army being crafted from fallen enemies, but there are no facts to know if this holds any truth. With the power he had found, Pariah united the Spirit World into his new kingdom and ruled from a castle that rested in the center of the world itself.

An era of peace was upon the world of the dead with Pariah Dark the heart of all the good that could be found in death. Where peace reigns, however, war and strife lurk underfoot. There were rumors of a campaign being created - a crusade that would make the world far more prosperous than it was. With his crown blazing upon his head and his ring shining with light, Pariah called together his subjects of the Spirit World.

Death, he said, would be the one to now defeat Life.

Why should they be forced together in this small world when there was another for their taking? Life was young, weak, and so easily crushed. Death was forever old, forever strong, and unable to be defeated. He spoke of a war to put all wars to shame. A crusade of taking a world for their own, of making the Spirit World into the Spirit Kingdoms.

One spirit spoke up in disagreement of this crusade, however. A spirit who spoke with absolute truth and said that Life would never be defeated. As long as Death was present then Life would be as well. Death and Life were sides of a coin that could never be separated, no matter how hard one tried.

Pariah called the spirit out, accusing him of being weak and unable to see the glory of what could be.

The spirit called Pariah a fool and warned him of his madness and how Time would catch up to him when he least expected.

The King of Spirits paid no mind to the lone spirit and continued on his path of war and destruction. With the powers he held, he formed a portal to the world of the living with an army to end all armies under his command. His knights were behind him with bended knees and admiration in their gaze.

The one who had become the King of the Dead had not managed even one step into the portal before he had an ancient and powerful staff at his throat and a threat that Time had caught up

The battle that followed destroyed the World of Spirits has it had been known and shattered the continents into floating islands. It dried up oceans, decimated forests, and destroyed deserts until the land was forever changed

As the fight raged, one by one, ancient spirits began to stir. Beings as old as the world looked upon the destruction and the grief that was wrought and joined the fight against Pariah.

Pariah Dark's armies were shattered and his knights locked away and buried to where none would dare find them again. For Pariah, however, a worse punishment was made. For daring to think he could control Death and for attempting to take over the Land of the Living his crown and ring were taken and scattered to the ends of Time and Space. He himself was locked into a sarcophagus.

This was the worst punishment that he could ever be given. While it was made to keep his body forever asleep and his powers dormant, it would keep his mind forever awake. Pariah Dark would be forced for thousands of years to think over what he had done.

"Depressing." Closing the messily bound manuscript he had been reading, Danny Phantom couldn't help but stifle a laugh to himself. Leave it to the Ghostwriter to write Ghost Zone history and have the first chapter alone end in such a depressing-

"It's also something that's not finished yet." Freezing up at the tone that was colder than any shard ice Danny would ever be able to make, he cautiously looked over his shoulder to see a sternly frowning Ghostwriter.

"Aw, come on, GW." Right, damage control time. "I'm sorry I didn't ask your permission to read it first, but your writing is just so amazing-"

"Save it, you brat. Don't you have homework you should be doing?" While Danny grumbled and complained about slave labor and child abuse as he flew deeper into Ghostwriter's library, Ghostwriter waved a hand gleaming in purple energy at the manuscript, teleporting it away. "Honestly, no sense of propriety or decency."

Following after the half ghost at a more leisurely pace, Ghostwriter couldn't help but to smile as he shook his head. Perhaps he should let Danny read it again when he was finished - it seemed he had only read the introduction, really. There was so much more history to delve into when it came to Pariah Dark alone.

It would be interesting, Ghostwriter supposed, to see Danny's reaction when he read the final chapter of the soon-to-be book. The last chapter was the one that dealt with the successor to the King of the Dead - a battle-tested spirit born of both Life and Death and had united the worlds in a way that hadn't been seen since the beginning of the First King.

A successor that was currently complaining about homework and still had the innocence of youth hidden away in his eyes.

Ghostwriter believed it would be a good story.