Residence of the city lord, District A, Mall'uoer
Maery walked into the mansion of the city lord with her baby, Leane in her arms. When she got into the living room, she was welcomed heartily by the City Lord, Alpha Mondralle.
Despite Mondralle being a city lord, he was just a low-level protector. He was just in the Celestial level and was chosen to be City Lord because of his competence and empathy.
Maery smiled gracefully as she accepted the cup of tea she was given and took a sip from it. She appeared to be an ethereal goddess in a painting. Mondralle felt like his eyes had been blessed. He knew the Omega Queen was from the Angie clan and was of royal blood too.
"May I ask what has brought her royal highness here today to my humble abode?" He asked respectfully.
"Zoum, I truly admire you, I do but you're just too dumb sometimes. We all thought you were extremely competent when we gave you the job of the city lord but now you're just disappointing us. What shall we do with you?" she sighed, drinking the tea again.
As he was about to ask his offence, she spoke again.
"Perhaps, it is the taste of poison that makes this tea taste better. Mixed with treachery and looming execution. Such a fancy combination, don't you think Zoum?" she giggled.
A look of horror could be seen on Zoum Mondralle's face. Who was the person who dared to poison the omega queen? Were they looking for death?
"Lika dear, thank you for the tea, it was simply splendid. You should also know that poisons meant for Celestials can't hurt those who are three levels higher. You and your husband are simply too ridiculous" Maery said and giggled again. To those affected it sounded like the bells of death.
Mondralle stared at his wife in absolute horror. Did she poison the Omega queen?
"Why Lika, why did you do this?" he asked, tears already forming in his eyes. If he were a normal man, he would've had a heart attack much earlier due to immense fright.
"Zoum, didn't your wife and son tell you, they wanted to be Alpha Queen and Luna King. Such high ambitions. You probably thought the pinnacle of this world was Celestial or Zenith body level. So laughable" Maery said and started giggling uncontrollably.
His son was involved in this too? How could things have developed to this level. A few weeks ago, the Beta Queen came to dissolve the engagement between the Alpha Queen and Luica. He knew the Alpha Queen had found her soulmate.
He also knew his family was enraged by this but he didn't know it had gotten to this extent. He was extremely scared of the royal family and he knew if they wanted to exterminate his family, it was too easy.
Maery saw the gears turning in Mondralle's poor head and decided to help him out.
"We decided to annul the engagement privately for two reasons. The first was to not embarrass you and the second was to ensure Jason's identity wasn't revealed to the whole world. Luica took advantage of that and went around the city to gather supporters and tried to overthrow the royal family's influence.
He even went to our private businesses and tried to threaten them to join his mad ambition. Tell me Lika, do you know why the royal family's influence is very great?" she didn't wait for Lika to reply and did so herself.
"It isn't because this is their ancestor's place. This is simply because the head of the Faery Council is the Alpha Queen. The most powerful entity in the whole realm. Do you think you could defeat her and ascend the throne. A hundred of you can't even touch her clothes. You and your son are really pitiful. Since I came to judge the whole family, I brought him along" Meary said, condescendingly.
This time Lika broke out in cold sweat. She knew the leader of the council was a very powerful person. Now she went to offend that person. The person sent The Punisher after them. They were in big trouble. Mondralle however had conflicting emotions. He had served as the city Lord for 150 years now. He also loved his family. He knew his wife and son wouldn't survive.
"Your esteemed highness, please, I beg you, have mer....." he stopped when he saw a choking Luica in mid-air. He looked like he had been beaten and the clothes he wore out were all in tatters. Mondralle felt his tears resurface. He broke down and started howling because Lika looked worse than Luica in a few minutes. He was begging for mercy but Maery paid him no heed.
She manipulated her torture arts and let the two suffer for a few minutes more. Lika and Luica's screech of pain and Mondralle's howls of Pain hurt her angel heart but she was also a punisher. She wouldn't let anything shake her. She waved her hand and both of them fell to the ground with soulless looks.
"The Punisher has delivered her verdict. City Lord Mondralle, if you don't curb your family's impulses, you would be forced to see them die" Maery said and took her baby's stroller from the formation she kept him in.
She looked at her innocent little baby and gave him a cute smile. She was lucky that the mate she found was the Angie mate. Her baby cooed lovingly. Their environment was a sharp contrast to Mondralle clutching his bloodied family and weeping.
"Zoum, I love you like a little brother so I'll give you a good piece of advice. Haven't you ever wondered why you're a good person and your wife is a rotten egg?"
In all totality, Mondralle was curious. He knew about his wife's behavior and hoped he could change her. Ultimately this was real life. Lika was as rotten as one could get and now, she had done what he feared for a long time, enrage the Alpha Queen.
"You're a hybrid. She's not your only mate. She was obsessed with you and tried to kill your other mate. She thought she succeeded but your second mate is still alive. I know you're attached to this family but with their attitude, if the Alpha Queen doesn't kill them, Jason will" She said with pity.
He was a hybrid, no wonder. He knew only hybrids were allowed to join the protectors. He wondered why he was the only pure breed there. He knew it wasn't because of his temperament. Now he knew.
"What is my race?" He asked calmly. Years of being city Lord has taught him to be patient. Even though he was scared to bits by Maery, he knew she won't hurt him so he recovered his lost dignity. Maery silently praised him.
"You are the son of a berserker and a Werie" she replied, shocking him. He was a berserker. Any berserker was already royalty. He knew about the Southern lands and their monarchy.
The Vikings were like normal people, the foot soldiers, or the pawns. The barbarians were like the knights. The Berserkers were the kings and The Cerna ruled over them all like an emperor.
Maery took her baby and left. She was done there. She still had to go home and make lunch for her future Luna King. She smiled lovingly and teleported. Anyone who saw her then wouldn't know she was the infamous punisher: the demonic angie who delivered verdicts for her master.
Meanwhile at the palace, Jason was staring at someone with wide eyes. He blinked and pinched himself to assure himself he wasn't dreaming. Astara was really standing in front of him.
"You're awake" he exclaimed.
"Yes"
"When?"
"Yesterday"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was recovering"
"You insensitive woman, you made me worry about you. Don't scare me like that again"
"Yes my Lord. I'd like to thank you for waking me up and I apologize for worrying my lord" She said bowing.
Jason blushed but came to his senses soon. When did he awaken her?
"I know my Lord is confused and I would explain it to you. l was in a coma state with overflowing dark energy and little light energy. I needed light energy to balance my system and when Xunia went to search for it, that's when you came.
Your sadness flooded my system with light energy. If the other queens hadn't pulled you away, I may have not survived it. Now, I truly fear and respect you" she said with deep reverence towards Jason.
"Jason, it's time for lunch. Come down" Maery called. Jason gave Astara a long look before heading down to the dining room with Astara in tow. When he got there, he saw the queens he was familiar with sitting there with strange-looking dishes on the table.
"Where's Xunia? Isn't she eating lunch?" He asked as soon as Maery placed the last dish on the table. They stared at him briefly before Seriel answered.
"She's busy and she's not in the palace now"
"How come you aren't with her?"
"Since the Alpha Queen isn't present in the palace, I'm the one in charge of taking care of affairs here. That's part of my job description you know" she answered defensively.
The servants shook their heads discreetly. Ever since they had entered the palace, they had never seen the cold bloodthirsty Queen being defensive. The future Luna King was truly something else. However, Jason's next words shocked them to their core.
"There is more than one Queen in this palace. Don't tell me you're lazy and you found a way to escape escorting her? That's truly reckless of you. What if she's hungry and forgot to pack lunch? A hungry woman is a deranged wolf" he scolded.
Seriel was struggling to speak while the others were hiding their laughter with fake coughs. As for the poor servants, they were too shocked to react.
Jason unfortunately did not stop there. He turned to the laughing Queens with an accusing finger.
"And you guys, aren't you supposed to be by her side and watch over her? Even if she's powerful, she is only one person. What if something happens to her, what will you do? Who packed lunch for her?" He asked, his cold eyes scanning all of them.
The queens froze, not knowing what to say. From a point of view, they were blameless because their leader was very powerful and she didn't worry about eating or drinking. She could survive years without it.
However, where she was was uncharted territory. The Abyss, small or large is a place full of dangers. If something were to happens to their leader, then they were done for. Like that, Jason successfully planted a seed of doubt in the hearts of the rigid queens.
He pushed the plate in front of him away as he had barely taken a bite. He was used to seeing the Alpha Queen at lunch and her comforting presence made it easier for him to eat. He was missing her and wanted to take lunch with her. He apologized in his heart for the inconvenience he had caused the queens.
The servants watching from the sidelines almost spat out blood when they saw the pondering expressions on the face of the queens. Their future Luna King was just too cruel. They ran off, fearing they may be the next to receive his scolding.
Just like that, a nineteen-year-old successfully scared of a bunch of hundred-year-olds. Jason didn't care about the escaping servants. He was worried about Xunia. He had a bad feeling about where she was and he also wanted to eat lunch with her.
"Where is she?" He demanded coldly.
"In the small abyss" Josephine replied, wondering what was wrong with their Future Luna King. He went from amiable to cold in a few minutes. How scary!
Jason had naturally heard of the small abyss. It was a fragment of the original abyss that floated here and grew by consuming dark energy Metheron. It was sealed up by the Judge Darkness and it was a very dangerous place to go, even for Zenith levels. That made him even angrier.
"You haven't answered my question. Did any of you pack lunch for her?"
"No, we didn't. In our defense, she doesn't really need to eat" Lorema answered quickly.
Jason glared at her and she felt a shiver run down her spine. He bore a slight resemblance to Xunia when she was annoyed.
"She went to the small abyss and you all say she doesn't need to eat?" He yelled.
"Okay Jason, calm down. You don't need to scare us like that. We'll pack up our lunch and go to the small abyss right away. Then you'll realize she's fine. Jeez, people with mates can be really cranky. So scary" Savannah intervened, mumbling her last words.
He called himself down and watched as they packed up and geared up for their journey. The emotionally damaged Queens stayed away from Jason who in turn snorted coldly at them before turning away. In all honesty, the queens were being dramatic.
"We can't take a car so we have to travel by air to get there faster. Jani will take us" Maery said and a young boy stepped out from behind her. He greeted them all and turned into a huge red dragon. Maery snapped her fingers and a huge saddle appeared at his back.
"Hold on tight everyone. It's going to take an hour to get to Hell Forest and we'll traverse by land after that" Maery said and stepped onto the dragon. The others did so too and in a few minutes, the dragon took off.
The servants shook their head bitterly at the disappearing party. It would take a day for an average dragon to reach Hell forest and half a day for a fast one but it only took an hour for them to get there. They sighed and went back to their works.
On the dragon, the atmosphere was tense. The dragon was traveling at the speed of light but it didn't shake Jason as he was worrying about Xunia. His bad feeling was growing stronger and it naturally reflected in his face.
The queens' expressions changed and Savannah came to ask him if everything was alright. He looked at her and sighed.
"Xunia is in trouble. I can sense it" he replied and looked into the horizon. The queens then realized why he bugged them to follow Xunia into the small abyss. Turns out she needed their help. Their future Luna King was really great.
"Your highness's, we're arriving the hell forest. I'll begin my descent soon" Jani announced and they all buckled up for the landing. Jani slowly flapped his wings as he lowered to the ground. The queens got out of the saddle and Maery snapped her fingers once again to make the saddle disappear.
"Thank you Jani. You may now return to the palace. When we get back, I'll help you with your request" Maery said. The young dragon bowed, transformed and left. The queens then transformed into their various forms.
Lorema as a white wolf, Savannah as a diamond fairy, Seriel as a huge black and white wolf and Maery as a golden Angel.
Jason stared at them in shock, forgetting to transform. If they were drop-dead gorgeous in their neutral form then in their true form, they were devastatingly beautiful.
"Well are you going to stare at us all day or are you going to transform?" Maery asked with a teasing smile.
Jason shook his head and transformed into a black wolf with stars along his fur. His fur looked like a cosmic blanket as the stars seemed to come alive. He looked like a piece of art that the Queens were stunned silly before him. It was such a shame that a fine specimen like he was already taken. Otherwise, when he turned 25, there would be a lot of women lining up to mate with him.
The queens quickly hid their surprise and desire, venturing into the middle of the forest. That was where the Small abyss was located.