Reasons of Evil

by Dennis Jode

  It looked like an oasis in a desert. The area around Gallohall reeked of death, but inside the kingdom was paradise.

  The king had a disgusting smile plastered on his face.

  “Give the signal to attack.” the king’s greed overcame his sense of dread. Gallohall was untouched. In his eyes, the entirety of the kingdom already belonged to him.

  The general immediately followed the king’s command, but he couldn’t shake off the fear that was starting to creep up on him.

  With a shaky voice, he gave the order to the soldiers.

  “Attack!”

  Soldiers started running towards Gallohall. The magicians at the back started conjuring magic.

  The air was filled with the sounds of soldiers’ battle cries. As they approached the black smoke, they set aside their fears and hoped for the best.

  As the first set of soldiers were about to enter, the black smoke started spreading out towards the army. The smoke was not concentrated enough to immediately devour them, but everybody could see the damage being dealt.

  The soldiers started looking like they were decaying. The battle cries that filled in the air slowly turned into screams of agony.

  “What is going on?!”, the king angrily asked the general.

  “Y-Your Highness! I do not have any idea as well.” the general looked dumbfounded.

  As the smoke spread further and further, more soldiers started falling in a gruesome way. The soldiers at the very front were slowly disappearing, looking as if it was being eaten by the black smoke.

  The smoke had spread through almost half of the army. It was then that the king remembered Covenwood’s advice. He was one of those who thought that the king of Covenwood was making up stories in order to hide their embarrassment after losing the pooled army. Now, he knew that he was speaking the truth.

  “Give the signal to retreat!”, the king commanded the general. The king immediately turned around and started making his way back.

  The soldiers who were once eager to charge were now trying to retreat, but the moment they turned around, the black smoke that was slowly spreading suddenly moved with incredible speed.

  It didn’t take long before the entire army was surrounded by the black smoke. In the very middle of the army was the king and his general.

  The surrounding smoke started becoming smaller. The soldiers who were in the outer area when they were surrounded started dying one by one.

  The ring of smoke started becoming thicker and thicker. The soldiers that made contact with the black smoke did not even look like they were decaying. It looked as if they were getting sucked in by the darkness.

  The army was in shambles. The people in the outer area were trying to get further inside. They started using violence in order to survive, clinging to the small hope that they could survive.

  The king looked helplessly as his army became smaller and smaller. He finally started regretting the decision he had made.

  Less than a thousand soldiers remained. The ring that surrounded them no longer looked like smoke. It looked like pure darkness.

  The ring moved ever so slowly, as if to torment them. The king felt like the ring was slowly suffocating him.

  Before long, the only ones left were the king and his general. The general couldn’t move or speak out of fear ever since they were surrounded by the black smoke.

  The darkness finally devoured the general. All that was left was the king.

  The king fell on his knees. He never thought that he would meet his end like this.

  But before he could accept his death, the darkness around him suddenly dispersed.

  The bright sky’s sudden appearance temporarily blinded him. As he regained his vision, he was surprised to see what surrounded him.

  Thousands upon thousands of black figures all faced towards him. All of them were expressionless. Their eyes and mouths were all closed. Everyone looked very peaceful.

  Beside him, a black figure stood, with a face he was very familiar with.

  He looked around in fear, and realized that all of the black figures were familiar faces.

  They were all the soldiers from his army.

  As the king’s mind was filled with confusion, he heard footsteps from behind him.

  He turned around and started trembling out of fear due to the man’s appearance.

  In front of him was a man with red skin, and a skull clearly protruding from his face. A bloody crown sat on top of his head. “You dare disturb my rest?”

  CHAPTER 7

  The king immediately started pleading for his life.

  “I-I did not mean to! Please! Spare this old man!”, the king begged Grimmere.

  His voice was shaky. The desperation to live could clearly be heard from his voice, but Grimmere remained unaffected.

  “I believe the king of Covenwood already warned you about me.” Grimmere calmly said.

  The king couldn’t help but swallow his saliva. He knew that his life could end the moment he pissed of the man in front of him.

  “Y-yes, but I sent my army in order to send help! I heard you were the only one here!”, the king made up a lie on the spot. He needed to be on Grimmere’s good side.

  Unfortunately, Grimmere could see right through him. Grimmere looked at the king with disgust.

  “Despicable.”, Grimmere angrily said.

  The army around them suddenly started moving closer towards the king.

  “These people are the ones whose lives were sacrificed in order to appease your greed. But they ended up dying in vain.” Grimmere told the king.

  “G-greed? N-no! I would never…”, the king started panicking. He tried to convince Grimmere that that wasn’t true, but Grimmere cut him off.

  “How do you intend to repay them?”, Grimmere asked the king.

  “W-what do you mean?”, the king asked.

  “They threw away their lives for nothing just because you told them to.” Grimmere answered.

  The king looked around. The soldiers drew their weapons, which were still made out of black smoke. They pointed it towards the king.

  “W-wait! I will give you anything! I have plenty of riches back in Ravengard!”, the king started pleading once again.

  Grimmere scoffed at him and walked back towards Gallohall.

  The king continued pleading, but the army of black figures started collapsing upon him. His cries for help suddenly turned into screams of agony, as the black figures stabbed him repeatedly with their weapons.

  The king’s skin and innards felt like burning while he was feeling the sharp pain from being cut and stabbed by swords.

  It did not take long before the screams stopped. The king did not last long. A pool of blood poured out from the king’s body. His skin looked as if it was rotting, as well as his innards, which could clearly be seen due to the massive cuts that he had received.

  After the king’s death, the army turned back into black smoke and covered the dead body. Moments later, not a trace of battle could be seen outside Gallohall.

  Grimmere did not bother to look back. He summoned one of the black figures.

  “Spread the news.” he told the black figure, which immediately went to follow his orders.

  With this, he believed that he has finally set an example as to what happens when anyone opposes him.

  News of the fall of Ravengard quickly spread all throughout the land.

  The kingdoms who were thinking of attacking Gallohall all had second thoughts. The army of Ravengard was not something to be scoffed at, yet they were quickly eradicated.

  Everything was going according to Grimmere’s plan.

  The entirety of Gladmont lived in fear out of Grimmere’s existence. With the help of the darkness, he spread around more and more stories that would make people oppose him less.

  Ever since stories of him started appearing, the amount of monsters that were threatening the kingdoms grew smaller and smaller, but they still existed.

  Because of this, t
he people were unsure if the Demon Lord was still alive or not. And so, the fear they had was multiplied.

  The Demon Lord, who had monsters at his disposal, and the man who controls black smoke that devours life.

  Taken from the stories that were passed around, people gave Grimmere a nickname. They couldn’t call him the Demon Lord since they still thought that he could be alive, and so they called him by another name.

  ‘The Harbinger of Death’.

  People lived under fear for decades. Once in a while, a kingdom would be brave enough to attack Gallohall, but they only proved to be more fodder for the people’s fears.

  The attack from monsters became less fierce. Traveling between kingdoms was much safer compared to before. But despite all this, the humans still feared for their lives everyday. They thought that the land they were living in was in danger, but they did not know that the peace they longed for was right under their noses.

  Grimmere had succeeded. The humans no longer posed a threat to each other.

  The entirety of Gallohall remained untouched since his rule. The kingdom was still covered in black smoke, but it became thicker due to the attacks of multiple kingdoms.

  The area around the kingdom looked like a desolate wasteland, but the inside looked like a normal kingdom, except for the fact that it was empty. There were no humans.

  Grimmere sat in his castle’s dining room and ate meals that were made with the livestock and crops that they grew in Gallohall. He looked forward to eating since it reminded him that he still had a human side.

  Over the years, he had tasted many dishes, but for some reason, they all tasted the same. Raw or cooked, seasoned or not, the taste that lingers in his mouth is always the same.

  The more time passed, the more Grimmere felt different.

  At first, he felt that he had lost the ability to empathize with others. He was able to murder in cold blood. His emotions were slowly disappearing, and what remained was nothingness. He did not feel lonely. He only felt that he had a duty to uphold.

  After a few years, he had lost his conscience. He no longer felt guilt for killing anything.

  Grimmere didn’t want to believe it, but his humanity was slipping away. He could not empathize with others since he is not one of them.

  As his sense of humanity was dying, he sat down on his throne, expressionless and still. He waited and waited. He listened to the news from the darkness that he scattered all around the world. He no longer needed to eat and drink to replenish his body.

  And so, he sat in the darkness of his throne room, waiting for something to go wrong. No kingdom would dare to bare its fangs against him, and no other force in the world could ever dream to defeat him. He did not have to do anything, yet he is keeping the peace of the world.

  That is until one day, an announcement was made throughout the entirety of Gladmont.

  …

  In the kingdom of Covenwood, a parade was being held on the streets.

  “Please, save us, young hero!”, the townsfolk started cheering. A man sat in a carriage, waving towards the townsfolk, as if to show gratefulness for the cheering.

  “You have to defeat the Demon Lord and the Harbinger of Death. The previous hero suddenly disappeared… The people think he was included in the incident that happened in Gallohall…” the king told the man who was still waving towards the townsfolk.

  “Don’t worry, the gods have given me a gift.” the man confidently smiled towards the king as he pulls out a sword from thin air. The sword was glowing. It radiated light, completely erasing any trace of darkness within the carriage.

  “I can only hope that that is enough, Jason.”, the king responded.

  Jason let go of the sword. The sword immediately vanished into thin air. It truly was a spectacle to behold.

  “Where did you find that sword?”, the king asked.

  “I stumbled upon it in my adventures.” Jason said.

  “As you know, I am a mercenary. I was tasked to subjugate monsters that lived in a nearby cave. It was there that I stumbled upon a deep crevice, which oddly lured me in. When I stared at the darkness, it told me to jump.” Jason continued.

  The king felt like he had heard the same story before. He thought about it, and after a while, he finally remembered why it sounded so familiar.

  “Ah! The previous hero was in the same situation. If I recall correctly, he was staring at ‘The End of the World’ when he suddenly received the urge to jump. It was there that he found a book containing lost magic.” the king told Jason.

  Jason was surprised to hear that. A young man who was also given a gift from the gods went missing. His confidence was diminished. He thought that if a gift from the gods wasn’t enough to avoid the Harbinger of Death, then what should he do?

  “I will have to train first before trying to subjugate the Demon Lord and the Harbinger of Death.” Jason told the king.

  “It is better to be cautious.” the king agreed. He knew how strong the enemies were, especially the Harbinger of Death.

  As soon as the parade was over, Jason set out to train. The kingdoms showed their full support and sent the best pieces of armor they could give.

  The population of monsters around Ravengard was extremely small. This was because Jason would go out and subjugate monsters everyday. When he felt that he did not have enough training, he would ask the knights to spar with him. The leader of the knights, Arthur, would volunteer every time.

  “You really should train more. I doubt that half-assed swordsmanship could defeat the Harbinger of Death.” Arthur told Jason, who was lying on the ground after being defeated by Arthur.

  “I’m not half-assing, you’re just too strong.” Jason responded as he got up and patted the dust off his clothes.

  “Are you really going to take on the Harbinger of Death?”, Arthur asked Jason. Worry filled his voice.

  Jason nodded.

  “That man… despite killing an unfathomable amount of humans… I don’t think he’s evil.” Arthur spilled out his thoughts.

  Jason looked at him, dumbfounded.

  “A man that killed humans isn’t evil? Did your brain get damaged or something?”, Jason asked with a small laugh, but Arthur’s expression remained the same.

  “That man… he hasn’t attacked any kingdom at all. He only killed the people who tried to attack Gallohall.” Arthur said.

  “It’s as if… he’s protecting something.” Arthur continued.

  He witnessed his own comrades dying with his own eyes in the hands of the Harbinger of Death, but strangely, he could not bring himself to resent the man. He knew that the king’s motives were impure, and the fact that he was kept alive struck him as odd.

  “Protecting something or not, murderers are murderers.” Jason replied. He already heard of how Arthur and his men were eradicated when they approached Gallohall.

  Arthur told everyone that the Harbinger of Death spared him, but Jason didn’t believe it. Jason thought that Arthur got out with his own abilities, since he knew how powerful Arthur was.

  “Well… whatever you decide on doing… you should remain cautious.” Arthur warned Jason.

  “That man could easily erase an entire army. You should hope that the gods protect you.”

  Arthur continued. He put his weapon back on the rack and made his way back to the barracks. Jason quickly cleaned up the surroundings and followed him back.

  …

  “It has been decided.”

  The king’s voice echoed throughout the throne room. In front of him, Arthur, along with a few knights, and Jason, known as the hero, kneeled before the king.

  “Your first mission would be to defeat the Demon Lord.”, the king announced.

  The men who kneeled simply nodded their head in agreement.

  “Let us not waste more time. Go forth!”, the king exclaimed. The men immediately walked out and started making their preparations.

  “Ah… I had too much to drink last night…”, Arthur told
the rest of the group while rubbing his temples.

  “Who asked you to drink that much? You knew we were going to leave today.” Jason responded.

  The night before, a banquet was held to commemorate the end of the hero’s training. The banquet was basically a farewell party. The people placed their hopes on Jason. They thought that the key to salvation has finally come.

  While riding on their horses, they talked about what they should do during the fights. They had one magician who was capable of healing. The rest were normal infantry.