《The dark king》 The Beginning " Anna " A gentle woman voice sounded out and a woman come out from small house that''s near me. she called to me with a basket in hand and walk towards me " what is it, mom? " I answered her call while chopping the woods. My axe swung down and split the wood in two, with sweats all over my face and neck, I throw my axe to the ground and run towards my mom with smiles on my face " lunch time? " I ask my mom with excitement and mom only give a wry smile seeing my behavior " yep, here your food you greedy girl " I only giggling and spread both my hands to my mom and she gave me a bread and small cheese to me " let''s seat in the usual place and eat our lunch " My mom pointed a big tree and i hurriedly nodded and walk to the tree while munching the bread " haha... Your appetite is as big as ever Anna " My mom make a little laugh when she look at me. I just shrugged my shoulder and still focused on eating my food We eat in silence while chilling below the tree and seeing scenery surrounding us " oh... Good afternoon miss Clara " A wooden carriage carrying wheats and a middle aged man riding it in the road that quite far from us waving his right hand and shouted to us My mom smiling looking the man and replied the greeting " good afternoon too- " Before mom finish her words, I cut it with my voice " hey! Where''s my good afternoon uncle Braun! " I shout at the man while crossing the hands and look sideway, giving a pouting face " gahaha good afternoon to you too Anna " The middle aged man laughed at my actions, and somehow I become more annoyed " Anna! That''s rude! " Mom scold me while showing an angry face " but mom..." " no but! Don''t do it again! I''m sorry for Anna behavior mister Braun " " haha it''s okay miss Clara " Uncle Braun waving his right hand that making a it''s OK gesture while laughing " Anna is 8 years old right now right? " " yes, she will be 9 this year " My mom smiling while looking at me that still wear a pouting face " ooh time sure is fast, I remember before that you still at this height " He make a height measure gesture in front of his belly " that''s four years ago! " My face become hot from his words, I protested and give him my angry face to pass '' it''s in the past! '' message to him. He suddenly burst into a laugh again and now my mom join him, giggling while covering her mouth " hahaha okay okay little Missie Anna, I have to go. Delivering this wheat to the city. See ya, both of you " He lash his horse with reign to continue walk again As we stare at his figure that slowly farther away and suddenly, mom voice sounded out " mister Braun is a nice guy isn''t he? " " mm " I make a small nod while still staring at his figure that now already gone " okay, now finish your job. Mom will go and finish her job too " Mom standing up from where we sit and walk to our house still carry the basket with her. I too stand up and walk to the pile of chopped woods and axe near it _____________ " I''m home " A man wearing robe and big basket tied in his shoulder open the door of our house with bringing a bow in his right hand and three rabbits in the left hand If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. " dad! " I run to dad and hug him in the belly. Dad staggered a bit from my sudden hug " ouch, be careful Anna. Your dad is tired from hunting you see " Even though dad say so, he still smiling at me and I just don''t care what he said and stick my tongue at him " you little.... " Dad make a devious smile and I let go of my hug and run towards the kitchen while shouting " stupid dad, did you bring me a present? " I say so while laughing to my dad who his brow twitched at my words and standing helplessly still in front of the door " haahh... I wonder what I dreamed to have a rebellious daughter like you... " Dad talking to himself with head shaking to right and left while making a helpless face " hey! I''m the cutest daughter in the world! You should proud to have me dad! " Puffing my chest, I said so proudly in the kitchen where mom cooking out dinner and laughing at us " oh my cute daughter, you will be more cuter if you give your pitiful dad some massages later " " no present no massage! " Sticking my tongue again to my dad, I crossed my hand and turn my head to other side, putting an '' no more negotiation! '' attitude " hahahaha " Mom laughing loudly and dad shoulders dropping down while sighing " okay, enough you two. Dinner ready so Anna prepare the plates for us and you, dear, go take off your gears to its place and the rabbits here in the kitchen " Mom voice sounded out and we do what we told, preparing ourselves for dinner ___________ " -and berth suddenly shout out to me, telling there''s a bear heading to our direction from south. I prepared my bow, nocked an arrow, ready for the bear. As we both see the bear, I aim my bow to it and shoot. The awesome shoot from me of course will not miss, so the arrow go straight to the bear left eye. Make it stumble and fall down from its charge. Clean dead " Dad telling us his experience today with his hunter friend berth after we eat our dinner. Puffed out his chest and make his head up a little bit, dad looks really proud with what he did today. Well it''s sounds like a boast from dad tho " I bet you are boasting dad, maybe you guys run when you guys see the bear and hiding in the top of the tree, shooting from atop " When dad hear my words, his jaw suddenly dropped and making a shocked face. Me and mom laughed when we see that " hahaha your face is something now, dad haha " " Hahaha " I laughed at my dad while clutching my belly and mom laughing too with her hand covering her mouth "..to think my own daughter is making fun of me....haahh... " Dad said that while sighing, our laughter become more loud when we hear that *BRAK* Sound of door being opened forcefully can be heard and we hurriedly see the direction of our door. There a man with with a leather armor in his body stand, face pale and look at us with a panic in his eyes, he''s berth, an hunter same as my dad " John! The Arcaest armies is here! Go run quickly! " Bow ready in his hand, he take an arrow from the quiver in his back shoulder and nocked it, pointed at the ground, ready to aim and shoot. He go back outside, standing right in front of door and watch surrounding area My dad and mom sprung up from their chairs and go to their room. Dad out with bow in his left hand and quiver in his right waist while mom with a bag in her shoulder " they are here! " Uncle berth voice sounded and while aiming at some direction, he let go of the arrow and after that hurriedly try to enter the house Before he take the second step, his body suddenly fall to the left. 3 arrows buried deeply in right side of his head, right waist, and right leg We stunned for a moment from that. Something stirred inside me, it''s from my stomach. Seeing uncle berth that now become a corpse had make me want to throw up all my food in my stomach " urp " I quickly put both my hands in front my mouth, try to not throw up while my eyes still can''t look away from uncle berth body " Anna come! " Mom grab my right hand and pull me from my chair. I still can''t look away. '' what? What happened? Why uncle berth suddenly being shoot from arrows? Where those arrows come from? Who shoot him? '' My mind is in mess as my body following my parents out from our house using our back door. I can only dozed off while we run towards the forest " they are there! " " don''t run away! " Several shouts come from our back and we still try to run, want to get as far away from here as possible. " mom... Dad.. What happened? Who''s those guys? " My voice come out from my mouth while we still running " please don''t asking much now sweetie, we need to go from here soon. They are a bad guys " Mom scold me and look at me with a serious face. I shut my lips and try to focus on running. Soon we heard horses sounds from behind. I look at my parents and they seem to be very frightened. Dad grip on my left hand tighten and he suddenly say to us " we don''t have a chance if they had horses, I''ll buy some time for us so we can- " " no! " Before dad finish his word, mom shouted at him " we''ll go together! No more discussion! " Mom said that as her eyes streaming with tears, she glare at dad to not disobey. Dad smile wryly to mom and he let go of my hand, stopped at running and nocked an arrow " you guys go ahead! I''ll catch up later! " His voice sounded and we stop running too but when mom looks want to say something, mens with an full metal armor riding horses can be seen from distance. A crest of eagle standing on a cane picture embedded in the middle of their chest armor can be seen " go! " Dad yelled at us and with a sudden grip that on my right hand become more tighten, mom pull me and drag me to run " no dad! What are you doing?! Come with us! " I try to go to dad but mom grab is strong, I can only raise my left hand to dad direction, try to reach him " mom! Dad is-" " shut up and be obedient for only this time, Anna! " Mom glared at me and her voice is really angry. My mouth agape at that and I look back to dad direction but soon I regret it One of the armored mens stab dad with a spear while ride his horse. Dad fall back from with a spear coming out behind his back " oooohhh! " Dad grab the spear handle tightly, not let it go even if the armored man try to pull it. Dad managed to halt one guy but there''s still 3 guys riding horses come to us, ignoring dad. " Hicks.... Hicks... " Mom crying while covering her mouth. We try to run faster and faster but our stamina is already depleted, and the three guys catching up shortly " stop right there whore! " One of them block our path and soon others followed too, surround us. " ....ah....ah.... " Mom voice become smaller and smaller and when I see them, I have many emotions in my heart, sad, angry, confused,regret but one thing that really stood out from others, hatred. " We got a big catch here guys! " " hahaha " The man in front of us go down from his horse, and others too do the same while laughing. They took off their helmets and shortly two of them charge toward us, grabbing both of our hands tightly, detain it behind our backs " please have mercy sir... You guys can do whatever to me but please spare my daughter... " Mom lower her head to the man that the only one who not seize us " hahaha you don''t need to beg, we have friends that want to have fun with little girls like her, so she needed here " He laughed and soon grab mom clothes and rip it apart " no...please... " " no! Mom! " I struggled but the hands gripping my hand is so strong, the men that ripping off my mom clothes quickly take off his armor in his pants and soon his pants too " nooo! Nooo! You shit! Let go of my mom!! " I struggled with all I have but the guy that apprehend me is too strong for my strength ,the guy that take off his pants look at me with Annoyed face. He walks towards me and hit the nape behind my head and shortly, my head black out, I lost consciousness '' mom.... '' ____________ In the darkness surround me, suddenly I see a view of a village. It''s a small village in the Far East of borders of our great kingdom, Elesta. The people of the village is nice peoples. They help each other, greeting whenever they meet each other and even have fun together, make a party to celebrate the harvest of this year or something like that, etc. But that happy and peaceful village is being attacked by armies one day. The armies wearing full plate armor and raise flag that show eagle standing on crane picture. The soldiers kill the villager, blood and flames everywhere eyes can see, sounds of aggrieved of villagers is loud to my ears " arrghh... " " save us god! " " no! Please spare me! " " mercy! " " mommy... mommy..." '' mommy....?......Mom! '' " mmpphhh! " I open my eyes, head hurts but I ignore it. I can''t move my hand, it''s being tied by something, same with my mouth. Something is being tied to my mouth. I can''t open it. I look around to search for mom, pray nothing happened to her. The sky is dark so it''s still in the night. Fire flickers three feet in front me, the four guys that I see before now sitting near the campfire, wears only shirt, armors and weapons beside them. Looking around, I can only see horses tied in tree branches left of them and lump of meats in the right side .... No It''s not ordinary meats The meat is familiar to me .... Mom? No......Nooooooo!! " hhhnngghhh! Nnmmmphh! " I move my feet, my hands, everything to struggle free. No, no, no, no, no, please, please, please it''s not mom, please god... " ohh, the little bitch wake up huh? Searching for your mom, shortie? " They notice my sudden outburst and the man that hit me before saw me with a snicker in his mouth " well, we really have fun with your mom, we want to bring her with us as toy in our arduous journey and share her with our fellow soldiers. But sadly we have an order from our superior to not have any witnesses, such a shame " The man shakes his head while shrugged his shoulders as if it can''t be helped and his friends laughed at me '' kill '' '' I''ll kill them, all of them.... I swore it ! '' I glare at the man with a intent to kill him and imagine the worst way to make him had a really painful death " oi oi, what''s with your gaze, bitch? Did you forget who can kill who now? " The man looks at me with an angry face and spit in the ground " you know, we plan to have a last fun by try to lure wild animals tomorrow morning and watch you being eaten but I change the plan. Let''s torture you first, to not rude with adults and teach you what is true pain. Then we feed you to the animals " He took out the dagger laying near him and unsheated it while slowly walks to me " what a nice night we have today, lady and gentlemens " A young man voice ring out in the surrounding and a man wearing black hooded robe walking out of the bushes " can I join in this small merry party? " Suddenly the robed man that walk in out of place disappear, only to appeared behind the man who hold the dagger. But in the next moment, the dagger dropped to the ground with a piece of hand still holding it " aahhhh! " Blood splutter from the man that now become cripple, tears and snot flowing down from the face that show a pure horror. " kill him! Kill him! " Clutching his handicapped right hand, he shouting to his comrades while run backwards to the campfire " stop " With that voice come out, all the mens stopped moving, trembling in place and not even blinking " now now, I see you trashs have fun huh? It will be bullying if this small lady not join in the fun too right? So please patient for a minute, while we two discuss something " The robed man looks at my direction and start walking toward me. When he arrived in front of me, he waved his hand and something that tied in my mouth rip off " what''s your name little girl? " He ask me while looking all over me as if studying me from top to bottom " Anna... " I don''t know why I said my name to a complete stranger like him but there''s something like an invisible power from his eyes that make me do all he say without objections " Anna huh.... do you want revenge, Anna ? " *degdeg* My heart pumping so fast for unknown reason and my instinct tell me to run away, this man is a bad thing " do you desire strength? " * deg deg deg deg * My heart pumping so fast that my mind become blank for a second, my instinct really wants me to stay away from here, quickly run, but deep inside that instinct, I know. If I desire strength, if I want to my fate to change, this man can do it. Did I want strength? Yes I want it I want it and revenge so much that I willing to even sell my soul to the devil " yes... " My sound come out from my dry lips as my gaze land in front of his gaze, determined to even do anything as long as I have my revenge " I want it...Revenge and strength.." My resolve become more steady when I say more of that words. The man smiling at me and he opened his mouth " fine, let''s do the contract, my new subject " As he say that, his canine tooth become more and more long and his black eyes become red as blood with a slit pupil in it " stay still and don''t move " He kneeled to reach my position, bring his opened mouth to my neck and bite it " mmh " I let out a small sound as I feel some of my blood being sucked and something enter my body from my neck " the contract is done... Congratulations to become my subject Anna " I don''t know when he did it but all the ropes that tied me, rip off. I try to stand up and surprised at a sudden power that travel around my body " they are yours Anna, enjoy your toys....and meals " He make an offer gesture to the immobile mens that only have panics and horrors on their faces. Power surges on my body as I feel both of my hand nails and canine tooth grow and my eyes that had a little difficulty in seeing the night gone, replaced with power that makes me can see clearly as day " gladly, my lord " The Party " where''s brok team? " One of my comrade in arms,brian, ask me a question while holding a unconscious woman in his shoulder " ...what you gonna do with her? " I replied with another question as I divert my attention back to my sword, polishing it so that it won''t dull and broke in the most critical moment when I will have another battle "are you a fool? It''s obvious right? Do you want to have a taste of her when I done later?" He scoff at me for a second, then back to looking at the woman with lust writen all over in his face "....I''ll pass " I say that to him while give him a shooing gesture with my hand. He just snicker at me as a response and walk to the forest direction, humming in the way. As a veteran soldiers, I''m not surprised with an event like this. Fed up actually, to see all this happened all the time when we come out victorious. It''s like we are not different with bandits much. But I know that it''s important for something like this to happen. Soldiers risk their lives in battles and wars, we could die any moment, and we need something to keep the moral of the soldiers. As well as motivation. But aren''t this too cruel? I''m here to become a soldier, to protect my homeland, not for butchering helpless peoples. It''s like all my hard work to become one of the elite is gifted with more deaths and more rapes, not to protect, but for killing. I sighed at my own reverie as I look upward towards the sky. It''s still midnight, we the knights rank, coming here with 100 of us to infiltrate our enemy kingdom, Elesta. The plan is to make shortcut way to go the Elesta most weapon supply and trading point town, Sherath city, as fast as possible. Then we will take an convenient hiding spot that already planned and wait till the main army attack in front of Elestia door, the fortress that border our Arcaest territory and Elestia territory, blackwall fortress and declare the war with action . Soon when all Elestia attention go to the blackwall and utilise all available soldiers to the fortress, we will strike to the town when it will be become unguarded because lack of soldiers. With that, our armies will surround Elestia, being attacked in the front and back. That''s why, even though if the shortcut will have villages in the way, we''ll destroy it. Even if it''s just only to make the journey one day faster I sigh again in the thought of destroying and killing another villagers. With that, I look around me to see my fellow knights. They make party with foods we ravaged from the houses, make a big campfire with woods from the village building we destroyed, and chatting in the area where we killed most of the villagers. I can even hear three or four of woman cry and man panting sounds from there and there Night still long, it will be better if I quickly finish maintenance of my sword and go to sleep ______________ After I done with those scums and buried mom, I walk to the man that now become my master. " my lord, let me go for a while to get my revenge...I''ll kill all the bastards that destroy my village and my life " I kneel in front of him and lower my head while say so. Silence filled the area as master didn''t reply my permission to go " ....lord? " I raise my head and saw him looking other direction, I follow his gaze and see that the direction he look now is the direction to my village " just call me master will do for now. I see many life signatures that at least will be more than 80 peoples, how you fight and kill those many soldiers? "If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. I grit my teeth when I hear that and my voice sounded out " so... Even with this power, I can''t kill all of them?.... " I bit my lip when say that, head and shoulder dropping down and disappointment come to my heart " sure you can " I hear master voice that bring hope, I quickly turn my head to him while giving an excited face " you won''t die. Not with those shitty iron swords they use. But it will take too long for you to kill them... let me help you with that " He walk to my right and take some distance from me. When he seem satisfied with the distance, a black book appeared out of thin air in his right hand. The book cover is pitch black with some intricate designs around it. He open the book and flipped page by page. When he found the page he search for, he placed his right hand straight in front of him and chanting some unknown words I never heard before "heed the call Othe dark one" He clench his hand and black liquid flow from his hand, more and more of it streaming down until it become small pool below him " Iconjure thee, for thou the one shalt bore destruction to my foe " The small black liquid moving as if it has mind on its own and change to a shape of humanoid creature that have two pair big bat wings, two big horn and two small between the big ones and long tail. Shortly, the liquid surface changed to black scales, make it alive. *GROOARR* The creature howled with a loud roar, open its big wings and bring its first yell in this world. Blood drained from my face when it look at me with its bright glowing eyes that made of flames. Master looks satisfied with the creature appearance and turn his head to me " now, we are ready for the party " ___________ " jord, it''s your turn for night watch " One of my fellow knights wake me up. I open my eyes wearily, still sleepy. I get up from the bed of one the villagers house. I nod my head to him and rub back of my head, yawning. He gone to take his turn to sleep after seeing my nod. As he left, I took my sword that lying beside me when I sleep and go outside the house. The campfire now quiet with only few people that only still wake because night watch duty. I see two knights talking about something, they only give sidelong glance to my direction and continue the conversation. " so... Did you guys already cleaned up the mess of your guys " fun " ? " I take a seat in the opposite direction of them, check if they are not careless enough to forget because of their ''fun'' " don''t worry about that, we are not idiots you know " One of them with short brown hair clicked his tongue in front of me while saying that, if I''m not wrong he called Gerry . Not that I''ll bother with his childish reply " hey jord, it must be hard to be a good guy huh? I never see you take part in the fun " The one just spoke had elongated face, same color hair with Gerry, brown, and have that annoying smile is Steph. After Steph said that, Gerry make a mocking smile and chimed in " yeah, it must be harsh to have the nobel personality. I know you come from a nobel family, but aren''t you just the third son? Kicked from house for not inherit the land and become soldier. And nobels always more cold hearted than us, the soldiers. They always look down on commoners and see commoners is just goods aren''t they ? " " shut up " I glared at them, each of them. Hands in my sword sheath and handle, ready to pull it anytime. " easy jord, we don''t want to take a fight here. Not with the mission still ongoing " Steph take a back down gesture and Gerry only snorts at me. I let go of my sword handle but still glaring at them " by the way, I don''t see our leader, Brok, for some time now? Brian ask me about him before but I don''t know where''s he " I take other topic for conversation. They just don''t know to shut their mouth and not to cross the line " well, I hear he''s chasing one family of the villager? Maybe he''s having fun and play some " games" with them. Hahaha " Steph glossed over the topic with a joke. But chasing a family of random villager? Well, we must not have witnesses for this mission. Hope the leader not to harsh on them Gerry and Steph chatting continue again. Talking and boasting that this woman had a nice hip for the moves or that woman had nice boob and ass to grab. I only can stare at the flames dancing in front of us, dozing off. Better than hearing the talk of maniacs *GROOAARR* A loud howl ring out in the surrounding and we suddenly sprung into action. Quickly stand up, we see a shadow of creature that has big pair of wings flying out from the forest. It circling around above us and its flame eyes stare sharply into our very being " WAKE UP!! WE UNDER ATTACK! " Steph shout loudly to alert others. Me and Gerry unsheathed our sword, ready for the sudden attack of the creature. "Gerry! Let''s take our bow to- " My voice cut off as I turned my head to Gerry, his head is gone. Blood splutter from the headless body and the body fall to the ground. When the body fall, behind the body is a man wearing black robe, holding Gerry head in his left hand " hello sir Knight. Nice to meet you in this night " He lean down his body a little, make it like a small bow. He look at me with smile in his face while licking his blood stained finger from his right hand " aarrghh " Steph pained sound sounded. As I turn my head to Steph, I see a small girl with blonde hair, red eyes as red as blood, ripping off Steph right arm and bite his neck while clutching him from behind and throttle him with her left hand " aaahhh my armmmm" " look out! Watch your head! " " shoot! Shoot! " I turned my head to my fellow knights direction, body trembling. My comrades already come out and bring swords, spears, and bows. They engage in fight with the creature as the creature movement is fast. Its so fast and agile to dodge most of their arrows . Even though some manage to land in the creature body, the arrows can''t pierce its scale and so the creature only shrugged off the arrows. With the fast movement, it will plunge down sometimes with heads or body parts of knights, it''s like a view of eagle catching up its prey " what the hell is that ?! " " hiiiii, it''s a demon! " " noo! Joeeeee! " " someone save meeee " Panic, confusion, disorder filled the entire formation of the knights. As if that creature don''t enough, the small girl joined the array and killing many knights while smiling " well well, if they so fast killing them all, it will be make the party less guests, right,mister Knight ? Let''s call back our guests that already dead " I shudder as I hear his voice. Bring back the dead? I look at him as if he''s a madman. Reading the black book in hands, he let out weird language from his mouth. Shortly, a hand pop out from the ground. More and more hands popped out near him , soon peoples come out of the ground near him but the peoples features is missing a lot of their body parts My god "aren''t the party become more enjoyable if more people coming? Well let''s enjoy it together, mister knight " He give me a gentle gaze and a warm smile. I can only shiver uncontrollably as I see all those dead people eyes staring at me. The mysterious man clap his hands and yelled " let''s the dinner party, begin! "