Thread: Wife of the Dark Lord (w/Kosmik_Khaos)

Nineteen years ago a war began that grew into a conquest worthy of legend. A young Shepard from an almost obscurely small kingdom rose against the tyrant King. Standing alone outside of the King's castle he declared war of the King, Remember my name! Aerin Loyval Xatsel! I swear to you that I will have your head by the weeks end! The prideful tyrant accepted the boy's challenge and raised his personal army to go kill the boy and burn his village. The King's full force of eight thousand strong marched that night with plans to surprise any rebel army by arriving before the weeks end. It only took the army a few hours to catch up with the boy, which is when they made their first and worst mistake of the night. Instead of shooting him down from afar the General of the army decided to ride up on the boy and try to intimidate him before killing him. As the army approached the boy turned and spoke, I've changed my mind. Those of you that survive will come with me to take the King's head tonight. Those words still rang in the minds of several of his oldest and strongest soldiers, etched there by the horrifying moments that followed in their wake. The ground under the army exploded into a field of rock spires that impaled everything above them, man and horse. Over half the army was killed in that single moment of carnage. The screams of men and horses echoed though the night. As he promised the near three thousand men that survived rode with him back to the castle and in under an hour the boy sat in on the throne, the head of the former King sitting on his knee, the bloody stump of his neck still bleeding. The hall was filled with the surviving army and servants of the castle, gathered to witness the ascension of the new King and to swear their fealty to him. The word of Aerin's coup d'etat quickly spread through his lands and soon traveled borders to a much larger neighboring Kingdom. Not believing the rumors of the new King's ability to take out entire armies standing alone they attacked. The attack was met by Aerin personally and once again he allowed survivors to join him after his first attack or die by his second. Taking the attack very personally Aerin mounted his counter attack that day. A day of marching and a hellish twelve hour siege found Aerin with a second crown and country. Taking no time to gloat and celebrate his victories and new gained power Aerin instead immediately set to work on building his armies, and cleaning up his country. Rumors of Aerin quickly spread across the land and though many at first didn't believe a Shepard could fell two armies by himself and concur two entire kingdoms in less than half a year, but those lands bordering Aerin's knew the truth of the situation. As aggressive of a fighter Aerin was he was equally as aggressive in providing for his Kingdom. A year of tenuous peace with border kingdoms came to an abrupt end when three of them joined forces and marched against Aerin. It took just over a year for the war to be ended with the surrender of the two remaining kingdoms. The first Kingdom was wiped from the face of the world. Standing on a rise a mile or so from the Capital city Aerin pushed the very limits of his power and called down a rain of flaming rocks from the sky. All that remained, and still to this day remains, is a crater pocked field that is slowly filling into lakes. As the years passed Aerin's empire grew, as well as his notorious reputation. He soon became knows across the lands as the Dark Lord, a living legend whose story was told to frighten children into behaving, men into drinking, and women into weeping fits. Inside his kingdom his reputation was still frightening, but only to those that thought about going against him. Never completely loosing touch of his simple roots and beliefs he ruled his kingdom fairly, but harshly. Most crime was punished with death, and the few that were not usually left the criminal begging for it. Unity under power, if the people wouldn't choose to work together for the betterment of each other then he would remove the option to not. Crime became a nearly forgotten thing, as well as poverty, upon taking a kingdom and it's lands Aerin instructed the lords of the lands to use all available land for farms. It wasn't long until villages started to pop up across the newly managed lands. Many villages grew into towns and a few into cities. Roads were built and trade inside his kingdom flourished. After eight years of conquest Aerin met an enemy that he couldn't defeat with force alone. It was a beautiful place with fertile lands and the Castle had something that interested him, It was protected by a barrier that he couldn't break, and he wanted it. It was easy to find the source of the Barrier and he developed a plan to take both the Barrier and the Kingdom. Sending the King a message with a request for an audience to discuss terms of surrender on their part. Accepting his request Aerin made his single demand. Give me the hand of your Barrier maker and I won't kill you. Knowing that he had the power to destroy them in the long run the Monarchs gave into his demand and wed the two. As soon as they were married and her magic was bound to him Aerin's men killed the Monarchs. As cruel as he was, Aerin kept his word, he told them HE wouldn't kill them, he never said they would live after the marriage, or would any of people who could lay claim to the throne. Taking his prize with him he returned home and set his Barrier into place. With his seat of power protected Aerin redoubled his efforts on unifying the rest of the lands under his rule. Seven more years of war brought the entire continent under the Dark Lords rule. The next three years were spent quelling rebellions and internal conflicts all the while pressing his empire to reach new heights. During those ten years Aerin called on his wife only a handful of times to use her barrier when rebels moved against his Capital city. With everything starting to get more stable Aerin found himself spending more time in his Castle and less on the field of battle. One of those days Aerin was walking through the halls of his Castle with his generals and advisers in tow discussing events in the empire and what needed to be done about them. Aerin was never one to sit in a stuffy meeting room while having to deal with the important, but monotonous work of maintaining an Empire so he walked the halls during those meetings. The walking also helped him think, he always found himself loosing focus if he tried to sit during these talks. Dismissing his entourage with their orders leaving Aerin standing alone outside of the library doors. The silence was near deafening to him. How long had it been since he was able to be with just himself? It must have been before it all started when he was a living as a simple Shepard. Glancing into the library he saw Eliza sitting in there reading. Walking in with silent footfalls, an unconscious habit he had, he took a seat in a chair a few feet from her and simply watched her until he was found by an adviser with news of a new rebel faction. Over the next year peace finally fell across the Empire and Aerin had started spending more time in Eliza's company. He never spoke to her during those times, and didn't expect her to speak to him. Though he didn't like for her to leave his presence without his permission. Today the tall, copper skinned man laid stretched out on a couch across from Eliza. His shoulder length, golden red hair hung over the arm of the couch his head was resting on. His intense eyes, which seemed to flux between an icy blue and a steel grey, tried to bore holes in the ceiling. Errant thoughts wafted through his head many of them falling apart before they were fully formed. Dropping his gaze from the ceiling to the beauty across from him he stared at her openly, she was his after all. The more he looked at her sitting there relaxed reading, a goddess of a woman, the more he started to think about her as a woman, not just a barrier. They had been married for nearly twelve years and he could count on one hand the times he had spoken to her directly, hell this was the first time he really took a real look at her. She was paying him no heed per usual and he took the time to study her. He laid there and watched her for the better part of an hour before speaking to her. It's been nearly twelve years and I am just now seeing you. The corner of his lip twitched in what could be considered a smile for him when she started at his voice. No worries. He said dismissing her apology. He knew she was in her own world when she was reading, he didn't take offence to it. Yes, I am speaking to you. He said in his calm, deep voice that was always level and gave no hint to his emotions. I was committing on the fact that we have been wed for nearly twelve years and I am just now realizing what I have had sitting right under my eyes for years yet never saw. Locking his steely eyes onto her radiant silver ones he turned and sat upright never breaking eye contact. You have been here for over a decade and I know nothing about you other than your powers, it wasn't until very recently that I realized your beauty as a woman... Foolish of me. He said shaking his head. Tell me about yourself. He said, his tone was not demanding at all, but it was a request that didn't come with an option of not answering.