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The Twilight King
Tamber stared up at the blue sky, completely bored, and no one to play with. Her only friend Mota had been playing with her for awhile, but then his father had called him to come and help his mother in the garden. Tamber never saw the point in having Mota help considering he had three sisters that could do it much better than him. Also, his sisters wouldn’t whine about it. She heard a strange rustling behind her in the woods and turned her head to see what had made the noise. There was nothing there at all. Not even a little leaf dared to move on this dull summer day. ‘Huh, I wonder what that sound was then.’ she thought to herself. Looking up at the sky again, she realized that it was almost sunset, and she had better get back home. Not like anyone was waiting for her though.
Little 5 year-old Tamber had been an orphan for as long as she could remember. She had never had parents, and had never had any guardians to watch over her. She lived alone in a small hut at the edge of the village, and was given bread and other food to eat by the kind elderly people that lived close by. They said they had always thought of her as their own grandchild, and so they took to taking care of her food needs. Everything else she had either learned to do herself, or learned to live without. Her long black hair, which came down to the middle of her back didn’t need much care. All she need do was wash it in the stream whenever she took a bath. The elderly woman, whom she referred to as Granny, had even highlighted her hair with red streaks. Granny had complimented her by saying that the red and black went with her eyes that were coal black. She wore a simple green sleeveless shirt for summer and plain brown pants that went just past her knees.
Upon reaching her hut, Tamber immediately noticed the food sitting by the bed. She smiled to herself and dug into the food. The bread she shared with a small forest fairy that wandered in through her window. “Thank you very much!” the fairy exclaimed in her squeaky voice with a wide grin on her face. Tamber just smiled widely at her as she ate the piece of bread she had been given.
Fairies were not very big. In fact, they were only about the length of an adult man’s hand. Their bodies were extremely frail, so when you were actually kind enough to give them food, you had to be sure to give them just the right amount. Not too much, lest they try to eat too much and get sick, but not too little, because then they would go hungry. Yes, fairies were perfectly capable of getting their own food, but it was much easier for them to take it from humans. The little forest fairy that was eating Tamber’s bread, was brown, just like a tree, and had green wings, that looked for all the world just like green leaves on a tree. When the little visitor finished her meal, she thanked Tamber once again and flew off to be with her colony for the night.
Tamber finished her dinner alone, and changed into her bed clothes. With the full moon shining on her face through the window, she fell into a peaceful slumber just like every other summer night.
This night, was not like every other summer night. Late in the night, while the entire village slept soundly, bandits crept into the innocent village. The 20 bandits split into two groups. The first group searched the eastern side of town where all of the shops were located, and the second group searched the western side of the village. The first house they went to was the house of the mayor of the village. About five of them crept into the house silently, grabbed whatever they could find that would be of any value, and got out. “Man, it’s a shame that this town doesn’t have any dragons. If they did, they’d be a lot wealthier. Maybe then this little trip would be more worthwhile for us.” a tall, skinny man said to his larger companion.
“Yeah, but if we didn’t agree to this, we would’ve all died. Or worse, become shadow beasts.”
When the fearful bandits finally finished their dirty work of thieving, and were going through their loot, a strange man in a long flowing black robe came up to the bandit leader and whispered something in his ear. The big bodied leader nodded, and grabbed a nearby torch. Without saying a word the robed man waved his hand over the torch, and flame shot out of it. “All right all of you! Listen up!!!” the leader of the bandits yelled to his men. “Light some more torches and throw them onto the huts!!! Make as much noise as you want!!! Once the village completely burns, it won’t matter who hears you or sees you!!!” When he finished his speech The others lit torches of their own and ran around the village screaming their heads off and throwing their torches onto the nearest huts.
Tamber awoke to screaming, a very strong heat, and the unmistakable smell of smoke. She pulled on her clothes and ran out of her hut only to be met by pure terror. The entire village was alight in a magnificent flame. Despite the extreme heat, Tamber began to shake uncontrollably. Without thinking, she ran into the inferno to try and find anyone who might still be alive. All she met was ashes of the huts and the people who had lived in them. Those who had not died yet, were letting out the most horrible scream imaginable. Trying to drown out the screaming of the poor villagers that were being roasted alive, Tamber slammed her hands on top of her ears and began to run for the woods. Before she got too far though, she tripped on a half burnt log and fell to the ground crying a river of tears that seemed like they would never stop.
“What’s going on?!!? Why is this happening?!!?” she wailed at the ground.
“It looks like you’re the only one left. Huh, my minions must have missed you somehow.”
Tamber jerked her head up in both surprise and terror. There in front of her stood a man with long black robes. To her, he looked like a giant. By her guessing, he must have been over six feet tall. He removed his hood to have a better look at this little survivor, and when he did, Tamber got a good look at his face.
The man’s eyes were a strange red color, and his face seemed ghostly pale. His lips formed a sinister grin as he looked Tamber over. He reached out a hand, that was just as pale as his face, and placed it on Tamber’s forehead, much to her horror. “I am the Twilight King. The people of your world probably refer to me more as the Death God though. Am I right little one?” he questioned, his grin growing as horror completely took over Tamber’s eyes.
Yes, he was defiantly right. She had often heard stories of the Death God, or the Twilight King. He was the same person no matter what name you gave him, and he was just as sinister and evil with one name as he was with the other. The story tellers had always spoken of a pale skinned red eyed man who came to your house in the middle of the night, to steal your soul away to his castle in the Twilight Zone where you would either be turned into a shadow beast to serve him, or your soul would be thrown away in the dungeons for all eternity. Some souls would also be kept in his castle to tend to him and other castle duties, such as kitchen work and cleaning up around the palace. But, none of the stories had ever spoken of him destroying an entire village.
Tamber’s thoughts were immediately cut off as the Twilight King locked his eyes with hers, that evil grin still playing on his face. “Why don’t I let you decide whether you live or die? How does that sound?” He didn’t wait for an answer. His pale hand, which he had placed on Tamber’s forehead, began to glow an eerie blue.
The next instant, Tamber felt an incredible pain surge through her. She opened her mouth but could not tell if she screamed or not. She crumpled over in a fetal position. She was in complete agony. Tears began to run freely down her face once more, but this time, it was because of physical pain rather than emotional pain. Her entire body began to shake. When she forced herself to look up again, the Twilight King was nowhere to be seen. She still felt the heat of the burning village all around her, but her logic seemed to abandon her.
She didn’t try to stand and leave. She was in too much pain to do much of anything. The last thing she remembered before passing into darkness was a voice calling out to her, and powerful clawed feet gripping her carefully. “You don’t have to be afraid. Not any longer; I’ll take care of you and protect you. Just please stay with the realm of the living. Please……”