The following day after his defeat in the Realm of Madness, Altair glowered at himself in the mirror. Defeat had been something he had not liked one bit. The sting of death at those vile hands of the Vale King only hammered at his ineptitude.
It was odd having two voices in his head. It reminded Altair of the stories in which the villain in the story always fell, having been consumed by a fragile mental space. The villains of those stories were all mad towards the end, killing their allies or making stupid decisions based on emotion rather than logic. It suddenly occurred to him that he saw himself as a villain. A monster that needed to face the heroes of the world.
The thought made him smile. The fractions across Almore were already moving against him, And it wasn't merely the Shadow Tower he faced a month back. There would be more.
