The man stumbles into blackness, unable to see anything at first but the ground beneath him. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized he was inside some sort of circular room, each with a throne surrounding a circle. Standing up on his feet, he brushed his sleek black hair back, which flowed down to his shoulders then sharply pointed behind him. His nose was short but pointed downward at the tip almost like a beak. He brushed dust off his pants and shirt, then shook his cape off before approaching the thrones. He then saw that they all were occupied except one, which the man assumed was for him. Torches then burst to life and lit the room up, revealing the figures in the thrones.

"Ah, Raven Lord." One of the men in the chair said to the man who just appeared. The man leaned forward in his chair, the light revealing his face, which was not the head of a man at all, but of a snake. "It's about time."

The Raven Lord walked to the vacant throne, "Yes, yes, nice to see you too, Ka." He answered in annoyance, "If this meeting is for what I believe it is for, then is everyone present?"

The Raven Lord looked around the room. Six, including himself. Three women and two other men. "Good. Then lets get started."

"Why must we be disturbed by this?" A man sitting to The Raven Lord's right complained. He had a very boney structure to him with wrinkled skin and brown eyes that almost looked black. He had wild brown hair to accompany his already strange appearance and a voice that sounded almost like a ghoul. "It has only be fifty years since the last batch of Heroes came to our realms. We are no closer to finding out how to prevent this from happening anymore!"

"There is no preventing it, you fool!" A spidery voice spoke from next to the snake man, Ka. "The Nexus chose our realms, and that is the way it must be. For why it is this way, you must ask your superior, The Raven Lord."

The boney man looked to The Raven Lord, "Well?"

"You know very well that I cannot release that information, so please don't bother asking."

"We all know you are the one who holds those secrets, Raven Lord." A woman said, sitting to Ka's left. She was beautiful in appearance and had formal clothing on that made her look closely to a noble, with long and luscious red hair flowing down from her head. "Would you at least explain why you cannot give the secrets out."

"Because I cannot. It is that simple, my lady. If you knew what I knew, then you would keep this to yourself as well."

"Argh! Why you be so secretive, Raven Lord?" A voice appeared. A green mist appeared in the room, and out of it came a skeleton figure with a long black beard. On his left eye was an eyepatch, which covered the green glow that otherwise escaped from his right eye socket and mouth. He had on full pirate attire and a peg leg to go along with it. When the skeleton appeared, he stumbled a bit, holding a bottle of liquor in his hand.

"Blackheart… You're late again." Ka pointed out. "And drunk, as expected. We forgot to count you among us."

"I ain't too drunk, ya sandy-" Blackheart hiccuped, "Well, maybe a little bit, but that doesn't matter! Where's my comfortable seat?!"

Green mist again appeared and landed behind Blackheart, then a skeletal throne of ghostly mist materialized behind him. "Ah! That's better!" Blackheart slumped into the chair and laid back. "Are there new scallywags comin' to see ol' Capt'n Blackheart?"

"Your assumption is correct, Blackheart." The Raven Lord confirmed, "The Nexus's power is growing, and soon a new cycle of heroes will appear to wage war."

"YAAA HAAAAARGH!" Captain Blackheart yelled out, "This will be fun!"

"I wouldn't expect you to care about their intrusion, Blackheart." Ka said, "Since, after all, you don't actually own the realm of Mistharbor. You simply stole it."

"Aye, that I did!" Blackheart said proudly, "And since that day, I have been thriving with coin! Coin, coin, coin, coin, cooooooin!"

"Such selfishness." The Raven Lord commented.

"Don't be talkin' to me about selfishness!" Blackheart said, "After all, I'm not the big headed landlubber who demands the worship of everyone in Raven Court!"

"That's ME you're thinking about, you fool." Ka said.

"It doesn't matter, I'll make him pay for that!" The Raven Lord said angrily. A purple aura surrounded the man and suddenly he began to grow black feathers, a beak, and talons. Wings sprouted from his back and his eyes turned a glowing red. A sword appeared in his hand and he flew toward Blackheart.

"I'll see ya to Davy Jones!" Blackheart exclaimed as he raised his pistol, aiming at The Raven Lord. Before they could clash, however, viney roots appeared and grabbed both of them.

"What in the world do you think you two are doing!?" A woman next to the other one spoke up angrily. She was dressed like a queen, with a small crown on her forehead. She had lots of makeup covering her, almost excessively so. "People call me short tempered! You two are like wild animals!" The roots let go of them and The Raven Lord turned back into his human form. "I apologize for that, Queen Nightshade. This meeting is of the utmost importance and should not be ruined by bickering."

"I too am sorry, Nightshade." Blackheart also responded.

"Now, both of you, sit down!"

Ka sighed sadly, "And I was beginning to hope this meeting would be more fun. How silly of me to expect such entertainment."

Both men sat in their thrones, then The Raven Lord spoke, "This meeting is now in session, at last. No more distractions. Let us discuss the immediate issues at hand; the heroes will be arriving within the next twenty four hours, and we must prepare for their arrival. Who will usher them in as the Nexus selects them?"

Everyone pondered for a moment. "May I suggest Uther the Lightbringer?" Ka asked, "He has been very willing to train and lead new heroes since his death. I'm sure he wouldn't mind a few more centuries of conflict, as he has done such things for us in the past."

"I am unsure if he would be willing to leave his Afterlife to aid us another time, but it is worth a shot." The Raven Lord declared, "We frankly have no one better at explaining these things to newcomers than him. If nobody has objections to this, we will move on."

"I OBJECT!" Blackheart screamed out, throwing his bottle on the ground and smashing it. The Raven Lord looked at Blackheart, confused. "What exactly do you object to, Captain Blackheart?" The Raven Lord asked.

"I object that my bottle be empty!"

The room went silent. Everyone was looking at Blackheart, dumbfounded. "Wha-? This is about me bottle, ain't it?"

"NO, BLACKHEART! IT'S NOT!" Nightshade screamed in frustration.

"Oh… Then ye may carry on!"

The Raven Lord blinked away his confusion and continued, "Then it is decided. Uther the Lightbringer will be our ideal trainer. The next order of business is to make sure we have the areas the Nexus has chosen cleared of civilians who wish to avoid danger, and to also make sure our forts are ready for conflict. I sense there will be much destruction during these next few centuries."

The boney man looked at The Raven Lord, "Master, does that mean our mining operations will slow to a halt again? We cannot afford to let our lands go into another depression!"

"I take no pleasure in letting my people suffer, but we have no choice in the matter. The Nexus has chosen that area to be a battleground and it must be so. I will not risk the lives of my people to mine during combat in order to gain a few coins."

The boney man turned quickly to Blackheart, "Blackheart! You must have some coin you can spare-" He stopped when he realized that Blackheart was sleeping in his chair. "Great! Bastard can't even stay awake!"

"What more did you expect from a low life criminal?" Ka asked rhetorically, "He holds no respect for the realm he laid claim on. He only uses it to steal from people's wallets through his meaningless 'taxes'. I doubt he would give up his gold if his life depended on it anyway."

"He probably expected some sort of decency from him." The Raven Lord defended, "But I suppose that was too much to ask."

"Nevermind that, we need to prepare minions who will fight alongside the heroes." Queen Nightshade, "We should have recrutement ready and prepared for those who wish to fight for glory, gold, or other things."

"I can take care of a majority of that." The Raven Lord declared, "A large group of young fighters in my realm seem adventurous and actively look for adventure, and I think they will go along great traveling with the Heroes. I can look for them. They need not be of any real power, but it should help with the minion situation… if you all consent to my subjects being in your realms, that is."

"I do not consent." Ka said.

"Nor do I." said the Spider Queen.

"Alright. May I ask why?" The Raven Lord asked.

"I don't trust your men roaming around in my lands." Ka answered, "They stole our food, gold, and women last time. I will provide my own minions."

"Very well." The Raven Lord looked at Queen Nightshade and the other noble, "Do you consent?"

"We do." Queen Nightshade answered.

"I assume Blackheart will consent as well." The Raven Lord guessed, "Then everything seems to be in order. We will summon Uther the Lightbringer and await his arrival. May all our realms make it out of this trial safely."

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