For as long as people could remember there had always been the one and same king on the throne of Aragon. King Ramiro had been one of the longest-reigning rulers in the kingdom of Aragon. Through sheer luck or just skill, he had managed to overcome many obstacles during his time.
Though his time as king was not as smooth as one would have hoped, but nonetheless it was still mostly a prosperous and peaceful time. The people throughout the many years of his time as king had slowly grown accustomed to him and even developed great devotion and respect for him.
But now as the news of his death spread across the land the people were left in shock and tiers, but most of all rage. Rage at the news of Antonio ascending the throne instead of his younger brother.
While hearing the news that a lustful, cowardly and rat-loving prince becoming their new king was bad, even worse was the many unanswered questions.
No official explanation was given for the kings and his two younger sons deaths. But word of the supposed fates of the royal family had nonetheless quickly spread by the now former staff of the castle.
Though Antonio had managed to persuade the royal guard out of murdering him right then and there when he had slain his own father, he had failed to stop their immediate resignation.
Tensions had been already high due to the bloody war with the now hated ratmen. But now tensions had reached their limits.
On the weary next day after the kings assassination, the city of Madrid had decided to rise up in revolt against the new king. As massive crowds of angry mobs gathered outside the royal castle calling for the immediate execution of the new king news of this had started to spread.
Though the reason for the kings and his sons deaths wasn't known for sure, it didn't take a genius to guess who had done it. So now all over the two kingdoms common people and nobility rose up in rebellion against this new king. Only the southern realms were influenced by the new Duke Tadeo and also the cult of course had stayed loyal to the new king.
As such when Antonio was faced with mass riots and rebelling and his former royal guards banging at the gates of his castle. He decided to resort to the only tactic that he could think of that would work for sure. He decided to kill everyone who stood up against him. But to do this he had to rely on his now-new master of necromancy Lust.
As the rioters used ladders and a makeshift ram made of a singular giant log to try and break into the castle the defenders fought back fiercely.
On the walls, black armored men and the undead using all sorts of melee and ranged weapons fought off the rioters as they kept on climbing up like madmen.
As fierce fighting took place at the walls bodies had started to mount. Uncaring of this Antonio and Lust started using the bodies of friends and foes alike to practice their dark magic. Now the duo ran all across the walls from side to side they went raising the dead back to life. Though the task was not easy, unlike Lusts undead that had soles and the ability to independently make small decisions improving their chances of survival. Antonio's undead were brainless idiots, if not ordered to do something they would just stand still taking hits and getting crushed by enemy maces.
And while raising the dead back to life was easy at first while the bodies were still fresh and intact. Antonio soon discovered that as the bodies got more and more destroyed, their reassembling would become increasingly hard. Reassembling the bodies and attaching limbs with magic was a hard time-consuming task that would quickly drain once energy.
Despite this, they kept on raising the dead. Living or dead it didn't matter to Antonio anymore. In the end, they all would serve him and come to accept his new Human and rat hybrid children whether they liked it or not, he thought to himself.
While fighting took place in Madrid, a group of peasants over one thousand strong were marching south with haste. The ground was a very mixed bag of people of all ages and sexes. Though the group looked like any other weak rag-tag group of peasants to the outside viewer.
But unknown to them this group had a secret strength. For this group had what many others didn't, they had unity under one cause and one man and it was also a just and clear common cause that everyone could agree on. But most of all the biggest thing was that they had a strong and righteous leader named Jesus. To them, he was like a living saint or a god and as such they now also called themselves the Jesuits.
Now as the Jesuits marched on the peaceful roads of Andalusia they were finally able to stop and breathe a sigh of relief. After constant battles through the mountains, hills and forest-covered landscapes of the Dukedoms of Castille and Leon. Now travelling through Andalusia they had finally been able to get a respite.
However, Andalusia also faced it's own problems and dangers. But thanks to it's geographical location many of those problems were quite minimal compared to Aragon.
Camping on the side of the road in a small forested area all seemed well and peaceful. Women gossiped around campfires while the men laughed and played around their own campfires. The mood was good amongst the peasants and the mushrooms they had gathered from the forest were passable in quality.
As they camped a passing messager had decided to stop in their camp to give himself and his horse a much-needed rest. That's when they also managed to hear of the happenings in Madrid.
Shocked by the news they quickly spread it around the camp. The news about the royal family was truly shocking to all. But listening to the man speak Jesus their leader and master had to his surprise also heard that one of the new kings supporters was his son.
Not only was he a supporter but now he was called Marino the Lord of Segres and not only that was shocking but the way he had gotten the title was the truly shocking part. Immediately after his arrival to Segres, Marino and his men had started a brutal slaughter all throughout the town, killing everyone who stood in their way not taking any prisoners.
Rumor also had it that Marino no longer just commanded men but had summoned the powers of hell to serve him. Under his control were now demons, monsters and even the living dead. And in order to legitimise his new title he had decided to pledge his helping hand to the cowardly, so-called future king of all of Iberia.
After the king of Andalusias death and no word from his only daughter who resided in the Empire. The ruler of the kingdom of Aragon, the kings daughters husband had now become the new regent of Andalusia. So technically now Iberia stood united as one kingdom even though almost none had accepted this. But nonetheless, this gave all the legal rights to Antonio to do as he pleased with Iberia.
Reading of all of this and the fact that Marino had taken Segres for his own by force Jesus felt a sense of failure as he thought. " Why would you do this Marino? What are you thinking? This is madness. "
Shaking his head in pain of such thoughts, Jesus set aside all speculation and decided that he needed to see his son for himself to know what was really going on.
With this in mind, he gave the order to pack up camp. He needed to stop Marino before he went too far. So now he drove his new followers forward with haste. Though dressed in mixed clothing and holding all sorts of weapons the people now calling themselves the Jesuit Order packed up the camp swiftly. Then with backs straightened they proudly marched behind Jesus who rode a horse in the Front.
Back in Segres Marino sat on his seat of power fuming in rage as he listened to his subordinates report. The cultist now calling himself Worm was sniveling on his knees as he delivered the report.
To Marino this news was inconceivable. " Fucking medieval apes, he thought. Why would the royal guards not follow their new king? Isn't it the royal guards job to guard whoever is the king, no matter what? What sort of royal guards just decide, out of the blue to quit their jobs altogether? And what's wrong with these peasants? Why do they care who is the next dictator of their country? I mean it's not like they have any say in anything that happens in the country anyway. " In raged Marino scratched his head crazily as he thought of all of this.
As Marino fumed in rage two beauties were watching this scene in concern and fear. On the right side of the room, on a big sofa, 2 beautiful and very pregnant Elven women were comforting each other. Anna and Elsa were chained to the wall forced to sit there and watch Marino as he raged at his subordinates.
After departing the ships in Segres they had seen how the other elven women and girls were treated. And to their horror, there were only women and girls. That is when they realized what fate had befallen the others.
No longer did the women see the man in a good light. All though they never had really seen him in a good light to begin with. At best, they had been willing to tolerate him and do whatever he had asked of them so they could survive.
After what had happened in the new world Marino had not since then been the same man that he had once been. Little by little in their eyes he had started to slip further into darkness and insanity.
Then after a while of Marino sitting on his throne in complete silence in deep thought the cultist named Worm spoke up. " Master, why are you so angered by this news? Sure we have many more enemies facing us now. But doesn't that also mean we have a lot more potential blood to spill? And we can also make a lot more sacrifices to the gods. And then we can obtain their favor and more power. "
At first, Marino was about to scold the worm for speaking out of line. But then a thought came to him. It was like a revelation. " Hahahaha, Worm well said. Indeed you are right. The strong do not need alliances for whatever the allies could have done for us we can just do it ourselves. And once we become stronger those fools will be crawling to us asking for a chance to join us the powerful. Hahaha! "
Nodding his head crazily Worm then asked. " What should we do first, Master? "
Smiling at these words Marino said. " Lest make some sacrifices. "
Excitedly Worm nodded his head in agreement as Marino stood up and started walking towards the outside door. Excitedly Worm followed him as the elves watched this scene in concern. Their Portuguese was not perfect, but they could understand the word sacrifice clearly.