King of the Dead (A Short Story) | A Fractal Art Project

"I died six months before you," Luthern shouted.

As if it wasn't already heated in the main chamber, Luthern and his counterpart sparred for over an hour. Temperatures rose to a fever pitch, the likes of which the Master himself would soon have to be alerted to intervene in the dissension.

With his eyes ablaze, Ruffusz spat back. "So. Does it matter? We're both dead."

"I'm the King of the Dead," Luthern boasted. Two hundred souls collected thus far. Working on another fifty next week.

Luthern would have stuck his chest out, but the cavity was no longer filled with additional baggage for a protruding middle.

"Not so. Our boss made me the King of the Dead." Ruffusz was determined to win this argument. What he didn't want to do was get the Boss involved in this disagreement.

A resident passerby's bucket screeched as it rolled down the corridor. He paused in front of the Sacrificial Hall.

Assigned to janitorial duty, his ears perked up whenever more than one person was nearby. However, keeping a low profile, but at the same time abreast of new developments was his "unofficial" job description.

The rivalry and hatred between those two impetuous young men had already become common knowledge since their arrival in the Kingdom. Of this, the janitor was already aware. What wasn't known was the underlying reason.

An idea rose suddenly. Hoping to assist, or at least offer insight to cool tempers a bit, he took a deep breath before turning the corner and entering the Hall.

He certainly didn't want the Master to descend up the chamber. He had enough work to do that day.

"What's going on fellas?" The janitor stood with mop in hand smiling sheepishly at the pair.

If he had some salve in his bucket, he would have certainly offered to apply some to their steaming heads.

Both Luthern and Ruffusz turned and stared vehemently at the janitor, then slowly returned to their fierce gaze toward each other.

"I was wondering what the benefits were since I heard you mention being the King of the Dead? Is the qualification scroll lengthy?"

Luthern inhaled deeply. What emerged from his mouth would have killed the janitor had he not already been among the dead.

The fire bolt rushed toward the janitor just as he grabbed his bucket and fled down the hall.

The entire Kingdom could hear the broken wheels scrape over the stone cobbled floor.

Before the janitor reached halfway, he turned and shouted, "No harm intended. Just wanted to know why the title was so important to clash over it. Must be some helluva benefits for this level of tension and risk waking the Master!"

Both men shouted down the hallway. 'Well, if anyone has to ask, then we don't have to worry about competition because that person will never become King of the Dead."

They let escape an ominous howl into the air, then exchanged pats on their hollow shoulders.

With that, Luthern and Ruffusz lit torches atop their heads and strode off in different directions, confident of their future unchallenged dual status.

In approaching my theme for "King of the Dead", I wanted to have a bit of fun with this project. The idea of two opposite viewpoint on a rather inconsequential issue felt amusing, especially when both individuals are of the same status.

The star of my project are pure fractals created in Apophysis. The upgraded version of the fractal rendering software, Apophysis 7X, is excellent for the detailed imagery.

The first fractal is used as the background. I chose the red color, of course, to mimic the setting of the story.

The second fractal was used as the foreground to show the heated animosity of the two individuals in their back and forth.

Below are the additional images I included to complete my theme:

I uploaded all images in Canva. I utilized this design program to blend the images in my projects. The program allows me to take advantage of my upgraded Annual Pro Membership Subscription. Doing so enables me to remove the background, resize, filter, colorize, and other advanced features.

Below are my steps to creating my fierce enemies theme:

Below is the completed project:

Thanks for your visit. I appreciate it. I hope you like my fractal art project with short story.