The Dead King

Sullivan Marin wouldn’t have exactly called his mission a success. In fact, his recruitment effort had ended with less than desirable results. When he left Nocturne Castle with plans of bringing strong allies to his Kingdom, he envisioned at least three new subordinates returning with him.

Instead, he had one. Granted, the doctor was very powerful, but returning back home with just one new ally left Marin with disappointment.

With the original plan of going to the crime-ridden city of Tarenfall, Marin hoped that the impoverished state of the city would help open the door of potential recruits to his Kingdom. Instead, the fateful encounter with the Scarlet Eye brought nothing but trouble and heartache.

In fact, Marin was so fed up with the unwanted situations in the city, that when the bandits had finally been dealt with, he wanted nothing more than to head home and cut the mission short.

He hoped that the last minute offer to Travis would result in at least one more member to his kingdom, but he had made it clear that he wanted nothing more to do with the mysterious undead king.

Marin held the reigns of the cart he sat on. Gus and Eisen were in the wagon behind him, sitting and talking about anything under the sun. All around them in the cart were the doctor’s belongings, his stuff that was being transferred to the castle, his new home for the time being.

At each stop, the horses were fed and cared for, and during the nights, they stayed at the city’s inns. Marin and Gus were even happy to see Elmo again at the Stonefield Inn in Tresdor. They stayed up late that night, telling Elmo all about their travels and what the city was like.

They were now on the road back into White Forest. They would be home soon. There was one more important stop that had to made though. Marin had made Gus promise that he would resolve all issues with his father, in exchange of Marin teaching him the ice element. When they would reach Whitewood City, Gus would have to make good on the deal.

“Are you nervous?” Marin had asked Gus, knowing that the young lad had not contacted his father in anyway for almost five years.

“A little. My biggest fear is that he’s grown bitter from my actions, and will reject me,” Gus responded back.

“Whatever the case, you will have done your part. He will know where you live, and they are welcome to visit you or even join us at anytime,” Marin warmly offered.

“Gus may not want that,” Eisen interjected, leaning in the back of his cart by one of his dusty suitcases. “I’m sure he left his father for a good reason.”

“No,” Gus quickly fired back. “After all these years I think I’ve realized I was the one with the problem, and it took living on my own to realize that. I was crazy kid when I lived in Whitewood. I was always getting into trouble,” he admitted.

“Everyone grows up eventually, Gus. I’m glad you’re finding your way,” Marin concluded with.

As they neared the outskirts of the city, Gus’s anxiety built. Confronting his father after all this time would not be an easy task for him. He knew though, that this was something he must do. It was a small price to pay to have the great Sullivan Marin as his personal teacher, after all. He just hoped he would be able to get the hang of using an element.

Gus had asked the two elemental masters in the cart if some were completely unable to use elemental abilities.

It was rare, they explained, that some could never contact the power plane. That was the realm that all forms of the elements were pulled from. If that were the case, Gus would be considered elementally inept.

Other than that, some had a knack for pulling from the power plane, and others found it quite difficult. Time would tell where Gus lie on the spectrum.

“If the elements really like you,” Eisen explained, “You’ll draw most of your strength from them. If not, you become physically skilled, with the elements complimenting your strength. That’s how it usually works for you young elementals.”

“I can’t help you with the physical side,” Marin reminded Gus. “I’ve always been incredibly talented with the ice element, and because of that, I’ve been able to lean almost entirely on it. Due to this, I know next to nothing about the physical skills. Slow Time, and a handful of other utility skills were the only ones I made myself master as a decent counter defense from strong melee opponents.”

Gus wanted to ask more, especially on the process of first procuring your chosen element, but Marin held back, explaining that it would all be revealed to him when his first lessons would begin.

The two horses that pulled the heavy cart into town neighed when they approached Whitewood City’s entrance. They were finally here. It had been a good several days of traveling north to get to this point, and Marin was relieved they would be home soon.

Marin wondered how everyone was at the castle, and was eager to reunite with his kingdom, that he saw very much as his own family.

Edward Eisen seemed indifferent towards moving into the castle. On one hand, he was entirely excited to solve the immortality potion Marin first made, but on the other, he had no interest in serving the kingdom, and playing doctor for the citizens. It was a trade-off he had to make. At least money would no longer be an issue for him, as Marin guaranteed the funding of any supplies he needed.

“Alright Gus, start guiding me to your family’s home,” Marin commanded.

Gus swallowed a lump in his throat. “Okay. Stay on the main road for a couple miles, I’ll tell you when you need to turn left.”

Back in the populated city, the dwellers there were forced to make room for the two horses and cart traversing the right side of the road. Getting in the horse’s way spelled trouble, especially for these horses that were used to ignoring pedestrians in the way in populated cities such as Tarenfall.

It definitely beat walking, where battles of weaving through the crowds frequently occurred.

Gus eventually had Marin take the left. In a few city blocks, they would pull up in front of his family’s house. Marin recognized the area. He remembered how Gus tried pulling a sneaky one, stopping by his old home without his King noticing. Unfortunate for him, Marin was a bit smarter than that.

Finally, after a few more street crossings, they arrived at the home. It looked the same as they had seen it earlier two weeks ago, but still vastly different than when Gus lived in it over five years ago. The house had deteriorated since he lived there. Gus wondered why. As he got out of the cart, part of the young man hoped everyone would be gone, and he could avoid this entire encounter. Marin was unlikely to give up that easily, though, and in that case, Gus then hoped his father was there to get this over with sooner than later.

Gus walked up to the front door with Marin behind him. Eisen was still climbing out the cart when Gus knocked on the door.

Gus did a dry swallow when no one answered. He turned back to Marin, who stood intently behind him, not a word to be said. Facing the door, Gus knocked again.

Someone grabbed the door knob from the other side. It turned after being unlocked, and after the door opened, Gus stared into the tired eyes of his father.

The man looked a lot like Gus himself. His hair had grayed quite a bit since he left, and wrinkles around his eyes had developed.

When the older man finally recognized his son through the beard he had grown, his face lit up in a way it hadn’t in many years.

“Gus…? My son?” The man said, standing in the doorway of his old home.

“Hey dad.”

“GUS!” The father lunged forward, giving a bear hug to the boy who had become a young man.

“Oh, my son. I’ve missed you so much! I had no idea what had happened to you!” The father’s voice cracked as he tried holding back tears.

Gus wasn’t sure how long his father would physically embrace him, but it was apparent it would be while, after he had not released him for over ten seconds.

Through the restraining hug, Gus caught a glimpse of Marin who was still standing there, unable to show any emotion from the mask, and the old doctor Eisen, who surprisingly had a pleasant smile on his face.

Finally, Gus’s dad released him from the long overdue hug, and grasped the boy tightly at his arms.

“Look at you! You’ve grown up so much! How have you been? Where have you been?” The dad had a million questions to ask, and they couldn’t be answered fast enough.

“I’m good, in fact, I’m great. I’ve been living in the Heroca Village up until recently,” Gus stated, still trying to process the shock of being reunited with his father once again.

A look of dread suddenly plagued his father’s face. “Heroca? The Heroca Town that was raided a month ago, and destroyed? Tell me you weren’t there!”

Gus reluctantly nodded.

His father looked at him with guilt, and then looked at the other two men besides him. The two characters with Gus were in no way normal looking, what with Marin’s royal clothes and mask, and the doctor just looking like the doctor.

Wherever Gus had been, whatever he had been doing, it was apparent he had been busy, his father thought.

“Why don’t you all come in?” The father offered. “I want to catch up on everything you’ve been doing.”

As the three walked inside the living room of Gus’s old home, his dad shook the hands of Marin and Eisen.

He shook Marin’s first, and introduced himself.

“My name is Rallen Talbor, I’m Gus’s father,” he said.

“Sullivan Marin,” the king responded. “It’s nice to finally meet the family of my castle’s guard.”

Rallen raised his eyebrows. “Castle guard?” He repeated, greatly impressed.

The doctor then extended his hand before Rallen could get another thought out.

“Edward Eisen. Ah, Doctor Edward Eisen, I guess,” he stated while rapidly shaking Rallen’s firm grip.

“Wow, I’m graced with the presence of a doctor!” Rallen exclaimed, trying his best to ignore Eisen’s speech impediment.

Rallen walked everyone into the dining room portion of the large front room, and pulled some chairs out for everyone to sit at.

“Can I get anyone something to drink? Tea? Water? I think I have some milk…” Rallen droned on while checking the icebox.

“Oh, if you have tea, I’d love that,” Eisen immediately piped up.

Marin passed (naturally), and Gus requested water.

Rallen quickly threw the kettle onto his stove top while lighting a flame, in preparation of the doctor’s tea.

“Start telling me everything, son. You can’t imagine how bad I want to hear about what your life has been like,” his dad excitedly stated, asking the question before he was even at the table with them.

“Well,” Gus started, “I ended up moving to Heroca Town.”

“You headed way up into the mountains! I would’ve never guessed,” his dad exclaimed. “I tried figuring out where you had ran to. I had asked all around in the city to see where you might be, but when I found out you were no longer here, I had no idea where in the world you would have gone.”

“Yeah, I ended up becoming a village guard up there. I learned how to use a claymore, and I defended the city.”

“You were there for the attack?!” His dad yelled as he brought a water over to his son.

“Yes, I fought the raiders there. I might’ve lost my life, if it wasn’t for this man here,” Gus stated, pointing at Marin.

Rallen looked from Gus over to Marin, as he poured the doctor’s tea.

“You saved my boy’s life?” He asked.

“Ah, well. I happened to be at the right place, at the right time,” Marin humbly stated.

Rallen brought the freshly brewed cup of tea to Eisen, but then went over to shake Marin’s hand again. When they grasped at the handshake, Rallen leaned forward to hug the robed, masked king.

“Thank you, thank you so much for being there to save him!”

The hug caught Marin off guard, but allowed it. After a long handshake, Rallen finally sat down with the other three at the table.

Upon sitting down, Gus’s father, Rallen noticed something about Marin. He took note of the black mask hiding his face, and the dark blue royal robes, trimmed with gold thread. He looked at the beautiful golden cross pendant around his neck, and the fancy jeweled ring on his finger.

All this fit the description of the new masked king that had restored the fallen Nocturne Kingdom. There was a chance this could be him, especially with the statement he had made about Gus being a castle guard.

“Could you possibly be… That new King of Nocturne Castle?” Rallen stated.

Marin grinned, and slowly nodded his head. “That I am.”

Rallen began wondering if he had made a serious error not recognizing him earlier. He had not presented any proper etiquette of being around a royal king. He had not bowed or hailed him in anyway.

Marin could see the panic in the old man’s eyes. He quickly raised his hand. “Ah, please, treat me like any other common man. I have no taste in being treated better than,” Marin humbly requested.

“Are you sure, your highness?” Rallen tried asking.

“Don’t call him that,” Gus grinned. “He hates formalities like that.”

Rallen looked at his son, then back at the masked king. Marin made a gesture with his hand that it was true.

“Just call me Marin. If you ever joined my home, you could call me King Marin, but no more than that.”

“Alright,” Rallen said.

The four of them sat at the table, talking for hours. Gus told his entire story, all the details of moving to Heroca, the captain of Heroca’s guard Max, who trained him. He spoke of his life there in the mountains, and how that changed his attitude. He went into great detail of the raid in the village, the killing he had done, and how in the last minute, Marin appeared to save the day.

After all that, they discussed how Marin brought most of the surviving villagers into his kingdom, and restored the castle. Gus then talked about his life as being a castle guard. It was all fascinating to Rallen, who was richly satisfied to see that Gus had been living quite the life.

They talked for so long, the sun began to set, and Rallen had to set up some lanterns for them to continue talking at the table.

“I never got to ask how you knew who I was,” Marin said to Rallen Talbor.

“Ah, you’ve been all over our newspapers, my friend. The city has seen a lot of new business ever since you re-established that kingdom,” Rallen replied.

“Have I?” Marin uncomfortably asked.

“Indeed. You must have quite the capital for it to effect our city so much. In fact, much of the money spent on that kingdom is still in circulation here. You’ve brought great work to much of the citizens of Whitewood,” he gratefully stated.

Rallen went on.“I couldn’t be more happy that my son is working for you. Everything I have read about you has been great. I am honored to have the great King of Nocturne here at my home, and what a privilege it is to be able to speak with him.”

Marin had no idea he was becoming famous already. He knew that all the work he requested would cause some talks about the castle and maybe the king up in the mountains, but to see that he had impacted the city’s economy so much already to the point where many were loving him, including the press, made him a tad uneasy.

“Ah, well, I’m pleased to hear that I have improved the lives of many people here so far,” Marin stumbled.

Eisen smiled, leaning back in his chair. He had not spoken much during the hours of conversation, only to speak of the fact that he was the kingdom’s newly recruited doctor.

“Your restoration project is affecting the adjacent cities,” Eisen stated to Marin.

“Apparently…”

Earlier, Gus had inquired about his younger brother Geralt. His father explained how he now worked at the local butchery in the city, and he would be home soon from his shift there.

As the time flew from all the catching up, the front door finally opened once again, and Gus’s younger brother entered the room.

When he entered, the tired boy expected to see an empty room, with his dad upstairs, preparing for bed. He could have never prepared for what he witnessed now.

In the dining room, which was just a section of the large front room of the house, was his father. Along with him, though, was a masked man in fancy robes, a hunchback lab coat scientist, and his long lost brother with a newly grown beard.

Geralt nearly defecated himself in shock.

“What the…?” He uttered.

Gus turned to face him, and smiled.

“Wuh… GUS?! IS THAT YOU?!” Geralt screamed.

Gus’s younger brother dropped everything he had in his arms, which included a fresh haunch of meat for him and his dad, and ran to embrace his older brother.

Gus stood up, and caught him as they hugged.

They both laughed for a while as they patted each other on the back.

“Bro… you grew a beard!” Geralt exclaimed.

“It looks like yours is coming in too!” Gus fired back, noticing the wisps of fresh hair on his younger brother’s neck.

“Stop!” Geralt yelled back, pushing him away playfully.

The entire evening had been wholesome. Marin had no idea how much he would be moved by Gus’s reunion with his family. He was proud of Gus for making this decision. It had become obvious that Gus had ran away out of pure pride than anything else, and his small family were lovingly embracing him again as if he never left.

It took Gus abruptly running away from home the way he did for him to do some growing up. Now that he was becoming a more responsible adult, it had become time for him to see his family again.

They talked for a while longer, but the night had brought an end to any further conversation. It was getting late, and sleep was needed all around. They discussed staying at an inn, but Rallen was more than happy to put them up at his home for the night. He had spare beds, and was honored to accommodate them.

The horses were stabled behind Rallen’s house, and he showed the guests their rooms where they could stay for the night. Eisen had to borrow Geralt’s bedroom, to which the young boy had to sleep in the living room.

The reunion with Gus’s family had been fun to see, but tomorrow, it would be Marin’s turn for the reunion with his kingdom. He hoped Loid and Helva had taken care of everything well while he was gone.

Tomorrow he would find out.