I stood there, waiting for Dha’s condition with growing dread. I mean, I thought it was possible he’d wait until the wedding day; it would make sense for him to wait until that point. Hoping he would count starting the needed events was hopeful optimism at best. That being said, it took all my willpower not to let out a frustrated sigh at Dha. Was he going to make me guess what he wanted this time? I mulled that thought over for a little bit, thinking that was unlikely as he willed the to alert and get to me; that unfortunately meant Dha more than likely knew what he was going to tack on. Dha was acting like he was agonizing over the decision while making me wait for what he wanted. Should I play along to his show?

“It must be quite difficult to decide.” I told him politely, trying to sound sympathetic.

“Do not try to con me mortal.” Dha shot back in an instant. Not what he wanted apparently.

“You just seem to be struggling so much with the decision since you have been pacing, scratching your chin, and muttering words to yourself. I was only sympathizing with the struggle of deciding the right course of action.” I added on. Dha and I just stared at each other for a few moments.

“Fine zauzin, I will tell you. Take all the fun out of it.” Dha snapped, giving the impression of his irritation despite having no features.

“You could have played along to my attempt at sympathizing.” I pointed out.

“Even blaming me for my own actions; the audacity of some mortals.” Dha chided while shaking his head.

“I have been audacious today as my scheming necessitated it.” I retorted. I was stuck playing his game for now at least.

“Where’s the reverence and worry you had the first time we met?” Dha whined, almost sounding upset.

“Somewhere in that bores you, which is bad because boring you is counterproductive to what I want.” I replied. Dha seemed pleased with my response, which might have worked in my favor. He still gave me a ridiculous task last time, so I need to temper my expectations.

“The consequences of my own actions, wow. Hmmmm, what a tough decision on how to put my mind to rest.” Dha mused. Why? Why was Dha such a, what was the word Nil used, troll?

“Maybe a crisp high five will put your mind to rest.” I joked. Dha shifted as he glared at me. Does he want me to play along or not?

“It’s such a tough decision, mortal.” Dha snapped. I could not sigh at a Lord. I could not sigh at a Lord.

“Wow, great Lord Dha, however will you decide?” I asked in the fakest tone I could muster.

“I know. It is a struggle only a Lord could possibly solve.” Dha sighed dramatically.

“Thankfully we have you, Lord Dha! You are the hero we all need!” I added on, cringing internally; it was a struggle not to vomit as I said that.

“I’m glad you understand! This grand adventure is about to be under way!” Dha declared excitedly. Hold on. That phrasing.

“You want me to go one some adventure for your amusement?” I checked. The way Dha’s head snapped to me gave me all the confirmation I needed. Great.

“You are fun. This is the inciting incident!” Dha stated excitedly. It sucked having to talk and deal with the histrionic Lord.

“What’s the adventure?” I inquired while fighting the urge to let out a massive sigh.

“We need to set it up first.” Dha informed me. Oh great. This was just getting better and better.

“Why does an adventure need to be set up? Shouldn’t the call be enough?” I tried desperately. I knew as the words left my mouth it was in vain.

“You have no vision. All adventures need some grand stage! The tension, the romance, and the despair as they try and hold everything together so desperately!” Dha announced with a boom. Each word leaving his mouth is somehow making this worse and worse.

“Oh great Lord Dha, please enlighten me with your vision of this amazing adventure.” I requested in a complete monotone.

“Finally some enthusiasm!” Dha cheered as the void around us began shifting and swirling.

“What’s happening?” I inquired, wondering what Dha was doing.

“I could send you on an actual adventure where I’d have to wait for the events to unfold and hope you could make a sufficiently driving story and narrative for me, or I could use to recreate an event that’s happened before and watch you have fun!” Dha exclaimed with great joy. Dark chills went down my spine, wondering what horrific memory Dha was recreating. If it is amusing to a Lord, this is either something extremely heroic, dramatic, or tragic. Given how Dha has acted, I am imagining something awful.

“Just how horrible of a memory is this?” I checked. How badly did I want the ?

“Well, do you want to put my mind to rest or wait to see if they get married?” Dha asked back. The odd sweetness in his voice sent chills down my spine.

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“Whose memory is this?” I asked with the dread growing worse and worse.

“This is the point you need to decide how badly you want that . Wait potentially years for the chain of events you started today to take effect and be fully realized, or shortcut it with a memory that’s from a highly influential individual.” Dha retorted. Dha radiated this sadistic joy now, which was terrifying.

“Influential how? Like influential to a planet, or influential to multiple Realms?” I inquired trying to gauge how bad this was.

“Now I will say this, this is a memory from a being whose actions have greatly impacted yours. So, decision time.” Dha told me while emitting this vicious delight.

I could tell this was about to be something truly unholy by Dha’s glee. This was likely only going to be a few hours of a memory; logically speaking, the few hours should easily outweigh the years I’d have to wait otherwise. But Dha sought me out with this rather than just admit I started what I likely needed to for my victory. I did appreciate him willing to shortcut the time, yet his willingness and somewhat straight forward adventure from him was terrifying. I knew from Nautilus that Dha usually made challenges and wagers on relationships, so did that apply to this? What kind of monstrous memory was waiting for me if I said yes? I needed the sooner rather than later, so should I just risk whatever awful memory this was? Dha could pull a memory like this from anyone too. Was it the Void King? Someone attached to the Void King? Krahinn? Hoggdin? Maybe Nautilus?

“I don’t have all day.” Dha taunted me. Through whatever hell awaited me. I took a deep, composing breath.

“I’ll put your mind to rest.” I told Dha begrudgingly. Dha snapped his fingers and I had no idea what I was looking at.

“What in the name of the Lords is this place?” I checked, trying to process what I was seeing.

“You vastly underestimate what a Lord can do. This has been something I have also been curious about.” Dha informed me with giddy glee oozing off of him.

I mean, I knew he could use to make the memory of someone else, but whose memory was I looking at? Is this what other Realms could look like? The first part that I was struggling with was just how noisy it was; the sheer amount of sound we were experiencing was deafening. I covered my ears, which did nothing unfortunately as I was trying to figure out where we even were. The buildings seemed to reach to the sky, looking like they were made of glass and metal. You could shape metal like that? The smell was awful as well; it was like miasma mixed with an awful tar scent. Instead of the breads, earthy stone, or fresh outdoor scents that lingered around the castle, it just smelled like poison so dense I could taste the air in my mouth. I noticed we were not moving around, just standing in what I think was a road, but it was one, long slab of stone littered with holes and odd black patches on it instead of numerous smaller pavers. Last time I used this I was anchored around myself moving wherever I had previously; this time we just stayed there, standing where Dha willed us to.

“Why aren’t we moving?” I asked Dha as I couldn’t see anyone sitting still.

“Silly mortal, I don’t have to anchor to the person whose memory I’m borrowing as I have reconstructed this place from numerous memories of theirs before starting the main event. Wow, this place is interesting. Not what I was imaging at all.” Dha laughed as he did small circles admiring this place. What? How did he not know? Just who did he borrow from?

“How would a Lord not know?” I pressed not grasping how Dha could create such a thing but not know what the Realm looked like.

“We don’t all talk to each other all the time, and the used to create the Realms allowed us to make our own ones without overly consulting the others while still being connected to each other. Our way to keep ourselves entertained when we made the Realm.” Dha informed me as he admired one of the carriages. That is not comforting to know.

But the carriages didn’t look like carriages. There was no way to attach a horse to them, nor could they have a coachman. I saw them going down the road with no coming from them with beings in front controlling them. How were they moving without ? Why were they so noisy? Additionally, the clothes were so strange, like I could recognize pants, shirts, and jackets, but the material and designs all seemed completely different from anything I could fathom. They looked so light and thin. Beings also had these odd things on their ears, or ones on the side of the road has these bright colored vests and hats that I couldn’t think of what they were made out of. This entire Realm looked so foreign. Which Lord came up with this idea? Which was this intelligent? Who had this kind of vision? I was kind of impressed admiring just how different this world was from Tenebrae. Something was beginning to nag at the back of my mind though; something about what I was seeing was off other than the obviously different Realm.

“So, when does the fun adventure start? Do I have to do anything but watch?” I verified with Dha. What was off? I was looking around, trying to piece together what part of my brain caught before the rest did.

“I mean, you know how this works right? We are reliving an event.” Dha answered still having this glee to him.

“Then how is this an adventure? What do you want from me? To witness some bad memory?” I asked. I knew this was likely a horrid memory, but this almost seemed too easy. Dha was chuckling softly.

“Just witness the event. It is all you have to do.” Dha confirmed. Why? What was the catch? Mental trauma? I wouldn’t be that invested in whoever this is. I mean, I knew it wasn’t Nautilus, and I didn’t think this was Krahinn. Whose actions that deeply impacted me or affected me could this be from?

“I am failing to see what this accomplishes. I don’t recognize this Realm, so why would I care about whoever this memory is from? Or just give me perspective of something horrible that happened to the Void King or someone he cares about?” I checked. Dha began chuckling harder at that. I looked around a bit better, looking at the different beings. What was off about them? Their odd clothes were different, but that shouldn’t be bugging me this much.

“It’s not a memory of the Void King, nor someone he likes. Not an ally of his either.” Dha taunted between even more intense laughter.

Dha was looking at me, seeming to wait for it to click for me on whoever’s memory this was. I thought it would be some tragic, horrible memory of someone who greatly impacted the Realms. What else could there be? What about Dha did I know? He enjoyed messing with relationships. Hold on. I looked around as it finally clicked what was off: there were only humans. Even in Modinar, which was predominantly human, there were a few other races in the streets. Here, there were only humans. I could sense absolutely no in the air. Oh. Oh no. I looked at Dha who had an absolutely fiendish smile painted across his featureless form.

“Oh yes.” Dha taunted as he leaned towards me with this evil glee.

“This is a memory from Nil!” I snarled at Dha.

“I know it is, and I know he hasn’t told you this one.” Dha told me with this malicious energy oozing from him in waves.

“Why?!” I cried at him. Dha was laughing even harder.

“Because it is entertaining to me. And while you may sympathize with some of the other ideas I had of showing you, this one felt the right mix of invading the privacy of someone you care about while being awful to witness.” Dha explained as he snapped his fingers. We instantly latched onto a human as the memory began.