The inners of their assigned mini tower was but a simple warm, cozy and incredibly spacious living room with six room doors and a single staircase leading right to the top of where five chairs good enough to pass up as thrones were lined up side by side with the middle being noticeably larger than the others beside it. And whatever refreshments or entertainment they wished for an imp was at the ready to provide it in record time, Hestia had advised that they not move to the top yet because the moment they were ready someone would come collect Emrys and that would be their signal to ascend.
She had no idea when the emperor would arrive and had even expected he would have been here with the three future seated god candidates born in their empire but either way, she had already prepared her daughters to show the necessary respects when they arrive. Emrys was a different matter as someone who had never met the emperor before and knew not the way to behave around someone like him so Hestia had to especially educate him with the limited she had to do so and just as always he learned quick, he originally had no plans on doing anything that would bring unnecessary trouble to his family on this day so he promised to be on his best behavior.
Irmir was resting just outside the tower on the side and though he did wish she could come in Emrys had already accepted the fact only planned guests may have access to the inners of the tower and had communicated with her on different matters through the soul link, at some point he had wished he brought his book with him so as to occupy himself with his research in the meantime while his sisters tortured the poor imp with outlandish requests and Hestia doing nothing to stop them.
The roar of a Gryphon was suddenly heard outside and Hestia sensed the mana of the Emperor getting closer along with that of two others "He's arrived" she announced.
The demeanors of both Rachel and Leah immediately took a sharp turn, they were still at ease but oozed class meanwhile Hestia was calm as can be with her legs crossed gracefully and her arms resting atop eachother, the expression on her face could only be described as a mild look. The Emperor's booming laughter could be heard just outside and moments later the entrance door was opened, they stood up as if on cue to be greet him except for Hestia who remained seated as she were.
Emrys for the first time would come in contact with the ruler of the strongest Empire and all he could feel was just how....underwhelming he was, a bloated belly and frame, red hair and eyes with two horns extending from both sides of his head and he a full beard.
'I know full well what you're thinking'.
'Irmir, can you blame me?'.
'The eyes deceive Emrys, that man is incredibly dangerous and cunning so be careful around him'.
A woman stepped in after the Emperor and Emrys couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock, she looked nearly the same as his aunt except for some minor details and her red hair that was just like that of the Emperor's, he cast a look at his aunt and then back to her.
'It's an illusion Emrys'.
Irmir imparted her eyes so as to show him the truth, what he saw now was a woman that looked quite different from his aunt though still nearly every bit as beautiful as she was and two red fox ears and six fluffy tails curled up behind her, but what got to him the most was simply the overwhelming amount of charm and emanating off her.
'Amazing, she rivals the feel of aunty when she sits on the throne '.
The Emperor's eyes darted towards the presence in the room and he grinned widely "Hestia, I almost forgot you also had business here on this day".
"Long live the Emperor" .
All three greeted while taking a bow towards him, the Emperor shifted his gaze towards them and smiled.
"Ahh, the two genius princesses and the boy".
"May you awaken a strong just like your sisters Emrys".
He showed no surprise at the Emperor learning of his name and simply bowed respectfully "Thank you, I shan't disappoint".
The Empress walked past and took a seat right beside Hestia who rolled her eyes "Still with the petty tricks I see" she whispered, Rhea smiled "beautiful boy your nephew, but he's like a ghost no?" .
"I'll explain later".
Three small beings nearly the same height as Emrys stepped into the room along with a single Knight behind them, all eyes were immediately on them and by the goddess did they feel divine though they weren't gods yet and still unawakened.
The Emperor's smile couldn't have possibly grown wider than it is now "Tis a shame you had to have met them so late Hestia but I'm sure you can understand why".
She gave no reply to the Emperor's words and just kept assessing the three fated gods before her, then a second later she smiled and looked up at Emperor "I am offended you thought I might have cared for something so minor".
"It's not like I'm being left out of some type of great war plans in particular is it your Grace".
The Emperor's eyes widened for a moment ever so slightly and his smile nearly faded but he caught a hold of himself and laughed a fully bellied laugh "oh what was I thinking, you're absolutely right Hestia, absolutely so".
"Children, please pay your respects to the woman who seats before you" he turned to them and ordered.
They bowed towards her respectfully without saying anything else and walked away to sit together on a couch, the Emperor smiled and sat himself down on the couch to his side with his Knight following right up to stand beside him.
Hestia couldn't help but laugh inside at such display of pointless pettiness but what could she do, there was no denying that it was definitely within her limits to respond exactly the same as displayed here but she kept her silence for now.
The room turned awkwardly silent for next few minutes, well awkwardly silent to anyone but Hestia and Rhea whom were engaged in their own world of conversations without a care in the world. Emrys seemed to be locked in a permanent staredown at the three sitting a distance away before him, assessing them over and over again and they too seemed to be doing the same.
Dressed in artifacts from head to toe just like he and neither were losing out to each other in terms of quality, looks that rivalled his, the resonance and feeling of familiarity that felt like it went beyond time. Yeah there was no denying it, they definitely had history in some form.
'Such terrible luck' he couldn't help but drag his palm across his face feeling so defeated.
"Who were you" the middle one suddenly asked which drew the attention of everyone else.
He lazily looked him in the eye and sighed "probably your enemy since I'm not getting the kumbaya feeling over here".
The Emperor squinted his eyes at such a statement '"what sort of declaration is that".
"Children, care to explain?".
Emrys sunk into couch as he felt more of his energy leave his body, this was most definitely not the sort of attention he was looking for, he already accepted his origins were abnormal but never once thought it would be this robust.
"He feels like us" .
"WHAT!?" Exclaimed everyone else bar Hestia and Emrys, she was looking calm and he was dying more and more inside.
The Emperor's look turned serious, his eyes darted towards Hestia unconsciously for a moment but soon returned back to the kids "are you sure of what you're saying, everyone in here can tell how you feel and how he does".
"The feeling of a ghost is not something easily conflicted with divinity".
"We're positive, he's like a negative version but still definitely the same".
"Our senses do not lie".
The look on the Emperor's face had turned extremely ugly in this moment " then maybe for the first time it is".
"There are only thirteen of you according to what was prophesized, a fourteenth is impossible".
The kids chose to remain silent after this as did the Emperor, his gaze lingered on the boy for some time and he balled his fists in anger when he set his eyes on Hestia who fanned the flames by simply showing him a knowing smile.
In the meanwhile Rachel and Leah were not liking this at all in the slightest, they knew how dangerous, paranoid and greedy the Emperor was. If their mother did in fact have something of a future god at her side who cannot be controlled by him then she might have officially become a state of emergency level threat if not much beyond that, this was very bad news for them and for most especially their brother, the awakening ceremony that Leah had been looking so forward to now felt like a countdown towards his death sentence and it was like a cold icy feeling gripping her heart almost rendering her breathless.
Suddenly a hand was placed gently atop her head, she looked up to meet her sister gaze and saw nothing but confidence and calm on her face, she smiled "Do you remember mother's promise".
She nod.
"Do you remember the last time mother has ever failed to uphold a promise".
She shook her head and replied in such a weak voice it felt like a whisper "No, mom hasn't ever failed once".
"Correct, so once again you'll have to trust in mother's words. Our brother will be fine sister, believe that".
The door opened up and all eyes snapped towards the visitor in an instant, it was a man in a long hooded black cloak and for some reason none of them could sense his mana, even Hestia was not exempt. His face seemed to also be hidden in some form of special darkness that made it hard for anyone present to identify whom he was either, he walked into the tower but stopped after six steps.
"The preparations are finished, come with me".
Hestia gave him a little rub on his head and asked "are you nervous".
He shook his head and smiled "not at all aunty".
"Heh, good".
Emrys got up and followed the cloaked man outside as did the other three, the moment the children had stepped out they got up and began heading upstairs right to the top of the tower. Upon reaching outside it was like they had stepped out into a world of storm and gloom, a green pulse of mana was constantly spreading out every few seconds, the altar was lit up with runes and ablaze with green flames, from beyond the planet was a singular eye looking down at everything going on below.
Two mages in black cloaks with their hood down stood atop the altar amidst the flames but suffered not from it, one had the features of a slightly above average looking middle aged man with short black hair, noticeably pointy ears and four eyes of which all were a light shade of brown. The other looked slightly younger and was perfectly bald, his eyes seemed to have no pupils and was just a clear white, on his head were some black tattoos which extended beyond his neck downwards with the rest not being visible due to his cloak.
From the other three towers came out the remaining ten whom were led by three other men similar to the one leading him towards the altar, one person in particular caught his eyes. Unlike the rest only one child stepped out of the last tower, she felt...frighteningly normal. There was no literal halo around as he had imagined jokingly in his mind before, she just felt normal, he looked ahead to see so many spirit bodies numbering in thousands floating around the entire area and each watched with expectant eyes in preparation for what was about to occur and their gaze was most especially focused on her.
His aunt really told no lies when she stated this was all just to be the greatest marketing stunt in the history of the world, he felt like he was on a great big stage and about to be auctioned off as product to the highest bidder. Sighing internally in defeat he continued onwards and walked up the stairs leading to the altar, they were lined up before the two mages who examined them in silence for a few seconds then instructed that all but the four from Lagertha's empire remain before them.
They were all led behind the mages and lined up again, the flames rose up and formed what seemed to be a barrier around them.
"Your names" demanded the bald mage.
"Bahu" replied the boy with beautiful bronze like skin, piercing vertical golden pupils and pitch black silky long hair.
"Mavion" replied the blonde haired human-dwarven boy with blue eyes.
"Zirsto" replied the little Treant halfling.
"Selene" replied the young mermaid with silvery long hair and crystal clear blue eyes.
The two mages took some steps back and clasped their hands together, multiple magic circles were summoned around the kids and behind them was the phantom image of a lock bound by two chains crossed over it. Four bowls appeared before each of them and it was a reddish substance, they needed no instructions given as they grabbed it with both hands and drank of it to the last drop. Once finished they let go of the bowls and they disappeared, their bodies felt much lighter and one of the chains binding the lock suddenly snapped.
The mages finally made their move seeing this, the flames burning around the altar rose much higher than ever before and the runes shone like the morning sun. They began spreading all over the children's bodies and the flames slowly began seeping into their bodies, instantly they felt pain. Like a thousand red hot needles were being drilled into their bodies and magma was flowing through every blood vessel in their bodies, they longed to scream and collapse but their bodies were no longer their own as the runes had taken over in keeping them in place and silent.
And then suddenly it was gone, like that hell they just experienced was never there and all they could feel now was a great warmth. The second chain snapped and the lock showed some small cracks, the magic circles surrounding them began revolving at a steady speed at first but was quickly picking up the pace and the faster it spun the greater the cracks on the locks became until at some point it shattered to pieces and the children gasped a deep breath as great pillars of light rose up from their bodies and shot into the stars.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Crazy tremors spread throughout the entirety of the planet and the kids began levitating, they spread out and the pillar of light shot downwards and spread out a pulse that rippled over the four great empires and multiple lesser giants bringing with it a great feeling of bloodline suppression, from behind the kids manifested great avatars that towered over fifteen meters in height and each were unique unto themselves.
Behind Bahu was the golden avatar of the god of defense giving off the feeling of an immovable and indestructible supreme entity.
Behind Zirsto was the avatar of the god of music and sound, it bore four arms and in each hand was a musical instrument and dancing around it were little golden music notes that hummed a low but soulful tune that just seemingly couldn't be overshadowed by all of the chaos going on around it.
Behind Mavion the avatar of the god of metal and blacksmithing, on it's body were nine runes and in one was a hammer and in the other was a rough black ore, around it's neck was a necklace with an anvil hanging as it's accessory, it's eyes were blazing orbs of fire and right at the very middle of it's chest was a core.
And behind Selene was the goddess of water, bearing four arms just like the music god and each bearing an item. In one arm was a Trident and in the other a spear, in the third was a floating orb and the last was what seemed to be a little baby blue snake floating above her palm asleep, the eyes of the avatar were also closed unlike the rest.
'Great job guys, really doing your parts in selling this PR event' Emrys thought to himself sarcastically.
The avatars began fading away after nearly a minute and the suppression effects gradually got lifted until it was fully gone and all that remained were the children levitating in mid-air with waves of mana flowing around them, they had undergone some visible changes due to their awakening and the air of divinity around them had gotten much more potent leading to everyone present feeling an urge to kneel in reverence, the strong willed ones could get rid of it but the weaker of the masses watching were fully entrapped by it.
The children brought themselves down to the altar once again awaiting instructions for what they were to do next, the mages ordered that they bed led directly into the tower of magic and wait, if they desired then they could also wait from a spot where they could watch the rest of the ceremony.
Once the children had been led inside by one of the cloaked figures the mages ordered that the fated ones from the Irretrean and Eashrah continent come forward, the bowls appeared before all of them and they drank of it to the last drop just as they had seen the first set do. The phantom lock was once again present in the air and much bigger than before, once the bowls were released they vanished and all felt the sensation of their bodies getting lighter as one chain snapped and the flames rose higher like a countdown raging tsunami coming down on them and seeping into their bodies bringing them great undescribable pain, the runes activated once more to keep them in place and silent until the pain vanished and they were hit with a comfortable feeling of warmth as all chains snapped and the lock shattered to pieces.
Eight pillars of light shot out into the stars as their avatars was made manifest and the power released over the continents was so much more denser than the first, being so great that this time even some of the strong ones were visibly being pushed to their limits in order to resist the urge let their bodies fall to such a glorious display of divinity.
The god of Light Noctis, the god of Wind Shen and the god of Strength Sarang from the Irretrean continent.
There was Mordred whom was the god of Tricksters and Illusions, Avistro the god of Time and Space, Rozaria the goddess of Curses and Poison, Ishmael the god of Runes and Fire then finally Velkos whom was to be the god of War all from the continent of Eashrah.
Meanwhile at the mini tower where Hestia and the rest watched a small object was vibrating uncontrollably in the Knights hands, he turned to the Emperor and announced "Your Grace, they have arrived".
Beyond the planet and right before the eyeball were four massive portals opening up accompanied by crazy spatial storms and from each one came two ships, but the peculiar thing here was the size of the portals, ships and the cargo they were dragging along behind them out of the portal. Each ship was large enough to qualify as it's own small celestial body but what they each dragged out where four super sized planets, the most absurd of all this was how insignificantly small these giant celestial bodies were before even the pupil of the giant eyeball before it and the planet Altheros.
The eyeball was made to show the entire display of the armies arrival after a two year long conquest to the entire world, citizens not of the four main Empires were in awe of the extravagance but most citizens and vassals that were of the main Empires rejoiced at their return, the benefits that were received by all citizens fifteen years ago during the last conquest were made fresh in their minds as their mouths watered in excitement at what the spoils from the new quest held for them.
Suddenly all light in the world dimmed as a great invisible force began crushing nearly every being on the planet, if felt like they were under the boot of something powerful of which their lives and existence had no right to stay before it. Their breath, their life-force, their memories, their bodies, their souls and their existence, even the entire world itself slowly began fading away....to oblivion. Not even the ships along with their cargoes and the giant eyeball were made exempt from this effect hence why nothing was being fed to the world visually about what could have been causing this but in the last vestiges of cognitive function they had left a solidly good guess was made, a huge powerful pulse spread over the entire world and far beyond displacing many celestial bodies in the cosmos before dying off.
The tower of magic was activated and it immediately put a stop to the effect on the world then began reversing most of the damage done to both the cosmos and the world, everyone and everything was made whole once more but fell down unconscious due to the devastating effects of such a power on their minds.
"By the gods, a Dragon! A void Dragon and Fairy hybrid!" Yelled Lagertha whom had wiped the blood running down her lips and sprung out of her seat to the edge of the tower.
"The only other successful record of such a hybrid existing was-
"Merlin, creator of the tower of magic and history's greatest Mage".
"The demigod of demigods" whispered Peltas under his breath.
But as amazing as the imposing aura of her bloodline was, even more impressive was the power of the avatar behind her. The goddess of Laws and Oblivion and King of the twelve seated gods, this was the being behind that devastating power capable of affecting even they the rulers of this world, how magnificent it was.
"Oh well, today's events are over and the next steps should be commencing soon with no time to waste".
" One last participant remains Emperor Sentis ".
" Hm? Who, the boy? Surely you jest Queen Hestia".
"Not at all your Grace, I plan a little party today do you care to join?".
He squint his eyes and looked a bit angry right now, if it weren't for the fact of who Hestia was he would have ordered her head off on the spot right now for such an outrageous and out of place request, but choosing to be the bigger man here he responded with a simple but polite rejection of her request.
" Oh? A shame then your Grace, such an opportunity is never arriving again" she smiled.
None present could figure out exactly what was with Hestia at this moment and this was true for her daughters most especially, the four Emperors were thinking she might be on the verge of madness speaking in such a way no matter how how special of a standing she might have, they were quite aware of how she had been laying low and giving them the necessary respect but somehow it seemed that perhaps she was approaching the time of action and this was most certainly a cause for great worry if so, Karma was all too real and no one knew better than this woman how to enforce it in the most destructive ways possible.
"Hestia, I do hope you do not plan on making any great movements, not while the contract still persists" Peltas asked.
She simply smiled again "You all have my word".
"Your word that what" they weren't fools, such a vague answer was simply too risky to take at face value.
"That I shall honor the contact for as long as it persists".
A sigh of relief was simultaneously shared amongst them in their hearts though it did not completely alleviate their worries, this was still good enough as Hestia was not one.to go back on her words.
Hope looked on amazed at the little multiple tiny orbs of light floating around her with a small smile on her face, the avatar behind her began fading drawing her attention back to the world around her. She cast a look down at the altar, more specifically the boy whom was the last remaining participant of today's events, having not paid attention to him before she became curious of the fact that he too was allowed to partake of an event like this on the very same day as them.
The boy seemed to have noticed a pair of piercing eyes gazing down at him and looked up to meet them, upon contact both showed different reactions, Hope's was one of pure terror and Emrys one of pure surprise at why she suddenly looked so pale.
Little memories and visions poured into the mind of Hope showing her face to face with a being so incomprehensibly terrifying that even a god would feel small, a being of pure...darkness. The visions ended and she felt a wave of great wave of relief wash over her as she was now rid of that terrible nightmare, her gaze went to the boy once more only to see him collecting a bowl and drinking of it just as she and the rest had done.
The phantom appeared once again and this time it was a bit different as a pair of pitch black wings seemed to be covering the lock itself and preventing anything from taking place, Emrys could not understand why for the life of him it had be this difficult, the flames were already seeping into his body but then they just suddenly dispersed too and the runes which were to hold him in place just vanished.
The two mages exchanged surprised looks at each other and then decided to take things directly into their own hands, a bowl appeared again and Emrys drank of it, on the phantom they could see the wings visibly tremble a bit this time, immediately catching on to it more bowls were given to Emrys and he kept drinking of them until he had consumed a total of eight, the wings finally spread apart and the flames which were being repelled by his body suddenly rushed into him like a torrent of waves engulfing him in a cocoon, the runes were about to be put in place once again but the cocoon of flames suddenly burst apart repelled by a red energy coming from his body.
Then like an invasive parasite it mercilessly attacked the green flames and took over them turning it into pure crimson, the entire altar had changed to a field of blazing red and suddenly the two mages fell down to their knees looking ghastly and weak, their eyes beheld pure terror as their life force and mana along with their cores were entirely drained out of them with no hope of resisting the process, all this was absorbed by the flames and they returned back to his body leaving the entire altar bare with nothing but the two skeletons atop it.
The lock, the chains and the wings immediately shattered to pieces as a pillar of black shot up into the cosmos, almost immediately as if on instinct each of the fated gods along with Hope unleashed their avatars, their bodies were trembling and not even the presence of their avatars could save them from the feeling of suppression, all except for Hope who was rivaling the same intensity his power was causing.
Around the entire world little black feathers began falling, even in space and in the ships and in their cargoes did they fall completely unheld by the laws of it all, Maeve could instinctively tell that this was Emrys due to the resonance as could his little fairy whom would have flown down there right this moment if it weren't for Maeve's seal on her. The darkness wrapped around every member of his family almost like it was alive, it felt like exactly like him but if he were a puppy of sorts.
The pillar of darkness dispersed as his figure and avatar were revealed, everyone looked on with wide eyes at what was before their eyes. Two pairs of pitch black ethereal wings emerged from his back and behind him were two avatars, one was a great figure cloaked in ethereal darkness and bearing six arms with two arms holding a great ghastly scythe crossed downwards around Emrys as if to protect him and two others were nearly closing around a dark orb floating in-between them, the last pair above were covered around a ball of deep violet flames with tinge of crimson at it's core, on it's back were a pair of great wings made entirely of bones coated in white flames.
The second avatar was gigantic, it stood at nearly a hundred meters and was covered in black armor with golden lining and inscriptions, it's skin was a pale gray and on it's back were six wings each dark as night and it's face was a most beautiful thing to behold, it's eyes were pure void and it's hair whiter than snow with a length that reached it's waist, it stood tall with both arms folded and a gaze that seemed to look down on everything around it as if they were something even below ants.
But as imposing as it looked the second avatar had absolutely zero presence, none could sense it and thought it to be an illusion but it was all too real and standing before them, the clash between Hopes avatar and that of the six-armed being were locked in an equal clash of auras that seemed to divide the world into two equal parts but it soon began to fade away leaving only their forms standing face to face with each other. Hope looked a bit tense but steadfast while he just looked curious and a little lost in his thoughts, but all that he was thinking of was only something that could be put in place at a later time.
He cast a side eye towards the other twelve who were all looking at him like he was a monster as was everyone else in the towers bar his family whom all had joy written all over their faces, then he flew back down towards the altar which still held the deceased bodies of the two mages he had killed by accident, it was quite a weird feeling to say the least but he did not find himself disgusted or scared by the fact he had just taken a life for the first time, now that was the scary part of all this.
The door to the tower opened and five mages walked out from it towards Emrys, some more came out from four different portals opened up in the air and levitated towards Hope. Both looked on a little confused at the situation they were watching unfold before them until suddenly a pair of magic cuffs were placed on their hands to suppress their magic and causing everyone present in the towers to rise up at the display.
"What is the meaning of this action from the tower's people" questioned Timothy.
A mage bowed respectfully "forgive us Emperor but this matter is simply within the jurisdiction of the tower".
"Both of these beings are unfathomable threats with magic much too powerful to be left alone in the open".
"So for the time being they shall be under the care of the tower to be trained and taught until we can be sure that magic such as theirs can be allowed to exist on the outside".
Both Sentis and Lagertha sat and listened silently as this was a situation that had nothing to do with them and nothing would be gained from interfering or trying to help, though Lagertha was a little sorry at not being able to help but the truth was she had to start coming up with new plans to protect herself. But for Peltas and Timothy it was different, Peltas was conflicted because on one side if Emrys is taken Hestia would be left without her most powerful weapon she could fashion against him, but on the other hand he too would be losing out on the potential most powerful equalizer in his hands against the others if he is able to make use of his authority over Hestia and sink his hooks into the boy's still malleable mind.
Now Timothy was different, he only had one unlike the others but his was the equalizer against all the others so would be the one taking the biggest loss here, he was furious and desperate so he yelled out.
"So you're taking them prisoners!?"
"Like hell I would agree to that, this was not part of our deal!"
"And neither was the 'murder' of two of our own and the damage to the world".
That deliberate wording, everyone knew well what the mage was doing framing it in such a way but the truth was it could not be easily walked around especially in relation to two of the mages lives lost, but for the damage to the world part there was still hope, eyes gazed down at Emrys as if he was a lost cause now but for Timothy a new possible chance seemed to have been given to him.
"The damage to the world at the moment is simply just getting temporarily put to sleep of which is easily fixable".
"But I want to make a deal".
The Mages were silent for a few moments before they spoke up once again "our master has decided to entertain your proposal, in two hours the meeting shall be set".
"Until then the boy and the girl shall be in our care
Timothy sat down and clasped his hands together in thought, he could not allow himself to be relieved yet, in fact right now he could say he was even more nervous than he was before, the tower master was not an easy person to deal with but as they were friends once a very long time ago who parted ways on good terms then perhaps he might find it a little easier in breaking through to him and coming to a reasonable compromise.
The mages began leading the kids away but were suddenly held down by an invisible force, the head mage present snapped his head towards Hestia upon feeling her magic and grit his teeth as some level of nervousness appeared on his face.
"Your Highness, please do not overstep your boundaries, this is simply protocol that even you have to respect".
Though his tone was straight and without cracking, the rate at which his heart was beating in his chest would have killed a normal person ten thousand times over, he really wished the Master was present because he was the only one capable of stopping this woman.
"Leave him" she simply commanded and they complied immediately including the head mage.
"Tell your master to come negotiate with me himself if he wants this to end In a civil manner".
"Now get those cuffs off my nephew's hands, oh and hers too".
"Queen Hestia!!!".
"Yes? Anything you'd like to say to me?" She asked calmly.
He grit his teeth and balled his fist in anger, his mana threatening to spike up as he tried his very darnedest to keep himself under control "no your Highness, not at all" he showed a polite smile.
"You may release them both" he ordered.
Just as they were about to go release the cuffs from their hands they suddenly cracked and dropped to ground shattering like glass and fading away leaving them dumbstruck, what had just occurred had no need for further explanations. The head mage balled his fists a little harder and whispered under his breath "monsters" as he and the other mages walked back inside the tower through portals along with the other twelve to finish what the deal entailed.
Hestia looked at her daughters whom were showing bright smiles and had looks of relief on their faces then she looked down at Emrys urging him to come closer, Timothy also did the same for Hope and shot a glance at Hestia unable to understand why she had interfered in such a way for him but what he knew now was that his worries had absolutely multiplied by ten tines over as no one could ever really what that woman is thinking until it was too late.
The Emperors sent orders to the great mages of their Empires to begin taking care of the spoils brought back by the army, they took the planets and shrunk then kept them in little red cubes of mana, the ships were teleported to their place of rest along with the army bar the generals of each ship and their right hands who disembarked and walked into portals created by the mages leading them to the current location of their leaders.
Emrys released his wings and was just about to fly towards her when portals opened up around him, he turned to take a look at whom it was and instantly he felt a familiar resonance once more seeing her step out of the portal.
"Mother".
EnD.