RE: Grand Fiction
08-10-2012, 04:15 AM
"The dead walk the earth? Preposterous!"
The Emperor paced up and down in front of his throne.
"It must be a trick. They're simply enemy forces in disguise."
"That was my first thought as well," said the Vizier. "But the reports do not fit with that. Men walking around with no heads, our own casualties getting up and changing sides..."
"Impossible!" the Emperor declared. "The headless men most likely are just short enough to wear their uniforms over their heads. The casualties? Spies, faking death and then attacking to catch us by surprise."
"With a sword still stabbed through their hearts? They must be quite good at it."
"No doubt our soldiers are embellishing these details. Frightened men often come up with stories, you know."
"I am well aware, Your Highness," the Vizier agreed. "But these reports are widespread throughout the army."
"Most likely some of them are enemy infiltrators. To further their story."
"If we have that many infiltrators, Highness, then we may as well not have an army at all."
The Emperor sighed, defeated.
"I suppose it hardly matters. Whether they are living or dead, they are still the enemy, and we still must fight them."
"That is one option," said an unfamiliar voice. "But I have a simpler one."
The Emperor's court gasped in unison as a black-robed man walked in, flanked by two Imperial Guards, their faces a pale white.
The stranger himself was even paler; he looked to be nothing but a skeleton, save for his strange metal arm. He held a staff with a ram's skull in his other hand, and one eye was covered with a metal patch.
"Surrender your empire to me right now, and I will allow you and the remainder of your people to live." Konka Rar grinned, an impressive feat considering his skull carried a permanent one. "I prefer my subjects to be alive when practical; minions are such dull conversationalists."
The Emperor was furious.
"How DARE you, monster! Have you any idea who I am? Do you think me a weakling who will arrgh"
Rar had grasped his mechanical arm around the Emperor's neck by the time he finished his sentence.
"Everyone here is a weakling compared to me," the cyborg lich laughed. "I could claim your pitiful empire without an army, they simply saved me time. Now, are you going to surrender, or will I simply have to negotiate with your heir instead?"
The Emperor weakly gasped out his response.
"Never... you... monster..."
And, in his last moments, he spat on the conqueror's metallic eye.
"Hmmph. Pitiful." Rar tossed the Emperor's body aside before turning to the terrified Vizier. "Now, then. Does anyone here have the legal authority to transfer power to me, or do I need to track down a prince?"
The Emperor paced up and down in front of his throne.
"It must be a trick. They're simply enemy forces in disguise."
"That was my first thought as well," said the Vizier. "But the reports do not fit with that. Men walking around with no heads, our own casualties getting up and changing sides..."
"Impossible!" the Emperor declared. "The headless men most likely are just short enough to wear their uniforms over their heads. The casualties? Spies, faking death and then attacking to catch us by surprise."
"With a sword still stabbed through their hearts? They must be quite good at it."
"No doubt our soldiers are embellishing these details. Frightened men often come up with stories, you know."
"I am well aware, Your Highness," the Vizier agreed. "But these reports are widespread throughout the army."
"Most likely some of them are enemy infiltrators. To further their story."
"If we have that many infiltrators, Highness, then we may as well not have an army at all."
The Emperor sighed, defeated.
"I suppose it hardly matters. Whether they are living or dead, they are still the enemy, and we still must fight them."
"That is one option," said an unfamiliar voice. "But I have a simpler one."
The Emperor's court gasped in unison as a black-robed man walked in, flanked by two Imperial Guards, their faces a pale white.
The stranger himself was even paler; he looked to be nothing but a skeleton, save for his strange metal arm. He held a staff with a ram's skull in his other hand, and one eye was covered with a metal patch.
"Surrender your empire to me right now, and I will allow you and the remainder of your people to live." Konka Rar grinned, an impressive feat considering his skull carried a permanent one. "I prefer my subjects to be alive when practical; minions are such dull conversationalists."
The Emperor was furious.
"How DARE you, monster! Have you any idea who I am? Do you think me a weakling who will arrgh"
Rar had grasped his mechanical arm around the Emperor's neck by the time he finished his sentence.
"Everyone here is a weakling compared to me," the cyborg lich laughed. "I could claim your pitiful empire without an army, they simply saved me time. Now, are you going to surrender, or will I simply have to negotiate with your heir instead?"
The Emperor weakly gasped out his response.
"Never... you... monster..."
And, in his last moments, he spat on the conqueror's metallic eye.
"Hmmph. Pitiful." Rar tossed the Emperor's body aside before turning to the terrified Vizier. "Now, then. Does anyone here have the legal authority to transfer power to me, or do I need to track down a prince?"