Chapter FIFTY-TWO: Passing Judgment-DEVIN
...
In the High Realm, deep in the darkest part of the castle...
Still trying to get past his imprisonment, the Sun Druid was undecided if he should go to his son or find his Beloved. He wanted desperately to see Dameon again. He had no staff, he realized, and sat for a moment wondering how to best get to them. He worried the Oracle's castle guardians might try to stop him and lock him up again.
Aydan got up finally, still weak, broken that Talia was so upset at him and would likely never fully forgive him for his mistakes.
There was hardly any light in the dungeon after Talia had left to the world. Now being unrestrained from the anti-magic bracelet, Aydan used raw magic straight from his palm to see the way back out to the castle. The loosely charged magical sphere in his hand gave him relief; giving him a sense of power he had longed for while detained. He suddenly spotted the metal of a staff just outside the dungeon's door.
"Talia's..." he said, realizing that perhaps she had wanted him to go with her, but because things went so sourly, she had decided against it. There was no other reason she would have brought another staff with her unless she had wanted him to go to the world too.
Without another moment to spare, the Sun Priest quickly summoned a portal.
...
The Sun Druid arrived in Thais, just outside the castle walls where he had only been to a couple times, not long ago. Aydan gazed over the kingdom from the front castle stairwell. The city in total shambles and disarray. Fires raged on all sides. A hellish landscape compared to the peaceful setting it once was less than a dozen moons ago. He looked for signs of Talia, but found none. Just a kingdom torn by bad decisions, he thought angrily as he suddenly noticed several guardsman laying along the streets—dead.
He turned to head inside the castle, panic quickly setting in. It was entirely deserted. No maids or knights, only utter destruction within its confines.
He entered the throne room. To his horror, a familiar royal acquaintance lay on the scorched ground. Her golden lacquered mane stretched on the dirty ground; a violent mess of colorful stained glass just under her, scattered. She lay motionless, covered in her own blood—burned, blistered and bruised.
"Your Majesty..." he said quietly, remembering Alicia fondly from their short time together when he visited months ago. He gripped his staff so tightly the metal heated up and caused wild sparks to flare out. In a desperate attempt to revive her, Aydan used his strongest revival spells.
The only effect: her body completely healed from all her wounds, but she did not wake. She looked as though she died in her sleep.
After using all his most advanced powerful spells, none could restore her life: Queen Alicia was gone forever.
"I am sorry, Your Majesty...If only I had arrived earlier," he spoke to her in low tone, wondering if the Demon was still near. He looked over the throne room, shock setting in from the wreckage before him. The Demon had clearly made her suffer. Blood was in many parts of the throne room, at least, what was left of the room. He suddenly looked around for the child.
"The Child...I must find her," he said worried over what he would uncover; worried what the world would be like without her existence.
He immediately left the castle and wandered into the city. Not a soul in sight, only dead littered the streets. Men, women, and children—every kin, of every class, of every trade. The dead children got to him the most. He passed a young boy, no older than Dameon. Aydan looked twice over the child; mania setting in over the atrocious sights before him.
There was only one person he could blame: King Devin Pendragon.
If he had just released the Child, none of this would have happened, Aydan thought angrily and fought to contain his wrath. He needed to think rationally in order to navigate the ruined empire.
The intense fury grew stronger with every street he searched through.
..
He stepped outside the Thail gates, at last, only to find more horrors and destruction.
From nowhere, the sun gods seemed to be whispering in his ears, guiding him along the different path ways he was completely unfamiliar with. He had never heard the gods speak before, and so loudly, at that. He recalled his father telling him it was rare that they would ever speak.
Now in the forest, or what remained of it, he saw horrible demons creeping over the dead.
"Be gone!" he yelled, casting some of his strongest sun magic. The creatures evaporated instantly. Only ashes remained.
"Sun Torch," he began to incinerate the dead as he went. It was out of respect, but also out of rage.
He decided he would head west. He was beginning to worry the longer he wandered and yet not a sign of his Dreamer to be found. It was a foolish idea to send her here alone, he blamed himself.
Twilight was now fully upon the land, yet, it was difficult to tell through the smoke and fog. He tried his best to purge the land of the unholy energies that now seemed to radiate from even the smallest rocks, but the darkness over the land continued to have a hold over everything.
Up ahead, a strange sight. The sea had brought in a huge tide not long ago. The ground was wet from sea water ruining the chance to ever cultivate it. A large salt water lake now where there once was dense forest. He wondered if he should turn around the other way, after not finding a trace of the Dreamer. Perhaps, she had gone in another direction, either east or to the Dreamworld again, he thought, now consumed by anxiety.
Not far ahead though, through the thick fog he spotted the wreckage of a carriage. The Sun Priest could hear a faint groan coming from nearby.
Before him, another familiar face: The Deplorable, King Devin Pendragon.
Aydan noticed right away he had been there on the ground for some time. The tide having come up right to his feet. Devin's chest rising slightly—very much near death. Blood covered his forehead and dripped over his eyes.
The Druid raised his staff, undecided if he would be healing him or ending him there.
"Alicia...my daugh..ter...my kingdom...Ta-TA—" Devin suddenly said, trying to open his eyes and only seeing fire in the distant kingdom, before closing them again.
Aydan waited for him to finish the name. He would end him here if he spoke Talia's name. The wretched oaf deserved to die now after all he had witnessed.
"Go on, finish what you were going to say," Aydan said coldly.
"Tailor...help them..." Devin begged feebly, then passed out again. Unsure, what he meant by 'a tailor', Aydan pulled out of his murderous state.
"Where is the Chosen One, you pathetic oaf?" Aydan suddenly demanded, but just to the side of Devin he suddenly spotted a regal child's blanket. The blanket was covered in drying blood. He frantically walked around and looked for the Child inside the wreckage, making sure he did not miss an inch in case the girl was hidden or hurt somewhere nearby. He found nothing.
A rage more violent than the sun's burning rays consumed the Druid.
His eyes glowed briefly with intense sunlight.
"You shall pay, mortal...All hope is lost," Aydan gasped, his rage so strong he cast a fireball at the carriage causing it to burst into flames.
"Sun Fur—" he shouted, but suddenly stopped from what he was doing—from what he was about to do. "Talia will NEVER give me," he suddenly told himself.
But what the pathetic king had done could not go unpunished. Not to this level.
"You King, have allowed the destruction of your land...The Queen of Thais is dead...The kingdom you have sworn to protect has fallen...You have failed all those by not protecting the Chosen One—your own daughter—you deplorable fool...Therefore, with the Sun Gods' blessing, I am passing Judgment onto you...you pathetic mortal, " Aydan condemned.
He realized Devin to be near death and restored him with a mild health spell. Devin seemed to start coming out of it, but the Druid whacked him with his staff, knocking him out cold again.
A warm draft started to come in quickly contrasting the icy chilled wind from before that was coming from the turbulent sea. Auroras formed overhead against the clouded sky. He knew the sun gods were watching.
"You deserve a fate worse than a quick death...You deserve to think about all the horrors you have caused and will cause on this land and all the world now that the Chosen One...is no more," Aydan finished as he thought of a suitable punishment. He could see another large wave washing in. He wondered if he should let the water take the King.
Decided on the final sentence, Aydan began to curse and plague the King with powerful spells. Flashes of deep violet bursts and green haze could be seen, a commotion so loud, yet no one around to see as the Sun Druid enchanted the King with the darkest warlock magic he knew without killing him.
After realizing it was taking too much time, Aydan suddenly stopped.
He would need to take him from here and decide further punishment later. He opened a portal and dragged the King of Thais by the nap of the neck.
...
The King and Druid arrived in an abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere. Once more, the Druid continued to unleash all spells of ruin and devastation he knew upon the King.
"You shall NEVER dream again," Aydan said as he finished the last judgment spell to prevent dreams; the last, too, being personal to ensure Talia would not find Devin in the Dream.
"YOU will die here alone. YOU do not deserve a chance to ever be king again. YOU will never remarry, not even a hideous Orc," the Sun Druid declared through gritted teeth, finishing his sentence.
..
The Sun Druid looked over the abandoned cabin: His mother's cabin before she perished. As well as the place of his parents union—the place of his birth and childhood home—the place of his parents last days.
Mt. Orion was not far when he needed to appease the gods during quests, so he had on occasion stopped by over the years. But he had not been here since he met Talia as the cabin was too painful to visit and she had given him purpose again.
Dust covered the wooden table. There was still supplies left behind for foraging. Wild potatoes and herbs still grew in the back. The little pond for water and the occasional fish when the springs connected during the rainy season. Best of all, no one would ever find the blue-haired oaf here.
The King lay on an old rug, tossing and turning as he relived the worst memories of what he did and did not do. He screamed from the memories of Alicia, his daughter, and his fallen kingdom.
Aydan lit a fire in the empty fireplace; he would need to leave soon to track Talia down. He would return here too, but he had much to do in the world first.
All hope left Devin Pendragon...The Sun Priest made sure of it.
The Druid thought of the consequences of the Chosen One being gone as he leaned against the fireplace. His son would be the one to pay dearly as he would be among the mortals someday.
Before leaving, Aydan looked at the wall above the now raging fire. A shield with the emblem of the sun still adorned the wall. A celebration gift from the distant locals upon hearing that his father, a Druid of Light, had fathered a child with a migrant witch villager of their own. He wondered if he should remove the shield, but left it where it hung in place: A reminder to the King that his ill deeds to the world did not go unpunished.
...
footnote: Honestly, this is my favorite chapter because it took so long to get to it. And yes, there really is a sun shield in the Wildwoods cabin. lol