When Maeve finally stumbled her way back to the castle, Aladdin was waiting for her, but she was not waiting for him. She pushed past him and slammed the castle doors in his face. He stood there for a moment, contemplating whether to follow after her, but Althea had caught his attention. She had just now made it back to the castle from when Lux had thrown her. She looked humiliated, her hood pulled as far over her head as possible. And she too did not stop to talk to Aladdin; she walked by him without even a nod, keeping her face hidden as she headed toward the eastern side of the castle walls where she disappeared from sight.
Aladdin stood there for a moment more, surveying the aftermath of Lux's rampage, then he looked back to the castle doors. His mind wandered over everything. Maeve didn’t need to say anything; the fact that Oiwa had not returned with her weighed heavily on him. Aladdin now wished he never told Oiwa where Maeve and Lux had been fighting. He turned his attention to Benny with a glance. Benny was standing at the edge of the forest, pressed up against a tree, looking exhausted.
Aladdin's attention returned to the castle, and he let out a sigh as he wondered how he was going to tell Maeve that Kohsin and Azral had not recovered. Whatever Lux did to them, it was too much for the human side of them to handle; both their hearts had given out from too much strain. He took another look around at the area they had been working so hard to rebuild over the last three months. Almost all of it was gone, reduced back to nothing. It looked as if the war had ravaged the place just yesterday, not over three months ago. He didn’t know what to think.
At the current moment, Sidra would take centuries to repopulate.
"Dysyxsix," Aladdin thought to himself. Even in death, he still got the last laugh. When Zero killed the Emperor of Sidra, he hoped to free its people from the conqueror, to allow his Elvish and Lycan friends to be themselves outside of Dungeons, to be able to group up with the strong Human Adventurers he had met in his journeys, to meet them when he was on another island. Zero set them free alright; he set all of them free. This meant the Vampires in Centalará too. When Emperor Dysyxsix was killed, the failsafe he had inscribed in the barrier around Centalará activated, and the barrier began to weaken, bit by bit, day by day, until it was finally no more.
Looking at Sidra now, crushed with the last bit of hope its people had at rebuilding, Lux had not killed many, but she had done enough. She had withered their spirits back into the same state of nothingness they were three months ago.
Everything was gone.
If the group returned with the Dwarves, they would have to adjust their plans, building small harbor towns for the Adventurers who would come for the inevitable Dungeon Breaks. But eventually, Sidra would be just like Fadsper and Leōtra, nothing but endless Dungeon Breaks until the Highers banished the island to the Under Gardena.
Aladdin’s mind snapped to the thought of Fadsper, the island Nix traded Vol for. He chuckled to himself. The thought that anyone beside himself or any of the other Old Gods would be trading the islands of Arrithia like stones brought a small smile to him. It also made him think about what and where he would be if Lord hadn’t stripped himself, Aladdin, and all the others of their full powers. Yet, with everything that has happened, he still doesn’t know what to make of Lord’s work. Lord hasn’t shown himself once since Nix’s death, and Protos hasn’t left the Citadel since he was last seen on Sidra.
The more Aladdin thought, the more he smiled. The thought of Lord using Protos, the Higher of Time, to see the future, but someone like Zero and his crew were too unpredictable even for time itself.
He took in a labored breath and nodded his head.
"What’s so funny?" Benny’s voice pulled Aladdin from his thoughts. He turned to him. Benny had pulled his hair up in a high ponytail, keeping as much of it off his forehead and neck as he could. His wounds had healed, but his clothing had not; it was left unmended, torn, burned, with bits of the seam unraveling.
"Just thinking about everything," Aladdin answered. "Everything that has happened lately."
"My mom told me things would be changing," Benny said, looking at the ruins of his city. "But this was not what I had in mind." He looked back to Aladdin. "Did you get to see him…Death?"
Aladdin turned a glance at Benny. "No, I wasn’t there."
"Hmm," Benny replied. "Damn."
"Can I intrude as to why?" Aladdin’s entire attention shifted to Benny, his eyes squinted down at him.
"He wasn’t here to protect me. I was nowhere near the castle. He was indeed here for my mother because of a Death Pact they had forged together, but it wasn’t one that protected me."
Aladdin didn’t know what to say. Benny would know for certain if he was under the protection of a Death Pact; everyone involved does. He didn’t say anything for so long that Benny filled in the silence himself.
"You don’t think it was for Zero, was it?"
"I beg your pardon?" Aladdin replied, his voice almost offended. "Him and Zero fought. If your mother didn’t intervene, he probably would have killed Zero."
"So not Zero," Benny muttered. "Does Maeve plan to do anything with my mother’s castle?"
Aladdin shook his head. There was a lot Maeve had planned to do. All of it revolved around making both castles part of her new capital, using them as funnel points for the neighboring villages and towns. And since she hasn’t gotten a chance to speak to Althea about the people’s own wants and plans—and with everything that has happened now, who knows what’s going to happen anymore.
"No, would you like to take leave and wander its halls?" Aladdin looked back to the castle doors, hoping Maeve would emerge soon.
Benny nodded. "I will be in my study." He started walking forward, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Aladdin watched as a shadow slithered across the ground and disappeared around the west side of the castle, again leaving Aladdin alone with his thoughts.
He looked up at the now singular sun that hung in the sky.
"What’s your next play, Lord? Where are you?"
Aladdin returned his eyes to the doors of the castle with another exhausted sigh, then pushed his way forward, then inside.
He traversed the halls to his own corridor and quarters, his mind once again drifting.
It wandered to thoughts about how far his and the Old Gods’ creation had fallen from the path they had helped lay, all because The All Tree was damaged all those countless years ago.
Aladdin couldn’t deny he admired what the people of Arrithia had become, especially the Adventurers.
Magic was very much going to be a part of Arrithia, but only when they were ready, only when they were a united people of all kinds, was Arrithia to be connected to The All Tree. The war between Highers and Dragons accelerated and pulled this plan to the forefront and out of the hands of The Old Gods; they could do nothing more than watch from afar, until Lord took away their powers and banished them all to live here on Arrithia.
Aladdin turned two more corners and walked down another two halls before he entered his quarters. He looked at his hand on the knob, admiring it. He had to admit, having a body was nice, it was different. He pushed open the door and glanced at the bed to his right and the table with the map of Sidra still laid across its top. The fireplace had dwindled into a short ember of coals and broken logs.
"Ah, forgot to put another on before I left," he murmured to himself. He quickly made his way across the room and adjusted a new set of logs on the coals, building a three-layered set. "That might be a little much." He removed a layer of logs and pulled out his wand.
With a flick of his wrist, he lit the logs aflame.
He settled down at the second table near the window and began making himself some tea.
He boiled the water, packed the leaves, and now he waited, but this time his thoughts did not wander.
He simply leaned back and before he knew it, he was asleep.
When Maeve finally stumbled her way back to the castle, Aladdin was waiting for her, but she was not waiting for him. She pushed past him and slammed the castle doors in his face. He stood there for a moment, contemplating whether to follow after her, but Althea had caught his attention. She had just now made it back to the castle from when Lux had thrown her. She looked humiliated, her hood pulled as far over her head as possible. And she too did not stop to talk to Aladdin; she walked by him without even a nod, keeping her face hidden as she headed toward the eastern side of the castle walls where she disappeared from sight.
Aladdin stood there for a moment more, surveying the aftermath of Lux's rampage, then he looked back to the castle doors. His mind wandered over everything. Maeve didn’t need to say anything; the fact that Oiwa had not returned with her weighed heavily on him. Aladdin now wished he never told Oiwa where Maeve and Lux had been fighting. He turned his attention to Benny with a glance. Benny was standing at the edge of the forest, pressed up against a tree, looking exhausted.
Aladdin's attention returned to the castle, and he let out a sigh as he wondered how he was going to tell Maeve that Kohsin and Azral had not recovered. Whatever Lux did to them, it was too much for the human side of them to handle; both their hearts had given out from too much strain. He took another look around at the area they had been working so hard to rebuild over the last three months. Almost all of it was gone, reduced back to nothing. It looked as if the war had ravaged the place just yesterday, not over three months ago. He didn’t know what to think.
At the current moment, Sidra would take centuries to repopulate.
"Dysyxsix," Aladdin thought to himself. Even in death, he still got the last laugh. When Zero killed the Emperor of Sidra, he hoped to free its people from the conqueror, to allow his Elvish and Lycan friends to be themselves outside of Dungeons, to be able to group up with the strong Human Adventurers he had met in his journeys, to meet them when he was on another island. Zero set them free alright; he set all of them free. This meant the Vampires in Centalará too. When Emperor Dysyxsix was killed, the failsafe he had inscribed in the barrier around Centalará activated, and the barrier began to weaken, bit by bit, day by day, until it was finally no more.
Looking at Sidra now, crushed with the last bit of hope its people had at rebuilding, Lux had not killed many, but she had done enough. She had withered their spirits back into the same state of nothingness they were three months ago.
Everything was gone.
If the group returned with the Dwarves, they would have to adjust their plans, building small harbor towns for the Adventurers who would come for the inevitable Dungeon Breaks. But eventually, Sidra would be just like Fadsper and Leōtra, nothing but endless Dungeon Breaks until the Highers banished the island to the Under Gardena.
Aladdin’s mind snapped to the thought of Fadsper, the island Nix traded Vol for. He chuckled to himself. The thought that anyone beside himself or any of the other Old Gods would be trading the islands of Arrithia like stones brought a small smile to him. It also made him think about what and where he would be if Lord hadn’t stripped himself, Aladdin, and all the others of their full powers. Yet, with everything that has happened, he still doesn’t know what to make of Lord’s work. Lord hasn’t shown himself once since Nix’s death, and Protos hasn’t left the Citadel since he was last seen on Sidra.
The more Aladdin thought, the more he smiled. The thought of Lord using Protos, the Higher of Time, to see the future, but someone like Zero and his crew were too unpredictable even for time itself.
He took in a labored breath and nodded his head.
"What’s so funny?" Benny’s voice pulled Aladdin from his thoughts. He turned to him. Benny had pulled his hair up in a high ponytail, keeping as much of it off his forehead and neck as he could. His wounds had healed, but his clothing had not; it was left unmended, torn, burned, with bits of the seam unraveling.
"Just thinking about everything," Aladdin answered. "Everything that has happened lately."
"My mom told me things would be changing," Benny said, looking at the ruins of his city. "But this was not what I had in mind." He looked back to Aladdin. "Did you get to see him…Death?"
Aladdin turned a glance at Benny. "No, I wasn’t there."
"Hmm," Benny replied. "Damn."
"Can I intrude as to why?" Aladdin’s entire attention shifted to Benny, his eyes squinted down at him.
"He wasn’t here to protect me. I was nowhere near the castle. He was indeed here for my mother because of a Death Pact they had forged together, but it wasn’t one that protected me."
Aladdin didn’t know what to say. Benny would know for certain if he was under the protection of a Death Pact; everyone involved does. He didn’t say anything for so long that Benny filled in the silence himself.
"You don’t think it was for Zero, was it?"
"I beg your pardon?" Aladdin replied, his voice almost offended. "Him and Zero fought. If your mother didn’t intervene, he probably would have killed Zero."
"So not Zero," Benny muttered. "Does Maeve plan to do anything with my mother’s castle?"
Aladdin shook his head. There was a lot Maeve had planned to do. All of it revolved around making both castles part of her new capital, using them as funnel points for the neighboring villages and towns. And since she hasn’t gotten a chance to speak to Althea about the people’s own wants and plans—and with everything that has happened now, who knows what’s going to happen anymore.
"No, would you like to take leave and wander its halls?" Aladdin looked back to the castle doors, hoping Maeve would emerge soon.
Benny nodded. "I will be in my study." He started walking forward, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Aladdin watched as a shadow slithered across the ground and disappeared around the west side of the castle, again leaving Aladdin alone with his thoughts.
He looked up at the now singular sun that hung in the sky.
"What’s your next play, Lord? Where are you?"
Aladdin returned his eyes to the doors of the castle with another exhausted sigh, then pushed his way forward, then inside.
He traversed the halls to his own corridor and quarters, his mind once again drifting.
It wandered to thoughts about how far his and the Old Gods’ creation had fallen from the path they had helped lay, all because The All Tree was damaged all those countless years ago.
Aladdin couldn’t deny he admired what the people of Arrithia had become, especially the Adventurers.
Magic was very much going to be a part of Arrithia, but only when they were ready, only when they were a united people of all kinds, was Arrithia to be connected to The All Tree. The war between Highers and Dragons accelerated and pulled this plan to the forefront and out of the hands of The Old Gods; they could do nothing more than watch from afar, until Lord took away their powers and banished them all to live here on Arrithia.
Aladdin turned two more corners and walked down another two halls before he entered his quarters. He looked at his hand on the knob, admiring it. He had to admit, having a body was nice, it was different. He pushed open the door and glanced at the bed to his right and the table with the map of Sidra still laid across its top. The fireplace had dwindled into a short ember of coals and broken logs.
"Ah, forgot to put another on before I left," he murmured to himself. He quickly made his way across the room and adjusted a new set of logs on the coals, building a three-layered set. "That might be a little much." He removed a layer of logs and pulled out his wand.
With a flick of his wrist, he lit the logs aflame.
He settled down at the second table near the window and began making himself some tea.
He boiled the water, packed the leaves, and now he waited, but this time his thoughts did not wander.
He simply leaned back and before he knew it, he was asleep.
