Deep in Kitsune Woods,Eris walks down a path, passing by a variety of colored trees, and trees that have old, faded runes carved into them.
It is the fourteenth of The Dark Month (December). One day before Mikalae's birthday, the Dark Realm Squad's excursion, and the beginning of the Great War.
"You're majesty, it's been an hour, where are we going?" Jesse, asks. He walks a few feet behind Eris, alongside Deros.
"An hour?" Eris turns, and his face lights up. "It's almost noon. The Fairy Sanctuary will be above a ruin for about a minute," he explains.
"Okay, but why are we here?" Deros asks, slightly scornfully. "I wanted to take, Jesse out to eat," he says
Eris stops, and turns abruptly, raising his eyebrows at the both of them. Deros scoffs nervously. "I mean like... Jesse and the rest of the council," Deros laughs with his hand on the back of his neck.
Eris chuckles and turns back around, continuing to walk.
"Don't you want to know about me? I've been waiting on you two to start asking questions," he says smugly, and their faces rest in silence.
"Where have you been for the thousands of years?" Jesse blurts out.
"My realm," Eris whispers in response, "The Seven and I were trapped in our realms, while my son, Riune, roamed this planet," he explains.
Deros chuckles, "How could a powerful cosmic leader like you be trapped?" He questions.
"Maybe he's not the strongest," Jesse chimed in.
"No way," Deros said, in disbelief.
"Way, actually," Eris joined in. "There is a sort of... hierarchy to the embodiments. I came to the conclusion that the Extants, punished us," Eris says with slight content.
"The Extants are above us because they were the sole survivors of the beginning. Me and some of the Seven are the Contrivers. We died before the cosmos became anew, but we were essential and got brought back. Then there's The Posterities, children of the embodiments,"
"Besides Riune, I have two other children. Sun and Moon. Riune's true name is actually Eclipse. Embodiment of Day and Night or Light and Darkness, but... there was an incident and he split in two. Now, he can only be Day orNight, and I'd rather deal with Day. Speaking of," Eris says, using his power to lift the vines, blocking the path.
They continued on to approach a tall tower in blue stone, covered with runes. They look up and clouds shroud the space above. Eris smiles.
"Right on time," he says. He then squats and jumps up high into the sky, disappearing into the clouds.
Deros eyes widen and his jaw drops.
"I hate that he can just do that," he says before his sliver wings appear, but then, in a blue flash
Deros and Jesse disappear.
They appear beside Eris in a wide corridor, inside the large temple of the Fairy Sanctuary.
"This is the Hall of Creatures," Eris deadpanned, "When I created the temple with Rakia, I wanted to include all the knowledge and guidance we could offer. She wanted to include the best war communication advice," he chuckles.
He turns around and sees Deros and Jivan looking confused. "I know, very specific. But that's why we were the best duo, she was straightforward, fierce and overprotective. I am kind, but serious and an intellect. At least, that's how we were viewed," Eris smiled, with a feeling of nostalgia.
A bright golden light, in the form of a door then rises up from the temple's stone flooring, feet away from Eris.
"This place was an ancient outpost in the previous era before being remodeled. It is powerful magic. There are so many rooms here beside the Halls of Creatures and Kings," he says, joyfully.
"The only way to open the doors is to speak High Primisi, which is different than Ancient Fae language. However," he says before turning around, facing the door, "I can open them mentally since I'm connected to this place. And uh," Eris turns his head back to them,
"Sorry," he chuckles, "I know I'm rambling but, you two are one of the few mortals I trust," he says sternly, before turning his head back. "Follow me," he says, walking to the light, disappearing.
"I guess that answers my immortal question," Deros mutters as he follows behind Jesse into the door of light.
Deros and Jesse steps onto a navy-blue platform and immediately look in awe. The room is enormous. A small staircase reaches from the platform at the door into the room, and a large round table of fifteen chairs was there. Behind it a tall metal sphere floated in the center, connected to blue stone chains by the ceiling and floor.
Eris appeared in blue flash, in front of the giant table.
"This was the command center of the outpost. I say was cause it's not exactly how it used to be," he explained. Jesse scrunched his face curiously and walked down the stairs, getting closer and closer to the giant sphere.
He approaches it and lightly waves his hand over it.
"Jesse?" Deros asks, walking down the stairs.
"This... it's for me isn't it," Jesse whispers.
Eris smiles lightly.
"Yes...you Jesse will be in charge of the most important division of this war," Eris responds and Jesse turns around to face him.
"With the help of your fellow Vanolrians, you and your clan can be a link that connects headquarters to every single battlefield using this structure," Eris says and Jesse blinks confusedly.
"I don't understand," he mutters,
"Jesse," Deros steps closer, "He's saying that he's going to implement a communication division, and you will be the leader," Deros elaborates,
"The better word is commander," Eris corrects. "Jesse, do you mind taking off your advisor hat for a while?" He chuckles and asks.
Jesse smiles and nods. "Yes, your majesty," He says proudly.
"Come on Jesse, you6're my friend. It's Eris," He says. Still smiling, Jesse nods once again.
"Oh! I just remembered something I wanted to ask," says Deros and Eris nods.
"The devils in the Seal Gate Caves of my villages. Those are the ones who defeated the Unruly Seven, right?" Deros asks. Eris blinks and gulps,
"The Sons of Murmur..." He whispers with a little fear.
"They committed the genocide of Pixies and Primisians... nearly destroyed this planet. What's worse is that they are Empyreans... cousins of the Embodiments..." he intoned.
"What?!" Deros exclaimed and Jesse's face light up in shock and confusion.
"Yes... our creator formed the Empyreans to form celestial bodies for lifeforms to dwell upon... planets. Whilst Embodiments were created to sustain the core aspects and existence of the universe,"
"Unlike Embodiments, all Empyreans were made in pairs, meaning they have a counterpart. A twin. Murmur and Belial are twin brothers, their power hails from the Redforce, a source of chaotic and unstable mystical energy that was formed before the Beginning. Luckily, we were not met with Belial and his children... Belial's power is much more paramount to Murmur's, same is said for his children compared to the Sons of Murmur. Belial is... much more sane, and spiritually stable. The peace you have within, the more power you can draw for the Redforce...
"What if..." Jesse began, "What if the devils in the cave somehow broke free?" He asks.
"What if?" Eris says quickly. "The question is when... because they will and when they do, I'm sure their power will be immense... You know what enough," Eris begins to walk to the door of light.
"Now that my link is restored with this place, we have no more business here for now. Let's go," he says walking pass the door.
At the Royal Castle of Magicae, in Mediocris City
In his bedroom tower, Mikalae is sitting on his bed with the Book of Akimus in his hand.
He stares straight ahead, zoned out.
"Ebisu..." He whispers
Mikalae then carefully opens the book and flips on to a page written in Primisian runes and scripture
He shifts his eyes over to the right page and there was a figure. A cloaked skeleton with a gold skull.
Mikalae then immediately closes the book.
"Death.." he breathes
"Mikah?"
Mikalae quickly turns around and sees Jivan slowly walking towards him from the doorway
"Hey, are you okay?" Jivan asks, sitting next to him. Mikalae nods 'yes' in response, staying silent. "You didn't come to training today," Jivan says
"What I need to train..." Mikalae looks up and turns to him, "is my spirit," he affirmed
"I understand... it's just I'm worried..." Jivan spoke, "This war... the attack on the capital, on top of our excursion the day of your birthday. I feel it's just too much," Jivan explains
"You're right, it's too much," Mikalae responds and Jivan scrunches his face, "but there are moments in time where I feel nothing but.. emptiness. So, like I always say, I'll be fine," he intoned before he stood up and walked over to his desk.
At the eastern docks of Mediocris City
The Knights of Astellan, beside Ash, Grayson and Hasan stood on top of a large wooden boat ship.
"Where are they? Thought you said they would be here by now," Jessica says to Aeron
"Yeah, I'm ready to explore the unknown east!" Rose exclaimed, with Sloan by her side.
"I'll go get them," Aeron says as he begins to walk away, but he's stopped by Zoe.
"Fae Cake," she says and Aeron scrunches his face in confusion. It then settles
"Oh, right. They're at Fae Cake bakery," he remembers and then walks off of the ship, heading to the bakery.
Aeron walks along the stone streets and turns down an alley.
"There you are. What the hell are you three doing?" He asks as he approaches Ash, Hasan and Grayson in an end of a dark alley.
Ash scoffs as Hasan steps up.
"We've been waiting for you," Hasan says and Ash smacks his lips. "This is a bad idea," he says, then Grayson steps up
"No, Ash! We already went over this. Aeron, Hasan is Ash's dad," says Grayson, and Aeron's face scrunches, almost looking concerned.
"Ah, no," Hasan chuckles, "What he means is that I am Nasara of the Deusrian gods, and Ash is Omasha, more or less," Hasan elaborates. Aeron stood there and looked at them in silence.
A light smirk then rises on his right cheek. "I'm waiting for you to finish..." he spoke, and they all looked confused.
"Like, where's the part you tell me that King Eris is Siure... meaning he is also sky of the Unruly Seven..." he says.
Ash and Hasan's faces engulf in shock while Aeron kept his smirk.
"I've known everything for years. Honestly, I know too much about everyone I encounter, but.... that's just my curse," his smirk fades as he closes off his sentence solemnly.
"Even now, I know you waited for me here so that you could explain everything and tell me to do a task, which you don't even have to tell me anymore now that I know," Aeron laughs and rubs his forehead,
"Fuck, it's so loud..." he manically laughs even more, "I can't- I don't know how I do it, but I fucking do! Everything's always loud...this curse, I call it Solstice Soul. It's what killed most of my family, and it'll kill me too if I let it. The overwhelming ability to read minds and see souls, feel one's intention, mentally having everyone's life story thrown at you nearly every second of the day is beyond exhausting..."
"But I learned to keep it at bay because it allows me to gain knowledge, after all I wouldn't know nothing about you two being gods," Aeron smirks again, "Anyway, I trust you all will follow behind me to the boat. The girls are ready to go," he says before turning around and walking off.
The three still stood there, completely confound. Grayson then lets out a small chuckle.
"Great," Grayson clasps his hands then begins to walk forward, "He finally told you two, so we should-"
"WHAT?!" Hasan passively yanks his arm out to stop Grayson. Grayson turns back.
"You knew all of that? All he's been through?" Hasan asks
"Why would you keep that a secret?" Ash chimes in, "You've seriously played us the whole time, and"
"Woah," Grayson interjects, slightly scoffing. "Played you? If anything, you played all our friends, Ash," he refutes.
"Excuse me?" Ash frowns.
"No. No, let's not excuse the fact you hid everything about yourself, and everything you knew about the Deusrian Gods from everyone but me. And honestly, even now you're still holding secrets from all of us. Both of you!" Grayson expressed
He then lets out a disappointed laugh that seemed like a scoff whilst lightly shaking his head side to side.
"You know what," he says with a smile--not one of happiness, "The boat I go," he turns around and begins to leave. "You guys wanna get your panties in a bunch over a secret that wasn't mine to tell? Be my guess," He maintained, retreating from the alley.
"I forget he and Sloan share a temper," Ash said and Hasan turned with a raised eyebrow.
"Mikalae?"
"Mikah?"
In Mikalae's chambers, Jivan taps Mikah's shoulder as he sleeps at his desk. After no response, Jivan carefully moves Mikah's arms in order to pick him up and carry him to the bed.
A moment after Jivan places him down, Mikah wakes up.
"Mhm," Mikah looks over to the balcony as Jivan walked to the other side of the bed.
"It's not night?" He asks in disbelief with his head shifted towards Jivan.
"Nah. You passed out while reading," Jivan tells him and Mikah's eyes disconcertingly blinks. He then slowly pulls closer to his headboard and sits up, reluctantly.
"I- I just got tired writing my notes. It's okay. I'm fine," he mutters
"I didn't say you weren't," Jivan's voice swiftly rasped and Mikalae slightly looks down, still with a look of disconcert.
"Do you remember, Mikah? Do you remember when we first met? It was nearly two years ago, after the Knights of Astellan got lost in space. I came to the royal capital to help my dad and brother use our sound magic to track the princess and her friends. When our efforts didn't work, I wanted to leave..."
FLASHBACK TO NEARLY TWO YEARS AGO
Jivan cautiously walked around empty corridors inside the royal castle, Poslanice
"Dad? Jesse?" He called out
"I wanna go now! Dad? Jesse?" He called out once again, still walking.
He turns and approaches a hall with five pictures on each side. The pictures were the crest of each aristocrat family.
He sighs, starting to turn back around, yet he stops once he hears a distant sniffle.
He then shifts back to the Crest Hall and cautiously walks down. Following the whispering cries and sniffles, he notices there's a dead end. And near the dead end, two empty suits of armor stood across from each other.
As he approaches the suits of armor, the crying stops.
"Go away!" the voice screeched and Jivan jumped backed, startled.
"B-but you seem sad," Jivan points out, not knowing or seeing who he's speaking to as the voice hid near the dead end, right beside a suit of armor.
"I am not!" The voice frustratedly refutes. He sniffles once again.
"I..." he inhales deeply, "I... I am... I am"
"Alone," Jivan spoke out. "Which would be obvious as there is no one else in this hall," Jivan then finds the confidence to walk closer.
"But," he gets closer, "being alone and feeling alone are two different things," he says
"Luckily for you, people who be alone," he finally approaches the person, but their head is down near their knees, "are excellent friends with people who feel alone. So, maybe if you tell me what happened it'll make you feel better, or-- or I can!" Jivan exclaimed.
Still faced down, the voice breathed softly, "I didn't mean to feel this way, but... I feel so irrelevant, like I couldn't possibly matter to anyone. Like, no one would ever try to see me as more than a bystander or try to truly converse with me without finding me weird, boring or just someone to throw out after their done using. Like, no one ever tries to-- accept me... or even be there for me. The only two people who did are gone. They left me!" He vents and Jivan listens. That was the moment Jivan realized who he was.
He then bent his knees and squatted.
"I won't," Jivan says
For a moment Mikalae remained quiet. He then straightened his legs and lifts his head up.
"What?"
"I won't leave you," Jivan restates.
"If you become my friend... my only friend, then I swear I won't leave you, Prince Mikalae," Jivan declares before he reaches his hand out to Mikalae.
PRESENT DAY
"And I won't change, Mikah" Jivan spoke softly, holding his hand.
"I love you. I will never leave you," Jivan assures him, which lights a soft smile on Mikalae's face.
He then hugged Jivan.
"As long as the wind blows," Mikah whispered
"Our love grows," Jivan whispered back, glaring at over at Mikah's desk. Glaring at The Book of Akimus.
In east Mediocris City, the Knights waited for Ash and Hasan to return to the ship along the city's Crystal Shores.
"You're excited, aren't you?" Aeron asks Jessica. "Yeah... I'm more so worried about what'll happen, though. The war. It begins in two days and we're leaving for, what it feels like, a vacation," She vacillated.
Aeron sighs, "Yeah, but-"
"I know," Jessica smacks her lips while looking at the giant rocks miles away in the see.
"It's not a vacation. We're going to find my family, but... what about my family here?"
"I'm sure King Eris and Prince Mike can handle themselves," Hasan says.
Jessica and Aeron turned around to see that Ash and Aeron appeared behind them.
"Finally!" Rose said, beside Sloan. "I am so ready to go to the east ocean! Think of how much magic it has!"
"You mean, how magically it is?" Ash questioned.
Rose scrunched her face lightly, "That's what I said,"
Ash sees Zoe standing in front of the boats wheel and lightly skips over to her.
"Hey," he says just before he cups her face and kisses her.
"Got lost?" She asks.
Ash chuckles, "You already know. Say, are you about to drive this boat with your magic?" He asks in a flirty tone
"Well, I mean. Water is my specialty," Zoe lightly laughs and Ash follows.
She then places her hand on the wheel, and the large ship begins to move away from the Crystal Shores.
"Woah, that's a little fast," says Ash as he lightly stumbled around the ship
"I know," Zoe says.
Hasan then walks to the front of the ship, and his eyes glow gold.
The two of the giant thorned rocks begin to rumble and they quickly sink into the sea.
"Woah!" Sloan exclaimed. "What kinda training did you do in Gigantios?" She asked, bewildered about how he seamlessly submerged the giant rocks.
Hasan turns and chuckles as the ship quickly pass through the line of rocks.
The sea rumbles again as the rocks raised back up.
The ship then slowed its pace.
Zoe sighed, "We're not out the sea yet, but we'll make it there before sunset,"
"Here we go," Jessica says as she steps up with Aeron, holding his hand.
"Yep," Aeron replied. "Past the Zernon Sea and to the Uncharted East we go!"