The King's Remorse

Bow to the Will of the King of Ragdon

"You wanna know? Fine. You'll be dead soon anyways. Just like in this dimension, in my dimension you were the King's righthand man. Same powers, same name, same everything. When we destroyed the Amethyst Throne, every magic-user died except me and Icarus. I was the only 1 who escaped unharmed; Icarus was alive but he lose the ability to fly. You wanna know who killed those people and kept Icarus grounded?"

"Me," I murmur, shoulders sagging. More blood on my hands.

"Yeah, you. And that's why I'm going to make sure you can't betray us." A fire burns in Seneca's eyes.

My heart pounds in my chest. When Seneca lunges at me again, I begin to panic.

Please, I don't want to fight you. I need to find Wolf and carry out Bryant's wish.

She moves to slash at me with her antlers, but I swing my sword and the flat of it slams into the side of her head. Seneca stumbles before her eyelids droop and she collapses to the ground.

"I'm sorry," I whimper. "I'm sorry."

No, you can't feel guilty. You were carrying out Bryant's wishes.

After pressing 2 fingers to her jaw, I feel her pulse. "She's not dead," I assure myself.

"I'm sorry, Seneca." I need to find Wolf, kill her, and bring her back to Bryant. Somehow I gotta figure out how to become the loyal Soldier and Dust Devil Bryant so desires.

xxxx

I venture further out into the landscape of Ragdon, hunting for any signs of Wolf. Anything that doesn't belong or that is out of place. I'm just about at the Ragdon Volcano when I see the 1st signs.

Deep scores are carved into the rock. Based on the torn-up plants that have yet to wilt, it was done recently.

"If only it was dirt, not rock. Then I could follow the footprints. Bryant, why'd you send me. You have Guard who are far better at tracking than I am. Send the Guard who brought in Wolf and Dove. Why me? No, doesn't matter. He asked me to find and kill Wolf, so I will do it. I will find and kill Wolf because he asked. It is not my place to question him." But my voice sounds like I'm trying to convince myself.

Convince myself of something I don't believe.

I spend the next 1/2 hour wandering around and trying to find any more scores or anything that would point me in the direction of whoever made the scores. "Gotta be Wolf, right? Don't know how she would've done so, but I can't think of anyone else who might be able to do that."

Ok, there we go. There's a new set of scores, this time smaller. I jog down the hill on the slopes of Ragdon Volcano.

My ankle complains with every step, but I ignore it. Doctors can't do anything -or, perhaps, won't- and it hasn't gone away in like 10 years. It's not going anywhere anytime soon and Bryant wants Wolf's head, so I'll get it for him.

I kick a pebble with my boot and watch it roll down the hill. "How the hell can I not find possibly the most famous person on Ragdon?"

Besides Bryant, I silently add.

"Cuz she doesn't want you to find her." That voice.

I'm tackled to the ground before I can turn around. The air is knocked from my lungs. I wince as the rough rock tears into my cheek, sloughing a few layers of skin from my face. Soldier training kicks in and I twist around to fight back.

It doesn't last long: the second I turn around and see Wolf's unblinking eyes I become rooted to the spot.

"You're the new Midnight Wolf."