"Yeah, I think --- "Arthur was interrupted at the sight before us, there was a portal in the sky, just randomly there, but that was when all of a sudden stairs grew out of it and grew down to the end of the staircase that led into the palace.
Arthur and I just stood there on the palace staircase as a figure exited the portal, my eyes widened when I felt their blood signature. Arthur smirked, knowing who it was as well, or maybe it was something else, maybe he knew they would come.
I started to move mana all throughout my body, getting ready to use it. I was going to kill this fucking dragon right here and now. Windsom slowly walked down the stairs, appearing before us, his galaxy eyes locking with Arthur's and mine.
"You took your time." Arthur said, looking down at the asura. "It's been a while hasn't it, Windsom?" The atmosphere fell dark, anger flooded me, my emotions became, unstable. The stairs were still there, the portal as well, but I didn't care why.
"It has been." Windsom said, looking back at us. "I've come to see the two of you, Lord Indrath has requ---" He was silenced as my aura shot out of me, my killing intent clear, my anger flooding the air.
A void blade appeared in my hand, and I was about to shoot at Windom, but as I was about to, Arthur held a handout. "What?" I snarled at my brother, looking him in the eyes. "Let me kill him, he shouldn't have even shown his face."
"I am here as a messenger, that is all." Windsom said, my grip tightened around my blade. "Lord Indrath would like to speak to both of you." Arthur gave me a look again as I tried to get past him that told me to stop, but I couldn't, I wanted him dead so badly.
"We can't kill him." Arthur whispered. "It would start something even worse." He stared at me, then gave me a head nod. "I understand Windsom, and Veer does as well, we will not harm the messenger."
"Even if the messenger is a pussy." I said, staring at Windsom, his galaxy eyes unflinching, he didn't care about me, he knew Arthur would protect him even if he shouldn't. "Tch." I released my void sword, letting the two speak.
"What does he want to talk about, Windsom?" Arthur asked as we started walking down the stairs to meet him. I stayed a little further back from Arthur, knowing that if Windsom said some bullshit I would attempt to kill him.
"That is not for me to discuss." Windsom told Arthur and me. "Lord Indrath is waiting." Windsom's eyes were flickering between us and had a sense of anger in them as well. "Please, follow me."
"Na." I said out loud as he turned to face the stairs. "Why in the fuck would be simply follow you through a portal? It could lead to a trap. Don't think that we are that stupid." I rolled my eyes at him as he turned back to us.
"Veer, we need to go." Arthur said, looking at me. "It isn't a trap; they are too mighty to do that." I would have trapped them, I don't care how mighty it seems, all that matters is who is alive and who isn't.
"You are joking, right?"
"It is not a trap." Windsom said out loud, stopping us from talking to one another. "Now come along, Lord Indrath is waiting for you two." I could feel my hand twitching, I wanted to attack, and I could, but I knew I had to behave.
"Lead the way." Arthur said, and I just stared ahead, looking at Windsom with anger. "Behave, if you don't think you can handle this, don't come, only one of us have to." Windsom started walking up the stairs as Arthur and I stood there getting ready to follow.
"I am not letting you go by yourself." I told him, then motioned for him to step forward. He gave me one last look, then started after Windsom, I followed him. I was finally going to be reunited with the mighty god Kezess.
I couldn't attack Kezess right now, I still don't know if I can take him on in a fight. If I tried now and failed, I might be killed for sure, because I know for a fact if he wanted me dead, he would have sent all the dragons possible to kill me. I knew I could take on Windsom, I didn't know if I would win, but I could hold my own.
Windsom entered the portal then we followed, there was a flash, then we appeared in what looked like a cabin. In front of us, sitting in a chair was Kezess, his eyes scanned us as Windsom left the room without saying a single word. Lady Myre was behind him, holding the chair, staring at Arthur with what looked like a smile.
"Leave us." Kezess said, and Lady Myre joined Windsom, then I blinked and Kezess was standing up. "So, the two of you came. Virion Leywin, the blood mage, the Devil." Then he turned to Arthur. "And you, Arthur Leywin, I am told has mastered multiple elements of aether."
"Fuck you." I said, causing him to look at me with anger. "Why do you want to see us? Is it because three of your dragons got killed?" He was still staring at me, then he vanished, appearing right before me.
"Watch your mouth." He told me, causing goosebumps to form on my body, this feeling was great. "I could still decide to kill you both right here and now, I would mind your language around me."
"Veer." Arthur said, sending me a head nod to stay calm. "What do you want, Kezess?" Arthur said his name, causing a hint of anger to appear. I blinked, and he was back in his chair, his eyes scanning us both.
"I'll never be able to understand and use your blood magic." He spoke to me, then turned to Arthur. "But you, I heard a lot about your exploits with aether, and that is something I would like to hear about." He paused for a second, and in that second, I realized I didn't want to stand, so I conjured a stone seat for myself and sat down in it across from Kezess, he gave me a look, but went on. "I have a deal to make with the two of you, and before anything is said, you should know that some of my clans are asking for your heads for what the two of you represent."
"Hahaha." I laughed out loud. "I could see that, who, the hamadryads, the pantheons, it's one of them most likely." Arthur conjured a seat as well next to me, realizing this was going to be a serious conversation, even though I was leaning back in my chair nonchalantly.
"That doesn't matter." Kezess said, waving it off. "All that matters is that you know I could send an army of dragons to Dicathen to kill you all if you two don't comply." He is fucking threatening me, I should just blow this cabin up, it may kill him, might kill Arthur though.
"We wouldn't want that, now would we." Arthur said, I just stayed silent, making sure to keep eye contact with the asura. "What is it you would like to talk about? What is this deal you would like to make?"
"Another alliance." Kezess said. "You will receive a promise that I won't attack anyone in Dicathen, and in exchange, you, Arthur Leywin, will show me all you know about aether." If that was the whole deal, why the hell did I have to come? "In addition to that, I want to know the name of the person who killed my three dragons, and I want to know more about them. I also forbid you from making Aldir an ally, as he is now an enemy of all asuras."
Arthur and I looked at one another, already knowing that Aldir had left them, it was something I told him a while ago, of course, I never told him I was after the world eater technique. I needed Aldir's memories, and enough of his blood, but Raven and Nithe failed. I didn't blame them though, Aldir is a top tier Asura, an asura I don't think I could kill with ease.
"Is that it?" Arthur asked, and he nodded his head. "Well, it does seem like a fair arrangement." It really didn't, he wouldn't attack us if Arthur gave him knowledge into aether to make him stronger, then in time, he would simply just attack us anyways, I wasn't stupid, I hope Arthur wasn't either.
"What do you say then?" Kezess asked, looking at Arthur, then at me, then back to Arthur. "You know very well what I could do to your continent if provoked, this might be the only way to prevent that, so mind your response." He was smirking at us, which was provoking me, I knew he had the power to blow our continent to ash, but I had the power to defend it to some extent.
"You are a dick." I said, shaking my head with a smile on my face. "Clever, but you are dick."
"I'll show you how my aether works but at my own discretion." Arthur told him, eyeing up the asura, trying to change the deal slightly. "We will give you the name of the one who killed the dragons, that is no big deal, but I would like to add something for us."
I looked at Arthur, wondering what he would want as well, I was okay with the deal, it didn't affect me. If Kezess attacked, or didn't attack, did not bother me at all, eventually I was going to be in Alacrya.
"And what would that be?" Kezess asked Arthur. "If I don't agree, then you must accept it, I will not argue about this deal, I have the upper hand, remember that." I rolled my eyes as the asura continued to speak about how he had the power in this conversation.
"Sylvie Indrath, your granddaughter, even though she is now under Agrona's control, will not be touched or harmed in any way." My eyes widened at Arthur's words, I didn't even think about that, good call Arthur. "I want you to guarantee that if you would have people in a battle with her, that you wouldn't have them attempt to kill her."
"I accept that." Kezess nodded. "I would be okay with adding that to our arrangement." Arthur and I exchanged a head nod, then Kezess started to talk once again. "If that is it." I blinked and he was again, standing, looking down at us as we sat. "Let's shake on it and make it binding."
"Na." I said, standing up as well, looking up at Kezess who was still slightly taller than me. "So, you are telling me that I am not part of your deal? I get it, you want to know about Arthur's aether manipulation, but you are telling me that you don't want anything from me."
"Not everything is about you, Devil." Kezess said as Arthur stood up beside me. "I don't need anything from you if your brother is at my mercy as well. I know that if you had one weakness, it was your family, a typical Lesser weakness. If Arthur agrees, then you in default would be unable to do anything against me."
"Hahaha." I laughed, nodding my head, that wasn't entirely true was it. "Alright, I guess this really isn't up to me anyways." I backed up a little, letting Arthur take the lead since he was going to be the one making some sort of binding vow.
"I accept those terms, and I promise that we won't seek Aldir's aid, he is also a threat that we would like to take care of." Arthur reached a handout, Kezess stepped up and took it, I could sense aether being passed between them. I felt aether surround Arthur's core, and Kezess smirked as they released hands. It didn't seem to bother Arthur; he didn't care about all that was going on with the aether inside of him.
"Good." Kezess said, that was when the ring of aether I sensed vanished into Arthur's core and was replaced with another ring of aether without Kezess even knowing. "Now, before we start Arthur Leywin, one of you tell me the name of the Dragon slayer."
"Damon." I said the name of my son, causing Kezess to look away in thought. The room we were in started to change, and in a split second we were in another room, it looked like one in the palace where Kezess lives.
"So, who is this Damon, and how can a Lesser like him defeat three of my dragons?" Kezess asked, turning back to meet our eyes. I was still simply acknowledging the change in scenery as we were surrounded by four brick walls.
"He is a Vritra, a powerful one." I continued speaking, I wasn't going to say anything else besides that. "Where the fuck are we?" I threw my hands up, looking around the room which had panels on the ground.
"A Vritra, so you have made an ally with a Vritra clan member, someone you knew when you were helping Argona." I shook my head no at Kezess as I examined the floor. "Then how do you know him?"
"I think I gave you plenty of information."
"So be it." Kezess turned to Arthur. "Show me everything, show me how you manipulate aether, I want to see it, and I want to see it now." The panels on the ground lit up golden, and Kezess motioned for Arthur to go on.
Arthur thought about it as I continued to stand still, not really knowing why I couldn't have gone back. "I'll show you one rune, then Veer and me are going back, our deal is made, I'll comeback with respect to what is going on within our continent and show you my abilities."
I could see that this didn't make Kezess happy, but there wasn't much he could do now. This was an important deal, it bought me time to do everything I wanted. I'm sure Arthur doesn't plan on keeping his word with him either, at least I wouldn't keep it.