Six odd figures were gathered around a round table having a heated discussion in a hidden, dark room.
"They have taken over the fourth quadrant and are quickly encroaching on our strongholds." The broad-shouldered Gryad said.
His grey skin glistened with sweat. Whether that was because of the crisis or because of the heat was unknown.
"Gryad, I understand your worry but the King is yet to speak," Tron spoke with assertion to the worried member of the Royal party.
All six of them looked the same with grey skin and eyes that swirled with purple like a violet whirlpool.
The thinnest among them was the only one with a slightly different look. He had two pairs of horns growing out of the side of his head.
A sign of royalty.
"My king…" Another spoke, her voice shaking.
"…we are surrounded from all sides. They have successfully bypassed our central defenses. It's almost like they knew-"
"Are you suggesting an insurgence?!" Tron raised his voice, drowning her out.
The king raised his hand and all went silent.
"It doesn't matter if it is all planned. What matters is the destruction of this… revolution. Tsk. If you can call it that."
He stood from his seat, armour weaving itself out of the fabric of space around him and a crown made of stars hovering above his head.
"Now," His eyes hardened and turned pitch black, "Let's rain down hell upon those unruly demons."
All five other people shifted slightly; King Roan was joining the fray.
Space flickered and they appeared amidst a battlefield drenched in orange blood.
All demons on the battlefield froze at his presence.
Those on his side fell at his feet while the intruders worried for their lives.
"In both realms, never had I imagined such an occurrence and they say the Void realm is unified." King Roan spat out in disappointment.
In front of thousands of enemies, his feet lifted off the rough ground and he levitated above the battlefield made of sand and stone.
"Where is the crown prince? I heard that despite my wishes, he came here." His voice travelled across the realm and made a figure clad in armour pale.
The young man stepped out from the ocean of bodies slowly and in fear.
"My king." He bowed to the ruler, "I simply thought it necessary to join the battlefield."
King Roan flicked his wrist and the prince found himself in the watch tower of the castle.
"You'll face your punishment later." The king warned silently.
The prince kissed his teeth and removed his helmet.
Just like his father, he had horns but only a pair.
"Prince Kaelen, you mustn't feel dejected. His majesty only cares for your safety." His loyal handmaid approached him from behind.
Kaelen scoffed before focusing his vision on the battlefield.
King Roan still floated, speaking slowly to the demons on the ground before raising a hand and sharply dropping it.
The heads of the demons on the side of the enemy fell immediately. Killed in an instant.
"I think that was far too easy." King Roan landed softly on the ground and turned to meet his party.
What met him were the stabbed corpses of his party members, except for one. Tron.
Orange blood dripped slowly off the blade that impaled Tron from behind.
King Roan's eyes shrank and he took several steps towards his best friend, "How? How was this possible? I would have sensed an enemy."
Tron weakly wiped the blood that flowed down his face from his mouth.
He slowly approached his king and in one fell swoop, stabbed King Roan with a concealed blade.
King Roan's eyes widened and he looked at the small knife that pierced him.
It was a gift he had given Tron years ago. A knife made from the last bit of Blessed Metal, the only substance that can kill a royal.
The betrayal was not too shocking to the dying king.
It was something all Kings of the Demon Realm should expect at least once.
The only question he had was why.
Tron gripped the blade that pierced through his body and pulled it out by himself.
The wound healed at an abnormal speed and in less than a second, he was perfectly fine.
"To be frank with you _King_. I always hated you with every fibre of my being." Tron smirked and looked at the battlefield.
No one there dared to stop him now that he had killed all the party members and their king.
There was no opposition between him and the throne. Not yet, at least.
His eyes landed on the watchtower in the distance and a bizarre smile twisted his face.
The prince was his next target.
Kaelen had been frozen from the moment he saw his dad being stabbed.
He was able to move when he saw Tron's smile.
'That fucking bastard will pay!!' His eyes turned a very dark shade of purple.
A pulse of void energy left him and the darkness around the room started to stir, reaching out to him.
Another pulse left him and space started to flicker.
His body was about to blink when someone grabbed him and pulled him away.
His handmaid, Ash, dragged him from the watchtower, running.
"Our King is dead, the safehouses will obviously be compromised. I must send you to the farthest reaches of our realm." She hummed as they ran.
Kaelen pulled his hand away, "I won't run till that worm is DEAD!!"
His body blinked but this time, Ash kicked him in the chest and sent him crashing against a wall.
She quickly apologized.
Ash, despite her calm demeanour, was a skilled warrior.
"If that was Tron you'd already be dead. Please listen to reason, my prince. You can only get
revenge if you're alive." Her hand pulled him from the wall and they continued running.
They soon approached a door in their staff quarters,
"This will be the last place he'd search for you," Ash mumbled as she kicked open the door to her room, locking it behind her.
She brought out a few materials and started drawing symbols on the ground.
The lines she drew started glowing, increasing in intensity every time another symbol was added.
Her hand clasped together and she started to mutter an odd incantation.
A strange, surreal feeling enclosed the prince as space eroded around them, threatening to explode.
Kaelen opened his mouth to complain when a spear burst through the closed wooden door and pierced Ash through her stomach.
He gasped and tried to help but she didn't slow down or stop, only increasing in speed.
"I'm not going to live, nor can I continue the incantation. Live. Grow. Forget about this place. Anything that'll keep you alive." A dense glow left her body and entered the lines.
Tron's subordinate burst through the door at the same time her body started to age and decompose.
He looked around and tried to grab the prince.
Kaelen's body turned ethereal because of the spell cast by Ash.
His hands went through the prince, touching nothing but air.
But rather than focus on his body or his attempted kidnapping, he looked at Ash.
"I'm sorry but I can't promise you that."
Tron burst through the walls and reached for him.
His fingers grazed Kaelen, leaving a faint gash on his ethereal body right before the crown prince vanished.