“Pardon?” Shiru asked as her heartbeat slowed to a crawl.

“You are in the presence of royalty. Are you so ignorant as to not when to Kneel?” The man asked while glaring at her with eyes that glowed brightly.

Shiru and Deag didn’t even glance at each other as they stood in the silence of the room and it is Shiru who eventually sighed aloud.

“I’m sorry, but there is only one man our knees would ever touch the floor for and he is not here.” She said with a weak smile.

“Mmm… I thought you would be wiser. Oh well, let us conclude this… business. What do you want?”

“First of, we’d like to thank you for taking the time to meet and discuss things with us.” Deag said but the man in gold clicked his tongue in response.

“And as for what we want… it’s simple. We want to unite all Rendaro and as for what we want from you, I want us to form an alliance-“

“So that this city can burn just as yours did?” The man asked with a smirk.

Deag’s face twitched a bit but he sighed, composing himself instantly.

“So that we can build prosperous nations for our people and those who come long after we’re gone.”

The man’s eyes narrowed.

“And how do you plan on doing that?”

“I wanted to start small. We could trade in things that we each lack. What follows will follow.”

“Mmm… I have heard what you came to say. Return in three days to hear my final decision.”

Deag nodded before turning to leave, but just as he and Shiru took a single step, the man spoke.

“I see you’ve allied yourself with the Dragon Knights. Haha! I’m nowhere near foolish enough to even try to make enemies out of them or their allies, but I wonder… do you know the truth behind Rahadiya’s fall?”

Deag frowned and Shiru winced without turning around.

“I will tell you the full story when you decide to learn some manners.” The man said but Deag and Shiru simply walked out of the chamber.

They eventually returned to their entourage and they were accompanied to a rather dingy looking hotel of sorts by the overseer.

Deag rejected the offer to spend the night there and instead led everyone out of the city.

They walked east for a bit before setting up camp several kilometres away from the city.

The camp itself was made of a bunch of dark tents made from ready to assemble segments of crystallized darkness.

The one hundred and thirds sat around a small fire while Dead and Shiru sat in their tent.

She tight clung to her legs as she allowed her heart to beat freely.

Tears fell from her face as the words of the man in gold rung in her ears.

She looked up to face Deag who’s face was also twisted.

But, without saying a word, he spread his arms and allowed Shiru to fall into his embrace as cold winds whistled loudly by.

Deag remained silent all while Shiru wept.

.

..

The air was filled with sniffles as Shiru’s nose messily ran.

“I j-just realized that every decision we make could affect everyone badly back home. We were lucky that the Flamouriá were a bunch of idiots but what will we do if we come across someone as stubborn and violent as Caligo? What will we say when people get hurt?” She whimpered.

Deag simply ran his hands through Shiru’s hair and she eventually calmed down.

“No. I mustn’t get caught up in what could happen. I have to focus on what is. The Aureate King said he’d consider working with us and we still have e yeo other groups to visit. Let’s visit the Sumarati and see if they’re willing to ally themselves with us and as for the savages to the south… we may just have to take them all in by force. Actually, they’d be perfect for the Sable Army, but we’ll handle that later. Where is Rix?” Shiru asked as she tore herself free from Deag’s embrace.

“He’s standing several hundreds of meters in the sky. I foresaw that they wouldn’t let the Kommáti or him into the inner parts of the city and so I had him watch over us from high above.” Deag said as he and Shiru left the tent.

“Raer, could you get him?” Shiru asked as Boma approached with a flask in hand.

“Err… ya didn’t look so good back there. So uh… here.” He said shyly while offering Shiru the flask.

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She accepted it just as Raer and Rix appeared next to her.

Shiru looked up at Rix who’s face remained expressionless.

“Could you tell me exactly what happened in Rahadiya?”

Rix’s eyes widened slightly and his reptilian pupils became sharp slits.

He sighed before grabbing chest piece and moving it slightly lower, allowing Deag and Shiru to see the large scar around his neck.

“He cannot speak.” Deag said as Shiru drank the cool water in the flask.

“Oh. Should we ask Thneia about it?” Shiru asked but Rix didn’t respond.

“Definitely. The more we know the better, but for now I’d like us to focus on our current objective.” Deag said and Shiru nodded before turning to the west.

The sun was setting but the day still had quite a few hours left.

“Umm... let’s go to Sumarenia and see if we can talk to them.” She said while handing Boma back his flask.

“Yes, ma’am!” Boma said before joining his men in packing everything up.

Rix then teleported them into the centre of Sumarenia where a crowded, wall-less, crumbling city could be seen.

A few horses could be seen here and they and a few small houses or groups of buildings were scattered around the outskirts of the city, but one thing that was clear, even from a single glance, was the lack of vegetation.

Unlike Disahn, where a few shrubs and even trees could be spotted here and there, none could be seen in Sumarenia which was covered only in sand.

Shiru led her group toward the city and they were immediately stopped by the guards although judging by their skinny bodies, they’d probably be the ones needing help soon.

One of them, a man with brown skin but dark, Rendaro like eyes walked up to Shiru with his curved sword drawn.

His weary eyes shifted from person to person before eventually settling on Deag.

“What brings you this far out into the desert?” The man wheezed.

“I am Deag and this is Shiru. We are the Regents of Coh and leaders of the United Expanse Forces. I’ve come to speak with your representative.”

The man nodded before walking back to his fellow guards.

They discussed various things while Shiru looked at the cowering city folk who cowered in the many old and rickety buildings.

Unlike Disahn, which had large buildings carved from stone, the ones in Sumarenia were smaller and made from hand crafted bricks.

The man from before returned.

“Could you wait for a moment?”

Deag nodded prompting the guard to run off deeper into town towards a much larger, but equally weathered building.

Deag noticed that people were being led into their homes and more guards could be seen standing cautiously in the city.

The guard eventually returned.

“Err… our Mayor isn’t here right now. If you want to meet him, you’ll have to wait.”

Deag nodded before facing west.

He looked out into the desert and sighed.

“What?” Shiru asked as she stood by his side.

“I’m sure you read about King Rahad’s circumstances.” Deag said and Shiru nodded.

“Yeah, I can’t help but feel… like what we’re going through, what we’re feeling is exactly what he felt when mankind turned their blades on us all that time ago.”

“That may be true, but, although the odds are stacked almost entirely against us, there’s hope, right?” Shiru asked and it seemed as though she was desperately hoping that Deag would reply with a certain answer.

He held her hand yet again and looked onto the western horizon as the sun slowly set.

“Yes.”

.

..

Several hours had passed and Deag and Shiru had entered their tent as they waited for the Sumarati mayor.

Deag read various reports while Shiru read jotted down various things into a journal she was keeping.

Their work was illuminated by a small orb of light that hung in the tent.

“Mmm…” She droned.

“What?” Deag asked and she explained the details of Neaj’s secret project.

“What do you think?” She asked.

Deag looked up in thought for a moment before sighing.

“Sounds good. As it stands, our only defence against the Helma and Caligo are the Dragon Knight, but we only have three. And that’s not even mentioning the many Primair knights in their ranks. So yeah. And I command your discreteness. Ripping out someone’s soul and putting it into another vessel sounds painful to even think about. Also, we don’t want the fact that we could potentially create Helma level beings to spread so continue as you have.”

Shiru nodded but before she could return to writing stuff down, someone called from beyond the tent.

“Umm… Sir, ma’am. The mayor is here.”

Shiru joined Deag in leaving the tent in the dead of night.

They then walked towards a group of people and Shiru gasped upon seeing a certain tall woman, clad in dark armour.

Her focus, however, was drawn to a rather small and skinny man who wore bloodied baggy clothes and was covered in small scars. Like the guard from before, he too had dark skin and Rendaro like eyes.

The man glared at Deag along with the many men behind him who were all helping each other carry large vases.

The man turned to the woman Shiru remembered as Anhai, the Blood Ravens.

“Are these people also from the Expanse?” He asked. His voice hoarse and raspy.

“Yes.” She said. Her face covered with blood although it didn’t look like it was hers.

“My name is Shib and I am the mayor of Werentos. What brings you to our home?” The man asked.

Deag introduced Shiru and himself but before he spoke about his plans, he glanced at Shib’s many wounded men.

“Err… as a gesture of good will, would you allow us to heal your men?” Deag asked but this made Shib's eyes narrow scarily.

“Are these poeple trustworthy?” Shib asked without straying his gaze away from Deag.

“Yes.” She said with crossed arms.

“Mmm… make it quick.” Shib snapped.

Deag nodded as a Kommáti walked up to Shib and his men and they reflexively back away while reaching for their weapons.

The Kommáti raised its hands and wisps if green light flowed out from them.

The green wisps then entered Shib and his men and they all gasped as their bodies grew healthier.

Two of them even fell to their knees and started crying.

The Kommáti returned to its spot behind Deag, who watched as Shib looked himself over.

“Mmm… stay here. I will sit with you shortly.” Shib said become leading Anhai and his men into Werentos.

Deag sighed before turning to Shiru who had a big smile on her face.

“What?”

“Is this what it feels like? To help others? If so, then I understand why he did it, although I should’ve paid more attention. This job comes with far more stress than I ever could have expected.” Shiru said with a giggle.

Deag placed his hands on his waist and sighed.

“Yeah, well at least you’ve never had to watch over the hot blooded kids in Cohval.”

“You say kids but you’re not even twenty five yet.” Shiru said with another giggle.

“Doesn’t matter! You should see the brats, jumping head first into things without the slightest consideration. All this political stuff is a snooze fest compared to babysitting short tempered, inconsiderate, stubborn brats!” Deag yelled rather loudly.

He then realized that standing behind him was a troop of soldiers.

He turned around and glared at them but they pretended that they didn’t hear anything.

Deag sighed before gasping upon seeing that Rix was smiling albeit faintly.

Deag smiled back before facing Werentos again.

“All that aside, its nice to see that Shib is an open minded individual. I have a feeling the Aureate King won’t make things easy for us when the third day comes to pass.”