Lizzy saw the Nether Lord send her a glance and took out her hand to collect the scroll. The scroll arrived in her hand and she immediately felt the weight of it, causing her to hold it with two hands. She looked up to find that the Nether Lord and the ghostly figure had vanished from their position. She turned around in panic to find that the scenery had changed and they were in a garden blanketed in soft sunlight. Before she could process what was happening, she saw the Nether Lord seated in a reclining chair, his scarlet eyes watching her.
"Where is this?" she asked as she approached him. She took a seat opposite him shaded by a tree.
"Reading areas," he answered and she shook her head slightly. She looked down at the scroll in her hands and back at him.
"What is this?" she asked but silence alone accompanied her. She looked up to find that he was seated completely still watching her, his eyes, body and garment, not even dancing to the soft wind. It made her completely uncomfortable. She opened the scroll lightly and started reading the words. The writing was clear as day; it was a tale of the seven kings of Core. This tale though, only paid attention to one in specific; the tale called her the Northern night. The northern night and her three Jewels; Zhylgar, the mountain of the many lights, Ghelroi, the dome of wonder, Yxorna, the light of the night valley; it seemed quite mystical the words. As she read these words, she looked up sharply.
"That's her!" she pointed at the words on the page, "Yxorna. It is her, right? The one I met in the cave,"
"Yes,"
"Will this tell me how to defeat her?" she asked.
"No,"
"Then why?" she asked in disappointment.
"You cannot defeat her. She is an authority," the Nether Lord answered.
"What? Why is this different? I can beat her, how do I survive?" she asked. She did not want to lose her body.
"If I lose my body, what happens to me? I die? I come to the Nether world? Will you give me a better afterlife?" she started to ask in panic.
"You belong to the Nether palace for eternity, whether of body or not," the Nether Lord said and she froze. That is true. She had made a deal with him to get the Nether empress crown. But if he does not keep his end of the bargain, does she need to keep hers? At the thought of this, she rejected the idea. Whether she kept hers or not, she would return to the Nether palace upon her death. This meant she would be at the mercy of the queen. If she refuses to take the crown, won't the Nether Lord have no use for her? With the empress gearing to make her life miserable, and being unable to grab the Nether Lord, this big thigh, wouldn't she suffer?
"This is your only chance to survive her," she heard the Nether Lord say and she looked up sharply.
"You were not going to break your promise?" she looked as though she was about to shed tears.
"The Nether does not lie," he said and she almost hugged him in joy.
"How do I survive?"
"It is said that this scroll has a record of the northern light and her children," he said and she seemed to realise something.
"Yxorna, she was one of her children? Sol said she was waiting to join her mother in the mortal world," She immediately started looking through the scroll. She read with such eagerness, she forgot her surroundings. Time passed without care. Different emotions rolled through her face as she read, seemingly entrapped in the tale. Then at one point, she stopped.
"This is it, will it work? It has to. Either that or she kills us all. She could hate it, or she could love it. No one has said these words to her in years; she should pardon me, right?" Lizzy mumbled to herself.
"Have you decided on a way to save yourself?" the Nether Lord spoke. Lizzy looked up at him and paused, not sure if to answer.
"Do you wish to keep reading?" he asked.
"No, if it is not this if this can't save my life, I doubt anything here can," she got up immediately.
"Good. You have learned to read Nether. Let us go," he said and she paused.
"Nether?" she looked down at the scroll before her and finally realised these were not words from her language. She looked up at him abruptly to ask what was going on, only to be engulfed in darkness. The next moment, they were standing back in his study, just in time for a servant to announce, "Her Majesty Arrives!"