I wanted to make a difference, do something that at the time I thought was good. Now, as I sit, slouched, tied up by chains like some wild animal, I realise how wrong i was.

How far I’d fallen, I was once a king - thre most powerful of them all at that, now i sit here, reduced to a barely functioning prisoner, one of my golden-brown eyes no longer worked, my once silky white hair was deteriorated and my pale skin had shrivelled and molded.

Now I sit here, alone forever, The empty cave stares at me. as if mocking. The swampy taste of muddy water infesting the air. not helping. The quiet tweeting of Robins adding to the solitude of loneliness that occupied me. The only thing that has kept me same for so long being the subtle beauty of my prison, the poor animals that had got lost in here, the mossy concrete tiles that denied all possible light, the wet ground made up of water and mud decorated with dry blood from my wounds, the dead shrubs that id witnessed the lifespan of. They will all see me to my inevitable demise.

Soon I’d starve to death or maybe some wild creature would make a meal of me, nethertheless, I was as good as dead.

I wish I could tell them I’ve changed, tell all the people I killed, all the kingdoms i had baptised with fire in the name of vengeance that I am different; that I am no longer the upset king I once was.

Looking back, all those years ago when I had waged war with millions of innocents, I can’t even remember what it was for, what I was attempting to achieve.

Although, I could remember why. . . My wife, Queen Evelyn.. Divine Evelyn… Lovely Evelyn. she was the only person who loved me but her life was cut short. . . she died to protect me. Killed in a war that I started; she told me to end it, to end the battle. But her death only drove my madness further.

And for what? me to end up here? I will never join her in the vast heavens where she now resides, for I will go to hell.

She died for nothing, for a fool who doesn’t know how to control his pain. Tears brim my remaining eye, blurring my vision, the limited sound in the lonely cave coming to a halt. Being replaced with the repressing sound of ringing in my ears.

“JUST LET ME DIE!” I scream out to no one, the scream bouncing off the cave walls and returning to me.

My life was over. . .

_A/N: I feel like this is some of my best work yet I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!_

_ALL FEEDBACK IS WELCOME_

_WRITTEN ON (30/4/24)_

_BY DERIK GRANT_