The Kingdom’s Domain

Inspired by The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. 

 

Now Thomas was crawling, crawling to that rich orange light at the end of the passage.  A kind of terror filled him that was dreadful yet meaningful at the same time.   

Father, he thinks.  Why do you stare at me so?  I've done the best I could.  Did I ask you for this?  Answer me, damn you!  I did the best I could and look at me now, look at me now! 

Suffering from insomnia, tears filled his eyes and blood poured from his nose.  His migraine was getting worse the closer he came.  He was changing into something no one in the city could have possibly believed.  He looked down.  Parasites started to fill the bottom of the passage, which was now starting to look like a sewage drain. 

What's happening to me?, he thinks.  The light was now maddeningly bright.  The blood trickling down his face was all over him.  He wants to kill himself, to make it all end.  Gods, make it stop!  But he keeps on moving toward the light, urging himself forward to meet his destiny.  The horror he now felt was spreading all over the city, as a sort of psychic plague.  Everyone was awake, hiding, gripping something to release the tension.  The Kingdom was falling and everyone knew it, felt it, as if a diseased proclamation had crept its way through town. 

Thomas felt like he was burning in flames, but he kept on.  He thought he could hear the parasites screaming in agony.  Now they were falling through the ceiling.  Sucking sounds were coming from deep down in the sewers, the smell of shit made his nostrils twitch.  He heard himself say, "Delain rising", though he did not know why.  Now he could hear the roar of a dragon up ahead.  Something came out of his nose, slimy and burning his skin.  His back started to rise- thorns started growing on him.  Claws were emerging from his feet and the ghastly sucking sounds were even louder now.  The screaming of the parasites suddenly transformed into a high chorus that sounded holy and even beautiful, sounds that made the Earth rise, sounds you might hear at night in your dreams. 

Thomas was red fire now, his eyes aflame, his body expanding into what looked like a bloody orange.  He tried to cry out, but the words only brought fire.  Now he is gigantic, the thorns hitting the ceiling, the blood still tricking from his nose. 

Now he thinks, Oh Lord, I am the the dragon.  I have become you, for I was you when you saw my father, when you saw him murdered.  You must help me save Delain.  What strange force is this?  Where is Flagg?  What will become of Peter?  Delain is Hell brought loose!  What am I to do? 

He was now in the light, and the chorus sang higher.  Through the misty orange glow he could see bright sparkles of embers, gleaming in euphoria like some forbidden galaxy.  Everything was turning from horror to beauty as Thomas crawled toward his destiny. 

Oh father, if you could only see me now.  The light is so beautiful.  It's like a rose, father, a rose blooming in its youth.  If you could only see what I see now, father.  Look at all these dazzling embers.  The voices are like an aria for majestic spaces.  What father, what have I become? 

Now a tail has formed on his ass.  He's become the dragon, he shall save Delain. 

He falls into a cellar where the light has taken him.  The light is now gone; so is the blood, the parasites, and the mesmerizing chorus. 

The clock was two minutes to midnight.  Thomas thinks his last thought as the dragon settles into its becoming.  The thought is a phrase Thomas used many times at school, when he was neglected and made fun of.  It was a phrase he often thought about at night, reflecting on how his father had always took Peter's side in their disputes, and also whenever the horrible Flagg yelled at him something like, "QUIET, YOU DEMON-FUCKING SMART ASS!"  Oh yes, he would get his revenge on the evil magician, for killing his father and framing Peter.  He would eve die if it meant killing Flagg, if only so Peter could rule the Kingdom and set things right.  Sometimes Thomas would sit in his room thinking about his gutless existence and he would think of that phrase just to keep himself from jabbing that knife he kept in the nightstand into his heart. 

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. 

But now he is the dragon, the emperor of embers, and will now fulfill his destiny.  He has finally found the true purpose of his life, and it fills him with delight.  Kill Flagg and save Peter, the dragon thinks.  Kill Flagg, save Peter.  Kill Flagg, save Peter.  Like a tape rolling through his head.  Oh, how the Gods will thank me. 

The clock struck midnight.