Death of a King

Chapter 26

"You are a fool." That foreboding snarl sounded, followed by a high pitched laugh that pierced my ears like needles. The beast threw his head back, too caught up in his own humor to notice that I wasn't watching him.

    Something was different.

    Something was wrong.

    "Oh, so you sense it too? Well let me inform you of a few changes we've had around here since your last visit." The beast stepped up beside me, his ever present chains rattling in rhythmic pulses with each step he took. Then he was beside me, kneeling down with a smile stretched too far across his face, and pointed that same skinned finger into the void, "First and foremost, our king seems to have regained his heart."

    I followed his direction to where Dustin sat, as always, perched in his throne. The thorns were still absent, leaving those bleeding and gaping wounds across his body. But as the blood dripped from his face, down his neck, and along his torso, I discovered that the blood stain on his shirt was significantly smaller than the last time.

    Almost gone entirely.

    As if sensing my confusion, Dustin reached for the bottom of his shirt, his eyes still just as lifeless, and pulled the cloth high enough for me to see a crude circle of stitches from where someone had sewn the patch of skin back onto his chest. While the sight of it was sickening, I felt a small surge of relief swell inside me.

    Dustin's heart had been restored. That meant I beat the skeleton.

    "Beat me? Oh dear, your thoughts just won't do." He declared, rising from his crouched position beside me. Of course I couldn't ask him what he meant, I gave up trying to speak in this hellhole a long time ago. But my bewilderment must have traveled to the beast in troves because he turned back towards me with empty eye sockets oozing black smoke, "Quiet your thoughts! It's unbearable when you let them wander."

    Behind him, Dustin let the fabric slip from his fingers. Then his hand returned to it's spot on the arm of the chair, waiting.

    Waiting for what?

    "Congratulations, my dear. You restored his heart. Feels good doesn't it, to hold his future in your hands?" The beast was sauntering closer to Dustin, circling around his thrown like a predator. Dustin stared forward, no emotion on that battered face, but I could have sworn I saw his hand twitch just the slightest when the beast lay his claws over Dustin's arm. But the beast didn't notice and the moment passed, returning this Dustin to the shell he's always been.

    I wasn't buying into his bullshit. The beast wouldn't have pulled me into this nightmare just to extend praise.

    The skeleton laughed, his fangs glinting in an aimless light without origin, "You're pretty smart for a bag of bones. Unfortunately it seems that despite all the clues I gave you, the victory of this game goes to me. Like always." He tapped the points of his nails against the wood of Dustin's throne, "If only you used that intelligence to its fullest potential, maybe you could have stopped this."

    Stop what? He told me to restore Dustin's heart in order to win his stupid game, that's what I did.

    "Ah yes, but that's the problem." The beast draped himself over the back of the throne, his gangly arms hanging down around Dustin's body, caging him, as his head watched me at an unhinged angle, "Remember when I told you my warnings weren't meant to help you, only confuse you?" His smile turned sinister, "If that's the case, why would I tell you to restore his heart?"

    Why? Well ... because that's how I win the game. He told me that if I restore Dustin's heart, it saves us both. Otherwise Dustin stays here with this monster. As do I.