The King of Rats' Trial

As I wait, I decided to explore within myself. If I was able to change my consciousness from my core to my actual body as a werewolf, maybe I can do something similar during the day? Maybe I could contact Desh during the day and gain his advice? I can feel the flow of my blood and mana coursing through my body. Each heartbeat grows louder and louder like the march of approaching army. Moments pass, but nothing further happens. If I can’t do anything here, I should gain some information from the Karvithians.
When I open my eyes, the city streets are missing. No… Not missing. It’s just become too dark to see. An impossibly thick black fog clouds the streets. And I hear… Whispering. Whispering over the slow and steady sound of my heart.

I can’t tell what they’re saying, but they sound familiar. Almost like a sound I’ve heard my entire life. Maybe they’re memories? As I start to listen closer, four bloodred eyes burn through the fog. Desh’s shadowy form slowly takes the place in the fog. Although his mouth never moves, I can tell that he’s speaking. I can’t hear him. I try to listen closer, but the whispers only grow louder and louder. I can’t understand any of it. The whispers invade my mind, they pound my ears like the roar of a lively city.

Then in an instant, it was all washed away by a smell. An aroma. The sweet metallic smell of blood. A shard of ice impales the air where my head was resting. My bestial instincts allowed me to nearly dodge the ice, which left a thin line of blood trickling down my check. As I stand, I hear my assassin click her tongue in disappointment. “Here I thought, I could end it here and now.”

I eye her up and down before I say anything. She's quickly approaching her end years with greyed blonde hair and slight wrinkles decorating her face. But... Why is she naked? The only thing concealing her breast and waist are bandages, but she’s clearly uninjured. Thin scars line her exposed skin like the stripes of an animal. Her fingers and toes are seemingly replaced with icy duplicates like some strange jewelry. “What are you, some strange whore? Did you forget that I’m going to kill you? The least you could do is dress appropriately.”

“What, does it make you uncomfortable?” She shrugs and puts her hands behind her head and flexes like she means to intimidate me.
“Makes it easier to move. We doing this or what?”

Unfortunately, I can’t kill her just yet. She’s alone. I’m waiting for all the mages. “You’ll want to wait for reinforcements. Just so you don’t die alone.”

She lets out a long whistle. “Cocky aren’t you? Can’t say I dislike that though. Alright darling. I’ll wait just for you.”
She winks at me and I can’t help but get a disgusting taste in my mouth. I can’t wait to kill her. She walks over to me and circles me, as though she’s sizing up a piece of meat. Every instinct I have is telling me to smash her as she approaches, but I have an image to uphold now.
That’s your reason? You have stupid reasons.
And you have stupid thoughts, now begone. The middle-aged woman compliments every detail she comes across. “My, you are a rather large one, aren’t you? You would make a great sacrifice for the lichking. A shame too. Hey, you should wear less clothes! I think that would fit your quite monster aesthetic better.”

By the Lords, what is she on about? I simply glare at her until she tires herself out.
You know. I think I have a solution here. How about-
I already said no. I have to kill them all at once.
But she’s really annoying. Look she’s not even wearing any armour! Just ‘swoosh’ with your sword and she’s gone. Oh, the others are here now.

The witch giddily waves to me before running off to join her friends. Six of them in total. Only two of them are notable. Other than the middle-aged woman, there’s a beast of a man with stone imitations replacing his forearms and hands. His voice is deep and gravely as he yells at the wench. “Snowflake, what are you doing? You can’t have him you know. He spouts blasphemy about the lichking.”

The wench, who is apparently named Snowflake, laughs and shrugs is off. That’s an awfully pretty name for someone so disgusting. I’ll just call her Flake. Before she could respond, I shouted out to them. “Is this everyone then?”

The beast man, who I’ve dubbed the new Stone, laughs once. “Ha! You act like this isn’t enough!”

“I was hoping for more, but I suppose this’ll have to do.” Two nameable mages and four backups? I really was hoping for a better fight. Stone loses his composure and slams his fists together. Pieces from the street float up, crumple into blocks, and circle around him. Flake mutters something and ice freezes over skin, finally clothing her. The nameless in the back merely prepare spells to throw at me.

Stone hurls boulders at me, which are easy to sidestep. Meanwhile, Flake has placed her hands on the ground and flash froze the entire street. Interesting. Perhaps this will be an interesting fight after all.
As Flake skates towards me, two oversized shadowy bats were summoned from the back. A hail of magic bolts roll off my shield, as I slide towards Flake. Before we clash, a swarm of icicles pelts into me and shatters on my armour as I draw my sword back. The bats swoop down for an attack as my sword slashes at Flake, but as I expected, she ducked under the blade.
The momentum from the giant sword spins me around on the ice and in one fluid movement, my sword pulls me skyward, ripping the bats in two. Flake slashes at my legs as I spin, leaving large cuts across my thighs.

Ignoring the sharp pain in my legs, I jump over the flying slab of stone, letting it crash into a nearby building. As I fall, Flake hurls a gale of swirling shards at me. I slash at the gale, sending my own gust to counteract her winds. My sword carries me in circles until I crash into the street below.
I’m met with a colossus that doesn’t seem quite real and a wave of pure magic. I can’t smell the colossus, so I ignore him. Two slabs of stone erupt on either side of me. I jolt forward, slashing at the wave of magic and escaping the crushing rocks.
The sound of clapping stones is overtaken by Flake screaming. She’s gliding at me with an ice maul, spinning along the ice to gain power. I raise my shield and the impact from the maul sends me sliding towards the side of the street.

She takes her meager victory as a chance to taunt me. “I thought you were going to kill us all? I knew it was a jest! Now I can’t help but laugh at you!”
She and Stone proceed to laugh at me.

I skid to a halt and sigh. “I suppose I’ve played long enough.”
I take a deep breath and let my dark miasma escape my mouth. My sinister smile I’ve been holding back, finally makes its appearance.

Flake isn’t impressed. “Ooo, you’re scary. I think we could’ve been good friends.”
She pushes off the ground and slides towards me again, maul in hand. Two more shadow creatures, that look similar to large cats pounce at me, while yet another hail of magic spheres crash on my shield.
All in a mere second, I draw my sword back and hold up my shield towards the cats. Flake throws her maul at me, falls to the ground to avoid my sword, and summons pillars of ice to hold me in place! I smash through her pillars with my shield and slam the edge into her legs! The sounds of ice shattering and bones snapping are quickly replace by squeals of pain!

My sword easily erases the cats and the maul flings past my ear. Stone releases the spell he’s been channeling. A whirlwind of sand and rocks slowly creeps towards me. I let the sword’s momentum carry me a step towards the crying woman.
She stretches out her arms and fills them with power! My shield hand grips her wrist and crushes it, renewing her screams! I lift her up by the wrist and throw her into the sandstorm! That felt good. Real good.

I dash down the street towards the nameless to avoid the sandstorm. The first one I encounter is one of the curs that have been summoning creatures. A half-finished shadow creature and a spear are all that protect him. My massive blade crashes through the shaft of the spear and rips his body in half! The other nameless step back in fear.
Before I have a chance to charge them down, Stone threw a barrage of hefty boulders at me! Most of them crash into the building behind me as I dance through them towards him! I shout through my teeth as I raise my sword! To prepare, he shouts "Mantel!"
His body becomes fully encased in rocks, and the stones spinning around him now spun with fury. Pathetic!

I drop my sword and grab his leg with both hands. The stones pelt me in the back as I spin and throw him straight up into the air. As he flies through the air, I send a bolt of dark energy at him, enveloping him in shadows. The black figure flies up into the sky, failing to find which way is up. He flails around in the air until he lands headfirst onto the pavement. Its almost a shame he couldn’t make any sounds. Just for good measure, I rush over and slam my boot into his head. He, is most certainly dead.

I grab my sword and turn back to the nameless. They turn to their troops who have been watching from a safe distance, and shout, “What are you doing!? Kill him!”
No one moves. “In the name of the lichking, I order you to kill him!”
The soldiers trade glances with each other, unsure of what they should do.

This’ll be an interesting experience. As I march slowly towards the nameless, I shout out to the soldiers they were commanding, “They hold no place in the future of Karvithia! They’re loyal, only to Leonhart! Execute them.”

A shield wall forms behind them, cutting off their escape and archers from atop the roofs take aim. Young nameless mages look around in disbelief. “No, no, no, this can’t be happening!”
That was their final words before arrows rained from all angles, leaving three nameless corpses littering my streets.

I hear the sobs of Flake behind me. She’s still alive? This must be my lucky day. I march over towards her and step on her working hand, just to make sure she doesn’t try anything. She spits at me before growling behind her tears. “Just kill me already!”

I have to hide the pure joy on my face before I respond. “I am sorry it had to end up this way. I’m sure you could’ve been an amazing addition to my realm.”

“Fuck you! The lichking will slaughter you before you even get a chance to see him!”

I smile gently. “I’m sure he will. It’s a shame you won’t get to see it, won’t it?”
I stand and place the end of my blade into her back, causing her to cry through her teeth. I project my voice loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. “For the crime of loyalty to the tyrant Leonhart, I sentence you to death. Hopefully you find peace in your next life.”
With that, I bend over and snap her neck. The cries end.

As the ice on the street dissipated into nothing, the captain, I had spoken with previously approached me. When he reached me, he fell to one knee and placed his fist over his chest. He bowed from his lowered position and spoke. “Captain Jacob of house Griffin, at your service my lord.”
Many of the surrounding soldiers fell to one knee and did the same. I like this feeling. Griffin continued. “How may me and my men, serve you?”

As much as I love the sight of humans bowing before me, I have to display myself as a benevolent leader. “Raise your heads. If there are any other wizards in the city, anywhere, bring them to me at the centre gate. I’d prefer to save my strength for Leonhart, so one at a time would be preferable. Otherwise, all I need from you now is for you to spread my name. Spread the news that freedom from Leonhart is here.”

In unison, many of the surrounding soldiers barked, “Yes, milord!”
My job here should be almost complete. With news that I’ve slain six mages by myself being spread by the troops, my arriving should be more receptive by other guards. When the Solaris army, slays the undead hoard, Leonhart’s coffin will be complete. After that, I just need to put him in it.

I make my way towards the centre gate, slowly, so that word reaches before I do. As I walk, I begin to hear… A voice. No. Many voices. Desh? The voices get louder, but even less coherent. Shadows begin consuming the world around me. Whispers, shouts, incoherent rambling! These sounds! They’re driving me mad! “Enough!”
I swing my arm at the air and the shadows disperse. I stand in the ally in silence for a moment, listing for any remnants of voices. I stare at the walls of the ally for a long moment before continuing my walk.

After reaching the centre gate, instead of attacking me, the guards simply watched as I passed. I would prefer if they were to bow or at least salute, but I suppose for now, it’s fine. The plaza in front of the centre gate, is almost identical to the one I came from. The primary difference being size and more soldiers.

The captain assigned to this gate found me and led me up the wall. As we stand over the gate watching the approaching Solaris army, he explains a few things for me. It’s not just the mages that are loyal to Leonhart. It’s the noble families. The noble families attempt to have as many children as possible to provide Leonhart with more potential mages. Those who were born with low mana like him and his brother, Jacob Griffin, are instead raised purely to be martial commanders.

I ask the captain, Dean Griffin, if he would be conflicted if I had to execute his family. He simply laughed. “I would do it myself if you asked. Spare the servants and I’ll have no qualms.”

I raise an eyebrow at that. “You want me to spare the elven slaves? I figured no one would bat an eye to anything happening to them?”

From under his helmet, he clarifies. “Hmm? Forgive me milord, I misspoke. I had meant the human servants. I’m unsure how to feel about the slaves. In all honesty, you’re the first elf I’ve seen with any passion about you. I genuinely thought elves were nothing more than living tools we used.”

I can’t help but laugh at that. “The humans of Solaris share your observation. Even though slavery isn’t legal there, they still use us as tools. It’s why I was happy to take the chance to leave.”

“I understand the sentiment. House Giffin treated Jacob, our sisters, and I in the same manner. I felt I was nothing more than a pawn to be tossed aside when they felt I was no longer needed. If it isn’t strange enough, I’ve come to the realization that I’m fine with being a pawn. So long as I’m a pawn for one I trust. Absurd, is it not?”
He laughs and continues to make small talk. I wasn’t expecting this.
He must be planning something.
Like what? He wouldn’t betray me against Leonhart.
He’s attempting to get on our good side for his own gain. He wouldn’t accept an elf as a leader. They could never accept us.
Never. That begs the question. Why did Alister give me this position?
To see us fail.

A courier breaks me out of my trance. He brings news of a mage’s arrival. I suppose, I need to kill him now. I assure Dean that I’ll return later and ask him to send a courier to the Solaris army. So far, every soldier has accepted my rule with no question, so I ask Dean to let Solaris know the centre gates should open for them.
Normally I would be more careful, but all Karvithians seem to want Leonhart gone. They’re even accepting help from an elf. Although I’m sure they may plot against me later on, for now this works.

Quite a few young nameless mages come to challenge me. Their arrogance gets them killed long before they have a chance to fully cast a meaningful spell. It’s maybe an hour or two past noon, when the centre gates open and Solaris infiltrated Karvithia. Now, only one thing remains.