Tyrant of the Ruined Sun

A hundred flashes and wisps of yellow instantly surrounded me, as the call of my Palace Guard rung like the thunder claps in the storm above "Protect his imperial majesty!"

I was immediately surrounded with a wall of gold, but I simply commanded with a chilling voice "Move aside."

"Sire..." They tried to argue, but one look into the black, bottomless pits of my pupils, and it's unnerving shifting shadows of sanity and insanity joined so unnaturally together, that they could not tell anymore what else they masked in that abyssal hole, and they quickly moved aside; opening a narrow corridor that barely just allowed him and I to face each other.

Maximillian was the first to speak, his face a mixed mask of confidence and pure unblemished fun, the one only a child could make, but with a darkness to it that only the mad can understand "I must say lord of the Eclipse Empire, you have truly went far and beyond my expectations."

"Is that so?" I asked with a twisted smile of own, that portrayed a different form of rampant mania than the one that plagued him, but a variety of a far more vile and malignant nature than his own.

"Oh, absolutely!" He excitedly proclaimed; arms open wide, as if he were on a theatrical stage and was delivering the play's final and most important scene, but then a particularly bright lightning bolt exploded in the heavens above us, blinding a few of the weaker momentarily, before the sound of it's rolling thunder boomed, shaking the tower fortress to it's foundations.

Maximillian's already deep red eyes began to subtly shine, as he said with a harmless smile and a mellow voice "But before we continue my lord, would you mind telling his lordship to stand down. I come in peace after all, and I fear his power might continue to disrupt our coming discussion."

"Lord Hekan, you may relax. The Mercenary King is not the type of man to strike his enemy beneath a banner of a momentary truce. Am I correct lord?" I calmly stated, confidence radiating from my bone chilling voice.

Maximillian didn't reply with words, but merely bowed ever so slightly in a perfect gentlemanly curtsy, his usual small smile dancing on his lips; it was only then that Hekan emerged from the lower levels, his glowing purple eyes, like a bird of prey, fixed upon Maximillian.

"We didn't manage to greet each other the last time we met on the hills above Appox, lord Hekan. But it is a pleasure to finally meet my senior in the mystic arts, especially one of your lofty calibre and reputation." Maximillian spoke with not a hint of falsehood in his words, as he saluted the ancient sage.

Yet Hekan didn't answer, rude as it may be, he kept his posture prepared and his mind clear to fight at a moment's notice, with small bursts of lightning flashing in his glowing eyes and wisps of electric light twisting around his finger tips.

The reason for Hekan's excessive caution, despite both of them being Archmages, was not because of a difference in pure fire power, but a difference in expertise. Maximillian is a true battle mage through and through, a warrior who's elevated the profession of magical murder to a near artform, having such finesse, familiarity and unbelievable precision in his battle skills that it now rivals that of a surgeon and his scalpel, or a painter and his brush.

Meanwhile Hekan is an academic and a researcher, a man of science and experiments; not of war and slaughter. And even though he obviously knew war; after all one can't hope to rise in this world without a little blood to colour his hands with, they were still inconsequential before Maximillian's oceans of carnage he routinely swam in for centuries on end.

Hekan's sole advantage in this fight was his vast libraries of wisdom he has memorised, that would amount to ten times the knowledge Maximillian has in every field, whether it be magical or not, even including in Maximillian's own most mastered field of fire magic. But that might still not amount to much before the War Dragon. Because this was not a question of ordinary standards, but one of the age old battle between theoretical and practical experience.

Looking at the still bowing Maximillian, Hekan began to hesitate before the man's clear sincerity; so with a final look at me and a long breathe that escaped his nose, he relaxed his stance and finally said in return "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, lord Maximillian. I have long since heard about you and your exploits. It's only a shame that our first introduction is under such circumstances."

"A shame indeed, but perhaps once all of this is done with, we could sit down together and debate the mysteries of our craft." Maximillian replied with a wide smile, his tone still carrying no lies or even the smallest semblances of deceit with it.

"If the opportunity ever arises, then nothing would bring me greater joy than to host you in such a moment in the Alcazar Archive; I'm certain there is a large deal we could learn from each other." Hekan offered with a grin of his own, the scientist in him screaming in excitement, for there was nothing more he enjoyed more than to debate those he considered his equals, for only beneath the light of the sparks of colliding words could new paths to knowledge be explored.

"As inferior as it might be to your own abode, my palace is also always open for you, my lord." Maximillian humbly replied with his own generous offer of hospitality, the two behaving like two ordinary colleagues, and not as kings and lords.

After the two finished exchanging their cordial words, an awkward silence rested over the tower for a moment before I asked "Now then lord Maximillian, would you like to tell us why you have come here today? Shouldn't you be still commanding your men in this battle of ours? Or have you realized the futility of further sacrifices and come to surrender?" I finished with a sarcastic tone, knowing full well that this dragon was far too proud to surrender like this.

Bursting out with a hearty laugh, as Maximillian's face returned to that of an excited child with a hidden darkness to him, he replied "Quite the opposite actually. I'm here to accept your surrender lord of the Eclipse Empire."

A heavy silence, like that of a choking man wanting to scream settled on the gathered men, as I humorously wondered "Oh? And why would I do that? The way I see it, I'm closer to victory than you ever will, with your southern offensive you paid so highly for now dead in it's tracks and your central army about to be surrounded and slaughtered by my northern forces."

"I'm not so sure about that." Maximillian confidently replied, as he turned his gaze to a signal man with a paper in his hands a few steps away.

Flinching at having everyone's eyes suddenly trained at him, the man replied stutteringly "Th-The northern forces have been h-halted at the mouth of the central passes... They s-say they can't get through b-b-because of a massive stone castle is b-blocking the w-way."

My eyes widen in utter shock as I turn to look at Maximillian, who offered me a satisfies smile and a simple shrug, as he quickly said "Don't look at me like that, I only got the idea after facing your arterial forts for the past few days."

"I see." I replied, my mad filled eyes flaring like a flame drenched in oil, before continuing "Well played Mercenary King, but I still don't see a reason to surrender, do you?"

His amused smile receded, as he said coldly, like a stonehearted strategist "With all due respect lord, you couldn't defeat me after ten days of battle, while holding the advantage, what makes you think that you could defeat me now when we're on equal playing ground, with one of your strongest pieces off the board."

Yet instead of fury and frustration that he expected, I replied asking with a mocking grin as my eyes caught a sight that none had so far, except for maybe Hekan, who stood next to me "I've heard that you enjoy the game of chess lord, is this true?"

Maximillian looked confused for a moment by the randomness of the sudden question, before deciding to play along as he replied, his usual smile now returned to him "Yes I do lord. If you wish to partake in a game or two, I would be more than happy to accompany you anytime."

"I'm going to have to disappoint Mercenary King, for I didn't ask that to play a game with you, as I hold no interest in the game." Maximillian cocked his brow at that moment, while a bloodthirsty smile stretched across my lips "I find the game too restrictive, you see. Too many rules with too few surprises that can occur, unlike a real war."

My words felt like poison acid dripping on the ears of those who heard it, especially those of Maximillian, as he felt a dreadful feeling crawling across his skin at that moment, before he impatiently asked at that moment with knitted brows "What's your point Eclipse emperor."

I said nothing, merely gesturing for him to turn and look behind him, and when he did, his face twisted to one of complete disbelief. To the far east, beyond the Anazoy Canyon a massive dust cloud, one that could only be created by the marching of a great host appeared to be heading this way. Not only that but lines of red falling from sky would constantly appear, before quickly disappearing again.

It needed no further explanation, this was the Eclipse Empire's eastern army, with Sodarus' the Chimera Knights at the vanguard leading the charge, but surprisingly enough it seemed they were still fighting even now.

'Did Maximillian keep a reserve force in his camp?' I thought in confusion, until Maximillian absentmindedly whispered "Eliana?"

It was then that I realised that there was indeed two ninth rank auras flaring wildly in that massive dust cloud. 'They didn't manage to completely defeat her army?! I suppose I underestimated Maximillian's first wife too much. But I can't sense Valdour's aura, did he not follow Sodarus here? Where did he go then?'

"Eclipse Emperor!" Maximillian then turned back to me, his face a monstrous mask of wrath and his aura as intense as a raging wildfire "What have you done?"

I completely released my power and madness in return, as my eyes became so unspeakably eery, as though something that was not I was glaring at them through, as though they had become windows through which a being, one far more sinister and demonic than they could even understand was peering at them, as it silently thirsted for their blood.

"As I said, I found the game boring with too many restrictions." I answered with a voice that was far too twisted to be called human anymore, before I continued with a mocking grin, one that oozed contempt "You have spent too long indulging in your little war games with mediocre opponents Mercenary King, that you've forgotten that in real wars you must always prepare for the unexpected."

The men grew pale as the image of two dragons, one with scales as red as blood and the other as black as ink faced each other across a massive chess board, seemed to manifest behind the two duelling monarchs before them. And that black dragon had suddenly birthed new pieces for both of them from thin air.

Silence again returned to the tower, as every man stood perfectly still like stone statues, feeling as though even breathing too loudly was an unspeakable sin, not against themselves but against the whole world, as that would unleash the calamity held captive within this oppressive silence amde manifest between of these two feuding dragons.

But then a sound none had expected escaped from Maximillian's mouth "Pfft... heheheHAHAHAH!"