King of the Humans!

Chapter: 5 - I Know You

The splashing of waves gently wakes me from my restful slumber, my face in a dumb grin. The sound of wood being embraced by rolling waves fills my ears, as does the careless calls of the seagulls hovering with quiet beats of wings above the water's surface. Watching over the edge of the deck, I stare down at the waves of ocean water stirring below. Removing my helmet, I place it onto the wood planks of my chair before returning my gaze to the rolling waves. The sparkling water reflects the rays of sunlight cascading from before with it's deep green reflective surface. The darkness and green reminds me of a race from long ago with a similar colour across it's diabolical form. The memory of a demonic beast with a dark green body and greasy long hair fills my mind as my hate burns in my chest.

-

During the rule of the King of the Humans, one summer near the river which was later called "The Child's Calamity".

Warming the land for as far as the eye could see, the summer's sun showers the kingdom with it's light. With my court closed for the day so everyone could relax for the day, I had chosen to take Discord out to the nearby river. Though it took time, Discord soon proved to be an attentive student with his tutors. Though he would sometimes pull harmless pranks, but the tutors would just laugh with him instead of being stern and punishing for small acts of playfulness. The Mage's Guild had taken a great interest in my adopted son, but that is to be expected from the group who were very enthusiastic in learning of this new world.

"Dad, why do you always have those funny metal sticks on your back?" Asks Discord with confusion evident on his unusually shaped face. Not that anything as superficial as facial structure would ever bother me.

"Well, if anything attacks then I can stop them. Wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you, Son!" I say as I ruffle the large black mane hanging across his head and neck. Though I was careful to not hit the tiny inch-long horns peaking from beneath the fur covering his head. His over-sized ears splayed backwards as I pet him, the ears then coming back and once again hanging downwards limply.

"I guess that makes sense, Dad." He replies with his red pupils watching me from the pools of yellow he had for eyes.

"Too right, Son. Hey, we're here!" I say before leading him towards the river bank. "Now, while we're here I don't want you getting too close to the water. Some of us have been spotting a strange type of animal prowling around random pools or rivers of water. Don't worry, none of us have been hurt yet and it looks like this place is safe." I speak.

"Okay, Dad!" He says before rushing away to run around the field beside the river.

Smiling at the cat-sized creature's antics, I sit on the grass next to the river bank and sigh with content at the beautiful landscape around me. Gently lifting a blue sack from my back, I undo the string and sift through it's contents. Grinning in triumph, I slowly retrieve a small guitar from it's ragged container. Balancing the wooden instrument against my chest, I keep a firm hold with my left hand around it's neck whilst I use my other hand. Using my free hand, I pull back the blue cloth I use as a cowl and allow my hair to gently wave in the summer's breeze. In the same instance, I grasp a piece of long grass and place it into my mouth before leaning back against a log I was familiar with. This place was where me and the rest of the teenagers spent our first night, and this was one of the logs we sat on.

"Hey, Son. Come over here a minute." I shout into the warm air.

Seeing my adopted son lunge from the taller grass to return to my prone form, I lay the instrument down to my side before I take one of my swords from it's sheath. Aiming the blade downwards, I plunge it down to keep the weapon steady. With a weapon ready for an emergency, I turn to Discord and pat him gently on the head whilst I speak.

"Now I'm just going to take a nap, okay? Shout me if anything bad happens, alright Son? It's just I spent too long awake last night helping the guards keep an eye out from the walls." I say kindly.

Nodding in understanding, he gives a small salute with his cat-like paw before he reaches into the blue bag I brought and retrieves a small leather-bound book from the sack. Laying on his stomach, he proceeds to read whilst wagging his tail in happiness and content. Sighing in my own content, I slouch back and close my eyes as I fall into a light slumber.

Later...

"DAD!"

Jumping to my feet, I wipe the sleep from my eyes frantically before yanking the blade from the ground and look around manically. The sun is a lot closer to the horizon, signifying that some time has passed since I fell asleep. With my frantic eyes eager to spot Discord, I soon spy him nearby and rush towards him. Spotting a large quadrupedal beast stepping closer and closer to him, my legs seem to speed up even more as my defensiveness mixes in my blood with adrenaline. When I reach a decent distance, I thrust my left fist at the side of the beast. Roaring in pain, it slides across the grass away from the shaking form of Discord. Spotting me, he quickly pounces upwards and latches onto my left arm in fear. Infuriated with it's prey escaping, the horse-like beast lumbers towards me with hooves stomping into the grass with raw power. In my own state of anger, I twist my body to shield the quaking form of Discord whilst raising my blade high into the air in preparation. Finally reaching my weapon's range, I swing the sword's blade down onto the monstrous snout of the creature basically splitting the head nearly into two pieces with a sickening "Splosh".

The corpse soon fell like the blood gushing from the creature, the ground softly vibrating under the force produced by the creature's weight caused from it's muscle mass. Using my left hand, I press Discord's face further from the corpse gently to save him from the sight of such violence which a child like him should never see. Looking out across the river with intense anger plastered onto my face, I spot a large group of the same devilish form as the slain one but with varying colour schemes. Though all their coats had a dirty darkness imbued with the colour, the manes were all dark but still held differing colour hues.

Seeing their fellow beast slaughtered so easily by me, they all turned tail and ran all in the same direction. Good riddance, vile monsters. Feeling a light wetness on my arm, I look to find Discord gently sobbing into the fabric covering my limb. Feeling my anger melt away from the sight, I gently shift him so I can cradle him away from the beast's body. Seating myself against the log once more, I keep him against my chest to keep him happy, with my other hand I aimed to dispose of the creature. Summoning my magic, I let flames dance across my palm before launching a sphere of flame at the creature's body. On impact the flames began to decompose the body, removing the sight of it's mutilated head, and quickly turned the corpse to ash which was soon swept up into the summer's breeze.

Lifting my still flaming palm towards Discord's face, I dry the tears before wiping what was left to signify his earlier distress. Looking up at me with red pupils, he pounces from my arms and hugs me around the neck as I pat him gently on the back. I can feel his cat-like paw and small bird's claw hold onto the collar of my shirt before he let's me put him down.

"It's alright, Son." I say softly to him.

"It is?" He asks with heart wrenching hope.

"It is." I reply before smiling warmly to him.

Lifting him closer, I lay him on his stomach to my left before he rests his head onto my thigh. Patting his head with my left hand, he yawns which reveals his one lone fang and other much smaller teeth. Grabbing the guitar from where I left it, adjusting Discord's head to not be in the way of the guitar and to still be comfortable, I set it into my lap ready to play. Noticing the lack of grass in my mouth, I spot the earlier blade of grass on the floor having been evicted from my mouth earlier in my panic. Sighing, I pick another piece from the ground and hold it in my teeth in a cliché farmer style. Brushing my fingers into position next to the strings, I begin to play a fitting tune to the summer's warmth surrounding us and the sun's descent over the horizon which left the tell-tale pink and orange to mix with the regular blue of the sky. A little over a couple minutes into the tune, I see the digits of Discord's bird-like claw click with the owner of the claw grinning mischievously. Soon, a few moments of the tune is made with the sounds of a rock-guitar instead of the regular wooden one I'm using. Laughing with him and his antics, he soon reverts the sound back to normal for me to finish the song as he bobs his head gently.

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Hearing his eventual soft snores, I set him down onto the grass as I pack the items back into the blue sack. Once the string had tightened the sack closed, I haul it over my shoulder and place my sword back into it's sheath alongside it's twin. Once I was ready, I lift Discord back into a cradled position as I carry him back to the castle. With the moon rising behind me, I watch the stars blanket the darkness of the sky above me.

-

Returning from the past, I listen to the sound of hooves approaching. Turning, I see the blue-hooded pony from before join me in watching over the railing into the distance. His face is till shrouded in the darkness produced by the hood, with a small steel axe hooked to his waist. I could tell he wanted to ask some questions, but had no idea how to express his questions. Finally working up the courage, he turns to me and speaks.

"Can I ask you something?" He asks with his mouth the only visible aspect of his face.

"You can ask whatever you want. Can't guarantee I'll want to answer." I say whilst staring off into the far distance.

"Well, why did you trust us?" He says after some thought.

"Hmmm, well it's simple really. With me being the first human to have magic, you could say that I became quite... interested in it. I focused some free time on honing my skills in the power of Destruction Magic. Basically, I could have used a very old and very lethal spell which would have caused a large bonfire to engulf the room and exclusively destroy hostiles." I reply matter-of-factly.

His mouth is left agape, which leaves me time to continue.

"But I let you lead me to whoever wants to speak with me. I did that because I'm curious as to who this fellow is. And also because had I used the spell, then I would have probably collapsed and died from exhaustion. I would have only used the spell had you all attacked, since the spell drains my energy more than I have energy to drain! Do you want to know how I tested the spell?" I ask.

He nods inquisitively.

"Sugar. Lots, and lots, of sugar. I probably ate that much that if you gave the same amount to a sloth then it would run like England does from the World Cup!" I roar before laughing.

He gives me a puzzled look before I wave my hand dismissively. Of course these creatures had never heard about our world's sporting events. Why had I expected anything other than that? Nevermind.

Soon the sight of this "Stronghold" presents itself to me. Towers loomed high into the sky with flags dotting the spires. Lanterns and torches shining light through gaps in the stone left for archers to fire from. The walls connecting the towers were equally huge, the stonework reinforced with plates of metal and struts of steel welded together to form a metallic exoskeleton along the thick stone to provide even more protection. From here I can spot an even larger spire at the centre of this Stronghold, even more metal used for the exoskeleton than that of the walls which created an even stronger structure. Some towers along the walls were much wider and had a flatter base with no spire at the peak. These all had sets of cannons positioned ready for attackers to meet their swift destruction, though each of these more equipped towers had a single large catapult positioned on them for even more power. We slowly sail towards what appears to be a small stone and metal port/harbour with a huge wood, stone and metal doorway behind it.

With the plank of wood placed onto the deck, I step off the boat onto the stone tiles of the port. Soon I hear the clopping of hooves as Lyra rushes to walk alongside me as curious as myself. Reaching the doors, four ponies dressed in extremely thick armour step aside and work in pairs to open one of the doors each. This opens the huge double doors with which reveals the extreme thickness of the material which formed the entrance. Within the walls, a stone tile path leads to the entrance of the inner spire. The entrance is exactly the same as the first, if a bit smaller. Advancing towards the doors, once again, a band of four heavily armoured guards split in two in order to open the great doors.

Once the thick material opens up to reveal the inside of the spire, revealing a round stone table and chairs made from a similar stone material. Taking a few steps inside, I stop near the centre of the table with the metallic chandelier above lighting the room dimly. Looking onto the stone table, I begin to sift through the papers and maps present on the rocky furniture until I hear footsteps against stone approaching me from the front. Looking from the papers, I see someone I recognise instantly.

"I know you." I say as he grins in familiarity.