Lord Of Pride

Being me is the greatest achievement I could ever want,

Where else would you insignificant things find a favored prince charming such as I ?

~Alaric~

Alaric, Lord of Pride, gazed out over his kingdom from the balcony of his castle. The lands below were vast and lush. His subject were mere insects to him crawling at his feet and begging for his attention. He could crush them with a mere flick of his finger, and yet they still groveled before him.

"Let them grovel at my feet," He thought. "They are nothing but ants to me, unworthy of my notice." He smiled to himself, content with the knowledge that he was the most powerful being in the world. He was invisible, and his pride knew no bounds.

Stepping out from the balcony, Alaric admired himself from one of the numerous mirrors in his room, he thought with a smile, "As expected, I'm rich, powerful and handsome, I am truly favored." Alaric walked out of his room and headed for the study room where his six brother were waiting for him.

"Brothers long time no see,how have you been?" I asked, my tone casual and nonchalant, but inside, I was smiling to myself. They were so caught off guard by my question, and it was clear they didn't know how to answer. I could see the confusion on their faces, and it was almost comical. I knew they would squirm and try to find the right words to say. And that was exactly what I wanted.

One of them cleared his throat and said a little annoyed,"Alaric did you summon us here to ask us how we are doing? A phone call isn't enough for you?"

"Relax my brothers, I have indeed called you here for an important matter." Alaric walked towards the middle of the study room and stretched out his hand, an ancient looking scroll appeared from nowhere. "While hunting yesterday, I came across an accursed djinn who gave me this right before he died. I was skeptical of accepting it at first l, after all why should I accept something a lowlife gifted me? But then, I found the scroll looking quite familiar, so I brought it her for us to have a look."

As Alaric unrolled the scroll, a sly grin spread across his face,the others knew at once that whatever written in the scroll was something bad, terrifying even and their fears turned out to be true when he showed it to them.

The words were scrawled in crimson, as if it was written in blood, on the scroll was written ;

Mortui resurgent primus. The dead shall rise first.

As the meaning of the scroll sank in, they turned to Alaric, who seemed strangely calm in the face of this news. Perhaps he knew more than he was letting on. Perhaps he even had a hand in bringing about this prophesied event. With suspicion and fear mingling in their hearts, they demanded answers from him. "What is the meaning of this?" they asked. "What do we do now?"

Alaric met their gaze, his eyes cold and unreadable. "We must prepare," he said, his voice low.

******

Ten men in tattered black cloaks surrounded a campfire. Their appearance was quite unsightly. They had the form of a human, but the face of a troll.

One of them walked even nearer to the fire, holding a bowl of blood. He chanted an incantation and threw the blood into the fire. As if having thoughts of their own, the flames danced eerily and then blew themselves out.

Suddenly, letters written in blood appeared.

The words read:

Mortui resurgent primus...

******

Alaric left the study room, his robes trailing behind him. He headed down the hall, his footsteps echoing off the stone walls. The guards at the door of the throne room bowed as he approached.

He entered the throne room, and walked regally to his throne and sat like a king would. One of his subjects stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, the princesses have arrived."

"Send them in," Alaric said, his voice low and commanding.

Alaric watched the princesses approach the palace, his eyes narrowed. They walked with purpose, their heads held high. But he knew that they were hiding something, that they had a secret they were keeping from him. He would use his powers to uncover their secrets, to see what they were really up to. And when he did, they would regret ever setting foot in his domain.

"Greetings your Highness, I trust you have been well?" The princess in the front asked with a mysterious smile.

"Being in the presence of creatures like you is the only thing that makes me unwell. Besides, you didn't come all the way here just to check up on me, so why are you here?" Alaric rested his left cheek on his left hand while tapping his right fingers on his right thigh.

"To visit, of course," she responded with a huge smile. "We princesses felt the need to leave our realms and explore other realms and observe their culture. We decided to start with the netherworld."

Alaric knew at once that the witches' arrival spelt trouble for his realm. He wondered why, out of all the realms, they decided to choose the netherworld to explore. "Why the netherworld?" he asked, his voice filled with suspicion.

"Just because," she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"I'm afraid you'll have to reconsider staying here," Alaric said, a sly grin spreading across his face.

"Why?" one of the princesses asked, holding a small, beautifully carved box.

"There are no rooms left, princesses" Alaric said, proud of himself for coming up with something so quick.

The princess with the beautifully carved box walked forward. "Not even if we brought the Liber Mortuorum?" she asked, a mysterious gleam in her eyes.

Alaric sat upright the moment he heard it. "You mean the book of the dead?"

"Yes the book of the dead."