The King awoke from his bed, sitting up and yawning.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCjDlzHt8j
Beautiful and peaceful harp music filled his massive bedroom that contained a large bed with a golden bed frame, expensive artwork including statues and busts, and a dresser open to reveal all sorts of expensive and elaborate clothes in every color.
He looked over at Lena, who was staring down at the ground as she played the harp.
The King stripped naked as Lena avoided lifting her gaze.
She looked older, as if a while had passed since she was taken from her home. She was a teenager with her hair still long and blonde reaching almost to her waist. She had faint bruises on her arms and neck, almost like markings from a fight.
“I was thinking of having that magic boy perform a show while I eat breakfast. Would you like to enjoy it with me?” The King asked as he put on a yellow robe, not putting anything on underneath.
Lena didn’t respond at first, only strumming peaceful music.
“Stop playing.” The King said while his hand lifted towards her.
Lena suddenly stopped and cleared her throat.
“That…that would…sounds nice…” Lena said just loud enough for him to hear.
She looked and sounded tired, as if she didn’t get any sleep at all.
“Perfect…now come. Let us go.”
He lifted his arm up, Lena hesitantly walking over and letting him put it over her shoulders. Lena visibly winced but walked with him as she walked, unable to even look towards him.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qek24owdw
Chima was leaning against the wall, his arms and legs shackled tightly as he tried to sleep, but it was too difficult.
He was so tired, but he couldn’t sleep.
His stomach was empty for days on end. He was growing skinny and weak as he looked across the small hall.
Emerson was laying on the ground.
No shackles at all.
He even had an empty plate of food sitting on the ground next to him.
Chima jumped when he began to hear loud walking heading towards him. He tried to control his breathing as the steps grew closer and closer.
Emerson slowly began to wake up, looking out confused as two knights opened the door to Chima’s cell.
They unshackled him, and his body immediately dropped down to the floor.
The knights sounded upset and annoyed, forcing Chima to his weak feet as his body shivered.
“Oh come on. You’re making this difficult.” One of the knights said as they dropped Chima’s frail body to the ground. He kicked Chima hard in the gut as Emerson ran to his own jail door.
“Hey! You leave him alone!” Emerson shouted.
The knights turned towards him, but Emerson didn’t back down.
They walked over and one grabbed Emerson by his hand, using it to pull him hard face first into the iron bars before he suddenly broke Emerson’s finger without hesitation.
Emerson screamed and dropped down to the ground clutching his hand.
The knights went back to pulling Chima up as he was whispering.
Emerson looked down at his finger suddenly snapped back into place on its own.
He didn’t feel any pain, only leaning against the wall to see Chima and the knights disappear.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvRXssaiVga
Chima was forcefully placed in a chair, and forcefully dressed in a jester’s outfit by the knights. Chima was too weak to fight back before he was forced back up and walk out into the large hall.
The King sat at the head of a large table. Lena was sitting directly next to him, and the other seats were taken up by other royalty as well as the highest ranking knights of his army.
Frederick was sitting across from Lena and directly next to The King, wearing silver armor and looking a few years older than when he first joined the army.
He was ruggedly handsome with his beard and hair both longer. He looked unkempt, as if he didn’t bother washing it.
He was eating a large turkey leg, but then lifted his eyes to look at Lena.
Lena gave a subtle smile and looked back before drawing her attention down the table.
“My King. Your entertainment has arrived!” The knight shouted as everyone at the table applauded.
Lena looked at Frederick, who was looking down the long table.
A large puff of smoke shot out, the knight suddenly disappearing with Chima standing in his place in the annoyingly bright and vibrantly colored jester outfit.
Chima had a massive fake smile on his face, painfully wide to the point of causing him pain.
“How is everyone doing today?” Chima asked in broken French, struggling to speak it as fluently as he needed.
All of the people watched with large smiles, but The King was already applauding and cheering.
Chima danced his way over despite being in severe pain.
He waved his hands over one of the royal’s golden cups. The gold suddenly disappeared, but the wine inside stayed in the form of a cup.
Everyone cheered loudly and applauded as Chima smiled.
Chima continued with the painful smile covering his face, tears running down until he rubbed them away. He flicked his tears into the air, waving his hands as the tears suddenly turned into pieces of pure gold in midair, landing on the table as the guests applauded more, grabbing them to keep themselves.
Chima locked eyes with Lena, blushing and freezing for a few seconds before shaking his head.
Lena could see the pain and agony in his eyes despite his best efforts to hide it.
“Hey, are you okay?” Frederick asked her, making Lena quickly turn to face him.
“Huh?” She asked.
“I asked if you were okay. You were starting to look sad.” Frederick said.
Chima was getting ready for his big finish. He took a deep breath and picked up the glass made of wine, which continued to ripple and shift while still keeping the shape. He held it to his lips, sipping it all before spitting into the air, the liquid turning into vibrant and multi-colored flames that put on an impressive display.
The King jumped up and was rapidly applauding so quick and hard that his hands were turning red and bruised, but he just kept clapping.
“You doing anything later?” Frederick whispered.
“Probably playing music for him.” Lena whispered back, tilting her head to the King.
Frederick softly chuckled, but then the doors to the hall suddenly flung open.
Everyone turned to look, including Chima very slowly moving to stand against the wall.
“I have returned with riches!”
Charlotte shouted, carrying two massive bags full of treasure in each arm.
She was much larger and more muscular than the last time we saw her.
Her slender but muscular arms were now hulking behemoths with biceps and triceps that had to be at least a foot wide.
Her legs were just as large and muscular.
She only wore armor around her torso, her arms and legs completely exposed. Her once long and flowing blonde hair was now shorter with the sides of her head shaved, the hair mostly sitting on top and going all to one side.
“Charlotte, we were enjoying a show.” Frederick said, sounding like he was wanting to fight right then and there.
“Oh calm down there small boy. I was just doing my job while you were doing nothing.”
She threw all four bags onto the table, all of which opened and spilled gold and jewels all over the table.
The guests all gasped and sounded impressed with the display washing over, gold covering their plates of food and even knocking a few dishes and glasses off the table, breaking on the floor.
Chima sighed and waved his hands, all of the dishes floating back into the air and being fixed before landing softly down on the table.
“This is most wonderful Charlotte! You are the greatest Knight of my army!” The King was loud and boisterous as he spoke.
Charlotte looked uncomfortable at the compliment, as if she hated being called that word.
“Anything for my King. Also it’s a great excuse to go fighting.” Charlotte replied with confidence and a wide smile.
“Alright, how about we fight right now?” Frederick suddenly stood up and slammed his hands down on the table.
“Frederick…” Lena said, a little hurt and worried.
“Oh I love this idea! More entertainment!” The King sounded like a child, excited for what was happening.
He quickly ran and clapped his hands quickly.
Two knights emerged, each of them wielding wooden training swords.
“You shall use these, but to make it more fun, just see who will stand tall!” The King said excitedly.
Charlotte and Frederick were very tensely staring at each other with the table between them.
Frederick was stone faced and intense with fire in his eyes.
Charlotte had a playful and confident smirk, winking as she grabbed the wooden sword.
“I’ll try not to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend.” Charlotte teased when she suddenly threw the sword she took over the table, Frederick catching it with ease with one hand, his eyes still locked on Charlotte.
Lena’s eyes went wide as The King laughed loudly.
“Lena! Play some music to set the mood. Something fast and fun!” The King said as he quickly ran back to his seat.
Lena swallowed hard and made her way over, grabbing a violin and bow as she got into playing position. Chima watched Lena move and slowly made his way over.
As she began to play, he waved his fingers in the air.
The harp, flute, and small drum all began to play accompaniment with her. She looked over at him, her pained and sad face quickly turning to quiet happiness. She smiled at Chima and played more confident and loud.
“I would say don’t hold back, but even then you don’t stand a chance.” Charlotte joked.
Frederick finally made his way to her, immediately slashing the sword.
Charlotte simply stepped to the side to avoid it as the battle music filled the hall.
Everyone was distracted by the display happening in front of them that they didn’t see Emerson had made his way to the hall, hiding in the shadows as he watched from around a corner. He looked around, looking for something small and easy to steal as everyone was distracted.
Frederick was getting angry and frustrated after only a few seconds of failing to hit Charlotte.
“Oh come on. You suck at this.” Charlotte said as she dodged three strikes in a single second before grabbing Frederick from behind and throwing him to the side like he weighed nothing.
Frederick slid across the floor and quickly got back to his feet, roaring like an angry animal.
Lena watched with tears running down her cheeks as she continued to play her violin, Chima magically playing the other instruments to create a full band of battle music.
“Really? That’s all you got?” Charlotte hadn’t broken a sweat or even started breathing heavily.
Frederick gritted his teeth and swung his wooden sword, which Charlotte blocked easily. As soon as she stopped him, his other hand suddenly grabbed her hair and slammed her down to the ground. Her head whipped back to hit the marble floor and bust her skull open as blood began to pour out. Charlotte was slow to roll over and had faded eyes when Frederick suddenly kicked her right in the side of her head.
The music suddenly stopped as Charlotte laid on the ground, blood pouring out from the back of her head and creating a small pool.
Everyone looked completely horrified, Lena most of all who was shaking from fear.
The King however broke out in loud laughter and applause.
“Wonderful! What a fight! Frederick is the victor!”
Chima very quickly waved his hands, the cut in the back of her head beginning to close. Her blood washed back up and went back inside before it fully sealed, only leaving the faintest of scars as she gasped for air.
Frederick turned and locked eyes with Chima, who froze in terror.
Without saying a word, Frederick began to march aggressively towards him. Chima was frozen when Frederick suddenly swung the wooden sword, nearly breaking it over Chima’s head and causing him to fall to the floor with his own large cut in the side of his head bursting open.
Frederick lifted the sword up again to hit Chima, but Charlotte had gotten up and grabbed the sword from behind, keeping it in place.
Lena ran over and covered Chima, making sure Frederick couldn’t get a clear shot even if he did break free.
But as Frederick began to look around, he spotted Emerson sneaking over to the throne, reaching out with a small blade, pushing one of the thousands of diamonds out of place.
“Thief!” Frederick shouted.
Emerson jumped from the shouting, his blade slashing across the gold and causing the throne leg to break, the throne falling to the side and falling apart into large pieces.
The King turned and continued to laugh as Knights began to run towards him.
Frederick punched Charlotte square in the nose since she was too distracted to block it. He then ran past Chima and Lena on the floor towards Emerson.
Emerson seemed to be calculating something as all of the people ran towards him.
Emerson ran and jumped from the top of the steps, landing on the shoulder of one of the knights, using it to push off and jump again onto another knight’s head, then dropped down and slid between Frederick’s legs.
Emerson quickly slid to his feet and jumped over Chima and Lena, sneakily dropping a second diamond he had stolen onto Chima’s chest. Lena locked eyes with Chima as he grabbed it, but she didn’t say anything.
Chima snuck it into his pocket before putting his hand to the cut in his head, which quickly disappeared.
Frederick spun around and ran after Emerson as he began to run on top of the table, reaching down to grab gold and jewels as he did.
Another knight jumped up onto the table and drew his sword, but Charlotte suddenly grabbed the other end of the table and was able to tilt the entire thing with ease.
Everything began to slide down quickly, including Emerson. He jumped up and tackled the knight hard onto the ground, the armor itself almost breaking. Emerson quickly pulled the helmet off of the knight’s head just as Frederick ran around, swinging down with his nearly broken wooden sword.
Emerson lifted the helmet up to block it, the wooden shattering and sending small splinters every direction. Emerson tried to get to his feet quickly, but Frederick grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him up. Frederick hit a violent punch to his gut, making Emerson lose all of the air from his body and gasp for breath.
Frederick only hit a second punch a little bit higher, right in his solar plexus.
Emerson dropped to the ground, barely able to breathe and curling up into the fetal position. Frederick was getting ready to kick him, but the large table suddenly came crashing down on top of him, pinning him down when Charlotte ran over and jumped onto the part directly above him, preventing him from lifting the table up and freeing himself.
The guests were all shocked and horrified, but The King finally broke his silence by laughing maniacally as if he had just seen the greatest and funniest thing of his entire life.
“Wonderful! Wonderful! You are all wonderful!” He laughed loudly and applauded with his bruised hands.
Chima, Lena, Charlotte, Frederick and Emerson all looked at their King.
Emerson had a face of pure pain.
Chima was confused and horrified.
Lena had one of worry.
Charlotte’s was stoic but a very slight hint of bewilderment.
Finally, Frederick looked with struggle and anger.
Despite their faces being different, they all had the same thoughts in their head.
Their King was unhinged and crazy.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDWD48iVvh
