Chapter 3: We All Have a Purpose

For the past hour, Malekith and Oxyotl stalked stealthily through the Palace of Slaanesh. Everything inside this place was excessive to the point of unfathomable obsession. It made the disturbing things he saw in the Marcher Fortress look like an Asur dinner banquet in Avelorn. Words and thoughts did no justice to describe this place, and Malekith knew that prolonged time spent here would corrupt even him. Some things were not meant to be seen by mortal eyes, and this place was definitely one of them. It was a good thing that his many long millennia had hardened his mind to such foul sights. Malekith could only imagine how quickly a young elf or human would go utterly crazy just trying to comprehend what they were seeing. He did his best not to focus on any one sight for too long or too specifically. Even with all his willpower and psychological stoicism, there were a few times he almost wanted to puke witnessing the disturbing atrocities within this palace.

He didn't even want to think about how a place this twisted and evil could possibly exist. While he despised chaos before, something about being in the heart of a chaos god's palace was enough to convince him that he should slaughter anyone even remotely associated with them without mercy. It made him truly realize for the first time just how unacceptable the worship of excess was. If he got out of this alive, he would make it his mission to eradicate all pleasure cultists everywhere. Those thoughts were for another time though as he had to remain willfully alert.

Fortunately, Oxyotl had kept him focused during their infiltration, and the skink's mere presence put Malekith at ease. For whatever reason, the reptile was far more immune to this place than he was. Granted, Oxyotl would have to be to survive here this long. The reptile's willingness to help him was unusual, but for some unexplainable reason, Malekith was grateful to have an ally right now...even if it was a skink of all things.

Malekith couldn't believe his good turn of fortune. Not only was Slaanesh currently absent at the Court of the Covenant, but Oxyotl also seemed to know where he was going. Even in the heart of this forsaken pit of evil, he had someone looking out for him. It was oddly baffling and humbling for him to think so highly of a skink, but Malekith was truly grateful they crossed paths as the lizardman was his sole light in this horrific darkness. Perhaps there was an unspoken lesson for him to learn in all of this. Part of him couldn't help but wonder if he would have been able to press through this final stretch without help. In many ways he felt humbled that it wasn't a god, an elf, or even a mighty slann…but a lone skink keeping him sane in the palace. If Oxyotl could survive for this long, then so could he. It truly made him wonder about the value of companionship and he found himself thinking of Alandrian and Snorri…his oldest and long dead friends. The closest thing he even had to a friend now was the captain of the black guard Kouran Darkhand. He silently wished there were more druchii like Kouran since he was probably the only other elf Malekith actually trusted.

'How do I make them loyal? Ruling through fear hasn't entirely been effective and none of them see this war with the Asur the same way I do. Asuryan was right…the elves need to change. All of them. I don't think the ends justify the means anymore though. All this time I could have been making Naggaroth better instead of tolerating psychotic cults to rally armies of druchii into endless wars. They're not like the elves of Old Nagarythe. They don't know loyalty or pride to their king. They only want to despoil Ulthuan not deliver it to the heir of Aenarion. They're just mad, bloodthirsty killers who only care about themselves. I let the Cult of Khaine get too powerful…and now I risk civil war if I try to muzzle the hag queens. I have to find a way to take control and to do that I need to deal with Hellebron. She's not loyal to me, but to Khaine. The other hag queens will fall in line if I kill her or secure her undying loyalty. Perhaps if I destroy the cauldrons and offer them another alternative to immortality they'll listen? Though, that's thinking too far ahead. I have to deal with mother first. I've tolerated mother's little rebellion against me for far too long. I need to seize full control of the dark convent and remove her from power. I need to eradicate the cult of pleasure and secure my own loyal sorceresses. I have to inspire the lowborn masses to believe in me the way father did. If I survive this…I know what I have to do. I think I finally understand. I'm already a king, and my people need me to save them from themselves.' Malekith reflected deeply on the future as he watched Oxyotl stealthily kill a patrol of daemonettes with his magical blowpipe.

"Don't get distracted, Malekith," Oxyotl snapped him out of his thoughts with a stern chitter.

While they didn't speak much after entering the palace, Malekith did notice that Oxyotl had finally started using more proper grammar and speaking mostly full sentences. He wasn't sure how the skink did it, but one thing was evident…this chameleon skink was truly special and far more intelligent than he gave it credit for. He couldn't even imagine how this creature was able to get all the way here when he himself struggled to do so. From what he could surmise, Oxyotl was not a mage of any kind like some skinks, but the reptile was martially perfect, indefatigable, and had unprecedented stealth abilities including camouflage. The two of them had stealthily killed many daemons on their way through and were nearing a large chamber entrance now.

Oxyotl looked over at Malekith and held him back briefly as they stalked silently towards a corner to dodge another patrol. The skink whispered in a quiet clicking chitter, "Need plan before we advance. This is Hall of Avarice. Daemons hoard trophies and dangerous prisoners inside. Heavily guarded."

"Your puzzle box is in there?" Malekith asked quietly.

The skink nodded, "Oxyotl have plan. Malekith trust me? It will be dangerous and risky."

"Somehow I don't like the sound of that…" Malekith trailed off concerned.

The skink paused briefly before speaking, "Need distraction. Malekith has to draw enemies away so Oxyotl can open vault. They keep powerful prisoners chained inside this hall. Oxyotl saw rival daemons and other creatures as well. They recently captured dragon too. Saw keepers drag it in during initial scouting. Malekith free prisoners. Guards will be forced to respond, and you fight them. Shalaxi also inside and N'kari likely put Malekith's crown in Hall of Avarice as well."

Malekith stared at the chameleon skink skeptically, "You want me to draw them all off while you loot this vault. How can I be so sure you'll come back to help me? I said I would help you, but I didn't come all this way just to die for your Great Plan. The fact that I've trusted you this far already is nothing short of miraculous. I won't be your sacrifice here."

"Oxyotl know asking a lot. Won't abandon Malekith. Need mage-priest to help fight Kairos. He will intercept after we stir up palace. Has been chasing me for long time. Oxyotl had vision of him battling you. Encounter is inevitable. Malekith take Lord Pocaxalan's Bracer. Protect against corruption. Treasured artefact can link minds. Oxyotl risking a lot to trust Malekith as well. This is only way," the skink said assuredly as he removed his golden bracelet and handed it over to Malekith.

The witch king slowly took it in hand and stared at the skink disbelievingly, "You're trusting me with this? Is this bracer valuable to you?"

"Bracer protects and links to other one if worn by two. Will have stronger effect on Malekith since you're a mage-priest," Oxyotl nodded as he held up his arm to show that he had another one, "minds linked can resist illusions and charms."

"You're saying this will link our minds? So, you'll be able to track me then?" Malekith asked.

Oxyotl nodded, "Elf not immune to Slaanesh. Oxyotl not fully immune either. Lessens mental strain and links us telepathically. Also grant resistance to illusions and glamour. Most importantly can teleport to other one. Bracers given to Lord Pocaxalan by First Generation Slann mage-priest Chiccotta. Priceless treasure. Keep you sane and help us regroup."

"Thank you, Oxyotl…I'll trust your plan then." Malekith nodded.

'So, this is how he's stayed sane this entire time? He's wearing magical bracers?' Malekith thought incredulously as he inspected the golden bracer in his hands.

Malekith had no difficulty equipping the item despite wearing gauntlets already. It magically adjusted to his arm much to his amazement. It seemed like it was a mixture of technology and magic the likes of which he could scarcely understand. There was no telling how valuable this bracer was, but that was enough to convince him that Oxyotl wasn't going to abandon him after getting what he wanted.

Upon equipping it, he felt a very unusual clairvoyance and stoicism wash over him. It was almost as if he could briefly understand how the reptiles think. Not only that, but his mental strain dampened considerably as an otherworldly calmness soothed his stress. He couldn't necessarily read the skink's mind, but there was definitely a mental connection as Malekith seemed to passively gain understanding of the skink's thoughts and intentions. It was also as if he had gained the skink's confidence in addition to his own. He then saw flashes of the skink's memories pouring into his mind all at once.

They were horrific and unfathomable sights that he couldn't even fully process at the moment. He saw flashes of the skink in a plague-ridden swamp and another of the skink running through a crystal maze. He even saw flashes of Oxyotl's own journey through the circles of seduction. The most notable memory was a flock of lords of change chasing after him through a vale.

Oxyotl cocked his head curiously at Malekith and then spoke telepathically in perfect elvish, "With our minds linked, you'll passively gain memories of mine. I'm sorry to subject you to that, but there was no other way. This should lessen the psychological strain of this place and prevent you from going crazy in here. I wouldn't offer this to anyone who wasn't already damned like me though. The things I've seen will undoubtedly give you nightmares warm-blood, but since you made it this far, I trust you can handle it. These were Lord Pocaxalan's bracers. He was a Slann mage-priest who ruled Pahaux where chameleons spawn…and where I'm from. They originally belonged to his mentor the first generation Slann Chiccotta. Lord Chiccotta went across world pond to Zlatlan and left these bracers and puzzle box for Lord Pocaxalan. I kept them after Lord Pocaxalan died as well as the puzzle box. They're relics of the lost Old One Xholankha. Lost Xholankha gave these relics to Lord Chiccotta before disappearing. They are priceless beyond warm-blood comprehension. I'll need the bracer back when we get out of here. I intend to return them to Lord Chiccotta in Zlatlan. He will understand Xholankha's plan and the Prophecy of Dawn."

"What other kinds of side effects can I expect from this link? You also mentioned they could teleport us to each other?" Malekith gawked in disbelief and responded into the telepathic link. Part of him was uncertain if the skink was actually speaking perfect elvish now or if he could just fully understand the creature's language and thoughts through their link.

"It will have permanent side-effects, I think. It should grant us both the ability to speak each other's known languages fluently. Bracers are old one technology that only first generation slann understand. They might also augment your physiology internally since they're not designed for warm-bloods. That'll persist even after we separate the link. I'll also gain your memories as you gain mine. You'll have a much deeper understanding of why my kind thinks the way it does as well. The Great Plan will make more sense to a warm blood like you. I've never linked with anyone before, so I can't say for certain what else will happen. These bracers are meant to be worn by Slann mage-priests. Since you're an elf mage-priest, they will likely amplify your power. The link should also spare us both insanity if we see Slaanesh as well. Our minds are different, and it will be impossible to beguile us simultaneously while linked. It will give us ultimate defense against daemon gods. Even I don't fully understand the bracers, but they also shield the wearer from prescience and chronomancy. They're the only reason the two-headed daemon hasn't been able to catch me. Fateweaver won't be able to track us with them, but he'll know where we will be. They're my only real defense against that abomination's foresight. Also, if one of us dies while linked, the other will too. Consider this the ultimate sign of my trust. I'd normally never trust a warm-blood, but I can't do this without your help. The puzzle box of Xholankha is too important for me to leave here. It's why I've been stuck in this place for so long. Lord Pocaxalan's dying wish was to open puzzle box and achieve the Prophecy of Dawn. Old One Xholankha left these relics to fulfill the Great Plan. I'll tell you about the prophecy later when we get out of here. It's important and if my visions are true, I believe you have a role to play in it," Oxyotl answered psychically.

"Alright, well do you have any questions for me? Now's the time to ask. As I mentioned earlier, I'm hardly a moral person as my memories will undoubtedly show you. I won't lie…most people consider me an evil tyrant. Are you sure you want to trust me with something this important to you?" Malekith asked.

"The fact that you would even ask shows that you're ashamed of your past. That isn't important anymore. We all have a purpose, and this is ours whether we agree with it or not. The Great Plan is the most important thing to me and you're the only sane mage I've encountered here…so I have no choice but to work with you for the greater good. Oxyotl will have questions later. I'm curious about dark elves and Malekith's past, but that is irrelevant currently. Are you ready?" the skink added.

"Very well…here goes nothing I suppose," Malekith responded grimly as he and the skink made their way into the Hall of Avarice. They stalked along for a few minutes before Oxyotl pointed silently down an adjacent hallway.

The skink then spoke telepathically again, "Go that way. I'll wait for you here to draw them out before moving to vault. Shalaxi is somewhere in the Hall of Avarice. It will show itself to you if you make your presence known in this chamber, so be prepared to fight once you've freed the prisoners. I will only have a brief window of time to access the vault while they're distracted. The other daemon you seek will likely appear here to fight you as well if we're lucky. Once we've recovered the puzzle box and your belongings, we should make our way to the seeker stables beneath the throne room and escape on a chariot. There is a portal on the other side of the palace at the far end of the valley that will take us back to the top of this region near their windmill fortress."

"That's awfully convenient…are you certain that's where it leads?" Malekith asked concerned.

"Oxyotl certain…but only mage-priests can open it. That's the other reason I needed Malekith's help. Oxyotl scouted it many times and saw Fateweaver waiting by the portal. He couldn't sense me, but he knows I'll be there if I can retrieve the puzzle box. Other daemons haven't noticed him yet…but he's only risking prolonged exposure to this area since Slaanesh is absent at the Court of the Covenant. We either have to face Kairos Fateweaver or daemon god Slaanesh to escape. That leaves us with only one logical option. Oxyotl can fight well, but I can't defeat Kairos alone. With this link, we will either survive together or die together." The skink explained with surprising detail.

"I understand your reasoning. It's a perfect way to force us to trust one another. I don't object to it. Let's get this done and get out of this forsaken hellhole," Malekith nodded understandingly.

Using stealth to the best of his ability, Malekith snuck past palace guards alone and cautiously made his way inside the prison. The chamber was quite massive, and it was separated into sections. Malekith's eyes darted around the room as he tried to locate the dragon that Oxyotl mentioned first.

To his utter annoyance, there was no dragon inside. Most of the prisoners were greater daemons of other chaos gods, chaos sorcerers, and bizarre monsters. Most of them appeared to be in stupefied states or utterly insane.

Fortunately, there was nothing in the chamber minus the prisoners, but Malekith didn't want to risk alerting them until he figured out who would be best to free first. He quietly walked past a human woman who was chained up in some kind of magical restraints as he eyed the bloodthirster in the distance, 'A raging bloodthirster would make an excellent distraction, but it's likely to attack me first. I might save that one for a last. I should save that lord of change for second to last. Those mechanical daemon monsters would be good first targets…or one of these strange beasts. After them I'll let out the chaos sorcerers.'

"Are you real?" he heard a voice whisper quietly to him from his periphery.

Glancing over, Malekith saw the chained up human woman was actually in a cognitive state of mind. The fact that she spoke elvish was even more shocking to him as he stopped in his tracks and looked over at her in disbelief.

Examining her more closely now, he noticed that she bore great resemblance to the humans of the far east. She was either Nipponese or Cathayan if he had to guess. Judging on her attire, which was remarkably still on her body, she might have been a prestigious noble of some kind. The woman was clearly intelligent and not your average human if she could even comprehend and enunciate an elven language. Most humans could barely reach an elementary understanding of it even with decades of practice.

"Yes, I am real, human. Did you just speak elvish?" Malekith couldn't help but ask.

"That's some wicked looking armor, and it doesn't look like it's made of Ilthimar. Oh…you're a dark elf. Just my luck…ughh. Still, you don't seem crazy like anyone else I've encountered. How in the world did you get in here? Are with them?" she asked with genuine concern and confusion.

Malekith normally wouldn't bother interacting with a lowly human like this, but something about this woman intrigued him. The fact that she was this heavily bound in a dungeon and wasn't utterly out of her mind like any other mortal he'd seen was shocking.

"I'm not with them. I passed through the six circles of seduction and reached the palace of Slaanesh here just recently," was all he could think to say as he took in her appearance. She had brownish black hair like most eastern humans, and she was remarkably pretty and ageless looking despite being one. Her attire mostly consisted of white and pink silk gown that nearly reached her knees with beautiful feminine embroidery of gold and purple. She also had an interesting looking crown with a massive diamond in it and horns coming out with a golden flower in between. The crown was distinguishably Cathayan which led Malekith to assume that she was probably nobility from that mysterious far away land. Despite her regal gown, she was wearing gauntlets and armored boots over her arms and legs. They were a golden white colour and reached about three quarters of the way up each limb. This left her shoulders and upper thighs exposed.

The most interesting thing about her was her eyes though. They had a strange whitish cyan magical glow to them, and her irises did not look entirely normal as they were subtlly shaped like slits. Whoever this woman was, she clearly wasn't a normal human. It was highly evident that she was a mage or sorceress of some kind because Malekith could see the chains holding her down visibly dampening her magical aura. Similar restraints were on all of the bound chaos sorcerers and the lord of change prisoner…though this woman had the most for some odd reason.

"You reached this place on foot?! That's insane! You would have had to kill an army of daemons to get here alone. I don't believe that for a second, elf." the woman gawked in disbelief at him.

"You are required to do nothing…least of all believe. Feelings don't change facts and I have nothing to gain by lying to you. Judging by your reaction, I assume you came here by different means," Malekith countered blankly.

To his annoyance, the woman didn't elaborate on how she got there and changed the subject, "That armour looks quite prestigious…if a bit dark and sinister. It's covered in dark enchantments and magical runes. Are you a mage? I've never seen a male dark elf mage before. All of the ones I've ever heard about were female," she noted.

"That's because male sorcerers are outlawed in Naggaroth," Malekith replied bluntly without giving her any follow up explanation.

She perked up curiously, "Why are they outlawed?"

"Because that was the Witch King's decree…never mind that, human. Who are you and how did you end up here? It's not every day that I encounter a human with the intellectual capacity to speak elvish or retain sanity in the realms of chaos. Not only that, we're in the Palace of Slaanesh and you don't seem to be cowering in despair yet." Malekith redirected the focus of the conversation back to her.

"I was lured into a trap when pursuing someone important to me and captured. I was brought here by their keepers," she answered vaguely.

"I mean how did you get to the realms of chaos?" Malekith wondered.

She looked away almost shamefully, "I could ask the same thing of you. I doubt you really care, dark elf. Does it even matter?"

"I suppose it doesn't…you said their keepers captured you? Seems a bit excessive for a little human girl. Though I suppose that is the nature Slaanesh," Malekith stated somewhat condescendingly.

"At first, I thought I might be imagining it, but now I know for certain. You are undoubtedly real…only an elf would have the gall talk down to a dragonborn so brazenly even in a place like this," the woman huffed at him.

"Dragonborn? Oh…so you are Cathayan then? I've heard stories about your Emperor supposedly being a dragon himself. Perhaps there is some merit to your people after all if you're able to stay sane in this place. If that's the case, then maybe you can be of use to me. Have you seen a dragon imprisoned in here?" Malekith responded.

The woman stared at him bewildered for a moment, "You're looking for a dragon? Why?"

"I'm here to free all the prisoners to cause a distraction so I can recover my belongings in the Hall of Avarice. I don't really care for humans, but I'll free you too if you tell me," Malekith explained.

"Sorry to disappoint you elf…the only dragon here is me," the woman shook her head.

Malekith deadpanned at the woman before speaking telepathically to Oxyotl, "There isn't a dragon here, Oxyotl…just a human who says she's dragonborn."

"Oxyotl saw dragon…it looked like a wingless Coatl. Unique spawn most likely." The skink replied telepathically.

"A wingless Coatl? So…an eastern dragon then? Well, I don't see one in here. I think this woman might be its rider though," Malekith responded mentally.

"Maybe they moved it. Doesn't matter…free the other prisoners as soon as you can. Watching patrols right now. A few greater daemons just left. This is our best window of opportunity. I'm moving up to the vault now," the skink stated urgently.

"How long have you been in this place?" Malekith decided to change the subject and ask the Cathayan woman.

"How would I know? Not long I suppose…at least not long enough for them to do anything to me yet. The keepers that brought me here said that they were saving me for Slaanesh. From what it sounds like their god isn't here right now." The woman replied sharply.

'I wonder if she's really a human dragon rider. That's difficult to imagine. Though considering how little I know of Cathay, it's not impossible,' Malekith thought to himself with curiosity.

"Slaanesh is supposedly at the Court of the Covenant with the other Chaos Gods. I don't intend to be here when he gets back. By any chance, have you heard the name N'kari here?" Malekith asked inquisitively.

The woman frowned, "No I have not…the keepers that captured me were named Zarakynel and Amnaich. You mentioned you were looking for your belongings? Did this N'kari steal them from you?"

Malekith didn't answer her question as he looked away and pondered his options, 'I wonder if this is all a trick? Can I trust this woman? Maybe not, but she'll make a decent enough distraction if I let her out. So long as she doesn't get the idea that she can tag along. The last thing I need is this annoying damsel slowing Oxyotl and me down. At any rate, she'll make a nice sacrifice if we need one later.'

"Listen elf, I don't like your kind and I'm certain you don't like me either, but I'll help you if you break me out of these chains. I might not look it, but I'm a powerful mage," the woman followed up to break the awkward silence.

"You must be if these daemons would restrain you to this degree and leave you unspoiled for Slaanesh. I don't really need your help but freeing you will be a decent enough distraction. You're on your own after that. Rescuing helpless damsels does not fall under my area of expertise," Malekith scoffed as he walked closer and drew his sword.

She stared at him with obvious contempt, "And who do you think YOU are, elf? I'm far more powerful than you."

"Says the woman in chains…" Malekith shrugged carelessly at her brazen statement.

In the past he'd slaughter a human for even daring to think they were stronger than he was, but right now he was too tired and too focused on his goals to really care. Plus, with his link to Oxyotl, he could rationalize his thoughts much better than normal.

"Look…I get it. You're a high and mighty elf and you probably think I'll slow you down. I promise you I won't. Please free me and I swear I'll help you with whatever you came here to do as well. It makes no sense for us to be at odds with one another when we're surrounded by daemons in the palace of a chaos god. For what it's worth, I'll even tell you how I ended up in the realms of chaos too when we're out of this place," the woman surprisingly took a humble approach to convince him.

'The elf, the skink, and the human…sounds like a bad joke or an innkeeper's tale to me. I found not one but two sane beings in this place…what are the odds of that?' Malekith mused to himself as he went about cutting and magically unbinding the many chains and restraints keeping the woman imprisoned. Her claim about being powerful seemed to have some credence as she had a lot more than the chaos sorcerers or even the lord of change on the opposite end of the chamber.

She looked shocked that he was actually freeing her and stayed quiet as Malekith spent the next minute breaking her out. Once he was finished, the woman fell forward at his feet and grimaced in pain, "Arghh…"

"Already falling down...I see we're off to a great start," Malekith stated dryly as he looked down at her with notable disappointment that she was already showing signs of weakness.

Forcing herself to her feet, the woman looked up at Malekith and gritted her teeth painfully, "Forgive me…those chains were draining my power. It'll be a little while before I'm fully recovered. I'm fine now…let's move."

'Turns out she's a damsel after all,' Malekith sighed mentally as he ignored the woman's statement and began to inspect the room for other prisoners to free.

"My name is Shen Zoo, by the way…thank you for freeing me elf. What's your name?" the woman did her best to be cordial.

"None of your concern…just call me elf for all I care. I doubt you'll be alive long enough for us to get to know one another." he scoffed at her.

She frowned at his dismissive attitude, "I told you my name…I'd at least like to know who rescued me. I'm certain my father would reward you for doing so. Though he might be shocked to learn a dark elf of all people would."

"You talk too much, girl. We can speak about this later if you survive. We don't have much time. I've already wasted enough playing twenty questions with you," Malekith shook his head.

"Tsk…" the woman scoffed at him with clear annoyance.

The following minutes were filled with nothing but silence as Malekith and the mysterious woman Shen Zoo both moved about the chamber freeing all the prisoners. She made sure to stay unusually close to Malekith for whatever reason. It was doubtful the woman would ever admit it, but she was clearly scared of getting separated and was desperately trusting of him.

Malekith could somewhat understand her thought process as he felt reassurance being around Oxyotl in this horrible place. Shen Zoo, true to her claim, was indeed a powerful mage. Malekith was slightly impressed by her mastery of Hysh in particular. She also used another school of magic he had never seen before.

'That looks like a combined wind…but it's not Qhaysh. How odd. Come to think of it, I don't know very much about Cathay. I learned one of their languages just for the sake of being able to tell that jade sculptor slave what I wanted in the throne room. I wonder if he's still alive? I told Kouran not to let anyone kill that one. Naggaroth is likely in shambles with me being absent. Hopefully it doesn't burn down before I get back,' Malekith thought to himself as he watched the woman casting spells.

Malekith and Shen Zoo systematically cleared out most of the prison in record time. Much to his amazement, Shen Zoo was actually useful, and she actually carried her weight in their efforts. Breaking out all of the prisoners proved to be challenging as some immediately tried to attack Malekith and Shen Zoo the moment they were free. Fortunately, the Cathayan woman had managed to blind them long enough for the duo to move on and the prisoners to run free out of the dungeon in all directions.

'What exactly is a Cathayan dragonborn anyways? Do they have some connection to dragons like the princes of Caledor? I wonder if this woman truly can ride a dragon like I can. One thing is certainly clear…the humans of the east are worth studying more when I get back to Naggarond. I wonder if they face the same annoyances with the Kurgan and Hung warbands that we do. The chaos wastes do connect the landmasses I believe.' Malekith thought to himself as he and Shen Zoo finished freeing everything except the greater daemons.

Upon reaching the imprisoned lord of change, Shen Zoo paused and looked at Malekith, "I don't think it's a good idea to free a greater daemon of Chi'an Chi."

"Chi'an Chi? You mean Tzeentch?" Malekith asked.

The woman sighed, "That is what we call the raven god in Cathay."

"Hmm…an elf and a human working together. How intriguing. Desperate situations lead to surprising outcomes. Fated foes united against the darkness as they strive desperately to sail against the tides of fate," the lord of change seemed to leave his trance like state and speak to them.

"What are you doing here?" Malekith asked the daemon much to Shen Zoo's disbelief.

"Don't speak to it! These creatures are deceivers. This thing is EVIL! We can't let it get into our heads," the woman protested.

The lord of change stared at Malekith intensely, "I know you…the black prince. The Oracle said you would come."

"Black prince?" Shen Zoo repeated curiously as she stared at the witch king.

"He knew I would be here?" Malekith asked the daemon.

The avian creature nodded wisely as he responded with cryptic words, "The Oracle is most interested in your fate and of the relic you seek."

The witch king took a step back and stared at the creature almost horrified by its insight, 'How does it know that?! It would have had to have known before being captured. Did Kairos Fateweaver know I would cross paths with this Lord of Change and tell him? Does that mean this creature got captured on purpose? I don't like this one bit…'

"You should be careful who you trust in this place, my mortal elf friend…that girl will be your undoing if you keep her in your company," the lord of change followed up as he looked at Shen Zoo.

"Elf, don't free this daemon…I'm begging you!" Shen Zoo pleaded.

Malekith actually nodded in agreement, "You're right…that's probably a bad idea."

"I will be free soon regardless," the greater daemon responded almost knowingly.

Malekith chose to say nothing as he turned to leave. He made it a few steps before the lord of change spoke again, "He said you would help the reptile find the box. Would you like to know what it is? What you're actually involving yourself in?"

It was in that moment that Malekith truly understood just how much more difficult his escape from the Realms of Chaos was going to be. Slaanesh wasn't the only chaos god he had to worry about on his way back to the mortal realm. It seemed inevitable now that he would indeed have to fight Kairos Fateweaver at some point too. That thought seemed even worse than the grim task of dealing with N'kari and Shalaxi.

'Why do I get the feeling I've just been swept into something much larger than I ever wanted to be a part of?' Malekith grimaced angrily in thought as he slowly looked back at the lord of change.

"You can rot in those chains, daemon…maybe your Oracle will free you, but I certainly won't. If you happen to see him before I do…tell him that I will defeat him just as my father did," the elf countered.

"He also has a message for you…'the flames can break the barrier'," the lord of change replied with a serene knowing tone as the duo swiftly walked away from his cell.

Malekith had no idea how to respond to such a vague and confusing statement and simply decided to move on as the lord of change laughed to himself.

Shen Zoo looked at Malekith concerned, "Does that daemon know you? Just who are you anyways? Obviously, you're some important elf…I'd like to at least know who I'm working with here. Is it really going to kill you to tell me?"

"My name is Malekith…and that's the only relevant thing you need to know," the witch king groaned as the duo ran over to the chained up bloodthirster last.

"Malekith?! I swear I've heard that name before…my sister Yin-Yin mentioned that name. She said the dark elf raiders referred to someone with that name a lot. So that's YOU?" Shen Zoo remarked.

'She doesn't seem to know anything about druchii society or that I'm the witch king. I think it's best if I keep things that way,' Malekith thought to himself.

"Stay focused girl," Malekith dismissed her question.

Finally, the two of them were in front of the bloodthirster's cell. The greater daemon of khorne was thrashing about angrily and seemed even more angry that mortal mages were in front of him.

"Mortal MAGES?! DIE!" the red monstrosity howled as he spit fire their way. Shen Zoo shielded herself, but Malekith didn't bother blocking the flames.

For whatever reason, he didn't feel any fear from the flames. His instincts proved insightful as the bloodthirster's flame breath engulfed him and did absolutely nothing.

Malekith found the experience bizarre, 'Why did I just stand here? It was like I possessed for a moment. Those flames didn't even hurt me. Am I fireproof now?'

The bloodthirster calmed down upon seeing Malekith completely shrug off its fire without even flinching. The witch king stared into the horned daemon's eyes intensely before speaking, "You hate Slaanesh…and so do we. I'll let you out if you swear by Khorne not to attack us."

"You dare give ME an ultimatum elf mage?!" the bloodthirster howled.

"I fought my way here all the way from the Marcher Fortress alone! I defeated N'kari and I intend to do so again! You can either join me in slaughtering these wretched Slaaneshi daemons or you can meet the same fate…but you will not stand in my way! I'll battle Slaanesh himself if I must! Don't think for a pitiful moment that your rage and your hatred of this place eclipses mine! DO YOU WANT TO KILL YOUR CAPTORS OR NOT?!" Malekith shouted back at the daemon with a matching rage.

Shen Zoo actually flinched at Malekith's shouting and glanced at him cautiously in disbelief at how his stoic attitude randomly just exploded into rage.

For whatever reason, the bloodthirster seemed to respect his anger and his claim and responded with gruff calmness, "A bold claim, but a believable one from a mortal with your conviction and wrath. Very well elf…I will spare you my rage this one and only time. Khorne's gaze is not upon us, or I would have to kill you! I accept your proposal…but do not mistake us for allies. You are nothing but a skull to me. I will honor your deal and spare you my wrath until a future battle."

"Malekith, don't tell me you're actually going to let this thing out of its chains…" Shen Zoo piped up nervously.

"WE HAVE OUR PACT ELF! BY KHORNE'S HONOUR I WILL NOT RESORT TO PATHETIC TREACHERY! RELEASE ME!" the bloodthirster howled.

"So be it…" Malekith responded with hateful intensity as he broke the bloodthirster's chains off one by one. The greater daemon of khorne, true to its word didn't attack them upon being freed.

Shen Zoo looked completely shocked that the daemon honoured its word. The bloodthirster looked down at them briefly before charging out of the prison chamber with his axe and whip in hand. Fortunately, for the bloodthirster, the weapons were permanently chained to him, and it seemed even Slaaneshi daemons couldn't remove them.

"I can't believe it didn't attack…" the Cathayan woman remarked.

Malekith shook his head, "Khorne daemons have a code of honour from what I've seen of them. They'll respect one on one duels and they won't ever attempt deceit. Simple and predictable creatures…but very powerful."

"Was it really a good idea to free a bloodthirster though? That one looked quite prestigious. Think of what would happen if that thing ended up on our world. All the future people it could kill…" Shen Zoo sighed disapprovingly.

"That creature will wreak havoc in this place and keep the keepers occupied. Would you rather we fight them all?" Malekith shook his head at the woman's protest.

"No…but I just get the feeling that it was a bad idea to free a bloodthirster like that. I mean there had to have been a good reason why Slaanesh would keep it locked away in here, right?" Shen Zoo asked.

"We don't have the luxury of worrying about that right now. If it comes back for our skulls at some point then I'll butcher it and keep ITS skull as a trophy," Malekith responded bluntly.

The Cathayan woman seemed a bit concerned by Malekith's temperament. No doubt she was fully starting to realize that he was a bit crazier and more malicious than she initially thought.

Once the bloodthirster was gone, Malekith promptly followed. It was unsurprising that Shen Zoo was following him still, but Malekith didn't really have time to protest. It seemed for whatever reason; she was determined to escape with him instead of on her own. Part of him already had a feeling that he was going to have to sacrifice her for their escape.

"Vault guardians cleared out to fight prisoners. I almost have the vault open…hurry back. Saw Shalaxi moving your way," Oxyotl informed Malekith telepathically.

"Already on my way. Also, this human is following me. I don't know if I can trust her yet, but I'll sacrifice her for our escape later if I have to," he informed the skink.

Oxyotl did not respond, but it was likely that the skink was incredibly focused and busy on opening the vault to get the puzzle box.

Proceeding out of the chamber, Malekith and Shen Zoo were soon met with the sight of the freed prisoners rampaging through the Hall of Avarice attacking daemonettes and other Slaaneshi attendants without mercy.

The freed and utterly insane chaos sorcerers were unleashing spells everywhere and the bloodthirster was carving a path of gore on his way out of the Hall of Avarice much to Malekith's approval. The greater daemon's rampage was proving to be extremely helpful. The bloodthirster was clearly an exalted one as Malekith watched it easily manhandling two keepers by itself.

Malekith made sure to avoid unnecessary fights, but he and his human follower made quick work of any daemonettes with magic as they fought their way through. Shen Zoo seemed confused by Malekith's urgency in heading towards the far vault, "Are you sure you know where you're going? This way seems to lead deeper into the palace."

He never got the chance to answer her as a host of reinforcements soon intercepted Malekith. They were led by a daemonette herald the likes of which he had never seen before. This wasn't any ordinary daemonette herald…she was undoubtedly unique even among other heralds. In some ways she seemed like a miniature keeper of secrets or some type of intermediary form between a herald and a keeper. She had four arms which was quite uncommon for one of her kind. Two were clawed and two were mostly normal minus the long taloned and purple painted nails on them. One of the non-clawed arms had a small but beautiful silver shield strapped to it and she looked to be carrying a few weapons. One was a fancy spear on her back and the other was a familiar looking elven sword.

The final weapon was a pitch black runed dagger sheathed at her waist. The prestigious looking daemonette also had four horns. Two were sweeping and two were coiled that reminded Malekith of a goat. Her face rivaled that of any elven beauty even without an illusionary guise. Purple twin-tailed hair flowed freely down each side of her back. She wore armour over her legs and all four arms. A revealing black corset which was undoubtedly made of skin covered her chest and parts of her stomach. The daemonette had two breasts unlike some of the others, a medium length tail sheathed in gold plate, and a silver-gold crown shaped after Slaanesh's iconography with an amethyst gem in its center. The crown had a tasseled white and pink plume which aesthetically matched her twin-tailed purple hair. The word flamboyant did little justice to describe how excessively colorful and adorned she looked.

Malekith swore he also saw dyed phoenix feathers on her outfit as well. The way she stood and moved implied that she had a dexterous warrior poise. Her face was also covered in a fascinating pattern of red warpaint and dark makeup. They greatly accentuated her bright lilac-coloured eyes. This herald was undoubtedly Shalaxi as the sword sheathed at her waist was definitely Avanuir.

She had a host of other prestigious looking daemonettes flanking her. No doubt most were exalted daemonettes or alluresses.

"I don't believe it…is that really you?!" the daemonette herald seemed almost excited and happy to see Malekith as her eyes lit up joyously.

"You know who I am?" the Witch King asked despite the obviousness of the answer. This daemon clearly knew who he was if she had his old sword.

Shen Zoo seemed a bit concerned as she glanced behind them, "We really need to move before more of their keepers show up and you need to STOP talking to daemons!"

The daemonette herald chuckled, "Do I know who you are? Of course I know you are. You're MALEKITH, the king of the dark elves. Witch King of Naggaroth and a favored elf of Slaanesh. Did you know you were the favored? Slaanesh actually finds you the most entertaining of all your kind!"

The Cathayan woman to his side seemed shocked by the revelation of Malekith's identity, "Wait what?! You're the dark elf king?! I've heard of the Witch King…that's you?!"

"You're following him, and you didn't even know that?" Shalaxi laughed at Shen Zoo's disbelief.

"I…suppose I understand why you didn't want to tell me now," Shen Zoo remarked with evident concern.

Malekith had no idea what the woman was thinking or what her people even knew about him or Naggaroth…though just knowing that he was the king of the elves that raid Eastern Cathay was probably enough to cause her fear and animosity.

Ignoring Shen Zoo's reaction now, Malekith stared Shalaxi down, "You said I was a favorite elf of Slaanesh? I find that hard to believe…"

"My number one favorite personally! Believe me, that's a massive compliment, Malekith. The perfect prince is easily bored of mortals, and I mean EASILY bored. Other than Azazel, Malaxes, and Sigvald I've yet to see a mortal besides you or Morathi that could hold Slaanesh's attention for long. I suppose he likes all the Everchosens too, but it's hard to favor someone that you have to share with the other gods," she shrugged nonchalantly.

"Who are these mortals you mentioned?" Malekith couldn't help but ask.

"I'm glad you asked! Azazel is captain of the Ecstatic legion. He's Slaanesh's favorite daemon prince. Malaxes is also a daemon prince. He's the cook here at the palace hehehe. Sigvald is a Norscan human that Slaanesh is obsessed with," the herald answered joyously.

"Did you just mention a daemon prince cook?! Are you trying to be funny?" Malekith frowned in disgust that something like that could exist.

"No, I'm completely serious! Malaxes was the cook for the Celestial Dragon Emperor a long time ago. I think his mortal name was Jia Xiaodang. He was a Cathayan dragonborn that Slaanesh took a very keen interest in for his immaculate cooking abilities. Truly the greatest chef to ever grace the world. He's never cooked the same meal twice for the perfect prince. Even the keepers love him," she almost seemed to gush in admiration.

"Jia Xiaodang is a daemon prince?! That's impossible!" Shen Zoo seemed horrified by this information.

"That's nothing compared to what happened to your brother," the herald smirked at Shen Zoo arrogantly.

"You know what happened to him?!" Shen Zoo's eyes widened in horror.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, why did you free Shen Zoo, Malekith? Zarakynel and Amnaich are going to be very upset about that. Capturing her was extremely difficult even for them. They were determined to impress Slaanesh by presenting her as a gift," the herald ignored Shen Zoo's question as she focused on the elven sorcerer.

"Enough of this prattling nonsense…where is N'kari?!" Malekith got the conversation back on track.

"Oh, he's around the palace somewhere. By the way, I heard you passed through the Marcher Fortress chasing down N'kari. How unbelievable…you actually made it all the way here to the palace! Were the circles too boring for you to indulge in? I didn't think it was possible for a mortal to make it all the way through on their own…especially an elf! The ones in the palace were brought here by the seekers. You must have some extreme desires to forsake those delights. Only the most excessively obsessed could willfully get here on their own. If Slaanesh were here, he'd probably have greeted you at the door and offered you dinner. I must say that I am truly impressed as well. N'kari didn't think you'd make it past the Circle of Paramountcy…certainly not the Circle of Vainglory either," she blabbered annoyingly as if they were friends having a casual conversation.

The entire situation felt strange especially with all the chaos and fighting going on around them.

"The next words out of your filthy fanged mouth had better be where N'kari is! I'm not here to converse idly with you, daemon! Tell me where he is, now or I'll skin you and wear your flesh as a cape!" Malekith demanded.

"Sounds kinky. Hmmm…well I suppose I can help you find him. He stole your crown, right? He was bragging about it in court to all the heralds and keepers. I believe he's in the throneroom right now waiting for the perfect prince. I imagine he intends to gift it to Slaanesh…though it seems he hoped to bait you here as well. If that's the case, you'll need some help, and you'll be in trouble unless someone beautiful and generous comes along to help you. I just so happen to know someone beautiful and generous…yours truly. We'd make a great couple…err team, wouldn't we?" the daemonette herald cooed cheerily.

"You're offering to help me? I find that hard to believe…" the witch king shook his head doubtfully.

"What, really?! I'm quite the ally I'll have you know. Well since we're going to be working together, I should introduce myself. I'm Helbane, emissary and greatest herald of the perfect prince. I'm also N'kari's rival…so trust me when I say that I have incentive to help you. I'm good at singing, dancing, fighting, spellcasting, fornicating, and especially killing! I'm all yours if you want me!" The herald replied almost girlishly.

"Your name is Shalaxi…don't play coy with me daemon." Malekith corrected her.

She perked up awestruck by his insight and couldn't help but blush, "Well…Shalaxi Helbane is my full name. You know about me?! I'm truly flattered! I'm one of your biggest fans and it's so exciting to hear that you already know who I am! Most mortals don't…how curious. So…can I interest you in some recreation before we go about finding N'kari?"

"She's stalling us! Let's kill her and get out of here already!" Shen Zoo yelled at Malekith.

"I have no problem with you escaping, Shen Zoo. It would be rather funny seeing Zarakynel and Amnaich having to live it down. I'm offering to help you two. What do you say?" the daemonette herald beamed with eager anticipation.

"The only thing I want from you is my sword back…" Malekith replied threateningly.

Shalaxi smirked at him as she touched the hilt, "Oh…you noticed Avanuir did you? I happened upon it a while back when we claimed some elves. It was in possession of some Asur mage before we acquired it. One of the keepers told me it was your former sword. I've kept it in honour of you, Malekith."

Malekith gripped Destroyer tightly as he walked closer to the herald, "I get the feeling you're not willing to part with it."

Shalaxi much to his disbelief smiled and nodded, "Of course I'll give it back to you…consider it a gift from me. Like I said…I'm happy to help you in ANY way you want."

The herald then drew the sword by the blade and walked toward Malekith extending the weapon to him hilt first. Part of him was convinced this was some sort of trick and another part was stunned that Shalaxi was so cooperative. He took a few steps towards her before stopping in his tracks.

"Slide it across the ground…I don't want to come near you," Malekith ordered.

Shalaxi narrowed her gaze suspiciously, "Are you implying that I'm trying to trick you? What do I look like, an iridescent horror or a skaven? We're not Tzeentchian daemons you know!"

The witch king stared cautiously at Shalaxi as she slid the blade across the ground mere feet away from him. All of her underling daemons seemed to almost hold their breath as they awaited Malekith to pick it up.

Shen Zoo had surprisingly stayed quiet this entire time, but she looked especially worried about the mayhem going on around them further back in the massive hallway chamber. She also seemed equally as skeptical as Malekith did about Shalaxi 'helping' them.

Instead of bending over to pick up the sword, Malekith magically pulled the weapon to his hand. The moment the hilt touched his hand, he saw a bizarre hallucination overwhelm his vision. In the brief seconds after, he heard the sound of daemonette feet scampering closer.

The hallucination disappeared almost immediately thanks to his mind link, and Malekith came back to his senses just in time to see Shalaxi and all the daemonettes charging him with supernatural speed. Shalaxi's spear narrowly missed Malekith's leg as he lifted it up and countered with a deadly swing from Destroyer.

His blade almost beheaded the herald, but she dodged as well before backflipping away from Malekith's follow-up thrust from Avanuir.

The other daemonettes charging in were caught off guard in this lightning-fast exchange as Malekith diced up several of them before backing up to where they couldn't surround him.

Shen Zoo seemed to snap back to focus as she readied her magic and nervously looked at Malekith, "A-are you okay, Malekith?"

"I'm fine…" he stated callously as he kept his gaze pinned on Shalaxi.

Shalaxi held up her hand signaling the daemonettes to fall back momentarily before speaking with amusement, "Who knew you'd be immune to phantasm hex. No wonder you cleared the circles so easily. Again…I'm impressed. I truly do admire you…and I meant it. However, that's why I want you!"

"So much for you not trying to trick me!" Malekith spat hatefully as he held out both swords to his sides and ignited them with magic.

"Nothing personal Malekith, but N'kari is in charge until Slaanesh returns. He ordered everyone to capture you if you somehow made it here. Plus…I want to be the one to break you in. Just let it happen…you'll find I'm quite good company. Let Shalaxi pamper you…let me show you true sensation. Since you're already so familiar with pain, then why not experience pleasure with me?" Shalaxi smirked flirtatiously.

"You're not N'kari's rival…you're his bitch apparently," Malekith taunted the herald.

She seemed a bit irked by his comment and piped up aggressively, "If I were a keeper, I'd be much more powerful than N'kari! I wonder though…how do you really know my name? You seemed to know I was here already…and it's a bit odd that you bypassed the guardians at the front of the palace."

"I know who you are because I came here to kill you and retrieve my sword!" Malekith howled before holding up Avanuir horizontally and charging dhar in his hand. Black lightning streaked from his fingers as they seared the room and many of the daemonettes in front of him. Most of them did their best to dodge his attack, but few did so without receiving damage.

Malekith then ignited Avanuir with Qhaysh before flinging a bolt of high magic off the blade right for Shalaxi. She held up her silver shield to block the attack and to Malekith disbelief it completely reflected the spell back at him.

He was able to dodge it, but much to his surprise, Shen Zoo grounded the spell with her own magic. She then looked at Malekith with surprising assurance, "Witch King or not, we're still in this together. I'll handle the others…kill that monster so we can get out of here!"

The ensuing battle was violent and fast paced as Malekith and Shen Zoo began to fight off Shalaxi and her waves of daemons. At first, Malekith found Shalaxi nearly impossible to even track as she moved absurdly fast even by daemonette standards.

They didn't get very far into the fight before Shen Zoo had killed all of her backup leaving the herald alone. Against the two of them, Shalaxi's martial prowess proved insufficient as Shen Zoo magically bound the daemon in place long enough for Malekith to deliver a powerful strike across the daemon's midsection.

Annoyingly though, Shalaxi bent her body in a strange, contorted way avoiding the worst of the damage. She followed up with a combination of spear thrusts, shield bashes, claw swipes, and finally a leg sweep. The leg sweep managed to knock Malekith to the ground just as the herald broke free of Shen Zoo's magic.

Shalaxi proceeded to thrust her spear rapidly in succession as Malekith rolled away and parried with his blades on the move.

The herald then launched a powerful telekinetic burst of magic sending him flying further away. Malekith barely had time to get to his feet before the herald came leaping overhead delivering a flurry of attacks with her spear and claws. He managed to parry all of her attacks before blasting her back with a wave of fire. The herald backflipped away and landed gracefully as she stared him down eagerly. Her graceful evasion was short lived as Shen Zoo blind-sided her with a bolt of light magic causing the daemon to hiss in ecstatic pain.

"We're wasting time with this, Malekith! We need to leave. She's trying to distract us! Don't bother trying to fight her in melee combat. We'll just burn her alive!" Shen Zoo announced.

"Well, aren't you the observant one, Shen Zoo. Ahahaha, by the way Malekith…your Circlet of Iron, is actually on Slaanesh's throne right now. Why don't we race to see who can get to it first! I think I'm going to hide it so you can't leave!" Shalaxi taunted before running away from them.

The fact that she was treating this as a game of tag annoyed him to no end. Malekith didn't even hesitate to chase after her as he ran as fast as possible. Chasing a daemonette though was not easy. One might have better luck catching a horse on foot. He needed to get the Circlet of Iron back by any means necessary. He repeatedly launched spells to slow Shalaxi down as he pursued her.

"Wait, where are you going?!" Shen Zoo called out as Malekith was already clearing the hallway and killing waves of lesser daemons in pursuit.

He didn't bother answering her or even looking back to see if she was okay. Malekith did decide to inform Oxyotl though, "I'm chasing Shalaxi right now, Oxyotl. My crown is in the throne room. I'll meet back up with you after I get it."

"From throne room you can reach the seeker stables through spiral stairs behind throne. Will meet you there as soon as I can. I have the puzzle box." The skink informed him.

"Good, I also have my sword. I just need my crown now and we can get out of this place," the witch king replied.

After chasing Shalaxi for a few minutes past various daemons, they eventually reached a magnanimous chamber which was obviously the throne room.

Shalaxi chuckled at the panting witch king as she paused momentarily and flicked her black snake-tongue with joy, "You're surprisingly fast, Malekith. Though I still won the race! Well, now that we're here, we can have our duel with an audience!"

"What are you talking about?!" Malekith hissed hatefully as he took the opportunity to heal himself in the brief reprieve.

Shalaxi then pointed her spear to the far side of the massive and ornate chamber, "Behold the throne room of the perfect prince. I couldn't have asked for a more fitting location to battle you. Your crown is right over there…you'll have to dominate me if you want it."

Malekith chanced a brief glance over towards the direction Shalaxi was pointing and there he saw a throne that put the phoenix throne to shame. It looked like it was made for someone twice the size of a keeper and had all manner of decorations adorning it. Though the throne was empty, there was no question that it was Slaanesh's throne. Words did little justice to describe how ornate and magnanimous it was. Any single gem on the throne would probably be worth more than entire nations in the mortal realm. In some ways it looked like the sum total of the circle of avidity compressed into one ridiculously fancy chair. Not only that, but it had a number of slaves chained to it. Some were elves, some were humans, and some were daemons. All of them looked absolutely crazy and out of their minds though. True to Shalaxi's claim, Malekith also saw his crown placed upon the throne's seat. Part of him was actually surprised that she didn't lie about this. The only reason he even risked chasing her in here was because he knew Oxyotl could teleport him out if necessary.

Despite his goal being within sight, Malekith saw many daemons were in this chamber. Not just daemonettes either…two exalted keepers were flanking the throne and a host of heralds and aluresses were present inside. There were of course trapped souls of daemons and mortals being gruesomely tortured everywhere in the palace, but it seemed even more ridiculous in the throne chamber.

In addition to these grim sights, he saw a bloodthirster chained up by all four limbs hanging from the ceiling chandelier above the throne like a decorative ornament. The bloodthirster looked heavily tortured and barely alive. If it wasn't for the creature's hateful writhing and fire-breathing fit, he would have thought it was dead.

This bloodthirster looked like it was a different one from the one he freed thankfully. Malekith instantly started thinking of ways to free this one too. Several of the heralds looked to be playing darts as they took turns throwing javelins at the bloodthirster. It howled with pure hatred and rage cursing them and their god, but the bloodthirster seemed to cease his fury when he saw all of the heralds and other daemons turn their attention to Malekith and Shalaxi.

"Is that Malekith?!" one of the keepers called out to Shalaxi from across the throne room.

The exalted herald nodded her head, "It is! Everyone, stay back…he's mine to duel!"

"Malekith made it to the palace?! Incredible!" a lesser keeper mused as if he or she was actually impressed.

"I was wondering what was going on in the Hall of Avarice, Shalaxi…I was about to come over there and punish you," the first keeper remarked.

"Let me duel him Zarakynel!" Shalaxi called out to the keeper.

"Hmm…are you sure N'kari would allow that, Shalaxi? Perhaps we should wait for him to get here." the other exalted keeper scoffed.

"I'll allow it, Amnaich," Malekith heard N'kari's voice come from the opposite end of the chamber. The prestigious keeper came strutting in from one of the six flanking hallways.

N'kari was flanked by two regular keepers and a host of other daemonettes. All of the creatures spread out around the throne room chamber covering all exit points as N'kari smugly walked up and laughed, "Hahahaha! Well done getting here Malekith. I'm truly baffled you of all people could conquer the circles of seduction, but Slaanesh will find that pleasurably amusing. Perhaps your obsessions rival even mine, my son. I'm surprised you found another way into the palace though. I wonder…how did you get inside?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, N'kari!? Perhaps you don't know all of my secrets after all!" Malekith spat as he looked around at the grim sight of daemons surrounding the throne room. He was in deep trouble now.

"I want him, N'kari! After I win my duel, he's mine to keep!" Shalaxi bellowed at the keeper as she flaunted proudly.

"My dear, sweet, young Shalaxi…I understand your desire to claim Malekith, but I cannot allow that. He's Aenarion's spawn, so he's mine to claim…assuming Slaanesh doesn't have other plans for him. Also…are you so certain you can defeat him? Malekith is comically delusional and foolish, but not weak," N'kari chuckled.

"N'kari would know firsthand…he ran away from me after losing at the Marcher Fortress," Malekith announced.

Several of the other keepers in the chamber exchanged fascinated looks with one another as if this exciting drama was the most interesting thing they had ever seen before.

N'kari shook his head, "And yet here you are at my mercy…am I really the loser of our game Malekith?"

"Perhaps not, but that doesn't change the fact that you're a spineless craven hiding from an elf under the skirt of Slaanesh. I'm amazed you even had the gall to confront me with your precious god absent," Malekith taunted.

"If you wanted hononurable combat, then maybe you should have gone to the Brass Citadel instead. You're at my mercy now and I have no intention of letting you worm your way out of here. What's that cute phrase mortals like to say with that one game...ah yes Checkmate!" the exalted keeper chuckled.

"Well since he's already at our mercy, I at least deserve my duel first! Slaanesh will praise me if I can defeat a mortal as powerful as Malekith!" Shalaxi protested.

N'kari sighed dramatically, "Well, I suppose we'll need to pass the time until Slaanesh returns…but I will be the one to present him to the perfect prince!"

"Ughh…you're being so unfair N'kari! Can I at least ravage him after I win? PLEASE!?" Shalaxi whined.

"If you win…" N'kari nodded smugly.

"Let's take bets everyone!" Amnaich announced to all the daemon inhabitants as if this was some arena show to enjoy and gamble on, "I'm wagering for Malekith!"

'Why hasn't Shalaxi told them I freed Shen Zoo? Those exalted keepers have the names of the ones that captured her. Maybe there's some petty politics here I'm not aware of. It looks like they're all in a pointless competition to impress Slaanesh the most,' Malekith thought briefly.

"Put my bet on Shalaxi!" Zarakynel shouted excitedly. The following minute was filled with various daemons of prestige offering up bets and prizes for who they thought would win.

Shalaxi seemed ecstatic about the atmosphere and the excited audience, "Who are you picking to win, N'kari? Care to make a bet?"

"My dear sweet little sister…I have all the faith in the world that you will win. Malekith must be quite tired after chasing me all the way here. He should be weak enough for you to handle," N'kari replied condescendingly.

"Hmph…" Shalaxi huffed at the senior daemon.

"It would seem N'kari just wants me to do a favor for him and get rid of you. I was right…you are his bitch. No different than the harem slave girls who cower in fear when I walk past them in Naggarond!" Malekith taunted.

N'kari couldn't help but grin approvingly at Malekith's comment, but Shalaxi on the other hand looked like Malekith had gotten under her skin, "You won't defeat me, Malekith! I'm the greatest warrior in the Slaaneshi legions! I am an artist of warfare and carnage! You see that bloodthirster up there?! I'm the one who captured him! My gift to the perfect prince! Proof of my greatness…that even as a herald I can defeat khorne's greatest daemons! Don't underestimate me! I'm the favorite for a reason!"

"I don't know if she's the favorite, but my young sister is quite the little prodigy, Malekith…be careful," N'kari noted as if this was entertaining for him.

"Malekith, I'm taking a back way to meet you behind throne. What's your situation? Most of the daemons seem to be congregating away from here." Oxyotl asked.

"I'm surrounded in the throne room…though they seem very focused on me here and Shalaxi wants to duel," he answered.

"Stall them as long as you can. I can teleport you to me from short distance with the bracers. Just get close to the throne when I tell you," the skink instructed.

"I'll do what I can, but don't teleport me until I get my crown back. It's on the throne," Malekith shot back.

"Oxyotl understands…moving fast!" the reptile sounded more urgent now.

Malekith turned his attention back towards Shalaxi as he brandished both of his swords, "Your arrogance is insufferable daemon. If you want to duel me, then so be it! I'll humiliate you too! Though judging by the way you depraved fiends act, you'll probably enjoy it too much."

"Are you going to make me scream? I'll tell you what...if you win, you get to rape me!" Shalaxi cooed as if this was some type of flirtatious exchange.

"The only thing I intend to do to you is skewer you like a boar! I'll even handicap myself and fight you without magic. I'm curious to see if you really are as martially supreme as you claim to be," Malekith responded callously.

In truth, he was only doing this to buy time for Oxyotl to get here. Finishing the duel too soon would be very bad for him. Malekith had no intention of staying here to fight an army of daemons. If this little duel was enough to keep this swarm at bay, then it was the best way to delay them for now. Not using magic would draw out the fight longer. It would also hopefully deter Shalaxi from using magic as well.

Shalaxi looked offended by Malekith's remark, "You stand no chance of defeating me without your magic. Fine then…I won't use magic either! I look forward to seeing the despair in your eyes when you realize just how much better I am than you are at dueling."

"Are you two ready to duel?! I have all the bets in place now!" the exalted keeper Amnaich spoke excitedly like some type of arena announcer.

"Wait, wait! I want to place a bet!" Malekith heard another daemon call out. It looked to be a daemon prince and it flew in with tremendous speed.

Malekith rolled his eyes, 'This is ridiculous…I'm in the palace of a chaos god and daemons are clamoring about to make bets?! I HATE this place!'

"It seems to be in poor taste having a duel of this magnitude with Slaanesh absent. Should we wait for him?" one of the unnamed keepers asked N'kari.

"That sounds incredibly boring…" Zarakynel scoffed.

N'kari ignored the other daemons conversing as he seemed to be staring at Malekith intensely. The keeper narrowed his gaze with amusement, "Oooh…I see now. You went after Shalaxi for Avanuir? How did you know she had it? Did Asuryan tell you?"

Malekith didn't even respond to N'kari as he kept his gaze affixed to Shalaxi. From what he had seen of her in combat so far, she would be very difficult to defeat without magic.

"Well…let's fight, Malekith!" Shalaxi bellowed excitedly as she charged in. The following minutes were probably the most martially taxing Malekith had ever experienced.

He and Shalaxi moved like blurs in a ceaseless duel with no respite. This daemonette seemed to never get tired as every movement or attack combination she made would gracefully flow into another. Malekith had not experienced a duel this intense since the first time he dueled his father during a 'serious training' skirmish.

Endless whirls of blades, spear, and claws filled the throne chamber with whooshing shrieks and echoic clangs. The audience watching their duel were cheering and chanting for Shalaxi as she never once ceased her assault against Malekith who was forced to stay on the defensive for the opening minutes.

To say this was exhausting was an understatement. Malekith felt his vigor draining and his movements getting less precise as he desperately repelled Shalaxi's attacks despite the burning sensation of his aching muscles.

It was a good thing that he was dual wielding now, because between Shalaxi's two claws and the spear, he found it nearly impossible to counterattack or parry. The herald even used her shield as a weapon in addition to delivering the random kick in between her combos.

For some odd reason though, the longer the duel went on, the less clarity Malekith felt. His vision was beginning to redden, and the roar of the daemonic crowd seemed to dampen in an almost echoic way. Malekith felt like his instincts were taking over as he fell into a deep trance-like state of battle meditation.

"Are you truly worthy enough to invoke us?! I only accept sacrifices and you have offered me nothing!" a terrifying and godly voice rang through his head. It was definitely not Oxyotl's voice or any voice he recognized.

Malekith felt his body almost moving against his will as his blood began to heat up. It felt like he had lava in his veins.

"I've seen Sisters of Slaughter put up better fights than this…what a pitiful display of skill from someone who fancies himself Aenarion's true heir," a second male voice followed.

Another terrifying female voice then echoed in his mind, "What makes you think you'll get your retribution from me? What are you willing to give up for your vengeance?"

"Are you a worthy hunter or are you the prey? What makes you think you deserve my blessing?" A different female voice added.

"You can't even beat an Asur mage in a magic duel or a daemon in a sword battle? Truly disappointing…I must say. Morathi would have beaten this creature already. It would seem your father's shadow isn't the only one you need to escape. What are you without your magic...without my magic?" a third female voice added.

It was only then that Malekith had the epiphany that these weren't just random voices. The way they spoke and the things they said implied that they were gods. The Cytharai gods he invoked to be specific. Eilinil, Eldrazor, Drakira, Anath Raema, and Hekarti. That only left Khaine…

"Do you feel it in your blood?! Use it! KILL HER!" the final voice which was undoubtedly Khaine's shouted through Malekith's mind.

Malekith had no way of knowing if he was really hearing the voices of the gods or if he had just finally snapped and gone completely crazy in this place. One thing was undeniable though…and that was the burning frenzy that was consuming him. His vision reddened even further as time almost seemed to slow down. Malekith could feel his heartbeat tripling as each thump sounded like a thunderous war drum to him. He felt nothing but pure, crippling rage, pain, and hatred in the following moments.

Consumed by this unexplainable frenzy, Malekith battled Shalaxi back with reckless ferocity. His speed doubled, his strength tripled, and his mind sharpened drastically. His rapid whirlwind of slashes and thrusts began to easily stagger Shalaxi as she could no longer dance around him delivering endless combos.

Her eyes seemed to grow fearful as Malekith proceeded to howl at the top of his lungs while hacking away at her. This eventually led to the herald getting disarmed and knocked to the ground. Without mercy or hesitation, Malekith bashed and sliced his blades against the downed daemon.

She let out bizarre sounds of pain before quickly dying to the onslaught of attacks. Despite killing her, Malekith didn't stop hacking at the herald's corpse and panted hatefully splattering blood and gore all over the ground and himself. As he mindlessly continued to mutilate Shalaxi's corpse, the crowd of daemons went silent in disbelief at his excessive act of berserking violence. He eventually stopped after realizing the herald was in a hundred pieces.

"Ahem…well it looks like Malekith won. Winners come and collect your earnings from me later after we deal with this situation," Amnaich broke the awkward silence.

N'kari laughed at Malekith's blood-crazed state, "I was wrong…you really are Aenarion's son. The Curse of Khaine flows strongly in you, Malekith. You should see yourself right now…you look like a Khornate berserker hehehe!"

The Witch King seemed to regain his clarity briefly as he looked up at the concerned faces of the Slaaneshi daemons. Most of the keepers seemed like they weren't taking this seriously, but all of the lesser daemons looked scared of the rabid and hateful elf as he glanced around the chamber.

Malekith then looked up at the bloodthirster chained to a chandelier over the throne. The greater daemon of khorne was silent, but it was staring at him almost respectfully. Malekith said nothing as he ignited his swords with magic and threw them at the chains holding the creature up.

The blades magically flew towards their targets severing the chains and causing the bloodthirster to go plummeting into the middle of the throne room along with the chandelier he was chained to. The bloodthirster itself looked surprised by Malekith's actions as the elf magically recalled his swords to his hands.

There was a brief unspoken understanding between the witch king and the bloodthirster in the following seconds of stupefied silence. The bloodthirster proceeded to stand up as he ripped off his remaining restraints. The greater daemon still had its axe chained to his arm and picked it up while stomping menacingly towards Malekith.

He then spoke in a low dangerous howl, "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!"

Freeing this bloodthirster sent the nearby daemons into panic as the khornate daemon began to go on a killing spree starting with the heralds that were throwing javelins at him earlier. Several keepers were quick to intercept the greater daemon, but they were not expecting Malekith to back the creature up as he attacked them next.

As if this bloodthirster's battle call had been a beacon, Malekith then heard the armoured clamoring thuds of the other much more prestigious looking bloodthirster he freed earlier. It came bursting through the crowd cutting a swathe of gore into the throne room. It immediately went to go back up the other bloodthirster and join in it battling Zarakynel and Amnaich as well as some of the other keepers.

Malekith used this opportunity to charge for the throne and retrieve his helmet. N'kari charged after him and moved with otherworldly speed as he tried to get there first. The keeper easily would have succeeded had it not been for Malekith tripping him with magic.

Even when tripping, N'kari seemed to fall forward gracefully and catch himself. The keeper charged up his witstealer sword as he swung it down at Malekith furiously, "I hope you weren't expecting it would be that easy!"

Malekith nimbly dodged the sword swing as he charged magic over Avanuir. He wasted no time hurling it at N'kari's face in a swift counterattack. The keeper dodged and managed to snag Malekith in one of his pincered claws.

Before N'kari could clamp it shut, Avanuir flew back and slashed the keeper's arm on its way to the witch king's hand. Malekith quickly fired a stream of black lightning into the keeper's face immediately afterward causing him to cry out in agony as he let go of the elf and backed away. With rage-filled purpose, the crazed elf then stabbed both of his blades repeatedly into the keeper's legs forcing him to slump to a knee. Malekith seized this opportunity to run for his crown again. As he got to the throne, he used magic to lift himself a short distance onto its seat.

Grabbing the crown as quickly as he could, Malekith placed it back on his head. A surge of magic erupted from him as he reacquired the circlet of iron and Malekith began to glow with dark magic. Oddly enough though, his berserking frenzy finally dissipated when he heard Oxyotl's voice in his head, "You're in distress, Malekith! Calm down and focus!"

Not even moments later, reinforcements arrived and flooded into the throne chamber. Slowly they were starting to overwhelm the two bloodthirsters even despite their best efforts.

"I'm fine now. I don't know what came over me. I have my crown Oxyotl…are you close?!" Malekith asked urgently as he regained his senses.

"Nearly there…hold out just a bit longer. Worst case scenario, run for stairs…but it would be better if they didn't know which direction you went. I'm going to try and get in range from the seeker stables. We can escape much quicker if I do that," the skink replied.

"Congratulations Malekith…you got your circlet of iron and Avanuir back. Now what are you going to do? Aenarion's soul is with Slaanesh…and you're cornered!" N'kari boasted.

Malekith stood frozen on the seat of the throne as he looked at the two bloodthirsters getting ganged up on and fighting furiously to the death against a dozen keepers.

N'kari strutted closer to Malekith as he held up his sword, "Squeal for me, Malekith! Nobody is coming to save you! Your soul will be MINE!"

Malekith readied his blades with as much magic as he could awaiting N'kari's attack. As the infamous keeper brought down the Witstealer sword, Malekith swung his magic charged blades in retaliation. This created a massive explosion and a heavy shockwave as Malekith was sent flying off the throne. Fortunately, N'kari didn't seem to get the better end of the exchange as one of his horns was cut in half and went flying to the ground right next to the Witch King.

N'kari recovered almost instantly as he brought down his blade again. Malekith was about to roll out of the way, but something unexplainable happened before he could. A deep and terrifying roar echoed throughout the throne room as a white and gold creature blindsided N'kari out of nowhere.

Malekith quickly rose to his feet and watched in complete disbelief as what appeared to be an eastern dragon was now in the chamber. It swiftly coiled and weaved around the throne room decimating lesser daemons with waves of Hysh and fiery breath.

"Shen Zoo is loose! Don't let her escape!" Amnaich announced frantically as he left the lesser keepers to battle the two bloodthirsters and chased after the dragon.

'Shen Zoo?! Are they referring to the dragon?! She really is a dragon?!' Malekith thought bewildered.

The dragon then spoke in a deeper version of the human's voice much to Malekith's surprise, "Still think I'll slow you down, elf? Come, we need to leave!"

"Over my dead body!" N'kari howled as he and the two exalted keepers all rushed the dragon with supernatural speed.

"Malekith, I'm almost in range…get closer to the throne," Oxyotl informed him.

Time almost seemed to stop for Malekith in that moment as he was now faced with a choice. He did intend on sacrificing Shen Zoo to cover his escape, but now that the moment was actually here, he felt reservations about making that decision.

'She came in here to save me…me?! She even knows who I am.' Malekith thought confused as he stood frozen with uncertainty.

The dragon was struggling with all her might to fight off multiple keepers and was starting to get pulled down by magical chains from the greater Slaaneshi daemons even despite her own magical retaliation. She was no doubt still weak from her imprisonment and was doomed to be recaptured at this rate. If he left now, then her fate was sealed.

'Why do I care what happens to her? She means nothing to me…she's a human. Or…dragon I suppose,' Malekith thought conflicted as time continued to move slowly during his internal conflict.

The dragon hissed and writhed in pain as she battled off the daemons and looked in his direction, "Run for it, Malekith! I'll hold them off!"

The fact that she was actually willing to sacrifice herself to save someone like him was shocking beyond explanation. Malekith couldn't even fathom why someone who had no reason to like or trust him would do something so altruistic. Before he could even cognitively make a decision, Malekith felt his body moving automatically in her direction.

His instincts seemed to kick in once more as he rushed over to save the dragon. He could barely even process why he was doing this, and all thoughts were snuffed out by pure subconscious reaction. Firing off waves of magical spells, Malekith caught several of the keepers off guard. He then charged both swords with magic and threw them through the chains dragging Shen Zoo down.

She managed to burst free and began dragging several of them with her as she flew for Malekith. To his utter surprise, Shen Zoo then picked him up in one of her clawed hands and flew as fast as she could for the exit of the palace.

Malekith couldn't even tell her to stop and was beginning to worry about Oxyotl still being in there. If the skink died, then so would he. Shen Zoo almost made it before a magical pink barrier materialized right in front of the exit causing her to go crashing against it.

The dragon smashed full speed into the barrier and immediately fell back reeling to the ground. The barrier also seemed to dampen her entire magical aura as she immediately reverted back into human form. Luckily Malekith didn't receive too much fall damage from this, but he was now surrounded on all sides by daemons.

Shen Zoo was completely unconscious as well much to his concern. He looked around grimly as it appeared there was no way out now.

'What is this barrier?!' he thought angrily as he glanced at it briefly.

The two bloodthirsters quickly vacated the throne room as they furiously made a break for one of the adjacent hallway chambers. From what it looked like, they were actually worried. This became apparent when all the hallway chambers were sealed with a similar magical barrier literal seconds after they escaped.

All of the Slaaneshi daemons in the chamber seemed to be in awe as a surge of magic converged into a form right in front of Slaanesh's throne.

'Oh no…' Malekith thought with absolute terror as the magic converged into a beautiful, androgynous being.

A voice then filled the entire chamber, "Malekith…a pleasure to finally meet you. Welcome to my luxurious palace. I hope my children haven't been too rough with you. I don't appreciate it when they treat my honoured guests poorly."

"Master, I can explain this situation!" N'kari's voice sounded urgent and shameful as he and all the other Slaaneshi daemons dropped to their knees in reverence for their newly arrived god.

"No need, N'kari…I understand what's happening right now. This must be why Tzeentch and Khorne wouldn't shut up at the meeting…trying to stall me I suppose. Khorne's unusual desire to talk to me really gave it away. It seems my timing is perfect nonetheless though," Slaanesh waved his hand dismissively.

Malekith was stunned beyond all belief at how Slaanesh looked. Nothing in his imagination came close to what this chaos god actually looked like. Beautiful and perfect seemed too mild and simple to describe Slaanesh's glamour. Unlike the daemons of this god, Slaanesh actually looked divine and had a disarming innocence and godly charisma about him.

No…Slaanesh genuinely appeared to be holy and benevolent for some reason. Malekith felt a euphoric high taking hold as he stared at the god with beguiled amazement. For reasons he couldn't even fathom, he felt honoured and lucky to actually see a chaos god in person. An intoxicating musk filled the chamber as well that was suffocatingly relaxing. All of his anger and desperation seemed to dampen considerably as Malekith relaxed and locked eyes with the incredible god before him.

This being oozed divinity and enchantment. Everything and everyone in comparison to Slaanesh looked mundane and dull. It was as if the god sapped light and color from everything around it. The god seemed to radiate in colors that Malekith had never seen before and for whatever reason, Slaanesh looked female despite clearly being addressed as male by all of his followers.

The god had long white hair, purplish-pink skin, and six ornate horns that were shaped in a crown like way. While mostly naked, Slaanesh did wear sublime jewelry and he had flawless aesthetics even despite daemonic features. Other than that, Slaanesh looked sort of like an elf to him. His eyes were more beautiful than anything Malekith had ever seen, and he couldn't break eye contact with Slaanesh upon meeting the god's gaze.

"So, you're…Slaanesh?" Malekith finally managed to speak. He still couldn't move though.

"The one and only perfect prince! Do I live up to your lofty expectations, Malekith?!" Slaanesh beamed pridefully.

"You really are…" Malekith couldn't find the proper words to finish his statement.

"Perfect?!" Slaanesh finished for him.

"Not what I expected…" Malekith corrected the god.

Slaanesh seemed almost shocked by his comment and especially Malekith's mental reservations in agreeing with him, "What is that supposed to mean?! Am I not the most beautiful being you've ever laid eyes upon?!"

"You are…I just assumed you would look like a larger more monstrous version of N'kari," Malekith admitted in a half cognitive state. Something about staring at this god caused him to lose his will to escape. No, even worse than that. He wanted to talk to Slaanesh.

"How about now?" Slaanesh asked as he levitated into the air and grew to a size many times that of a keeper. Slaanesh also grew two more arms and wings in the process as a much more daemonic and eldritch form took shape.

This form would undoubtedly have caused Malekith to go utterly insane if he wasn't still mind-linked to Oxyotl. He could feel the reptile's fearful hatred and disgust for this creature fighting against his lustful awe of its impossible and grotesque beauty.

Slaanesh's voice resonated deeper and proudly, "Is this what you were expecting?"

Slaanesh's 'true form' was both horrific and awe-inspiring. Slaanesh didn't stay in that form for long before reverting back to the elven like form close to Malekith's size and levitating in front of the witch king.

"Hmm…is that Shen Zoo? When did she get here? Last I saw, she was in Tzeentch's realm chasing after her brother." Slaanesh asked.

The exalted keeper Amnaich quickly answered its god, "Master, Zarakynel and I found her on our raid. We meant to give her as a gift to you. We even left her unspoiled despite heavy protest from the young. Malekith freed her, but I assure you that we would not have let them escape even if you hadn't arrived."

"I highly doubt that. They were home free and would be long gone had I arrived a minute later. I knew Tzeentch was up to something when he insisted on speaking privately after the meeting. How fortunate for you all that I declined his offer," Slaanesh noted condescendingly to his followers.

The god's tone and words appeared to almost wound the Slaaneshi daemons as they sank lower on their knees in pitiful shame. Many began to cry out in desperate pleas of forgiveness or offer up solutions to rectify their failures.

"Enough…" Slaanesh waved his hand dismissively at their antics, "I grow tired your groveling. Put some thought into how you plan to earn my forgiveness later. Right now, I'm more interested in speaking with Malekith."

"Shen Zoo was looking for her brother?" Malekith couldn't help but ask. He remembered Shalaxi mentioning it, but now he was deeply curious about the mysterious dragon girl.

The God's beautiful gaze met his once again as he nodded, "She was. Her brother you see…well he decided to forsake the family and serve Tzeentch. They have a beautifully dysfunctional family. I find it amusing to watch them squabble."

"Who is this woman? She turned into a dragon," Malekith followed up. For reasons beyond his logical mind, he felt like this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to ask Slaanesh questions and couldn't help himself. The god's willingness to answer them made it far too tempting not to.

"You don't know? Oh, that's even funnier, hahahaha!" Slaanesh laughed.

Even the god's laughter was beautiful and pleasing to the ear. Malekith felt a warmth in his heart from the divine sound that genuinely brought him joy and made him smile.

The strange euphoria from Slaanesh's presence began to grow even stronger now. Malekith had never been one to use drugs before, but he felt like he was on cloud nine and higher than an opium addict.

"She's the dragon emperor's youngest daughter. The Dragon of Light. Are you rescuing her, Malekith? That's unexpected but rather cute. I swear you're so unpredictable that I never get bored of watching you." Slaanesh smirked.

"Malekith also freed the captive bloodthirsters as well," Zarakynel informed the god.

Slaanesh glanced over at the location of where Malekith had butchered Shalaxi, "Yes, I noticed my favorite chandelier was missing. Never mind that…you let them butcher my precious Shalaxi too I see. I can't leave you children alone for five minutes, can I? Well at least the palace didn't burn to the ground while I was gone. You're all so incompetent."

"Shalaxi insisted on dueling him, master! You know how hard it is to say no to her," N'kari sounded a bit worried now.

"Her ambition is boundless. No matter…" Slaanesh shrugged nonchalantly as he conjured magic over where the daemon had died causing it to immediately reform and resurrect the herald back to life.

Shalaxi looked confused as she returned to life, but quickly realized that Slaanesh was back as she dropped to her knees almost prostrating herself before the god, "Master! Forgive my weakness! I am unworthy!"

"I forgive you this time, Shalaxi…only because it was him. Anyways, welcome to the Palace of Slaanesh, Malekith. I'm very pleased to see that you were able to get here. As a mortal guest who was able to conquer the circles of seduction, I will grant you a boon. What can Slaanesh do for you, my precious?" the god asked Malekith seductively.

Malekith was still frozen in awe and stared at Slaanesh against his will. For the ever-briefest moment, he felt completely comfortable with humoring the god's offer and asking for a boon. A whisper of reassurance crept into his mind almost lulling him to let his guard down and trust the god.

Before he could answer, N'kari spoke up again, "Master, he came here to retrieve Aenarion's soul. Surely, we should harvest his?"

"Is that right? Such a noble quest for one such as you, Malekith. Did Asuyan send you? What am I saying…of course he did. Is that what you want from me? It seems so annoyingly righteous, mundane, and altruistic compared to anything else I could offer you. Don't limit yourself or your imagination. I can offer far more than you've ever dreamed of," Slaanesh cooed.

"W-what can you offer me exactly?" Malekith asked. He was almost completely enraptured by the god and couldn't even think straight.

"I offer much. Power, knowledge, glory, pleasure…would you like that? I can make you phoenix king of Ulthuan. I can give you a harem to rival my own and even put the everqueen in it. I can share all the secrets of the universe! Every dream you've ever wished for. Every sensation you've ever fantasized about experiencing is within my power to give. The visions you rejected in the Circles of Seduction could be a reality if you wanted. All you have to do is ask me for it. I can make the world will kneel at your feet. All you'd have to do is kneel at mine." Slaanesh announced.

"I…don't know," Malekith mustered his remaining willpower to try and resist the god's allure.

"Hmm? Quite conflicted, aren't you? Your resistance is wasted on denying my offer. What do you owe Asuryan or any of your gods for that matter? Even now they're probably laughing at you for coming here. They sent you to die because they hate you and because they think I don't value your life. Little do they know I am a benevolent benefactor to those who earn my attention…and you most certainly have. You don't have to decide right away. Why don't we have dinner first and get to know each other better. I can answer more questions for you too. Come, I'll have Malaxes prepare us a feast right now," Slaanesh responded almost reasonably.

"What about my father?" Malekith managed to ask. He already felt his sanity draining, but he at least had enough cognitive awareness to ask that.

The god then held out his hand and spoke authoritatively, "Forget about him. Forget about everything else. Take my hand, Malekith. I have so many wonderful gifts to share with you."

Sheathing his weapons against his will, Malekith took a step closer towards Slaanesh and extended his right hand out to the god. For reasons beyond understanding, he felt compelled to obey. Even worse than that…he felt like the god was genuinely friendly and wanted to help him. Something about Slaanesh was more disarmingly innocent than an Asur child.

"Think of all we can accomplish together," Slaanesh added seductively.

"Malekith! What are you doing?! There was a magical disturbance…what's happening in there?!" Oxyotl's voice shouted through Malekith's head.

The elf then felt the lizardman's emotions overriding his own and snapping him out of his daze. Malekith stopped himself as he nearly grabbed Slaanesh's hand and managed to regain his senses. He immediately took a step backwards towards the unconscious Shen Zoo, "No…I want to leave this place. I want to go home."

To say Slaanesh looked shocked and offended by his rejection was an understatement. It might have been the first time anyone other than another chaos god had ever rejected Slaanesh's charms in such a manner.

"I must have misheard you…did you just say no to ME?" Slaanesh gawked in an excessively dramatic and almost posh way.

"The only boon I want is for you to let me leave," Malekith reaffirmed as he felt Oxyotl's cold logic starting to synchronize with his own logical thoughts of the danger he was in.

The chaos god then projected his voice in a deep and godly echo, "Take my hand, now!"

The voice amplified and echoed endlessly throughout the palace and even within Malekith's own mind completely overriding his remaining willpower and forcing him to obey.

Malekith then extended his hand against his will towards Slaanesh's. The god interlocked his clawed feminine hand with Malekith's gauntleted one and a feeling of serenity washed over him.

"How lucky you are…to have the honor of touching me. My pitiful children must be so jealous right now. Come, let's have dinner. I'll have Malaxes prepare us a feast and we can speak more about you and I," Slaanesh spoke seductively as he levitated even closer to the beguiled elf.

As this was happening, Amnaich came closer as well and moved in towards Shen Zoo. Malekith lost all sense of reality as the warm and indescribable joy he felt in holding Slaanesh's hand overwhelmed his thoughts.

A trance soon overcame Malekith's remaining senses as he felt himself falling down an endless black abyss. It was a strange feeling not dissimilar from a fever dream of some kind. Malekith felt like he was floating through the cosmos absent any stars. It was an endless void and there was no light.

Before he could close his eyes and surrender to the blissful and comforting darkness forever, he heard a voice call out to him from above, "We all have a purpose…my son."

His eyes snapped wide as he felt a desperation erupt from within. Malekith writhed and cried out in fear and confusion now, "Father?! FATHER?!"

There was no denying it…the voice he just heard was Aenarion's voice. From a great distance overhead, Malekith saw a single light in the void of darkness surrounding him. He reached out his hand towards it, but the light was getting further and further away from him. He might as well have been reaching for a star in the night sky.

Slaanesh's voice soon drowned out the area, "You're mine now, Malekith. It's just you, me, and eternity!"

"NO! NOOOO! ARGHHH! IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS! FATHER! Someone HELP!" Malekith cried out with the last of his willpower at the fading light.

"I'm the only father you need now, Malekith. Embrace me and I shall embrace you," Slaanesh's godly voice echoed.

"Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light," Aenarion's voice sounded faintly.

Malekith remembered those words. His father said them once. The memory of it seemed so vivid in his mind as he thought about its meaning.

Calling upon all of the magic he could muster, Malekith howled at the top of his lungs as he unleashed a dangerous explosion of power in all directions. This was the fastest way for a mage to kill themselves with magic, but it was all he could do now.

"ARRRGHHH!" the witch king screamed with pure rage and pain as he magically propelled himself towards the fading light in the void.

As he advanced, his body began to sear with the familiar pain of the Flames of Asuryan. The bluish white flames began to erupt across the horizon as Malekith drew closer towards the light like a burning meteor. All sense of cognitive thought or reality was gone. All he felt was pain, desperation, and the rage of his entire life compressed into that moment.

Right as he was about to reach the light, Malekith felt a massive hand grab ahold of him and pull him back, "Stop being difficult! YOU ARE MINE!"

"No...he is not." the voice of Asuryan echoed throughout the void before the hand could pull him away from the light.

"What?!" Slaanesh hissed.

Malekith couldn't even process what happened next as the light flew towards him and ignited the flames of Asuryan tenfold. They exploded outward like a dying star engulfing the void with fiery light.

As split second later Malekith found himself out of whatever strange fever dream he was in and back in the throne room holding Slaanesh's hand. Looking around confused, he saw the flames of Asuryan were spilling out of him in all directions engulfing the throne room in blue-white fire.

Slaanesh himself was roaring in agony as the searing flames covered the god's arm forcing him to let go of Malekith.

"ARGHH! How dare you!" Slaanesh hissed hatefully as he fell back writhing in agony from the divine flames.

Looking at his hands now, Malekith saw they were on fire. His whole body was in fact. The Flames of Asuryan violently shot out to incinerate rabid daemonettes who ran in to attack.

"Stay back! Those are the Flames of Asuryan!" N'kari warned the rabid daemonettes who kept rushing in with crazed hate. Even one of the regular keepers did.

Every single one of them was incinerated into ash before they could even get near Malekith. The Witch King watched with awe as the fire continued to burn Slaanesh and spread. The god attempted to suppress the flames with magic and seemed to force it to stop. He then cut off his own arm and watched it fall to the ground disintegrating into ash.

"Nice trick Asuryan, but I'm far more powerful than you! How dare you steal Malekith from me!" Slaanesh hissed hatefully at Malekith as if he were talking to the Phoenix God.

The flames then died down around Malekith as Slaanesh channeled a powerful spell to dissipate them. Malekith instinctively backed up and looked briefly at Shen Zoo to make sure she was still there. Thankfully she was.

It seemed the strange hallucination he experienced while touching Slaanesh's hand happened all in an instant as Amnaich, N'kari, and Zarakynel were all backing away fearfully from him.

"All that for what?! You've failed Asuryan! Malekith is mine and you'll never get Aenarion's soul back! I've won and you've lost! I look forward to eating you when our Everchosen destroys your world!" Slaanesh ranted as his arm immediately regrew.

"Oxyotl are you there?! Can you teleport me out?!" Malekith tried to communicate telepathically to the skink. Part of him was uncertain what effect his experience might have had on the reptile's mind.

Fortunately, for whatever reason, he was now free of the strange charm that Slaanesh had on him, and he could think clearly again.

A moment later a pained voice answered, "Sorry, Malekith. Whatever just happened to you knocked me out for a moment. I'm underneath the throne on a vehicle. Teleporting you now!"

"Make it quick, because Slaanesh is back. What's the range on the teleport? I have the dragon girl with me too. Can it bring her as well?" he asked.

"If she's close and in your magical aura, it should work I think," Oxyotl answered.

Malekith immediately moved back and picked the unconscious Shen Zoo up. He was no longer on fire, and he knew he had to get out of this place now or he was doomed.

"Ahaha, look how concerned he is for her, master," N'kari laughed, "isn't that precious? Malekith the hero…what a joke! She'll suffer far worse than your pitiful wife did and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"I have the girl! Do it now!" the elf shouted psychically to the skink.

"Are you going somewhere?" Slaanesh asked mockingly as Malekith glanced back and saw the barrier still blocking the exit to the palace.

Malekith felt himself beginning to glow with unusual magic and his bracer lit up like a star. As the golden glow enveloped him, he tightly clutched Shen Zoo and felt himself disappearing from the throne room.

Slaanesh seemed to know exactly what was happening and tried to ensnare him with magic before he could teleport. This seemed to dampen the glow and its magic as Malekith felt like his body was being torn in two directions.

"You're going nowhere without my permission," Slaanesh said with smug pride.

"What is that bracer?" Amnaich asked confused.

"It's one of the bracers of Xholankha. I thought I recognized it," Slaanesh answered casually, "that must mean he's working with Oxyotl. Someone go retrieve that annoying creature for me."

"The skink?! Wait…the puzzle box!" Shalaxi sounded urgent now.

"They were working together this entire time!" Amnaich immediately figured it out.

"Where is he? I'll get him for you master!" Zarakynel volunteered eagerly.

Before Slaanesh could respond, the god began to cough up boiling blood. He still held his magic on Malekith to prevent teleportation, but the god's power was starting to wane and fluctuate.

"M-master?" Shalaxi asked concerned.

Smoke erupted throughout the throne room as Slaanesh began to vomit violently. The flames of Asuryan then erupted out of his mouth in a strange ethereal haze. The fire flew towards Malekith as if drawn to him.

They immediately entered Malekith's body moments later and severed Slaanesh's magical hold. The last thing the Witch King saw before teleporting was Slaanesh's stunned face.

He had little time to celebrate his unusual fortune as Malekith quickly found himself moving on what appeared to be an exalted seeker chariot. Four steeds of Slaanesh were pulling the razor-wheeled chariot as it sped out of the seeker stables into the valley outside of the palace. Fortunately, the teleportation also brought Shen Zoo with him. Malekith slung the woman down in the chariot as he looked over at the intensely focused Oxyotl.

The skink was driving the chariot much to his fascination. Of all the impossible things he saw today, a skink driving a chariot might have been the most unusual. He didn't have time to reflect on that as he spoke, "Good work Oxyotl."

"You said daemon god Slaanesh was back? Is that why teleportation didn't work right away?" the skink asked with evident but calm concern.

Malekith nodded, "Yes…fortunately I managed to burn him somehow, but I'd be dead if not for you. I believe my god Asuryan protected me in there as well as these bracers linking our minds. Even with them, I couldn't think straight when looking at that creature."

"Giving you the bracer was a good call. Things didn't go entirely as planned, but I would have failed had you not been here as well. Oxyotl was not expecting the daemon god to return before our escape. We need to reach the portal soon before it traps us here," the skink noted.

"Do you think Fateweaver will be waiting for us at the portal or on the other side of it?" Malekith wondered.

Oxyotl shook his head, "Fateweaver won't risk intercepting us here if daemon god is present. We'll most likely cross paths with him on other side of this portal or more likely the polar gate portals."

"Do you know where they are?!" Malekith perked up with hopefulness.

"Yes, but they're opposite directions from each other. Southern portal is closer to Lustria and Southlands. Oxyotl must take that one," the skink stated.

"I need to find the northern gate though…and this girl is from Cathay which is also closer to the northern gate," Malekith sighed.

The skink briefly looked over at Shen Zoo, "Is she the human you were talking about? The dragon spawn?"

"She turned into a dragon earlier to save me…I think she actually is a dragon. I've never seen one like this before though. I had no idea they could tranform into humans," Malekith replied.

"Saving dragon might backfire. Dragon spawn hate children of the old ones. I doubt it will fly us out of here and I don't trust it enough to speak of puzzle box. It might help against Fateweaver, but we shouldn't get too attached to it," Oxyotl noted.

"We can worry about that later…how far away is the portal? We need to get out of this place fast before Slaanesh finds out where we went," the witch king asked urgently.

Oxyotl quickly pointed ahead as the exalted seeker chariot picked up speed, "Portal is there. Malekith needs to open it with magic. Only true magic can open portal."

"I know," the elf replied curtly as he began to start channeling magic in preparation for their arrival.

A warhorn then sounded from behind the chariot causing Malekith to look back briefly. He felt his heart sink upon seeing a full army in pursuit behind them. There must have been thousands of daemonette seekers and hundreds of chariots emptying out of the palace and coming their way.

Not only that, but Malekith's keen elven eyes could even make out the sight of dozens of keepers running after them on foot…and one of them was moving faster than the others. The extra fast one was N'kari and he was surprisingly catching up to them on foot somehow.

"Nothing's ever easy…" Malekith sighed with annoyance.

"Nothing worth doing ever is," Oxyotl added.

"Ughhh…my head! Wha-what the?! Where am I?!" Shen Zoo shrieked with worry as she snapped upright in the tightly cramped chariot.

She looked at Malekith confused for a moment. Her eyes then darted towards Oxyotl a second later and she blinked in disbelief, "Malekith? What's going on? Last thing I remember was us flying for the exit."

"We don't have time to explain," he answered her before pointing back at the army chasing them from the palace.

Shen Zoo looked at it horrified, "By the Emperor…do I even want to know what happened?! It looks like the entire palace is after us now! What did you do?!"

"We can talk about it when we get out of here," Malekith remarked bluntly.

"Where are we going, and what's with the skink?! How in the world did a skink get here?!" Shen Zoo demanded.

"He's with me…and we're heading for a portal up ahead. Make yourself useful and start covering the rear with your magic. I need to channel mine so we can open this portal," Malekith replied sharply.

Due to the weight of three people on the chariot, it was not going nearly as fast as the army of daemons in pursuit. Malekith didn't even look back as he stayed focused on his task, but he could hear the sounds getting louder and louder behind them as well as the sound of Shen Zoo launching spells.

Fortunately, they were in range of the portal now. It was far larger up close being the height of a three-story building and having the width to fit a marching army.

Malekith launched his magic at the closed portal causing it to flicker and materialize open with fluctuations of magic.

As the chariot nearly reached its destination, a massive barrier shot up in front of it. The barrier looked just like the one that blocked the palace exit earlier. Malekith glanced back briefly and saw a horrific manifestation of shadow and magic taking shape over the palace of Slaanesh.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?! Nobody makes a fool out of me!" a godly voice rang throughout the skies.

"Is that…" Shen Zoo paused briefly to look at Malekith.

"Keep these daemons off of us and don't look up girl!" the witch king commanded her.

Malekith grimly looked back at the barrier blocking their getaway to the portal as he desperately thought of how to get through it while Shen Zoo held back daemons with her magic. Even Oxyotl was firing darts from his magical blowpipe at an impressive rate to snipe down the ones that managed to slip through.

"We're done for…there's no way out!" Shen Zoo said with frantic hopelessness as the Slaaneshi daemons swarmed in endlessly.

'The flames can break the barrier…that's what that lord of change said to me earlier! This is going exactly as they planned!' Malekith thought horrified.

By this time N'kari and many of the keepers had also caught up and were all rabid with anger. No doubt Malekith setting Slaanesh on fire had sent them into a frenzy that rivaled Khornate daemons.

"No more tricks Malekith! TODAY YOU DIE!" N'kari howled at the top of his lungs as he tanked his way through Shen Zoo's bolts of light and dove at the chariot.

What happened next was shocking. Right before N'kari could hit them, a flaming whip wrapped around his sword arm yanking the keeper back. Malekith could barely believe his eyes as the two escaped bloodthirsters were now there.

The one with the whip was clearly the exalted variant of the two. As he ripped N'kari back, the bloodthirster bashed his axe through N'kari's chest tearing off a massive chunk of flesh and hurling the keeper to the ground in a pool of blood.

He then let out a deadly howl, "Face me in battle, N'kari!"

The other bloodthirster howled as well as it cut a swathe through several seekers with its two-handed axe and bellowed a wall of flame out. To the bewilderment of Malekith, Shen Zoo, and Oxyotl the two bloodthirsters helped them hold back the tide.

Working quickly, Malekith tried his best to manifest the Flames of Asuryan again. To his astonishment, his body lit up with the godly flames upon trying. He wasted no time firing the flames at the barrier and managed to break it much to the relief of Shen Zoo.

Annoyingly however, the chariot's path was now blocked by endless daemons. Oxyotl didn't seem to care though as he whipped the reins against the four steeds pulling the chariot. Malekith added to this by hexing the creatures with pain.

The daemonic steeds neighed in agony as they carelessly ran through the daemons blocking the way forward. The exalted seeker chariot's bladed wheels rolled over dozens of daemonettes and other steeds causing gore to splatter everywhere. The daemons seemed smart enough to kill the steeds pulling the chariot, but not before it finally got to the portal.

Shen Zoo ran through it first followed by Oxyotl and Malekith at the same time. As they passed through, they found themselves teleported outside of the Marcher Fortress not too far from where Malekith battled N'kari originally. He could even see the dreaded windmill of the Marcher Fortress itself confirming their location.

What Malekith found strange about the situation though was the absence of a portal structure on the other side. It seemed the portal they used to escape was only one way. Although N'kari was somehow able to use it to get to the palace.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Malekith didn't have much time to think about these things as he watched the closing portal getting smaller. Right before it could seal off, he saw both bloodthirsters fly through and land nearby. They were drenched in gore and looked crazed beyond reason.

Malekith prepared himself for a fight as he gripped both of his swords and stared them down. Shen Zoo and Oxyotl swiftly followed suit but stayed cautiously still as the bloodthirsters looked over at them.

The exalted one looked down at Malekith and spoke almost approvingly, "Now we're even, Elf mage. While I detest this cowardly escape, we had no choice but to retreat and recover our brutal energy! You have my respect for butchering Shalaxi Helbane in melee combat and setting Slaanesh on fire. Our humbling of Slaanesh will please the blood god as will the skulls of the heralds and keepers we slaughtered! I will grant you an honourable death should we ever meet again on the field of battle! You alone have proven worthy enough to earn it!"

"Lucky me…" Malekith replied dryly as he noticed the many heads the two bloodthirsters had strapped or chained to themselves.

"We shattered the portal spire on our way through…it will slow their horde down temporarily. I'd suggest you leave this place while you still can. Our actions are certain to invoke a retaliation from Slaanesh and we intend to intercept them in glorious battle with the blood god's legions!" the other bloodthirster added.

Without another word, the two bloodthirsters took flight and departed. The daemons didn't even acknowledge Shen Zoo or Oxyotl for some reason before flying off and leaving the three mortals behind.

The fact that they actually helped mortals was somewhat interesting to Malekith. Even as malevolent and bloodthirsty as khornate daemons were, they truly did have a code of honour. Part of him briefly wondered what the other chaos gods would think about him somehow burning Slaanesh with the Flames of Asuryan.

After sheathing his swords, Malekith briefly looked at his hands as he thought about the outcome of his impossible quest, 'I have no idea what happened back there, but it seems the flames are inside of me, and I can wield them. I'm also fireproof it seems. Is this what having Asuryan's true blessing is?'

It was a strange and surreal feeling as Malekith thought over the situation a bit longer. He didn't feel pride or relief like he thought he would. Instead, he felt even more grim about his future fate. That wasn't even counting the fact that he had Oxyotl and his puzzle box to concern himself with as well.

Shen Zoo let out a huge sigh of relief, "I can't believe we actually made it out of there!"

"We should move, Malekith. They won't be able to pursue us if we make it through that forest and closer to daemon plague god's realm," Oxyotl informed Malekith telepathically.

For whatever reason, the skink seemed extremely wary and distrustful of Shen Zoo. No doubt he was going to have to mediate some kind of truce between them as the reptile was staring at the dragon woman almost hostilely.

"Wait a minute…I must have been hearing things but did that bloodthirster say you set Slaanesh of fire?!" Shen Zoo gawked disbelievingly.

"Let's move…we can speak about this when we're clear of the Marcher Fortress!" Malekith ignored her as he glanced at Oxyotl, "lead the way."

The skink didn't speak but nodded as he led the way forward and guided Malekith along. As the two progressed, Malekith heard the footsteps of Shen Zoo following behind them.

He briefly glanced back at her as he continued walking, "You're coming with us?"

"I mean…why wouldn't I? I have no intention of getting lost in this place and your little skink friend seems to know where he's going. Are you trying to get rid of me again?! Haven't I already proven to you that I'm more than capable of being reliable? You obviously don't hate me since you saved my life twice already…so what's the problem?!" the dragon woman countered.

"Nothing…I'm just surprised you haven't flown away already. Not many people would be eager to follow the Witch King around. Not even my own loyal subjects," he shrugged.

"You thought I would leave after all of this?! And go where exactly? I have no clue how to get out of this place, but you two seem to know. Besides our odds of survival will be much higher if we help each other. I don't know what happened back there or how you got us out, but I'm clearly better off with you around than by myself. Doesn't that tickle your elvish pride having a dragon valuing your help? Am I wrong to assume that you want me here since you brought me with you?! Or do you want me to prostrate myself before you like some desperate damsel and beg to come along?!" Shen Zoo huffed in protest.

"I had hoped that you would fly us out of here…" Malekith said dryly.

"Excuse me?! Do I look like a mount to you? I am not a horse or some beast of burden! I am a dragon, and I won't be caught dead letting people ride me like those shameless western dragons in the-" the woman never got the chance to finish her statement before Malekith interrupted her.

"Let's go Oxyotl…which way is the portal to the southern gate? I should probably get you out of here first since you can't open them. I need to go through the northern gate." Malekith ignored Shen Zoo's protest and spoke to the skink.

The skink pointed towards the forest Malekith had passed through earlier to reach the Marcher Fortress, "That way and through a swamp. Portal is between daemon territories. Forest should grant us cover. Swamp is plagued though…so we have to be careful not to touch anything."

"Oh wow...it speaks elvish?" Shen Zoo remarked with amazement at Oxyotl's remark.

The chameleon skink ignored her as he kept moving along. Malekith quickly followed the swift reptile who was almost running to get out of the open area they were standing in. Shen Zoo seemed annoyed that they were ignoring her and ran after them.

Nobody said another word as the three ran in silence for the cover of the forest and away from the Marcher Fortress. As they ran, Malekith heard Oxyotl speak to him telepathically again, "Don't tell the dragon about the puzzle box. Their kind doesn't respect the Great Plan and they have no regard for children of the Old Ones. She will be helpful, but don't trust her more than we have to."

"I figured that was something you would tell her if you wanted her to know," Malekith responded mentally to the skink.

"The dragon spawn trusts you. Try to convince it to fly us before we get to swamp. Crossing on foot is not optimal," was all the skink replied as the trio moved along.

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Alright guys…here's part two of that excessively long chapter I wrote. There's a lot to unpack here and I have some insight I'd like to share with you all as I'm sure there will be questions and/or objections to things witnessed within.

So, to start…Malekith and Oxyotl wreak some havoc in the Palace of Slaanesh and were lucky enough to do so while Slaanesh was away at the Court of the Covenant. So, in case you haven't figured out why Slaanesh was absent…the chaos gods were deciding on the future Everchosen among other things related to the Great Game. It seems Tzeentch and Khorne both knew about Malekith going to the palace which is why they tried to delay Slaanesh at the meeting. They don't want Slaanesh getting Malekith as a potential servant. The shadow Malekith saw on the horizon in chapter 1 after yelling to the skies was Khorne as I'm sure some of you probably realized. Tzeentch on the other hand seems to be involved in some super intricate plot to see the puzzle box removed from Slaanesh's palace. The Great Game takes precedence in the Realms of Chaos and that's why they're actively trying to undermine Slaanesh even if it indirectly helps mortals.

While stalking through the palace, Malekith and Oxyotl split up. Now I was going to write out some of the Oxyotl POV, but a lot of his stuff was a bit off panel in this chapter since writing it in wouldn't really add much to what went down. He did awesome lizard ninja stuff and got his puzzle box out of the vault before saving Malekith's ass. Don't fret though…he'll be doing some badass shit on panel later on for your reading enjoyment. I love Oxy almost as much as I love Kroq-Gar, so you can trust me when I say he's a main character.

Malekith goes into a prison to free enough captives to cause a distraction and along the way he encounters an unusual human-looking woman from Cathay named Shen Zoo. Now in case you don't know, Shen Zoo is the youngest daughter of the Celestial Dragon Emperor. In TWW3 Realms of Chaos, the dragon siblings Miao Ying and Zhao Ming are looking for her as she disappeared in the Norscan mountains and her fate was supposedly witnessed by the Kislev bear god Ursun. We were never really given an answer (at least not at the time of me writing this) about what happened to her. So, I'm of the belief that she ended up in the Realms of Chaos and she was out there pursuing her fallen brother.

There was a Cathayan dragon who fell to chaos in the Archaon books named Yien-Ya-Long. It's sort of assumed that he is one of "the nine" which are the nine children of the Dragon Emperor and the Moon Empress. Of "The Nine" only six are known by name canonically, so I'm willing to believe he's one of the unnamed ones. It's believed the spirit dragon is as well who is another "lost" daughter. From what I understand, she is "dead" or asleep supposedly but might also have some connection to the vampires in Cathay (the jade-blooded) and the spirit realm. I might delve into this in future chapters, but it's just some food for thought.

Yien-Ya-Long (known as "Flamefang" in Reikspiel) is a mutated three-headed and winged eastern chaos dragon and he has an interesting connection to Sheerian. I think Yien-Ya literally means Fire fang or something in Mandarin. However, he isn't the fire dragon (that's Li Dao). He was in the lore before GW built Cathay up for CA in TWW3, so that's probably why this oversight exists. Archaon has to deal with Yien-Ya-Long in his journey to become everchosen so he is canon. Considering that Yin and Yang Magic are combined winds, it's pretty much understood that all of the dragon children have proficiency in the primary eight winds (just as elves who know Qhaysh and Dhar can use all the regular winds too) as well as Yin or Yang specifically. Here's what's odd though...nine children and eight winds. They're all connected to one of these winds except for one...that one possibly being Yien-Ya-Long.

Now here's where I go off script...but bear with me as this will make things easier to understand. All of the dragon children seem to be aligned with or favor one particular wind along with Yin or Yang magic (which their parents invented). The Yang aligned lores are: Fire, Life (which is water in cathay), Light, and Heavens (Stone in Cathay. Think of celestial bodies like meteors). Yin Aligned Lores are: Metal, Spirit (which is death magic), Shadow, and Beasts (wood). So let me break it down how I see this...Miao Ying uses Life (even though she's the storm dragon) and Yin magic. Zhao Ming (the iron dragon) uses Metal and Yang. They're both aligned with their various Yin or Yang side, but Miao Ying is connected to the yang aligned life magic and Zhao Ming is connected to the Yin aligned Metal magic. These two winds (or elements) can be seen as either Yin or Yang. Miao is the Emperor's favorite child and Zhao is the Empress' favorite child. I also believe they are the two oldest kids.

Yuan Bo (the Jade Dragon) uses Heavens and Yang. It would make more sense for Miao Ying to have heavens and Yuan Bo life, but that's what interviews and some canon sources have confirmed to me. Feel free to offer objections if you want before I get to that part of the story. Heavens is connected to stone and celestial bodies. It's kind of a different thing in Cathay as opposed to Ulthuan or the Empire. Yin-Yin (the Sea Dragon) uses Beasts and Yin. According to what I've seen from sources, Beasts is associated with (Wood) or nature to Cathay. Li Dao (the fire dragon) uses Fire and Yang. Shen Zoo uses Light and Yang (as far as I'm concerned since Light is not aligned with Yin magic at all). The unnamed spirit dragon uses Death and Yin. The last unnamed dragon (or maybe even Yien-Ya-Long himself) would likely use Shadow and Yin magic. Yang is traditionally masculine and Yang magic does come from Xen Yang the dragon Emperor. Shen Zoo is his only daughter who is more aligned with Yang magic since she is the Light Dragon. Yin is traditionally feminine in nature and associated with darker magic. Quai Yin (the Moon Empress) is the creator of Yin Magic. Yin and Yang magic are combined winds similar to Qhaysh and Dhar and are known by the dragons of Cathay and practiced by the dragon-blooded Shugengans (who are human descendant children of the nine throughout the generations).

On a yin-yang symbol, Yin is black and Yang is White. There's an interesting concept of balance and harmony when it comes to Cathay, so there are 4 sons (Zhao Ming, Yuan Bo, Li Dao, and Yien-Ya-Long) and four daughters (Miao Ying, Yin-Yin, the Spirit Dragon, and Shen Zoo). The ninth child could be either male or female and was probably left ambiguous by GW and CA similar to the 2nd and 11th primarchs in 40k. In my fanfic here, the last child could be the Shadow Dragon and use Yin in contrast to Shen Zoo being Light and Yang. It would make more sense for it to be a yin-aligned son in contrast to Shen Zoo being a Yang-aligned daughter, though Yien-Ya-Long could also be the Shadow Dragon himself which would leave the ninth child ambiguous. I'm very curious to know what you would prefer to be the case as I haven't decided yet. Yien-Ya-Long could have also fallen to chaos since he wasn't aligned to one of the eight winds of magic and felt like an outcast in his family.

Sorry to go off on a long-winded explanation, but I want this stuff to make sense to you guys. It seems logically connected to me and that's my interpretation based on the canonical Cathay stuff we've been given. Now Malekith rescuing Shen Zoo will be an interesting twist in his return to the Mortal realm as Shen Zoo is beloved by all of her remaining siblings and parents. I imagine she's all of her siblings' favorite sister and keeps them from fighting each other. Miao Ying and Zhao Ming literally race each other to be the one to save her in TWW3.

The Cathayan dragons don't really like elves…especially dark elves. So, they will be baffled by the Witch King of all people saving their youngest sister. Now as far as her appearance goes…we haven't been given anything yet, but I sort of imagine Shen Zoo looks a lot like Diao Chan from Dynasty Warriors. Now I don't have a concrete concept of what Yuan Bo or Yin-Yin would look like, but I do imagine Li Dao looks and acts like Lu Bu. I have no idea if GW and CA will ever flesh out the rest of the Cathay Dragons, but that's what I have so far. As you can probably imagine, they will be in this story. I also have plans on Nippon as well.

Each of the dragon kids rule one of the provinces in Grand Cathay since their godly dragon parents don't really care about governing personally. They usually just chill in their floating palace over Wei Jin or venture off occasionally. Miao Ying rules the north and is warden of the great bastion (Cathay's great wall of china to keep chaos out). Zhao Ming rules the west on the border of the great maw near the ogres and Mountains of Mourn. He is considered crazy by his siblings since he's really close to the great maw and constantly around warpstone. He also cares about the little people (peasants) unlike most of his siblings and is known to foster and accept outcasts like the alchemists.

Yuan Bo rules the central area (and he is the administrator of the empire. I imagine he's probably the most regal, traditional, well-mannered, and intelligent), Yin-Yin rules the East and is in charge of their fleets. She also has the most exposure to the outside world and once tried to invade the Southlands. Li Dao rules the Southern provinces and has to deal with Ind, Khuresh, and the monkey king. It's arguably just as important as Miao Ying's duty to guard the bastion, but he resents her because he doesn't get nearly the same respect or acknowledgement from their family for doing so. I'm pretty sure Ind and Khuresh will be fleshed out at some point, but I do intend on adding some of their stuff myself to this story.

Another thing I want you guys to ponder is the supposed voices Malekith was hearing in his head when fighting Shalaxi. Do you think he was just hearing things or were the Cytharai actually talking to him? Either way it wasn't promising. If the latter is true, they certainly didn't seem interested in helping him other than Khaine. Will this experience cause Malekith to start resenting some of the Cytharai gods when he gets back to the mortal realm?

With all that out of the way, it's time to address a point that I'm certain will be questioned. That being Malekith actually meeting Slaanesh. Considering how wacky the End Times and Age of Sigmar went with Slaanesh, I didn't consider what happened this chapter to be out of the realms of possibility. I'm sure most of you know the story of the Silver Knight who surrendered his soul at the mere sight of Slaanesh. Honestly, that almost did happen to Malekith and would have were it not for a particular set of circumstances such as the Old One bracelet and Asuryan blessing him while he was touching Slaanesh's hand.

Malekith almost gave in to Slaanesh even with Oxyotl's special Old One bracelet linking their minds. Whenever he decided to fight against the god's seductive power in his fever dream, Malekith ultimately proved to Asuryan that he could resist chaos even with his life forfeit. That of course led to him gaining control over the Flames of Asuryan which still reside in his body. He set Slaanesh on fire with them and you can probably imagine how that will be perceived by the chaos gods and various daemons in future chapters. Needless to say, he's definitely on their radar now. The bloodthirsters helping him out was also not something I considered impossible. While they do despise mortals and mages, they hate Slaanesh more...especially after being captives in the palace. Malekith freed them from the palace and went on a killing spree inside. Khorne is obsessed with slaughter, but he and his daemons are also the only chaos entities with any semblance of honour or respect. Malekith will probably have to fight them in the future as the exalted bloodthirster is a named one from lore.

After a lucky escape, Malekith and his unlikely allies Oxyotl and Shen Zoo are finally free of Slaanesh's realm. While they can breathe a sigh of relief, they are still in the Realms of Chaos and getting out won't be easy as they have to pass through part of Nurgle's realm and will undoubtedly meet resistance at the polar gates. Oxyotl is convinced that Kairos Fateweaver will intercept them. Expect that to be in the next chapter and Kairos to pull off some master level trolling feats on them.

The real question though is why do Shen Zoo and Oxyotl not trust one another? I mean besides the fact that they just met. Shen Zoo does not like lizardmen (as most dragons don't) since they are responsible for the state of the world. Miao Ying sums up how dragons feel about lizardmen perfectly: "From the Stars came the will to shape fate…hurling the world towards ruin." Dragons in general don't like the old ones or their children for changing the world. Oxyotl on the other hand doesn't trust people who "oppose the Great Plan". Dragons are not part of the great plan and openly resent Slann and the Old Ones. You can imagine why there's animosity there. While he isn't knowledgeable on the world, Oxyotl knows better than to tell the spawn of a "dragon emperor" anything about a prophecy of an Old One that he's trying to fulfill. He is more trusting of Malekith since he was willing to help him retrieve the puzzle box and because he had no choice in his current predicament. They're not exactly friends, but with their minds linked, they know the other can be trusted for the time being. Xholankha is a very obscure Old One in lizardman society...but there is another lizard character who worships him and who will be connected to the prophecy of dawn. (No it's not my beloved Krog-Gar).

So, before the next chapter comes out, I'm curious to see which polar gate you think Malekith will go through…the northern or the southern. What kind of bullshit will Kairos Fateweaver have waiting for them? Stay tuned and find out! Anyways, thanks for reading up until now.