The world has known no peace like it does now since the rise of heroes. With superpower beings at an all time high, what luck must the public be that most choose the side of justice and all things good. At least from the public's view. You know what really goes on behind the scenes of the world's most popular heroes. Corruption, drugs, blackmail, and more has kept those at top shining bright. Swaying the public to their side and eliminating any who stand in their way. As one of the few villains capable and willing to stop the injustice by any means necessary your plan has been toppled and now a rookie stands ready to bring you in. How will you make your escape?

A short story mainly focusing on the abilities of a villain with shadow controlling powers. As well as a small dive into the series I plan on continuing.

  This is a prologue to a story I am currently working on. There is context missing that would obviously be found out later in the full story but I'll give a quick summary of now.

The point of veiw is from a young girl name Lily who's father was The highest ranking knight and most loyal friend to the king. Yet a surpise attack has left the king dead and the usurper putting out a bounty on  all still loyal to the old king. Leaving Lily and her father on the run and being hunted.

With every step the mud pulls you in, weighing you down. The rain has only gotten worse since yesterday and you have a day left on this trek. You feel as if you could collapse any second, but you know you can't stop now. If you give up now then all you been through, all that your father has suffered would be for nothing.

"Y-you don't want to r-rest for a little bit?" You ask him. He has been letting out small grunts and sighs of pain every few minutes. The injuries from your most recent encounter with bounty hunters has left him with a few broken ribs and some sort of rash on his left arm.

He stops abruptly almost causing you to collide with him. His glare burns through you. He doesn't need to speak, the silence says it all. He continues walking while you take a second to catch your breath. If only your mother was here she would argue for a rest. You know he won't wait up for you so you run to close the distance between the two of you. You can't stop thinking of your mom. Your father doesn't know but you sa-

"Shh." The hushed whisper snaps you back to reality. You aren't certain but you think your father just told you to shh. He has stopped in his tracks and scans the forest surrounding you. After the second encounter on this exile you have came to realize his instincts have yet to fail him.

You tense up searching side to side, scanning every tree, Bush, and log. You can't seem to see anyone but you are starting to feel it too, as If time is frozen around you. The birds don't chirp, the wind is still, and even the rain falls silently on road. The world holds her breath waiting in anticipation to see who makes the first move.

In then with a flash of lightning the sky rips open forcing time to move forward. You aren't sure if the man just appeared or if he moved faster than you could see when the lighting struck, but either way he stands now in front of your father. He is dressed in leather armor holding a sword above his head. Although time has resumed the bounty hunter remains frozen.

"Ohh-" you let slip before you catch your breath. The sight of the cut across his chest spilling his blood across the ground. You didn't even see your dad reach for his blade let alone split this man open, yet his blood-soaked blade extended out is all the proof you need.

"Damn..." the man croaks before his sword falls behind him and he collapses into a pool of his blood. Your father brings his blade in front of him in a defensive stance clearly getting ready to fight. You are stuck in a trance watching the life seep out the man laid out before you. You don't think you could ever get use to the sight of death. You have gotten acquainted since the exile and yet it still has you petrified.

" LILLLLLYY Run! Get out of her-." You quickly look up swearing you could hear your mother in front of you. You are under the floor boards surrounded in darkness. With the little bit of light seeping into the cracks you see Luna Moonstrider run your mother through with his blade. Confusion and fear grasps your voice, keeping you from crying out. You peer into the darkness as you feel tears fall down your face, or perhaps its your mothers blood pouring from the floor above. After a few moments you hear luna leave the house and you quickly come out to see your mother. The life slowly draining as she weakly tries to speak.

" Lillllyy run to the forest and hide!" Your father yells without turning back to look at you. You slowly step back unable to leave your mother again. Then through the gloom of the storm a light reveals the truth. That you aren't standing in your home but in Byre forest, that you aren't leaving your mother you already left her, and that right now you need to act.


"Lily run dammit!" Your father screams once again. You realize that a fireball is mere inches away from your father. Fortunately his sword cuts through it, disenchanting the magic. Not before the heat glazes your skin, radiating fear throughout your body. You turn and run straight for the forest. You waste no time reaching the tree line and hiding in the first bush you come across.

You stand far enough from the road that you should be safe but still close enough to assess the fight. Your father is already surrounded by 3 hunters. Luna, a mage based off of his clothing, and what you assume to be a werewolf based on the stories told of them. You've never seen one before but it matches every story your father has told you. There also appears to be an illusion of you behind him. Which Dawns on you as it all begins to make sense to you. Your father being a skilled illusionist, must have cast invisibility over you when he sliced the fireball. Then created a illusion of yourself to keep the enemy ignorant of where you truly are.

You catch your breath trying to focus on a plan. You father would be more than capable of handling them all with easy, but given his exhaustion and injuries it is probably likely he will struggle with this battle. You have no real fighting skill. You never took the training with your father to heart, just another chore you had to complete. You do have magic though. When ever it was time to implement or learn magic you couldn't get enough, and your favorite was illusion magic. The possibilities were limitless like art you could create.

Now however is not training and you might be good for your age but you would still only be considered a novice practitioner. You decide to muster up the arcane energy pooled inside you to take over the illusion of yourself. Your father most feel the change and possibly planned on you doing that because he let's go of control instantly. This allows him to conserve mana focuse on the fight, and have the enemies at a disadvantage with false knowledge of the battle field.

You know luna is aware of you and your father's magical ability but your father always made it a point To hide the fact he uses illusions. Even to his allies. Which perfectly leaves luna with the belief that your father has specialized in teleportation magic, and that you know basic elemental magic. You use that to your advantage and instantly your illusion begins casting lightning strikes into the area. You mix the illusion with actual magical lighting strikes. Unfortunately you are not skilled enough to give any real power to them. The purpose is to recreate the heat and impact of actual ones so the enemies don't realize any are fake.

The ruse seems to work on Luna and the unknown mage as they jump out of the radius of the spells. The werewolf however either doesn't care or possibly thanks to its animalistic instincts can tell that it's in no harm. It takes this chance to leap towards your illusion, but your father acts instantly and kicks the hound in its ribs sending it scurrying back. You have no choice but to have your illusion act scared from the attempt and let the spell dissolve to keep the trick believable. As expected the mage and luna rush in on your father and you. The mage casts a fireball directly at your father followed by Luna hiding behind it. You secretly create the image of Luna in the flames so only your father could see effectively ending luna's hidden attack. He brings his sword down, slices the fire ball in half once again dispelling it but as his blade hits the earth he summons ice spikes outward. Luna is nearly impaled but barely manages to step back receiving only a gash in his left leg.

You know this can't continue with minor attacks. Your father won't be able to keep it up. If only he rested like you suggested, maybe he would have the strength. You decide you need to act more aggressively and stop playing support. Regardless if your father may yell at you for this, you will fight. You have your illusion rush towards the trees where you are hiding. Luna steps forth preparing to strike you down, but you summon a lighting strike right on to the illusion and cause it to vanish. You then summon another one where you wanted the illusion to go. This should appear to be a teleportation spell and shouldn't be questioned.

Now the illusion is in a position to cast stronger attack spells and still appear to be the illusion. You waste no time firing off a fire ball at the werewolf, but the wizard wastes no time summoning a wall of water to cancel out the fire. You were hoping the wolf would dodge and you could hit the tree on the other side of the road. Luckily the steam is just as good as the smoke you wanted. Your father realizes the opportunity and expands the mist with illusion to envelop the immediate area leaving the hunters blind.

Disappointingly your father didn't dispel the effects for you. Leaving you just as blind as your enemies. You know that it isn't a mistake and that he likely allowed this to discourage you from continuing to fight. You close your eyes to begin weaving through his illusion. You can see magical energy like strings. You family has a bloodline trait allowing you too. It's still must be trained and honed but it is a rare trait even among other bloodline traits. Using your fatum sight you weave through his illusion, slowly creating a opening you can see through.

When you open you eyes again the illusion is gone and so too is the head of the wolf. Your father must of attacked immediately knowing the werewolve's sense of smell and sound would make up for the loss of sight. The wizard reacts soon after casting a small tornado to absorb the mist, however the mist remaining is only a visual illusion and can only be dispelled. You watch as the tornado grows in size while the wizard frustratingly pouring more and more magic in it. You can feel the pull from here, if it gets bigger you doubt the wizard would be able to control it.

You aren't sure if your father planned for this but he seizes the opportunity to take advantage of the tornado. He pulls out 3 flasks of dragons spit. A highly flammable liquid highly expensive and rare. Fortunately your father hoards rare materials and items. Even more fortunate he grab as much as he could when you both had to flee. He then throws them towards the tornado. You watch as the flasks break and release the dragons spit.

After only a moment your father ignites the the tornado into inferno tornado. The forest lights up in a orange hue as the flames swim up the tornado. A massive wave of heat washes over you. You instinctually close your eyes and drop down. You lay still on the ground for what feels like forever trying to listen for any movement. You can feel panick set in as silence fills the forest. The inferno was huge, is it possible that your father got caught in it. You finally find the courage to look, and what was earlier lit to look like a morning sunrise has been turned to ash. Nothing is moving at all. You decide to slowly creep forward scanning what's left the trees and the road. Tears begin to sweal in your eyes as you look around. The rain quickly washing them away.

"Li-ly" you barely hear your father call out for you. When you rush to where he is at you gasp as your fears outdone. You now wish he was burnt in the fire because then you might have a chance of healing him. This is somthing you can not heal even if you noticed in time. Poison has turned his blood black. His veins show no part unscathed. His eyes are bloodshot with black veins and the rash now appears to be a crater of decay. He must of been poisoned on one of the last battles. Yet he hid it from you with his illusions.

"I'm sorry my littl- little lily." He croaks between struggles breathing. "I wish I... you didn't have to do this alone." You aren't sure if its rain but it appears as if he is crying. You have never seen him cry before and it only ensures you that this is no nightmare. The strongest person you know lies broken before you. Dying in your arms while there is nothing you can do, no one who could help.

"Please daddy don't leave. I need you please I need you." At this point the tears have became uncontrollable, your chest has tightened around your heart, and you feel as if you are about to throw up. Your father grabs your hand as he gives his final words.

"I'm sorry yo-your life might be hard for awhile, but I know you will make it." You feel his grip loosen, his strength fading. " I love you my little Lily. I'm s-so proud..." you look down and see What appears to be your fathers sword, except shrunken into a charm with a chain. You lose sight of the world as your tears blind you. The rain has finally stopped but your face remains drenched in tears

Those Who Stood

You failed them. You look around and see a graveyard in the eyes of everyone here. They all hold the weight of the loved ones they lost. Your own eyes are dragged down by a tremendous weight too, but you can't let them see that or none would fight with you.
"Does everyone have their weapons? Are the children hidden?" You ask making sure the final preparations are ready. You don't expect much from this battle, but you know you can't run away any more. Lots of these people are sick, many more injured, and the rest are broken.
"Yes, the kids have made it pretty far down the tunnel. They will make it." Marcus tells you. Marcus is your most trusted friend and many consider him 2nd in command. Which is still insane for you to think about since you are considered in charge. It doesn't feel that long ago you were just a lone wanderer. You never imagined that saving those children would lead to you being in charge of a whole rebellion, a dying rebellion.
"Marcus... I just." You take a deep breath as you calm your nerves. You face forward and begin to walk out the tunnel. Hoping he drops the conversation.
" Jace..." he says almost like a whisper. He grabs your wrist stopping you from walking away. You don't turn to face him though. You don't want him to see everything. " you don't have to say it, or even acknowledge this conversation. But I- I lo-"
" I love you too." You say before he can finish. Before he breaks down the walls you built, the false courage, the non existent hope you been carrying. You walk away; out to your position. You came up with a simple trap that probably won't even give you any noticeable advantage other than giving these people a little more hope. You know deep down you aren't winning. You will never get to follow through on your love for Marcus and you will never see him smile, but you won't just lay down and die. You refuse to be quiet even though you know it's useless.
"Death after life!!" Screams the scout. That's the signal. The dreaded king is near. Your final battle begins now.
" Live Free and Die free!" You scream. The two phrases form a sorta call sign. The rebellion live by those words and it's only right to use them in this final battle. You look down at your hand and feel the sparks jump under your skin. You been holding another secret since you joined this rebellion. You didn't want them to fear you so you kept it to yourself.
" I'LL GIVE YOU ONE CHANCE TO BOW NOW AND SUBMIT TO MY RULE!" You hear his voice long before you see him. Like thunder it roars across the plains and you can imagine it echoing down the tunnels below.
"If only it could be that easy, but we both know that's not how this works." Suddenly mist rises from the ground. Rising higher and higher becoming a dense fog limiting your visibility to only a few feet. You realize any plan you had before is useless; your people won't be able to see the king and let alone see the final signal to attack.
"Jace!!!" You hear marcus scream and for the first time since joining. You feel fear grip your heart. You had these feelings for him for a long time, but you only just now found out he had the same for you. The thought of losing him...
"Look within the depths of your soul and face death with which we all fear." The mist clears up to reveal a battle ravaged field. The entirety of your comrades lay dead or dying in the blood soaked ground. You could of sworn it was only a short moment the mist swallowed you yet the entire battle field has morphed before you.
"I don't fear death!" You scream out pulling your sword out.
"You may not fear your death... but I can guarantee you fear his." You finally spot him. The shadow king stands in his full body blackened armor while he holds Marcus by the throat suspended above the ground.
"Put him down and face me!" His helmet covers his face but the way his red glowing eyes squints you can tell he is smiling.
" To easy..." The shadow king let's go of Marcus and your watch him hit the ground hard. He struggles to get on his knees as he catches his breathe. In one fluid motion the Tyrant conjures his sword and slicing through Marcus's neck all while looking and moving directly towards you.
"I-im gonn----"
"Gonna what? Die a miserable death and curse me in the after life?" He says mockingly. "I'm not worried." You can't help but think something is off about him. You have fought him twice before and barely escaped with your life. In both instances he barely said a few words to to you. None of which included this banter.
He raises his hand to conjure a fireball, but before the flame is created you throw your knife and watch him barely move it in time. Within seconds, you are already on him blade aimed for his stomach. He deflects it to your left on the last possible second, but you were prepared for this and use the momentum of the deflection to spin around. Once you feel the kick connect, your suspicions are confirmed. You kick him right across the face causing him to stumble back a few feet. Without a moment wasted, you drive forward blade aimed for the heart. He barely brings manages to bring his sword up in time to stop the blow. With your free hand, you manage to pull out a small explosive and stick it in the plates of his armor. You quickly roll backwards out of the radius just in time for the the detonation to go off; sending the mad tyrant flying onto his back.
"I don't know who you are, but you are nowhere near as good as the true Shadow King. You are no warrior, just a powered up pretender." You feel the hope rise in your soul, but you feel the anger coursing through your veins. The air around you becomes charged and the sky darkens as clouds form over head.
"Have you no sense? I have the power of--" the imposter stops as he sits up and sees the scene unfold. You are enveloped in light as sparks of electricity ripple throughout your body.
"So much energy, so much power!" You scream out as a lightning bolt strikes the sky shooting up from the ground towards the clouds. You can't lose here; you will kill this imposter and find the real king to tear him apart. He will pay for the deaths of all who suffered. The imposter gets on their feet preparing another attack but before they can get serious you move on them with lightning speed. Sending multiple strikes to the chest. You end the combo with a thunderous uppercut sending forth a lighting bolt upwards towards the sky along with the imposter. You watch as the fake king takes flight high above the ground, and before gravity gets the chance to bring them down you command the bolt you just release to crash to the earth.
BOOM!
You hear the thunderous clap as the bolt hits the fraud spiking them hard against the cold ground.
" YOU ARE FINISHED!" You roar as loud as Zeus himself. You leap into the air landing on the weak imitation of the tyrant and begin a barrage of punches burying their face into the ground. Each time your fist strikes their helmet you can see the sparks of electricity disperse in every direction. This just encourages you to hit faster and faster. Right when you didn't think you could hit any faster the knockoff's helmet breaks in half and one side falls to the floor. You pause your attack to notice who you have been battling this entire time, was the Queen herself. Her eyes glow a fierce purple and even though you can't see her complete face you can tell it is contorted in rage. In fact, you feel the rage rushing out of her. "What is this?" Before you have time to react a ball of energy explodes in your face tossing you off of the queen and in your back yards away.
"I may not be the king and all his glory, but I promise that after today, the world is going to beg for the old king back!" She says in her own voice, as she is already on her feet before you can even sit up. Barely getting on your knees you fire a lightning bolt, but to your surprise, the queen conjured a blackened blade from her own shadow just in time to deflect it feet away from her. All of sudden, your legs start shaking, your chest tightens up, and your muscles scream in agony,yet you can't tell if it’s exhaustion taking its toll or if the fear has wrapped around your soul draining your strength.
"I refuse to fall here!" You scream trying your best to hide the fear. "I'll slay you now and bring the king your heart before I kill him too." Something in the queen's eyes flashes for a brief moment and you aren't sure what it is, it seemed like guilt, but as quick as it came it goes away and rage pours out more than ever.
"You don't get it, do you?" You quickly get on your feet as she makes her way towards you. "Well let me make it clear. YOU DON'T WALK AWAY FROM THIS BATTLE WITH YOUR LIFE INTACT!" Her voice fills every fiber of your body and you can feel the anger as it burns into you. You don't have time to think; you just act. You rush in as fast as you possibly can aiming for her heart. A few feet away from her you run into what feels like a unseen wall. The impact stops you dead in your tracks; you can't move forward; it's like your body refuses to take the step.
"What kind of trick is this?"
"This is no trick rebel scum." She takes a step forward and begrudgingly you are pushed back, feet sliding across the soil. " This is science. I assumed you were discharging negatively charged lighting bolts. So I created a negatively charged field around me. Hmmph, see what I'm getting at now? This is no trick. Hahaha!" Her laugh freezes you in your place. "This is your DOWNFALL!" With in the blink of an eye she brings back the blackened blade and throws it, as if it was a spear, right at you. Frozen in fear all you can do is watch in disbelief as the blade flies thru the air. ZZCTZZ!
Your eyes nearly burst out their sockets when you witness your own body deform into pure electric sparks allowing the sword to pass through you. You can hardly believe what just happen and look up hoping to see the same disbelief on the queens face. Any hope you had left is instantly sapped when you find the most cunning smile on her face. You try to take a step forward only to be stopped again but instead of the wall from the front it's a strong pull backwards.
"Don't forget opposites attract." You look back to witness the end of your life. The blade glows bright as arcs of electricity flows into it. All of which run off you. You even begin to feel the strength zap out of you as a hole appears in you back. Slowly it grows and you realize that you will be completely transformed into energy trapped inside her blade. "You were a formidable warrior and I could see why you escaped him twice before." Slowly the half her face that is shown is swallowed by darkness, and out of the darkness the helmet is made whole again. "But now you will serve in his revival and the fall of all those who stand in my way!" Her voice once again returns to that of the shadow king. The last thing you see is her purple eyes burning into your soul when everything goes black.
....................................
You expected something else in death but so far it's only a black abyss. You can't tell how long you been waiting but it feels like a lifetime of floating in nothingness. You don't feel dead, well you don't know what death should feel like either, but you feel as if you did before the fight ended. You just have no body. You are kind of just floating aimlessly into nothing. All you can do is wait.
"Ahh so it worked." You hear her voice again but this time it seems to echo from all directions and into all directions. You try to speak but nothing comes out. You feel a strain of energy but nothing happens. You just wait what seems like centuries before she continues. "I can't hear you by the way. All your attempts of speaking comes out as sparks rippling down my blade." Each sentence seems to last a eternity before she says the next. "I assume time doesn't work the same for you either. A mere second here may be a lifetime in there for you... just how I wanted it. I'll be using your power from here on out, and I guarantee it’s going to hurt. Haha. Let me show you." Suddenly after you’ve gone mad with the torture of time being morphed, a flash appears all around. So bright you can't seem to see your surroundings. Then its happens, pain ripples through every atom in your body. As if you are being pulled in a infinite amount of directions and being set over a fire to burn alive. If you had a physical body, you would just pass out, but unfortunately, all you can do is endure it. Attempting to scream, but all you feel is the pull of energy. This pain goes on for a millennia before finally subsiding. Fortunately for you, you are driven insane. Unfortunately for you, it only last briefly as you constantly find yourself restored into perfect mental condition shortly after. Your soul will know no rest.

The queens guilt

" Nooo!!! This can't be real! Wake up, Will, wake up!" You scream banging on his chest. Trying to get his heart to pump again or his lungs to breathe. You watched him die in your arms and you don't know if you can take it. You can feel you heart shatter into a million pieces. You feel a hatred growing in your stomach and weight building on your chest. His last moments was him seeing you run a blade through his heart and the entire time he only blamed himself. As if he pushed you to a point where all you could do is kill him. It wasn't you though. You mean it was you but you lost control. Something in you just snapped and you couldn't stop yourself. Years of neglect and hurt... and you let it get the best of you. Then, as soon as the blade pierced his chest, all of that faded. All of the built up anger didn't even feel like yours and you were left with the love you always had for him, but now it's too late, now the love of your life lays dead in your hands. His blood is on your hands.

"AGHHHHHHH!" You gently placed his body on the ground as you scream a final time, tears still pouring down your face. Then you feel it. The pulse of energy and power in your hand. You look down and you see bright light of the red orb overtake the room. Like a moth to a flame you are hypnotized with its glow. You are in a trance and think of all the stories Will has told you about it. How it spoke to him from the moment he has took it. Telling him the stories of mighty conquers and far off worlds. Of powers so magnificent the human mind could not comprehend and of a future where he would have it all. " I won't let you down again my love; I'll finish what you started; I'll fix this baby; I'll fix this I promise!" You scream. Without further hesitation, you hold out the red orb and plunge it into your chest feeling the overwhelming heat sear into you.

You fall to your back and squirm as a fire rages in every muscle, cell, and fiber in your body. The heat only gets hotter and the pain worse. You can feel your insides boil. You try to scream, only to make you face distorted and strained with no sound. Right when you think you are gonna pass out from the pain you hear it. At first it's quiet and low, but the more you focused on it, the louder it becomes. Until it becomes so loud it fills you completely.
"So you have taken up the mantle of terror?" The voice echoes throughout your body and vibrates your very soul. "Do you know of the things your love protected you from? The monsters this world has has been spared by do to his sacrifice? Don't answer. I see now you don't. I see what you know and feel. I see the pain in your shattered heart from what you have done."

"It wasn't me!!" You scream into the empty room.
" Oh, but it was darling. You may have had a spell cast on you but there is no denying it was you. It was your blade that ran him through and your hand that controlled the blade."
"Stop ly-. Wait d-did you say a spell?" You choke on the words as you start to fully understand what the voice is saying.
" Ahh, you poor thing. You didn't even know. It's ok. I've seen spells like this one cast before. It takes the tiniest ounce of an emotion and amplifies it to a point of near insanity. The caster can channel the emotion on to any target and watch as said emotion takes effect. For example, the love for a dog can be turned into an obsession for any person. A small moment of anger or hatred can be turned into a killing rage towards a loved one. It is a very hard spell to cast and sometimes the emotion will need to be built up for long periods of time. In your case it took decades before your anger overcame your love for him. Hell, now, that I'm focusing on it. I can see that multiple emotions were being used against you. I must hand it to the caster for such spell work and you did good lasting all of those years with the strain of it all breaking you down."

You sit there for a long moment in silence as what you just learned sinks in. All these years you’ve been manipulated. You never hated him, you never felt as if he abandon you or put his goals above you. You remember everything he has ever done for you. All of the promises he was gonna fulfill when the world was both of yours. Now he will never again have the chance. You will never be able to convince him it wasn't you.

" How do you know all this? How can I fix this?" You beg with sorrow leaking off every word.

" I am the collected conscious of all those who has ever obtained the orb of chaos. I know everything they have ever known. I am a built in assistant to the keep of destruction." The orb speaks as if on autopilot, as if it has rehearsed the line for centuries. "As for fixing it, I assume you mean either revenge or bringing him back to life? Revenge is easy; kill the one who cast the spell on you. The resurrection though… well let's say I know of the ritual to do it, but I have never seen it performed so I can't offer any certainty on the matter."

" Resurrection?!" You jump to your feet with a new fire in your eye.

"Yes resurrection--"

"That's it! I'll bring him back; I'll end this rebellion and kill the one responsible for this spell and all will pay. He will forgive me if he comes back to a perfect world. He has to. Right? He has to!" You say with a smile across you face. This is perfect; this is how it's meant to be. You place your hand on his chest one last time. You feel that power spread forth turning him into blade. Your new blade with which you will use to carry out his revival. "Warrick!!" You scream for the kings trusted warrior. You reach out with your new power grabbing the shadows  and manipulating them to form the same armor, using the same voice as the king. No one will know he was even gone.

The Overlord’s Regrets

"No!! No no no! Not like this. Not you, baby!" She says to you through heavy breathes and her sopping tears. She holds you in her arms and presses your body tightly to hers as if her warmth is all it takes. You both know a wound like this is too much though. You feel the heat and your strength drain through the hole in your chest. "Baby, look at me!" You realize how everything around you is losing focus. The colors are turning into black and white, the lines are blurring. " I said look at me dammit!!" You force your eyes to meet hers and see that she holds the last remaining color, the last thing you will see in these moments. " You can't leave me; please don't go"

" I-I.... I'm so sor-ry..." you choke on the blood in your throat. "I'm ss-o so sorry" you repeat as you think about all the things you are sorry for. You had the world in your grasp but you made one mistake, you trusted one too many people. You are sorry you got her involved in this. You are sorry because you don't know what is gonna happen now without you; will she be able to take control of all you have gained? Will even try? Could she ever forgive you for failing her? You are so sorry that you put your ambition above the love you had for her. That you made so many promises of all the things you would do once you had complete control of the world and now you can't do any of it. You are sorry she has to be here right now witnessing this. You are sorry that you have to leave her.

" Don't you say that dammit!" She screams as she shakes you violently. All you see is the stream of tears flowing down her cheeks. You remember the first time she cried all those years ago. You threw entire festivals and brought in all her favorite foods. She never told you why she was crying, but you felt deep down she knew how you set your goals for world domination above her. When she stopped crying you could still see the pain in the edges of her eyes. " Say something, please. Don't give up; I need you!" She continues to beg. Her pain made you want to conquer the world so much more. You wished to hand her any and everything she could think of. You wished to give her a freedom like no one has ever had… but you failed, and now you wish you could just spend one more day, one more hour, one more minute, one more second with her. Just her.

" I love you so much, rose" you muster enough strength to put you hand on her cheek, wiping away few tears.

" I love you too baby; that's why you gotta stay with me, please hold on!" You start gathering all you power, all your knowledge and form it into a ball. The ball becomes a orb of red light shining brightly throughout the throne room. " Ah no no you are gonna make it; don't do this." Rose begs as she recognizes the orb from the stories you told her. This is the source of your power. It contains a wealth of knowledge and strength and you know she will need it for whatever she will do in the future.
" I nee--" you cough up the blood finally pouring out your mouth. " I need you to take this and live, ok. I need you to live." You force the orb into her hand and watch as the pain in the corners of her eyes finally overtakes everything else. All you can do is break inside. There goes another promise broken. One you made to yourself; the one where you swore you would never let that pain make a permanent place in her heart. Now, the last thing you must see is her break in front of you and it's all your fault. " So sorry. I l-love y.. you" is the last thing you say as the world goes cold, your body goes numb, as you hear the faintest echo of her scream miles away. All you can think about is how it's your fault. Why did you let it get this far. You pushed her to the moment she had no choice but to kill you.

I started by making a random short story. After making a few more i went back and change certain details to make them all connect and become one story. They all are in chronological order but plenty of time happens in between each of them some times decades.

The false damsel

The hero rushes forth leaping off the ledge sword in hand. He comes down hard buring the blade in the orcs neck. Without a sound the orc drops to the ground lifeless, as blood leaks down the ruined brick pathway.
 "Miss, you are safe now; however, we don't have long. This temple is filled with more orcs and other monsters." Warrick says to the shocked women he just saved.
 "Uhm who a-are you?" She sputters out as she follows him down the hall
 "None of that matters; we must hurry. Can you run?"
 "Yes, but what are you doing here?"
 "I believe that is what I ask you? Why are you out this late? In a temple full of monsters?" He stops and turns to make sure she is close behind him. She has a stern expression "except you of course! You are the only human in miles." He quickly mentions hoping he hasn't offended her or at least recovered from it. After a brief silence, he carries on not trying to get to caught up in the details when there is danger all around.
They make their way further and further down the passage. Warrick must light his torch after they travel too far from the hole in the ceiling he previously jumped through.
 "I-uhm I..." the girl breaks the silence after 10 minutes of silent walking. " I think you are lost." She says in a matter of fact tone.
 "I'm not lost." He replies holding back some small irritation because honestly he thinks he is lost too. He knows the entrance is in this direction, but all these hallways have confused him. The outside the temple looked small, but he felt like they have been walking longer than they should have. " Just stay close by we-" he cuts himself off when he turns around to see she has vanished completely. His heart racing he quickly pulls out his sword.
 "HELP!!" Her scream echoed down the corridors with a chilling panic. Without hesitation he sprints in the direction it came from. Stopping only when he reaches a large door he did not recognize walking past.
 "I'm here just stand back!" He screams as he burst through door. Prepared for a fight he is shocked to see that the same girl sits on her knees in the middle of the room. "Are you alright?"
 "Do you think I'm some... some helpless maiden in distress?" She asks her voice comes out low and barely loud enough to hear.
 "Uhm, what are you saying? Are you injured?" He rushes forward looking for any blood or injuries. He kneels down in front of her and reaches for her hand. "Look we must go rig-" his whole body tenses up. The hair on his neck stands up and he gains a cold sweat. Everything in his being tells him to run but he stands frozen. As frozen as her hands feel clasped around his throat.
 "You were right the first time you know. Nothing but monsters around here." Her grin stretches wide. In the same instant his whole world is changed. The room transforms into a massive dungeon with orcs lined up with weapons in hand and fully armored around the room. "You are as foolish as they come boy." Her voice quickly taking on a sinister tone as she too transforms from a young girl to a woman in her late 20's with tan skin and red eyes. "Your mind is so weak and riddled with pride; my illusion spell didn't take any concentration" her laugh echoes loudly as she gets up and walks circles around him. The entire time Warrick struggles to fight, scream, cry, or anything; yet, he stands completely frozen with  fear ripping through him. "Don't bother; I paralysed you sweetie. I don't have time to chase you through the halls. I have to see if my king has any use for you before I can have my fun." Once again, her laugh echoes through our the room. She stops abruptly as the door swings open.
"Rose, this is him?" Says a new voice that sends a chill down Warrick's spine. Unable to turn his head to see who it is he assumes it's the king she mentioned. The image he creates brings a new kind of fear in him.
" Yes, my love, this is the intruder who killed my favorite orc" she replies with a fake pouty voice. Not speaking the king moves forward. The sound of his heavy armor clanks against the walls and thunders in Warrick's mind. Eventually, the figure steps out  in front of Warrick coming face to face. Suddenly, Warrick's heart pounds furiously at the sight. The being in front him is every bit as terrifying as he imagined and more.
" Interesting. Could you find out how he got past the cloaking spell? This temple should have been hidden." The figure reaches out grabbing Warrick by the chin. Like lighting spreading in the sky, pain shoots out to every nerve in Warrick's body, so intense he can't understand why he hasn't passed out from the pain.
"Oh yes baby; I can find out. I have the feeling there is magic in his blood." The grin on her face spreads even further " I'm gonna have to cut him open to find our for sure though!"
" Do with him as you please my empress. I'm going to head out to the village nearby. I'll bring you back some captives." The king let's go of Warrick's face and storms out the room. For a moment Warrick breaks down inside as the  village he mentioned is Warrick’s hometown. All his friends and family are in danger and there is nothing he can do. That all fades as he realizes what's going to happen to him. He feels the fear in his soul as Rose tears him apart....