Chapter Eight: Prince, Kingdom, Empire

Vehuel extended his fist to knock on the door but extended it far enough to reveal past his sleeve the pink, fleshy form he now solely possessed, unable to change it. It didn't even make sense to Luis, the animals he skinned before butchering made sense, knuckles, joints, muscles, sinew, cartilage. Him? He was just a solid, veiny mess, no nails, joints, eyes, mouth, ears or anything. Luis was also confident that he didn't have a skeletal structure beneath his flesh, he was just… 'angel mush' that's only shaped in loose mockery of God's image.

He sighed, before he retracted his fist, clenched the sleeve of his red cloak, and then knocked on the door to Shiehk's quarters.

While the Minister of Matter's usually wandered the city as a normal NPC, this was honestly the first time that Luis can recall that he visited the Black Iron dragon's section of the city's northern most tip. Most of it was dark grey crag rock, gulleys of poisonous swamps, and the ever-looming presence of the occasional Black Iron dragon's themselves, most were so still and so well blended into their environment that Luis didn't even see them but felt that flutter of startle when his other senses could detach them. Few, however, approached the Prince, bowed their heads and walked with him for a time, their flat, wide bodies and their equally proportioned heads and claws strutting in the stride wildly, while most definitely suited to flying, climbing, clinging and fighting, something told Luis that just the pedestrian act of walking was something that was simply overwritten.

The path to Sheihk's quarters was almost hidden away in the precarious environment, a sunken hill, with a small stone path leading to the silver door, inlaid with precious jewels, rubies, emeralds and sapphires, all leading to a massive diamond for a doorknob.

Despite his lengthy observation and recollection, there was no answer to the door. Luis was tempted to cut his losses, return to the palace and try his best with the rest of the ministers with what he had in mind for the future, but as he turned Luis looked back and saw over a dozen of the dragons he bore witness to on his path here; while far from being each a modestly sized dragon in their own right, were long as two men or more, the width of one of those same men, and their wing span was nearly triple that. They all looked up, down and to the side at the seraph, occupying every flat surface available to them in this narrow hallway. There presence was not hostile to the angel, merely attentive, but apart from the odd lick of air, nothing came from their mouths.

Vehuel asked, "Can you understand me?"

The dragon ahead of the group gave a dip of its short snout.

"As I understand it, you and Sheihk were offspring of the blackiron dragon queen. That makes you her older brothers."

The leader, again, nodded.

Vehuel 'frowned' behind his massive carmine hood. "I… wronged your sister. More so than before, and while I cannot recognize those of you who were present when she convinced them to treat me as a tool of exercise if you are here. If you know what I speak of; know now I deserve far worse for my recent mistake." Luis turned his head from one side to the other, avoiding looking at his crowd of onlooking escorts. "I must attempt to make amends. I do not know if I can, but I must try, I owe her too much not to do all I can."

Vehuel finally looked back at the gang of dragons only to see them looking at one another, giving lowly snarls and hisses, before at last looking back at Vehuel. Most left out the hallway immediately, but two others stayed, quietly crawled past the Prince before mounting the walls flanking the doors, climbing them to the top, before somehow slipping into a narrow crack in the area and disappearing into the Minister of Matter's quarters.

A moment later, the door clicked open, moving slightly. The two dragons quickly left the narrow passage to their Minister's quarters, walked toward Vehuel, bowed their heads respectfully at the Prince before departing to rejoin their brethren.

Vehuel slowly entered the domicile, opening the door and declaring, "Hello? Shiehk? It's Ve-" catching himself, not sure of how to introduce himself, "It's Luis, your brothers let me in."

The door opened to a vast, underground cavern, leading deeper into the island before climbing up to a vast gorge of sunlight. Presumedly to be used as a way to enter and leave her abode while in dragon form. As he made his way deeper into the area, he saw the torches burning in white-hot flame dance in the corners of his vision, but they seemed to somehow restrict illumination to the seraph, despite how he did almost all times prior his vision was able to pierce stone, flesh and sometimes even time, perceiving events seconds before they occurred, and now knew that Shiehk was indeed here but not what she was doing.

The first thing he noticed though was how starkly her long white hair clashed against the scaly blackness of her naked hide, but then immediately turned his head as if to provide a sense of respect for what could have been an entirely unexpected intrusion despite the noise both Vehuel and the dragons made. "Minister," he stated with remarkable calm, "I have never seen you without your garments."

Shiehk scoffed but said nothing, it was then Vehuel heard a solid woody thump, and turned his head to see that it was a large tome she had just thrown onto the desk, but it was not the first, as several others decorated the ebony table, and Shiehk reached into her item box before taking out another tome, but she didn't immediately open it, resting it on the spent cadavers of those prior books, leaning on the desk with her hands and lowering her head slightly.

Vehuel knew that while Shiehk was a hybrid between dragon and sand-elf, capable of shapeshifting between these forms at will but it seems she had trouble restricting her draconic traits from influencing her elven one. Black scales coated almost every part of her, save when oaky skin appeared at the corners of her hips, her armpits and the nape of the neck, and that was only what he could see from the back! He still remembers when he took her to the ground and tickled her silly, the memory making him lighten up a bit, and how he accidentally fondled her on his warpath of tickle-torture, so maybe her 'front' was of the more typical flesh then the harsh scales he sees now.

Vehuel decided he'd waited long enough for Shiehk to banish him from her private domain if she truly wanted to, and said, "I need your help, my friend."

Shiehk opened the tome to the front page, "With what?"

Vehuel sighed internally in relief at her first words. "I am making plans with the other ministers, about what Istannice should do in the near future and beyond with the neighboring countries. We've… my battle at the hills, it called a lot of attention to us. Over the past two weeks, we've received a number of envoys and, well, while we can shake our swords at them from here to the end of time, such an endeavor will not earn us allies or friends."

Shiehk continued her silence, not answering the Prince.

"I'm also making arrangements for a feast in two days."

The idea was so ridiculous to the minister that her attempts at stoicism failed and asked instantly, "Bloody why? For whom?"

Vehuel walked to the side of the chamber, noting the circular bed at the center some feet away from the desk. "You, the other ministers, the mayors and neighboring dignitaries that are brave enough to accept an invitation. It is customary to have a feast the first Sunday after the funeral of someone, but… I've missed that deadline and hope doing it later still means something."

Shiehk turned her head slightly as she inquired, "Is this custom from the same world you and pa-" Stopping herself before turning her head back to looking straight ahead, hiding what little features Vehuel could see in that brief instance, "our Lord-Prince Ozzydamandius?"

Vehuel was hurt for Vincent from his YGGDRASIL character's NPC child purposefully making a verbal distance between herself and her paternal figure. The seraph turned his head slightly, "We had… different faiths, but I do not know if this in particular is shared, but yes."

Shiehk opened the tome and then immediately closed it, giving a dry chuckle. "'Faiths'? Meaning you had disagreements on beliefs?"

Vehuel gave an honest, full chuckle in response, nodding, "That was just one of the issues we all had. How do you think we made Istannice into this wonderfully colourful and chaotic medley of conflicting ideas and personalities?"

Shiehk gave an exasperated groan, "You purposely made this city such a mess?"

"Well, there were only fifty people in the city, and you were talking a lot less at the time." Vehuel laughed and spoke without thinking, carried away by the sharing of his home's information.

Shiehk responded by picking up a tome and chucking it near a bookcase in front of her so hard the tall, lumbering deck of shelves, filled almost to overflowing with similar sized publications, fell over in quick succession.

Vehueld's gaze fluttered a brief yellow, the small wave of fear being quickly pushed back.

Shiehk gave a long, heavy sigh at her childish outburst, leaning back into the table and said, "I've… been trying to find anything, anything, that proves my father and I had conversed. All I can find are transactions between our Guild and others, receipts, alliances, plans, raids, and I… and I am impressed by how meticulous it all was kept, but these things are the only pieces of lore I can find about this city, my city, was written by the Princes. No one else, not one."

Vehuel thought a moment before asking, "What's the first thing you remember?"

Shiehk scoffed, "What about you? What's the first thing that you remember?"

Luis stooped his head slightly, "Being hungry."

Shiehk stopped a moment and turned her head slightly, "What?"

"My mother had problems producing milk or something when I was born, and my brother said it wasn't possible for a baby to remember such an early time and maybe he's right, but I remember... lights, vague faces and smells and having this God awful, painful nought in my stomach." Luis shrugged, despite how she likely didn't see it. "I'm sure Michael, uh, Nasazel would have this term for how it affected my long-term goal to becoming a chef."

There was nothing but silence between them for what felt like minutes, only sparsely interrupted by Shiehk moving her head from side to side on occasion, the ruffles of her curtain of hair rubbing against her scaly hide. Luis stayed there, motionless, not even breathing (not that he needed to), waiting patiently for the Minister's next actions, her next decisions.

"You people grew hungry where you are from? How… mortal were you?"

It never crossed Luis's mind of how one might approach the concept of another being sharing the details of how they, until recently, were an important and powerful subject in one's world for the simple purposes of entertainment, and how one might immediately perceive such a being as something far removed from such baser elements of ephemeral creatures. "We slept or we died. We ate or we died, then we had to find safe shelter, or we died, then… then things started getting slowly out of control and… well, those are all still big problems where I was from, but with a lot more problems attached to them to deal with too."

Shiehk quickly asked, "B-but what did you look like? Were you shapeshifters, dragons, elves, how many races of you were there?"

Vehuel felt a solid pit of disappointment at the concept as he voiced it. "Just… humans. I'm not kidding, we were, are, human. No heteromorphs, dragons, magic, or realms on the World-Tree." Vehuel refrained from mentioning how many humans there were and what that had made of the Earth, one weird revelation at a time.

The seraph could sense Shiehk staring at him from her cloak of darkness for several seconds before she quickly erupted into a burst of laughter. "You have no clue how disappointing this all is!"

Vehuel joined her in a chuckle, "I might have an idea; our God either doesn't exist or is simply the worst person imaginable."

"Since you're not actually a seraph; that means absolutely fuck bloody nothing!" Shiehk roared in unbridled, crazed mirth.

Luis did his best to join her, the yellow haze doing its best to dim that wonderful emotional range past bitter, burning hatred. Vehuel's laughter didn't last very, making the angel feel bad as Shiehk's bout of joy continued far long after.

Sooner then Luis liked though, it ended, and they were once again dwelling in silence.

Shiehk turned, fully facing the seraph though a majority of her was still swallowed in darkness.

Vehuel found himself staring in both upmost curiosity and a cautious dread as the Minister walked towards him, the sound of her fleshy feet patting the stoney floor seemingly echoing throughout the chamber.

When the light eventually brought out the shape of a bosom to his view, Vehuel's gaze flickered yellow and he turned his head, Shiehk continued approaching him regardless.

He continued making visual contact with the woman, even as her march almost certainly stopped directly in front of him, less then an arm's distance away.

"It's alright." He heard Shiehk state softly. "Look at me, please."

Vehuel turned his hooded head slowly towards Shiehk, and was glad what he saw first was her face. But then was immediately confused by what he saw. The angel had imagined she was scaly, yes, but that she would appear close to an elf. No, what he saw was something like a flat-faced iguana, slits where a nose should be, plates of scale where lips should be, and an almost bulbous chin that seemed to melt into her neck. But her eyes, her eyes took away what confusion he had. There was no malice, no worry, not even a trace of the reptilian inhumanity of her facial features, there was only certainty, and compassion in her pale, lilac eyes.

Shiehk stopped their ocular communion, that had seemingly soothed a sore in Vehuel's soul, looked down at the angel's chest, reaching up with one hand to push down Vehuel's hood, while the other reached for the pin that held up his cloak.

Vehuel didn't resist as she bore his head to her sight. Not quite human, too oblong, pale and veiny. No eyes, no mouth, only beady red pearls that lined the too flat of a face where traditional features should be in a vague cross.

But when he felt the cloak loosen around his shoulders, Vehuel almost felt bashful and reached up to gently grab at Shiehk's hand to stop her. Shiehk scrunched her eyebrows and smiled, "It's only fair."

Refraining from looking below her neck, Vehuel removed his hand and gave a quick, sharp nod before she pushed his clothing fully off of him, pooling beneath the angel.

Shiehk's smile was replaced with a wry line of concern. Vehuel's arms and upper torso seemed typical, but his ribs were gone, revealing only a long thing 'spine' where his heart would be as it tapered down through a trio of rings where his legs should be, each of them looking like a pair of legs sitting crossed legged but with feather like veins being rent from their flesh in a horrific imitation of crossed wings, the largest being atop, one slightly smaller in the middle and a far smaller one for last, maybe as large as Shiehk's own conjoined arms.

"This is… unusual." She looked back up at the seraph, "What form is this?"

"An angel's 'zero' form, usually taken to access a greater pool of mana but it drastically reduces all other attributes, making it incredibly vulnerable to all harm." Vehuel looked to the Minister, "I haven't been able to change my form since the Guild resurrection by my children. It… nothing has worked." Shaking his head slowly.

Shiehk's read the reports of how the anti-life field that extended from the dungeon built into the hills effected many things drastically and from the Prince's own lips, made it incapable of his party from being resurrected, but it ended when one left its reach. 'But you broke the Prince's spirit before you Gated back with your last exchange.' She reminded herself.

A lightning strike of guilt ran through the Minister at the idea that since the Prince had lost his ability to maintain his form inside the treacherous area, he may have permanently lost said power directly because of her. "My Prince, Vehuel, I…"

Vehuel said something, but she couldn't hear. He said it again and she took a step back, tears welling in her eyes.

He reached for the half dragon and when she tried to bat his hand away, he snatched it, pulled her back to where she was a moment before.

Then he hugged her. "It's okay, it's going to be alright, I promise." Vehuel vowed silently.

She remembered how he had also hugged Nothiel, to not great success and imagined it was even more ridiculous looking with his lower body being almost nebulous in comparison, but it didn't matter to Shiehk a second after the thought passed, embracing Vehuel back, wrapping her arms under his and grabbing his shoulders.

Shiehk indulged this pitiful emotional need for far too long and after a moment or two, Shiehk spoke, "Alright, alright, I'm done, I'm sorry." She sniffled. Letting go of the angel before turning her head and wiping her eyes. "It's… I'm so sorry."

Vehuel reached out again and Shiehk was terrified he was going to hug her again, but instead he took her hand and brough it to his 'forehead', her knuckles briefly touching the crimson orbs that covered the face of the angel, "Nothing to forgive, the fault was mine, I presumed too much and… we both now suffer for it in different fashions. But I am glad someone now knows the truth, and am infinitely happier knowing it is you."

Shiehk hated Vehuel. 'Why can't he just hate me back?'

Emotions cooled over time, Vehuel answered what few questions Shiehk had left over not only the imminent situation but over the Prince's strange nature. Eventually, there was a question that neither Vehuel nor Luis could truly answer: "What brought us here and how did it change us to what we are now?"

Luis shook his head, "I have no idea, if I did, I wouldn't be this terrified over the topic."

Then the truth dawned on Shiehk; prior to arriving in the New World, the Princes and whoever else like them could leave YGGDRASIL at any point of their choosing, to live their real lives. While Shiehk may have been lacking a father, a lacking him for some time prior, she was still the Minister of Matters and her love for her city and home was never taken from her.

'Luis' was deprived nearly of all such niceties. He was alone.

Quick to distract him from the subject further Shiehk quickly asked: "What else do you need from me? I know you wouldn't need me to help coordinate a simple feast."

"I do need help with contacting the other, separate nations from the one we know. The beastmen, the other kingdom, this empire and the dragon lands north of us, but… I have an idea. One I most certainly need your aid in." Walking, or floating, a distance away from Shiehk, facing away from him. "We are to try and unify these people, provide a haven for all those who would follow us and become the benefactor of all, but I… am uncertain how to. Back where I'm from, the Church ran damn near everything, but only a few things were spared. One of which was the Bureau of Culinary-Wellness, a name we really needed to change. It…" Luis paused extended a hand, before twisting it trying to show how his brain was trying to word the concept, "it allowed the various restaurants and other such similar establishments to maintain a base minimum of what was required: sanitation, working hours, course sizes and such, but every few years or so we 'elected' a man to experiment several ideas which the others or himself thought of in the kitchen, trying to find the best that would help, and if something failed we'd try to help him out financially, send cooks or workers his way."

Shiehk looked to the side briefly, "You want the cooks to rule?"

Luis 'smiled', "One of them already is! But back to the point; while we regulated ourselves to maintain a minimum of certain things, it allowed us to focus on moving forward or changing something for the better. I…" Luis breathed in before giving a long sigh and nod, "It also taught us things that definitely did not work. The changes of leadership could have been chosen to end voluntarily by everyone, we'd stop and choose someone who'd be better for the rest of the time."

Shiehk sighed, "You're suggesting an elective monarchy? For Istannice?"

"God no!" Vehuel scoffed, "Well, maybe… back to the point again; we were all kings of our own restaurant, but we learned how to be better than we were before it existed, much better, and the people who came to us brought more and more people with them, they wanted to join us, experience this with us because it was truly in their own self benefit, a lot of involvement, a little involvement, didn't matter, they were still there." Luis continued, almost inspiring himself, "And if the one in charge did too much wrong, we'd change him, fix it."

"This sounds a lot like an elective monarch." Shiehk reaffirmed.

"Then that's what we should do!" Vehuel nodded excitedly as he turned to face his friend, "We shall endeavor to create a treaty, a list of laws for those who wish to join us!"

Shiehk blinked, "Well, we should at least start with a name. How about Bureau of Kingdomly-Wellness?"

Vehuel couldn't tell if she was joking or not but most definitely knew this was likely going to take longer than he expected.

[][][]

Queen Calca gave a quick and steady look around the room, feeling she was alone before she fully sat back into the chair, removed her Ring of Kings and gave a long, tired exhale as days of exhaustion suddenly came back to her all at once. Her hunger and thirst too, but they were far cries from what her body demanded of her at this very moment. Her blue eyes were almost sunken into her skull and there was a visible gauntness to her cheeks as she's continued to work day and night, trying to prepare her country and subjects from not only a possible invasion from Istannice, but neighboring nations to secure what magical source of power most if not all their magic-users have sensed to some degree, but is being viciously protected by those very same damned Istanni.

Armies were being bolstered, the Paladins may as well be occupying the countryside near Hoburns and what provisions they can secure are being funneled back to the cities as fast as they can, all the while she is more than tempted to recall all garrisons from the Albelion Wall, leave the villages in the area to their fate to secure the more numerous individuals further away from Beastmen territories.

The Holy Queen was happy to have the ring, now of all times, but it didn't extend her physical demands, only postponing them.

She only prayed to the Gods what she has done was now enough to finally give in to them.

Rest took her a moment later and she had no idea how much time had passed, other than the fact it was clearly day from how the sunlight reached into the palaces solar. That and Remedios was gently trying to shake her awake. "My queen?"

Calca rubbed her hands over her eyes and face, "What's happening now?"

"Breakfast." Remedios stated simply before extending her hand, "And no arguments, that's what's happening."

Calca glared at the paladin but agreed to her terms, grasping her hand, the queen was carefully escorted to her chambers. At her table, eggs were already prepared with toasted bread and sliced peaches.

By the time she recognized she had already eaten half it, she realized she couldn't remember getting to the table or sitting down and binging. Calca swiveled her face to see Remedios, barely containing her laughter, the queen's cheeks stuffed with food still.

Calca opened her mouth and pulled down an eye's lower lid to repay her friend's childish mockery.

The meal was as nourishing as it was overdue, and the queen was overjoyed to have Remedios at her side once more, even though her sister priestess was too busy to also do the same. But the traditionally loud mouthed, opinionated Paladin was almost solemn in terms of her speech towards Calca, and as the Holy Queen continued her duties of mustering her nation; she had to stop and ask the holy warrior; "Is something wrong? You're real quiet today."

The Custodia grimaced, "Not much to say really."

Calca put down her papers and gave the paladin a look that can be surmised as: 'You're full of it and you know it'.

Remedios gave a nasally sigh before eyeing one side of the room to the other, "Want you to think… more of me as this big mouthed bodyguard. When I heard about what happened to Kelart and her friends at Istannice, I kept thinking to myself 'You would be there protecting them if you weren't such an idiot running her mouth when she shouldn't'." The paladin gripped the pommel of her sword tightly as she explained, "If… if things had happened differently and Kelart-" She turned her head sharply, "No, no, I must be better. Right now I… don't know specifics about what else I can do, so; I remain silent until I do."

Calca was legitimately astonished. "That's a remarkable admission, I hope you follow through on it, but don't let it cloud your sense of self perseveration; there was nothing you could have done to help your sister or Pavel. That demon or whatever it was, wasn't even a warrior, he was a politician with a love of music."

Remedios was close to replying to the statement of how little difference there was between politicians and demons, but caught herself and quickly closed her mouth, allowing her queen to continue.

"Your sister and I need you alive, restraint is always good and I look forward to seeing you in this new light in the future. Something tells me we will all need you to be steady for us." Picking her papers back up and looking over the details, content being able to talk to her friend seriously without seeing her internal mood with her magic ring.

Scant minutes passed before a messenger came to their room, delivering a tightly tied scroll, a parchment she instantly recognized the origin of; "Istannice? Finally."

It took two seconds for her to read the message, her eyebrows scrunched, she glared daggers at the messenger and demanded, "Is this some kind of joke? A prank by the seneshall, Kelart?" The messenger looked between the paladin-commander and the queen, panicked and confused, nearly urinating his trousers when the queen added a quick and threatening, "Hm?!"

Remedios paced to the queen, held a hand to the parchment and quickly joined in leering at the messenger, wilting in terror eeven further. "Well?!"

"I-it was delivered by knight my lady-ladies, I was told to deliver it with all due haste!" The young man explained hurriedly.

"Go back, find the knight that gave you this and bring him here." Calca ordered, looking to the piece of parchment one last time before tossing it onto the table. The messenger did so doubly as fast as either expected, gladdened to be out of sight of any possible malevolence for whatever the message itself said.

Calca walked to a window, pinched the bridge of her nose and asked aloud, "'Supper'?"

Remedios scoffed, "Better be a feast to wake the gods with the commotion they've been causing and denying us any word on what's been happening."

"We should ready a ship to sail us there, something fast. I doubt we'll be the only guests they'll be entertaining, and I want us there before the alotted time."

Remedios looked beyond aghast at what her queen said, "You're truly going?! It's madness, lunacy!"

Calca closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, saying more to herself then to the paladin, "And you were doing so well a few moments ago." The queen waved a hand, "My brother will be inheriting the throne in case of anything… misfortunate happening to myself, but if it ensures the kingdom's safety; I go there gladly."

Remedios was close to continuing her rant at her queen's self-destructive decision but bit her tongue both figuratively and literally.

The queen gave a smile that conveyed both pride at her friend's accomplishment and fearful sadness that it may not last in the near future, "Good. Now get your sister, but before you bring her here; pray that she has any favors with the gods, I'll need to borrow a few."

Remedios grimaced, "And if she doesn't have any?"

"Then simply pray."

[][][]

The aldrikkni elder knelt as he explained the report, "All foreign lands we have invited have sent a collection of delegates, they will arrive in time for the feast."

The Prince nodded his head, "The Minister of Matters is still adamant I only speak to only Queen Calca, and only that in private?"

"She is, my Prince."

Vehuel stared a moment longer at his 'niece's' grave, a corner in the crypt, deep within the depths, a crude carving of Azimuth's mask on its surface. Nothing inside of it, obviously. Then the Seraph turned his head to face the elder aldrikkni, horns curling at the top of his head, almost blending in with the time weary mask of oak, indistinguishable from if the protuberances were part of the wooden cover or the man creature who wore it. This distracted Vehuel only briefly as the angel scooped down, grabbed the aldrikkni gently by his wrists and stood him up.

"Your grace, I apologize if I offended you." The aldrikkni stated firmly, but didn't drop down to the floor.

"I do not deserve such reverence, you will only go onto your knees before God Himself, never for one such as I." Vehuel commanded.

The aldrikkni bowed his head deeply, "As you command, my Prince."

The angel shook his head mentally, 'Think this is the best I'll get from them.' He thought, before the Seraph continued, "She will be remembered?"

Knowing he referred to Azimuth, the elder nodded, "For now and always, she was a wondrous being and we are all lesser for her death."

"Yes… yes…" Seraph agreed, nodding slowly. "I require to see something of my brother's… Nazazel hid several of his treasures when he was a human. One was a crucifix, if you could retrieve it for me I would forever be grateful."

"As you command, my Prince." The Aldrikkni repeated.

The Seraph was annoyed at the persistant reverence of the creature but quickly caught his anger before it spun out into its previous forms of rage. 'You can't expect too much too soon with the people here.' Vehuel re-assured himself. "I must go, find my children."

"They transplanted the Hell-Tree where the foul butcher of Azimuth dwells, have they not? For the purpose of seeing if it would, at last, put an end to his life?"

Vehuel nodded, "Regardless of the magics or weapons used, he still returns to continue to plague the living. We hope the stranger properties of the tree would possibly delay the resurrection magic or maybe even keep the foul beast detained until a more permanent solution could be researched."

The Aldrikkni nodded in understanding before wishing the Prince well as the latter departed, commanding for a Gate to send him to the outpost where his first adventure in this New World truly ended. Angels hovered in the skies of the desolate, primordial wasteland that now blisters this verdant woodland. A simple base of nearby stone laid at the center of the desert, acting as a marker for navigation then any form of shelter for the Seventh Legion, barely a castle and more like a well fortified hamlet.

A common angel guided their Prince to the belly of the dungeon that infested the hills. Even after the intense battle which took place here; the Atlas provided no updated information, the effects bound in the strange, ancient base still eluding Istannice's investigators.

The ruins were dark, eroded and bore little remnants of architectural style or maybe they were fashioned strictly for utilitarian purposes, but through it all, the sound of running water filled the air, only becoming more intense as they reached the bottom of the dungeon; a vast pool of red liquid, so massive that it easily matched the width of the desert created just outside of it. And floating in the middle of the gigantic chamber was a floating grove, the vast Hell-Tree, roots atop and terrible branches of razor-edged leafs with the screaming scours of souls it had partially consumed beneath.

All three archangels were near its central base, where root and tree met unholy earth, and being strung up upon its vines; the vile nephil which had killed Vehuel's niece.

As the Prince hovered closer, he noticed that the freakish inhabitant of this cursed place was no longer whole; his limbs were separated from him but clung to the tree not too far from where the Hell-Tree supped on the creature. While certainly gaunt and drained, Vehuel could've been fooled into thinking that the nephil was actually smiling as it stared dully ahead at nothing in particular.

The three archangels bowed to their leader, their Prince, and father, only standing up straight when Vehuel asked, "Progress?"

The archangel of knowledge floated forward, "Our current method is still being tested, taking much longer for the Hell-Tree to digest this creature." Pointing the the red-lake below, "Whenever he died, his soul returns here, instantly, no methods of True-Death or Soul-Capturing have managed to halt this process. His body would be re-created, and he'd use whatever equipment he could find in a hidden compartment in the passagway up to the surface."

"Is there a range to this effect?" Vehuel inquired, eyes glaring at the emaciated beast.

"As a matter of fact; there is, but not in a way we had hoped." The archangel continued, "We flew him away near the edge of the 'deathfield' after we had dismembered him. After a minute of flight outside of this field, the body weakened, withered and died, but the soul returned back here just like all the other times."

Vehuel stated aloud, "This field prevented life from existing here, but can make one respawn indefinitely but only within a given radius."

The angel nodded, "The archangel of compassion believes it may be a cause to the intense, unrelenting dementia this creature suffers. Perhaps repeated resurrection retards certain mental facets, in combination with unknown elements though likely extreme isolation and no means of acquiring fresh nourishment." The archangel bowed his head lightly, "We found a… larder. Seemingly this being killed itself, before storing his recently made corpse to eat later. It was low on this food source, as he had tried consuming several of his corpses before being attacked by us or forces under our command."

Vehuel averted his gaze only slightly, seeing the blackened fruit that had yet to ripen forming not too far from the prisoner. "As soon as we kill this… thing and learn all we can from this place: bury it all."

The archangel of knowledge bowed his head, "By your command, my Prince."

Vehuel was tempted to ask more about the red liquid but dismissed the thought, feeling the need to end this chapter of his life, not dig deeper into its worst aspects.

The Prince was soon Gated back to Istannice, back to his own chambers. He realized he'd rarely been in this room, before or after the transition to the New World, and if he could never recover his Polymorph abilities, Vehuel likely have to stay here for some time if everything works to plan. So, to kill time the Seraph looked through the various chests and armories that house equipment he had either not bothered to throw away, store, or put into his personal vault. And almost all of it was the equipment he started out with, an iron two-handed sword that buffed the minuscule Holy Magic he had at the time he first acquired it. Luis's character was still human at the time, and while he wasn't as meticulous in making it look like himself as many other Players did to their own PCs, it was vaguely wine-red headed, a darker skin hue but thankfully had not as fat as his body was in reality.

In his state, Luis very much doubted he'd be able to utilize equipment of no larger then level thirty, but this? Vehuel reached into the chest and pulled out the crude, inelegant blade and smiled internally for all the beautiful memories it provided:

Maxi's avatar's was briefly surrounded in burning red hellfire, a pentagram forming around him with the PC at its center, hands flying out as the spell concluded before the storm of fireballs fell from the sky.

"Hey!" Velldan yelled out, a bubble forming above his prone digital avatar's head expressing a very angry gaze towards the sorcerer. "I had them!"

"Quite down, noob," NasalVanPanal lifted his chin smugly, "I'm allowing you to win a scenario ten levels over your head, little brother."

"I had them!" Luis repeated.

"You're already down."

"I had a potion!"

"You can't use it if you're already dead."

Luis paused a moment to think about the a way to make it sounded like he had a plan, but softly stated, "Uhhh damn it."

"Hey! Don't swear, it's bad for the soul!" Maxi stated, all humor leaving him.

"You can't slap me this far away, I can curse as much as I damn well like!"

"You're right, but I can cancel the last fifteen minutes of effort you made biting off more than you can chew!" Maxi threatened, his avatar quickly turning and going the other way.

"This is why mom loves me more then you!" Luis tried to insult his brother one last time before the elder of the two left, logging out and leaving Luis's prone form on the ground. "Great… now everyone of the Gilded is going to know I screwed up."

Luis held the iron-greatsword in both hands awkwardly, his hands so large that one finger had to wrap around the base of the blade, and doing so felt pressure against the digit, feeling the edge. The angel sighed deeply, recognizing that for a long while, after this event and if it goes well; all Luis should have for his future is staying in this city, this unfeeling body of divine flesh and all the memories before this time to hold him over.

Vehuel snapped his gaze to another side of the room as someone Gated in. The angel was relieved to see it was in fact Shiehk, fully clothed and holding the hand of Holy Queen Calca. This relief was quashed as the queen turned to look at Luis and her eyes widened in terror, mouth covered with her free hand. Vehuel quickly slapped his own forehead due to his lack of manners and quickly slid back on his hood, and waved both hands quickly, saying, "Uh h-hi! Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

The queen grimaced and gave a firm nod, "So, you are indeed the massive angel and gray prince, both?"

"I am." Vehuel nodded, "I… tried to keep my identities separate. I wanted to…" Vehuel shrugged, before extending a fleshy claw out of his sleeve, "…wanted to see if I can be as human as I remembered."

This revelation stunned both women, but almost certainly more so Shiehk, who quickly put the pieces together over how his true nature was recently revealed to her, alongside how the Seraph seemed almost desperate to leave Istannce for his barely conceived quest.

With Queen Calca being in doubt over the whole statement, "And your desire for humanity… led to destroy those evil ruins, thay cursed place? You levvied such destruction that only few did not take it as a beginning to the end of the world itself."

"Duty compelled me to investigate the place," Vehuel gave a brief look towards Shiehk, and the seraph understood that the Ring of Kings would likely detect he was hiding something, so followed it up with; "it was out of ernst desire to help, as well as for the purposes of exploration."

Calca sighed, smiling slightly, seemingly satisfied, "I see. Well, youe minister stated you have important issues that require my input, please tell me."

Vehuel nodded, "Istannice will change, something to better fit the greater mortal realms that surround the seas around it. We have plans, and we wish you to…" Vehuel spared a glance towards Shiehk, who's narrowed gaze made Calca confused. "Unite, share leadership."

A thousand issues and promises flooded her the Holy Queen's mind, the terrible gifts such an alliance would bring, "I… don't understand, is this a marriage proposal?" While marrying such a… being would be disturbing to say the least, Calca would do the act, happily, if it ensured peace between one of the most powerful nations she had ever dreamed of even existing.

"N-no," Vehuel shook his head, "we're instead proposing something else, it'll be difficult, different than what we are used to, but hope we can all figure out the finer details of what the minister and I have worked over."

Calca raised an eyebrow, "And what do you suggest?"

Vehuel fully faced Calca as he slowly said, "I will make you Emperor of a new, possible multination confederacy, and have you remain Holy Queen of Roble, both."

Calca saw no deceit, "And in exchange?" She tried to quickly ask, not trying to sound hesitant.

"You must succeed me," holding up a hand, "and be succeeded by others, to be an empress of a realm where leadership can be changed if better are found. I will be in this position only for seven days, after which, I will voluntarily stand down, giving you my blessing and inheriting the title of leadership, which will be named only after your coronation."

Calca was confused, 'Why stand down? Why allow her the command of Istannice?'And most confoundedly, 'Why only seven days?' "My… people will be more willing to accept this if we were to be wed, a sign of a long, personal relationship between leaders of kingdoms."

Vehuel looked away, "I-I don't think I would be able to fulfill the role as an able body husband, let alone as the leader of Istannice. Instead, I suggest a meeting, a formal, romantic meeting for this supper tonight between you and the minister of the Graeci here, Alaon. He has a surprising amount of respect for you during your brief visit and maybe you can uh possibly court one another properly, no diplomatic marriage if you can't seem to like each other."

Calca barely recalled the man, other than the brief encounter where he was picky over which seat at the table she sat. "It's… because he's human, correct?"

Shiehk, strangely silent for most of this, quickly said, "Indeed." Presenting a hand out the window, "Although the minister of whispers could also be a good candidate, being a Sand-Elf, we wish to convey a slow, relaxed relationship, nothing too drastic, nor too far away from any to the other more, em, inhuman races."

"Heh." Calca gave a small chuckle, "And I was so looking forward to bringing home one those demons that kill fathers in front of their children to see the rest of my family."

Shiehk and Vehuel exchanged a hooded glance towards one another, but Calca could read that while the latter seemed aware of the brutal act and how it would effect anyones outlook on the people and the city, Shiehk was slightly outraged by her statement.

The Prince said, "What happened then was a tragedy, something we wish to avoid at all costs."

"And one that was narrowly avoided at my Prince's own sacrifice." Shiehk carefully seethed. "He didn't have to do it, in fact, likely shouldn't have, the risk to himself was immense. He mended that tragedy after soon suffering one of his own."

Despite the less than successful attempt at a joke, Calca could sense that Vehuel was hiding something else, something maybe he was keeping away from the minister, but instead conceded the point of the subject, "My condolences, good-Prince."

Vehuel nodded, "Thank you, but you… we have greater ordeals to discuss. We wish for this international coalition to use Istannice as a good, strong arm, to allow the nearby human and inhuman nations to deescalate military matters. Namely, in the form of some my angels, the Seventh Legion, we would construct watchtowers at appropriate places, Istannice would fund and build a great, secure, single highway road leading to all the human settlements who are willing to allow it, if the Holy Kingdom does agree with it, Istannice would like two things."

Calca breathed in, thinking deeply on the subject, "Alright, which are?"

"You allow your country's southern province to secede, peacefully and with your full support."

The Holy Queen balked, "And how did they garner such support from you?!"

"Civil-war is inevitable, and I do not want bloodshed if I can help it." The angel stated, a tone of the innocent desire to live-and-let-live.

"But, it puts pressure on this 'Southern Roble' to concede to this greater empire and your authority, making them think that you as a queen are happy to abandon them if they are uncooperative in exchange for friends who are more than happy to support them." Shiehk finished, completely, simply and with a frugal degree of ruthlessness and pragmatism that really reminded Calca that Istannice was indeed not run by people as occasionally foolish as its Prince.

"And… if we retract our military forces, the threats of raids and invasion from the beastmen will want them to goto Istannice for possible support and guarantees of protection that were provided to the 'Northern'…" Calca rolled her eyes, barely stomaching the idea of so uncaringly surrendering her sovernghty and wisdom to the brigands and peasants south of her. "Roble. Whoever they set up as a leader would have to make some awful decisions or allow us to work together again in a different way?"

Shiehk smiled behind her clothed face, "Exactly. If they don't, well, that's just you forsaking territory for the sake of the whole of the kingdom? The lot has provided such nuecnces to your rule prior to our arrival, and you are merely… granting their request for independence." The minister chuckled malevolently. And while Calca could detect only the merest hint of sadism behind the intent of her scheme, the minister did seem to want to complete this plot to its best, most optimistic outcome.

"What's the other condition?" Calca quickly inquired, wanting to get this out of the way at least in time for dinner.

"Istannice would like to build four independent citiy-states, daughters of Istannice, along the border between your two future governments, something to will be a way for the people of my city to pour their skills and wealth into both sides of the country evenly." Vehueled nodded.

"Which, after the seven days of rulership of Vehuel, would have their leadership pleadge themselves to the…" Calca chuckled sardonically, "What are we calling this? Simply 'the Empire'? We already have one of those across the continent from us."

Vehuel laughed lightly, "We noticed. Well…" The angel chuckled awkwardly and pantomimed coughing into his fist, "Shiehk and I considered that since, well, the Seventh Legion will be watching over the empire as its diligent, uncompromising, undying protectors, and since the emperor or empress is meant to be eventually replaced as an elected monarch with a set term, that uh we call it the 'Mortal Empire'? For not only is its people meant to be its focus, but its leaders also change and age with them?"

Calca shrugged a shoulder, "As long as I can remain Queen and my people still have their sovereign rights as citizens of Roble, laws unchanged and unbreeched in this union, you can call it the 'Long Fart of Empire Dumb-Dumb' for all I honestly care." But put a fist under her chin, "But… it could be worse."

Shiehk looked ready to kill Calca right then and there from her comment and seeming disdain of this proposal, but Vehuel nodded towards her in a quick, energetic, child-like burst as if silently saying, 'She said yes! We did it!'

'I can almost see the smile on him.' Shiehk thought sarcastically. "There will be more things to go over."

"As I expected." The queen replied curtly.

"You should explain the concept to your court." Vehuel also suggested.

"Agreed. As for supper, please seat Alaon next to me, we will try to find something to talk about. What does he like?" Calca smiled.

Several seconds of silence passed before Vehuel simply said: "Huh. I don't know."

Calca already regretted agreeing to this.

[][][]

Vehuel kept a respectable distance from the event, after he made his final preparations in the kitchen (he just couldn't help himself). Shiehk and the other ministers and mayors of the city ingratiated themselves well with the guests they invited, or at least they seemed to do so, and there were several excuses made as to why he couldn't personally arrive, thankfully backed by the Holy Queen Calca. 'I hope they're not pretending this… I would hate for them to have to fake this for God knows how long.'

But the Seraph was looking for a guest in particular, fairly late into the event, and when the angel saw the man depart from the Palace's hall, Vehuel dismissed the guards from the area his guest now departs to, a darker street not too far from the Depths, it's denizens song of prayers still echoing from the tunnel.

Vehuel hovered to the narrow alley, a deep, horrid feeling of dread coming over him for what he might be doing, what he now seeks, and now who with.

The man himself was a notable member of the Adventerer's Guild, this much Vehuel knew, that and his characteristics. He seemed of a gentlemanly disopostion to Vehuel's eyes, dressed in finery, welcome among the social elite here, quite athletic but clearly starting to show the age of a middle-aged human male, but only seemingly in his facial features, he hair was long and golden, with a Cardinal red streak dangling from one side, almost pointing to the goatee on his chin.

While Vehuel's hovering was silent, the agent was able to spot where the angel was beginning to encroach, the human smiled and said, "You're on time! Quite early if I say so, especially of royals." Opening up both arms. "You're the one who turned everyone nervous with that big display of magic not too long ago?"

Vehuel wasn't exactly sure as to how much this man knew and from who, and while he'd happily be honest with the man, the circumstances warranted discretion, "In so many words." Vehuel confirmed.

The man turned his head, "Why are you hiding behind that hood? We already look suspicious enough trading letters in a dark alley after dinner!" Pointing at the man, "I'm sure what hangups you have on what you look like are unwarranted!" Smiling and chuckling.

Vehuel scoffed to himself before quickly pulling back the hood to reveal his blocky, ugly and utterly inhuman face and head to the man.

He blinked once, and gave a low, "Oh." Rubbing his neck, "I've… been wrong before, don't hold it against me."

"Curiosity killed the cat." Luis shrugged, "Do you have the answer from the one I wrote?"

The blonde man nodded, but seemed a bite confused, "Yeah? But it comes in two parts… the first is one word, and he said I could only share the rest if I knew you knew that it meant something important."

Luis scoffed, "And what's the word?"

"Player."

The seraph stopped everything for the briefest moment, and the adventurer detected it instantly, "Ahhh, so it does mean something! I sense a story here!"

"… another time, maybe." Luis loomed, stating without thought, "but what's the rest?"

"To see him at the Argland Council chambers after you've completed your business in Istannice, but it sounded like he wanted this done soon." The adventurer stressed that last part clearly, but then smiled and said, "Man, after a wonderful evening like that, I fancy a nice woman or two… especially after all those wonderful ladies I saw at dinner, know any good brothels here?"

"Em." Vehuel 'coughed', "Excuse me?"

"Ya know? A nice place with some nice ladies?" The adventurer smiled broadly, "There's got to be at least one, with all the sailors I've seen coming here."

Vehuel dreaded the implication, and worse, had a theory that one such establishment might exist in a way on the island. "The Golden Bull may have such a um, place for that particular kind of respite. It's at the center of the beastmen quarter, so take care, and call if anyone tries to murder you, an angel will be not too far after I leave."

"Oo, beastmen ladies, eh? Exotic!"

Despite Vehuel's awkwardness, he chuckled at the man, "You remind me of a friend I had. I hope your evening finishes well enough, farewell." And floated back to the Palace.

Vehuel needed answers and while the hastening of things stressed the angel somewhat, it didn't change the fact that he needed to leave the city, and soon.