Ha...

The sound of thundering, plated footsteps was deafening.

A voice rang out, clear amidst the cacophony of this madness. "Your majesty!? Wha-" The boots of the palace guards came to a grinding halt. "Y-you! You mana-addled ingrate!" More sounds echoed outwards, akin to cold metal smashing against raw, unprotected flesh.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIS HIGHNESS, THE PRINCE?!" The one from before continued as another soul answered in the meekest, most ashamed of tones. "M-my l-lord! I- I didn't!; I- I DON'T KNOW!"

My vision swirled with tendrils of blue and red and black, as the stench of raw, undiluted magic coursed through this golden room. Marbled stones and the tallest of walls, chiselled to perfection as if they were carved out of a mountain. "Calm thyself, Highlord." A new voice echoed through my skull, its dreadful, practised calm still rippling through me like a serrated blade, driven through it by my worst enemy.

"And you as well, apprentice." The voice! Argh, the voice! I want it to shut up! "Grand Wizard! Watch out!" A splash and a crunch rebounded in a beatific melody from all around.

Finally, the voice is sil- "Ah.. well, that was unexpected." ARGH! THE VOICE IS NOT YET DEAD!

Another onset of something being smashed, oh how I would love to see that which I am bidden to hear! "Your excellency, it would be advised that you keep your distance. It seems that the prince, in his current state, sees you as an enemy." The grating one chuckled, taking everything out of me not to lash out again. ".. Oh? Now, why would that be~?"

Echoes fade... but legends last forever.

Which are you?

A supplicant came forward, bearing with himself all the grace that was to be expected of a baron, even one from such... unworthy, lands. "Your majesty! Clearly, this is some form of ploy to dethrone your dynasty! We should have never allowed these filthy mages to join our glorious kingdom." Murmurs of approval and exclamations of protest ran aloud in the throne room as if they were flowers, blooming at the height of spring.

"Nay! It is thine ridiculous claim that is the clear plot against his majesty's ascended bloodline!" My head turned, my vision still hazy, catching the frame of a minister dressed in purple, gold and black. Surely, a man more than willing to pay the price of enchanted goods. Nevertheless, his greed did not spare him from flinching and falling back into his seat as my tired eyes turned towards him. I bore the man no ill intent, no real hatred, but I do admit to being quite... ticked, right now. "It is as my friend Claybrooke claims!" A much taller man rose from his seat, comforting his ally with a hand on his shoulder.

Hmph. Where I come from, we would have called that gay.

A throaty chuckle escaped me as the tall man's brow furrowed. "Your majesty... finds this terrible event... funny?" He almost sounded insulted, if his uneasiness managed to be any less apparent than it is currently. "No." I found myself responding, then lazily looking away, unnatural hatred still surging through my voice. "But you'd best not give me a reason to find it funny, Margrave."

The terrible echoing of my voice caused much of the room's populous to quiver in fear, shock and awe alike, with only a selective few decidedly keeping themselves steady. With gritted teeth, the Margrave opened his mouth to speak once more...

Hatred, ... rage, ... agony... You have reached their zenith and consumed it, still wanting more.

What have thee left to give, Mad One?...

Amidst the swirling vortex of raw magic, tendrils of unfathomable origin wove themselves into my skull. Black as night, then filled with stars, almost as if they represented the Great Beyond, which surely only the gods themselves have dared to thread. They pour, then spill forth and each time they lash out, if at me or at any other, my brain splits itself anew, almost as if it is reborn every, single, gods, damned, time!

"My lords! I-I've only done as thy asked of me! Please, believe me!" Ahhh, the meek one yet lives. "And what was it that thy have done, apprentice?" Grating, scornful, the bemused voice echoed out, causing my ears to ring and my veins to flare. "I-I, I've drawn the ritual circle, gathered the requisite h-herbs a-and given his m-m-majesty a potion of pure mana, as per thy instructions!"

"Oh, my~. So then you claim that the princes current; *click of the tongue* predicament, is my fault?" The meek one paused now, so long was the silence, that I could almost taste his panic, his trepidation...

Boiling, thundering, abhorrent and more crimson than the pools of hot blood, spilled upon the battlefield. The tendrils now became crimson, rippling through my very flesh and bones, settling inside as my body jerked up and down. Slowly, gently, almost as if all this was one horrific case of involuntary muscle-memory. "R-RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARH!"

My own voice ripped itself out of my throat, the pain it caused making me think that something was actually torn in the process, as my eyes were forced open and I could finally see! ... see the splashes of red, much like the tendrils, to cover the ground as multiple people were forced to burst out of their fragile, mortal shells.

Blood, rich and beautiful, more so than ever before.. I felt myself thirsting for it...

Yet, I did not want it.

No.

My blood is all the blood that I need! All the blood that I want! EVERY OTHER FORM OF BLOOD CAN JUST DISAPPEAR!

The ground before me cracked open, as the runic circle around me was broken asunder and the group of men at the gates of the room quickly turned to flee. "CLOSE THE DOOR! THE PRINCE HAS BECOME A DE-!" Darkness followed, silence arrived.

Oh, how good it feels~!

Madness. Void. Chaos. Order.

These are the tenets of thyne rapture and thyne torment...

Yet, you would see them; refused?

REJECTED?!

"-ave only done as was asked of us by his majesty, the king." The Margrave paused as he looked towards a coffin on his left, then sighed. ".. by his late-majesty, the king."

Another chuckle escaped me as the rooms attention spiralled towards that blasted coffin, within which were the remains of my supposed father, the late king of Jorrick Exuperius, the father of I, Klaus Exuperius. My chuckle became a smirk as that name, which was now myne own, rang through my head.

Causing more than one onlooker to nigh howl with disgust. "Y-you.. you laugh at your own fathers coffin?! Tis' true what the priests speak! The Prince's mind has been switched with that of a demon!" A fat man yelled out as I turned to look at him. Instantly, the room spiralled back into an enraged chaos. "Nay! Our magics worked perfectly! We were bidden to grant the his majesty, the Prince, the great gift of magic and in this, we have succeeded!"

Men draped in crimson and gold leaped from their chairs, as the one with the biggest hat among them exclaimed for all to hear. "Great gift?! The only magic that is a gift is the one granted to us by the gods! Your wicked, hedonistic arcane can only bring evil to this land!" My good lord, I'm fairly certain that the bloody worms below the castle's foundations heard this man just now.

I raised my hand with a nod, signalling the court to shut up, which they surprisingly did. "You are both wrong and correct at the same time." Putting my hand back down revealed a glorious sight, that of a myriad of proud men, equally confused as well as terrified.

Their horror only served to feed my amusement. "M-my liege... what do you mean?" With a sigh, I replied, my tone suddenly far less malefic than it was mere moments ago, taking a deep breath to soothe both myself and my audience. "I am.. Klaus Exuperius, Prince of the Kingdom Of Exuperia." My amusement grew higher and higher with each and every word that escaped my mouth. "Yet, I am also ... not." Then my head tilted sideways, almost as if in uncertainty. "Or, perhaps it would be better to say that I finally am?" Amusement turned into a rabid grin as the court did a double take.

Their collectively shaken appearance causing me to burst out in yet another spree of maddened chuckling, just as that familiar, grating tone, belonging to the Grand Wizard Asmodeus, which I hope isn't his real name, tore through my joy like an arrow straight through the heart. "This... makes more sense than it may first appear to."

Wizened chins were rubbed as the mages all rose their eyebrows in confusion and some in fake realization. Thankfully, it was not Asmodeus that continued this tale, but the apprentice that performed the ritual just minutes prior to this. "T-the Prince's soul! Y-yes! Before the ritual began, I-I n-n-noticed that his majesty's soul was.. flawed, *shakes his head* nay, incomplete!"

Pointing a panicked finger at me, the magister bound in chains, the apprentice quickly continued, desiring little else other than to save his own hide. "W-when the ritual began and the prince's soul was exposed, I saw that it was actually just a small percentage of a greater soul!" His chains rattled loudly as he yelled as I rose my hand again, stiffening the atmosphere and forcing his mouth shut by presence alone.

... much of me is enjoying my current predicament, indeed. I could get used to this. "You're on the right track, but do not yell. Our majesty's head is currently pounding quite heavily." I explained as curtly as I could, causing more than one eye to turn in my direction, more than one of them in pleasant surprise.

Now that, would change. The sooner, the better.

Either way, the vermin mage continued his speech after clearing his throat. "A-ahem. As I was saying, his majesty's soul was incomplete. By doing the Ritual Of Awakening, it seems that the other half.. nay, the other seventy-five percent of his soul was called forth out of the void and rejoined the rest of it." Then the mage looked up in shock and seeming realization. "B-but.. I - I am not sure what came with it. There wasn't only mana within the soul!"

A nod came from me, surprising my audience yet again. "Indeed. I seem to have remembered a past life of mine." With a nod of his own, quiet and timid, the apprentice seemed to ponder. "Aye, his majesty speaks truth. I- I am not well versed in the magics of the mind, but those mana-patterns did resemble that of memories..." He suddenly went paralysed, stopped dead in his tracks. "B-but, y-your majesty, w-w-what were you i-in your p-p-past life?"

Now this question, aha!; it made me smile~.

"What do you think, little mage?" My curiosity was so apparent that none seemed to question the absurdity of the conversation, for now. "I-.. I do not know. It, you, ... human!; it seemed human! Yet, strange. ... It had a great deal of magic, but was using none of it! Almost as if it were a human being from some other wo-."

He went quiet.

The entire world seemed to go quiet, indeed.

Ah, looks like reincarnation or transmigrations were a thing in this fantasy world after all~. "Another world, yes. Though, I refuse to speak of which. It is, after all, quite personal, wouldn't you agree?" My smile both enraptured and enraged the court in equal measure.

This world is forged by them, just as all others.

What makes you think it will allow for their rejection?

... oh, right...

When has the Mad One ever cared for such prattling, minor details~?

"RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Another lashing out, another corpse sprawled against the marbled walls.

Once splendorous, this royal room, this castle's interior, had been stained with broken bones and torn guts. They belonged to the many guards, mages and priests which had fallen to my fury...

Their blood, however.. was mine.

All mine.

The very same that flowed through myne own veins. I felt myself grin.

My vision ceased its haze.

I could feel my flesh singing, rejoicing.

My torment, it would seem, has finally come to an end!

I had defeated the cancer that brought me so much pain~.

... or wait, since I've been reincarnated, does it count as a victory for me? ...

Fuck.

That's a question for the philosophers, one of which I am most certainly not!

Ah well, who gives a shit? Life has given me a second chance.

Lets make the most of it, consequences be damned!

It has been, so, so.. so, so very long!

I can scarcely believe myne own eyes.

That now, after such an eon of senselessness and mind-boggling silence, you have returned.

One may only wonder, for how long this revival, shall manage to last.

Your flame is old, ancient and spent.

Yet, here you are.

Welcome back, Mad One.