As I gave my command, Mar Hast the Knight simply obliged and moved his large armory body. In an incredibly fast speed, he vanished without any traces from in front of me.
Now I was alone for the... third time? In my lair.
I should start calling it a palace from now. Because it was not a mess anymore. Thanks to my suspicious wizard, it was all clean then. There was only this throne of mine in the entire lair. Ah, and my egg and old man's grave.
There is, of course, another component required for a palace, as old man told me. They are called harems, I am prrtty sure. But for an apple like me, I do not think I need such.
And... Rooms? For guests? What kind of guests would I possibly ever have... I will consider it. Lastly, a court room. Well this is the court room. But it seems everyone will have to keep standing while I am the only one sitting here. Befits a king, I think.
Let's see. I think it's only been half a day since I regained my sense of sight. So many things happened already.
Ahh... I must not be careless of the advices old man gave me. I must never think about the past and continue towards my goal.
Do I even have a goal?
Let's just keep the goal to 'who am I' for now. I think too much, I should sleep. Given Mar Hast's strength, he should be returning any moment now, I am safe.
---
Lake of Cantar, Astagha.
A frail-looking brown bear was walking by the side of this lake in hope for a hunt. The water was clean, in fact, extremely clean. For an ordinary person it would take them quite a while to realize that this was a lake there.
The bear was suddenly elated as it caught the glimpse of a red dolphin closeby. However it had unique features. Its head was unlike ordinary dolphins, as its mouth was slightly curved, almost round, almost like a... Devil.
Before the bear could realize that, the 'dolphin' made a jump from the body of water elongating its own size in the process. Its fins turned into legs and hands and the head became a blurry skull. It even grew strange scales as though it was a humanoid dragon.
Opening its mouth, the 'dolphin-a-while-ago' made a loud howl as though announcing its presence. In the next second, it landed over the bear taking it entirely inside by one bite.
As it casually gulped the weak omnivore, it made a howl again, more loudly this time.
"I, Ratabat The Shifter has appeared by your call. Where are you, O King of Astagha!"
The dragon-scaled humanoid fish did not need to wait for long. As he stood there dominantly, a feminine voice suddenly resounded around him. But it was not the one he desired for.
"Ratabat... What took you so long?"
The voice was alluring, enchanted by mysterious forms of magic. But Ratabat had a mental command he could boast of proudly. He replied, without a hint of being affected by the voice.
"Viyanka. The traitor."
"Traitor...? My, that is alot coming from you."
"I am not here for you. Have you also appeared by the call of the Astagha's King?" Ratabat asked nonchalantly.
"No. I have been serving the His Majesty for the last three centuries."
"Centuries... Why did he not call me before? He called you but not me?"
"Because you are the true traitor, Ratabat... I only wished for your good."
"You speak nothing but lies. Get lost."
Ratabat made a bold comment before transforming himself into a wolf with three short horns. Then he ran swiftly to reach the middle of the forest to where the largest tree was. He could see the Mother Tree from the Lake of Cantar quite easily. Although he had no idea if the King resides therein, that is because he had never come to Astagha before.
Although all sorts of spirits and monsters in the world knew of the infamous forest of Astagha and its guardian, not all of them joined and became his loyaltees to lose their independence. But only now, after centuries had the King of Astagha released a mysterious aura attracting each and every spirit throughout the world. To gain the favour of this ancient Arcane, a number of monsters also dispatched themselves to appear here and serve the King.
Thus Ratabat the Shapeshifter became the first among foreign Monsters to appear at Astagha.