“You make a better prisoner than a king,” one guard says to Lucifer.
The overthrown king stares absently at the floor, his hair covering his eyes. He sits in the corner of his cell, knees to his chest.
They took away everything he knew and loved. They took his throne, they took his daughter and they took his kingdom. He rolls his head back and leans it against the wall.
“Nothing to say. Lucifer?” says the second guard. The pair of guards walk through the corridor, laughter echoing off the walls.
“How long have I been down here?” Lucifer asks aloud.
He thinks about Mai. He wishes she could be here, someone to talk to. Someone to make him feel less alone. Lucifer thinks of his daughter. Where is she now? Did she get out of the palace? Did she get out of the chaos?
As he ponders what is going on, a cloaked behemoth creeps through the hall.
“Come to belittle my existence, Gunther?” Lucifer croaks out, his voice hoarse from lack of use. He clears his throat.
The shrouded figure takes down his hood. Zakasi stands before him.
“Your Majesty,” Zakasi says to the fallen king. “I have come with news.”
Lucifer perks up slightly, but then slumps back into his corner. “What news, Zakasi?” He looks to the ground. “Where is Lucinda?”
“Her and Xylek were on their way to Verona in the human world.” Zakasi says. He continues to tell the king everything he has learned at the inn’s tavern. He tells how several of the loyal guards are being captured, tortured and executed. He explains that Fennec has been captured as well as the captain of the royal guard, held in an undisclosed location being tortured into becoming loyal to the council.
“Poor Fennec, he has had his finger nails removed.”
Lucifer winces. “Have you heard from my daughter?”
Zakasi shakes his head. “Not yet. I know they left the inn. But I have yet to hear of their whereabouts.”
Lucifer releases an exacerbated sigh. “How long have I been here?”
“A couple weeks. The Council announced your fall and have pretty much overthrown the kingdom.” Zakasi explains in a somber tone.
Footsteps echo through the corridor. Zakasi places his hood up, before parting he says, “Once I hear from the princess, I will relay her messages to you.”
He turns to leave and says one last phrase. “Long live the King.”
As swiftly as he appeared, Zakasi is gone into the shadows of the dungeon.
Two unwelcome faces stand before Lucifer’s cell. It’s Serafina and Astam. The pair wear matching smug grins, pleased with the king in the cell.
“Behold,” Serafina announces to Astam, gesturing towards the cage of the fallen king. Lucifer grimaces. “A rat of a ruler locked within a cage of his own design.”
Astam chuckles weakly. His weary eyes lock with Lucifers. As the king scowls, he turns his head away from the traitors of his own council. How could he let this happen? He wonders in his thoughts. How could he be so foolish to allow the nobles of his council to defile his position in power?
“What a rat indeed,” Astam says to Serafina.
Lucifer sneers, “I am no rat. I never betrayed my kingdom.”
Serafina laughs. She leans against the bars of the cell and flicks her wrist. “That’s not what the demons of the kingdom believe. Who will believe a fallen king? A soft shell of a demon who once ruled with an iron fist, one who never let the kingdom fall. That’s all you are now, a shell of your former self.”
This makes Lucifer stand. “I am no shell. I represent the good of the kingdom and what to strive for in the future.” His legs are stiff. How long had he been sitting on the stone floor? Despite the tingling sensation in his legs and feet, he does not wince or stumble. “How dare you continue to belittle my competency as ruler of MY kingdom!”
Astam chuckles ferociously. He places his hand on the bars of the cage and leans his face to the bars. “It's not belittling if it is true.” His dark colored eyes are weary. But malice rests on his face. “You have become a weak ruler since you met Mai.”
“Leave her name from your foul mouth!” Lucifer growls and shouts! He slams his foot to the ground and purple flames begin to erupt from his hands.
“Fiesty little beast.” Serafina smirks in amusement at the former king throwing a tantrum. She watches as he loses his temper. “Mai was your downfall. And that brat of a child is too.”
Lucifer feels his rage bubble over. He tries to restrain the flames but they burst from his hands as he lifts them to the bars. “My daughter has nothing to do with this!”
“She has everything to do with this!” Serafina laughs heartily. “If you can’t control a heathen of a child who: runs off from the palace on a regular basis; has the temper of a rabid banshee; disobeys her orders like a true princess; and above all neglects her duties, how are you to rule a kingdom of demons? Your utopian dreamscape is a mere fantasy. Demons thrive on chaos. They need order, but they need violence and bloodshed to thrive.”
The fallen king launches an orb of fire through his finger at his council members, nearly missing, however scorching the woman’s hair. His words bellow and echo through his cell. “You know not what they need! You want chaos! You thrive on the blood shed! You are the reason for the ruins of my kingdom! I am King!” Lucifer grips the cage, face pressed between the bars. “And my daughter, however reckless she may be, is still my heir. And she will rule as your queen!” Venom drips from his voice.
As Serafina recovers from her hair being torched, a vision of anger appears on her face. She signals to Astam who stands in subtle shock. Astam reaches his arm through the bars of the cell, gripping Lucifer by the face. He says some incantation as a blue glow engulfs Lucifer’s head. Once Astam releases Lucifer, he falls to his knees.
Lucifer’s vision grows dark and he collapses on the cell floor.
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