Enter the Other Side

The old king, bent and gaunt, looks down at the kingdom. The last knights lie bloody upon the field. There is no one left to bury them. This distant tower sways precarious in the last days before bitter winter. An unwelcome iron crown weighs heavy on his head.
The queen has turned the castle into a monastery where a few of the infirm still can find some brief refuge. The prince lies under the thrall of a lich that has usurped the throne. And the princess is imprisoned and drained of nearly all her life force. The queen's mother oversees her own realm, oblivious of the poverty and mass emigration.
The lich used to be the most trusted of the king's court. Once, he was known as the wizard. Powerful, wise and knowledgeable, he grew to run the kingdom with great efficiency. The wizard befriended the royal family, especially the prince and princess. He entertained them, taught them, and played with them while the king and queen were busy with the many problems of running and defending the kingdom. But the more potent his power, the more the wizard grew—until one day he had twisted into a lich whose hunger for energy and attention drew the very life from the children, the queen, and the king. But they have all become too dependent upon this magic and know no other way.
Too late, the king realized his ghastly mistake and called forth knights and warriors to combat the lich. But neither might nor magic could prevail. The treasury grew smaller and smaller. The crops ceased growing. The rains failed. All who fought for the kingdom were defeated, exiled, or otherwise vanquished. Sometimes under the power of the lich, it would be the prince himself who dealt the lethal blow.

Today, the king sits in the tower wall of the kingdom's outpost. Sometimes he sees the royal family in the valley far below. Sometimes he believes that there is nothing wrong and that he might join them once again around a banquet table. And then the lich comes, and the king finds himself under its power again.

The king weeps quietly most nights.