They couldn't be more different. Ridley is a knight in shining white armor, so perfect in every way that it makes people hardly able to stand him. Prince Vandel on the other hand (aka the evil demon prince of darkness) is the sworn enemy of the king...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Author's Note: Thank you so much to @lilmissarkham on IG for this utterly gorgeous art of Ridley. I absolutely adore his armor and how you drew the ring!!!
Ridley
I tried to take a step backwards but found myself already backed up against the glass. My entire body was shaking, my head filled with only fear and panic amidst the thick fog that still hung heavy amidst my thoughts.
"You want me...to kill them..."
"That's the idea of it, yes," the Bone King stated, as if it were just a simple fact.
"I won't do it," I choked. "I can't kill innocent people. Vandel would never want me to, even for his sake. He'd never forgive me!"
"Alright then," the Bone King mused. "Then what if they weren't so innocent?" He moved to my side, leaning over the glass. "You...down there," he called. Despite the fact that he hadn't changed his volume, the soldiers below us looked up. "As you can all probably tell...you're trapped. I'm sure you don't want to die in this horrible place, right? Who would?" He smiled thinly. "That's why I'm about to offer you a simple way out. Kill the Demon Prince. Do it, and you get to live."
My blood ran cold, terror seizing my gut.
But then, to my surprise...no one moved.
The demons and humans looked at one another. All exchanged frightened glances, but not a single one reached for their weapon.
I turned to the Bone King, unable to bite back a triumphant grin. "See, they're good people. None of us will kill for you. We'll stick up for one another, we'll protect each other, humans and demons alike. And together...we'll defeat you."
The Bone King laughed. This time, it was cruel and cold.
"Oh, you naive little boy," he said dryly. "Like you, they simply don't realize just how much of a threat I really am. Right now, I'm only a voice. I just need to show them how dead serious I am." He grinned and looked to the glass once more, his voice now directed at the people below. "Well...I warned you."
The Bone King raised one hand and a mass of skeletal bones rose from the floor and into the air. He glanced to me. "You might want to shut your eyes. This is going to get quite messy." With those words, the Bone King flicked a wrist and the bones were sent flying, impaling every demon in the chamber except Vandel.
As their bodies collapsed, even from above I could hear the screams. All at once, I felt like crying and screaming along with them.
"No," I rasped. "How...how could you? They did nothing wrong...they...they came to help defend the humans and you just..."
"Mercilessly slaughtered them? Yes."
"You murdered so many brave demons...just to make a point..."
"Obviously," the Bone King chuckled. "The demons weren't important anyways. The stronger your connection is to those you kill, the stronger our connection will be. Killing your fellow knights...that's what I'm after. The demons were just spares. Not even important enough to be pawns."
I could feel the cruel sting of tears beginning to burn in the corners of my eyes.
"Are you about to cry?" the Bone King questioned, casting me a barbarous glance. "Pathetic. You should be thanking me, Ridley, I'm about to free you from all this pointless human emotion and suffering."
"You're disgusting," I snapped. "You're a disgusting monster and I'm going to stop you. I swear it!"
"Oh?" The Bone King said, arching a brow. "Not before they kill him, I hope?"
His words brought my world to a screeching halt. Frantically I looked to the glass. The moment I did, my heart leapt into my throat.
Vandel was surrounded by the human knights, their weapons drawn. He looked terrified, his eyes wide.
And then, they lunged at him.
Vandel moved quickly. He threw out his arms, shielding himself with magic as blade after blade came shooting towards him.
With so many coming at once, the Demon Prince had been forced into a purely defensive fight. He was completely trapped. Even if he could've turned into his bird form, he'd have to eventually turn back once his powers ran out and they'd slaughter him in seconds.
Vandel continued to block the blows, dodging and deflecting each attack. But even then, there were far too many of them. The Demon Prince was tiring quickly, clearly exerting his powers to the point of exhaustion.
Finally, one of the knights managed to strike him. His blade ripped a bloody streak across Vandel's arm along with my heart.
Vandel let out a weak whimper of pain that made me want to scream. He moved to block another attack just as a second blade abruptly sliced across his leg, causing him to lose balance. Upon seeing their clear window of opportunity, even more knights lunged at him. A blade managed to slash across his side, causing Vandel to double over, sinking to the ground— defenseless.
And then they were all moving at him. Surrounding him. Swarming him.
They were going to kill him.
They were going to slaughter and gut the man I loved more than the whole world like an animal.
And Vandel looked so frightened. So helpless and small, like a little bird with both its wings broken. He looked broken, and the image of it destroyed me.
All I could see was that expression as my anger and my terror of losing him overwhelmed my senses. The white mist in my mind was turning red, drowning out all rational thought within its bloody depths.
I didn't even register the familiar hilt of Crystalbreaker that had somehow found its way into my hand.
I could hear Crystal's voice and I wasn't sure if it was coming from behind me or simply from within my head.
"Go...save him."
And then, all of a sudden, I was standing amongst the knights in the chamber and I was lunging forward. Amidst the thick, burning haze in my head, only one thing remained clearly in focus....
