Lewd King's Bucket List

A year into Camp Hell, on my eleventh birthday, I met her — the second student joining me at Camp Hell.

The genius prodigy who was to become my right-hand advisor once I learned enough to take the reins. She was young. Eighteen at the time. She had a fierce aura. She might have been weaker than me, but her sheer confidence would lead one to think she was as strong as Hope.

Admittedly, she scared me a little.

"What's your name?"

I asked her as I peeled off the metal suit after a long day, feeling a slight breeze through the cloth and leather under garment.

Her amber eyes shone like fire through the slits in her visor.

"Cecelia Wreath."

We'd spent that entire day together, watching our comrades be slaughtered, yet it was only after a reprieve in the fighting that we spoke to each other.

"I'm Ixion."

The pleasantries between us ended there. The awkward waif I was, I didn't know how to talk to people casually. The most I could do then was command or reprimand.

Cecelia didn't care to question the absence of my title in my self-introduction. Nor did she care.

And, truth be told, it's not like she knew how to converse either.

Her life was more normal than mine, but "normal" was still a stretch.

After all, she was raised to become a general.

A general had to be emotionless. A general had to see people in quantities. A general had to know only names within the chain of command. A general had to never dare to learn the name of a statistic.

However… there was a peculiar girl.

"Cece?!"

And then, in an instant, upon hearing the shrill screech, she ripped off her helm and dropped it.

The culprit ran up and hugged her.

"I'm so glad to see you!"

"Coraline? W-what are you doing here?!"

Cecelia pulled the girl away, allowing me to see her face clearly for the first time. She was quite the beauty, even given her matted and disheved hair.

Then my eyes drifted to the small girl holding her. She had short black hair cut in a bob. Her amber irises burned like fire.

The two. They were sisters.

And, as I would come to learn later, Cecelia was not as emotionally detached as she let on, but she'd grounded herself by eliminating what she cared about until only one thing remained.

That one thing was her love for her sister.

Cecelia even sold her will to her father if it meant keeping her little sister away from the battle, and that's what led her to my side.

Sadly, upholding promises died out ages ago.

Even so, in any case, the two were reunited on the front lines.

Why am I even telling you this? Is that what you're asking yourself, Pax?

Well, that's because our little trio was my saving grace.

It was through Coraline and Cecelia that I learned my own mind was wicked.

I fought simply because. I wanted to get stronger simply because. I wanted to aid Catatran simply because…

Nothing.

A pitiable, hollow existence.

That's what I truly was. One that existed without reason.

A hollow king with a hollow crown leading a hollow nation into a hollow fight.

Thus, my first act of defiance against the world took place.

I searched for reason.

I watched young men and women die while following Vex's orders.

"Why?"

People celebrated victories, despite the fact that their best friends or even family died in those same battles.

"Why?"

Why did soldiers hum and rush into battle knowing they'd die? Why did Cecelia not want Coraline to fight?

"Why?"

Love…

I think.

Though to this day, I'm still unsure.

Either way, it was in pursuit of that answer that I forcibly ended my Hell Camp stay. I ran headlong into the Scourge to reinforce a faltering squadron.

If I wanted to understand reason, I first had to lose it.

***

From there, things changed.

I didn't turn out to be the tactical star Vex had hoped for, but with the brilliant Cecelia at my side, he handed over the reins of duty and went back to his own country's portion of the battlefield.

The two of us, apart, summed to something far greater together.

For the first time in years, under our leadership, we pushed back the Scourge.

A trend which continued for nearly ten years. Then our success story came crumbling down in a single night.

I was Elevated at this point, two ranks above Emergent. I was everything the world expected me to be and more.

And, despite never having seen my own throne or even the walls of the nation I led, I was in contention for one of the most legendary Catatran Kings in history!

Ah! Yes! Praise me! Laud me!

Remember, you can now.

…

Ahem.

I was twenty-three. In fact, I'd just turned twenty-three that day.

…

Wait.

I just realized…

Why does the world always go to shit on my birthday?! The hell?! Was my mother correct after all?!

Oh no…

My birthday is exactly a month from today.

What the hell's gonna happen this time?!

Fuck.

"Despair's going to do something, isn't he!"

By the way, I said that at the current moment of writing this, not in the past.

And since I've already derailed, Pax, let me give you this warning. That guy who just saved you today — your today — he's going to kidnap you when you go to sleep. He's a Night Elf too, right? But he's not as nice as he seems. He's the kind behind the horror stories that led to your current treatment.

Damn. I got really off topic there. Where was I…

Ah.

The collapse — the crumbling of our line.

The day hundreds of families were visiting their loved ones and the death toll soared to unseen heights.

The day I realized what I was fighting to protect.

The day I also lost what I was fighting to protect.