The Dead King

When Marin first envisioned himself on a quest to obtain new subordinates to protect his kingdom of Nocturne, he never would’ve imagined an outcome such as the one that had played out. The Scarlet Eye – these thieves, murderers, outlaws – had thrown a wrench into all his plans.

What should have been a reasonable recruitment effort, had turned into a nightmare of pursuit, an unwanted feeling of guilt, and overall a chaotic timeline of events.

The rogues should have never bothered him. He shouldn’t have ever met Travis, or the doctor for that matter. Gus should’ve never been stabbed. Yet, fate had played its hand, and all these matters came to pass with or without his desire.

What Marin could only do now was make the most of these events, and do everything he could to turn them into a positive.

Right now though, he was trying to stop a major negative.

Marin didn’t doubt Doctor Eisen’s ability to defend himself. The man was just as powerful as he was unhinged, but he worried if it would be enough to save Gus as well.

Gus – Marin felt terrible for. Despite the events that had spiraled out of his control, he still blamed himself for the near-death experience his servant had endured. If he had any idea what danger would come his way, he would have never brought Gus along.

Marin raced his way back into Tarenfall’s city walls. His kinetic ice dashed him forward at a great speed through the farmsteads that settled the outer perimeter. He payed little mind to the farmers and peasants that saw him, who stopped their plowing to watch an ice elemental whiz by for the first time in a while, if they had ever seen it.

Lorette had sent the entirety of her order to slay Gus and even the doctor as a revenge play for killing her two other partners. If Marin didn’t get to Eisen’s house in time, she would succeed.

No wall was too tall for Marin. When he approached the intimidating stone guardian that kept the city safe, he pillared his way to the top with ice.

Quick stunts such as this were usually in the ballpark of tactical elemental practices, such as those taught at Neo, but Marin was such an excellent technical caster, that skills like these were easy enough for him without direct training.

It would really be put to the test today, because in this moment Marin would be moving as fast as he could, and that required immediate placing and casting of ice. He moved from roof to roof in the city, expertly creating ice bridges over them, strategically placed ramps for soaring greater distances, all while giving the hastily created ice the kinetic property. This would be an impossible feat for all but the highest masters of the ice element to create this special form of ice so quickly and accurately.

There was one unique feature about Eisen’s house that would help Marin locate the spot in a more timely manner. He was in the slums district, Marin knew, but Eisen was also nestled along the back corner of the city’s walls. All Marin had to do was reach the other end of the city, near the back corner, and he would spot the dark roof of the home.

He just hoped he wouldn’t be too late.

Marin made great time, but for him it felt like hours. A few of the cityfolk below gazed up at him as he flew by. Marin believed he even caught the attention of some guards, but at the rate he was moving, no one would be able to catch up to him.

He crossed into the slums district, and Marin became more careful about how placed his ice. The roofs in this section were poorly made, and some looked as if they would collapse under the smallest amount of weight.

After a little more time and some fancy ice placement, Marin was relieved to see the pocket in the wall that contained Eisen’s residence. He hoped he wasn’t too late.

What he saw though, he could have never prepared himself for.

Upon brushing over the top of the last wall, Marin landed in the dead yard of the doctor’s property.

Now though, the grass wasn’t the only thing dead in his yard.

There were bodies. Bodies littering the area. All deceased, all dressed in the attire of The Scarlet Eye. Every person he saw was killed in some unique way.

One had his chest exploded. One had his top half of his body missing. One was a dried out corpse, every bit of blood missing from him. Marin gawked in horror at all the deceased around him, many who died in quite the graphic way.

Eisen’s house was in an even more devastated state than when he first arrived. Chunks of the wall were blown out. Shingles missing on the roof, a small part caved in. The windows were blown out, and the door which Marin had spent a considerable amount of time fixing, was no where in sight.

“HELLO?!” Marin finally cried out.

He had to push all the sights of death out of his mind to focus on finding Gus and the doctor.

Marin ran into the house. It was trashed entirely. Almost everything was broken. What wasn’t was displaced so much from collisions or even explosions. The sun shown in from the broken roof, which was now littered with holes.

All the work Marin had done to clean Eisen’s home was all in vain.

“Gus?! Doctor Eisen?!” Marin cried out again, trying to navigate the debris on the floor, along with the occasional dead body.

“...Marin?”

He turned his head. It was faint, but it was Gus’s voice.

“Where are you?!” Marin ran towards the sound of the voice, it lead him back to the bedroom where Gus had been staying at.

The door was gone, most of the wall as well. At this point, Marin wondered if the house was structurally sound anymore. It could come down collapsing at a moment’s notice.

When Marin entered the room, he found Gus crouched down in the back corner, knife in hand, and a horrid look on his face.

“Gus, my boy!” Marin shouted, quite relieved.

Gus had the knife in hand, ready to defend himself from another attacker. When he saw his King, he began to lower his weapon and let out a deep breath. He relaxed himself, but a look of fear and concern still plagued his face.

Marin ran up to him and crouched down to his level, grabbing both sides of his shoulders.

“Are you alright?! Are you hurt?” Marin demanded.

“...K-King Marin. You’re alive?” Gus asked back in a nearly monotone voice, still spacing out.

“Yes! Yes I am! What happened?! Where is the doctor?”

Gus didn’t answer right away, but soon he focused himself at hearing about the doctor. He shook his head, regaining his sense.

“The doctor! Oh, man, Marin. Eisen… He… He’s not human! I swear it! The things he did… The things I saw…”

“Okay, but where is he?!” Marin said, cutting him off.

“I don’t know! I… I’ve been protecting myself in this corner the whole time. I think they’re all gone. All the rogues. I think the doctor killed them all!”

Marin immediately stood up, and helped Gus to his feet as well.

“We need to get out of here,” Marin instructed. “Are you sure you have no idea where Doctor Eisen-”

There was a sudden yelp from down below. It sounded like it came from the basement. Marin quickly grabbed Gus’s arm in response. He waited for a moment for an attack, but it never came. After another moment, Marin gestured Gus to follow him, and they walked down the hallway to the kitchen, which had a door way leading to stairs that went to the basement.

“Sit still!” It was the doctor’s voice.

Marin had heard it come from the basement.

He ran down the stairs.

In the basement, was the doctor. His hair was scattered across his shoulders, undone from the pony tail. His glasses were missing, and his clothing was torn. The labcoat was missing its sleeves, and his left arm was morbidly discolored, blotches of purple and red.

He held a large syringe in hand, and a member of The Scarlet Eye was tied up on a rolling chair beside him, unable to flee or barely move.

Marin just barely shouted out in time to stop the doctor from injecting the rogue with some sort of serum.

“Eisen! What’s going on!? What are you doing?!” Marin demanded.

Gus took a step back. After what he had witness the doctor do, he wanted to be in no short distance of him.

The doctor jerked his long neck towards Marin, halting his lab experiment.

“Ah, Marin! There you are! Come assist me in holding this deviant still, I need to try out a new formula!”

Marin was bewildered. What sort of game was Eisen playing? Had he gone mad from the events of the attack? Why was he conducting an experiment at a time like this?

Marin had enough.

He walked up to the doctor, and snatched his syringe from his hands, and threw it to the side, onto his desk.

“What’s the meaning of this?!” Marin fiercely questioned.

“Hey!” Eisen yelled back.

“Get a hold of yourself, Edward! What the hell is going on?!”

Eisen eyed his syringe that had been thrown, then back to Marin. He sighed.

“Looks like the organization of rogues you’ve squabbled with came calling for some revenge. A lot of them too. But as you’ve probably seen, I’m taking care of the matter. Now if you’re not going to help me, then leave me be.”

Eisen went for the syringe again.

“Doctor, there are dozens of dead bodies on your lawn, the guards are bound to show up at some point to investigate, and your house is in dire need of repair, yet you elect to take this time for an experiment?!” Marin yelled.

Eisen paused, facing towards his desk, halting his action of retrieving his formula in the syringe.

He stood there for a moment, then pounded the desk.

“Fine.” The doctor uttered.

He turned back around, walked up to his unwilling subject, and in one clean movement, snapped his neck, instantly killing him.

“...But you owe me one test subject, now.”

“We need to take care of the bodies everywhere. Stash them down here in the basement, and I will take care of the rest,” Marin ordered.

Doctor Eisen seemed annoyed, but yielded. He agreed with Marin, and began cleaning up the aftermath of the attack.