Mash opened the portal and stepped back into his home world. As soon as the portal opened something entered it. He sensed the object and deflected the knife with a scaled hand. The scales on his hand expanded to the rest of his arm as he blocked more projectiles. A lot of knives and arrows flew through the portal. He closed it and turned toward the others.
“How do they know?”
This was the third time that had happened. The first time it had been a fireball. It hadn’t hurt, but it had been annoying. They had been trying different locations, but there was always someone waiting.
“it is probably a prophet. I don’t think they intend to kill you. This might just be an unsubtle way to say, ‘stay away’.”
Lisa offered the suggestion as she hovered over his shoulder. She was watching him carefully, and he couldn’t help but notice her.
“A prophet would know that this is pointless, right? Whatever, I’m just going to walk through.”
He looked at the archway for his portal and willed it to open again. Even before the portal fully formed, he ran toward it. Scales now covered his entire body. Knives clattered against his scales without doing any damage. They glanced off of him ricocheting into the air randomly. His domain instantly discovered the many attackers. At least a dozen people were there, though only two were throwing knives at him. The knives were oddly shaped too. The blade was triangular and pointed. The people who threw them wore cloth wrapped around their entire bodies. Only their eyes were visible through the cloth on their face.
“Stop! This is just stupid. Just give me the message.”
Despite the fact there were obviously two distinct nations represented here, he was confident that the translation effect would work on both simultaneously. Only one of the groups was attacking him too, but in a way that wouldn’t even hurt anyone at this level. It was the equivalent of throwing fruit or paper at someone.
The people throwing knives immediately stopped. The rain of weapons vanished, just in time to avoid any of the others as they stepped through the portal. Luke came in after him, and more than a few of the attackers reacted to his appearance. Their reactions only grew more exaggerated as several more people who rivaled or exceeded their strength left. Mash eyed the crowd of assassins as two of them stepped forward. One had been throwing knives until just a moment ago. The other wore a full set of plate armor, and their face was completely hidden behind a black metal visor.
“I am Paladin Serena, I have come to offer my services to the new god until they establish a place for themselves.”
The knight spoke loudly, and a female voice echoed from beneath the metal She fell to one knee and bowed toward Luke. Well, if she was going to ignore him, then he would ignore her too. He turned his head toward the other person. Mash couldn’t really tell much about the person with their clothing, but he thought their black cloth was kind of cool. It gave them this air of danger and mystery. The man held a mirror toward him. It was bigger than the man’s head and it took two hands to hold properly. He held it like it was a precious treasure.
The mirror flashed and a woman appeared as if it were a gateway to another place. Mash was kind of tempted to try and throw something through it but decided against it. The woman who was looking at him was not happy. Her eye was narrow slits, but they were angled down in obvious anger. Her hair and eyebrows were a strange orange-red that reminded him of fire. She looked at him for a long second. It changed when the final person walked through his portal.
Ythass stepped out of the portal and nodded toward Mash. Then her magic vanished, and she grew from her mock human form into a resplendent white dragon. She wasn’t a giant creature of physical power, but her sleek form radiated magic like a physical stench. A simple glance was enough to know that she was powerful, and the person in the mirror recognized the power too. She took off and zipped away, ignoring the entire situation with uninterest. Well, she had gotten her story and probably had plenty of things to inform her family on. Mash was only a little concerned about more dragons approaching. Ythass had shown him just how apathetic they were, though they would probably do something at some point. He would deal with that when it happened.
The woman in the mirror stared after Ythass as she left. Mash watched her with interest. Her hair, even her eyebrows had changed color. It was no longer the fiery shades of red and orange, but a weird shade of yellow. Now that was a strange sight.
“So, who are you?”
Mash spoke with less formality than he knew he should. This person was important. The many assassins and clearly expensive items made that evident. None of that mattered to him though. He didn’t want to pretend to have any sort of relationship with the woman. Plus, he wanted to see how she would respond. Her hair shifted from the yellow shade to something that could only be described as a disappointed purple. Mash wasn’t so dumb as to understand what was happening. A person whose hair colors changed to match their moods.
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“You are speaking to the Empress of Adria, The Radiant Empress of Colors, The Rainbow Empress, Wyvern-Slayer, God-Killer, Pure Moon Dressmaker, Painter of the Third Scene, Chef of Blue Noodles.”
Mash listened as someone unseen introduced the Empress with a plethora of titles that couldn’t be real. While he wasn’t trying to be formal, he didn’t want to interrupt either. Honestly, some of the titles were kind of funny and interesting so he just let them prattle on. Eventually, the speaker paused.
“Teacher of Fruits… I am not saying this.”
The speaker grew exasperated, and he wondered what title among all of those had offended her enough to stop. The Empress's hair was flashing pink and blue as she laughed at some unknown speaker.
“I am not one for formality, though my servants insist on these introductions. It’s become quite humorous since I usually decide my own titles. Those were all real, even the one that Miyu refused to speak aloud. Refer to me as you will.”
It was weird, he felt like he was seeing her voice rather than hearing it. The color of her voice matched her hair color, and he rubbed at one ear trying to figure out what was happening. Should he rub his eyes?
“Yeah, those were some titles. I’m Mash or the Chimera of the End and Beginning. I probably have other titles at this point, but I don’t know what they are.”
She looked at him carefully.
“Well, that title sounds far better than any of mine. And it's more than just a title, is it not?”
“Yeah, it is. What was with the knives?”
The empress rolled her eyes.
“It is an excuse. Now, I can claim our meeting was more violent in nature. Many people hate you. I believe there is a renowned sword master coming for you. His group is among those that match yours. I must ask, what is your group’s plan? So many people at your level of power grouped together can change the world drastically. You alone managed to cause me some problems.”
Mash winced as the empress’s voice was tinged with orange anger.
“I’m sorry about that. I was kind of focused on something. Our group has a handful of plans. I actually don’t mind telling you mine, but can you make a big thing of it? Like, get all the important people you can, because I feel like they will want to hear too.”
“We have only just met, and you want me to organize an event for you? I’m not against the idea, but you must have something to offer me in mind?”
Mash hesitated; he actually hadn’t considered that at all. His expression must have given it away. Since the empress continued afterward.
“Did you assume that whomever you asked would just agree?”
Mash raised his shoulders defensively.
“Well, what do you want? I can probably do a lot of it involves freedom or change. Or I can kill some monster or something, not a person though.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“If I can request anything, would you formally become a member of my nation? Or sign a treatise of some kind? I would accept a public showing of peaceful interaction as well. Also, provide me with three dungeons, and visit my nation.”
Now Mash raised an eyebrow at her.
“I can’t make dungeons…”
He trailed off as Red smacked her forehead behind him. He continued once the realization was donned on him too.
“Uh, yeah, I guess I can do that. I got some other stuff to do right now, but I will come to visit soon. I also want to hear about how you killed a god.”
The empress smiled now; her hair changed to a very pleased pink.
“Wonderful, hand one of your snake things to my servant, and I shall contact you again through her. Also, have your friend Jill mark a different servant.”
Mash nodded more than a little startled by the amount of information the empress had on her. He wasn’t exactly subtle or secretive about his abilities, but she knew a lot, and not just about him. Jill jumped a little at being addressed.
“I can do that, but are you sure?”
She asked the question but teleported beside one of the servants a moment later. The servant spun a knife in hand. It just froze before touching Jill’s wing.
“Stop. Sorry, but they are rightfully frightened. And yes, please give her a mark. It will be fine, I have methods to remove them if it becomes necessary.”
The servant stiffened at the empress’s words. The knife vanished back into her cloth, and she fell to her knees in apology toward Jill. That shook Jill who had probably just teleported as a joke. Mash and the Empress watched as Jill very awkwardly and carefully pulled the servant up to her feet. She placed the mark and teleported again.
“Don’t punish them.”
Jill appeared in front of the mirror and made the request directly to the empress. The woman in the empress rolled her eyes.
“I don’t understand why your people think that emperors must be cruel. I’m no villain to punish someone for reacting to danger. You are also very welcome to bring your family. As I understand it, your mother is a capable crafter who has been scorned by your homeland. I offer to her, you, and your friends the same thing as Mash.”
The empress's voice still bleed color in a way that was ominous, but Jill didn’t seem to mind. She shrugged.
“I’ll ask them, but the decision is theirs. Send them whatever offers you want.”
Jill wasn’t particularly invested in this kingdom, though Mash thought she was a bit more committed than that. The Empress nodded happily.
“Perfect. I will be in contact again soon.”
She nodded her head at them. Mash and Jill waved awkwardly as the image vanished. The servants lingered until Mash gave one of them a body of Priscilla. Then they disappeared too. Not dramatically like he expected. They simply walked away casually. Mash actually couldn’t remember the last time he saw someone just walk away from him. It felt odd.
“Well, she seems nice. Better than her.”
Jill pointed in the direction of the paladin who was talking to Luke. Mash watched Luke talk with the woman. He was talking down to her, like a lord to a servant and he did it naturally too. The experience and memories of a god had changed him. It was far more intrusive than just a voice in his head. Mash took a deep breath. Time to find out what the paladin wanted.