The Dead King

Marin opened the door to the small house, walking outside, with the tall knight Sygol following behind him. When Marin gazed out to the main road in which their cart was parked at, Gus and Eisen were seen still sitting there.

The two who had been waiting for their King and the knight turned their head as Marin approached them.

“How are you guys doing?” Marin asked, worried that they were growing impatient of waiting.

He looked in the cart, and saw that Gus and Eisen had been playing a game of chess on Gus’s travel board.

“Can’t say I’m thrilled with the delay, but I’m getting through it,” Eisen commented as he moved a chess piece.

“Thank you for working with me. I will catch you up with everything once I finish up with Sygol. I came over to inform you that him and I will be dueling here momentarily,” Marin said.

Both Eisen and Gus perked up at the news.

“You’re gonna fight him?!” Gus eagerly said, instantly forgetting about his third chess game with the doctor.

“Yes. You’re free to watch, if you want,” Marin offered.

Gus exploded. This was the exact stuff he lived for. Nothing would bring him more happiness than watching his new master demonstrate a beautiful showcase of all the ice skills he would be learning. He hoped the knight would be strong too, and the fight would be a stunning feature of power and skill.

Gus rocketed out of his seat composing of Eisen’s luggage. When he did, he wasn’t paying attention, and flipped the chess board over, ending the match in some apocalyptic fashion for the pieces.

Eisen sighed. “Guess that’s over,” he grumbled, as he started picking the chess pieces up.

Gus rapidly apologized, realizing his excitement had taken over, and began recovering the pieces as well.

Marin chuckled. If Gus had this much passion for the elements, he certainly would end up becoming a decent user of one.

“Recover your game pieces, then bring the cart around to the back of the town hall,” Marin instructed.

Marin walked off with Sygol following. They headed for a safe area away from the main road, and away from any prying eyes. Once Gus and Eisen miraculously recovered all thirty-two chess pieces, the Doctor took the reins of the horses and instructed them to head down a side road and behind Heroca’s old town hall.

While Gus was enthusiastic about the duel, Eisen showed disapproval. He wondered what this was going to accomplish and how it was necessary for any reason. It kept him outside in the cold longer, and the last thing he wanted to see was a mishap where Marin got badly hurt.

Explaining all this brought Gus back down to earth, but it still didn’t cease his excitement.

The horses trotted through thicker snow than the main road, something they didn’t really seem to enjoy, but eventually the doctor parked the cart in an area where both Marin and Sygol could easily be seen.

“You honestly think Marin would allow himself to get hurt?” Gus asked Eisen, at this point believing Marin to be such a master that it was out of the question.

“He obviously didn’t tell you how the Scarlet Eye situation went down,” Eisen responded, recalling the amount of damage his back and neck had received.

“What does that mean…?” Gus asked, fearing not all had been shared with him.

“Look,” Eisen pointed. “They’re about to begin.”

Marin stood about thirty feet away from the towering knight in void-colored armor. They were in a snowy field, and this would be to Marin’s advantage. Sygol was a melee fighter, Marin assumed, and moving in the snow would hinder his movement.

Marin on the other hand, used quick-placed Kinetic Ice to zip himself around the field of battle to avoid attacks. He wondered if Sygol knew who he was messing with.

Despite this advantage, Marin would not allow himself to underestimate the ghostly suit of armor. As a keen shadow elemental, he would most likely subsidize his lack of motion with dispersion. Marin had to be careful.

“I thank you for the chance to test my might,” Marin announced before the fight started.

“Not a problem, I’m happy to help you gauge where your level is at,” Sygol politely responded.

“I’ll start at your movement,” Marin offered.

“Very well, thank you for giving me the initiative.” Sygol raised his massive sword, forged with runes going up and down the length of the blade. At five feet, and the considering the width of the blade, it must have weighed as much as Gus himself, and here was the knight wielding it with one hand, an incredible feat.

He raised it up, grasped it with two hands, and brought it behind his head, ready for a strike. He posed in a forward motion, ready to launch himself.

This was it.

Marin braced for a response.

At the same time, Gus and Eisen watched from a distance in the cart. Gus had stars in his eyes, ready to watch it all unfold.

Even the doctor had some guilty curiosity. He stroked his long chin in thought.

Sygol charged forward at a speed that would never be possible in armor that heavy.

He closed the thirty feet distance in less than a breath, ready to swing his blade forward and slice Marin in half.

The kinetic ice formed under Marin’s feet, zipping him to the left.

Sygol expected nothing less than a dodging movement from the ice wizard, and quickly recovered to prepare for a second assault.

Marin propelled himself away, creating distance between himself and the knight. His fingers twitched as he created ice around Sygol, trying to coat the knight in a frosty prison.

Due to the rapidly made ice, it wasn’t strong enough to keep him in place. As the knight’s joints bent for another leap forward, the ice shattered around them, almost as if it didn’t effect him at all.

Sygol took no extra time launching forward again, eager to get a swing in.

Marin erected an ice wall, but the slash from the sword shattered the defensive structure in a single hit.

In response, Marin began to hurl icicles at Sygol while continuing to keep his distance. Marin wasn’t sure whether the knight would try to swing at him while under fire of the sharp ice shards, but it would at least delay his next attack.

Sygol raised an arm to protect himself as the icicles crashed into his armor, creating small impacts to keep him off perfect balance. He eventually caught a long one in his hand, and crushed it, shattering the long icicle into many pieces.

“Are we done beating around the bush?” Sygol announced as Marin continued his icicle assault.

Sygol threw his sword at Marin, a move he did not expect. Marin’s Slow Time instinctively kicked in as the blade rushed to his body, spelling certain destruction.

Marin was able to crouch low, allowing the blade to fly by over his head. When he turned around to see where it would land, it dissipated into shadow.

Marin looked back at Sygol, and watched a blob of shadowy smoke rush to his hand, the blade reforming from the shadow as it met his palm.

In response, Marin created massive icicles that sprouted from the ground, hoping to catch the knight off guard, and even trap him in place.

It was no use, with a powerful swing of the heavy sword, Sygol chopped them all down in one go. He slashed through them like butter.

Sygol was now sprinting at Marin, which to him looked like a desperate attempt. As Marin continued to surf the moving ice beneath his feet, Sygol jumped into the air, and slammed his blade down into the ground.

A shadowy fissure erupted from the pierced spot, and the crack that seeped shadow rapidly grew to seek the ice wizard, closing the distance quickly.

This was a move Marin had to admit to himself was quite impressive.

There was no way he could outrun the splitting break in the ground that rapidly moved to his location. Marin pillared up into the air with ice, seeking to remove himself from the ground. When the fissure reached his location beneath him, he casted ice all around it, trying to halt the breaking of the ground further.

Marin had distracted himself too long during this attack. He kept his eyes off of Sygol for longer than he should have.

After confirming the growing shadow fissure had been dealt with, he looked onward to see that Sygol had leaped into the air, ready to slash Marin in half.

The tall pillar of ice Marin stood on was no illusion of safety. Sygol was able to perform jumps that met him at that height.

In a desperate attempt, Marin tried creating an ice wall sprouting from the pillar he stood on.

Sygol expectingly crashed through it, unfazed.

Marin’s Slow Time skill had been used off and on this entire fight, and this was another moment he focused in. As Sygol grew only a few feet away, mid slash, Marin dissolved the ice pillar beneath him, dropping him down as Sygol continued his trajectory into the air.

When Marin used another icy move to land safely to the ground, he looked up to find where Sygol had gone.

In the air, the knight’s entire suit of armor gave into the shadow, and he watched the cloud of dark purple smoke fly back down to the ground.

As Sygol had a bit of distance to recover, this gave Marin enough time to create the best ice he could. He focused as hard as he could, mentally requesting the strongest ice the power plane would lend him.

Marin watched the cloud reform back into the knight, already in another striking pose, sword ready to swing. Marin then created the strongest ice wall he could.

As he now knew Sygol’s strength at this point, Marin would not trust any move he could muster. Despite making the most sturdy ice wall he could, Marin still braced for the knight to break through.

Indeed Sygol did, shattering even the strongest attempt at keeping him at bay.

By this point, Marin could only try freezing his foe. He coated the knight in ice layer after ice layer, but Sygol broke through every time. The ice only slowed him down, never halted him in place.

Finally, after Marin’s many failed attempts, Sygol leaped forward again, sword ready to slash. This was at a much faster speed than before.

Marin guessed he had been holding back, and was now unleashing a strength more true to what he was capable of. It was impressive to see him charge at such a speed, especially after breaking out of the frozen coatings several times.

Marin used Slow Time, again. He watched the knight’s advance come to a crawl as he figured out what to do next.

Then, something odd happened. Sygol muttered something in the ancient language, and Marin suddenly had a migraine come over him, one that forced him to lose concentration on the Slow Time ability.

As Marin experienced real-time again, there was not enough time to react, and Sygol slammed into the wizard, launching him backwards, tumbling in the snow.

“Marin!!!” Gus yelled out, standing up in the cart, watching his King roll across the ground.

Gus was ready to jump out of the cart to aid Marin, but Eisen quickly grabbed Gus and kept him in place.

“Don’t! This isn’t something for you to interfere in,” The doctor quickly stated, although also feeling great concern over the state of Marin.

Sygol had never completed the attack. Instead of slashing Marin when he closed in, he kept his sword down, allowing just his body to run into Marin.

It was almost like Sygol had expected to finally get his hit in on the wizard, and didn’t want to risk killing him.

Marin felt a great daze after his body completed it’s tumbling adventure in the snow. At least it was snow, and not the rocky ground that tried cushioning his knockdown.

He tried fighting the daze, and looked up to see if Sygol would still attack him in some revealing ploy that he had been trying to kill him all along.

He did not. He slowly walked to him, sword re-sheathed on his back.

Marin began feeling his body while lying in the snow. He tried all his joints. Everything seemed to still be working fine, even after the blunt slam.

When Sygol finally reached Marin’s horizontal body, he extended a hand to help him up.

“Thanks for not cutting me in half,” Marin said in a defeated tone, as he took the knight’s armored hand. He recognized that Sygol was smart enough to not overestimate Marin.

Marin stood up, and ran through another mental checklist of all his body parts.

“I’m surprised you allowed me to Counterskill you like that,” Sygol stated.

Indeed, that’s what the sudden migraine was, that caused Marin to lose his Slow Time skill.

“I never expected that to happen. You’re a lot stronger than I could have imagined,” Marin noted.

“And yet, there was a time when you could have easily disposed of me,” Sygol admitted.

Marin was shocked. Could it actually be true? If it was, Marin was leagues under the skill that he once had, and hadn’t even noticed it. At a statement like that, it was now obvious to him that he had failed Sygol’s test.

“I’m sorry.” It was all Marin could offer. “It appears that I have lost more than just my memory, but power that I once held. I guess I am truly a shadow of my former self, in both physical form and strength.”

“I am sorry too. It pains me to see you in this weakened state,” the hollow knight echoed from his helm.

“Can you elaborate on the duel? Where I was lacking versus before?” Marin asked with great curiosity.

Sygol nodded. “Your ice was not nearly as durable as it once had been. Your connection to the power plane is rusty. Not only that, the choice in moves against me were not well thought out or practiced. Most of the fight, you played defensively, evading my attacks, when normally you would overpower me within the first minute.”

The words were harsh, landing blow after blow to Marin’s confidence. It saddened him immensely to hear how far removed he once was.

“How disappointing. I… I don’t know what to say. I suppose I wouldn’t be any use in your fight against the Decay,” Marin stated.

“Ah, you still have much talent and strength, Sullivan. But I would not want to risk your life right now when there’s potential of you returning to who you once were. Give it time. You’ve only been reanimated for a month, there could be a chance that more will come back to you in the following ones.”

The words to Marin were like a band-aid on a gashing wound. He would take them to heart, but felt not a lot of hope.

“...Perhaps. If only there was a way I could regain my memory,” Marin guessed, “then maybe my elemental prowess would return too.”

“I wish you luck on it,” Sygol tried.

“What will you do now?” Marin asked, changing the subject away from his terrible situation.

“I will continue my fight against the Decay. You need not worry about me. I have other allies to help me in this situation, and we will likely come out on top,” Sygol explained.

Marin nodded.

“What you should do is focus on your kingdom, and yourself. From what you told me, you have a great family there now. Protecting them should be your top priority at this time,” he added.

Marin agreed. Sygol spoke a few more words, sharing his guilt for never visiting Marin’s kingdom after it had been formed, and that he was lucky to be able to have the chance to do it again.

“I’m glad that you’re back in the mortal realm again, Marin. Once I deal with this issue, I promise I’ll be back to see Nocturne.”

After that, Sygol informed him that he would now depart. They both walked back to the spectating cart, where Gus and Eisen had patiently been waiting.

Sygol gave a few wise words to the two of them, then gave a goodbye wave as his body melted into shadow, taking off in the wind.

Just as soon as he had first appeared to them, he had now disappeared. Sygol was like a spectral force, an eternal guardian that protected the world. While Marin fought the despair of his realization, it also pleased him to know that he had made such a good friend in the towering knight.

“Are you alright?!” Was the first question out of a concerning Gus, who was still getting over the slam that Marin had received.

“I’m fine, Gus. Everything’s okay,” Marin tried convincing him. He was okay physically, but he was still getting over the mental blow of the entire event.

“Are we finally going to the castle?” Eisen asked, slightly shivering in the cart.

“Yes, yes. I apologize again for this delay. I hope you’ll forgive me. I will tell you that I learned much from the encounter with Sygol,” Marin tried. “I will share with you all I learned about him.”

As the horse drawn carriage returned to the main road, and continued it’s journey up the mountain, Marin spoke of everything he had learned about himself and the knight, as well as his experience in the battle against him.

They all conversed for a while, with Gus learning more than he could’ve imagined. The young lad knew almost everything now about Marin, except the blatant fact that he was undead and existed over two hundred years ago.

Marin decided that one day he would tell Gus the truth and share his situation. One day, when he was ready to hear it. The cart traveled the final curve of the road that led to the kingdom, and finally, Nocturne Castle was in view.

They were home.

Edward Eisen gawked at the size and beauty of the castle. Even Gus and Marin marveled at it again after not seeing it for a while.

“Wow, you told me the castle would be stunning, but this was more than I expected,” Eisen admitted with a glimmer of awe in his eyes.

Marin was satisfied. There was not a soul on the planet who couldn’t appreciate the fine architecture and size of the stone brick behemoth.

“Welcome to your new home, for as long as you want to call it,” Marin told Eisen. “I hope it meets your requirements.”

“I don’t think there’s going to be a problem,” the doctor responded, eyeing all the fine details of just the front side of the castle alone. He guessed that it contained at least three hundred rooms. Probably more.

It pleased Marin immensely that he was back where he belonged. There was no other feeling like being in the castle. It had truly become a part of who he was.

There would be much work to be done. RAM agents were arriving in the following days to inspect the kingdom. Eisen had to be integrated into the castle as the new doctor. Gus was going to need lessons on becoming an elemental.

Time would tell how everything would go.