She refused to consider this returning with her tail tucked between her legs as a chastised or cowering animal. There was rumors aplenty that gods had fallen. More about another having taken the place of one. Of all of them, however, one filled her with such animosity. It was the rumor of who replaced Xunatar. While Mirannda regretted never meeting the God of Darkness and Chaos while he was still in power, she wondered how her life would be affected by Nemesis.

The phoenix strode through the unfamiliar woods, staring straight ahead. Yet, she held onto her crystallized hellfire pendant from Dalanesca. It held no power to protect her here, but Mirannda marched forward with such determination that she refused to even acknowledge the feelings trying to tempt her from the path. Those howls did not scare her now as they would have in the past. Nor did her eyes stray towards ruins, for she was not here for sightseeing.

Mirannda did not know for why she was boldly entering this domain, except probably to pay homage to the family she was bound to. Upon coming to the gated courtyard was when she showed any signs of hesitance. It was unwise to think the God had not put up some form of defense to protect those he deemed worthy. But she was not unwelcome, she was in servitude to his wife. While she frowned upon giving someone forcibly as a gift to another, Mirannda was beginning to really like Celeste. With Celeste's eternal youth, Mirannda would undoubtedly be bound to her for centuries.

It was on this train of thought that found the phoenix staring at all the statues in the gardens, recognizing none except the one at the center. Nemesis's stone wife pales in comparison to the true Celeste, but the love and attention to detail was plain to see. The God of Darkness had a heart full of adoration that none could deny after witnessing such dedication. Mirannda remembered the first night she met Nemesis. They committed adultery, unbeknownst to the phoenix, and he fed on her. After she had resurrected, he had dragged her through town naked until he presented her to Celeste as an apology gift. He left the mansion then, to find redemption in punishment.

Veda learned something very important that day. If there is a mysterious dark obelisk standing in the middle of nowhere, DON'T touch it. The demon crept through the strange woods and kept on the path before her. It was a path. Paths were meant to be followed. She followed the worn path for a long time until she heard a howl in the distance. Unaware of the danger of her actions, she mimicked the howl of the wolf. The forest was silent for a moment. Then she heard the wolves' howls. This time a bit closer. Realizing the foolishness of that howl, the demon sprinted into a run. Dark cathedrals, castles, bridges, and other buildings appeared almost out of nowhere. Curiosity popped up in the demon's eyes.

But she was too busy running to stop and inspect these buildings. She needed to find a place where the wolves wouldn't be able to find her. Eventually, the road led to a huge mansion with a gate. Her legs pushed her from the ground. Leaping onto the gate, she crawled over it. Landing on the other side was simple but figuring out where to go next was not as simple. Whomever owned the mansion must have not been concerned about her or the wolves back in the forest. There wasn't any guards coming out to stab her or magic throwing her back. The owner must have been intelligent enough to know that Veda was not a threat.

A scent of a stranger attracted the demon's attention. Following the trail into the garden, she came across a woman standing in a circle of statues. The stranger was looking up at the statue in the middle. Veda had no idea where she was or who this person was. Why was there a mansion in the middle of nowhere? And what was that dark obelisk for? However, the largest question the demon had was, why were there so many statues of women? These women must have been extremely important. Perhaps they had done some great deed or been an important part of a large event. Maybe they had a role that made them important or a status that would give them statues. 

"Hi!" The demon said deciding to announce her presence. "Who's that? Who are the rest of the women? What's your name? Also, where are we? And do you have any squirrels? It smells like a squirrel here. There must be one around." 

Veda's attention span was about the size of a squirrel. 

She noticed the sudden sound behind her, but chose to ignore it. Unless it was a Volkov, they did not truly matter to Mirannda, at least not presently. Her ears picked up the approaching footsteps, and knew she was being watched. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and the phoenix did not like the feeling. Worse was the sudden feeling of being unable to defend herself. If she was to pull her weapons out, would her championship title mean a declaration of attack on the god's followers? If it was Celeste, the woman would be understanding and might even find it amusing, which Mirannda did not want to be viewed as such in her eyes.

So she kept her gaze upon Celeste's image until the stranger decided to announce her presence. Mirannda half turned to take the new person into view. The demon was short, with beautiful chocolate skin, golden eyes, and charcoal hair. However, the bombardment of questions did not quite sit well with her already apprehensive mood. For a moment, the phoenix remained silent as she regarded the new comer and the inquiries. "I am sure that there are plenty of game to hunt, though it is somewhat doubtful that squirrels wet their appetite." Her voice was dry, almost emotionless as she wondered what the woman's fascination was with squirrels.

"We stand before the image of Celeste Volkov, wife and possibly most important to Nemesis, God of Darkness and Fear. This is his realm, his temple. That," Mirannda pointed to the statue of Angela. "Is Angela, Goddess of Life and Love. If one was to guess, each of those represented here hold great meaning for m'lord Nemesis." The phoenix cast her gaze across the other statues, being unable to place any of the others. It did not surprise her that she was not one of them, not in the least. But why did that hurt? Did she need to be important to somebody? When her gaze found those golden eyes once more, Mirannda seemed to stand straighter. "My name is Mirannda Sinopa. And yours?"

Why tell a complete stranger outside of dire situations her connection to Dalanesca, Goddess of Death? No, better to keep that to herself for now.

Confusion cut across the demon's face. Why was there a smell of squirrel? She decided to push those curiosities aside and focus instead on the stranger in front of her. The stranger talked about somebody named Celeste Volkov and Nemesis. This being his temple and other things like that. Veda listened quietly but she focused on remembering the information to review it for later. For a few seconds, the stranger had a pained look upon her face. It was gone in a flash. 

"My name is Veda." The demon said. 

She walked over to the statues and observed the stone closely. The demon circled each statue and even sniffed a few of them. Veda came back in front of the Celeste statue and sat on the dirt ground. Her head was cocked sightly to the side as her curious golden eyes looked at Celeste's statue. 

"I wonder how much of the statue was made from love." Veda said out loud, "I'm certain he loves her, the Neme guy, but this is a strange way to show it. He could have done many things to demonstrate love. Pride and showing off seems to come out in these statues more than love. Statues take a lot of money and time to make. He's demonstrating his wealth. Neme is also showing off his relationships. He knows another goddess and some other probably important women. But to put his wife in the center of all of them, he's saying that his wife is the best of all the women. Which shows that he has the power to not fear wraith from a goddess and that he has a wife better than everyone else. Of course, he might not be meaning to say that. But that's the message that gets across to the observer." 

The demon spun around and stood up to face Mirannda. 

"It's pretty interesting, isn't it?" Veda said with a smile, "Want to go exploring with me? I'm trying to find a way out." 

He had witnessed the pair of ladies from afar in the woodlines, though clearly, the forest that surrounded them wasn’t their motivation for coming here. One he recognized only in passing at the Volkov manor and learned further about her from his master. Apparently, she was the one that got seduced by his lord and then was dragged home to atone for his sins against Lady Celeste. It hadn’t ended well for any of the parties involved. The second woman was completely unknown but she was just as interesting in his book- from the sounds of it, she didn’t know where she was or perhaps why.

He kept a good distance behind them, observing their conversation beneath the guise of his raven form. Most didn’t question some bird flying about, assuming that it was looking to scavenge food below.

When he did land, Maalik found himself on the fountain and preened his feathers, typical of the avian sort. The gesture served as a means of getting closer for him as they continued to exchange words. While Mirannda had been correct as for the reason why the statues existed, Veda’s criticism of them kept made him smile inwardly- the assumed vanity that the God held still held water, which of course was what he wanted from those unfamiliar with him to think. In truth, no money or time was wasted in designing anything on the grounds of the bastion- this was crafted by the realm itself to reflect its master.

Mirannda’s reason for coming here remained unsolved by the shapeshifter and the bird tilted his head in thought in coming up with one. Nemesis himself wasn’t available at the time and instructed him to keep an eye on things while he traveled back to Kurayo for a bit. And Celeste certainly wasn’t about here so he couldn’t help but to have his curiosity peaked before he took flight again, watching and waiting to see what the pair did next.

Grey kept himself hidden. Though the pair who were talking were nearby he covered himself in his cloak. Next to a tree the two seemed to be one, the grey bark and the grey cloak. Normally he'd have waited for the two to pass. Better unseen than embroiled in whatever controversy these two were in. He began to slip away, keeping the trees between he and them until they said… "Nemesis." He stopped then and waited. His hatred of that name was almost a palpable force, pulsating from the deepest part of his being. "Nemesis!" He spat the name out loud in spite of himself. The usually shy diminuative elf threw back his cloak, silver flute at his lips. So the evil bastard is near is he? He too watched the pair of ladies, body tense. His anger barely contained…

Mirannda watched Veda inspect each statue before returning to Celeste. Her observations caused an eyebrow to arch with doubt. ”Nemesis,” the phoenix corrected softly. Once more, she gazed up at the wife statue. Memories of that first meeting and days after drifted through her mind. Absently, Mirannda rubbed at her wrist where the invisible bond to Celeste lay secure.

”I doubt that very much. This is a deity realm and a recently ascended one at that. This would have not been crafted in such a short time, the gardens this full without divine intervention. No… Their realms shift to their design by something far, far away from hired artisans, I think.” Her voice sounded distant as if her mind was elsewhere. To a devoted husband, their wife is everything, the center of his world. She is the most important to him, regardless of who is better than anyone else.

Mirannda would not have been paraded through town as he crawled back to Celeste as he begged for forgiveness. Slowly, as if she was barely in the moment, Mirannda turned her attention to Veda. ”Why not go the direction I came? Just don’t stray from the path.” Suddenly, she was on full alert, a sword appearing in her hand. Her hair on the nape of her neck stood on end. Someone was hiding and he did not sound happy, and she should have sensed his presence far sooner. He dared spit Nemesis’s name in the god’s own domain.

”Show yourself, sneak! State your business, or beg for mercy.” ’As champion of Dalanesca and servant to Celeste, none shall get away with any defilement of Lord Nemesis.’ she promised herself as she prepared for whatever hid in the shadows.

Grey stopped for a moment, deeply regretting what he'd said out loud. Still… He'd not stated his hatred out loud. These two weren't him/her obviously. But they knew him. Grey was not one for subterfuge. He preferred to say what he thought and let the chips fall where they may but now? "Forgive me M'Lady." And he bowed before her. "I'm afraid to know Nemesis directly. For he/she is so powerful and beyond my ken. Perhaps you could help me find it, that I may follow him. *The last was spoken darkly, despite himself. He'd know Nemesis only for as long as it took to slay or be slain. But this one? Only an innocent with the power to lead him onward. Not to be challengend or slain. Though his name was Grey, the one with both darkness and light, for now he was only a man who felt pain and wanted nothing more than the strength to stop the being that caused it.