As the seven entered the throne room, King Witherheart took a seat upon his throne.
"Truly, I am glad to see Wilderness back in our kingdom."
"Your Majesty, we all apologize for bursting into the kingdom...."
"Speak for yourself Archimedes. I have no regrets."
"Polaris! We are in the presents of the King!"
"I am well aware of that..... Yet, I see no reason to apologize. I have waited long enough to be reunited with Belvidere, as we all have. I also sense she isn't going anywhere without a fight."
Polaris's intense gaze met King Witherheart's eyes. "Polaris, there is much to discuss. When Belvidere came to the Kingdom, my ancestor had her placed under our family care as a slave, with a slave crest."
"WHAT!"
"Hold on, let me finish before lunging at me. You'll want to hear me out."
Polaris's glowing body flashed as his eyes held their blackened form.
"My ancestor, King Witherheart the First, was working with the man who kidnapped you and the rest of Wilderness. He helped organize the removal of you all in order to grab at the power vacuum you'd leave."
Polaris's flames burned solid white. A colorless flame, indicating the amount of rage he was feeling. The other heroes clutched their weapons and watched the room. The guards drew their weapons only for the King to stop them. "They need to hear this from me."
"My ancestor was then killed off by a foreign country, yet the cause of death is still unknown. Belvidere was passed down until she reached my hands. At first, the power over someone seemed tantalizing. However, she told my Queen the story of how you two met. The more she told, the more I realized she was still believing you'd come to rescue her. The Witherhearts have disgraced ourselves for far too long. Look at her. I had a mage break the slave crest and we agreed she would serve the crown until you, Sir Polaris, came to collect her, bring her back into your care."
Polaris's fire had went red, a very dull and low flame. He walked up to the throne and knelt down before it.
"To you and to you only. I am grateful you have taken care of my Belvidere. As to your predecessors, may they suffer the hell we all did."
"Leader of the Heroes, I am grateful you decided not to cleave my head from my neck. I wish to better strengthen our relationship with you and the remnants of Wilderness. I am not my father nor those who came before me."
"I can understand the sins of the past King Witherheart the Fourth. However, I, Polaris Winters, will not establish any kind of relationship with this kingdom on my own. Rather I shall ask my fellow heroes of their opinion."
He turns to look at his friends who all give him a thumbs up. "Polaris, I, Archimedes the Builder of Wilderness, speak for the rest of Wilderness, including Belvidere, we will not hold any malice towards the Fourth Witherheart, rather we shall honor his willingness to change the path he is on."
"Then as they have said, we, The Last Seven Heroes of the Wilderness Initiative, shall uphold a friendly relationship with you and your kingdom."
"Excellent! Although... I do have one question? What will you all do now?"
"Your grace, we have invited the Port City of Berban and now your Kingdom to be the first humans outside the Initiative to see Fort Wilderness."
The King's Scholar and the Queen audibly gasp. "Heroes of Wilderness... Take us to your home. We shall follow you by horse."
As the heroes are dismissed from the King's audience, they leave the city followed by the Royal Court and the Scholars. As Polaris leads everyone, Belvidere holds his hand tightly, as the Seven meet up the the villagers of Berban at the Mountain's summit.
"Guild Master."
"Polaris, we are here by your request. What is it you had to show us?"
Polaris points at the mountain, and Arris blows a strong wind past everyone, removing a magical hidden barrier from the mountain, revealing the delipidated fort. Vines and weeds hand over grown the old Fort. It was located within the mountain, built from the carved out mine made by dwarven hands. As the large group made their way to the front door, the Seven Heroes place their hands on the doors and use their magical power to open the piston door.
Inside, a skeleton turned to see his keepers had returned.
"A SKELETON! STAY BACK YOUR MAJESTY!"
"HOLD YOUR FIRE!! Fog? Is that you?"
"What took you all so long?"
The Seven enter and join Fog.
"Hero Polaris, who is that?"
"Fog here is the Skeleton we had in charge of keeping the Fort safe from outsiders and prying eyes."
"Is he a hero?"
"No your Highness. I merely oversee the Fort's care. My last orders were to make sure the Fort remained hidden. Sir Glacier Falls gave that order. Where is he?"
"Fog... Glacier and eighty-five others never made it. They died trying to get back here."
Fog lowers his head. "Truly, it is a joyous yet solemn occasion. I will relay my report to you then."
"Go ahead."
"Polaris, Solar Hero of Wilderness is now recognized as the as the Leader of the Wilderness Initiative. Sir, my report: Of Fort Wilderness, I successfully maintained the living quarters, the dining hall, treasury, training hall and the cartographer room. However, per former leader Glacier Falls order, that if none of you returned for any significant amount time, the portals that were being studies were to be destroyed and discarded."
"Excellent work Fog. You made Glacier proud. Now I have a new task for you."
"Sir! I eagerly await your orders."
"Get to work making a map to the homelands of the remaining Seven of us, excluding me, making that six total maps. We will be adventuring back to their homes to reassure those they loved we made it back."
"Take me off that list big guy."
"Kbar?"
"My family will have long since passed, and I wish not to return there."
"As you wish Kbar. You and I shall spend that time reassuring their homelands we are still friendly with them."
"Understood."
"Sir, I shall leave at once to make the maps."
"You are dismissed Fog."
As Fog heads to the Cartographer room, Archimedes manages to get the Magi-gens to bring back the lighting of the fort. Pixy yellow lights sparkle to life as the outsiders gaze upon the fort.
As the they wondered around, Polaris relit the fireplace that hadn't been used in centuries.
"For as old as the fort is, it is in surprisingly good shape!"
"Not surprising. Fog was always good at maintaining it."
"What should we do Polaris?"
"Unpack. We are home and we will spend the next week getting the fort back into shape. If we are to inhabit this space, we should make the outside better than ever before."
"Right. We have a long day ahead of us."
"We understand. I will send laborers here to assist in your reconstruction efforts."
"That would be most generous your majesty."
"Come everyone! We will let the heroes rest!"
As the outsiders left the Fort, the piston door closed. Polaris opened the doors to the living quarters and went into his room. He unpacked his belongings and flopped on the bed. As he laid there, he stared at the ceiling for a few hours. He tossed and turned as he tried to sleep. Finally he couldn't take it and hopped out of bed. As he opened the door, he was startled by Belvidere standing at his door.
"Couldn't sleep?"
"No... It's been too long and it is far too quiet in here."
"Mind... if I stay with you tonight?"
Polaris ushers her in as he lights his lantern and closes his door. As they lay together, they chat for a while. Catching up on everything the other had missed while they had been apart. Eventually Belvidere falls asleep in his arms. Polaris smiles, blows out his lantern and falls asleep, arms wrapped around her.