Another beautiful night, and another successful hunt resulting in the kill of a large doe for Nemesis. The lupine was getting his fill, tearing into its stomach and savoring both the fresh meat and blood. But something didn’t feel quite right, it was like a knacking feeling in his mind. Like someone was watching him but when he rose from his meal, blood dripping from his hungry maw, crimson eyes saw nothing around him. Nothing that seemed to be a threat to him; only the birds up in the trees, waiting for his departure so that they could feast off the leftovers. All the other critters had already fled and no one could have been dumb enough to sneak up to a large wolf creature and hope to survive. Ignoring the sensation, he returning to chomping down on the doe and again it came back. This was starting to get bothersome, not that he could explain why this was going on in the first place. Was someone messing with him? He couldn’t pick up a scent and when he looked up once more, he was met with the result and was about to sink his teeth into the doe when the sound of a woman’s laughter rang in his ear.

The voice behind it was familiar, enough to drive him away from his meal and onwards towards the source. There was still no scent which confused Nemesis but he stalked over to where he was sure she resided. In a grove, sitting against a tree, she was spotted and immediately he stopped when he saw her. His eyes grew large and his beating heart sped up at the sight of who looked like his former sire. Those radiant fair locks, those venomous golden eyes…it couldn’t have been Azrail, it couldn’t have been! Hesitantly, he moved in closer, hoping and praying that it was all just an illusion or dream perhaps. This wasn’t real, he was sure of it but he couldn’t help but move forward.

It was as if she finally noticed his presence because she went to stand up and it made him freeze in his tracks. Looking at him, she smiled and beckoned him to come before departing into a portal of blackness. Unable to heed the call, he followed her inward and immediately felt like his core was being torn open like how he had done to the doe earlier. It made the wolf howl in pain as he got low onto the ground before he would find himself in his normal form. He hadn’t called upon the change so how?

It didn’t matter, he was now cradling himself to ease the pain as the darkness seemed to engulf his person, slowly and surely until his mind faded into black. He felt it taking over and fear was the first thing in his mind. It wouldn’t last for too long before he regained consciousness and screamed in pain. The darkness spiraled around him, his eyes grew black as he clawed at what he thought was earth, but it was merely some sort of dark matter. Where was he?

As he desperately sought around his surroundings, that woman was there seated upon a throne. Her head tilted slightly to the left as she watched him suffered. Was it her doing for all that he had failed in another life? On his hands and knees, Nemesis still hoped that it wasn’t her, but a cruel lie by some unknown enemy but it was for naught.

“Take it, it’s yours. You waited for so long, Nemesis. It had been your desire since you arrived at that lost land.”

“Take…what…”

She offered her hand and repeated, “Take it, Nemesis.”

With a slight growl from his lips, the vaewolf crawled over towards her, feeling the weight of the dark pressing against him. What looked like a few feet seemed like miles but he made it over to her seat and rose his hand to join with hers. She smiled widely, revealing her fangs and muttered something inaudible before she exploded into a dark fog and blanketed him. When it finally passed, he was barely conscious when he found himself near a mansion and felt different. Too different.

Nemesis rose up to his feet and saw the shadows dance about him. Wanting to go back to his home and get away from whatever this place was, he went to make a portal back to Kurayo but instead his body immaterialized into that very black fog and reformed right into the foyer of his manor. Gods, what was going on?

He fell onto the first couch available and breathed heavily. His body was heavy and exhausted and his mind felt worse. Still, something was going on, more than what meant the eye. Hell, how was Celeste going to take this? What this was. 

It had only been a few days since the fall of Xunatar. Angela was pacing up and down her hallways with her finger curled beneath her chin. It had to happen any time now. It had been days… What was the Voice waiting for? Was he scouting? Had Xunatar taken it too far? Her green eyes flickered up to Nerezza who was also pacing with her.

“Are you waiting for the new god?”

“Mmhmm.” Angela continued her mindless pacing.

“You’ve been at this for days. You should eat.”

“Wasted on me really… I’ll be fine Sweetheart.” It was sort of like she was brought back to reality as she met Nerezza’s gold eyes. “Honestly, I’m fine. Just waiting. It’s always painful when we lose a god… The wait to see which sorry sap get the new set of spheres… Well, you get the gist.” Nerezza nodded and continued to follow her mother. “Kaiser is away on business isn’t he?”

“Can’t I spend time with my own mother?”

“Lucian locked you out of the mansion again?” Green eyes met gold.

“… Yes to both.”

Finally, the sphere shift happened and she winced when she felt that aura. She knew immediately who it was… There was no mistaking it. “Nerezza… I’m going to need you to get your father and Lucian. Take them back home to Sularia and tell them I will meet with them. It’s about Nemesis.” Nerezza froze up but immediately the girl sprung into action and ran off. She knew what this meant.

Angela appeared inside the mansion in Kurayo. She dusted off some of the magic and Celeste was thoroughly startled. “Angela?! What are you doing here?!” The once elf stared in disbelief that Angela would just trample into their home.

“Not really a good time to explain everything. Where is Nemesis?”

“…He’s out hunting.” Celeste pointed but now she had a worried look on her face. “What happened? Where is he?”

“That’s what I’m here to find out. Come now… He’s back.” Both women rushed down the stairs and Angela met him first. She propped up his head and looked him all over.

“What?! WHAT IS WRONG.” Celeste stomped her foot in anger.

“…So it was you.” Angela looked at Celeste and pointed to a chair. “Please sit. I imagine this news is gonna be heavy for everyone. I’ll be right back.” She made herself at home in the kitchen using herbs that Celeste had hidden about. Once she came back she offered a cup to Nemesis. “It will help with your head. Can’t feel very good right now.”

Celeste looked impatient but she was listening to Angela. “Is he alright? I can’t lose him…” There was panic growing in Nemesis's wife.

“I don’t think losing him is an option anymore… At least, if he plays his cards right. Nemesis… You understand what just happened correct?” She knelt by his side and let her green eyes gaze upon him. “You know what you are… Correct?”

Although he was barely conscious by this point, he was far from asleep. No, he didn’t want to close his eyes in case he was pulled back into whatever that place was again. He wasn’t fearful of it, but weary instead. There was something oddly comforting about it despite he never laid eyes on it until just recently. He couldn’t trust it, not after everything that happened so far. His breaths were heavy as he slowly relaxed though it wouldn’t last for too long. He could hear voices from the upstairs and soon footsteps. He was sure one of them belong to Celeste. The other? He had no idea at first but then something came to him. It wasn’t the scent like he would usually receive first, but instead a feeling of similarity. Something closer to him than what was in his blood.

God no. It was her.

He was questioning in his mind how in the devil did she know when to pop in at the worse times, but he kept his tongue quiet as she inspected him. His loving wife’s temper was rising, something that he wasn’t used to seeing. It was a very bad omen for she rarely got to that limit.

“My head feels like its splitting apart”, he replied as he rose enough to sit up on the couch. “I’ll live though.” At least he was very much sure, but he accepted the drink and downed half of it. Still, her reason for being was unknown- and like his wife, he wanted her to get to the point of this.

“You speak as if I have changed into something else”, he spoke, eyebrows knitted together. Where was she getting at? He felt her presence and it was more like his own than ever before. This was all confusing- her being here, the woman that lured him into complete darkness and that place…it was still calling out to him as if he belonged there. Dowing the rest of the drink, he collapsed his head onto a hand and tried to make sense of this.

Gazing through the open space between his fingers, he looked to his other hand which was drawing upon a black essence that spiraled around it. Nemesis was shocked, to say the least, and thought at first he was being devoured by the darkness. But after a bit, nothing more happened and when his thoughts turned to get rid of it somehow, it retreated from his grasp.

“She gave me something earlier. Azrail did. Or I think she did. She told me that what I’ve desired long ago was to be taken.”

It was a conclusion that he didn’t believe still, but what another possible answer was there?

Looking to Celeste, he sighed as he brought back that essence once more. “My last sire had passed down a clan I was in onto me to lead it. Perhaps it wasn’t her that did this, but she gave me something that is much more different, much stronger. His eyes fell onto Angela with a deep frown. “What have I been hexed with? You seem to know much about this in such a quick time." His fist balled up tightly. I find the solution that I've come up with to be ridiculous; am I suppose to believe that now I have been chosen?”

“That’s par for the course… Thankfully.” Angela’s voice was soft and calm as she tended to the elder Vaewolf. His wife, on the other hand, was protective and Angela knew not to prod at her too much.

The Red Queen stopped and let her green eyes meet his. “Because you have.” Celeste crossed her arms behind Angela and the rosenite’s eyes slid to the side to look upon the elf.

“Not Azrail… But it doesn’t shock me that’s how it chose to reveal itself to you. Could have been a hallucination or it could have been him. He chooses to show himself as a person you would never hurt. Sometimes this backfires but sometimes he shows up in a form that no one knows. We can never know his true appearance for even if it was before us… We would never know it.”

There was some hesitation in Angela as she moved her hands to his shoulders. She was kneeling before him but only because it was the best way to see if he was alright. Her face while normally playful was oddly soft in his presence. “I’m not the only one who knows… However, I’ve been around it for so long I’m probably the first one to figure it out and who it was.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t be here if you weren’t the person chosen. I’ve been waiting since Xunatar’s fall for who would take his place… To think it would be you… It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.”

“Can I know now?” Celeste had pieced together a lot of the conversation and hints. She wanted to hear Angela say it.

“Nemesis… has ascended to godhood.”

For a few moments, Celeste was without words as she went to her husband and hugged him. The pain he must have felt… She couldn’t imagine but her eyes drifted up to Angela’s finally. “What should he do?”

“Well… from what I can tell his realm has already been created. We can take a look at it. I’ll have a clergy member bring more of that tonic I gave you. It should help the transition a lot more so you don’t feel so off. Been in the business of taking care of new gods and fallen gods for a long time now. So what do you say Nemesis? Should we go on an adventure? After you dress of course… I never thought I would see that sight again.” There was a chuckle from her but Celeste covered him a bit more.

“Very rude Angela…”

“Do you blame me? Nemesis is a very handsome man.” There was a smirk to Celeste and the moon elf huffed a bit into a chuckle before shaking her head.

“You should be able to create a passage for us into this realm by focusing. It will be weird at first but it will get easier I promise.”

For most of his unnatural life, Nemesis had strived to be a chosen of the Tree back home. He felt that at his peak, it was only a matter of time as he lied, cheated, murdered his way down the path where he would be award with such power. He had served the Gods as a death knight and conspired in some of the most magnificent ordeals the old world had never seen before. But always, it was always out of his reach for one reason or another. As time went on and he adjusted to his new life here, such delusions began to swam away from his mind until they were nonexistent. He had a real family to protect and help flourish and his goals became more realistic. But ever since he was reunited with Angela, his life had shifted into a more chaotic one. Why should this be a surprise? Though deep down he knew better than to blame her- it wasn’t like she could control fate after all.

He could feel his wife growing more agitated, though again, it was no one’s fault. Celeste was simply worried over him and what was going on. His eyes locked with hers to reassure her fears. “Him? Who’s that? The Tree or whatever equivalent this realm has?” Nemesis recalled the scene with the being he assumed was Azrail. It seemed like his mistress right down to the smell, though if this person was as mighty as Angela suggested, then he was sure that they were wise to the game of impersonation and have been for quite the long time. A part of him felt insulted that this thing would dare to use her to make sure that he didn’t harm it. Such cowardice, the thought made his lips fall into a deep frown.

He felt Celeste’s embrace, but he felt nearly numb as the realization that this was no dream came. That this was reality and the fact of the matter was that he was now chosen, of all the times that it could possibly happen. Any other period of his life, the vaewolf would have been ecstatic about it; nowadays, it would serve more of a liability for those around him.

As the ladies discussed his next move, Nemesis’s thoughts then turned towards that unfamiliar place that he was whisked into. That manor…it had called to him as if it was for him. His train of thought coming back to the present, he simply nodded and stood back up, unafraid of whatever Angela saw. Nakedness was not something taboo of his kind, not even when he was a vampire though she was right- it was far better to get dressed before traveling. Leaving the ladies, he went to his chambers and returned filled clothed.

“Alright. I think I have an idea of what it is.”

With a deep breath, he allowed his mind to think back to that place of darkness as the fog returned and engulfed them all. In what was probably a minute or two, the trio found themselves in the neck of the woods, not far from the building at all. Slowly he lead the way, listening as the wildlife tended towards their own business of hunting and being hunted. After that, a pair of gates opened for them and soon they were in what seemed to the courtyard. A beautiful arrangement of gardens filled the area along with a magnificent fountain accompanied with various statues of women. Coming closer to them, his face fell as he recognized them. Each had been an influence in his life, in one way or another, and a majority had been lovers past and present. Just how much of his power relied on his experiences and memories.

“I suppose that this is my realm after all… “, his words were able to trail out from his lips, though it was obvious that everything still felt so surreal to him.

“He is the tree. For me he appears as my deceased children. As unsettling as it is… It is a way for him to protect himself so what happened to Verya doesn’t happen to him. Though it hasn’t stopped me in the past from pinning him to the tree when Dalanesca went astray.”

That was all there was to it. The Voice could be seen as cowardly but he was an immensely strong individual. If he wanted to he could have crushed Angela but he needed her alive and well. Celeste gasped a bit as they were transported to the land of fear and darkness. It was the power that caught her off guard but Angela took the moon elf’s shoulders. “Steady yourself. This is powerful magic. We’re in his land now.” Here they weren’t equals and Nemesis could overpower Angela if not careful.

“It would have to be…” Celeste stared up at herself in the center of all the women. She knew about most of them but some of them were a mystery to her. Angela on the other hand was staring at herself.

For a few long moments the goddess was quiet before she leaped onto the new god. “I KNEW IT.” She rubbed his white hair and put her cheek against his as she rubbed his cheek obnoxiously with her own. Celeste was taken back by it before she noticed Angela’s statue. “You do like me!” There was a few happy squeals that came from Angela’s lips. “Probably only because of the twins but still… YOU LIKE ME.”

Celeste was laughing now. If it was any other woman she would have felt threatened but Angela didn’t want her husband. No, the woman was just being obnoxious on purpose. “You are a one of a kind goddess…”

“And don’t you forget it.” Angela finally let go of Nemesis and looked around a bit more. “Fear and Darkness… Fitting titles for you Nemesis. I think you will do well among the conclave. They will probably come to visit you. Adraejen knows you exist because of Aaryona and the twins so I wouldn’t be shocked if he comes to say hello. The others are relatively harmless. You might find yourself liking Dalanesca of Desire and Death. There are three werebears in the conclave. Lokir of War and Strength. Zanar of Wilds and Hunt… And of course, there is my Adraejen of Trickery and Arcane. There is also Shiloh of Luck and Storms, a rather unique woman. If you need something made… she is the person you go to. These will be your allies Nemesis. While we might not get along all the time we make no moves to make enemies of each other. There would be no winners and we would all lose.”

The goddess was oddly serious now as she held onto his shoulders to look into his red eyes. “The consequences of us infighting is… disastrous. The last time someone went that route the whole conclave got killed but a couple of us. Now only a few of us are left and the Voice will not select anymore. Naota’s fall means that we will get one more god among us eventually… He was slow and picked his piece carefully this time around at least for you. This isn't like DaeLuin where there weren't any consequences for the gods' dumb fighting. We answer to him no matter how much some of us don't like it. Do you have any questions?"

For one reason or another, it appeared that Nemesis wasn’t amused by the goddess’ actions. While it was true that she was among those immortalized in stone and yes, she also had played a role in his life, her teasing annoyed him somewhat. After taking a deep sigh, he turned his head towards her statue. “Don’t get mushy. It’s probably because of the children you gave me so that I didn’t try to kill Aaryona, which wasn’t going to happen.” To be honest, the children were not planned in the very least by either of them- not that it seemed to matter ever since he had split from his “good side”.

“Each of these women helped to shape my being, and yes, including you.” Once Angela was so kind enough to release him, he moved to his wife and showed her own statue which was in the very center of the rest. “Obviously, you are my centerpiece in this collection of art, darling. You are the one I can not live without.” He listened well to the brief description of other gods and humored himself. “Allies. You have to forgive me for being a bit skeptical. Remember, I used to serve Azrail and dealt with many other gods in a life long ago. I have seen the way they operate with each other. It’s a bit hard to imagine that none of you ever had goals that counteract another…ever.” Conflict was all but assumed and natural, at least to him. He looked to her and tilted his head, “I can only believe that perhaps honesty only runs so thick. A faint smile and a shake of the hands while their other one holds a dagger behind in the waiting. If serving as a knight of lies have taught me one thing, and it has done many, it’s that you can only trust actions, not words.”

He wasn’t too keen to put trust into the other- another thing that he had learned the hard way. The Court of Deceit was nothing more than self-serving individuals and among them, only a couple of them had earned his trust. The gods didn’t seem any different to him, in DaeLuin and certainly here since he had yet to deal with any other than Angela. “I trust you simply because we have an understanding, The others? I have to see them in action first. Trust is a precious thing that can’t be given too easily. Makes for excellent, vulnerable prey,”

The more he listened about the Tree, the more of the reason why he could see that there was a sense of peace. Take away this Voice or whatever, and then perhaps the masks would fall off and all would be revealed. Nemesis was a cautious creature by design, even more so with his added years in Revaliir. As long as no one interfered with him, then he could at least avoid getting into petty conflicts with them. His hand fell onto his wife’s back, influencing her to join him in heading for the manor. He could feel the eyes of the gargoyles falling on them- some were actually alive but they wouldn’t do anything to them. No, their master was present and the ladies were associated with him. Nemesis opened the doors and looked on to see that the place was warming to him, as fire would be to a moth. He thought back to the domains he controlled; two aspects that had been key factors in his life. He accepted long ago that he would be the monster of this world, to inspire fear into others and deliver death. It’s what kept him in this game for ages and it appeared that it wasn’t going to change any time soon,

Coming into the foyer, he simply fell onto one of the couches as if he hadn’t just left home, With his mind slowly coming to terms with all this, there was a question that rose inside him, but not one he wanted to ever ask.

“I imagine that somehow the world will know of me. What do you plan on doing if the twins did find out? Or Raeguel, my light, does?”