I Want to Live, Part Six

I woke up to Useful calling me. At first, I ignored her because she didn’t say my new name. But she kept yelling and making such a ruckus that I couldn’t go back to sleep. I am a very wise King, as you have already guessed, so I saw through her ruse immediately when she told me that I was going to be late to meet with Zoltuce. She obviously just wanted to find out about my secret mission. I ordered her to give me silence so that I could go back to sleep, and made it very clear that no amount of badgering was going to get me to divulge the secret instructions I had been given. To my frustration she just kept standing in front of me, insisting that I was late. I finally had enough of her hounding me, yelling that if I was late then it would be past midnight. I could tell from the warmth in the air around us that it wasn’t that late. I tried to go back to sleep in my little cubby that I had dug out across from the archives. Useful quickly pointed out that the torches had already been changed, motioning to the blazing torch almost directly above my cubby. Bah, Useful, you know what she did next? She just stood there! Between me and my destiny! I finally had to push her aside so she didn’t make me late.

I came down the tunnel at a full sprint, yelling at everyone to get out of my way. Most understood my plight from my shrill shrieks and wheezing, and scooted out of my way. Fortunately, the few I had to dodge didn’t hinder me much and, with my little lungs heaving, I came panting to the large central exit and entry tunnel. I had never run harder in my life, the claws on my toes were filed down from scraping along the stone in my mad dash. Zoltuce and the three red Sckaens were already there, and I could tell that Zoltuce was a bit upset. His body was discharging intense flashes of yellow and blue in erratic patterns. I knew who he was mad at, but I also knew that all would be forgiven once I brought him the head of an enemy, or did what I was supposed to do. Which was doing what I was actually supposed to do and that was, something to do with rocks. This is a long story you can’t expect me to remember everything I wrote down in the beginning. The three red Sckaens had some strange markings drawn in black on their chests and abdomens, like little half circles that faced one another but didn’t connect. They were whispering to one another, but stopped as I approached. It obviously wasn’t important enough to be said so everyone could hear. Reds are so lame.

Zoltuce gathered us close and reminded us that we were going to be legends. “Other Sckaens would come and go, but we, we would be remembered eternally in the annals of history.” I still have no idea what that means, but it obviously was a good thing. Zoltuce picked up two red Sckaens in one hand and the other red and myself in his other. As we were scooped up, I thought it would be polite to learn the red Sckaens name that I was sharing such an esteemed hand with. Before I could introduce myself though, Zoltuce put his wings out about a third of the way, and the electricity in the area became visible. Power surged through the Titan’s body. I felt my body prickle with energy, given that I was pressed against Zoltuce’s palm. As we took off, it felt like I was being flattened against the scaly hand. The Red next to me had wide eyes, and his lips were peeled back revealing his teeth. The sudden velocity felt like it was going to crush me flat. Yet our bodies still twitched and writhed uncontrollably as the electricity that swirled around our master shot through us over and over again and again. Then, there was nothing but darkness, as the last thing I heard was a loud whistling and I fell unconscious.

The next thing I knew, I woke up in the snow. The three red Sckaens were already up, but not by much. They were still rubbing their heads and groaning. I must have been the last one to pass out, because I had apparently been the last one to wake up. This makes me stronger than them. Honestly though, what did you expect? I am the King of the Sckaens after all.