The Syndicate

Kaleb Ste. Marie

He sat in his throne looking down at all of his servants working, his gold crown shining in the moonlight, his purple cloak baggy around his bones. The King of skeletons had been here for hundreds of years. Skeletons never die unless they are slain, so it gave them much time to work on keeping the kingdom in order, but today, that changed. The skeletons gasped and cheered as their King finally rose up out of his throne to his feet, the sound of bones clattering and grinding against each other as he did so. The skeletons watched quietly. No one dared make a sound. Then the Skeleton King spoke.

“It’s coming, you must prepare yourselves. It isn’t like the ones we fought so many years ago. This one is different. This one is stronger. This one knows how to put up a fight.”

Meanwhile, another ruler was walking around his Hellscape watching as the pigmen worked on fortifying his kingdom. The ruler of the underworld spoke to a group of them. 

“The more you slack off, the less chance we have of beating it! Do you want to see this fall apart? To watch your ruler die?” The pigmen quickly got back to work, snorting and grunting as they did. The ruler was used to this; he himself was a pigman, but he didn’t wear a shiny crown or any kingly attire at that. He wore peasant clothes, to show his people that the ruler isn’t above them. He’s beside them, working with them, fighting alongside them. He knew deep down that it wouldn’t last forever. He knew it was coming.

Far away, more than you could ever dream of, was the void. The void was a dark place. There was no life, and if any life found a way into the void, it would die in seconds, aging quicker than a blink of the eye till there was nothing left. The void was managed by a demon. This demon had no name and no purpose other than to keep the balance of everything in this world. The demon could look however he chose. He wasn’t picky. He wore white overalls and had black and white hair separated down the middle. This demon’s skin, if you could even call it that, was as if you had covered something in black paint that never dried. The demon would meditate ,finding it calming. He wasn’t lonely. He had no reason to be. He had himself and the void. But something felt different. The demon could feel it when he tried to meditate. It had no calming effect on him. That’s how the demon knew the balance he had kept for so long had been broken.

Then after eons of staying in the void he went to the overworld and found destruction—towns in shambles, people dead on the streets. He wasn’t worried or concerned for himself, for he couldn’t die. There was no part of him that was living. He walked for days town to town, following the path of destruction that was left behind by something. Then he saw it. The skeleton kingdom, but it wasn’t as he remembered it. The only way he could describe it is the look of a snail after you step on it. There were bones and dust littering the ground. It appeared some battle had taken place here. The demon turned to leave when he heard noise from one of the piles of rubble that looked like it had once been a house. The demon walked over to it and dug around slowly. Then he saw a skeleton that was wearing a gold crown and a purple cloak. The demon pulled the skeleton out of the rubble. It was always so hard to tell if skeletons were alive or dead, so he poked what he assumed was some kind of authority figure and quickly the King of Skeletons rose up to his feet. 

He spoke in a quick worried voice, saying, “I gave you what I could. You killed all the rest of them!” The demon just looked at him, without saying a single word. 

The King spoke again “You’re…You’re not it are you?” 

The demon stood there still saying nothing, and for some reason the King felt like he understood his silence.

The King held out his skeletal hand. “I’m the King of Skeletons. Well I was, before it came. It took my people, and whoever disagreed or tried to fight was executed.” 

The demon said no words to the king. He shook his hand then walked off. The King quickly ran after. “Wait! Where are you going? And as the King of Skeletons I command you to take me with you.” The demon just looked at the King and then began walking again. The King followed along, afraid that if he stayed, he may meet the same fate most of his soldiers had faced.

After many days, the King and the demon found themselves in the underworld searching for the ruler of the underworld and his civilization. But once they finally came upon it, the civilization was very similar to what the skeleton kingdom had looked like—obliterated. The demon and the King began looking for the ruler, and soon they found him. He was laying on the ground and almost looked like he was in a deep peaceful sleep. Next to the ruler,on his knees, was a young man who appeared to be no older than eighteen. The young man appeared to be human, he was wearing a mask designed to look like a pig’s face. 

The boy spoke “I will avenge you father.” His voice cracked as he had been crying recently. The demon slowly stepped forward to the young man and he stood up and quickly held his sword just inches from the demon’s face. 

The King quickly took a step forward “We are not your enemy. The ruler of this place has passed?” 

The boy lowered his sword slowly and spoke again “My father died only moments ago. Why are you here?” 

“If the ruler is dead, and you’re his son, are you the ruler now?” The King asked the young man. 

“Yes, I am. I’m the new ruler of this hellscape.” The boy said fury appeared in his voice. 

The King softly asked his next question “What is your name?” The young man paused as if he had forgotten his own name, the King understood this feeling, it had been decades since anyone called him something other than, my king, master, or my lord. 

The boy finally looked at the King and said “Soup.” The King was surprised by this, the demon had shown no emotion since the boy had pulled out his sword. 

“Soup?” The King asked curiously. 

“Yes, my name is Soup.” The young man said firmly. They all stood in silence for a moment then the demon spoke for the first time in ages. 

“Would you like to come with us? My journey has already begun and I’m looking for the thing that destroyed your home.” The King and boy stood there in disbelief at how the demon sounded, they expected a deep, dark, and evil voice but the demon sounded like he could be a normal person you say hello to as you walk around in a convenience store. The boy finally nodded. Then they were off again.

When they finally reached the surface they found it was sunset. The King hadn’t seen one in a long time, or maybe he had and he just didn’t remember. The demon showed no emotion towards the sun, it was just a ball of flame to him but he did stop to watch it with the others. Soup stood there looking at the sunset. He had never seen one before. He had lived in Hell his whole life with his father. That’s when it hit him that his home was gone, his dad was gone, and now, he was gone. There was nothing left for him in his old home, but he still felt melancholy leaving it. 

The three stood there wondering what this journey may bring. They all looked at each other. Soup was the first to speak “What a weird group we have made.” 

The King spoke after him “What? The ruler of hell’s son, a King of the undead, and a demon we know nothing about? Sounds pretty normal to me.” 

Soup paused at this then spoke again “Maybe you’re right.” The sun was finally going down and the sky began to go dark, the king, the demon, and the new ruler, all understood that it was time to go on and find what broke the balance of their world.