As Mark and Horan approached, the city became visible through the darkness. It looked like every building in the city was some kind of mansion or palace. There was no shed nor shantytown anywhere in sight. The whole thing seemed almost unnaturally clean. Outside the borders of the city, dozens of steel turrets and artillery placements littered the snow. Some were active and swiveled slowly to face Mark and Horan, but most lay smashed and mangled on the ground.
As Mark and Horan approached about a hundred feet from the nearest building, they were halted by a dim golden glow in the rough shape of their silhouettes. When Horan reached out and touched it, his hand halted in place as if he was touching a brick wall.
Horan called out towards the city. “Hey! Can we come in?!”
Once he finished and nobody yet appeared, Horan turned to Mark. “Alright, this might just be the most high-stakes part of the whole trip. Just keep everything on the down low and let me take the lead with this one. Got it?”
Mark looked up at the tower. “How dangerous can this be? We just talk to whoever’s in charge and ask them for help with Thel, right?”
“Correct, but we’re now entering the world of social respectability. I haven’t spoken to the Greeks in a couple centuries, but I know how these sorts of things go. I’m royalty, I’ll be talking to royalty, this is going to be some important conversation. One failed tongue-twister, one accidental slip-up, and you’re dead.”
“What?!”
“Well, not dead-dead, but people will be laughing behind your back for decades, so you’re basically dead to your peers. What I’m trying to say is, keep a low profile if you don’t want to make a laughingstock of yourself.”
“…Got it.” Mark nodded slowly.
Following another few minutes of waiting and Horan repeating himself, a small, tired-looking Primus flew over and looked the two of them over. “What?”
Horan cleared his throat. “I would like to request entry into the city of the Greek Primoi, as the Pharaoh of the Egyptian Domain.”
The Primus rubbed her eyes. “Alright, sure, whatever’ll shut you up.” She waved her hand and the glow barring Mark and Horan faded from view.
Horan smiled. “Thank you kindly. Could you please direct us to… Hey, wait, where are you…?” He watched the Primus immediately fly back into the city.
Mark tentatively stepped forward, into the snow-free city limits. “I assume that’s not what you were expecting?”
Horan slowly cringed. “It’s starting to come back. I think I remember why I don’t visit the Greeks often.”
Mark looked between Horan and the tower at the centre of the city. “Why’s that, exactly?”
Horan reluctantly started walking forward. “These Primoi aren’t the most… composed, or… tactful ones that you might come across. I’d recommend you try to avoid conversation when you can. This place can mess you up.”
As the two strode down the stone street, it sounded like there was a party in every building. Strobe lights flashed dimly through every window, muffled music filled the air and the out-of-the-way corners were covered in miscellaneous garbage. One Primus fell through a window to the ground, before immediately picking themself back up and running back inside. Like a rewinding tape, the glass shards on the floor lifted themselves off the ground and flew back into place in the window frame, not a crack in sight.
After about ten minutes of walking down a central avenue flanked by nothing but party-filled playboy mansions, Mark and Horan finally arrived at the central tower. Almost a kilometre high, the tower looked like a fusion between a modern skyscraper and something one would see on the cover of a high fantasy novels. Wraparound windows were framed by classical carvings, and the very top of the tower was capped off by a massive orb of what looked like pure gold.
Mark took a second to take the tower in while Horan strode over to the bronze double doors embedded into the wall. “Huh. Big. So, um, the place is definitely… lively. I’ll say that. But hopefully the people in charge are a little less… loud?”
Horan snickered. “Oh, prepare to be disappointed. Just don’t act too weirded out, play along with the whole thing.”
Mark strode up to Horan in front of the doors and took off his mask. “What’s that exactly supposed to mean? What exactly should I expect up there?”
“Oh, nothing,” Horan grunted as he pushed the doors open. “That’s the scary part with this whole place. They don’t have one specific weird interest. If that were the case…” He opened the doors to reveal the hotel lobby-esque first floor with enough garbage on the floor to fill a cargo ship. “…You could plan ahead of time. Instead, you just need to figure out how to go with the flow.”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
A bathrobe-clad bearded man with glowing yellow eyes stumbled out of an elevator on one side of the room, clutching a bottle of dish soap in one hand. He staggered to his feet, looking at Mark and Horan with a dazed expression. “Hoo-wee, those plates are not meant for washing!”
Horan stepped forward, not daring to get any closer to the Primus than necessary. “Hello, I’m looking for the Primus in charge of this place?”
The Primus picked a chicken wing out of his beard. “Well, that’d be yours truly! Name’s Orsinus, uh… Oh, right! Orsinus, High King of the Greeks. At your service. Am I supposed to know you?”
Horan cleared his throat and straightened his posture slightly. “Ah, yes. I am Horan, Pharaoh of the Egyptians. Or, ex-Pharaoh, that matter is sl-“
Orsinus narrowed his eyes. “Wait, you’re who?”
Horan paused for a split second to gather his thoughts. “Horan. Pharaoh of the-“
“I heard you the first time. What’s an e-jump?”
“E-Egypt? The Domain to the south? One of the oldest Domains left in existence? One of the few to survive the Nabbing?”
“Doesn’t ring a bell.” Orsinus dusted off his bathrobe. “Welp, I guess I’m honoured to have a guest such as yourself with us. Do you want drinks? I’ve got a minifridge in my room.”
Horan shook his head politely. “Thank you, but I would prefer to immediately discuss-“
Mark leaned over from behind Horan. “Does the fridge also have food in it?”
Horan clenched his fists. “Can everyone please stop talking over me for once?”
Orsinus tilted his hand. “Depends on your definition of ‘food’, little guy.”
Mark shrugged. “I’ll take it, lead the way.”
-
Mark and Orsinus split the contents of Orsinus’ fridge while sitting on his king-size bed, while Horan stood in the middle of the large, filthy bedroom.
Orsinus cracked open an unlabelled can and looked at Mark. “So, what business brings you here?”
Mark looked around awkwardly. “Oh, I’m just an escort, not even a Primus.” He pointed to Horan. “He’s the one in charge of this.”
Horan looked bewildered for a moment. “Wait, I’m..? Well, sure. I’m in charge of this, at least for now. So, to business. I saw a few animal-headed people just outside your city, are you aware of them?”
Orsinus lay back on his bed. “Yup, those things are super annoying. Had to commission a magic force-field around our city just to keep them out, and even that doesn’t do the trick all the time. We still need Saralai to do her glowy pulse thing every once in a while, whenever Lamnos sees that the things are getting too busy out there. Did you see her do it when you were coming here?”
Horan nodded. “Quite impressive. Saralai seems powerful, if she can pull that off so often.”
“Yeah, it takes a lot out of her, though. She made up her own fancy name for the trick, but I can’t be bothered to remember it. But what about the animal things?”
Horan looked around before sitting hesitantly on a reclining armchair. “I have some information that could be useful to you getting rid of them, and in turn, you could help me out with a related problem of mine.”
“Eh, sure. Don’t have much else going on. What’s the info you’ve got for me?”
“Those creatures are demons created using magic sourced from the Chinese Domain. They were mass-produced in the area by my uncle Thel, who has usurped the throne of Egypt from me and is now trying to conquer the world for himself. Fortunately for all of us, Mark here managed to cut off their means of making more demons and took out their leadership in the region, and the forces around here are in complete chaos. So, that’s the gist of the whole thing. You get it all?”
Orsinus nodded slowly. “Yup, I think I got all that. So, what exactly do you want us to help you out with?”
“Simple. Help me bring Thel to justice and restore me to my… rightful title, and Egypt will be in your debt.”
Orsinus tossed his empty can away and pulled another out of the minifridge. “Well, it sounds good to me. But I’ll have to get the rest of the Domain’s opinion for something like this. If you need a place to stay, I think there’s some space left in the guest dormitory, if the Aztecs haven’t taken up all the beds.”
Horan started. “Wait, the Aztecs are here?” He thought for another moment and bolted up. “And did you say beds? As in, bed-beds?”
Orsinus grinned. “Bed-beds. Fifteenth floor, go nuts.”
Mark raised his arm hesitantly. “Hey, wait, I feel like you should have mentioned the-“
Horan ran out the room, looking for stairs. “Nobody cares, Mark! I haven’t slept in a bed-bed for two weeks, I’m not looking any gift horses in the mouth tonight!”
Mark reluctantly followed Horan down the hall. “What does that even mean?”
“Doesn’t matter, I see stairs, I’m going up them!”