Not at all.

The blazing explosion that erupted as the ball of flame made contact felt like a warm wind. Though Fate saw bits of stone and pebble fly away from the of the blast, he felt none of it. There was no pain, no burns, no harm; he hadn’t even been scathed or tossed around. When the light of the flames died away, he looked to Kazuli with a face that conveyed his confusion.

“Uh… that was supposed to happen!” she announced, not breaking her stride, “I was only giving you a taste of my true power. I have to properly control the output of my spells; else I might accidentally destroy the very world itself!”

That was when it clicked for Fate, he understood exactly what sort of person this girl was now. Had he not been so confused and mildly scared in general, he might have realized it sooner. She wasn’t an amazingly powerful wizard like she claimed, she merely wished she was.

“Kazuli,” another voice announced itself from the other side of the throne, “observe your surroundings.”

The small wizard blinked and looked around the room, specifically toward the Dark King’s empty throne, then she looked back at Fate, “O-oh! Aha! Of course I knew that I was in the presence of a new Dark King, I was testing him to see if he was worthy!”

“Wait, excuse me, what?” Fate replied. “What exactly do you mean ‘new Dark King’?”

“You did not know?” The figure belonging to the voice emerged from behind one of the pillars at last. Unlike Kazuli, this woman had very impressive curves, a fact that Fate had a difficult time ignoring thanks to the fact that she was almost completely naked. She wore only a choker, the likes of which had a small rose ornament on the front and a glittering ruby, a leather band around her wrist with a similar rose design, and a black thong. The woman’s hefty breasts were not completely exposed, however, as a pair of transparent and small black wings were wrapping themselves around her torso and their tips were resting just over her nipples.

She was otherwise beautiful in a haunting and dark way, with eyes that glittered the same blood red as the gemstone hanging from her choker, and her skin was a milky pale which contrasted well with her long and black hair that gradually faded to a steel grey toward the ends. Her ears were pointed, which would have made Fate believe she was an elf if not for the strange shadowy wings that not only extended from her back, but seemingly from the back of her head as well, hugging it like a crown.

“The Dark King is not a person,” she explained, “the Dark King is a title and the result of an ancient curse. The title, and the curse by proxy, is passed down to whomever manages to slay the Dark King. In other words, you keep what you kill.”

“Wait, so that means…” the reality of the situation came crashing into Fate in that moment. He had become the very thing he sought to destroy. He would not be heralded a hero; he would be heralded as the new Dark King. This was all wrong, “No, it’s impossible.”

“So, you didn’t know,” The woman said and sighed. “Did you think you were the first person to think to try and kill the Dark King? Did you honestly believe nobody had tried it before you?”

“I… well, I assumed they had all failed. Or everyone was too scared to try,” Fate replied weakly.

The woman shook her head, “Do they truly not teach you anything besides fighting in the Knight’s academy in your kingdom? I know for a fact your king knew about the curse, why did you think he never sent anyone to try and slay the Dark King?”

“I didn’t think that hard about it,” Fate admitted, “I just assumed it was because he thought the Dark King was too powerful.” His thoughts were racing too fast for him to keep up, he felt his heart beating in his chest and his throat tighten. He began to pant rapidly to compensate, but it didn’t help, letting out one last faint breath he collapsed onto the ground .

Silquintis sighed and brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. Then she turned her gaze on the man, lying on the ground naked and looking so despite his newfound power and position. At first her gaze was icy and cold, distant and judging as she leveled it on Fate. Then after a moment it softened, and she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, making her sizeable breasts wobble slightly.

“Aha! So, the fool could not bear to be in the presence of such power and passed out.” Kazuli decided, laughing haughtily.

“He came here believing he was going to slay the greatest threat this world has ever known, only to become that very threat. To be overwhelmed is expected.” As she said this, she felt as though she were saying it not only to the court mage, but also herself. She was being emotional, and much more emotional than she should be given the circumstances. She turned to look at the empty throne, remembering the tyrant that once sat upon it, and remembering how much she despised him.

Unfortunately, she also remembered the very brief time that she had adored him. Perhaps that was why she had been so cross with the young knight. Now that she was thinking with a level head, however, it hardly seemed fair.

“Mistress,” the voice of Desca announced her presence behind Silquintis. “Are you all right? You left in such a hurry.”

“I’m fine. The Dark King has seen better days, however. He has been slain.”

Desca and the other two servants that had accompanied her all gasped. “By whom?” the short-haired and well-built woman asked.

Silquintis merely leveled a finger at the collapsed heap of a hero on the floor, “He came to destroy the Dark King. He didn’t know about the curse, it seemed.”

“Oh, so he’s the Dark King now?”

“That’s a good question, actually. He certainly has the Dark King’s power, but it remains to be seen if he will actually accept the position. You two,” she pointed to the other two servants, both of whom were not quite as strongly built as the towering figure of Desca, “go and spread the word through the castle, make sure everyone knows about what transpired here. If they ask, and they will, don’t tell them that this man is the new king. He is to be treated as an honored guest until we know if he will accept the position. And make sure nobody outside the castle knows about this.”

“Yes ma’am!” they both replied in unison, quickly scurrying off to carry out her orders.

“Desca, I’ll need you to carry him to the royal chambers.”

She nodded and did as instructed, lifting the man with ease, and beginning to make her way back through the corridor.

“And I shall remain here,” Kazuli announced, “guarding the throne with my very life!”

“No need. Return to your quarters. Remember that we are about to have visitors; we don’t want them thinking anything is amiss.”

The wizard pouted but then exploded into a ball of flame as she teleported away. Silquintis was now alone. She sighed one last time as she looked upon the throne. Things were about to get very strange around here.