King Of Limbo

With the searching done, Aron returned near the entrance where the others were waiting for them. Evanora had already easily delt with the few remaining guards outside and was just standing near the others looking lost as usual.

She received odd glances from both Sharla and Lucas who were surprised by the depth of her power. Evanora's prowess was never properly seen by them prior to now so it was quite the shock to learn the gap in strength between them was so large.

Lucas was especially bothered by it. 'Why do the strong always abuse the weak?' This was something he felt like speaking up about towards Aron and Evanora but he no longer saw the point.

It was clear to him Aron and him stood on different spectrums and held different views concerning life. He who grew up among the weak knew of their hardships.

To see innocent people get slaughtered simply because their leaders had done something bad seemed wrong to him. They were merely living their lives so why did they have to die a pointless death?

"We'll continue moving underground, the Aethelians likely don't know about these hidden tunnels. If we use them we can avoid detection completely." Aron approached the group and explained how they'd move from there on.

He of course received no complaints over this. Lucas so it as hopeless to try and say anything, he was weak and Aron was strong so no matter how right he was it would lead to nothing.

"Can we rest soon? If it's the tunnels then it should be alright to take breaks here and there right?" Sharla suggested a bit hesitantly, after seeing what Aron and Evanora were capable of she couldn't help but become more wary of them. 'We need to separate from these two, it's too dangerous moving with them.'

Right now Sharla saw them as nothing more than unpredictable. To her once they lost their purpose perhaps they'd be killed for knowing too much.

"Yes we'll rest at certain intervals don't worry. Let's get moving, we still have a lot of ground to cover." Aron gave Sharla a nod before turning to lead the way with Evanora by his side.

Had he really been worried they'd escape he would have had Evanora at the far back and them in between but contrary to Sharla's worries he had no direct plans of killing them.

The same way he never had any plans of killing Ariel, however disposing of her and the other elves was an appropriate decision at the time. If Mirai hadn't suggested her and Sharla follow the group then they too would have died, not because of hate or grudges but simply out of convenience.

…

After leaving the settlement and using the hidden tunnel Aron and others began to cover distance quickly.

The tunnels themselves were rather spacious being over ten meters high and wide, this lead to a less cramped space like they had first thought.

The only visible problem Aron could see with them was that they were too crudely made and thus somewhat unstable. If a battle using spells over tier two occurred then it was very likely the tunnel would cave in at its weakest points.

"Mirai are you okay?" After some distance had been covered without stop Sharla turned to Mirai who she was helping to walk and asked this.

"I'll be fine, it's just fairly hard for me to sense things underground. It's all a blur." She spoke gently but maintained a visible smile, although dim the tunnel was moderately lit by having illuminating crystals embedded at certain intervals.

For Mirai who was without sight it was hard to see when they were very few objects. It felt like she were walking on a dark and narrow path with no clear end.

"We should be approaching an open area soon, you can rest there." Aron announced and brought some relief to her. "Thank you." She replied gently but received no answer.

Just like he had said it didn't take long until they arrived in an open area, it was an intersection from which other tunnels branched out. Some looked like they went higher up, some below or even the same height.

The intersection was the size of a small settlement and even had some ruined structures present which suggested it was once occupied.

'They must've been shifting each time they dug deeper, making temporary settlements along the way.' Aron thought before looking to his left where a small natural underground stream could be seen.

It resembled a lush riverbank one would find even on the surface except this one was void of animal and beast life, only insects could be seen here and there feeding off the exotic fruit present on the few trees in the area.

"What a strange little ecosystem." Aron muttered before looking to the others. "There's fresh water and fruit there if you need it, we can take a break for the day and use this time to scout out these branching tunnels a bit."

…

At round the same time Lady Rose and her group were currently making their way through a scattered and dry savannah type of forest. It lacked the cover that one would find in dense tropical type of forest so they had no choice but to move fairly careful to avoid being found.

Lady Rose had put her scouters to use throughout the journey to ensure they wouldn't run into or be surpsied by hostile forces. However no such occurred, despite the Veldra community being over half the size of Ettenheim it's land was mostly barren and with such a small population to match most of it was uninhabited, to a point where even simple creatures were a rare sight.

"At this rate we're going to run out of water soon, should someone tell her?" The group walked a bit farther behind Lady Rose as she demanded space and were currently discussing their current situation.

Even before splitting into the groups the amount of supplies carried was quite little since most were instructed to move lightly.

In their minds they would encounter settlements, rivers or forests and restock but reality showed them different. With no one knowing the exact situation in the Veldra community it was hard to predict that such a large nation would be so barren and with little population.

"You tell her, she scares me." Another replied fearful of approaching Rose who walked at a casual pace as if unbothered by the scorching heat.

Since the journey had began not once had they seen her drink water or eat something which made the men of the group in particular feel quite shameful.

In the end they chose to remain silent and didn't utter a word of complaint. However soon evening fell and replaced the scorching heat with a bone chilling cold.

This was especially hard for some who had chose to travel without anything to help them keep warm. This was the result of inexperience for most of them.

Henry was desperate due to how competitive the recruiting had become so he accepted all who looked promising. The result was indeed some capable individuals although the majority lacked field experience outside what they had done during the journey.

It didn't take long for some to start collapsing due to exhaustion and thirst. Their vision had started to become blurry and their limbs felt weak.

"Lady Rose!" A panicked member called out to her once multiple individuals looked like they could no longer go on.

She only glanced back at them with indifference before speaking. "We don't have the luxury to stop, if you want to rest the feel free to do so. The nearest body of water is still around two hundred and forty kilometers away, if you wish to rest now then by all means do so but I won't be stopping." She revealed without a any care towards them before turning and continuing to walk.

…

As the various groups continued to make their way towards Aethel, a great change was occurring in it's central settlement.

"What?!" Various voices of exclamation could be heard within the throne hall of the Aethelian palace.

"You heard correctly, I shall be taking the throne." Sayiva announced with complete confidence before everyone present, all of them being important members of the inner court.

"Impossible! You were branded a traitor and thus stripped of your right!" One argued.

"Indeed, what does it matter if you have some support from a being of the old era? It should be enough that you're being allowed to rejoin our kind." The king himself added while glaring hatefully at her.

Sayiva ignored his gaze at looked at Erileth in the corner of her eye who didn't say anything on the matter as if choosing to stay neutral. Despite seeing the being even she thought it was a bit drastic to just try and usurp her sister.

"My dear sister I understand that it was wrong of our council to strip your succession rights, I myself would have no problem abdicating it to you however the result of this would be complete anarchy given we are at war." The queen herself stepped forward and spoke in a gentle tone to Sayiva, she seemed to be the only one Sayiva was willing to even listen to.

"Then what do you suggest Celes?" She asked in a threatening matter, one couldn't tell if she was being considerate of her sister or simply didn't care. However the fact she was willing to listen was welcomed by them.

"I suggest you become a commander, if you could win the support of the people this way then no trouble would occur if you wanted the throne. You can choose to do this however you wish as no one will command you, it's simply a title to have the people know you're on their side." Queen Celes explained and received odd glances from the other inner court members.

Was their queen always this cunning?

'She says this with a sweet smile but in truth she hopes I die by the enemies hands.' Sayiva thought as an urge to kill began to rise within her, only stopped by the echoey voice relaying instructions to her.

[ Cease wasting your time with pointless matters, follow my instructions and at the end of the day you will rule over the entirety of the world while attaining the justice you seek ]

Sayiva clenched her fist and glared at Celes for moment before turning away. "So be it, wether you bow before me now or later is of little consequence."