GODS OF ASEROTH: The Prodigal Son: A monster is born (27 page)

    
Nieham quickly put out the fire and Leosher walked back and sat on the throne “Why did you let them go,” She asked “You could have killed them very easily, why did you let them go?”

    
“I want to kill all three of them together and I do not wish to spill any more blood tonight.”

    
He sat there on the throne, bloodied and bruised a bit, until he finally said to Neiham “Send a letter to my brother and tell him to come to this castle immediately.”

    
Neiham nodded and just as she was walking out of the door of the court hall, her eye caught on a huge infantry walking in through the front gate, over the dead bodies and puddles of blood. It was Virgil and the rest of the men, charging in through the gates and coming in through the courtyards. They knew that a great battle had taken place, for all they could see were puddles of blood. They ran in and found Neiham walking out. Her brother, Azar, smiled at her and asked “Where is master Leosher?”

    
“He is sitting on the thrones in the court hall.”

    
Virgil left Azar and Neiham behind and took Usere and Urey with him inside the court hall. There he was in his throne. He sat back loosely and looked glorious in the moonlight coming from behind but all the blood on his body mad him look ferocious and evil. There was a glow on his face and his hair made him look like a savage. He sat there with his eyes closed, resting calmly.

    
“Brother,” shouted Virgil with happiness “why did you leave without taking me with you?” He ran towards him with his arms open with the intention to hug him. Leosher got out of his throne and walked forward and hugged his brother. Some of the blood got on Virgil’s uniform but he did not care. “Are you hurt, brother?” Virgil asked.

    
“I am perfectly fine.”

    
“Did you kill Colossus?”

    
“No, I let him get away.”

    
Virgil could not understand the meaning behind this but he did not ask again.

    
“Where is Barian? Neiham is here, he should be too.”

    
The happiness suddenly faded away from Leosher’s face and he started talking “There is nothing I hate more than betrayal.”

    
Virgil quickly jumped to a conclusion and surprisingly it was correct “He betrayed us?”

     “Yes, h
e was serving Colossus the whole time.”

    
“How?”

     “He probably wanted to bring me to Agnithius, away from Colossus, that’s why he was pushing on taking a sea route.”

     Virgil stayed optimistic “Maybe he was under a spell—you do not know the whole truth.”

    
Usere, who was now in the court hall standing close to them, laughed “Not many witches work for Colossus and those who do, do not like pirates at all.”

    
Then Azar came in from the courtyards as well “My lord” said he.

    
“What now?” Leosher smiled and sat back in his throne

     “W
e should just wait here a couple of days for Katos to come, but if they do not show up, we go and kill them on the lands of Agnithius. This will give us some advantage, for the people would be expecting us to attack right away.”

     Leosher
got up and looked around for the hallway which led to the bed chamber and after he found it, he started walking towards it but then he stopped and turned around “We shall not have the crowning yet. We will take over Agnithius first.” Then he looked at Urey “Get the castle fixed, for this shall be my permanent residence.”

    
He spun around and his cloak fluttered behind him and he walked to the bed chambers and when he opened the huge gold door, he saw a magnificent and marvelous, hall like bed room.

    
There was a revolving round bed with golden silken bed sheets. There were a glass flask on the side filled with blood red wine for the king and the entire floor was carpeted with maroon fluffed plush. There was a closet filled with the queen’s royal gowns and there was bath room on the side. The room’s windows opened to the balcony too, for it was hanging over the sea. White see-through curtains hung everywhere and around the bed and there were scented candles burning all over the room. There was a large round mat in the corner of the room and it was surrounded by golden pillars and curtains, and the floor was filled with gold coins. This was the place where dancers from all over the world came to dance and please the king. Colossus also made tributes from Agnithius and Gelus dance for him in this very place. An identical stage like this was placed in the court hall where he held public dances to entertain his soldiers.

    
Leosher went in the bathroom and saw a huge, pool like bath tub. Colossus was the only being in the entire world to have a bath tub, for it was too expensive for the rest to get made for them and have fresh water pump in them every time he wanted to. The tub was made of gold and had a marble floor encrusted with rubies. The bathroom was amazingly beautiful and luxurious.

    
Leosher took his clothes off and rinsed them, including his weapons, boots and cloak. Then he plunged into the warm, steamy water and cleaned his bruises with Aloe-Vera that the queen used to make her look beautiful. This was the king’s 70
th
wife, for he had been living for about 2 millennia and had his heart slip whenever he saw a beautiful girl.

    
Leosher sat in the bath tub and thought about what he was going to do next.

    
“This all has been incredibly surprising. Maybe I should get the best fortune tellers to tell my future.”

    
He got out of the bath and took a silken white toga and wore it. He lay on the bed and soon, he fell asleep.        

CHAPTER 15

     Leosher woke up in his soft bed and wore his royal clothes, the pointy boots and the suit with the cloak latched on its shoulders. He grabbed his weapons and sheathed them on him. Virgil had brought the weapons that he had left behind and now Leosher had them all. He only sheathed the Scythe, the Gladius sword and the golden Spear and took them with him and left the rest. He went out in the halls and sat on the throne where he waited for the rest to join him.

    
“Brother!” he yelled out to call his brother. It was like a hungry lion’s roar who longed for food. “Wake up from your slumber.” His voice echoed in the empty halls but then, finally a voice answered him. It was Neiham’s soft, old voice

    
“Son, he has taken the men to the Dwarf town to get workers who will work on the castle,” she walked out from one of the courtyards. She had been meditating in the calm, serene courtyards until Leosher broke the silence and forced her to stop.

    
She stood in front of the throne and smiled “Why are you so anxious? Why so impatient?”

    
“I am not impatient or anxious—just hungry.”

    
Neiham smiled again and sat on the ground and waited for Leosher to continue talking.

    
Leosher sat quietly for a moment but then he asked her, “You are a potion maker?”

    
“Yes, I am.”

    
“Well then you are of no use to me. Bring me the finest fortune tellers of the kingdom.”

     “Master,” Neiham smiled and moved close to the throne and sat on the ground cross legged that Leosher sat upon “I can predict future as well.”

     There was a huge smile on Leosher’s face “I, your king demand you to foretell my future.”

    
Neiham got up and stood before Leosher with her hands in front and said humbly “My lord, I will foretell but let me make myself clear,” she paused “Whatever your future beholds for you, you possess the power to change what comes. Although it might seem that you will lose everything or gain everything, it might not be correct, for you might do something that changes everything.”

    
“Go ahead and tell me what my glorious future beholds.”

    
She walked forward and put her hands on his head. She messed up his lustrous hair but he did not seem to mind, for he was too excited for what the future was. Neiham started the process and closed her eyes and soon, her smile faded away and there was a grim fearful look on her face. She was scared and did not show any signs of happiness or security and soon, the smirk on Leosher’s face faded too, for he saw Neiham. He knew whatever was to come was not going to be good.

    
Neiham quickly fell back because she could not take it anymore and had reached her limit. She breathed heavily but then she caught her breath and looked at Leosher as if she had seen death.

    
“Son, you do not wish to continue on the path you walk.”

    
Leosher was shocked “What is it?”

    
“I saw blood everywhere, oceans of blood. Then I saw millions of souls who cried only one thing, revenge from Leosher. I saw guardians coming back from Ratarus and imprison you.”

    
Leosher was terrified. This was the first time in his short life that he had felt something like that.

    
“What else did you see?” He asked eagerly.

    
“The worst of all, I saw betrayal from your own loved ones. Someone you loved betrayed you.”

    
“Is there anything else I should know?”

    
“You joined the dark side. Some gods did not want Asurot as the Queen of Aseroth and did not like you as the Prince of Aseroth and betrayed you both. They slayed everyone and in the end, turned Thraenus into the underworld.”

    
“Tell me more!” Leosher grew impatient.

    
“My lord, I would like to warn you” Neiham’s voice became deeper “You staying here, in the castle and not going to fight Katos and Colossus was the chain that led to the destruction of the world.” Just as Leosher heard her, his fear flew away. “Well, is that so,” he smirked and sat up in his throne, “We shall attack the Agnithiun castle this moment and we shall do it like savages and none shall survive. Not even women and children.”

    
Neiham nodded, even though she did not like the idea of killing innocent women and children, “My lord, Virgil and the others should be returning by noon. Do you wish to eat without them?”

    
“Yes, bring me the finest provisions this castle possesses.”

    
Neiham went to the kitchens where there were She-elves who had decided to serve the king. They used up all the food in the provisions and prepared a great feast-like breakfast for him. It was placed in the grand dining halls which was equipped with multiple glass and gold chandeliers and a huge round dining table. It was made of gold as well as most of the castle, for gold showed the wealth the ex-ruler of Strinthius, Colossus possessed. The table had high back chairs around it and could seat about 12 people at a time. It was very bright, for it was surrounded by windows and breeze rushed in through them.

    
Leosher quickly gnawed through all of the food which was incredible because the food could serve 23 Minotaurs. Leosher was able to eat so much because he was a god and his body needed a lot of energy to sustain but if he was a mundane human, he could have never been able to eat for even 1 Minotaur. He could store all of the energy from the food, in his muscles and that was what made gods extraordinary. After he was done eating, his hunger vanquished and he went back on his throne to wait for his brother.

     
A little after high noon, Virgil returned with the men, back to the castle. He had brought Dwarves to work on the castle, for they were the very best in this art. All the great monuments and structures were built by Dwarves. The rulers usually enslaved some of them every year and made them work for them but this time, they had come, for they wanted to come. They wanted to help the new king, Leosher. They were here to fix the castle’s defenses and make it be able to withstand hundreds of canons and giant harpoons and were also here to increase the size of the throne, for big empires needed big thrones.

    
Leosher was happy that his brother had returned and that he now could go to the land of Agnithius and prevent the future from being grim and morbid. He fully wanted the future of Thraenus to be prosperous and himself to be the king of the gods and this world.

    
Leosher called Virgil and the warriors to his throne and began talking to them.

    
“We shall leave for the land of Agnithius right this moment,” said Leosher “for I have seen the future and it does not look promising.”

    
“My lord, if I may,” Usere cleared his throat and said humbly “The men are tired, for they have already journeyed. I suggest we let them rest and then leave tomorrow.”