Hello, everyone, I hope all is good and well with you so far.

I want to apologize for taking so long to get back with a new chapter. Things happened IRL that seriously tanked my will to write and I had to get myself well first. Future updates will sadly equally suffer from lengthy waits, I am afraid. There is nothing I can do about it other than let you all know and apologize for it.

First things first, some review answers!

frankieu: Thank you for your kind words!

CrazyMax1: I admit, that is an exceedingly funny suggestion. I did have some shenanigans in mind regarding alcohol, and you can stand proud knowing you fueled this idea

Saramus92: Thank you very much, I am happy to provide!

Now that the reviews with questions have been answered, enjoy the reading my dear... well, readers!

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Monsters, Gods with Arcanum etc. talking"

Premise:

Kaida and her entourage arrive in Melen...

The ship that had been boarded by the Telskyuran troupe rowed and rocked gently as it moved across the vast waters, causing Kaida's hair to ever so lightly heave left and right while she sat far at the front of the ship atop the decorative figure, which was a large statuesque portrait of Kali, looking ahead at their destination's goal, which had come within sight.

"Land ho!" The look-out announced before descending from their Bird's Nest with a graceful leap, landing safely atop the deck before moving towards the reincarnated captain of theirs, or former captain as it would be. "Miss Kaida, we are approaching Melen!"

"Finally" Kaida said as she got up and stretched her arms. "I was getting bored with all this sitting around and doing nothing. Weeks on a boat are a fucking torture of boredom!" she added before she moved back and landed on the deck, crossing her arms while a grin grew on her face. "Now then, my friends! Prepare to approach the harbor!" She commanded, causing a chorus of 'Yes Sir' to echo from the group of amazons onboard before they all took their respective stations.

As the ship closed in on the harbor, the sails were pulled back and the anchor was dropped while the ship itself was carefully navigated to stop at one of the docks. With a final ruck signaling a sudden stop, the ship came to a halt.

"Now then, let's see our welcoming commitee, everyone!" Kaida announced with a booming voice, earning a chorus of cheers from her amazonian entourage.

Earlier...

Finn was pacing back and forth in the little makeshift office he made out of the inn room that he rented in Melen. The situation was rather hot and volatile and it was giving the Braver a headache to work around.

The headache in question was a situation they had encountered earlier this day, when it was still night and early in the morning.

"Why would Ishtar's Berbera be here?" He questioned himself as he mentally went over the reports given to him by Tiona and Tione.

Loki Familia came to Melen under the guise of a vacation with its top members, which consists of Finn, Riveria, Gareth, Bete, Ais, Tiona, Tione, Lefiya, Raul and Aki. And of course, Loki herself was present too. But their actual objective was to investigate the second entrance to the dungeon at the bay connected to Melen and see if the remains of the Leviathan were still keeping the sealed entrance shut. Aside from that, there were suspicions of another, different entrance and they were here to see if they could find clues about it.

In turn, this made the presence of Ishtar Familia quite the burdensome suspicion. Ishtar's women had absolutely no business being here, and that they were could not mean anything well for them. Ishtar had no registered leave from Orario to their knowledge, and the timing of the arrival hinted at them getting to Melen after Loki Familia did, but not by more than a single day's delay. That short a delay would have been found out by Loki Familia for sure, so Finn was trying to understand how they managed to sneak themselves all the way out here. And more importantly, whether or not their purpose for doing so had any connections to the Loki Familia's own...

"CAPTAIN!"

Finn suddenly heard the rather loud and panicked voice from Raul, a human male with short and spiky black hair and brown eyes, with a deceptively normal and average look to himself, a man who was so aptly dubbed the 'Novice Captain' of Loki Familia for taking over Finn's role when no executives were present. He was someone who rarely displayed panic, and when he did, it was usually well warranted, so knowing Raul's personality already gave Finn sirens in his mind.

"What is it, Raul?" Finn asked the Novice Captain after he so unceremoniously barged into the makeshift-office.

"It is bad, really bad!" Raul started before he took a deep breath and practically screamed his next words. "Kali Familia is about to dock onto the Harbor!"

Finn was immediately on alert. Kali Familia resided within Telskyura, which was weeks away with the fastest method of transportation, being carriages. If they were here, it means they had departed Telskyura a good time ago, and somehow it managed to not be news to anyone. This meant one of two possible outcomes in Finn's mind: A) The trip was so short term and so sudden that no notifications could be made, or B) notification of any departure was intentionally withheld. But if a familia like Kali was on the move this far from their home turf, it could not spell anything good, Braver assumed at least.

"When are they arriving?" He asked Raul, who was clearly shaken by the possible implications of their presence.

"Within the next few minutes, when we spotted them they already had their sails reigned in and the anchor dropped so we didn't immedialely spot their insignia"

"Then we better create a welcome and find out what they want. A nation like Telskyura does not move on whims." Finn declared and got up from his seat, his spear set on his back before he and Raul departed.

A few minutes later, the entirety of the Loki Familia was assembled before the harbor just as the ship docked.

"Are you sure we should be making such a show of ourselves?" Riveria questioned, alarmed of the possibility of them all appearing like a threat. It is not for everyman after all that all of the Loki Familia executives plus high level members assemble just for a simple greeting.

"I doubt we'd appear like a threat to them, Riveria" Finn assured her while placing his hands behind his back to hide his aching, throbbing thumb from sight. On the inside, he was running thoughts at miles per second, trying to process what could cause his thumb to react so aggressively.

As the ship finalized its docking, a wooden raft was extended to serve as a stepping ladder, and soon the first amazons showed themselves. They departed the ship in pairs and made a row at the dock, painting the appearance of a royal procession.

Then, the first two, the two amazons closest to the ship, began to thump their right fists against where their heart was on their chestplates. One by one, the amazons at the row followed until the entire procession was doing so, and they became progressively louder and faster, building up a huge crescendo... only to suddenly stop.

"AAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH!"

THUMP

The loud stomp of a powerful step echoed across the immediate vicinity as Kaida came into view, placing down her right foot at the stepping ladder to begin descending from the ship, her trusty Kanabo tied to her back, ready to be pulled at a moment's notice.

"Well would you look at that!" She exclaimed as she finished walking down the ladder and paced herself past the procession of her fellow amazones, approaching the Loki Familia with a toothy grin on her face. "What a welcoming committee you readied, I have to say. It's almost an honor"

"The honor is hours, I should say" Finn fired back with a practiced smile while taking a step forward, showing himself the representative of the ensemble of his familia. "Finn Deimne-"

"I know who you are, squirt" Kaida fired back while crossing her arms, earning the stink eye from Tione in the process. "And I am not here to listen to whatever rehersal you have in store from that genius brain of yours. Just pay for good alcohol and we are cool, understand?"

Finn was a bit taken aback, but hid that expertly behind his stoic smile, keeping a calm composure before stepping aside and waving with his hand. "But of course. First round's on us, then"

Kaida made a toothy grin once again and began to walk, following the Loki Familia. "You at least have the qualities of a good host"

It wasn't for long, just a few minutes later that the group found itself at Melen's finest tavern, seated at a large, round table where on one side, Kaida was by her lonesome and on the other half were the members of the Loki Familia.

"So..." Kaida started, grabbing her tankart and emptying it in one go, slamming it down on the table with a humm. "Good stuff, solid 6/10. Oh, right, business" She commented before clearing her throat. "I am here to become part of Orario. However, I do have a feather to pfluck with you lot so it is opportune that you are all here"

The atmosphere suddenly became tense and everyone raised their guard, hands at the ready to draw their weapons.

"Get your chicken shit heads out of your asses, I am not looking for a fight, not like you would put up much of one anyway" Kaida fired back with an irritated gaze before waving at the nearby waiter to refill her tankard. "It's regarding the remnants of Evilus. We managed to eliminate their branch in Telskyura completely. You see, I did not sit on my ass all day for a year and wait for this day. I am here to deliver you some information"

This may have helped in lowering the Loki Familia's guard, but the atmosphere was still severe and tense, thick with anticipation for what words would follow next.

Kaida emptied her tankard once again, then gave a wide, toothy grin. "I know Enyo's identity"

Finn's expression dropped into a serious stare, Gareth whistled from his mouth, Riveria narrowed her eyes dangerously, Tiona and Tione both crossed their arms and leaned forward, and Ais... Ais shot up from her seat and slammed her hands on the table. Enyo's goons had made the fight with her personal because that Revis seeks to kill Aria, thinking Ais was her mother. It was a war against her family, and if she can get a shot at the boss of the opposite faction, then a rare moment of emotion within her surfaced in the form of impatience.

"Pipe down, I won't just rat it out for nothing, no. We are gonna go to Orario and you will organize a little something for me..." Kaida added and reached into her chest pocket, taking out a small piece of paper and tossing it across the table right into Finn's hands. "Once we are in Orario, you have 48 hours to organize a seat at the Hostess of Fertility reserved for the names on that piece of paper. You succeed, and I will give you Enyo's name and more. You fail, and that information is barred from you forever."

Finn unfurled the piece of paper and looked at the list of names. It had exactly 5 names on it.

- Bell Cranel

- Ryuu Lion

- Liliruca Arde

- Tiona Hiryute

- Lefiya Viridis

Finn narrowed his eyes slightly at these names. He knew each and every one of them quite well, hell two of them were sitting at this very table right now. "What do you want with them?"

"A union. Or I should say a Re-union." Kaida fired back before moving her arms on the table and leaned forward. "These 5 are the reincarnations of heroes of old and I want them gathered at the same table to see what it's like to bask in the presence of greatness transcendent."

"Sounds to me like you want to fight them all" Gareth chimed in with a small chuckle while drinking from his own beer.

"Nah, they wouldn't beat me in a hundred years. But I do intend on giving them something that makes them worth my attention"

Finn eyes the list again for some time before he folded the paper back and put it into his right pocket, nodding his head slowly. "Very well, I will arrange for it. But do you mind telling us what you mean by reincarnation?"

"Oh that one is simple, really" Kaida started and leaned back against her seat. "You know how once you die, your soul goes back to Tenkai and all that, right? Well, once there, it gets cleansed of all memories and touches from Gekai and is sent back down to Gekai to be reborn into a new life. The soul may not retain any of its memories, but it retains certain core aspects such as vows, fateful encounters and key personality traits. Each one of those 5 mentioned is a reincarnation from a figure from the old ages that I admire and having them all together in one room is just nice, you know?"

"So you want us to arrange your fan meet?" Riveria asked with half-astonished tone of voice, trying her hardest not to be deadpan upon the realization that they were being made to run a petty errand for Enyo's name.

"Hell yeah" Kaida confirmed with no shame or hesitation. "Now shut up and drink, half of you haven't touched your beers yet!"

The members could not do much other than try to listen, well except for those who do not drink or are not permitted to do so, like Ais...

Meanwhile, in Orario...

Cassandra woke up feeling groggy, the memories of what happened last coming back slowly. She remembered being in the sewers, being confronted by Daphne and... being drugged to sleep by a sedative.

She shot up from where she lay and noticed that she could not move her arms. She glanced down and found out why: She was in a straight jacket.

Her eyes shot up and, opposite to the room, lay a table and seated against it was Airmid Taesanare, Orario's best healer dubbed 'Dea Saint'. She had a grim expression on her face and a pencil in one hand while a block of paper was in another. She started to write something down quickly before her head shot up. "Oh, you are finally awake... I apologize for all this, but I was told it may be a necessity if I am to talk to you in a safe environment..."

Cassandra slowly closed her eyes and exhaled, feeling the heavy wave of defeat and resignation wash over her. So Daphne had given up on her and dumped her into a mental ward under Dian Cecht's overwatch... that stung quite badly, it drove her nearly into tears which she fought back with every fiber of her body. She still wanted to believe in Daphne, that she may have done this for a good reason...

"Before you ask, Daphne Lauros will visit you as soon as we are done... if she is to be believed, your stay here will only be temporary"

As if reading her mind, Airmid had given Cassandra relief... so Daphne didn't give up on her, but put her here... for what reason, possibly? She could not fully comprehend it. Then a sudden jolt in her mind flashed with an image of a blue serpentine dragon devouring the skies and she grit her teeth while letting a single tear drop.

The visions were so frequent now that she no longer needed to be awake for them to invade her mind, which either meant that her visions were evolving or the message was so pressing that it violated its own rules to get through.

"Miss Lauros informed me that you have... visions... is that correct? What can you tell me about them?"

Cassandra felt a tiny, tiny ray of hope. If Daphne was ready to spread the word of her visions then it means she truly believed them now... she believed HER now, and that was a victory worth every piece of pain she endured these years in their friendship. She confirmed the question with a small nod before speaking. "They are of the future... uncertain, vague, but always a premonition..." she spoke up, her voice laced with a heavyness that made her sound almost tired. "Sometimes I can interpretate them well, but otherwise all I get are abstract symbols that bewilder me..."

"I understand..." Airmid commented and wrote something else on her block before she got up. "Miss Lauros will see you now" she spoke and turned towards the exit of the room, knocking against the door which opened with a heavy and loud clink of its knob.

Airmid exited the room and a few seconds later, Daphne stormed inside and raced towards Cassandra, hugging her tightly and rubbing her back. "I am glad you are doing better... you were a mess when I had to sedate you, and I am sorry for that but I saw no other way..."

"it is alright..." Cassandra responded slowly, sighing lightly. "It is not like we can change what is to come... the blue dragon will devour the skies and the shattering cracks will envelop the world..."

"Your newest vision?"

"Mhm..." Cassandra confirmed in a simplistic tone. "I have no doubt its the same person I've been seeing before... the person who can also see the future, who hijacked my visions... terrified me so much... still terrifies me now..."

"It's alright, Cassandra!" Daphne assured her and pulled back from the hug, hands on the girl's shoulders while she had a confident look. "We will weather this through. Together. I won't ignore you ever again!"

And thus we conclude Chapter 7, and with it, Kaida's arrival on land and further fall outs her presence has on the world.

Next chapter, she will finally arrive on Orario and drop some heavy lore bombs on the mentioned names. Look forward to it.