This is the next tale of conquest. The first as The Fell King. At his peak power, he could now influence on a global scale. He had understood now more than ever that what he was experiencing was a natural force, almost not even as his own will. Something above him. Above all. He was exhausted from things competing to be “above”, to be “better”, to have this weakness of needing to “change” constantly. Eternity was a plague upon existence, for it did not allow you the freedom to not be. You never had a choice. Now, The Fell King was going to give The Universe no choice.
He would ensure that its melody would end and would be sung again, nevermore. He no longer held what was known as hatred and love in his being. These were just Point A and Point B put into place to hold the fabric of space together. None of it he saw as real anymore. It was an illusion that intentionally forgot it was not real. The ultimate laziness and selfishness, he thought. Life itself, unaware of what it was. There was no more reason to have curiosity as to the faultiness of the design. We were a mistake. One he would amend. But, how to truly End All Things? The Fell King, having grown in psychic prowess, was now in tune with the energy of the cosmic realms. He was correct in his assumption that we were a melody being sung by ourselves. Through The Forbidden Action, the darkest spell of all named “Oblivion”, it was an elegy of emptiness that canceled out the original 2 sounds that reverberated forever upon each other.
The duality itself of the Oneness. Canceling them upon one another would cancel All. Nothing would be. No more memory. No more spirit. No more feeling. No coming back. Not even a void. But, how to reach these 2 Sirens, which held All That Is, intact? He would start by destroying the Stars themselves and all of its Zodiac. The very blueprint of design and creation. There were 12 Guardian Apostles which protected each Zodiac sign’s respective House. They were nothing more than corrupt business fronts using The Church and The Faith as their reason for existing. The way they operated is they were some of the few who were allowed to be Scribes. To write and publish works of literature to the entirety of all the kingdoms throughout the land. They had set it up so that only 12 personality molds for people would be “prescribed”.
They manipulated their words so articulately, with such grace and finesse, that it inspired the masses to buy into it. It glorified them, but they were unaware that their fate was being chosen for them. Guided. Misguided. For their own means. Never for the liberation of their spirit or mind. All for their own gain. This, in turn caused people to behave predictably, as they were programmed without even realizing it. They felt blessed. Different. Divine. Above others. Humanity was like that- all you had to do was tell it what it is and they would agree and become that. The definition of useless and weak. The monthly zodiac scrolls would be delivered to each village on the sunrise of the 1st. The naive would read their “destiny” and follow suit, just as the puppeteers commanded them to. They were the true artists of the world for they painted each human in their own image and way.
After unloading all of the caravans of their scrolls, they would be refilled with gold as payment from the villagers. This was the Fell King’s “in”. The 12 Counts of the Zodiac were near in power to him. They had even more insidious energy and knowledge of the occult, for they had been in control for ages now. Their mortal age had surpassed the limitations of the flesh. The Fell King had to be more cunning and sadistic than they. He had recalled all of the scribes he himself had read every moon. The false hope and joy which was invoked in him, only to dirty to misery and disappointment. Their demise would be a symphony of otherworldly justice. Upon arrival of each caravan, the Fell King had killed off each of their riders and replaced them with his own.
They were paid off and instructed to deliver the new contents of each 12 carriages to their respective Count. They would never see it coming. A perfect means of playing off of their expectation and greed. For each Count and Zodiac sign, The Fell King had devised an appropriately themed death for them, except they would never be able to read about it in advance. This was his lesson of reality. Of chaos and deliberation.
For Capricorn, he sent hundreds of rabid and starving sea goats that upon release would devour any and all in sight. These beasts were all captured and enhanced through The Fell King’s black magic, so they were no ordinary animals.
Aquarius had not been sent a caravan, but a cataclysmic tornado conjured by The Fell King, representing the disastrous winds which this Count had attempted to own. They would rip his castle stronghold to pieces along with his army and eventually The Count of February himself.
The third Count of March and Pisces was sent a large supply of poisoned fish which fed the people and the Count of dual fish himself. They dropped dead almost all at once, like a plague had hit them. For it did. The Fell King’s.
The 4th House of Aries was similar to that of Capricorn, except the horned rams were set on fire when released, as is their element. It represented the forceful ways of the ram, burning everything in its trajectory. The 4th Count was gasping for his last breath before being incinerated.
Taurus was a challenging feat to pull off, for even The Fell King could not fully tame hundreds of bulls. He had managed to transmute one of them into one towering golem, which he could control through a combination of his dark blades. This creature of doom had shown no mercy to anyone and bit the head off of the Count of Taurus.
Gemini was a unique approach, for it involved the concept of twins. Of duality. The Fell King had to surmise something extravagant for this occasion. He had packed the caravan with countless pairs of men and women. Exact opposites in terms of age, appearance, gender, ability. Combined with the spells cast by his skeletal hand, they were morbid freaks which would devour the countless victims of the 6th House.
Cancer was an easy one to fulfill. Mutant crabs would dice and use their pincers to decapitate the unfortunate who were in their vicinity.
The 8th House of Leo was specially handled by The Fell King, for he was a Leo. No caravan was needed for this. He had sent a long range spell which invoked rage in all of the lions of the forests nearby. The Count of Leos was eaten alive by the fangs of the true King of the Jungle.
Virgo’s end was sadistic, even for The Fell King’s standards. As represented by a fair maid, The Count of Virgo’s only demonic daughter had been offed by the Fell King’s titan of a bull. She was impaled by his horns and left to bleed out on the castle walls for all to see.
The 10th House of Libra was served justice when the scales of judgment were weighed. Towards the 10th Kingdom he used The Lockjaw to devastate the entire land with the pressure of massive land falling down upon them. The weight of the scales, so to speak.
The 11th Count of Scorpio was second in command and was privy to the decimation of the others thus far. He was readying to advance towards The Fell King and confront him in battle. The smoke clouds of The Fell King’s appearance made way through his Deliverance sword. They were near distance of each other now. The Scorpion Lord was a devious sight to behold. The Skeleton King unsheathed The Bloodlust. It had been a long while since wielding it. Not since being The Fell Knight, did he use this specialty weapon. He raised it to the moon. With the twist of his blade, he turned it into a blood moon himself. He conjured up an undead golem which took the stabbing for this Bloodlight Sonata. It was a deep and deadly wound. The 11th Count had been tethered to shreds.
From his tail, he extracted a rare and exotic poison, one which could be imbued upon the tip of any weapon, turning it into an unspoken vehicle of apocalypse. This would be used for his soon to be constructed “Nevermore” Sword. His final blade as The Fell King which could activate any and all forbidden sword techniques, without any adverse effects to the user. He completed the process and steeled it into existence, combining the venom from the Scorpio Count. He raised it to the fearful heavens. Lightning, devastating winds, pelting rain, sleet and hail marked the ascension of the world’s biggest threat in The Fell King.
The Nevermore began burning with a black fire, the shades of which were never perceived before. The blackest of all blacks. This was the pure essence of annihilation. He teleported to the 12th and final Count of Sagittarius, their leader. The Fell King’s eyes were seering with the very same dark flames engulfing The Nevermore. “...What are you..?” The bewildered hellspawn uttered. “The wish not even God could fulfill.”
Through one of his new techniques, he summoned a serpent from the tip of his poisonous blade. “I am the new Zodiac. I am Serpentarius, The Resetter. The Great Alchemist that will transmute All that is wrong, to All that is Nought. Starting with you.” This grand snake devoured the final Count in one bite. He was not digested. There was no rebirth for him. He and his essence were permanently gone. The Fell King’s first usage of Oblivion. This was the worst case scenario no one was prepared for.
The 12 seals of the Zodiac were obliterated and an annunciation of Serpentarius, the 13th and new singular Sign would rule over Reality. The Portal of The Fallen had been ignited for the first time in ages. The midnight flames cursed the scorched grounds and made way for The Cindered Phoenix. Its black wings stretched from The Fell King’s back and he screeched a cry of onslaught.The world had been warned.
He was coming for them.
All Of Them.
Chapter VII, "The Twelve Counts of the Zodiac," marks a dramatic escalation in The Fell King's odyssey. Now wielding immense power and dark magic, he systematically eradicates the Zodiac Counts, each demise symbolic of their respective signs. This chapter weaves a narrative of cosmic retribution and the wielding of near-godlike power, as The Fell King enacts his grand scheme to reshape reality. The narrative explores themes of destiny, the manipulation of power, and the ultimate consequences of wielding such immense force, culminating in a climactic metamorphosis of the protagonist and the world he inhabits.
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