Chase gasped hesitantly as he quickly turned around to gaze at himself within the mirror of the changing room.
He remembered when he had donned his Phoenix Academy aetherball outfit for the first time, and now that he knew that he had inherited his father's very jersey...
'No.'
He thought, as he let himself smile.
Then he picked up the surprisingly heavy bag from the small bench of the changing room.
He gently reached inside of the bag, and felt-
'What?'
It was a soft fur...
He slowly pulled the ivory fur from the bag, only to nearly break down into tears as he recognized the familiar cape...
"Onyx..."
He had saved it, scavenged it... From the very battle that Chase had once thought that it had been lost on.
The white fur cape of the monster that he had slain outside of the Oasis on that very night...
Although it had been torn at the bottom, and now only reached his mid back in some sections and just the bottom of his shoulders in other sections... Although it had singed burn marks on the corners and base of the fur...
He threw it around his body, letting the cape gently fall around his shoulder plates, immediately locking itself onto the armor as if Chase controlled the very gravity of the room.
He grinned.
"A king I will be... Summer, Father, Sparky... Leander... A king I will be..."
...
Chase stepped out of the changing room and slowly took several steps towards his friends, where Onyx immediately smiled, and Jacob's eyes widened.
The soft clanking of the Obridean Alloy boots meeting the ground as he walked, perfectly blending with the bubbling of lava, made for a wonderful cacophony of sound.
His fur cape flowing with the cold breeze from the open windows of the forge.
Ricardo looked onward, and only sighed.
"You do not carry many of your father's traits... But I can only assume that your mother was the very woman that stood among us in battle... Which means that you carry far stronger traits then you will ever realize... May you unite the kingdoms once more..."
The last part Ricardo had muttered under his breath, only just barely faint enough for Chase to catch slight traces of it.
"Now for the rest..."
Chase looked at Onyx and Jacob with a smile.
"Oh gods have mercy..."
Ricardo grumbled as he had already begun towards his small workshop room once more.
Onyx was about to speak up before Chase had cut him off.
"You are also getting a new set of armor... If I am correct... Yours was destroyed in that battle against the kobolds..."
Onyx silenced, and could only sigh.
"Yeah..."
Chase raised an eyebrow at Jacob.
"And you?"
He must have startled the boy, as he flinched and immediately looked away.
"I- Uh, Like to use daggers I guess..."
Chase scratched his chin with the soft texture of his new gloves.
"So a light set of armor with chained bracelets and anklets... Got it."
Chase nodded, deep in thought, as he wondered if the Nyxweave fabric would suit someone like Jacob or Gabriel better then it would have himself.
"I doubt Poppy or Neo need a new set of armor, as they probably have their own personal blacksmiths that tend to them whenever called upon..."
Onyx blinked slowly.
"How about Michael? And Leo, and maybe even Luke?"
He suggested towards Chase with a blank expression on his face.
Chase nodded slowly, still lost in his own thoughts.
"So everyone except for the two royals?"
Onyx grinned.
"Three royals now..."
...
Deep within the colossal caverns of the underworld, Zephyr grumbled curses as he pushed the large gates of the ebony castle open with nothing but his human form's strength.
As he slowly walked through the halls, he could see only a few peaceful souls of children playing and running through the halls of the castle.
Although they were only ethereal phantoms of the grim truths hidden within this cruel world, Zephyr smiled as they reminded him of his own two children.
He scoffed at the very thought.
Poppy was indeed his own daughter, but he did not believe that he had the honor of calling himself her father. Not after leaving before he could even see her precious eyes open for the first time...
But it was for her future... Not his present...
As for the other child, the one who was not of his blood, but of his queen's...
The boy was special, he was strong, but most importantly, he carried a kind and kingly heart. Something that the lands of Vallmora lacked desperately.
Zephyr had insulted his Queen and called her foolish for marking a mortal man with her own blood, but now he thought himself a fool...
The boy is cursed by his own heritage already, not even knowing the full scale of things to come. Just how long he had left before he would one day have to walk both the world of the dead and the world of the living at the same time...
Zephyr continued his heavy steps down the halls that he had helped build...
He had honestly forgotten his own age, it had been centuries since he was even able to call himself that of a young man...
But he remembered... As all beings do.
He remembered the face of his own father, and the face of his own mother, and began to curse himself for the idea of Chase never getting to see his own mother's face without life in her emerald green eyes.
Then just before he could finish cursing himself, a tingling sensation ran up his arms, and he instinctively ducked underneath a giant spear that had shot towards him from the top of the balcony.
Above him, a tall woman with long red hair and curled crimson horns stretching out from the crown of her head, stood with a terribly angered look on her face.
"You have made a grave mistake Zephyr, the Dragonlord of Hell..."
Zephyr could only sigh as he summoned a mighty black great sword in his right hand.
"Makina... I refuse to stain these halls with blood... Let alone that of my own niece..."
She frowned, and leaped from the top of the balcony as her demonic wings fluttered, as she slowly descended onto the black stone ground in front of him.
Then just as Zephyr stepped to the side, a dagger shot from behind him, nicking the side of his dragon scale armor.
"Lilian... Dismiss your blade..."
Zephyr growled at the pink haired girl with smaller horns than her sister.
"Awww! But you are a traitor now! I wanna fight you uncle!"
She whined from behind him, as footsteps echoed from down one of the farther corridors.
"Great... Just when I had hoped that you would be hiding in The Underbelly, avoiding your eternal job as warden of the underworld..."
Dorian grinned, patting down the exotic pelts of his lavish suit.
His annoying grin never ceasing to annoy the living hell out of Zephyr (Litterly)...
"Dear friends and fellow council... I ask that you all disarm yourselves... The Queen herself had asked Zephyr to seek out the heir and prepare him for the coming war... So please... Restrain yourselves fellow devils..."
Lilian made a pouty face as she wrapped her arms around Zephyr's waist, embracing him in a tight hug.
"Little brother?"
She asked quietly.
"The boy will be fine..."
Makina sighed as she let out a tired yawn.
Then... Behind Dorian's skinny figure, the sound of scales scraping against the floor echoed throughout the entirety of the castle.
"Tenko has grown quite a lot since the last time you were here Dorian..."
Zephyr smiled softly, as the colossal serpent with ghostly eyes casually made its way through the hall, and gently leaning its giant head against Zephyr's not so giant figure.
Dorian chuckled.
"Indeed he has... I expected that the great serpent would grow quite a bit in the span of ten years, but I did not expect this much from him..."
Zephyr took a deep breath and hardened his expression.
"I am sure that you are all aware of why I am here..."
The howling of wolves then began to follow the empty sounds of the castle.
Makina raised an eyebrow.
"Chase is in need of soldiers... And I am confident that his mother will allow us Devils to finally make contact with her heir..."
Makina let her lips curl up into a smile.
"Whether or not she wanted us too... I already have... I gave the boy projections and trained him in the art of his first seal... Which I am sure you already know quite well Zephyr..."
Zephyr could only frowned.
"I actually had assumed that it was Lilian who had done that, but to think that someone as mature as you would have interrupted my training to introduce him to something far out of his league..."
She put her knuckles against her chin stuck her tongue out at Zephyr.
"I couldn't help myself, he was already awakening the first one, so I figured that I might as well give him a little nudge ya know?"
Dorian raised a hand awkwardly.
"Ah- Actually, I have made contact as well... In fact, probably before all of you high ranking devils..."
The snake-like man chuckled cautiously.
"B-But- I wanna see little brother!"
Lilian released her grip on Zephyr and threw her arms up in a fit of rage.
"Why am I the only one who upheld my vow!?"
She screamed, causing everyone but her to laugh at the irony of the situation.
"But we would gladly serve the heir in order to help him meet with Lilith in her final days..."
Makina sighed with a somber smile...
Dorian nodded as well.
"Not fair..."
Lilian muttered, as she puffed her cheeks out.