Return of the...King? (Sommarsun)

There was one couple who were certainly not amused by the absolute farce that they were watching and the looks of utter disdain that crossed both of their faces could not have made it any clearer. Today had supposed to have been a chance for Medeia to reacclimatise her beloved maid to the world after she had been forced to regenerate, having been defeated by that blonde beauty Leona. It was always such a painful process and Armina had been an absolute pain to deal with ever since. So much so that Medeia had been forced to keep her locked away from the rest of the castle in order to prevent any issues. Of course, the witch had made the most of the situation and the two had spent a great deal of time together in her lavish quarters, during Armina’s recovery.

What her maid did not need was some stupid fool strutting around as though he owned the place and already the purple haired woman was already itching to grab her axe and smash it over the head of the white haired imbecile. He was acting exactly how the male angels of their sect behaved and that was more than enough to drive her mad. Any hope of a nice and relaxing day out with her Mistress had been completely annexed from her mind and she was certainly eager for a fight after her most recent loss. In fact, she actually went to stand up, her right hand moving to pluck her weapon from its position on her back.

Only to find Medeia’s hand reaching out and pulling the maid back on to the chair firmly. The Warlord was by no means pleased with the situation either but was not quite as swift into getting into direct combat as her blood loving maid. “The plan for today was for us to have a relaxing meal, not pick a fight with every moron who we come across. Besides, you are not yet fit enough to engage in combat.”

“I am fit enough and I will prove it to you by beating up this male and his cohorts.” Armina replied in a huff. “Let me teach him a lesson, Mistress, I promise that I will not let you down.”

“The last time you promised me that, Leona beat you a pulp.” The angel gently answered. “You need to stop overextending yourself, Armina, there are some opponents who you cannot match. I know you do it in order to allow me to access my full power but it is unnecessary.”

Unable to think of a good answer to that, Armina would pout and fold her arms across her ample chest although she could not help herself from shouting at the parade. “No one gives a damn about you or your minions. They are just staring because they are stunned by your stupidity. The only king that you are is the King Of Fools!”

There was a murmur of laughter that rippled around the place after that, with a few of the children beginning to make up rhymes and shouting at the so-called king.

He spoke an awful lot and the vast majority of it went straight over Armina’s head. It was all just complete gibberish besides his particular comments about her defeat to Leona. The maid did not need to hear that and she once again went for her axe, planning to bury each and every one of his little entourage. Clearly, he was a coward who hit behind his minions and the purple haired woman had zero admiration for that. She was a warrior, through and through, apparently the opposite of whatever he was supposed to be. There was something odd about his companions though, as they did not all appear quite human and she did ponder about that for a moment, before he finally got around to explaining the situation. They were spirits, creatures that he had no doubt made deals with in order to help him out. Considering how stupid he was, the offer must have been huge because why else would anyone with any self respect agree to serve him? “It is true that I lost to Leona but do not say the same about my Mistress. She fought Leona to a standstill and almost destroyed Hargeon in the process. Do not insult her.”

Medeia, unlike her maid, had managed to listen to every word and while she too believed him to be a fool, his ability to control so many allies was something that she actually thought was impressive in its own way. She knew enough about summoning magic to understand its workings and knew that a contract between summon and summoner was usually based on an agreement rather than servitude. He must have had something in order to attract them, unless it came down to a simple case of blind sympathy, which she doubted. Maybe he actually had some magical power? His aura was decent enough although not even in the same class as her own. Still, he was not a complete weakling. “Leona may have survived the battle but she will never be the same again. I broke through her defences and hurt her both in body and soul. All of her fears came to the surface and I exploited them to the maximum. I stripped everything from her and even dangled her upside down in front of the people of that town for my own amusement. Not much in the way of brains but she was a rather stout foe.”

Her eyes would briefly turn to the lovely spirit who had complimented her and directed her next words to her. “You would be absolutely right in your assessment. I have no interest in the male gender in that way. I would be more than happy to show you some of my techniques though if you are intrigued enough.” She was a delightful spirit and in a way, similar to Medeia, a being of love, just on a different side of the spectrum.

It was then that she turned back to Odhran himself. “The council has no idea what a dark mage is, so I would not concern myself too much about what they think. I did not request my title, it was given to me because I had done enough damage to warrant it. Too often had I flown into a town, had my way with it and then left without comeuppance frightened them. I confess I rather like mine though, as lust is my favourite sin.”

Armina grunted at this point and introduced herself. “I am Armina, my Mistresses guard and maid.” She still looked well and truly annoyed, her eyes blazing with irritation.

Medeia, however, did not seem to share that feeling for now and gently placed a hand on her maid’s shoulder. “I have told you already, have I not? I feel like giving him a chance but should he push his luck then we will deal with it. Am I understood?”

“Mistress!” Armina started to argue.

“Am I understood?” There was a slight firmness to the witch’s tone this time.

“Understood.” The purple haired woman huffed.

With that out of the way, the dark mage would nod and add, her gaze returning to the other mage. “Very well. We will give you a chance to impress us.”

There was something peculiar going on for sure and Armina seemed to briefly freeze with fright, unable to lift a finger, her eyes wide. The darkest moments of her past were all coming back to her. Every defeat, every moment of humiliation at the hands of her damned brethren, every second that she was apart from Medeia. A wave of agony overcame her, as the bombardment of horrible thoughts struck her psyche, breaking through her already weak mental defences. The maid could not have spoken if she had wanted to and for that short period of time, she was completely and utterly helpless, a prisoner in her own mind. Such a cage was not easy to forge and as the guard tried desperately to fight against the oncoming tide, she realised just how strong the spirit was. Again, her mouth had got her into trouble and she mentally cursed herself whenever she could break free for a moment.

Medeia, however, remained relatively unfazed, although saying that the spirit’s ability did nothing would be a lie. She had felt a slight sense of unease but such was her immense amount of self control, it was easy enough for her to force it back. Control was the witch’s game and while she was somewhat impressed by the abilities of the spirit, that admiration did nothing to half the immense amount of silent anger that began to pulse through the woman’s body. The so-called King had made the same error that dozens other mages had made before. He had attacked Armina and her response to that could only be by inflicting as much pain as possible on the fool. The purple haired guard was both Medeia’s closest ally, as well as a source of strength, allowing the witch to fully harness her powers of anger.

Soon enough, he would finish his latest diatribe and attack, seeming to abandon reason with the most basic of attacks. His speed did not appear to be all that impressive and so Medeia simply raised her hand, creating a flaming shield before her that would take the brunt of his strike. Such a manoeuvre was as simple as breathing and her movements were graceful, seeming without any trace of desperation. Such basic tactics would not harm her and as his skeleton followed up with a combination attack, Medeia would point her other hand towards it and unleash a powerful torrent of sand in its direction. Against a normal foe, it was capable of ripping to the bone but given what the target was, that appeared to be redundant.

As she fought the opponents, she would simply state to her paralysed maid. “Wake up, Armina, you are not so weak as to fall from such a technique.”

The warlord spoke in a tone that carried just a touch of the rage that was starting to build and her words seemed to spark the guard back to life, leaving her rather red in the face, embarrassed by what had just happened.

(501 Words)
(521 + 706 + 501 = 1728 TWC)

It did not take a degree in body language to notice just how enraged the purple haired maid was. She felt completely humiliated for falling so easily under the spell of the spirit and the fact that Odhran would refer to her as a male only angered her further. Armina could have hacked his head off, right then and there, with the temptation growing by the moment. Her hands reached for her massive axe again although rather than actually attack, she just held it tightly, channeling her rage into the grip. Someone was going to get a pounding today, sooner rather than later. Even on her best day, Armina was temperamental when it came to certain topics and given her regeneration sickness, it only made things worse. She was almost uncontrollable, at times, with Medeia having spent the past who knew how many days keeping the busty maid under lock and key. The purple haired maid had been an absolute pain to deal with and she knew it but she also knew that her mistress would forgive her for it. The bond they shared was too deep to be broken so easily.

Medeia simply placed a hand on Armina’s axe, covering both of her maid’s, a reassuring yet commanding gesture at the same time, before whispering into the guard’s here. “Can you not see that he is out of his mind? His brains have been addled and he does not have the slightest clue as to what he is saying. He is no threat to us and if anything, it is his spirits which are the threat. Pay attention to them and keep on guard but try to control your temper, my dear, for I will not warn you again. Attack when I say and at no other time, otherwise I will wrap you up right now and display your beautiful body for all these people to see. This is your last warning. I know that he is grating but for now, control yourself.”

Armina blushed darkly, knowing full well that her mistress meant every word she said and after a few moments, returned her axe to her back.

The witch would then return her gaze to him, noting that he had recovered from her attack rather well, despite how far he had been launched. He might have been a fool but he seemed to have some stamina at least. His suggestion was actually one that Medeia could agree with and as she followed his eyes to look at their surroundings, she could somewhat see what meant. It was a lovely place and was actually one that she frequented regularly. There were many delightful mages who passed through here and more than once had the Warlord dropped down and carried one off.

“It would be a shame to destroy such a place and I am certain that it could prove useful. A temple sounds rather intriguing although I confess that I have little tolerance for places of worship. I despise holiness and will gladly destroy every religious building that exists in this world. There are few gods worthy of worship and those foolish enough to believe in them need to be taught otherwise.” There was a noticeable touch of distaste in her voice, for her relationship with the divine was rather complicated to say the least.

Armina would pipe up that point and utter in an amused tone. “Mistress would have had her way with that Bellum priestess if the fight with them had continued.”

(585 Words)
(2313 TWC)