The interior of the house didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary, the only thing that stood out was Theli himself, the furnitures had been intricately carved and polished from dark and slightly bluish wood for most.
The seemingly expensive house didn't fit with the vagrant style of the one that seemingly owned it, he swiftly moved around, barely making any sounds as he did so, he moved toward the back of the house, an action that took longer than could have been expected, the house did, in fact, extend beyond the large rock, he opened another door and the sight in front of him was one he expected but that would have been a great shock to anyone that wasn't in on it.
Behind the house, a large village could be seen, the buildings were built from a much darker wood and many seemed to have suffered from the passage of time, others however were in pristine condition as if they had been renovated not so long ago, if one paid attention, they would have noticed that only the buildings with clear purposes had been renovated.
The atmosphere here was completely different from the front, it was as if this village existed in another space when it was only a few meters away, it was completely surrounded by the high rocks and its ceiling was covered by the thick leaves of a single tree, only leaving a small amount of light in.
Despite the barrier of leaves, it was easy to see inside the village, it seemed as though there was a full moon that brightly illuminated the whole place, the light had no clear source and it made no shadows, making this place feel especially unnatural.
Not bothered by any of this, Theli walked in the center of the main road, looking straight ahead, knowing exactly where he was going, after all, she could only be doing one thing at this time of the day.
Arriving before a closed door, he coughed a bit before slamming the door open, as if it was enough of a warning before busting in.
"Malina! Ma chére, what are you up to?" he said, just loud enough to be too loud, his lazy smile plastered on his face.
After recovering from the heart attack she imagined herself having, the blonde woman inside picked herself up and walked up to him.
"Could you please not?" she said.
"No" he flatly responded, it was a common exchange they kept having despite the fact that nothing ever came out of it.
"Anything to report?" then asked Theli.
"No, business as usual, no one came by" she responded immediately.
Malina was approximatively dressed like a maid but not quite like one and the way she stood clearly gave away that she was no trained servant, in fact, her hands shook and her fingers made sudden movements as if they desperately missed the feeling of holding something.
"Good, I see, then I will take my leave" he said before turning back, only stopping while he was halfway through the doorframe, asking one last question.
"How about Eka?" he said, sounding a bit more serious than before, the maid felt a cold sweat running on her back, not because of the sudden tone change but at the sheer mention of the man's sister.
"She was quite agreeable today" she responded with a forced smile, no matter how well it went, she was quite difficult to even get close too on account of just how she was.
Theli then promptly left the place, thus allowing Malina to go back to preparing her own food, the moment she grasped the knife she had put down, her hands immediately stopped trembling, becoming perfectly still as she cut through the meat laid down before her, a serene smile appearing on her face.
Going back to his house, Theli moved the crates and barrels where they would of use, most landing into some of the renovated buildings in the village but some were brought somewhere else entirely.
He walked up the fairly wide stairs, his hand sliding across the bannister as he passed by a painting depicting two people that looked like him, making his way to a certain room, one at the very end of a hallway, unlike with Malina, he gently knocked on the door and entered after a few moments, the room was illuminated by a single window, the others were covered by their curtains.
Sitting in a wheelchair, a girl about the same age as him was sitting, seemingly completely unresponsive to anything around her, her hands and arms were laid on the armrests and her head slumped a bit on the side.
Unlike Theli, she was more presentable but contrary to him, she wasn't quite as lively, in fact, she didn't look alive at all, her face was pale and she made no movement whatsoever.
"Hey Eka, how are you doing? I heard that you were nice today, is that true?" he asked her, crouching down a bit to meet her at eye level.
"..." no response came from her but Theli apparently heard something as he carried on the conversation.
"Of course you would say yes, you always say yes, even when it's not true" he said as he shook his head with an amused smile, his eyes showing some sort of expression for this time.
"Anyways, I hope you are prepared, I have an inkling, un pressentiment, that something will happen soon, something that you are not quite used to, so please, don't do anything too rash, alright? Do it for me." he said to her as he wheeled her out of the room, it was time for dinner after all and he had prepared something in advance.
_______________________
Away from the peaceful and perfectly normal home, a multitude of people were gathering in the nearby city of Sht'ole, the reason on paper was simple and the actual reason was even more so.
The new king was already taking action and actually doing something about various issues and other matters that his father had ignored in favor of throwing highly expensive parties, he had sent a small group of adventurers under his control to search the region of Bazar, he had officialy sent them to research about many disappearances of travelers in that region but it really was because there had been the detection of one of those otherworlders in the forest near the city of Sht'ole.
He didn't have much hope or trust in any of those people, they tended to be brought here by higher beings and were nothing but tools to further the agenda of these beings beyond his grasp.
He wouldn't say no to acquiring a useful tool though, they were useful in the sense that they tended to not be useless and their death wouldn't be taken as a tragedy by the people as they were foreigners beyond measure.
The only reason he had to hide the true reason of this small team being sent in Gloire was due to other surroundings nations, he hadn't acquired the throne in the usual manner, his fathre and brothers had met mysterious death during a time of revolution in the kingdom and now, the people welcomed him as the one meant to bring change and prosperity, he needed to take decisions quickly so as to appear as what the people wanted of him.
Most of the other orders he had given partained to dealing with factions opposed to the revolution as well as trying to resurrect the economy from beyond the grave, it was already decomposing when his father was still king and after the bloody revolution, it was pretty much buried six feet under.
Bringing it back to an acceptable level while the other nations were eyeing his own like vultures was doomed to be difficult, a war would serve as a great distraction but unlike his father, he wasn't willing to hide his failures and shortcomings, he wanted this country to crush the other in every aspect, he wanted them to bow their head without being asked to.
He had grand ambitions, this was why he had been favored as the next king instead of his elder brothers, they were nothing but copies of his father.
The young king walked up to a window and thought about that so-called otherworlder, it may be nothing and it may prove to be a great weapon against the vultures, either way, he would swing this otherworlder around as if it was a menace to everything that existed, if his team found them that is but according to his mages, the otherworlder had appeared in the least threatening part of Gloire.
Surely, they wouldn't have run into any danger while there.
There wasn't anything dangerous around, this was his thought as from his window he saw yet another execution carried out with this novel machine.
"That's a guillotine right?" he said, speaking to his adviser, an experienced man whose talent had been wasted advising an incompetent.
"Yes, your majesty" responded the adviser.
"Who invented it? I don't recall seeing anyone screaming on every roof that they were the creator of this machine, usually the inventor want recognition, has this individual been rewarded for their contribution to the revolution?" he then questionned, surely, this inventor was bright mind, having connections with them could only be beneficial.
"I believe the patent was signed by a certain Ithelisemou, there were no last name, so it must have been a commoner, your majesty" concisely answered the adviser.
"That's a shame, it will be difficult to find that bright mind then" dejectedly said the young king, moving away from the window, leaving to take care of some paperwork.