CHAPTER 264: 264: PROTECTING HIM

A huge purple dragon chased him around this time and ate him up.

The next time he returned, a tiger pursued him for a long time before feeding on him with his other purple friends.

Next time, five huge purple monkeys chased him around and beat him to death.

And the cycle continued for a total of 12 times. The priest had returned and was killed by a different beast 12 times. He died a miserable and painful death twelve times.

And when the last death was done, Eden smiled as he stared at his fingers lazily. "I think this is enough. Lenny. Leave the poor kid." Eden stared down at the purple lion that was stepping on the dead body of the priest.

****

With a sharp gasp, the priest opened his eyes and fell to the ground.

He held a hand against his chest while struggling to breathe. The priest looked around as though he hadn’t seen earth before. His eyes ran around while they made sure he wasn’t in any dark areas again. And there were no beasts coming to eat him or beat him up.

He was safe.

His eyes met Eden who was smiling broadly at him. "Welcome back. How was the quick trip? Hope you enjoyed it?"

The priest gasped. His breath was heavy and he could feel sweat rushing down his body. Shivers ran through his body. "You.." he could only say. He was short of any words.

Eden smiled sweetly. "I’m glad you enjoyed it. But you should be careful, because next time it might not actually be a dream..."

The priest could only shiver in fear from the experience of dying over and over again. It was something he never wanted to experience again.

King Edward stared in annoyance. He didn’t like how things were turning up at all. And he could see that the priest had failed in his job.

He couldn’t let Eden go free as well. And so he got up to his feet. "Guards!" He snapped. "I need all the guards and soldiers in the palace to be summoned this instant!"

He said as he stared at Eden. "Tonight, all the royal armies shall take down this wizard. I don’t care what it takes, and you shouldn’t care about your lives tonight! All shall come together and eliminate him tonight or never!"

The guards began flooding in. Soldiers and guards of the royal palace. Soon, the nobles had begun exiting the building and it was now filled with guards and soldiers. All surrounding Eden with their weapons ready.

Eden stood in the middle of all these. He had a hand behind him as he stared at the king. Eden knew he should be panicking. But for some strange reason, he was calm.

He smiled. "Do you think your army can really take me down?" he questioned.

King Edward said, "You’ve overstayed your welcome here. For a long time, I’ve only been finding ways to kill you off while you stay here."

"It’s not like I wanted to accommodate you. But it was a means to keep the enemy closer so I could end them anytime soon. But it seems my useless son was never on the same page."

The king scoffed. "And it was clear that it was never going to be popular. You were just too smart for your own good. But now? I won’t drag it any further."

"Tonight I’m going to make sure I go all out in killing you. And I’ll make sure you’re brought to an end."

Eden smiled. "That’s an interesting motivation. I’d like to see how you do it then."

The king smiled. "There are hundreds of guards around. And even more. Inside and outside. They’re mounted at strategic places. I had a feeling something might happen, so I made a plan B."

"Even if you leave this hall, do you think you can survive outside?" King Edward asked.

Eden smiled. "I guess we’ll just have to see about that."

Eden stared at the guards around. He sighed. "Thanks for giving me a home these past moments. But I’m already bored. So I don’t think that I can stay any further."

Eden casually stomped his feet on the ground, and immediately purple waves brushed through the ground and sent some guards at one side flying.

The guards crashed down on the floor while struggling to get up. Eden smiled. "What a formidable force of pathetic humans."

"Take that monster down!" The King ordered.

But before they could, Elvis and Adrian had rushed into the scene.

Elvis stood before his father, his sword in his arms.

"What do you think you’re doing?" King Edward questioned, staring down at Elvis.

For a while, Elvis said nothing. He only stared at his father. The sword in his hands.

"Don’t tell me you’re here to protect the wizard?" He questioned.

"I won’t..." Elvis said. "Let anyone hurt him again. Not even one bit..." He said in a low tone that was heard by all around.

The king was speechless. "You useless.. I can’t believe having a prince like you. So? What excuse do you have this time around? What excuse are you using to protect him this time around?" He demanded.

"Nothing," Elvis said. "I don’t have any pathetic reasons to give you for wanting to protect him. No strategic or political reason. I’m protecting him because I want to. And that’s it."

The King wasn’t pleased at all. He cast Elvis a cold glare as he said, "Do you even know what you’re doing? Do you know the consequences of what you’re doing, you bastard?"

"I don’t care," Elvis was firm with his words. "I don’t care about it at all."

"Treason," The King said. "That’s what you’re aiming for now. And if you push forward with trying to protect him, I’m going to make sure you die today as well. And I won’t care about doing that."

Elvis’s cold eyes were on the King. Memories of all he did to him and his mother flashed through his mind. At that moment, he didn’t see a father at all.

All he saw was a monster.