The Wolf's Dominion: Chapter 3
Regal was swept away in a bout of dreams and nightmares. Man is usually thrust into moments when his deepest regrets and most wrenching of sorrows are forced to the forefront of his mind. These are moments characterized by people deep in depression, or just susceptible to moments of self-doubt. Those who are aware of the growing force of death claiming their knot in this mortal coil for it's own are also quick to remember their life's most troublesome moments. When a man begins to lose his humanity, however, this re-imagining of the most twisted and hurtful events that have transpired in his life are arguably the most potent. His mind begins to reflect the abomination the man is becoming by turning into something foreign to his nature by reflecting the darkest corners of his mortal soul; few men, unless they are the most vile of their breed, are able to undergo this time without becoming at least temporarily trapped in a state of madness.
Usually, this time is not temporary.
There was a voice in the darkness. There was an echo in the chasm in which Regal found himself within.
"You are a monster Regal."
It spoke words he had heard once before. It spoke words that were not foreign to him, but altogether different in their execution. He remembered a time when he modestly, if not bitterly accepted this brusque comment as nothing more than the statement of a woman lost in sorrow and grief. Now, it rang overhead, like a bell drawing all those in a small, quaint village to the town's cathedral for Mass, or perhaps a funeral.
"Your soul is black."
The voices echoed together, bouncing to and fro from the walls of this otherworldly prison he had found himself trapped within. They began to form a chant. While he would hear one in the darkness, one would be thrust into his beating eardrums, and then more would come, slowly eating away at the callouses covering his heart.
The Bitter Woman with Tears she kept in her eyes, refusing to let them fall down her cheek, refusing to give him the satisfaction she thought he wanted for the brutal act: "You are a monster Regal."
The Friend, Betrayed by Regal's merciless and unforgiving respect towards his duty saying his last phrase of condemnation to languish and torment him before he is carried away: "Your soul is black."
Then came the most torturous of all, the one that came in a moment of idealistic chatter at a warm campfire, surrounded by laughter, then silence, and finally that dreadful promise that Regal could never let go of: "You will not forget her. You will come back one day, and tell her who her father was. You will tell her before we die, who her father was, and protect her no matter what your duty states. Perhaps then we will both be considered human enough that God will not turn us away. Perhaps we will not be as monstrous as the creatures we destroy."
His mind had found most fitting phrase that could torture Regal. The curse had wrenched away all the things that had allowed him to forget, to minimize those few moments when his heart began to cry to the dull corners of Regal's soul, before it had realized that it's voice had become shrill and the wall's had become too hard for anyone else to hear, especially the mind this piteous soul was bound too. Now Regal found himself realizing that maybe it had never stopped screaming, or maybe that's what the encroaching, maddening curse was trying to make him believe. He couldn't think of anything beyond the torturous wails of past pain and sorrow that were reaching for him, reaching for his soul beyond the grave, beyond the calloused soul of his that had allowed him to go through life, do the things he had done, and still find himself able to sleep at night.
Regal felt something in him give way, and did not realize that it was the first breach of his humanity, falling into the abyss, making room for the beast that was to become him.
In this moment, Regal began to falter and die, as his soul did.
Author's Note: Alright, I'm so sorry for taking so long to update this. I'm way overdue. I've been going through some difficult times at home folks, real, what they call earth-shattering stuff, if you want me to go through a realm of hyperboles. This story is not my main focus; The Emblem is. I bet I used that semi-colon incorrectly, heh, anyway, both those stories are going to go through some hard times as well, as long as my family is in the state it is now. However, I'm going to use this Spring Break to try to get back into my groove, as they say. This chapter is short, I know, but it's the right place to end this scene. The scene is going to change, and it would be an abrupt change of focus from where the chapter starts, so I might as well make them separate chapter's then, eh? Or at least I get more chapters in the story right?
Anyway, thanks for reading.