Both of them look at the wall, confused as to what just happened.

-"did she just... phase through a wall?" Ezra points at the wall, with both curious and severely distressed look on his face.

He feels a strange feeling on his chest, the feeling quickly turns to pain as he colapses on the floor.

Tahir runs up to him, picks him up and tries to get out of ruins through the broken roof. He crawls out with some difficulty just to see heavy rain.

He stood up the muddy earth, fully covered in dirt and mud, he picks up Ezra and takes off running deeper into the forest.

The khapesh palace

Imani is standing by the window looking at the storm outside.

-"i like the rain." imani states, his gaze not wavering from the window.

-"what?" says Azazel

-"it's calming, quiet and endless. Say, have you witnessed true endless rain? Its mesmerising yet terrifying in all ways possible."

-"what are you talking about?"

-"nothing, just reminicing on old events. But it makes me wonder, what other things can rain do? You should know best, Azazel."

-"i do not, i can't claim i'm more knowledgeable than you, lord."

-"the plans must be accomplished, i cannot live without them! What shall we do, Azazel?"

Before Azazel can reply somebody enters through the door.

-"brother, what are you doing in the dining room?"

-"Yasmina! Haven't seen you in a while!"

-"don't dodge the question." she talks to him in a serious, almost angry tone.

-"well, to start off, the throne room was raided by a dragon and a part of the ceiling is gone. I won't be there until it gets fixed, especially not during this downpour. This is also the only room with big windows."

-"well, i- wait here Imani, i have to finish something, we'll talk later"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

-"No, we talk now. Azazel, finish some work, all work you can find is yours to complete." Azazel nods and dissapears from the room. And the giant door shuts behind Yasmina.

-"what do you want, Yasmina? Came to lecture me about my ventures outside the palace?" Imani raises his voice.

-"no, not this time brother, if i can even call you that."

-"What?"

-"you are something else but my brother you are not."

-"Yasmina? What is going on? Have you gone insane?!"

-"no, you changed ever since you achieved power, you rarely talk to me, you're acting strange day and night, as if something possesed you!"

-"your concerns are well earned, however, i must ask you not to worry yourself. I'm just taking my job seriously which is a good thing for the people, it might be getting in the middle of our relationship but please, i promise i'll spend more time with you!"

-"fine! But don't make me warn you again!" Yasmina says as she stumbles out of the room.

Imani breathes a sigh of relief as he falls behind onto a chair. After a while of thinking he decides to leave the room and walks through the seemingly endless gigantic hallway, the halls are nicely decorated with with paintings of Imani and the late Grandmaster Khapesh, along with golden drawings in the shape of dragons and other animals.

Imani walks slowly with his arms behind his back and looks around admiring the beauty of the golden designs on the walls, he passes by a window and stops to look outside, he continues looking through it as if he is in a daze. The rain has stopped and the sun is setting behind the horizon, Imani starts walking faster and gets more and more happy as he opens the door at the end of the hallway.

He walks through it and walks to the balcony, from it he observes the walls of the city which tower over everything along with the forest inside the walls. They are hundreds of thousands of miles away from the palace, yet can still be seen clearly, showing off their megnificent size.

The city folk live humble and great lives within the forest below, Imani loving to be with them, often going away from the palace to be with the people.

His face lights up in pride and he decides to jump.

He lands perfectly even though the fall was twenty meters. He instanly begins walking to the town in a casual pose, once he got there he instaly get looks of respect from people. His walk was long as he marched forward, raising clouds of dust behind him. He finaly saw a nearby bar which he enters shortly after. The drunkards give him looks of shock and they see him behind the door and the bartender is paralised in horror.

-"what happened? What did i do? Did he come for me? Will i live another day?!" he asks himself but recieves no answer from his visibly distraught mind as Imani walks up to him.

-"give me the bottle of your finest liquir." the bartender cannot help but look on in fear. -"uh, hey? Are you alive?" Imani begins teasing him.

-"oh, i'm dearly sorry my lord, i'll do as you wish!" the bartender serves the liquir -"my lord, forgive me for asking, but why come to my humble bussiness?"

-"i don't like the liquir they serve me in the palace, and i feel especially lonely tonight."

Imani devours the liquir and asks for a shot more spending entire hours partying inside the bar with the drunkards, he pays the bartender a hefty sum of money and leaves the bar completely uneffected as if he didn't just drink entire liters of alcohol.

He begins walking while stargazing in the middle of the night, captivated by the endless cosmos above him.

...

He arrives at the palace and jumps to the balcony, he opens the door before him and begins stepping forward, as his foot touches the floor he is instally teleported to the dining room. In it he see a familiar face seating by the table in the room.

-"Aisha...?"