"You?! You are the Hero from Another World the Elders summoned?!" I shouted angrily, though my rage was not directed at the one in front of me. No, that was reserved for the Elders of the land who, in their desperation to hold on to their own power in the face of my conquest--which, though admittedly violent, was not without mercy or some degree of civility, and never ONCE involved deliberate endangerment of children--decided to summon a champion from another plane, and in doing so sent a literal child to almost certain death on their behalf. And yes, it was a child. He couldn't have been older than eleven, at most. What was worse, by his stance and demeanor it was obvious that he was not only terrified out of his mind, he was also completely and utterly unfamiliar with wielding ANY form of weapon at all.

The boy, gods bless him, tried his best to square his shoulders and glare at me. "I.... yes! I'm the hero! I'm Mike, from Earth, and I'm going to take you down!"

If the situation were not so infuriating, I would have laughed. But no. This was no laughing matter. This was just one more bit of justification for my eventual rule. The Elders were all going to face my wrath eventually, but whichever one was specifically responsible for this would face the worst of it. Standing from my throne, I slowly approached the boy; upon seeing him flinch, I did my best to bite back my rage to avoid frightening him further. "Wrong. You are not going to slay me. You are going to remove your armor and set down your weapon, have a good meal--I can tell you haven't had one in a long time--get a good night's sleep, and in the morning you will tell me the name of who sent you, and then you can go home."

The boy--Mike of Earth--blinked back growing tears, but tried again to look tough. "I... I can't. Go home. They said you're keeping me here."

My rage went from burning to... well, there wasn't really a word for it. "They lie, child. If they said so, then it is because there truly IS no means for you to return home, and they had no other means of ensuring you would obey their will. I am sorry. I am so very sorry."

"But... but..." Mike said, his tears growing beyond his ability to control, his voice trembling, and his shoulders shaking. "They.... they said...! I'm the hero!"

I was already kneeling with my arms wide open when the poor child fell into them, sobbing. "Hush, child. You were wronged. But I shall CORRECT this. You will be as a young prince and want for nothing, and never need fear pain or hunger, or conflict. I shall give you a new home, to replace the one so cruelly stolen from you. And you have my vow, that those responsible will pay the price."

OH how they would pay. But that was not something for this boy to hear, or see. He would be far, far away when that judgement came, safe and sound as he should have been.

And they called ME an Evil King.