Queen Josla read the reports but couldn't believe her eyes. Her country lay in ruin and her army was in disarray, chasing some rumours on the borders or trying to regroup to finally attack the rebels inside the country. With fear, she looked over and over again at the same parchment, but it stubbornly proclaimed the same. Korkas was also different. Previously, he was arrogant but always took care of her, but now, after the two members of his previous party died, he became absolutely dreadful. She was too terrified to even ask him what had happened. However, now, all of a sudden, the Empire of Metaka and the Holy Kingdom of Berna were spewing nonsense about the "evil from the west and south and aiding the righteous rebellion in Cridia against the tyrants."

This really was alarming, because those two nations were at least as powerful as her own. But rebellion? She leaned back, balancing in her chair on its two rear legs, and looked up at the dimmed ceiling, where small spiders made their lairs... Her eyes went wide, and she almost tipped when she looked at the list of commanders who had gone missing, cursing loudly. Fornal Ban, Destra Blair, Hervi Askna, Yrill Patrius... She underlined these four names, but after a brief consideration, she circled just two of them. Fornal Ban and Destra Blair… if those two betrayed her, and the soldiers followed them, then that would explain everything. She pursed her lips, trying to understand their motives, but she couldn't fathom a single reason why they would raise their weapons at her. However, if Lord Blair was one of the masterminds, then Fornal Ban would follow him if the former had some good reasons. She sighed. She should have taken a closer look at the army expenses a long time ago. How could Korkas allow for something like this?!

He had changed so much from the man she knew ten years ago...

•••

Korkas was walking in circles in his chamber, rubbing his chin and mumbling something under his breath. He stopped suddenly in front of a map and took a piece of charcoal.

"Here is this Righteous Dungeon..." He marked the middle of his kingdom. "The Hero, damned be his name, took control of the south... Girsion, Crisna, Pine Hills, Ebonrock, and by this rate, Oakengate... All major cities in the region lost..." He started laughing maniacally, "The west is the same... Green Wood, Maple Town and Poplar City... He is even faster there, on the underdeveloped lands. Luia, what do you think?"

Korkas looked around with his mad eyes and started screaming, before finally crying. His shadow flickered and changed, glitching with sharp shapes as the howl of a dying wolf sounded in the room. Those damn wolves kept harassing him, disturbing his sleep and howling throughout the night ever since he retreated from that dungeon. "Hahaha! You won't get me that easily! Hahahaha! Frid! Prepare the strike team!"

But there was no one to respond to the mad king. Korkas, with an exhausted look, gazed upon the sofas and chairs where his friends sat. Luia lay dead on the sofa; her body was maimed and pierced with a sword. Her once beautiful face was horribly disfigured now. Frid was sitting, as usual, in his armchair, with two arrows in his eyes and a spear made of thunder in his chest that had burned away all of his internal organs. Kneht was nowhere to be found, and neither was Jilai. A slow movement in the corner of his eye made him look a bit left. Chained to the wall near the fireplace was a young woman with a bandage over her bleeding eyes. She was naked, and her body was bearing evidence of the horrible torture she went through.

"Why...?" the woman wailed through her beaten-out teeth. "Why are you doing that, Kneht!?" She screamed in pain as if someone tortured her. "Luia, we are friends! Help me..." she begged quietly, turning her eyeless face towards the maimed body of Luia. "Jilai! Stop! Don't rape me, I can't take that anymore!" She screamed horribly and started swinging around in her chains. Then she looked with her unseeing eyes towards the corpse of Frid. "Frid! Frid, my love! Save me! Frid... Why are you laughing? No..."

"Shut up, you useless priestess! Perish, Verka! You died a decade ago! You were our stepping stone to greatness!" Korkas yelled towards the wall. "We sacrificed you according to the rituals! Why are you still here?!"

"No! Nooooo! Don't kill me, Korkas, please..." the woman begged. Then she started laughing with horrible, bloodcurdling laughter. "You can't kill me again. Ahahaha!"

"You are just a ghost! Begone! All of you!"

The three ghosts disappeared, leaving Korkas behind. He kneeled in front of the table and heard a familiar laughter. "What do you want?!"

"How pathetic for a Void Born... What a peculiar foe you found for yourself... Who are they?" a mocking voice from the shadows taunted, but Korkas was too exhausted to fight it.

"The Hero that resides in the Righteous Dungeon," Korkas replied with an empty stare, gazing at the map and fortress where Luia, his only love, was killed.

"Oh, him..." The voice lost its mocking tones and sighed, but quickly returned to his normal annoying self. "I mean... You pathetic fools! I told you to crush him with all your might months ago! You should have taken your companions! You would have crushed him easily!"

"But people..." Korkas mumbled.

"Fuck them! You were so close to opening the Void Rift once again! And now? You have lost everything. You even lost the time to sleep..."

Another wolf howl pierced the night around Korkas, and he shuddered... The cold shiver of exhaustion made his body tremble and Korkas had to sit down. He could no longer hear the mocking voice of the General of the Dark Empire or the screams of ghosts of his past. The flaming smile and piercing gaze of sinister green eyes were again somewhere in the corner of his eye. Korkas shuddered, realising he hadn't managed to kill them...

"Vali and Tisiphone, you are finally coming for me as well? Good. I will finish what I started when I killed Verka, your priestess..." Korkas mumbled and finally lost consciousness after days of torment.

"Vali and Tisiphone?!" The general of the Black Empire shuddered. "You are insane, kid. To bring upon yourself the ire of the God and Goddess of Vengeance..."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

•••

Aoi was humming a merry melody while slowly walking towards the classroom. The four Praetorians behind her were slightly distracting, but there was nothing she could do about them. Of course, she could have teleported, but the spring came with a promise of flowers and warmer sun. The winds that served her grandfather were blowing hot air from the south, and the sky was blue. There was nothing that could sway her from taking a stroll to the Magic Tower.

"You seem to be in high spirits, Aoi," Hestia giggled as she manifested near the young Queen, adding four more Praetorians to follow them.

"Goddess Hestia!" Aoi smiled and bowed automatically, granting herself an invitation to some merciless hair ruffling.

"I swear on my name, sister, if you call me that again..." Hestia laughed as Aoi tried to break free.

After Hestia finished punishing Aoi, they both laughed and resumed their march towards the Magic Tower. Hestia used her incredible illusion skills and changed her appearance. Right now she was looking like Aoi's older sister, whom Aoi never had. Both of them now had auburn hair. Also, the Praetorians had disappeared somewhere, which was impossible, so it meant that Hestia used her illusion to hide them as well.

"Why?" Aoi asked, trying to fix her hair.

"Luna asked me to attend some magic classes with you. Since we are going to have classes with regular students, it would be awkward for everyone if the two Queens of Avalon were taking notes at the next desk, don't you think?" Hestia helped her with her hair. "Aoi, just call me sister or Hestia."

"What about our names? Wouldn't it be awkward for them? Maybe there are other people called Aoi, but I never heard about anyone calling their daughter Hestia!" Aoi pointed out and Hestia raised her finger.

"Ummm... Good point. Call me... Nina. And you will be... Skadi." Hestia grinned and looked at Aoi.

"Pffff... Fine, sister..."

They quickly crossed the road and pointed with excitation at the patches of grass that were visible from under melting snow. They were chatting about nothing in particular when they noticed a small group of students in front of the tower. The four young men boasted about something and two girls were listening to them briefly. Nearby, a slightly larger group sat, looking as if they were trying to decide on something. When Aoi and Hestia passed by the smaller group, one of the guys called to them.

"Oh, wow! What are two beauties like you doing here?" He started to walk towards them.

"Oh, sorry. I am married," Hestia laughed at him, making him almost trip.

"Oh..." He looked at Aoi then with an undeterred smile.

"I'm also married," Aoi beamed a smile and tapped her lips as she passed. "To the same guy, even."

The big guy looked at them with a dropped jaw as they entered the Magic Tower. The laughter behind him made him blush a little, but he scratched the back of his head.

"That guy must be insanely lucky..."

When the doors closed behind them, Aoi looked at Hestia, who looked as if she was having the best time of her life. Aoi sighed, "I think we should drop the act, sister."

"No chance. It will be fun!" Hestia grinned as she opened the door to the auditorium and almost bumped into Stella.

"Your..." Stella immediately saw through their disguise.

"Aaa, stop! My name is Nina." Hestia pointed at herself and then at Aoi. "And this is my younger sister, Skadi."

Stella sighed in response. "Fine..." She rolled her eyes and gave up the argument early on. "I just hope the King knows about your idea..."

•••

"I suggested that Hestia should attend the university classes with Aoi."

I blinked a few times and looked at the ceiling, looking for any possible divine help out there with a tired sigh. While divination stubbornly was not coming, I lowered my gaze and looked at Luna, who was carelessly drinking her hot chocolate, lazily wagging one of her tails. The second one was concealed because she said it looked stupid.

"Why?!" I finally asked.

"Aoi is nineteen, but she has been sheltered her entire life!" Luna frowned. "Give her some freedom."

"That's fair. But why Hestia?"

"That's... Far more complicated, my Darling." Luna sighed and sat on my office desk. "First of all, she is a Goddess, but she had to learn how to speak with people less formally. Second, she wants to help Aoi." Luna smiled, but after just a few seconds, she got serious. "But most importantly, she has to learn how to harness her mana. For the first time in her long life, she possesses mana, and that combined with the magic she draws from faith is something terrifying. She has to learn the basics of mana manipulation and, more importantly, see other people struggle to harness the same force."

"Ok... That's convincing. But what about you, Amber, or Irene?" I asked, desperately trying to think of some argument against this.

"Honey, you forget that Stella was teaching us personally for a few months? She was entirely focused on us during the winter."

"Well... yes, she did that, but I can ask her to do the same for Hestia and Aoi."

"Theon, stop being paranoid. They both need that. Talk with them later if you don't believe me." Luna sighed. "Besides, they don't need that extensive magic training."

"I trust you with my life, Luna... I just want to protect you all, that's all."

"You are sweet, but..." She smiled charmingly, and I sighed, knowing full well I was losing this battle.

"If I shelter you too much, I will help those who want to hurt us... I know. But it's hard, you know?" I complained like a kid making an excuse but I couldn't help it. She began to laugh.

"The worst thing that may happen is that someone sees them struggle like normal people." Luna continued to chuckle when the doors opened in front of Amber, who was laughing as well.

"What happened?" Luna asked, and Amber gave her a piece of paper.

"I sent someone to watch over Aoi and Hestia and... Hahahaha!" Amber tried to explain, but she was laughing too hard. She then sat on my lap and continued laughing, making me look at them awkwardly. Luna started laughing as well, but after a brief moment, she tried to calm down enough to try to explain it to me.

"What's so funny?" I asked with a friendly but irritated tone of a person who was left outside of the joke.

"I am taking back what I have said earlier." Luna tried to get serious, but she failed. "You can now be worried that some guys will hit on your wives."

She started laughing again and gave me the paper with a report describing what happened in front of the Magic Tower. I blinked a few times and sighed heavily, but even I smirked.

"Well... ’I have a boyfriend’ has really evolved..."