A Snowed Abode

Library

"Uh huh..." Pax ascertained, as if totally listening in onto a lecture but he was really about to fall asleep, for what does 'peace' do realistically at every hurdle?

"Advisors try to steer the course in case of an irrational perspective, but can only do so much - so it was in my case. I even stayed as much as I could, but in the end it became dangerous." So, are we talking volcano about to explode danger, or maybe a more infectious type? Well, one surmises, madness might be a slight bit more internal and subjective, but if one were to compare then infection would be more relevant, as interpersonal interactions inevitably affect each other, but then it is more of a sociological influence, rather than raw biology...

"How...?" Pax asked, eager  (or not) to know the mysteries that lay behind the fiery castle.

"The ego grew out of proportion... but not out of character... and more power was desired. In this monarch's mind that was equivalent to destruction, though... deceit too." So... the status quo? One really does not know how this is quite so different from... well, the world is down to one now, but before they were almost collectible... 

"The ego thought that as long as one can do all that, that one held the capability... it is actually the reason why monarchs were usually overthrown... this inevitability." Well, yes, it is how exponents work, and minds, which house the ego, work heuristically too...

"Hm, so, now the last remaining monarch wants to take over the whole world? How does it not appear to them an impossible task? There must be quite some delusion inculcated..." Pax figured out... which was not exactly the wrong kind of figuring out, but the kind that missed some vital information as we shall see...

"There is that, but there is also... something else. Something more... unnerving. It seems to be of an otherworldly nature, as if an ethereal essence pervades the castle..." There always is in castles, though, no? I mean, this is not quite something unusual... and with the ego and all one might say it is merely quotidian... but, what can one say, Prudens here has been inside this structure, beyond the towering infernos, not I, nor Pax so far, so one can never exactly presume, you see...

"In other words, I can only assume there are external forces aiding this potency... which is why I had to seal off the castle after the situation became oppressively bleak..." But what external force might this be? Perhaps alien? Or some underground creature that has not seen the light of day for millennia? One can only speculate...

"Hm, I did notice the raging fires... hard to miss on our way here. Two questions, how was the situation bleak, and.... how can we put out the fires?" Suddenly Clemens interjected, as if he could not possibly hold back from saying nothing anymore, but why not give us his opinion? A variety of perspectives are always refreshing, after all... raging fires or not.

"I can dissolve them if you wish, but... be careful. I put them there in the first place due to a spill of the monarch's insanity... his ego leaking, metaphorically..." Are you sure it was not leaking literally? I suppose, it can, possibly, but what would it look like? And does it just ooze, or merely drop all at once? (Why am I even thinking all this nonsense...?)

"A certain miasma was already filtering out to this town... the one the monarch was supposed to protect by treaty, once... well, things never pan out according to papers." Yes, what miasma? Like a dark, ominous cloud? Ah, who knows, it might be as relevant as those obscure rhymes...

"I feared all sorts of creatures might have thus overwhelmed this place... they appear to be resident at the castle now, so be warned... they might be violent, but mostly... mad, too." If they are merely mad creatures, then... they are merely in reality? I mean, who is not mad these days?