[ SELOM IS NOT A PERSON ]

Horrible was their expression, and scared was what their heart felt. Their minds were a mess of many questions, and their bodies kept shaking in fear and panic. Their eyes popped out wide open, to see and believe they weren't mistaking what they just witness.

Before anyone could examine the dagger to know who it belongs to, it transformed into a piece of parchment right in front of them. It was wide open, clearly enough for everyone to see with their own eyes and read what was written on it.

"SELOM" They read in unison.

A name that everyone feared, a name that could make even the worst terror look pale in comparison, and make chills run down the spine of even the greatest and strongest Kings. The owner of the name was wildly known, especially for his insane way of dealing with those who step on his part.

Death followed wherever he goes, and the bodies of anyone who dares to offend him were usually found beyond recognition. Only the families of his victims, were the ones who received their bodies.

All this while Azura kept seated, peering at the faces of the elders, not understanding anything that was going on. Whilst all the others stared at the notes wait terrified eyes and some even shaking. She had no idea who this Selom was, or what Selom even means to the people in the room.

She couldn't believe that's a single word could make the elders this frighten. She tried her best but couldn't put her hands on a single reason why, everyone looked terrified of the word Selom. Even Marcos, he was the most frightened of them all.

"We are doomed." She heard a man from the left side saying.

"What could that monster want this time?" Another man said.

"What is going to happen to this Kingdom?" An old man said from the right side, and that got Azura's full attention.

"The last time I checked, that beast was buried alive. How come he is back?" An old man from the right side said. Which caused Azura to question herself. "What is happening?" She asked inwardly.

Murmurs of questions was thrown around in the throne room, but one old man kept sitting comely. He was examining the faces of the elders, who kept throwing questions around. And thanking as to what they might have done to the devil, for him to send them a note in such a devilish manner.

Suddenly he's eyes shifted to the throne, and he noticed the face of the King. Marcos looked pale than his usual comprehension, and his eyes kept shifting as if he was looking out for someone's sudden attack.

The old man stared at Marcos with an evil glare, and with a sharp voice, he shouted out his question. "Your Majesty King Marcos, what have you done?"

The old man's questions stroked Marcus in the head, like an arrow shot through the heart. He was caught off guard and didn't know how to answer the question. He stared blankly at the old men, not knowing what to say or do.

His personal knight, Lion, drew his sword from his waist, ready to defend his King. "Be mindful of what you say. Don't forget you are talking to the king of this kingdom." Lion said angrily.

"And you be mindful how you talk to your elders. He said nothing wrong." Azura shouted at Lion, who had no choice but to put his sword back and step backwards away from the old man.

"Even I want to know what the King did. Maybe he can explain to me what he has to do with this Selom person." Azura added and a smirk appeared on the lips of the elders at the right side. While the ones at the left bowed their heads in shame and panic.

"My Queen, that Selom is not a person. He is the devil himself, everyone in here knows him. You don't remember him because of the comma, but I swear if you remember who he is and what he can do, you won't be this calm." Marcus said, trying to escape the actual question.

"Your Majesty, we all know that, the Selom Lord comes only when someone offend him. Please let us know if you did something to provoke him." Another old man said from the right side, and even the elders on the left side nodded their heads to agree.

"Why me? Why do you think only I did something wrong? You shouldn't forgot that, the one who buried him alive was The Great One. What if Selom came to take revenge on him?" Marcus said to defend himself, when he noticed even his trusted elders were doubting him.

" Your Majesty, The Great One buried him alive because, he killed thousands of people in a span of week, and couldn't be stop nor be killed. And it's been thousands of years now, so I don't think Selom came because of him."

A young man who looked like a scholar said from the left side, And for once, it looked like each and every one of the elders had the same thoughts as they nodded to agree. "The Great One is not even alive, so how will the Selom take revenge on him." Another man added from the right side.

"Your queen is here. She is the purest blood of The Great One's descendant. What if Selom came because of her?" Marcus replied with a mocking tone, and the room became silent as all eyes turned to Azura.

"Whoosh.

"Splash

Blood was everywhere. Everywhere but only on Marcus's body. Immediately Marcus was than making his statement, the blood on the floor, which came from the man's dead body, moved on it own and splashed on Marcus's body entirely, as if someone fetched it and splashed it on him intentionally.

Even though Azura was seated right next to Marcus, not even a single drop of blood got to her. No one in the room was able to notice how it happened or who might have caused it.

"Is the Devil still here?" A man asked, which caused most of the elders to get on their feet as they panicked, looking around as if to look for someone.

After a while of roaming their eyes, searching and not finding anyone, the elders gave up and took their seat with lots of hesitation. They thought of going on with their section, after the personal knight of the king, Lion, help him to clean up the blood off his face.

Just when they thought everything was calm and they could go on with their section, someone came running into the throne room, with clothes which looked as if he escaped from burning fire.

Part of his body like his face, arms, legs and back were all burnt, making him look half dead as he dropped to the floor, laying flat on his stomach. He looked as if he had just run a mile, which was actually true.

"You there, who are you? Why have you come here like this?" Marcus shouted at the man, afraid of what his reply may be.

"The town, it has burnt completely." The man said and stopped to gasp for air.

"Will you talk? Stop waisting our time. Which town got burnt?" A man asked from the left side. Everyone knew nothing good was going to come out of the information the half dead man will give, but they listen attentively.

"I was in my farm working, then I saw dark smoke moving above the trees. From it direction, I knew it was coming from my home town, so I run back home. I got there only to witness the town burning, and even the century old tower was burning alongside." The half dead man said as tears rolled out of his eyes.

" Which town and tower are you talking about?" One of the elders at the right asked.

"The Selom Lord temple, in the town of Selom. Everything and everyone is burnt completely, except for the shops and houses of the people we called 'The good doest'. When I asked I was told a man in a mask had come, and he caused the fire." The man said as he sat up on the floor.

" So that masked man angered the devil, and we are to pay for it." A man said.

" I thought that town was hidden, so how did you get here? Who are you? The old man from earlier asked.

"I was part of the group who kidnapped the princess, after attacking the queen. An underground tunnel was made for us from Selom town to the forest." The half dead man said frantically.

Immediately he said those words, his body was carried up in the air, almost to the colorful celling of the throne room. No one was holding him, but he kept kicking his body, straggling to free himself from which ever force that held him.

Marcus got up from his seat in fright just like everyone. He descended from the elevated steps and lifted his head to look at the man, as some of the elders kept shaking in fear. Just when he was perpendicular with the man, his head was whipped off and the blood drop directly on Marcos, drenching him wholely

The headless dead body of the man dropped to the floor with a thud, and men tuned into women screaming in terror. The fear that didn't know Azura, found it way to her heart as she stared at the dead bodies.

Maids were called to clean up the blood on the floor as some guards carried the dead bodies away. Marcus decided on going to his palace to change his royal robes, even though the section was not over yet. But it wasn't as if the Selom Lord (The Devil) was going to let him go just like that. He needed to be feared by Marcus, and he was sure going to make that happen now.

Immediately Marcus got to the center of the throne room, exactly where the dead bodies were earlier, his body was sent flying backwards to the throne by an unknown force. He looked as if he was being strangled by someone, and he kept kicking his legs with his own hand stack to his neck as his eyes kept popping out.

Azura got close to help Marcus out, but her strength was nothing compared to the force that held Marcus. Every single light in the room was instantly blocked by total darkness. Be it sunlight, candles in the huge glass chandelier, or even the fire from the wooden lamps, everything went off totally.

The only thing everyone could see, was two spots of burning fire, which blinked for them to know it was eyes but not just fire. The people screamed loudly in fright as they force their bodies out of the throne room. Even the guards and knights didn't stay back to guard the royals.

Marcus remembered the eyes were the same ones he had seen in Azura's bathroom, when he forced himself on her. But Azura had gotten used to those eyes, since she kept seeing them in her breams. She stamped her feet to the ground and suddenly vanished into the earth with Marcus, leaving the eyes alone.