The Underking sat on his throne, crown on his head and neutral expression on his face. He was waiting for [wraith name] to bring someone who had been trespassing to meet him. Normally, Seth didn't approve of random trespassers in the Under Realm, but he didn't like to just let the wraiths and revenants kill them anymore.

Some of them ventured into his domain on purpose on some sort of quest, and he usually watched them through the eyes of the wraiths to determine their immediately shown character. Most he used magic to confuse and disorient before having a wraith show them out of the Under Realm through a passageway they wouldn't remember, but some made it past the first challenge and spoke with him directly. Those were usually the ones who could withstand the magical fear emanating from the wraiths and the Under Realm itself.

The bravest visitors would be brought by the wraiths to the throne room, where Seth would present them with a façade of coldness, sharpness, and everything the Underking was expected to be. He spoke to them, asked them the reason for their trespassing, occasionally investigated their mind and real motives. The whole time, he faced them with a steady stare and an unsmiling countenance.

That kind of represented a lot of what life was like most of the time. Seth didn't have much reason to smile often. He thought he would like to be a person that smiled a lot. He wondered if maybe he had been before.

Most of the people who made it to a personal conference with the Underking himself escaped alive. Sometimes, depending on the reason they visited, Seth might even help them with whatever they asked for. The audience always ended with Seth letting them go with a stern warning and a story of barely making it out of the Under Realm alive. He had the power to add unwanted intruders to his ranks of the undead, but he'd only done that once. It wasn't an experience he liked to remember.

Seth sat up straighter as he started to sense the wraith and living intruder nearing the throne room. He aimed his gaze across the long room in the direction of the large double doors at the entrance.

Over the last few years as he'd grown in his powers, Seth had learned a lot. He couldn't see in the dark, but now it was more like he just didn't need to. The dark was connected to him, almost like it saw for him. What the darkness touched Seth could sense through it.

The doors opened. Seth sensed the wraith bowing, and it spoke to his mind. Here is the trespasser to speak with the Underking. Seth nodded to the wraith, and it stood up and backed out of the room. The trespasser entered, moving cautiously.

Seth was startled to realize that she was a girl probably around his own age. He couldn't tell the details of any of her coloring; the darkness made that unnecessary. The shape of her face, however, he could see. He did not recognize her.

You may approach, Seth told her mentally. When conversing with the wraiths, he usually preferred them both to speak out loud. But when he was talking to uninvited visitors, he usually spoke to them mentally. It prevented them from hearing his real voice, which, in turn, prevented them from realizing how young he really was. They couldn't see him in the darkness, but his voice would be an easy giveaway.

The girl straightened her posture and stepped forward. Her eyes moved around, trying to figure out where to direct her attention, trying to see anything at all. It didn't help.

What business do you have in my realm? Seth asked her.

She tilted her head up. "I was exploring. I didn't know this was the Under Realm."

You didn't know it was the Under Realm, but you knew it wasn't somewhere you should go. Seth thought she might have to be a little lacking in the brains department not to realize that, if not the Under Realm, this was at least somewhere different and extremely dangerous—not fit for a wandering adventurer. You went further into the Realm even once it was clearly a hostile environment. Why did you not turn back?

"The exit shut behind me," the girl said. "I couldn't go back if I wanted to."

If you wanted to? Seth asked, choosing to ignore the first part. He wasn't aware that the exits closed behind people who wandered in. He'd have to check that out sometime. Sounds like you're saying you stayed on purpose.

"That's not what I-" the girl started, then seemed to realize that it was what she. "Okay, I did kinda stay on purpose. I was just trying to get away from home and go on an adventure."

Seth was starting to realize that this was a different trespassing case than usual. Most of the people who dared to enter the Under Realm knew they were taking a serious risk and were doing it for an important cause. This girl was doing it…why? Because she was bored? Or she really wanted to get away from her home this badly? Well…Seth could understand her acting out of boredom. If he'd been in her place, he probably would've done the same thing. But he quickly shook off that thought. No putting himself in the intruder's shoes.

The Under Realm is not a place for adventure, he told her, feeling a stab of some negative emotion himself at the unpleasant reminder. It's not a place to go on vacation.

"I know it's not a place for a vacation," the girl insisted. "I wasn't trying to go on vacation. I was exploring. Like going places I've never been before. It's—"

Well, you didn't need to come here, Seth interrupted. He cringed a little. That was a bad argument.

The girl put her hands on her hips. "Would you let me finish talking?"

Seth blinked, taken aback. People didn't talk to him like that very often. He could feel a smile starting to grow on his face. His first instinct was to squash that down, but she couldn't see it, and it wouldn't come across in his voice since he was communicating mentally. Fine, he told her. He was starting to like this girl, but he wasn't going to drop the act. Tell me why you're here. The whole truth.

The girl squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, which sounded a little shaky in Seth's opinion. He suddenly felt a little bit mean for trying to scare her. "Okay," she started. She seemed to be thinking hard. Seth took that as a sign to start paying close attention for lies. "Well, I guess it would've started with the fact that my parents never let me do anything. They keep me at home, doing the same thing in the same place with the same people every day. When I can, I like to get out and do something."

Seth understood that. He felt the same way a lot these days. Could he really blame her?

"Today my parents weren't home, though, so I left. I went to the Blackridge Woods by my village and just started walking."

Seth sat up straight from his previously slumped-over position at that. Was she serious? The Blackridge Woods were one of the most dangerous areas of Wyrmroost, a dragon sanctuary/prison. Any idiot would know not to go there. He'd been there once before, and it was just as bad as he'd heard. He'd gotten good use of his running practice getting out of there and barely made it. It was the most exciting thing that he'd done in a while. He started to nod for her to keep talking, but then he remembered she couldn't see him.

"That's a really dangerous magical forest on a dragon sanctuary, if you didn't know. I walked for a while; I guess I was just hoping for something to happen. But nothing did today. Until there was some point where some sort of magical shift happened, and everything got darker and deader and stuff. That's when I knew there would be something dangerous and exciting happening soon. But the thing turned out to be a doorway to here instead of a monster or something. I took it because I wanted to know where it went and why it was out there in the middle of the woods."

Seth was smiling. This was his kind of person. She hadn't ventured into the Under Realm on a quest or in search of fame and recognition, just to see what it was like. You just wanted to see where it went, he repeated.

"Well, yeah," the girl said, her voice sounding somehow nervous and defensive at the same time. "I—"

I wasn't mocking you, Seth interrupted. I believe you.

"You—you do?" the girl asked, seemingly taken aback. She hadn't expected that response, he'd bet.

What's your name? Seth asked. He was starting to think this was someone he'd like to be friends with. Of course, it wouldn't happen. Once the conversation was over, he would send her on her way (and he'd have to figure out some way to get her safely out of that forest). He was the Underking, and the Underking didn't make friends.

"Uh," the girl said, clearly startled. "I'm Eve."

Well, Eve, I don't suppose you have any interest in joining the undead, do you?

The girl, Eve, laughed a little bit. It was a nervous laugh, but her shoulders seemed to relax a bit with it. "No, not really," she said.

Didn't think so. Seth paused for a moment, considering what he should do.

"You're not…going to kill me or something, are you?" Eve asked uncertainly.

Kill you? Seth asked, surprised by the question. Of course I'm not going to kill you. Now he recalled the fact that he was the Underking and people were scared of him. He knew he wouldn't kill them, but they didn't. He'd completely forgotten how other people viewed him for a moment because of this conversation.

"Oh, okay," Eve said with a barely-noticeable sigh of relief. "So…are you just gonna let me go then?" She sounded hopeful.

I'll give you an option. I can send you back home immediately, no consequences. Or, Seth continued, already wondering what he was thinking, you can stay for a while and get a tour of the Under Realm.


here in the darkness we relent

out on the porch with the government

everyone calls for a covenant

but nobody's drawing blood