A gong sounded out in the courtyard. Calad turned around, abandoning his quarrel for the sound. The enemy? Inside the walls of Aramadad? It was impossible!

The Prince's first thought was of his brother. If Takid had passed out from his injury, he would be vulnerable to attack. He fled the throne room despite his father's angry shouts and navigated the halls to his brother's rooms.

He opened the door, letting it slam into the wall. "Takid!" He cried. "The enemy is in the city!"

"Pity that Aramadad is so well guarded..." A harsh version of Takid's voice said to his right.

Calad turned. "Takid?" He asked hesitantly.

His brother grinned cruelly with blank eyes - they were simply black with no white - and closed the door behind them. "The Dark King has many strengths, Prince Calad." He said softly. "One is coercion. It is especially simple when it comes to men, whose hearts are so easily corrupted."

"What else is there left on this world to be corrupted if not men?" Calad asked acidly, glaring at the servant of the dark.

The demon laughed. "Nothing is left, innocent prince." He answered, confirming the young man's fears. "Nothing at all."

Calad backed against the door. "Men still stand against you." He growled.

"Men?" Again the creature laughed. "Men are weak. They shall fall when my army advances from the North, the South, the East and the West."

"You shall never take Aramadad." The Prince said proudly. "Our men are determined, our fortress strong."

"But will they stand and fight with a mad King and no Princes?" The demon breathed, smirking with his brother's face.

Calad felt his heart beating against his ribs. He was going to be killed. The dark-ensnared being reached out and touched his cheek. "I shall not kill you." He said softly. "Oh no, not yet. I want to have my fun first."



Takid watched, transfixed, as the Dark King taunted his brother. He was trapped in his own mind, supressed by the creature that was his mortal enemy. Or, rather, immortal since he could live within other creatures. Like he was now with Takid.

What frightened him was that he might be forced to kill his brother. He would never forgive himself if such a thing were to happen. He could not, would not, betray his brother who had stood up for him for so long.

"Poor, worthless human..." A harsh, echoing voice full of fire, hatred and pain spoke to the trapped mind. "I will make you do whatever I wish."

Takid whimpered and cowered as the demon made him punch his brother in the gut, then beat him until Calad bled. "Stop it!" He cried then as his older brother knelt at his feet. "Leave him alone!"

"'Leave him alone!'" The Dark King mimicked. "I have no intention of leaving him be, little Takid. I have waited... so long... to wreak my revenge upon Man."

"What have they done to you?" The enslaved human asked tentatively.

"They killed my kin. Every one of the Night Elves they killed." The Dark King growled. "Why do you think Kokushibyou has lived for five thousand years if not for revenge?"

"You are Kokushibyou?" Takid asked, astonished. "The Wild Men attacked the Night Elves, not the Nerodrin!"

"The Nerodrin are descendants of those despicable creatures!" Kokushibyou snapped angrily. "As such, they must be destroyed!"

Takid quieted and returned to the corners of his mind. The Dark King had been innocent before. Now, he was evil. He wanted revenge for his people so much that he had gone mad with the hate.

"What do you plan to do with me?" Calad asked, standing up with an angry look in his eyes.

"Use you to show Men that I will win." Kokushibyou answered through Takid's mouth.



The Elf grinned to himself back in his own body. Finally! He would pay the despicable humans back for taking his people away from him. Finally they would pay for their misdeeds and the many lives they took.

He could not help but find the human that he had taken for his servant amusing. He did not know what he wanted. He thought that he knew, but Kokushibyou had presented him with a puzzle. Maybe the humans were not all that virtuous after all.

Kokushibyou stretched out towards the other Prince's mind and jumped back, hissing mentally. The other was too pure. He had no taint in him. That made him impossible to reach for the Dark King.

With a curse that had not been uttered for thousands of years, he forced the young man to knock his brother unconscious. He then made him take his brother, place him on a horse, take his own horse and ride out towards his stronghold. All the while, the city teemed with men looking for the enemy spy. Little did they know that Kokushibyou had taken what he wanted...

continue