It was a long day. So many corpses, so much destruction. Yet it was all over. Sure, burying the dead, disassembling the barricades, clearing the rubble, removing the traps – there was still a whole bunch to do before the celebration could begin, but at least, it was a start. At least, the citizens had a mangled corpse of Princess Norn to defile, thus soothing their fears and anxiety.
“I really hope they’re okay.” Eve lamented, sitting on a window sill. The maiden felt off, being a witness to the bloodbath, and not helping its victims rubbed her the wrong way. But alas, there was no way of actually make any impact now. Not after the turmoil had subsided.
“Believe in them.” Setsuna said. The she-wolf stood near the door, moving only for the purpose of stretching her muscles or to use the bathroom. The huntress also wished to be there, with her man. She knew that her complete inability to stand up to Hawkeye would only hinder the Hero of Healing. Alas, the realization only made her worries ever more tormenting. Especially after Freia received such an honor.
Until… Until!..
Setsuna heard steps. Someone climbed the stairs, walked through the corridor. The gray-haired girl opened the door to greet her master with a broad smile…
It was neither Keyaruga, nor Freia either. They were two guests, a man and a woman with badger-like fur on their faces, neighbors, but nothing more than that.
Setsuna sulked. Looking at her was like seeing a child, waiting for her parents in the late night. Eve too couldn’t wait for the man’s return; he was a pillar of safety and stability, nothing more.
“Alright, let’s look for them.” At the end of the day, how could the progeny of the black-wing tribe not show her leadership potential in such a delicate matter?
“Uh-huh, let’s go.” The tailed girl replied with tangible impatience in her voice. After all, when Keyaruga came to them only to leave with Freia, he never told the two other girls to stay indoors no matter what, did he?
And so, as Eve closed the door, Setsuna had already dashed through the corridor, and the kokuyoku scion made no attempt to stop her. This was just how Setsuna was. Most of the time she remained silent, and when she didn’t, the girl tried to maintain her rationality and act accordingly.
There were also times, when she got utterly irrational. Exclusively it seemed, when it came to the safety of her man. The girls ran down the stairs, one was trying not to move too fast, the other made sure to keep up and not lose her balance. Setsuna and Eve accordingly found themselves in the inn’s dining hall, ready to rip the door open and dash along the ruined streets of Buranikka…
“Wait…” That or the huntress could just stop for a moment to get a better sniff of a familiar smell, approaching the building from the outside.
“What hap… O-o-oh…” Eve needed no answer. After all, when the wooden gates opened, the man they were so eager to go out looking for stepped in.
“Setsuna, Eve! Nice seeing you here.” Keyaruga smirked, greeting his two companions. “Have you, possibly-?..” Barely did the lad speak a word, before the she-wolf dashed forward, hugging, and sniffing him. And if the former action was quite predictable in its reasoning and consequences (there were none; aside from slight complications with holding the bag of spices and vegetables, that is), then the latter…
“You smell like… another woman. Smell… like she!” The huntress’ excitement quickly changed with animosity. After all, the healer returned with two girls. And if spotting Freia’s smell on the hero was normal, than… “Who is she?” …The she-wolf asked, withdrawing from the red-eyed lad. This time she approached Ellen. “Who are you?” Setsuna asked with barely hidden aggression. If not for Keyaruga standing between the two, things would escalate much quicker.
“Setty, listen, she’s…” The sorceress tried to defuse the situation. She tried to convey her excitement to her friend, but the gray-haired girl would have nothing of that.
“Who’re you?” Setsuna asked the crimson-headed cutie, who was taking the offence by smiling with the corners of her lips.
“Haa…” The man made a long exhale, anticipating a whole bunch of problems. Fortunately for him, his long-term ally patted the other side of his hand and made a step forward.
“I’m Ellen, Keyaruga’s little sister.” The former princess introduced herself with a wide smirk on her adorable face. “We were separated five years ago. I thought we would never meet again, but he saved me from the big evil soldiers today! Big brother told me about you, and how cool you are, Setsuna…” The girl kept speaking, probing the huntress’ reaction to both her legend and the flattering. Honestly, neither did an amazing job in persuading the wolf girl, but she was willing to believe it. With one condition!
“Master Keyaruga, is that true?” The man himself had to affirm it for her.
“Yes. So please, don’t hurt her, or I’ll be sad. You don’t want to make me sad, do you, Setsuna?” The hero responded with a sly grin on his lips.
Now that I think about it, it does look like I got that smiling habit from Norn.
“Hmmm… Uh-huh, Setsuna’s accepting her.” The she-wolf said, although her enthusiasm remained pretty low.
“Hurray!” What couldn’t be said about Ellen, as she instantly dashed forward to greet her new comrade with a hug. The latter was less than pleased by that, but wouldn’t do anything to hurt the excessively clingy girl. She… was too brittle, pitifully so actually. “So, Freia told me you’re in charge of training. Can you train me too?”
“No.” The huntress said loud and clear. “Ellen’s too weak.” She even appealed to her classless status to back up her simple jealousy.
“Ple-e-e-ase, I wanna keep up with my brother. He’s a beast in the bed, you know!” Still, who would that warlady be if she surrendered after the first failed attempt? No, it wasn’t for naught, this also counted as reconnaissance.
“Uh-huh, know that. Why?” Setsuna wondered, as she with the rest of the group headed upstairs under the silent gaze of the blue-feathered host.
“Because…” Ellen smirked, approaching her lips to the whitish fluffy ears. “I’ll tell you about all of Keyaruga’s weak spots.” Then, with a whispering tone, she offered a deal Setsuna would never deny.
And it actually worked. The two girls had much to talk about, be it the healer’s sexual life, battle strategies, bedside techniques, combat styles, how they both despised cosmetics, and so on, and so forth.
“Hey, Keyaruga…” Eve, though, was still concerned. As she walked up the stairs, the black-haired maiden approached the smugly grinning man. “Is she, you know, Freia’s-?..”
“She is. Ellen and I have known each other for very, very long time. I’m glad she’s finally with us.” The red-haired lad elaborated, while his lips sustained that dumb happy smile.
“I was never happier in my entire life!” And Freia too shared that sentiment.
“Sashi buka-tand (happy fools).” The queen-to-be murmured under her nose. Strangely enough, she too wanted to have some of the mindless limerence for Keyaruga the other members of the party got so obsessed with.
Could that day be any more exciting?
“Alright, girls! Today I’m handling the cooking!” The man admonished, putting a bag of gifts on the floor. It was heavy, more than fifteen kilogram, and he only needed two in order to make the soup for everyone. “It won’t take long, only…” Before he finished the line, the man found himself dragged not by one, but two precious young ladies right in the direction of the bed.
“Please, brother…” Ellen wasn’t as strong as her new animalistic comrade, but she had another weapon – childish traits governed by a mature soul.
“Or we could do this instead. Eve, would you be so kind as to order us a lunch?” The lad asked, feeling his clothes being ripped away by two overexcited girls.
“What? Why me?!” The black-winged maiden exclaimed with discontent. Was it because she hated being pushed around? Certainly not.
“It’s alright, Evy, I’ll go.” Fortunately for her, Freia volunteered for that small chore. Unfortunately, though… “In the meantime, you can watch them go at it.” …she knew exactly the reasoning behind the me-ua kahul’s dissatisfaction.
“I… I… I’m not like this, you perverts!!!” And so, the fallen angel of empyrean beauty, yet worldly passions once again hid behind the door, while the sorceress stepped outside the room with a feeling of sweet and gentle relief in her heart.
…
Kinacrith, a precious jewel among the mountain ridges, the universally recognized capital of Tenanulic. An oasis with water, food, shelter, and logistic ways leading to all the numerous corners of the Confederation. It was an ancient city, with its founding days numerating at least fourteen centuries in the past. Its high walls kept away any monsters, but unlike Buranikka, it was guarded by at least ten thousand soldiers on constant duty.
Kinacrith’s architecture varied from district to district. Throughout the long history of the old metropolis, different tribes came and went, leaving behind the true miracles of their culture. Wooden cottages, stone houses, hidden dwellings among the trees, entire underground settlements, all connected with an extensive system of sewers, letting both waste and copious amounts of rainwater, so common there, to completely drain away from the urban area within the walls.
But no tale of that magnificent city could go without describing the castle. Kyuntarnur Gyukanze pora Sagayuro, the Citadel of the Obsidian Throne, was a massive network of conjoined fortifications, connected through the highest spire in the entire Enoa continent, as its peak rose by two hundred meters into the sky. A true testament to the grandeur of the ma-zok.
And how could such a majestic place go without guests? A procession marched by the boulevard of Torzin, named after the mythical figure of the first Me-ua from two thousand years prior. Within the residual sunlight of twilight, the citizens could see the column of soldiers. Not an uncommon sight for these lands. But they were humans. Forty-four mounted knights under the banner of a black rhombus with a golden eye in the middle, the banner of the Kingdom of Jioral. It was lead by none other than Margurth Rikil Jioral. The King of Men rode on his enormous black stallion, and everyone who looked at him, succumbed to inexplicable terror. Children cried, adults cowered in fear, and even warriors couldn’t help but to have their hearts skip a beat. A naked violet-skinned woman sat on a croup of the royal steed. It was her aura, her black miasmas that engulfed the entire delegation. The finest cutthroats accompanied their monarch… among them was Martin Charian, Spellbane, one of the Three Champions. A man brought back from dead. His dark bluish skin reeked of gravely cold, and nothing but an endless void could be spotted within his reddish eyes. He didn’t breathe. In fact, none of the knights, including the monarch himself, did so.
…
“Ugh… U-u-u…” Hakuo, the current Me-ua, the Demon King, the rightful ruler over the Confederation, a giant lion-man freely sitting on a ten-meter tall throne of dark obsidian with purple lines of unfiltered wild mana… looked like nothing more than a coward, pushing himself backwards into his royal throne out of fear. He wept, as though his throat was grabbed by an unseen paw of dread and paranoia. Not only had his search squad had been eliminated by an unknown third party, but his long-time ‘partner’ came to pay him a visit.
The gates of the purest orichalcum, impossible to open with anything but the will of the Me-ua, had opened. Only three people entered under the foundation of the barely lit dome. All reeked of death, decay, and darkness.
“It has been a long time, since our last meeting, beast!” The old man spoke. His steps were quiet, and yet to Hakuo, they were thundering footfalls. “The Hero of Healing has escaped our grip, my daughters have betrayed me, and now they shall come after you, brute! It is time for you to justify your existence, monstrosity! You will serve me and retrieve these traitors!” Margurth commanded, slowly but steadily approaching the trembling lion. The Me-ua with his four meters of height felt like a small cub in the face of that terrifying man.
“Haa… Haa… Haa…” His breath betrayed the terror Hakuo dealt with internally. Two decades of reign left nothing but a broken shell of a once ambitious soul, a shivering lowlife, kept alive by his sinister throne and the power it gave him. “N… na… Z… Za… ZARAN (never)!!!” And yet, he was still a king. A mighty entity to be reckoned with.
Hakuo rose from the throne. The lion uplifted his right hand, letting fearsome claws protrude from within his thick animalistic fingers. Five curved claws, big, sharp, and infused with the aura of decay. One slash with them was enough to cleave a man in six parts, which would rot into nothingness soon after.
The Me-ua took a swing; he imbued it with all of his feeble courage and valor. If that didn’t work… If that…
“SUBMIT!”
It did not. Barely did Hakuo raise his hand, before Margurth stopped him with a single word. That was a word of power, only the Demon King, from all of his people, could use one, a right of undeniable command, a gift from the dark god himself… Only two entities could use that, and one stood higher than other.
“KNEEL!”
Hakuo had no choice but to surrender. He had no will, nor bravery to deny his god, who, in the cruelest twist of irony, manifested inside the ruler of Jioral. Me-ua stood defeated, one thrust of the royal blade could end him for good. And yet, the monarch had other plans for the massive leonine figure.
“Subjugate him, Reeharoze!” Margurth ordered, making a step sideways. The woman approached slowly. The winged lady pointed her taloned hand at her own stomach. She pierced her belly, letting black goo pour onto the ground. With no soul, the woman would feel no pain, and yet dark bloody tears came from her pale green eyes, down the seemingly unfeeling face. In an act of compulsory self-mutilation, she pulled a wizened gray fetus from her innards.
“Niratha! Niratha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!!!” Hakuo yelled, prayed for mercy. But he got none. As the crying woman ruptured the massive lion man’s guts, bathing the parasite in blood, viscera, and dung, Margurth Rikil Jioral couldn’t help but smirk. Every soul in the throne room was his toy, his marionettes.
And even the pretention to the contrary of one of them would soon come to an end.
It was a long day. So many corpses, so much destruction. Yet it was all over. Sure, burying the dead, disassembling the barricades, clearing the rubble, removing the traps – there was still a whole bunch to do before the celebration could begin, but at least, it was a start. At least, the citizens had a mangled corpse of Princess Norn to defile, thus soothing their fears and anxiety.
“I really hope they’re okay.” Eve lamented, sitting on a window sill. The maiden felt off, being a witness to the bloodbath, and not helping its victims rubbed her the wrong way. But alas, there was no way of actually make any impact now. Not after the turmoil had subsided.
“Believe in them.” Setsuna said. The she-wolf stood near the door, moving only for the purpose of stretching her muscles or to use the bathroom. The huntress also wished to be there, with her man. She knew that her complete inability to stand up to Hawkeye would only hinder the Hero of Healing. Alas, the realization only made her worries ever more tormenting. Especially after Freia received such an honor.
Until… Until!..
Setsuna heard steps. Someone climbed the stairs, walked through the corridor. The gray-haired girl opened the door to greet her master with a broad smile…
It was neither Keyaruga, nor Freia either. They were two guests, a man and a woman with badger-like fur on their faces, neighbors, but nothing more than that.
Setsuna sulked. Looking at her was like seeing a child, waiting for her parents in the late night. Eve too couldn’t wait for the man’s return; he was a pillar of safety and stability, nothing more.
“Alright, let’s look for them.” At the end of the day, how could the progeny of the black-wing tribe not show her leadership potential in such a delicate matter?
“Uh-huh, let’s go.” The tailed girl replied with tangible impatience in her voice. After all, when Keyaruga came to them only to leave with Freia, he never told the two other girls to stay indoors no matter what, did he?
And so, as Eve closed the door, Setsuna had already dashed through the corridor, and the kokuyoku scion made no attempt to stop her. This was just how Setsuna was. Most of the time she remained silent, and when she didn’t, the girl tried to maintain her rationality and act accordingly.
There were also times, when she got utterly irrational. Exclusively it seemed, when it came to the safety of her man. The girls ran down the stairs, one was trying not to move too fast, the other made sure to keep up and not lose her balance. Setsuna and Eve accordingly found themselves in the inn’s dining hall, ready to rip the door open and dash along the ruined streets of Buranikka…
“Wait…” That or the huntress could just stop for a moment to get a better sniff of a familiar smell, approaching the building from the outside.
“What hap… O-o-oh…” Eve needed no answer. After all, when the wooden gates opened, the man they were so eager to go out looking for stepped in.
“Setsuna, Eve! Nice seeing you here.” Keyaruga smirked, greeting his two companions. “Have you, possibly-?..” Barely did the lad speak a word, before the she-wolf dashed forward, hugging, and sniffing him. And if the former action was quite predictable in its reasoning and consequences (there were none; aside from slight complications with holding the bag of spices and vegetables, that is), then the latter…
“You smell like… another woman. Smell… like she!” The huntress’ excitement quickly changed with animosity. After all, the healer returned with two girls. And if spotting Freia’s smell on the hero was normal, than… “Who is she?” …The she-wolf asked, withdrawing from the red-eyed lad. This time she approached Ellen. “Who are you?” Setsuna asked with barely hidden aggression. If not for Keyaruga standing between the two, things would escalate much quicker.
“Setty, listen, she’s…” The sorceress tried to defuse the situation. She tried to convey her excitement to her friend, but the gray-haired girl would have nothing of that.
“Who’re you?” Setsuna asked the crimson-headed cutie, who was taking the offence by smiling with the corners of her lips.
“Haa…” The man made a long exhale, anticipating a whole bunch of problems. Fortunately for him, his long-term ally patted the other side of his hand and made a step forward.
“I’m Ellen, Keyaruga’s little sister.” The former princess introduced herself with a wide smirk on her adorable face. “We were separated five years ago. I thought we would never meet again, but he saved me from the big evil soldiers today! Big brother told me about you, and how cool you are, Setsuna…” The girl kept speaking, probing the huntress’ reaction to both her legend and the flattering. Honestly, neither did an amazing job in persuading the wolf girl, but she was willing to believe it. With one condition!
“Master Keyaruga, is that true?” The man himself had to affirm it for her.
“Yes. So please, don’t hurt her, or I’ll be sad. You don’t want to make me sad, do you, Setsuna?” The hero responded with a sly grin on his lips.
Now that I think about it, it does look like I got that smiling habit from Norn.
“Hmmm… Uh-huh, Setsuna’s accepting her.” The she-wolf said, although her enthusiasm remained pretty low.
“Hurray!” What couldn’t be said about Ellen, as she instantly dashed forward to greet her new comrade with a hug. The latter was less than pleased by that, but wouldn’t do anything to hurt the excessively clingy girl. She… was too brittle, pitifully so actually. “So, Freia told me you’re in charge of training. Can you train me too?”
“No.” The huntress said loud and clear. “Ellen’s too weak.” She even appealed to her classless status to back up her simple jealousy.
“Ple-e-e-ase, I wanna keep up with my brother. He’s a beast in the bed, you know!” Still, who would that warlady be if she surrendered after the first failed attempt? No, it wasn’t for naught, this also counted as reconnaissance.
“Uh-huh, know that. Why?” Setsuna wondered, as she with the rest of the group headed upstairs under the silent gaze of the blue-feathered host.
“Because…” Ellen smirked, approaching her lips to the whitish fluffy ears. “I’ll tell you about all of Keyaruga’s weak spots.” Then, with a whispering tone, she offered a deal Setsuna would never deny.
And it actually worked. The two girls had much to talk about, be it the healer’s sexual life, battle strategies, bedside techniques, combat styles, how they both despised cosmetics, and so on, and so forth.
“Hey, Keyaruga…” Eve, though, was still concerned. As she walked up the stairs, the black-haired maiden approached the smugly grinning man. “Is she, you know, Freia’s-?..”
“She is. Ellen and I have known each other for very, very long time. I’m glad she’s finally with us.” The red-haired lad elaborated, while his lips sustained that dumb happy smile.
“I was never happier in my entire life!” And Freia too shared that sentiment.
“Sashi buka-tand (happy fools).” The queen-to-be murmured under her nose. Strangely enough, she too wanted to have some of the mindless limerence for Keyaruga the other members of the party got so obsessed with.
Could that day be any more exciting?
“Alright, girls! Today I’m handling the cooking!” The man admonished, putting a bag of gifts on the floor. It was heavy, more than fifteen kilogram, and he only needed two in order to make the soup for everyone. “It won’t take long, only…” Before he finished the line, the man found himself dragged not by one, but two precious young ladies right in the direction of the bed.
“Please, brother…” Ellen wasn’t as strong as her new animalistic comrade, but she had another weapon – childish traits governed by a mature soul.
“Or we could do this instead. Eve, would you be so kind as to order us a lunch?” The lad asked, feeling his clothes being ripped away by two overexcited girls.
“What? Why me?!” The black-winged maiden exclaimed with discontent. Was it because she hated being pushed around? Certainly not.
“It’s alright, Evy, I’ll go.” Fortunately for her, Freia volunteered for that small chore. Unfortunately, though… “In the meantime, you can watch them go at it.” …she knew exactly the reasoning behind the me-ua kahul’s dissatisfaction.
“I… I… I’m not like this, you perverts!!!” And so, the fallen angel of empyrean beauty, yet worldly passions once again hid behind the door, while the sorceress stepped outside the room with a feeling of sweet and gentle relief in her heart.
…
Kinacrith, a precious jewel among the mountain ridges, the universally recognized capital of Tenanulic. An oasis with water, food, shelter, and logistic ways leading to all the numerous corners of the Confederation. It was an ancient city, with its founding days numerating at least fourteen centuries in the past. Its high walls kept away any monsters, but unlike Buranikka, it was guarded by at least ten thousand soldiers on constant duty.
Kinacrith’s architecture varied from district to district. Throughout the long history of the old metropolis, different tribes came and went, leaving behind the true miracles of their culture. Wooden cottages, stone houses, hidden dwellings among the trees, entire underground settlements, all connected with an extensive system of sewers, letting both waste and copious amounts of rainwater, so common there, to completely drain away from the urban area within the walls.
But no tale of that magnificent city could go without describing the castle. Kyuntarnur Gyukanze pora Sagayuro, the Citadel of the Obsidian Throne, was a massive network of conjoined fortifications, connected through the highest spire in the entire Enoa continent, as its peak rose by two hundred meters into the sky. A true testament to the grandeur of the ma-zok.
And how could such a majestic place go without guests? A procession marched by the boulevard of Torzin, named after the mythical figure of the first Me-ua from two thousand years prior. Within the residual sunlight of twilight, the citizens could see the column of soldiers. Not an uncommon sight for these lands. But they were humans. Forty-four mounted knights under the banner of a black rhombus with a golden eye in the middle, the banner of the Kingdom of Jioral. It was lead by none other than Margurth Rikil Jioral. The King of Men rode on his enormous black stallion, and everyone who looked at him, succumbed to inexplicable terror. Children cried, adults cowered in fear, and even warriors couldn’t help but to have their hearts skip a beat. A naked violet-skinned woman sat on a croup of the royal steed. It was her aura, her black miasmas that engulfed the entire delegation. The finest cutthroats accompanied their monarch… among them was Martin Charian, Spellbane, one of the Three Champions. A man brought back from dead. His dark bluish skin reeked of gravely cold, and nothing but an endless void could be spotted within his reddish eyes. He didn’t breathe. In fact, none of the knights, including the monarch himself, did so.
…
“Ugh… U-u-u…” Hakuo, the current Me-ua, the Demon King, the rightful ruler over the Confederation, a giant lion-man freely sitting on a ten-meter tall throne of dark obsidian with purple lines of unfiltered wild mana… looked like nothing more than a coward, pushing himself backwards into his royal throne out of fear. He wept, as though his throat was grabbed by an unseen paw of dread and paranoia. Not only had his search squad had been eliminated by an unknown third party, but his long-time ‘partner’ came to pay him a visit.
The gates of the purest orichalcum, impossible to open with anything but the will of the Me-ua, had opened. Only three people entered under the foundation of the barely lit dome. All reeked of death, decay, and darkness.
“It has been a long time, since our last meeting, beast!” The old man spoke. His steps were quiet, and yet to Hakuo, they were thundering footfalls. “The Hero of Healing has escaped our grip, my daughters have betrayed me, and now they shall come after you, brute! It is time for you to justify your existence, monstrosity! You will serve me and retrieve these traitors!” Margurth commanded, slowly but steadily approaching the trembling lion. The Me-ua with his four meters of height felt like a small cub in the face of that terrifying man.
“Haa… Haa… Haa…” His breath betrayed the terror Hakuo dealt with internally. Two decades of reign left nothing but a broken shell of a once ambitious soul, a shivering lowlife, kept alive by his sinister throne and the power it gave him. “N… na… Z… Za… ZARAN (never)!!!” And yet, he was still a king. A mighty entity to be reckoned with.
Hakuo rose from the throne. The lion uplifted his right hand, letting fearsome claws protrude from within his thick animalistic fingers. Five curved claws, big, sharp, and infused with the aura of decay. One slash with them was enough to cleave a man in six parts, which would rot into nothingness soon after.
The Me-ua took a swing; he imbued it with all of his feeble courage and valor. If that didn’t work… If that…
“SUBMIT!”
It did not. Barely did Hakuo raise his hand, before Margurth stopped him with a single word. That was a word of power, only the Demon King, from all of his people, could use one, a right of undeniable command, a gift from the dark god himself… Only two entities could use that, and one stood higher than other.
“KNEEL!”
Hakuo had no choice but to surrender. He had no will, nor bravery to deny his god, who, in the cruelest twist of irony, manifested inside the ruler of Jioral. Me-ua stood defeated, one thrust of the royal blade could end him for good. And yet, the monarch had other plans for the massive leonine figure.
“Subjugate him, Reeharoze!” Margurth ordered, making a step sideways. The woman approached slowly. The winged lady pointed her taloned hand at her own stomach. She pierced her belly, letting black goo pour onto the ground. With no soul, the woman would feel no pain, and yet dark bloody tears came from her pale green eyes, down the seemingly unfeeling face. In an act of compulsory self-mutilation, she pulled a wizened gray fetus from her innards.
“Niratha! Niratha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!!!” Hakuo yelled, prayed for mercy. But he got none. As the crying woman ruptured the massive lion man’s guts, bathing the parasite in blood, viscera, and dung, Margurth Rikil Jioral couldn’t help but smirk. Every soul in the throne room was his toy, his marionettes.
And even the pretention to the contrary of one of them would soon come to an end.
