"Then, I suppose this matter is resolved? Once the Lord of Albriar returns, we will progress our alliance to the next stage."

Palarvina, retired Queen of the lamias, while also being Deveralna's mother, was resolving the problems Lahro had been plagued with recently with the help of her daughter and a number of servants that would relay those decisions.

The previous matters were nothing very interesting for Orion. Sure, he learned a few things about their ways of living, yet nothing that would be different from the other factions. It concerned food, the newly opened trade with Albriar, the lamias' stance on humans unrelated to their past treatment, and subjects like these.

Still nothing that needed Orion's input.

'I'm getting bored. I know she asked me to help, but it has been more than an hour and all I've done is looking at the ceiling or outside.'

Deveralna was Queen of Lahro, that was not a lie. Yet, her mother still had to rule in some ways, acting closer to a regent to her daughter than anything else.

There was too much the new Queen had to learn, and it had been only a few months since she took over.

So it was no surprise that most of the conversation was done by Palarvina herself, with Deveralna only signing a few pieces of papers to make the orders go through.

She had no reasons to even retort, as most of the solutions given were the most logical.

Then, Deveralna and Palarvina both looked at the next problem, before looking at Orion in synchronization.

"Our next subject concerns the recent discovery of our creator, the Remnant Velridar. That man over here, Sir Orion, has managed to rebuild the connection that was broken between us, the lamias, and him."

Palarvina's face never changed once during the council. Her mind was free of any superficial thoughts, and only the conversation at hand mattered.

"As you all might now by now, the lamias are not unanimous about this. Some refuses to accept after everything that happened to us, others simply do not care, and many are not holding what happened against him."

She took a deep breath.

"Now, with Queen Deveralna, and Sir Orion, who both went to help our creator previously, we will make a new rule. We will first hear once again our Queen's point of view, before hearing Sir Orion's."

"Everyone one of you, either take note, or engrave it in your heart. Now, let's start."

Deveralna stared at Orion for a minute, before nodding at him. He closed his eyes, and waited.

"All I can tell you is what happened after Orion took me to him-"

...

"When Velridar returned to the sea, I returned to Lahro. That's everything that happened."

Orion listened to her story, confirming his own thoughts at the time.

'She was really feeling something I couldn't. That connection is something strange.'

More thoughts began to form in his head.

'Angels and demons, from what I remember from Dramia and Drania, appeared from the children Noah rescued. All of them were orphans, and they learned magic from him. How was it possible, I don't know.'

'There is something about that Hero Noah that I don't know. It explains why those two factions don't have a creator. To be exact, we had one, but he died.'

His heart sank for some reason at this thought. Never would he feel that link the factions have with their creator.

'But isn't it the same with the humans and beastmen? Why don't they have a creator? How did they come to exist? Are they from another continent and settled in Triazils?'

"Orion."

'So many questions no one can answer. The past is full of strange events only time itself knows.'

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Orion? Can you hear me?"

"Hmm?"

He uncrossed his arms, and stared at the voice's owner calling his name.

"We're waiting for your turn. Were you thinking about something?"

Deveralna smiled at him with a compassionate look, shocking most of the lamias around the table.

"I was trying to understand why humans and beastmen have no Remnants to call their creator."

Silence fell when his words entered their ears.

"I believe the only factions that do not have a creator might be the humans, the beastmen, the elementals, the angels, and the demons. That is just a guess, and I could be wrong. Until proven, this is simply speculation."

Palarvina and the others looked at him as if he was an unknown being. Only Deveralna seemed to notice the relation between his internal questioning, and the conversation.

"If you cannot feel a connection to your creator, it means you don't have one, right? As you are both an angel and a demon."

"Correct."

Orion nodded.

"In fact, the one who created them died a long time ago. Also, he wasn't a Remnant, so we wouldn't have had that connection anyways."

For the first time, the lamias around the table questioned themselves.

'Are we lucky to still have our creator?' or 'What would happen to us if we reject him? Would we end up like the destroyed factions of the past?'

Uneasiness formed in their heart. They rejected their creator for the only reason that he wasn't there to help them in time, yet they never learned the reason to why he wasn't able to in the first place.

"So, you wanted my side of the story right? Honestly, besides the beginning, your Queen and I went through the same thing. As to not repeat, I'll just tell you this."

His mood drastically changed, and a layer of darkness covered his eyes.

"Rejecting something because it did not help, I can understand. The fact is, Velridar never knew of what was happening because of a simple, and unnoticeable parasite."

"Corruption."

They all blinked a few times, confused.

Palarvina placed a finger on her chin while tilting her head.

"Isn't corruption supposed to completely take over someone's will? Our Queen told us what she learned from conversations with you on this subject."

To answer her, he nodded.

"That is true, but it is only part of the true capacity of the corruption. It is more perverse and terrible than you would think of."

Orion looked outside, where the balcony was.

"It alters your judgment, it possesses your body, it devours your insides slowly, or blocks some aspects of yourself in case none of the above works."

Some of them gasped in surprise.

'It seems like some of them aren't as stupid as they try to be seen.'

Obviously, Palarvina understood too.

"Are you saying that Velridar was corrupted, and that only our connection to him was severed?"

As a change, there was some anger in her voice.

"Not severed, blocked. See it like this, a thin thread being pinched. Everything that happened to you over the time it happened, all rushed to him in an instant."

The lamias around the table looked terrible. So terrible they couldn't look straight.

"The despair, pain, terror, everything. All those years of suffering entered his mind in a split second, and he lost control."

Orion's face returned to normal.

"Can you hold it against him? Do you think his reaction was one of a creator who doesn't care about his children?"

"Are you going to add more pain to his soul?"

This was the last nail in the coffin for the lamias. With every words Orion said copied perfectly on a white piece of paper, immortalized for every lamia citizens of Lahro to hear once this matter ends, he changed the minds of many, if not all lamias.

Deveralna looked at him with a warm smile.

'I knew it was a good idea to bring him with me. Without him, we would have made a horrible mistake concerning Velridar.'

"Is that all Sir Orion want to speak on the matter?"

Silently, he nodded to confirm Palarvina's words.

"Then this subject is close. We will divulge the details to our people at a later date."

"Was that all you needed from me?"

Orion asked this question, as he wanted to leave now. He still had one major event to take care of, and he wished to finish it today.

"Well, we would like your opinion on another matter if possible."

He crossed his arms and placed his back on the back of the chair he was sitting on.

"And what would that be?"

Palarvina looked at Deveralna, asking with her eyes to tell him.

The lamia Queen sighed, knowing that this would cause some tension between her and Orion.

'Really, why me? Why didn't you say it?'

Bothered, she looked at Orion.

"We want to know how we can accept humans as partners from now on."

A vein bulged on Orion's temple.

"Florian brought this matter forward. Why are you asking me?"

You could hear the irritation in his voice.

"I honestly couldn't care less about what happens between you and the human faction. Obviously, I know what you went through, and I would never belittle the suffering you went through."

"But that is something I can't help with. Isn't it your problem? Find a good person, marry him, have a child or many, live old, and die together."

"That's how it is, isn't it? There's no miracle to it. You have the chance to work with Florian, don't throw it away just because they are humans. You won't survive anyways if you reject them."

He shrugged.

"Break those traumas yourself. Easier said than done you might say, and sure, it is. But will you miss a chance to be happy just to live in your past horror?"

"I wouldn't, that's for sure."

The lamias around the table all wrote down his words. While Orion was speaking even though he hadn't noticed that he was instinctively giving them an answer, Deveralna looked very happy.

Orion stood up from his chair, and walked to the balcony.

"Alright, I'm done with this. I have things to do."

He opened a portal, and went through it without waiting.

'We might be able to resolve our two most problematic matters thanks to him. See you later, Orion.'

Deveralna closed her eyes, bending her head down a little in appreciation, before returning to the other topics.

She was still a Queen at the end of the day.