♪The end had come, of that we were certain

Carnage and pain, the world was hurting♪

♪The witch and the prophecy, fighting below Luna

Vying for dominance, while one is a tuna♪

♪The world will tremble, The world will fear

But today belongs to us, for we can cheer♪

-Excerpt from 'the song of the end'

On a small island, somewhere in the ocean north of what used to be Dalka, a dwarf sits in a bar, emptying another of his mugs. Outside the tavern, crime runs rampant as usual. Gangs intimidate local store owners, and fight for dominance between the scraps available. Pirates used to raid every ship in sight, now they mostly scavenge around, and occasionally set out to raid the southern lands. A tall scarred woman enters the bar, her horns scrape at the top of the doorway. The few that recognize her hastily get away, those who don't look warily at the Mazurian. The changes that did hit the island have been noticeable, and not all for the better.

Kids play outside, warned by local caretakers not to go to the beaches. The orphanages were organized by the local government, and many of the caretakers are Dalkan refugees with nowhere to go themselves. They warn the children not to go to the beaches, because that's where captured slavers go. It isn't actually dangerous there, but the mermaids who put the slavers there tend to hang around, and they aren't the most social bunch.

The tall woman sits across the dwarf, even if she can't see him too well from the small wall of mugs he made. "Hey Urist, how is business?"

He empties another mug before responding. "Tha usual, boomin'. South still be a shithole, an' me boys make that place cleaner one barrel bomb at a time." Urist takes a good look at the woman across him.

"Kyla, ya look like dung, have ye been sleepin' well?" He shoves some of the mugs aside, some fall on the floor, but the bartender would rather not get too close to either of his costumers.

"No, Cathy has been making weird noises with her rituals again. I try to ignore her rituals, but its hard to when she sometimes summons mindflayers." Urist almost spits out his drink at that, almost.

"I thought the fuckin' moon made sure those bastards couldn't get 'ere anymore. Esstrey died for tha' ya know." He swallows his drink properly this time, and already picks up the next.

"She told me they aren't from other dimensions, but stranded ones that went underground. I let her do it, because I really hate those squid-heads." Kyla's voice grows cold at the last few words, and just then a group of mermaids in wheelchairs enter half-drunkenly, being pushed by some obvious thugs. They wave at the bartender, and order some drinks.

"Ya know, Lychta been glorifyin' Esstrey, made the lass look like some saint that came to save mermaid-kind." Kyla looks unamused at the dwarf at that.

"Eden has been doing the same, although he more heavily weighed into how divine intervention was on his side, and one of his allies made direct contact with the Goddess." Kyla takes one of the mugs herself, and takes a deep swig.

"It's ripe lard tha' is, Esstrey's saintly will currently decorates tha' beach." Despite his words, there is an undeniable warmth in Urist's words as he says it.

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The odd duo take a few mugs together, but Kyla seems to remember that she isn't a very heavy drinker, and that she actually had something to say to Urist. "Oh yeah, the reason I came to find you was because Cathy found something. Relating to Esstrey that is."

Urist chokes a bit on his drink, but still adamantly refuses to spit out a single drop. "Ya should've opened with tha', ya willy!"

"Like I said, I haven't been sleeping very good. Anyway, Cathy said she couldn't find a trail of Esstrey anywhere, not just that she got eaten by The Goddess or something, but more like the local interdimensional has no idea where someone went. You know how much Cathy liked Esstrey, and if anyone would know this stuff, it would be her. Cathy said that if Esstrey disappeared like she did, she could have gone somewhere instead of being dead. Cathy said it's likely Luna shunted her off somewhere instead of killing her." Despite the many mugs of alcohol at the table, Urist still nods in actual understanding.

"Aye, but tha' just means she really is gone, least she ain' dead again." Another empty mug joins the wall, and the bartender makes a daring trip to bring more alcohol to the dwarf.

"I'm just surprised the Coalition of Nations hasn't dissolved yet, I was sure the whole Solar-Mazurian rivalry would start all over again the moment the squids got fucked off." Kyla leans back, and yawns.

"Lass, we awoke the damn moon, who turned out tha' be Luna herself, stopped invadin' squids, an' t'was revealed it was tha' second time this happened. Tha' people responsible were all our enemies, an' tha theocs still be in a civil war bout' tha'. Folks want us ta stay united." The dwarf goes to down another mug, but stops himself for a moment, and reaches to a small pile of fish sticks.

"When you put it like that I guess it makes some sense, by the way I thought you might want to know, but the kids from the summoning are all still fine. They were really shaken up about the whole 'hey, your teacher tried to sacrifice this planet to bring you guys home' thing."

"Well, let's hope those lads won't follow in her footsteps, a'd hafta' blow 'em up otherwise. Since ya knew, I'm assumin' ye been spendin' more time with fancypants?" Urist very slowly munches on a fish stick, while staring at the mermaids who entered. Kyla's face goes incredibly red at Urist's words, but he doesn't notice it as he's too busy staring at larger fish sticks.

"Y-yes, we made it official, our classroom is invited for it, you included of course." Urist's stare at the mermaids is noticed, who at first look confused, then offended, then terrified. They know that anyone who could have been a friend of lady Esstrey had to have some screws loose.

"Did Xygar evah figure out tha' cancer thingy? He invested into tha' a lot." Urist keeps staring at the mermaids who quickly signal for their escorts to leave the bar, the fish stick in his mouth and eyes on the mermaids the entire time.

"Yeah, he did, at least most of it. He said in a seminar that the disease is too complicated to universally fix, and that it isn't technically a disease, but that it has become treatable now. The old Emperor really is a gracious man, since he apparently arranged for funds to be allocated en masse for Xygar's project." Kyla rubs her hands in nervousness, and Urist isn't nearly sober enough not to notice. She has said a few things too much.

"Ya know, ya nevah did say what ya used tha' favor of tha' old emperah for." Urist narrows his eyes at The Demon Lord, who tries desperately to hide from the gaze of the small man.

"I-I may have asked the Emperor for a b-blessing of a sort. The main thing I had always wanted was peace, and he told me that this was the best way for a lengthy peace." Urist's facial features are normally rather well hidden beneath his beard, but there is an unmistakable smile coming from underneath.

"HA! Fancypants didn't stand a lick of a chance! Where tha party at? Ah need ta know if I need tha bring bettah booze." The dwarf empties another mug, having finally finished his small snack.

Kyla straightens herself, and stands with the confidence only The Demon Queen, and one of the leaders of the Coalition of Nations could stand.

"We both felt it was only natural if we held it right here at Esstrey's landing."