Johannes Palace - The King's Domain

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"Thank goodness..." Faunix let out a sigh of relief but his face still held worry. "We don't know where Negative is now, none of us do. He only warned us that he will be going over Master Z next but no one knows when he will strike. I worry about the safety of the students in the Sisterhood. Surely he will stop at nothing to atain his goal."

Faunix continued to worry more and more as he cleared his throat. 

"B-But surely you might have a plan, right your highness?"
 
Khalid rubbed his chin. "Right now, my hands are tied right now with the missing women. I just sent someone to deal with a problematic group just a few hours ago. So, I do not have the answers nor plan to deal with this at the moment." He turns to Faunix. "I said there is a possibility that I can cure him, but each time passes, his body will consume more chaotic energy and become a full-on destructive being."

"So, not even you can fix this?" Black Shadow asked. 

"I'm afraid that it might be out of my hands. Instead, we have to deal with him another way, whatever he comes around." Khalid responded to Black Shadow's question. "If he's after Master Z, then you ought to make sure that place is well protected." 

"I see..." Black Shadow's face turned into a state of grief. "So ShineCero might be corrupted forever..."
 
"I-I see..." Faunix frowned slightly at the words of the King. "But... do you think this Suyoi person can help save Master Shine? If she's as powerful as you say then she should have no problem, right? It would just be a shame if Master Shine could not be saved..."
 
Both Khalid and Elewa looked at each other and smiled. "Rest assure, Faunix. Nothing in this world is too much for Suyoi. I just hoping we can handle this before Shine does something drastic." 

Elewa look up, seeing the clock on the wall and turns to Khalid. "My lord, it is that time of the day."

"Right, Meriya's meal time is coming up right?" He turns to both Faunix and Black Shadow. "Please, come with me. Meriya has beautiful sets of items I wished to give them to you for your visit and informing of this situation. Had I never know, he could have attack Shina Ania."
 
"M-M-Meriya?!" Faunix instantly turned paler than usual and nearly all the color on his body disappeared. "Oh, look at the time! W-We really should be heading back to the Sisterhood! It was nice visiting you Lord Khalid, I'm sure we'll return for another visit most certainly another time! "

He began to push Black Shadow to the door as he sweated up a storm.

"B-Besides, we shouldn't take such valuable items from your sacred land, Lord Khalid!"
 
“While I respect that you don’t vouch for such items, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I don’t reward you at some fashion. Please, ease your modesty and calm with me.” Khalid smiled; unaware of the panic that Faunix was going through. Both Khalid and Elewa headed towards the Meriya’s room.

“Yes. We don’t want to be disrespectful to your gifts, your majesty.” Black Shadow turns to Faunix, grabbing him by the shoulders. “What’s wrong? You acting like you sense a ghost or something. Did you sense Shi…Negative?”
 
"O-Oh! Heehee, it's nothing! Don't worry about me!" Faunix sweated. "Everything is a-okay! Yup! Totally not freaking out or anything!"

As Faunix entered the room where Meriya was, he heard the beautiful yet shivering voice that he dreaded to hear once again. 

Meriya sang beautifully within her large pool, combing her hair with a shell. She occasionally petted her large sea monster, Poseidon. As the group entered, she waved cutely to the King, giving him a large smile and a giggle.

"Hello there King Khalil~!" Meriya waved. "I see you brought some visitors! How lovely!"

As Meriya bowed her head to Black Shadow, she noticed Faunix hiding behind her. She squinted to get a better look and squealed with joy when she was able to recognize Faunix. 

"Ohh! It's Faunix~! I knew you'd come back one day! King Khalil, this was the guy I told you about! The man of my dreams! He's finally here!"

While Meriya babbled on about Faunix, the room grew silent instantly. Everyone felt a cold shiver go up their spines and hear a distant cry echo within the room. Meriya silenced herself because of the nervousness she felt. Suddenly, a few windows were heard shattering from within the palace and the area began to shake slightly. Once the scream passed, everything went back to normal. Faunix stood perfectly still, like a statue, with his skin paler than a ghost. His body was icy old to the touch and he began to shake uncontrollably. His eyes were wide with terror as he began to take a few steps back, mumbling softly to himself.

"Oh no... No, no, no, no... This is not good. This is definitely not good." He said while he stared in the direction that the yell came from. "Something really bad is going to happen... Something dreadful."
 
“My, what was that? I felt a cry for help.” Khalid felt strange after the strange screams. His body was informing him that a destructive battle is about to begin. He turns to his attendant. “Elewa, did you feel the same pressure?”

Elewa nodded his head. “Yes, I felt such a dreadful pressure as well, my king. It does not seem to be anywhere around here; I think it came outside from Shina Ania. I also felt another strong energy bursting up… something oddily familiar to you, my lord.”

Black Shadow as a bit confused—although she did felt something, her senses is not as sharp compared to the others. “Faunix, what are you acting so weird all of the sudden? First, this mermaid thing and now you are as stiff as a rock. Enough games… tell me, what is exactly happening?”
 
"My my, what a disgusting little squeal." Meriya sighed before turning to Faunix. "Why are you so pale, love~? Did such a grotesque noise shiver up your spine?"

Faunix took a deep breath and tried to speak, but all that came out of his mouth were studders. He didn't want to say what was going on, and with Meriya around, it made everything more uncomfortable for him.

"The energy you felt... was Master Z and that scream was Nicori. He's hurt..." Faunix's voice trembled. "And now, Master Z has unleashed her true power, a horrible and devastating power. She's showing emotion, and not the good kind either. Whatever happened to Nicori, Master Z is responding to it with a horrible nature. This power... it's not from Booga. It's something far more... malicious."

Faunix looked up in the direction of where he felt the energy.

"If Master Z doesn't control herself, Booga is in grave danger..."
 
“Huh… maybe you need to head back then?” Khalid. “I think our little meeting is done anyways; if you have any information regarding Negative. Contact me immediately.” 

Black Shadow nodded. “Let’s head back, Faunix. We can always come back and finished your reunion with your friend here.”
 
"H-Hey! Wait!" Meriya pouted before pointing at Faunix. "I waited a long time to see you again and as soon as I see you, you gotta disappear? No way! You're staying right here an--"

"Right! I'll tell you as soon as I can, Khalil! Please pardon us and we're sorry for the sudden leave!" Faunix stared at Black Shadow, still sweating about the situation. "We need to get back to the Sisterhood asap! ...But how?"
 
“Well, I was working on a teleportation skill, but I never had the time to put into use since I have been busy recently.” Black Shadow lifted her right arm; sparks of energy radiated from the palm of her hand. “Okay… just grabbed onto me and we can get out of here to at least, I hope, the Sisterhood.”
 
"R-Right... Please hurry!"

Faunix grabbed Black Shadow's arm, trying his best not to pay attention to Meriya and her tantrum.

"Hey! Don't leave me Faunix! You better stay here or else!!!" Meriya shouted. "I'm not done talking to you!"
 
"Let them be, Meriya. It seems that they have more pressing matters to attend to. Come back anytime, you hear?" Khalid said.

Black Shadow nodded and prepared for teleportation. Instantly, they disappeared from the castle, heading straight to the Sisterhood.
 
Olivia returns to the Palace thanks to the Pegasus who took her to and from Shina Ania.

"Now to go and tell the King what happened..." she told herself as she entered the Palace, looking around to see if Elewa was close by. "Hopefully the King hasn't already been dealing with bad news... but he needs to hear this." Nervously, Olivia rehearsed what she would say to Khalid as she made her way to the throne room.
 
"Oh?" Elewa spotted Olivia from down the hall. He was carrying a huge load of food, seemingly on his way to feed other horses on the field near the castle. "You're back?" He approached the young warrior. "No cuts or any significant damage on you. I can safety say you managed to figure out what was happening in the Forest of Memphis?"
 
Olivia nodded. "I did, thanks to the help of some Desolatians who were also there on a Guild job..." She rubbed her arm anxiously. "If it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't have made it back by myself. It's a lot to process, so we need to talk to the King about it directly. The short version is that I found out that the forest is being used as some kind of... ritual sacrifice ground." Olivia's voice began to shake as she resisted the urge to cry. "Cultists kidnapping women to try and revive someone they were worshiping. It was a horrific sight... we couldn't save them. Those poor women even begged us to..." she cut herself off in order to keep it together, rubbing furiously at her eyes. "There's far more to it than that, but the King has to hear all of it."
 
Elewa nodded and didn’t asked anything further. Whatever Olivia saw that needs to be taken directly to the King himself must be urgent. He narrowed his eyes upon seeing Olivia visibly troubled when talking about the captured women. “Come.” He led Olivia to the King Chambers, more specifically, in the bathing room.

Khalid was seconds of into the tub before Elewa came in. “Sire, I have urgent news. Olivia made it back, but judging from the tone of her voice, it isn’t good.” He was not fazed at the slightest upon seeing the king fully naked.

“Urgent news…” Khalid, likewise, was not fazed of Elewa and Olivia barging in. “Olivia, did you find out something about the Forest of Memphis?”
 
Olivia yelped in surprise and promptly covered her eyes with her hands; she was mortified about having walked in on the King during his bath time but she didn't expect him to be so nonchalant about it, especially considering how youthful he looked despite almost certainly being older than her. 

After turning around to face the door, she composed herself long enough to speak. "Y-yes, your Majesty... It's very alarming. There's some kind of cult group that have been traveling around the continent kidnapping women. Their most recent victim was the only one I could recover with the help of some Desolatian Guild members, and she happened to be a member of the Paradican Sisterhood of White Magic. Meaning, these cultists are traveling outside the country to search for more girls. We turned her over to them for the time being... From what we could gather, the cultists were using some kind of forbidden ceremony in a bid to resurrect someone they only referred to as The Queen.

"The women we came across were just... skin and bones. We thought they were already dead but... they were leftover failures to reach the goal of reviving this Queen of theirs. Unfortunately, I think the only girl we could save is what I can only call a vessel for the Queen to inhabit at any time. We never figured out how they managed to do this other than it most certainly is some kind of forbidden magic. No ordinary modern magic I know of is capable of binding a living soul to that of one who's long passed. The Queen was a... terrifying opponent; I think she even mentioned wanting to reclaim the throne from you. The amount of rage she had in her was palpable. We were able to knock her out, but it was almost impossible to leave the Forest Temple alive; the women were probably beyond our ability to help them since even they begged us to end them. But we hesitated for too long about what to do. The cult has them under their control like puppets... we managed to take down a few of them but it wasn't nearly enough.

"We were only able to leave because one of the Guild members was able to force their hand by threatening to harm the vessel. It was a foolhardy decision, but even if she was bluffing, they had taken her threat seriously enough to let us go. But the only one who the puppets answered to was a strange woman they called Lust. I'm afraid we won't be seeing the last of these cultists who called themselves Watchers. I'm very sorry that I failed to rescue any of the girls... I had to leave them behind."
 
Khalid and Elewa both stared at each other after hearing Olivia’s description of what transpired in her mission. “No, you have nothing to apologize for. You have done everything you can that I asked for. Things don’t always go exactly what you expect.” Khalid said.

“But the Queen… I can’t believe it.” Elewa started to sweat. “To use these women as batteries for their ancient magic. I have no words.”

“The Queen did have a large following after she passed. Her supporters were angry for what had happened to her—rightfully so.” Khalid continued on. “The Queen… never thought the Cult was able to pull off something like that… Ancient Magic is something you don’t mess with.”

“And the fact that the Cult of the Watchers don’t have a single leader, but a group that’s controlling them behind the scene. If they can pull this off, they can perform many other dangerous skills of magic. They must’ve picked this up if they’re traveling outside of Shina Ania.” Elewa addressed.

“Olivia,” Khalid put on his robe to cover his body. “You done a great service for finding out this information. What about the girl?”
 
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