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Chapter 5: In the Darkness

Unmeasured time, a feeling of eternities, there is no day or night, no tiredness, but also no feeling of strength and rest, the step does not stop in the foolish swamp. More he gets closer to unknown goal, he feels a strange hate, pure hate without any cause, but very strong. Brown water just over a prince’s waist starts to be colored in blood and also the stench irons after blood instead of the usual rot. Prince grasps his sword, not of fear of danger.

He steps as a sharp hunter, ready to cut anything living, evil or good in the name of flaming hate in the heart. The blood flows frantically in the head tingles in the eyes and a thousand devils roars in the prince finds out that he is suddenly being followed by something. He slows his step and fakes inattention and unconcern, in a suitable moment with a terrible roar turns around with a sword thrust out and there the damned Water Spirit stands again. The prince breaths out disappointed and not really surprised and puts down his sword to the water. “No brandy, eh?” The prince does not answer. And the water spirit laughs and immediately with frantic voice: “Some fun in the sad swamp, eh?”

“I don’t think so, Water Spirit.”

The Water Spirit gets serious: “I came to warn you, where you go there is no destruction, not yours, you strange prince.” Croaky head plunges without saying goodbye and vanishes unexpectedly as it appeared… The prince still trots through grayness and after a while he comes to a giant rock that stands in his way with evil grandeur. It raises from foul waters as an end of the word monolith, the prince comes to the nearest wall, sees a raised entrance to the cave close. He starts to worry towards the maws of stone and listens.

Some rattle sleeps in the darkness. The prince again waves his sword and shouts into the inside of the rock, an echo flies to the center of the Earth. He waits what evil lies here, that torments the beautiful Queen so, she is unable to utter a word. A frightening reply sounds, inhumanly rough and deep roar. And a stamping of a hurrying animal from the worst of the tales. The prince stiff with horror stands, unable to move. He would most likely escape, but he is faithful to himself and destruction, just closes his eyes and waits, not thinking about the Queen at all. Hot draft of sulphury smoke, eyes better closed. And body shakes with a terrible fear, horror of a thousand deaths.

The stamping stops, something huge stays hidden in impenetrable darkness, just a few fathoms from prince, tender in comparison. He slowly opens his eyes, sees just darkness, but feels presence fearful, close, ghastly in the unsighted horror. The prince’s zeal left him, he puts down his sword and kneels on one knee to have a more pleasant death, a knight’s death. He asks the depths with empty voice: “Tell me, darkness, tell me what horror do you hide?”

Unexpected, a calm half-human voice responds, deep as a giant’s, animal hissing and thick, but with a human feeling: “No horror, prince, you bring the horror!” And the voice sharpens and continues with infuriating speed: “Why do you harass the dead, why don’t you leave lost in peace, why do you arouse our calm kingdom?” And the animal starts to continue weepingly: “What are you looking for here? We are all afraid of you.”

The prince is silent for a short while, then sits into pirate comfortable sitting position with legs crossed, plays with his sword because of pure embarrassment. “I do not know, Darkness, I do not know what to do with me, so I interfere sadly into agony of others, I want to help the Queen that sent me to this rock. What evil lies here, Darkness?

An offended dragon’s voice: “You are the only evil, you bring the unbearable darkness. How happy we were, weeping hidden here, no mad people got this far, the Water Spirit went crazy, you should be rotting on the bedrock…”

Prince sarcastically: “So I give up my apologize, that no one could kill me, what to do here, then?”

“Go back, prince, you still belong to the human kingdom, not here…”

The prince interested: “And what about the Lake Queen, she sent me to the rock and I accepted to serve her with a bow…”

“Just your human imagination, you did not understand anything. Our graceful Queen of Tears has no need for wanderers with swords, she has enough servants, a thousand times stronger than you…”

The prince is taken by a furious demon: “Then let’s match our strengths, Darkness! For I am the prince of the destruction itself.”

An unconcerned dragon just replies: “Just come, prince, prince, rather a king of stupid humanity…” The prince quickly jumps up, found inhuman strength in hate and with road hurls into darkness…

Chapter Six: Prince of Destruction

A quiet land of the death starts to boil, swampy fogs get a hint of blood. Eyes of all local beings are focused with desperate fright to a giant temple that suddenly shined through all kingdom with fire. As a volcanic storm it thunders, silence is disturbed by clank and yell of one fighting monster. The waters write with anxiety, swampy waves knock down and choke defenseless inhabitants of the lake land. All beauties unseen by the prince before are crumbling, he just saw fog, but passed around palaces of hundreds of towers that tower above the fog, where colorful birds flock fed by the fairies in clothes made of spider webs in clear rain and height. Mythical dragons sit by diamond pillars as guards of the beauty. Pale angels fly towards the light and build new towers of it, palaces, temples of passion and calmness. Calm mythical animals walk through clear waters beneath the castles, living only off the clear water. There is no danger, no wrong, no rage. Just large water parks of wild green with butterflies of six wings and adorned by various flowers unknown to the world. The Lake Queen often went to one park to sit on a lonely rock and carefully think how to make the waters even more clear, more pure.

A strange prince came by once, he was sad and empty, but he was let in by the guard of the gate because something gentle still remained in him. The Queen got frightened that he will impurify the waters by love of evil, if he will remain blind to all beauties and kindness. She sent him towards the King to talk wisely with him, received a calm, absolution. She has shown him the way towards the palace and given him seven winged guides. The king, angel of light, ethereal and tender accepted him respectfully and started to talk him with interest as if the prince was a lost son of god…

The prince stabs the heart of conquered dragon ten times with ungodly yell, drenched with blood and sweaty acrid as fumes of all forges of the world, he gives the last hit, mortal, and even turns the sword in the heart. The monster howls with pain, the rock nearly breaks in two and then is gradually silenced. It was a monstrous battle, the prince withstood the fiery breath, fought the claws larger tan his late horse, disjointed the jaw full of swords by clenching his muscles fueled by hate. He pillaged the lair of the evil dragon feeling pride and low joy of life of strength and rivalry, as a hero and victor now marches hastily from the den of evil towards the swamp to bow to the Queen that he was successful…

He struggles through swamp, trots and sometimes touches a floating dead body. And he tells proudly himself that the dragon was really a menace of the strange land. Suddenly he sees the Water Spirit that floats with his belly upwards as a dead fish. The prince joyfully shouts: “Any brandy? Some fun in the sad marches, eh?” The Water Spirit is dead and does not answer. The prince firstly wanders and then continues. After half a day of wandering in the fog and swamp he finds the stone where he first saw the Queen, but she is not sitting here anymore. He climbs the stone to look around. He finds only blue clothes soaked with the salt of tears. He smells and the haze of misfortune again opens into beautiful blue clearness. But the prince is suddenly frozen with fear, he sees destroyed kingdom, floating dead bodies and ruin, in a beautiful blue of sky and waters… The prince sees real destruction for the first time, and even though he does not understand everything yet, he sits on the stone and starts weeping. He may find answers in tears…

Epilogue

The prince will not move from the stone, he dies with real feeling of indeterminate misfortune. Lake Queen cried with her whole substance to a land, she is the only one who will not plow through the swamps of decaying bodies… Maybe even people stray to this dim land in time, even though they may not be so blind as the possessed prince, but now they will all see the same…