"I request an audience," Erumon said sternly, gazing at what appeared to be a portal, bright and swirling, but he knew all too well what it really was.
As his words traveled through and across the innumerable paths in the realm between realms, the portal's swirling intensified against the backdrop of the eternal twilight. His strong jaw set and his fist clenched when he could see what lay beyond the portal.
The portal stabilized with a thin sheen of mana racing across the tear in the realms it created, allowing him to step through. The bright sun, illuminating the sky with a bluish tinge, shone off the tower peaks at the far end of a long, glistening road.
Each portion of the palace before him had various thin, open arches that allowed for as much sunlight to enter the palace as possible. The ground, inlaid with intricate golden designs that spanned across the white marble flooring, gently shone in the morning light, though it never ceased to amaze him.
How long has it been since I last set foot in these halls? He wondered, breathing in the air deeply.
"Welcome home, Warden Erumon," a female voice came from his right with a fair amount of sarcasm in its tone. The fact that he was welcomed didn't catch him off guard by any means, though the owner of the voice was someone he hadn't expected. "Vauv? What are you doing here?" he asked the woman who stood nearly at eye level with him.
Vauv was clad in armor made of pure mana that radiated a variety of colors from just beneath its borders. She had an exceptionally athletic build that beguiled most who looked at her porcelain features, though there was a hint at her true strength for anyone who knew to look for it.
"I see you've managed to hide them even better than the last time I saw you," he said, his mouth slightly twitching into a thoughtful smile. "It's not fair that you know they're there to begin with, but I suppose I should thank you for the compliment," she said, raising a hand near her pinkish, blonde hair, tucking a loose strand behind her ear that had thin, but noticeable striations to it that crossed in an angled pattern.
"It's not like they're marks of shame, but you still haven't answered my question: What's a warrior of your calibre doing out here?" Erumon said with a shrug, continuing to walk toward the palace. Vauv's bright blue eyes, with deep shades of orange near her slitted irises, widened with his comment, but she didn't immediately reply. Instead, the striations became slightly more visible near her temples.
"I-I was informed you were coming, and wanted to be the one to welcome you back. After all, it's been quite a while since you were last here," she stammered, feeling her cheeks beginning to grow hotter the more she spoke.
I don't think I should tell her I saw her blushing. That would only make matters worse, he felt from behind the barrier he'd placed around his mind.
"I see," Erumon said, allowing much more of a smile to come through. "It's… good to see you again, Vauv. Truly," he shifted his gaze from the multiple distant towers to her. Once again, she found it difficult to hide her flushed features, but she turned away and cleared her throat. "You too, Erumon," she replied in little more than a whisper.
The pair of them continued walking in a slightly awkward silence, though it was evident they were happy to be in each other's company. "So, tell me: how is the old bastard?" Vauv asked wryly. "I assume you mean Ardrin? He's done an excellent job in releasing Vareluth from Nexis's clutches, but there is still much work to be done regarding the protection of Kavrass," Erumon shrugged, but she could only offer him a suspicious look.
"You're hiding things again," she said wryly, prompting him to chuckle. "Not hiding; reserving. It's different," he said with a subtle wink as they approached the main gate. Before them stood a massive row of these pillars, and upon closer inspection, it was evident that the spaces between them were filled with mana barriers that gently shimmered as the mana passed from pillar to pillar.
High above the gate stood a pair of wings raised high into the air, with a large, pale stone at their center. On the ramparts of the gate, there were a handful of watchtowers suspended about halfway up the gate's height, and Erumon could feel their eyes on him.
"What's going on? Do they think I'm some kind of traitor?" he asked Vauv under his breath. "Not at all. Their glares are merely precautions. There have been some strange rumors going about, so Lady Sildyr requested more vigilance to uproot them," Vauv replied, sending the other guards a telepathic command to allow them passage.
"That's strange. I've never known her to be fond of politics," he said distantly, but Vauv shook her head. "Not those kinds of rumors. Although I will admit, she's terribly curious about the ongoings within the kingdom," she said, greeting the guard as they passed.
Erumon performed the same gesture: a flattened hand covering his heart and a slight bow, which was oddly reminiscent of a Caegweni greeting to him. "You've spent too much time with them, it seems," Vauv said jokingly, prompting him to chuckle through his nostrils. "Perhaps I have, though I'm not sure I appreciate you seeing me like that," he raised an eyebrow slightly.
"I didn't. It was the thoughtful look on your face that told me everything I needed to know," she grinned proudly. "If you say so," Erumon shook his head. "Speaking of Lady Sildyr, where is she?" he asked, glancing around the palace grounds, hoping she would be in her frequent spot tending to the Borumi flowers.
He cast his gaze toward where she would have been, but she was nowhere to be seen among the hedges of multi-colored, rose-like flowers that easily spanned over a meter in width. "Hmm. Well, if she's not here, then she must already be with Lord Karthus," Vauv surmised, prompting Erumon's features to shift into those of mild concern.
"He's here?" he asked, eyebrows slightly raised. "Like me, he also heard you were coming," Vauv shrugged idly, but Erumon's jaw set.
If he's here, that can only mean something truly terrible has happened, he thought privately as a pair of guardsmen allowed them passage into the tower.
It wasn't so much a tower as it was an illusory external construct. Inside this tower, however, was an entire human castle's worth of space. "Spatial spells will never cease to amaze me. Perhaps I might spend a century or two to learn it," Vauv said, staring up at the high, luminous ceiling in awe.
"You're already more adept at them than I am. What more could there be for you to learn?" Erumon scoffed. "True, but you can always stand to learn new things, can't you?" she asked with a wry grin, poking his broad shoulder playfully. "Perhaps," he admitted, before they continued down the main path that would eventually lead to the throne.
As they made their approach, there was a heavy sensation of mana that permeated the entire inside of the tower that could easily crush anyone who wasn't strong enough to withstand it. "He's here," Vauv said excitedly, hardly even fazed by the extreme pressure bearing down on her.
"Lord Karthus, it's an honor to see you again," Erumon bowed immediately, prompting Vauv to do the same. "Rise, Erumon. You already know that I'm not overly fond of formalities between us," he replied with a slight sigh, his voice reverberating throughout the tower like a distant rolling thunder.
Erumon did as instructed and raised his eyes to lay them on the one before him. The tell-tale blood-red hair and eyes like the purest flame saw him. His long silver robes, lined with strips of mana that flowed like the barriers, swayed gently as he raised his arms in a welcoming gesture.
"It's been too long, pupil. Tell me, how are our friends in Kavrass? I've heard you've finally met the man who is one with death," Karthus said cryptically, getting a confused look from Vauv as she tried to decipher its meaning.