Deep within the basement of the arena, Grust, Azlana, and Mordecai were there, getting ready for the show that would start in 30 minutes. Mordecai and Azlana stretched and prepared their minds for their matches that they had later on in the night.

“I really hope they figure out what’s going on with the stone… Grust has been getting more and more powerful as time goes on. This isn’t turning out how I hoped. I just wanted to help Azlana get a little payback and then my part of the deal would come in… I didn’t mean for it to get this far… I hope this ends soon…” Mordecai thought to himself as he stretched out his torso.

“Mordecai… Azlana…” Grust said as Mordecai turned to him.

“What?” they both said in unison.

“Who are those people with Derek and Raven?”

“No idea.” Azlana responded.

“… The girl with the brown and purple hair… That's Raven’s best friend. The guy with the same hair colors is her older brother.” Mordecai said.

“Oh, really? Interesting… How did you know?”

Mordecai looked back, remembering how he watched Raven and Derek ever since she was little.

Before he could say anything, a male fairy appeared behind Grust.

“… Kaida, you made it!” he said as he turned around to face the fairy.

The man who stood before him was Kaida Nattclif, Grust’s older brother. He stood at about 191 cm and weighed 129 kg. He wasn’t skinny, or muscular but he was very nimble for his size. He had tannish skin, white hair that was in a long ponytail, red eyes, and wore a mask with a creepy smile printed on it. His clothes had a color palette of red and black and big beautiful black butterfly wings.

“I sure am! … You look… different. Shouldn’t you look like how you did when you were alive?” Kaida asked, slightly confused.

“I do. This is just a form I use to look menacing .” Grust said, shrugging.

“I see… Maybe if I died, I could do it too.” Kaida laughed as he said this. Grust laughed as well.

“Let’s not let that become reality.”

With that, Grust turned to Azlana and Mordecai who looked very confused. “Azlana, Mordecai. This is my big brother, Kaida.”

“You’re a fairy?” Azlana asked.

“Oh. Yes I am.” After saying this, a bright light engulfed him. When it faded, he looked totally different. Grust became a very handsome man with long white hair and red eyes. Much like Kaida, his skin was also a tannish color. Unlike him, though, he was pretty muscular.

“Wow… You’re beautiful.” Azlana said, astonished.

“Why thank you.” he said, as he transformed back into his previous form. He didn’t use his true form much.

“He seems… awfully familiar…” Mordecai thought to himself.

“So, Grust. What’s the plan?” Kaida asked.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“For now, we just let things play out…”

◆◆◆

In a small hotel, the Gehena stone was under the watchful eye of the heir to the guild of morticians. Talos would do his best to try and understand what could possibly have made Mordecai so weary of the ghastly figure that had been entrapped to their will through the stone. It should have made it subservient or at least agreeable to an extent. But according to Mordecai. the spirit appeared to be more of a hindrance and a danger to those meant to be his masters than an actual help. This was something Talos could not wrap his head around and kept him up at night.

“Talos, anything new yet?” asked a rather tired looking Syvis. Talos had been hard at work in his thorough investigation for a day and he had asked Syvis to stay on guard through the whole endeavor in case of any attacks or other unsettling events.

“No, and asking it a dozen times isn’t gonna make it go any faster.”

Talos was also feeling quite exhausted from his work, bags under his eyes were as prominent as they were black.

“I can’t stop now and this is a dangerous artifact that could potentially, if not handled with care, lead to disaster. I’ve checked for almost every possibility so far and I’m almost done with my final attempt to figure out this irregular behavior from this thing.” he said, blinking with difficulty and expecting an annoyed response from Syvis. All the mortician heard was a light breathing from the princess of Adagis. Her hat had fallen off of her head, her messy hair covered her face from a long day of steadfast vigil. He could not blame her, the voyage was long and the moment they had arrived, they could barely catch a moment of respite. Normally they would be able to stay awake for longer than this, they had done so before during their trips to retrieve the other maidens. He could still recall the dangers of their travels, but after all of the spells and rituals he had performed, to see the Princess sleeping her peaceful sleep, he could not help but envy her. It truly felt like a view of heaven. He was a workaholic and constantly pushed himself to the breaking point. Talos finally gave out to his exhaustion, he was too worn out for this.

He would need to at least encase the stone in a viable compartment for safekeeping in the meantime. Being fatigued was not going to prevent him from being careful. With the artifact secure, he proceeded to pick Syvis up to bring her to a more suitable location for rest. He knew she’d be thankful for that. The weight of her hidden weapons and his own fatigue made him slightly stumble, but he brought her to the small room’s bedchamber and carefully laid her on the comfortable mattress. He didn’t take her weapons from her. He knew that to Syvis, that would be the same as taking her panties from her. He’d rather not risk it.

“Goodnight, Syvis.” said the mortician. He proceeded to his own bedchamber to get his much-deserved rest. He took one last look at the compartment of the stone.

He stood still, worried about the danger it held. He proceeded to take the case to his own bedroom and keep the stone at arm’s length. He slept through the night as close as he could to it. He wouldn't forgive himself if he were callous to the point of endangering Syvis. It took him a while to finally fall asleep, his eyes constantly fixed on the stone. Paranoia finally went away, only to transform into pure exhaustion. The mortician fell asleep. The stone, however, began to emit an uncharacteristic glow. It was blue and frigid as the highest peak of the mountains of the earth. As the singing of a woman’s voice filled the air. This singing would reverberate, reaching every inch of the earth…