Prologue

Neith sits in his office, idle. It is twilight, as rays of dying sunlight lights up his otherwise dark office.

Miyaka, his personel maid had insisted on lighting the candles and lamps, but he has refused. The orange , purple and pink hue streaming from the gaps between the drapes covering the windows is a beautiful sight to behold.

Neith, in all his majestic glory was sitting idly, after hours of court meetings. Resting his cheek on his palm...and simply sitting there with eyes closed, with a soft smile which always lingered on his thin lips as if laughing at an inside joke which no one but he knew.

Suddenly his mind felt heavy. As if invisible tendrils were reaching, seeking entry in his mind. They felt...oily, slippery and left an unsual sour aftertaste.

He knew what this was. Had felt it many times, when overconfident fools thought they could control him, charm him. Fools indeed. Is it so easy to charm a god? Let alone almighty King of Gods!

Neith still sat as he was. Not giving away what was happening, as Miyaka was always paranoid for his safety, nagging him for this and that.

Neith tried to grab on those oily tendrils, but they always managed to slip away. He had done it many times, so he knew this mind control depended on the hold of the caster. Their inner strength.

The trick was to wait and observe first. Ofcourse, only the strong could do this, who had time to wait when your mind is being attacked? The faint trail of shadows left behind by them always lingered for some time.

He followed them and saw. Saw through the eyes of the caster. He stayed behind in the mind of caster, not letting on that his magic has backfired.

What he saw....made him still. Still beacuse a vision was coming to him at the same time. Only gods and zlos were capable of thinking and doing multiple things at the same time. Among them only the Kings had the power to see in time. But only its one aspect of the three: Past , Present or future. He could see the future. At the same time he could see what was happening around the caster too.

A frown appeared on his face as he stood.

A while passed. He opened his eyes and turned towards Miyaka.

Miyaka stood behind her master who was resting. She was an elf, taken in by Neith when he saw her on the streets looking for food when she was a wee little child. Now eighty years have passed and here she was.

She was dressed in a pale blue gown with her long sandy browns hair twistted into a heavy updo.

Her gazed stayed on the gaps between the drapes. Lost in thought. She could fight and was well versed with potions and poisons. She had taken it on herself to protect her master. Not that he needed it. He had two hundered guards as his personal Imperial Guardians whose only purpose was to keep him safe. Right now twenty were standing outside with four here in his office, each at one corner of the office.

Her gaze at last rested on Neith again. Neith was dressed in dark blue tunic and black trousers, with black and silver threads intricately woven into a gossamer fabric which gave their own glow. Although they paled in front of their owner. His long luxurious hair tied at his forehead and opened from down their ending at his waist.

Neith had a baby face. Something so beautiful yet so innocent like. She wouldn't dare tell him that though. The word 'baby' was prohibited to be attached to his face.

There is an actual Imperial decree stating, " The King of Gods, Lord Neith, His Imperial Majesty, shall not be associated with the term 'baby faced' , anyone who does so will be immediately punished with cleaning communal toilets for three months" , which was passed the moment an ambassodor from the mage realm foolishly said this to Neith in front of the whole court. Neith's eyes had comically widened before his face became blank again and the he passed the decree

The ambassodor had let his guard down in front of this inncoent looking, charming, soft and friendly emperor. He did not think so about Neith after three months had passed. Even Lady Helia, the queen of Mages dared not say anything on this matter.

This was one of the things the ladies of the court like to giggle about. She had even seen few a lords secretly smiling at Neith while he wasn't looking.

A crown rested proudly on his head. The crown was...confusing to Miyaka. It had hues and shades of colour with jewels and tiny bells which hung on chains. Those chain looped down from his head to his forehead, sides of his face and even into his hair. Miyaka always tried to keep those chains with bells away from his hair ,when she did his hair but somehow by the end of the day they would be woven, entangled into his hair. It was a pain to remove those things.

Although when he walked, sometimes those thing produced a melodious sound. Other times they just swayed in an unkown breeze. Beside its looks the crown was a complete mystery just like Neith. One could write on and on about her master yet it would still be the tip of the iceberg.

No one knew the full extent of his power. His martial gods handled the physical side of the things , his other gods handled the rest. Neith used his power only when necessary. She didn't didn't know why when other gods and kings liked to show off their power and status. The least she could deduce on her own was that Neith like to work behind the scenes, wrapped in shadows. As for his powers that was public knowledge was that he is the King of gods, God of life and death.The same was true for the King of zlos, Julian , though.

That was what he was mostly know for. He had other powers too but that was off topic.

Another closely guarded secret was that Neith was the Void King. Only few of his closest confidants and she knew this. What was so secretive about that, she didn't know. Only that she had to keep her mouth sealed tight.

She knew there was more to the crown but she never dared to ask. Not even the other gods know much about it. Neith is kind, generous, patient and a friendly person. But his mood could shift in a second , something only the people of Citrus Palace and those who regularly interacted with him knew about. Besides that it always seemed like he had no emotions. His inner balance maintained the balance of universe afterall , again off topic.

His boots were made of skin of dragons. Their straps twirled around his legs upto his knees. The same dragon skin made his fingerless gloves with straps upto his elbows. His tunic had the same skin making threads and beads criss-crossed, like a shirt without buttons but with threads and beads stretched on his lean chest, which left a trail of his lighty tanned chest bare. The tunic's had its collar till his nape and a black cape on his shoulders which trailed behind when he walked.

Suddenly he stilled and stood up. Miyaka waited if she had any orders. After a he while turned to her.

"Is something wrong, my lord?"

"A lot. Lets go to make some preparations."

"Preparations?", Miyaka asked confused.

"For war", Neith replied calmly as he started walking towards the door.

"W-war, my lord?" , she stuttered as fear began to bloom in her heart. She immediately squashed it. What was there to fear, when the King of Gods, who literally ruled the whole universe is on her side? It should be the enemy who should be quacking in their boots at their foolish mistake.

Neith stopped infront of the closed door as he turned halfway back towards her.

"Fear not, Miya. It is very far away in the future. But its seed has already been sown years ago while I was growing lax in my duties. Seems fitting that I would be...." Neith trailed off, speaking very low at the last words as if forgetting he was talking with Miyaka not himself.

"There is no need to panic if it is going to happen in the future. But if the enemy has already started..." , Miyaka spoke slowly as she observed Neith with shrewd eyes, knowing that he wasn't telling the whole truth.

If anyone knew how to read Neith like the back of their hand, it was Seira, her aunt, and his maid before her and Miyaka. They were the only ones who accompanied him all the time. His guards weren't allowed entry in his bedroom.

From the guarded and cold expression in his stormy eyes, like he had shuttered the world away , it was obvious to her that he wouldn't tell anything that he deemed unnecessary to even his ministers and generals.

"No one can stop the wheel of time when it has already started moving", he said gazing at the corner of the room almost lazily.

"But you can right, my lord?" , Miyaka asked as she grinned, confident in her master's abilities.

" Yes, yes. I can", he smiled back at her, as she opened the door for him and waited for him to pass, but his smile didn't reach his eyes for once and his smile held a world lot of secrets and....sadness.

Miyaka's lips pulled down as she follwed him out, leaving the door open for the guards inside, suddenly no longer able to squash that fear.

Not for her own well-being. But her master's, because she had seen that exact smile before. On her Siera's lips....before she died. Like it was intended to comfort the ones left behind. Like nothing was wrong, even as sadness danced there, unable to be hidden for long.

So Miyaka prayed. Prayed to the only god she truly ever believed in, Neith , the void god, her master.

Prayed that all would be well.

And it would be, after long years has passed.

This was the begining of the downfall of Lord Neith, the King of Gods, God of life and death, antithesis to Lord Julian, the King of Zlos, Zlo of life and death.

This was the ending of the golden era of the universe or maybe it had already began just as Neith said. The seed was sown.

This was yet again the begining of the dawn of Mad King Neith, Lord of Cruelty and Shadows.

A new era has arrived, which the younglings in far future would read in their history books as

"The Ancient Era of Madness and War"