I do not own Chaotic nor anything related to it. It belongs to TCDigital.

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The Royal We

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I expected a bit of a breather, some time to come out of my adrenaline rush. I expected a few hours of peace before whatever King Theb-sarr had in mind began.

I did not get what I expected.

"Michael, please come with me," a guard says soon after my unofficial recognition as leader of the Human tribe. "We're going to the palace."

I haven't gotten the chance to thank Sett for making everything possible, but there's an impatient tone to the guard's voice. "Lead on," I say awkwardly.

The guard pushes through a wall of people hoping for an interview, and I try not to lose him. It can't have taken long, but it feels like an age when we reach the palace doors. King Theb-sarr is waiting there. His arms are folded, and he looks... anxious?

"The Human tribe has chosen its leader," the guard says as he bows to Theb-sarr.

Theb-sarr glances at me and says, "I see. Congratulations, Michael."

I begin to thank the king, but he cuts me off. "We have less time than I anticipated. You need to be presentable before sundown."

"Presentable?" I ask. "Is someone coming? Who?"

"It is probably best if you do not know right now," Theb-ssar notes, then he turns to the guard. "Is the banquet prepared?"

"Not yet, your Majesty," the guard mutters apologetically.

Theb-sarr clenches his teeth together and hisses. "How far along?"

"If everything proceeds as it currently is," the guard says hesitantly, "we have eight hours before everything is finished."

Theb-sarr closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and lets it out. "Right, so, hm..." He looks out the doors at the sun, which is sitting at its zenith. "We don't have eight hours. Whatever roasts are in the ovens, let them finish, but do not start any others..."

King Theb-sarr lists off a long string of alterations to the banquet, and I quickly lose track of all of them. The guard eventually bows and leaves, and Theb-sarr turns to me.

The Mipedian king give me a despairing look. "Arg, what first?" he mutters. His eyes dart up and down as he looks at me. "You need robes. Follow me."

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The first thing I see when we enter the room is a robe.

It's a nice robe. It's made of violet cloth covered with intricate geometric patterns stitched with gold-colored thread. I don't know what material the robe is made of, but I remember that it's a thin yet strong cloth. Someone could wear it without anything underneath and still feel comfortable. It's a little long, though, so if I wore it my hands would disappear into the sleeves when I put my arms down, and the bottom hem would always be dragging on the ground.

Well, that was the long way to say that I've seen this exact robe before. My tenth life. I was wearing it when I died.

"Did you mean those robes?" are the first words out of my mouth.

Theb-sarr shakes his head. "Violet is for visiting royalty. Yours will be a different color."

Quick, Michael! Think of something! "Can mine be a little shorter? If I'm going to be wearing it often, I don't want to ruin it by always stepping on it."

Theb-sarr hesitates for a second, then nods. "I see your point." He turns to the seemingly empty room. "I need a robe for this human, hem to the ankles, sleeves to the wrists! We have until sundown!" He glances at me. "Stand still."

"Huh?" is all I manage to say before my confusion is erased by what looks like several floating measuring tapes. Ah, I'm going to be measured by the invisible servants.

After about a minute of measurements, Theb-sarr turns to the door. "With me," he orders.

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"You should feel lucky King Theb-sarr thought to find a Human to help you get ready," says a middle-aged woman. "If he hadn't, these Mipedians might have taken all your hair off."

One of the things I need to do is get rid of a some hair. A lot of hair. The only hair that will be on my body after this are the hair on my scalp and my eyebrows. Everything else has to go. Plucked out at the root, not simply shaven.

This is going to be very unpleasant...

"Don't worry, this won't hurt a lot," says the woman as she oversees a Mipedian melting some wax.

I speak up from the reclined chair I'm lying in, "Ma'am, I'm had my eyebrows waxed before. You don't have to lie to me."

"Oh," mutters the woman. "Yes, this is going to hurt quite a bit. Possibly more than you can imagine."

"I can imagine a lot," I say. There's burning to death, for one thing.

The woman turns around with a bowl of melted wax. A Mipedian moves my arm so it's stretched out, palm down, and the woman starts to pour wax on it.

This part actually feels kind of nice, the warm wax. It doesn't help me relax, though, and I feel myself tense up as a cloth is pressed onto the wax.

"On five," the woman says. "Take a deep breath first and let it out."

I do so.

The woman begins. "One, two-" She pulls the strip of cloth.

"Ow!" I shout. "...Ow... You know that's not going to work again, right?"

"I'll manage," the woman says as she starts pouring more wax.

Several painful minutes later, and I'm almost completely hair free. I have the equivalent of the closest shave ever everywhere on my body. A close, terrifyingly painful shave.

I sit up. "Ow, ow, ow... so... what next?"

The woman bites her lip. "Erm, the only hair I'm supposed to leave on you are your eyebrows and a decent haircut. I need you to lie down again."

I immediately know what she's talking about. I clench my legs together. "Ah! Wait, we don't really need to worry about that, right? It's not like anyone's going to see he there."

"King Theb-sarr was very clear," the woman frowned.

I take back every nice thing about Theb-sarr I ever thought.

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My whole body is tender, sensitive to the touch. I had to limp the the bathhouse, where I'm being given a much more thorough cleaning than I usually give myself. The servants are still using the same cleaning oil, but they don't stop after the first cleaning.

It's so creepy how all the servants are invisible! All I see are globs of oil floating from bowls to my skin and floating scrapers to remove the tools. I feel scaly hands rubbing the oil into my skin, I hear footsteps, but I can't see anyone!

It's not a moment too soon when the cleaning finally stops. I hurry out of the hot room to find my clothes, but I can't find them. "Has anyone seen my-"

"Your robes are ready," King Theb-sarr's voice says. I turn to see him standing in the bathhouse doorway. "Follow me."

I hunch forward and cross my arms in front of myself. "Follow you? Naked?"

Theb-sarr blinks, then squeezes his eyes shut. "Right, you can't turn invisible." He turns to the air beside him. "Collect his robes and return here."

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The robe is made of yellow cloth, he same kind as the violet one. It's just as comfortable, too. There are no elaborate geometric designs on this one, though, just the symbol of the Mipedians emblazoned on the back in black thread. It reaches my ankles and my wrists, and the neckline drops to the bottom of my chest.

I've also been loaned some jewelry. Around my neck is a thick silver necklace, and wrapped around my wrists are a pair of silver bangles studded with yellow gems.

...I look like a canary.

"Perfect," Theb-sarr mutters.

I hear the sound of a trumpet in the distance.

Theb-sarr's eyes widen. "Is the banquet ready?" he asks.

A voice comes from the air to his side. "If we have half an hour more, everything will be ready."

Theb-sarr nods. "Come, Michael. We're going to delay our guest."

"Who?" I ask.

Theb-sarr turns on his heel and marches out the door. "Chaor."

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Up next: The Demon King Again

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Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

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