The smoky thickness of a dreary fog bleached away softly. As a vast meadow of slaughtered soldiers lay beneath my leather boots. Their wide eyes glare directly at me with a sadness I’ve come to sympathize with. I gave into their lifeless eyes and I felt a great sigh of relief once the mist cleared. These are not my grand soldiers. But as I gaze for what seemed to last hours. My cheeks began to freeze as if a bitter chill ran its fingers across me. But the touch felt familiar, like the old cold embrace of my kings hands on my face just before he died. Reminding me I still lived. They were my cousins, my brothers, my countrymen. And now their worthless lives are all gone because of one mans destiny to dominate his environment.

My right shoulder felt locked and strained. My mind moves towards a painful jolt shooting up my wrist. Grasped tight within my bloody fist I held a queens neck. Her fair skin turned purple matching her coronation dress. Her features matched my own. The same black eyes. A pitiless stare. Like the black wolf– my family’s symbol of perfect freedom. i killed her for it. When reaching for the stars sacrifices are inevitable. “She lost my mother’s Red crown here.”

I gently release her among the blood-sea of my enemies. I begin searching the bodies for the icon promised to me since my birth. Soiled blood stained my hands, as I ran my fingers across their withered faces. Their icy blood to the touch didn’t feel like flowing of water. but like the pouring of an artist’s dye against the skin. A great wall of fog concealed my path as my heavy frame stumbles knee-deep in human waste. Pausing my search, I see, Towering trees threading the low edges of the great mist. The trees were a common green found on oak trees, yet at a distance these trees appeared sinister.

“Its a world of dense shadows. Unmapped Hill valleys leading far to the west as west could go. Its terrain difficult to explore. A demonic dwelling filled with caverns thick with unnatural fog. Said to be the birthplace of the rising sun. Home to the deserted city state Themiscyra, and most of all she lives there: The she-wolf with the golden hair.”

My icon must be there. In the Black Forest.

The icon is mine by divine right. I come here to collect a payment owed. i remember it nestled softly around my blonde curls as a baby. By the will of my kin: the people of the sun, anointed its forging as a gift. 12 solar rays of Divine Sol’s light into a symbol of power on earth. Yet, the icon altered crimson by washing in a sea of blood: Arisch Blood my enemy. Rare Diamonds, gems that flush all kinds of purple. The biggest jewel lay on top outshining all the gems in vivacity and with a superb gold casing. The crown principal that finally brings this icon piece together is me: my divine right, it surges through my noble veins. My beating heart turns dull without it. Like a holy prior without his high gods to worship.

Out in the misty abyss I hear the breeze shatter againt tall oak trees. A voice seems to be calling to me: the black forest? No, this honey voice is my mistress, because I have only known women to wield power. She must be the one calling to me now; she was with me as I rode out to meet my enemies near the beachhead. Granting me her favor in battle. I won every battle thereafter.

“Her voice is the wave of the desert ocean sands, clashing against the empires shore. Keeping its walls strong and untouchable. The colliding force of a brave soldier striking his enemies steel with his own pays homage to my unconquerable will to have it. I marvel at her golden gleam; her imperial emblem is unequalled: she is the Red Crown. In their I will find her.”

Could my crown truly be in that dense jungle? I stood quiet at the gateway of the black forest planning my next move. The fog thinned-out before me. “Deos Fortiorlbus Adesse, I am ready,” yet, I, can’t move my legs, I’m stopped! “Divine sol? with all the lost I suffered will you still deine me?” I push my weight back and forth until the bones in my body tense to the point of breaking. Clenching up my strong knees tight as if by iron shackles imprisoning me. “To what end will this take me?”

I must listen to her, devotedly now, I must hear my coaxing mistress. The cracks dividing my tongue begin to dry and whip harshly around my avid lips. The foreign airs of the black forest wash me in the aromas of this wild place. Releasing my nose of the lingering smell of death. I nearly forgot the never-ending sea of bodies behind me. Before long I will have to return there. To add more to that valley. I still owe a great debt to divine Sol. It will be my enteral limbo. What a waste.

A soft site of green leaves chime alongside a swift wind. Distracting my heavy conscience. And for a moment I stop seeing their eyes staring back at me. Those i fought to get here want me to fall and linger with them forever but i payed their cost gladly. I stood there like a pebble at the mouth of the forest. I am a man of action. To wait here even for a moment is a moment to long. Heavenly Sol grant me patience or free me to act.

What am I to do? Who will I see come to me, Divine Sol? And then I hear it, the sounds, and chords of a musician’s violin. Soaking my joyful ears with divine love for its promise of perfect freedom. There can only be one artist to play these harmonies. One artist to hum these tunes: My icon is here.

I watch the stillness of the forest as the bonds that caged me drew me now to the center of the wood. I only took a few steps beyond the mouth before I saw her. The great she-wolf with the golden hair enters the woods. Her heavy breath escapes her slack-mouth. Gulping each time, she exhaled. Her strides appeared feeble unlike her fierce strides of days past. she gave out an immense howl. Swaying the sea of oak trees in the black forest as if forecasting the coming of a destructive omen. and when the trees could flutter in the wind no longer. They all bent to the golden she-wolf. My knees nearly fell with them. Yet, unbelievable to my sight the wolf collapses a few feet away. A great weeping for her covered the meadow. All the trees shook with sorrow.

Tears of scarlet raindrops slid down the wolf’s yellow eyes. Staining her golden fur ’til the glare in her eyes dwindled before me.

This brought my eyes to shad a few tears. My heart betrays me also. recalling me to glimpse his face in place of my enemies. I couldn’t help but say. “Paul I love you.”

I now saw a cloud of light. Eclipsing where the beast lay in a blanket of blessed magnificence. This shine flashes into a flame before me. Screaming alive a wave of sparks and noisy crackles. Igniting into a bursting altar. A blaze to Divine Sol himself. And when the brilliance of that, light faded, and I could caress the cold steel of my icon. The persona of my mistress came before me. I hear the music play. Her fingers pitch the strings. Letting out with each pull a gentle maidy. I hear her voice in my ear. She tells me glory will be my sword. To the north and south to the east and west. They will come to see you. The Queen is dead. Long live the king.

My mistress took ahold of my hands. She stood before me in a white dress. With a red shah over her shoulder. I lost all my words. So, I drink each of her words to replace my own. Until all I had within me was her voice. “the Gods are the side of the stronger.” She took away the pain of baring their countless faces. The payment for glory. Their unfulfilled dreams sent to tourmate me… slowly fade into black. Finally pathing the way clear for me…

“I will be the king.”