[ The veil that shielded Nym'Roal from other realms was already weakened after the Gigantomachia, the war of the Giants against the Olympians.
When Nemesis was hurled out of Nym'Roal, a tear appeared, a tear that would change the entire landscape of Nym'Roal.
Nemesis found herself in Hel, at a time when the Demonic realm was undergoing a transitionality, during the Hel Wars of Succession.
The Dark Majesty is universally accepted as the catalyst for Hel's change.
Before the Dark King's Civil War or alternatively, the Hel unification war, Hel had three regions: Schwarz Hel which was ruled by the demon Wrath, Weiss Hell whose Lord was Triacan and a third region called Grau Hel that had several dominions but no sole ruler.
The Dark Majesty's origin is disputed amongst learned men, no one knows when or how he was born but they all agree on two things: Before he was the Lord of all Demons, he was Horatius, and Before he set foot in Hel, the in-between bent to his will.
The Dark Majesty arrived at Hel sometime after Nemesis, but she was the first person he saw. The Titan was gathering some clay when she heard footsteps behind her. She had no sword or wings or scourge but she put her hands in the air ready for a fight.
The Dark Majesty didn't move an inch and was quick to put together that the Titan Nemesis did not belong in the realm of pure Demons. "You're not from around here.'
Hel was never kind to visitors, as soon as Nemesis entered the realm, it began corrupting her mind with images and voices that weren't. Before the goddess could reply to the Lord of the in-between, she fell to the ground, unconscious. ]
'Wait ... Aren't you the Dark Majesty?'
[I am.]
'Then what's with the "the Dark Majesty's origin is disputed amongst learned men"? Just show me what happened.'
[Some things are best left as a mystery.]
'Hm.'
"Hunter." Kara nudged the dark-haired boy. "We're here."
The sprite rubbed his eyes. "So this is it ... The preserved Library of Consandia."
"Indeed it is," a voice said from across the hall. The two agents turned to see a man with a skull head, wearing a dark suit.
"I am Scribe, the curator of this great Library. The Library of Consandia has existed since the era of Emperor Xætui VI of Consandia. The library was created after a battle that saw several scholars and scribes die. It existed in the public domain for thousands of years before Nvar the terrible sought to destroy it in his war against knowledge. Ever since, the library has been preserved. Feel free to browse the library, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask."
"Where can we find Az-Zaei's Twilight of the Gods?" Kara asks.
The curator pauses. "Where have you heard about that?"
"Um ... Vampire friend," Hunter said.
The curator nods. "Indeed Az-Zaei wrote a book with such a title, however, only half a page of it exists to this day."
"What about Danke's Cosmogeny?"
"Unfortunately," the curator started. "None of Danke's books survived Nvar's war. I am surprised you even know his name. I do have most of Cosmogeny committed to memory, is there anything you'd like to know?"
[He lurked in the shadows, a deity to some, a demon to some ...]
"He lurked in the shadows, a deity to some, a demon to some ..." Hunter paused, the curator smiled, and continued the line.
"With horns like that of an addax and a body that looked like several bones tangled up with each other. Thorns grew out from his back and his lower body was long and like that of a wolf. He was the one who would be known as Sephratis during the fall of the Sky, he was Set, the god of conjuring." The curator stated. "According to Danke," he continued, "Set and Sephratis are one and the same. No other historian has linked the two together but Danke is the most authentic historian and inspired many more who came after him."
Kara's eyes widen. "That means ---"
.
.
.
Vittoria plays a board game with one of the guards when the door opens and Kieran walks inside.
"Don't you have an agency to run?" Vittoria asked.
"I thought I'd stop by and ask you a couple of questions," Kieran replied.
Vittoria uses her hand to dismiss the guard who bows before walking out of the room. Kieran watched the scene in amusement. "I'm all ears," she said to the Director.
"What was your plan for Brownvale?" Kieran asked.
Vittoria raises an eyebrow. "I don't understand the question."
"You spent so much to cause unrest and start a civil war. With the new Chancellor already announcing his plans for a referendum on whether or not the country should join the United Republics I'll say you got what you wanted but I can't tell why you want Brownvale in the Union."
Vittoria shrugs. "I wanted to see if I could pull it off."
"You're kidding."
"I'm not. Most of the things I sanctioned as Director of the Core Intelligence were to see if I could pull it off. Besides, I had billions at my disposal, I had to invest them somewhere."
Kieran looked at Vittoria with shock apparent on his face. "You advertently caused the death of hundreds of thousands and displaced millions because ... You had the funds to do so?"
"You're putting words in my mouth, Kieran. The Brownvale civil war wasn't my doing, that was always going to happen thanks to the two H.S.S. agents that assassinated the previous Chancellor, I wanted to see if I could get Brownvale to join the Federation."
"What about Paul? Did you also kill him to see if you could get away with it?"
The smile on Vittoria's face disappears. "Do you remember when you were 11 and your mom took you to the store to get you an action figure? Your mom disappeared at some point and a bully jumped you."
Kieran's raised an eyebrow. "We met at school the next day when you offered to apply ointment on the wound. You weren't at the store ... How do you know what hap --"
Vittoria turned to face the Director of Transnational Intelligence. "I orchestrated the whole thing. I needed to shoplift but the guard returned from his shift earlier than I had anticipated. I separated you from your mom and made the bully --"
"So that's why you wanted to apply ointment on my wounds ... you felt guilty."
"It was a long time ago, Kieran, I don't recall what I felt back then. Anyway, Paul witnessed the whole thing and it was why I got recruited into military school and after learning about mine and Erica's situation, he discussed it with one of his agents who wanted to take us in." Vittoria smiles. "Paul liked to recount that day. He claimed the composure I displayed and my ability to come up with a new solution at such a young age was something he didn't have even though he had spent so many years as the Director of the Core Intelligence. He blamed himself for cementing the agency as another Secret Service."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"You don't get it? Paul wanted to die. Mom and him groomed me for this position, they hoped I'd succeed him and make this place a paradise for people like me and Erica."
"Is that what you tell yourself to ease your conscience? Paul wanted to die?"
"Did you know the mystics had a war called the War of Heaven and Hell? It happened after a succession and unification struggle and changed the entire landscape of their world. Haven't there been riots all over the Federation? We are on the brink of a non-mystic War of Heaven and Hell and it's going to change everything."
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