Viva La Vida

• Ben Holt, Grade 6C
• Short Story
• 2018

King Zortec was sure this would work.
He had lost everything.
Fire burned from his hands. He clenched his fists to hide it.
With his unique pointy ears and purple skin, he was sure he was the only Tiefling left. However, he would bring them back. Two guards and Commander Antilles followed him into the palace.
As he got to his throne, he ordered the guards and Commander to leave.
They obeyed. He slunk towards the hidden stone in the floor. A door suddenly opened into a staircase leading down into a dark room. A malevolent glow surrounded the room. A strange, purple creature in royal robes with an octopus’ head gurgled, “Password.”
Zortec’s hands burned and he levitated. The creature let him through to a cabinet. He reached in, and grasped a glass container etched with images of the Roman Gods. A glowing aqua ball lay inside. Taking the box with him, he stepped on another tile and rushed through the opening door. In his haste, he dropped the box on the floor with a clang.
The Commander and guards hurried in. The King unsheathed his sword.
“I told you to leave.”
Antilles saw the broken box and quivered in fear. “What have you done?”
“Guards, take him away,” Zortec ordered. As they seized him, Antilles’ eye glinted, wickedly.
“You forgot, I’m a Commander,” and the city’s soldiers, clad in chain armour, surrounded the guards, slitting their throats and advancing on the King, whose eyes turned blood red. Antilles pushed through the crowd of soldiers. “I have the army, I have the power.”
“I will never surrender,” the King laughed. However, to his surprise, 20 equestrians galloped inside. Zortec sheathed his sword and bowed down. Antilles put his hands to hips. “To make your humiliation complete, I will defeat you on the battlefield.”
Zortec charged at the army, hiding the glowing orb in his robes. His own soldiers charged against him and tried to hold him back from getting to a glowing golden stand, the orb’s power source. "You can't take this back," shouted Antilles. Zortec charged him down ruthlessly. The few remaining soldiers tried to hold Zortec back but the bloodthirsty King’s sword slit their throats as reinforcements arrived.
With the helpless screams of the soldiers becoming more and more common, and the once bright green fields turning an extremely dark red, Antilles held up his hand.
"Stand down!” he screamed, “I’ll deal with him myself."
Antilles waited for Zortec to reach him. Swords clanged. Eventually Antilles cut his leg off. Zortec grunted and fire sprang from his hands. The Commander screamed in pain and he fell to the ground, motionless. The remaining soldiers swarmed the legless King and captured him.
This was it. As the executioner swung his axe the former King yelled out, “Viva la Vida!” broke the chains whilst levitating and suddenly, in a swarm of energy, vanished.
He didn’t know where he was going, but he did know this. He was on the run!