A Lordvessel gurgled as the lava which filled it oozed over the sides. The Chaos roots wound about it twitched in ecstasy as the power of their creator surged from the bowels of the Dark within the Flame. The hazy smoke of an activating bonfire washed over the room. Long fingers tore themselves above the surface of the liquid stone.

"Lana, there's something coming!"

"I'll seal it!"

"Wait, King Lex could have sent it!"

"You're too trusting, dear."

Third Princess Quelana and her consort Laurentius stood at the ready as the too-long arm grasped the side of the basin, drawing its body out. A manacle carved from stone archtree dangled from its wrist.

"Would Brother send a criminal to us? The portal has compromised us!"

"Please, calm down. Undead were often persecuted and locked away."

"Does that arm look like it belongs to an Undead who could be locked away?"

"Well, no, but… don't tell him I said this… don't tell anyone. It makes me seem a hypocrite, since pyromancers are usually the ones who suffer from prejudice, but… Doesn't His Highness have strange tastes? When I heard he offered to court Queen Laag when they first met, well, I couldn't help but think he was some sort of pervert."

"Oh, he definitely is."

By now, the second arm had forced its way out of the magma, which was spilling over the runic rings around the basin which ought have sealed it. A strangely long silhouette rose from the Lordvessel, dripping molten stone like the Prince.

"D-don't move!" Quelana said, holding a pair of pyromancy flames at the ready.

They were no longer the same flames which her long lineage of students possessed. Her staunch refusal of Chaos even as it powered the city in which she lived had caused them to take on a new aspect. They dripped with golden runes of sealing, the likes of which were powerful enough to bind the Dark Lord again if the need rose. From correspondence with the Dark Sun, they now possessed the ineffable sealing power that the Great Lord had used to contain the other Lords.

"Might I wipe my face at least?"

The lava-covered silhouette seemed well-spoken.

"Of co-! Sorry."

Laurentius held his tongue at a glare from his wife. Quelana's eyes went wide.

"Mother's soul… you've killed him!"

"No, I-"

Quelana flicked her arms forward, making synchronized motions in the air. Before the spell could be completed, the figure lurched out of the Lordvessel. It splashed a globlet of lava into the witch's eyes, distracting her casting. Laurentius quickly threw a Flash Sweat onto himself and hurried to protect his wife, but the figure ran past him, bashing down the stone door with its shoulder. Sliding to a stop before it hurtled over the balcony outside, it turned one way, then the other. After a moment's indecision, it dashed off to the right.

"That fool! And I was a fool to believe this would end satisfactorily!"

Safiya wiped the lava from her face as she raced toward the faint presence of the Witch's soul in the distance. If anyone could recognize that her soul wasn't stolen from the idiot, it would be his wife, who had the other half. She'd hardly made any progress through the needlessly complicated compound before an alarm began to sound like an ominous bell. Countless stone golems in the shape of spiders began to flood the halls. Each fired a grappling hook from their backs, trying to bind the intruder in a web of Chaos vines.

Safiya lunged into the air and over the bulk of the cords. With a kick off the wall, she twisted through the rest of them. The next stretch of path had a storey beneath it, so as the spiders closed in on her, she vaulted over the rail and dropped to the lower floor. The Sinner's greatsword flashed from her back as humanoid golems approached her with great machetes of crude iron. Rather than fight through them and chip the blade, she used the tremendous length of the weapon as a lever to throw them over.

She rushed ahead blindly, ignoring side passages in favor of heading directly for the Queen. As long as she kept running at full tilt, her long stride meant the golems couldn't catch her, and their static defenses wouldn't be enough to stop her. Too confident, she was easily caught unaware. One moment, she was blazing ahead. The next, she was thrown to the stone by her own momentum.

Her steaming-hot blood sizzled, and her sword sparked as she was dragged backward across the floor. She went limp, then torqued her body around, intent on bowling over her attacker.

"Oh my word!"

She found her face pressed into abs cut as if a marble statue. She and the Xanthous King tumbled to the ground together.

"P-pardon me!" she said, rising more quickly than her temperature.

As she tried to flee, however, she had forgotten that Jeremiah's thorny whip was still digging into her ankle. With a grunt, he used her momentum to pull himself to his feet. A step further, and he jerked the opposite direction, dropping her leg out from under her. Safiya took a quick swipe at the whip with her sword, but Chaos flames ran down the former king's weapon, reinforcing it. In the moment it took her to focus on igniting her own flames of cold Chaos, Jeremiah unleashed a lash of magma from his pyromancy flame, catching the manacle on her sword arm.

"I don't suppose you'll allow me a moment to explain my presence here?" she said between gritted teeth.

The hardened old man looked in her one eye. He softened.

"Ah, I can see it. Poor Quelana still hasn't found relief from her fears. That distant future where the Lords were reborn – you inherited Quel's soul, didn't you?" He sighed. "Well, you've probably been more polite in this one moment than she was in her entire life."

"Well, thank you for that." There was an awkward pause. "Could you please… remove your whips?"

"I said you could speak. I didn't say you were free to go."

Safiya gave a thin smile.

"That's a fair policy in a land consumed by Chaos. I can hardly blame you, I suppose. I am called Safiya, a name given me by your prophet, as I had long abandoned mine. He would not simply call as I was and insisted I have a name.

Like my predecessor, I… buried my home beneath the Chaos Flame. I had long been in self-imposed exile and imprisonment when Lex found me. He dragged me into his foolish quest to save the ruined kingdom of Drangleic and return home, and so here I am. He could not accompany me, as I am now, strictly speaking, participating in his memories."

"His memories? I do not feel like an illusion."

"The technique a complicated one. It would seem that I follow the path of his memory, but in truth, I am projected into that time as real as any phantom."

"I see. Yet I do not understand. Why did he not simply return by way of spell?"

"By spell? What spell could have returned him? He gathered all the sorcerers in Drangleic to develop the unstable portal which sent me here."

Jeremiah looked at her intensely. By now, a great number of spider golems had come to congregate on the walls, and a handful of Capra golems stood behind him.

"I don't believe you are lying. And he's no good at it. It must be that, then. He had mentioned that he forgot the events directly leading to his appearance in Lordran. The transfer must have wiped his memory of the days or hours leading to his departure."

He released his whips, the magma one falling to the floor as rubble. He hung the vine whip at his waist and extended a hand to help the Sinner rise.

"Well, let's not waste any more time. Poor Laag has burned a hole in the floor pacing while waiting to hear back from Lex." He grinned. "Not that her pride would let her admit it. I am Jeremiah, consort to the old Witch herself. Well, only the prince is my child by blood, but that's a miracle in itself."

It dawned on Safiya at last. The reason why she felt uncomfortable around the man. Her inherited soul was reacting to its old flame. She resolved to put the invasive emotions to rest, lest she be called 'mother-in-law' twice as frequently. Still, she found her one eye constantly drifting to the former consort's glistening abs.

They started down the hall again, this time taking a few odd turns and ascending some stairs. The throneroom was actually near the top of the pyramid. Jeremiah took a quick bow on entering. The Chaos Queen wore an elaborate crown of spikes and little else, her modesty preserved by wreaths of mad flame. A hideous spider with countless eyes and the muzzle of a lion was affixed to her hips where legs ought have been.

She was reading a map of the convoluted palace and trying to plan responses for the intrusion. The Second Princess hovered nearby, while her knight, murderous Kirk, stood ready to fight. The Queen and knight tensed when they saw the unknown, tattooed and tattered figure enter behind the old widower, but he quickly spoke up.

"Queen Laag, a visitor from that land of Drangleic we've heard so much about. She has news about your missing beloved."

"Father, how many times must I remind you that my marriage is one of political convenience. There could be no greater spouse than the Chosen of the gods. Do not allow a doddering old fool mislead you, stranger."

"Your Majesty," Safiya said, bowing low in preparation for what she was about to say, "it is rare to find a moment when your husband isn't talking about how much he wants to get back in bed with you. I hardly think that union is political."

Quelaag clenched her fists so tightly that her boiling blood dripped and melted through the floor, her razor-sharp nails digging ever deeper into her palms.

"I will kill him. Where is he?"

"He believes he is trapped in Drangleic and gathered all the sorcerers in Drangleic to develop the technique which sent me here. He cannot himself use it, as it requires his memories to locate this place. If you would grant me some token to represent this meeting, I could return with it and allow him the freedom to utilize this means of transmission."

"No. That won't do at all. If you can take a token with you, is there any clear limit to its size?"

"I am not aware of any such limitation. Indeed, Lex smuggled the deceased King of Drangleic into the present time."

"Oh, wonderful. Then I don't have to deal with any objections about the risk."

"Pardon? The risk of-?"

"I will be coming with you."

"I'm sorry, but I am afraid I don't know how that would be performed. Lex had used a form of the Homeward spell to accomplish the-"

"I'm sure it's nothing complicated. Father, inform Lara that she is in charge while I am away. Inform Lana that I am fine, and she can cease sounding the alarm every time someone arrives unexpectedly."

Quelaag approached, and she and Safiya looked at one another for a few seconds. It was the first time since she had left Eleum Loyce that Safiya had met someone who shared her size. Certainly, Vendrick and company were even larger than she was, but this felt different. As the spider leaned down, they shared the same eye level.

"I suppose you must be long tired of being called grandma."

"Mother-in-law, it was."

"Good. He had a ridiculous song about grandmothers which confused everyone. We do not yet have children, yet I received numerous congratulations for laying eggs. Do not make spider jokes about me, and I won't relegate you to living in Mother's shadow."

Safiya narrowed her eye.

"I see now why Lex seemed so confident in leaving decisions of governing to you. You are quite brusque. The difference in behavior betwixt the two of you would make for a potent contrast. Carrot and stick, no?"

"No. He would leave governance to me because it is my duty. A consort can at best advise his monarch. He has been given other roles and fulfills them as such."

"Honestly, now I cannot understand how he has the nerve to complain about my disciplining him when his wife is such a shrew."

"Why you-!"

Quelaag took a deep breath.

"So that's how I've seemed. It can be hard to get an honest opinion out of my sisters. You are not Mother by any stretch of the imagination. She gave awful advice. Still, I would be pleased if you would lend your experience to this court in her stead."

Safiya nodded.

"It would be my pleasure. My King already is already considering an offer of vassalage from your husband."

"Then we have much to discuss. Let us take a moment before we return to reclaim my wayward consort."