The Beast Emperor and The Mad Magician

At the foothills of a large mountain, sat a bundle of houses. It barely met the qualifiers to be called a city. It had a hallow wood wall wrapping around it, the wall stood about 6 meters high and 2 meters wide, enabling guards to observe from the top. There were two arched gates which rose 2 more meters above the wall. The gates, also made of wood, were position so that one opened to The Mountain and the other facing the vast plains which surrounded it. The buildings in the city at maximum reached 3 stories, except for one which reached 4. Each house was made from a combination of stone and wood. The metropolis, however small, was prospering. There were no slums or homeless, except for the hidden evil done by people, no struggle existed. In the town square, there was a statue of The Mountain but with one difference, carved in an exuberant manner, was a cave. This cave seemed to be revered as each time a citizen walked passed it, they would make a slight bow. Even children participated in this strange event. To all it seemed to all this was the natural course of things except for one man.

Standing in the square watching people pass by was a strangely dressed man. His clothes alone would make him stand out anywhere as his attire was what could be called an eccentric magician. He had a black top hat and a black suit with tails. This dressing was unusual especially for the city he was in as they hadn't even seen them before. But what cause wariness was the round white mask with no opening to look or breath in it. A black sleeve covered the rest of his head, so no hair or skin was seen. Strange silver symbols where positioned on different parts of each piece of apparel.

Eventually, due to the call and suspicions of overprotective mothers, two guards were called over to talk with the weirdly dressed man. The soldiers made their way over to the stranger, as he played with a deck of cards. Even when the guards were less than a meter away staring at him, he just continued to play with the rectangular pieces of paper in his hands. Finally, fed up with waiting for the respect they commanded, one of the guards spoke up in a gruff voice.

"Sir you are stirring up suspicion, make I ask why you are sitting here." With the tone, which the soldier spoke, it was clear it wasn't actually a question.

"Waiting." A nonchalant response came from behind the mask. The voice was smooth and calm, unwavered by the grill of the policemen.

That last response was the only one the strange man gave as he continued to watch and wait. The two guards, after yelling at him for at least an hour, tried to move him but were blocked by some sort of invisible wall. Their intensity increase while the strange man acted like it had nothing to do with him. While the guards' numbers had increased to an unreasonable amount, no one noticed that the odd man had been watching somebody closely. A man in gold and dark green colored robe was talking with one of the citizens. This man in dark green robes had long black hair and green eyes. His refined face made him approachable, but there was a strange glint in his eyes that only the masked man on the bench saw.

At the end of the conversation the green-robed man was having with the town's person they both looked toward the mountain. After that, the man started to move toward the city gate that led to the foothills of the mountain. Once the green-robed vagabond began to go on his way the magician vanished, from the bench, making even the guards wonder if he was there in the first place.

"He didn't just disappear, did he?" One of the policemen voiced his confusion.

The one who seemed to be the leader of the squad, spoke in response, "No he didn't, in fact, he wasn't there in the first place." With a hinting tone.

This statement left the still dull guard, while the other gave a knowing nod. Upon noticing his dimwitted colleague's confused look, he spoke in a harsher tone.

"Of course, if you want to be condemned by the captain for the negligence of duty or maybe even have him question your sanity then I think there was a man there." His rough voice was quiet but made the meaning loud and clear.

"No Sir, I didn't see a man! No man was sitting on that bench. Heck, I don't even know what a man is." The guard gave a light chuckle while the other looked at him shaking their heads.

While the policemen were busy claiming the imagined the whole thing and the masked man wasn't real, the man that they "imagined" was stalking behind the green-robed man up the mountain. Suddenly the robed man stopped and turned around.

Starting from a soothing voice, the man spoke as it slowly twisted into something that sounded demonic. "Well, you can come out now. We are far enough from the town."

Out from the shadows which the man stared at, stepped out the masked man. "It is funny, I never thought of you like the folklore type of guy. But here you are chasing after some small towns guardian god. I always knew there was something wrong with you, but I still thought you had some marbles, Beast Kin Emperor." A voice mocked from behind the mask.

"Hehe, that's not much coming from the Mad Magician. I wonder if you will ever quick playing with cards and grow up. Sadly, though, as you have come here seeking confrontation, you won't get the chance. Funny thing how you fear me getting stronger from a folk tale, as you say." The Beast Kin Emperor quickly responded with his own bon mot as he stared down the man before him.

"Well, as you already spoke of, I'm the Mad Magician. Doing crazy things is kind of my signature." The Magician seemed polite with his words, but the very moment he finished speaking a card flew toward the Beast Emperor like a throwing knife.

However, the sneak attack didn't do much as the Beast Kin Emperor simply moved slightly to the side as it landed in the tree behind him. A second after the card pierce the trunk an explosion occurred with sent bark and leaves flying.

"I'm currently busy with something else, but once I have achieved my goal I'll gladly come back and play with you!" With that, the Beast Emperor sprinted off towards the top of the mountain bypassing each tree in the forced with easy. His speed created a blur, leaving behind the Magician in annoyance.

"Tch, this coward just won't stop running." His frustration motivating him, the Mad Magician ran after Beast Emperor.

Unknown to him, his destination was home to the most powerful creature he would ever see.