Arthur looked at Kass, his eyes urging the latter to start speaking instead of sitting there with a shit-eating grin plastered on his old and wrinkled face.

"Arthur MoonStar, have you heard of the Fallen God Clan?"

"No." The parasite gave an immediate reply, in fact, his expression did show that he wasn't even interested in that name. Time was tight and were it not for the old man's hospitable yet peculiar actions, he wouldn't have come all the way here. After all, it was best to talk with Kass rather than fighting him and alarming the rest of the chief guards.

While it's true that Zaarae is extremely strong and can deal with the strong individuals, that doesn't mean that she can stop the alarm from sounding off. Actually, she doesn't seem to be the type to think before taking actions, at least that's how she seemed to Arthur. Sadly, he couldn't be more wrong as the Parasite Empress is said to be second only to Timos in terms of strategies and deceitfulness.

"It's an ancient clan created at the end of the 1st Era. Philos, the God of Sand, is its creator. He was exiled by the other Gods because he fell in love with a human and, in the end, he took her far away and created his own clan, away from the wars and skirmishes. His descendants, obviously, were only half-gods and many of them were defects and had incurable diseases."

"It's to be expected. Gods are spiritual beings, so copulating with humans is not possible unless you use something special, which I assume he did." Commented Zaarae as she pondered for a moment before adding:

"I remember that the Golden Sheep was stolen from the God Race, was it Philos' doing?"

The old man's expression became melancholic as he slowly nodded his head, affirming the Empress' words. He sighed and continued explaining:

"The Golden Sheep allowed him to take a physical form and live with human, however, there were a lot of consequences. Furthermore, the God Race fiercely retaliated and Zerk, the God of Fury, dealt a fatal blow to Philos. Using the little bit of power her partner left, that human female took care of the God Fallen Clan and protected it for ten thousand years."

"How'd she live for ten millenniums?" asked Arthur.

"Philos left her with a bit of his power, which granted her something close to immortality. If I remember correctly, she's the Sand Queen Karima, right?"-Zaarae

Kass nodded his head again. "Our queen was forced to relocate our clan and fend off against Zerk and his subordinates. She managed to do the unexpected by slaying the God of Fury… unfortunately, she perished not long after and was buried by her descendants. At that time, I was but one of the butlers but as time passed, the clan declined even more and the diseases got contagious and more fatal."

As the elderly paused, Arthur couldn't help but ask: "Why are you telling me all of this? Are you expecting me to do something for you?"

The parasite didn't need an answer as the look Kass was giving him was more than enough. He shook his head and was about to get up only for the chief guard to say:

"I don't want you to protect our clan, just deliver something to them. In return, they'll allow you to possess Karima's body along with the other ancestors. I'm sure that for a unique parasite such as yourself, it can be very beneficial."

Arthur didn't say a word but Zaarae smiled and stated: "The power to control the sand is indeed rare and spectacular. Additionally, Karima was a legendary fighter. If you possess her, you won't even need to fear the likes of Habs."

Zaarae softly nudged the rooted and silent Arthur, her lips got closer to his ears as she whispered: "Accept his offer. I'll go with you so you won't need to worry about being back-stabbed. The old man is telling the truth but there's no guarantee that his clan will treat you as hospitably as he did."

Arthur clearly heard the Empress' words but he gave her nor Kass any answer. He was contemplating the offer but was a bit reluctant as he needs to get to the Garden of Words first.

Approximatively a minute later, he sat back on the sofa and said: "Fine, tell me more."

Kass' expression eased and his smile widened. He seemed to be more relaxed than a few seconds ago, he leaned against the chair, taking a more comfortable posture before resuming:

"My clan is beyond the Black Kraken Sea, in the Land of Golden Sand."

Arthur was oblivious to the geography and realms of this universe but, fortunately, Zaarae was here to explain. She seemed to be aware of his ignorance and was quite passionate as she said:

"The Black Sea is actually a normal but vast sea South of the Heaven and Hell Universe. There are not as many galaxies and planets in this universe in comparison to the rest. It's divided in two parts, the Demon Realm and the Heaven Realm, as for the rest, it's scattered stars and planets inhabited but a few exiled sects and races. This planet is a bit special though, but I digress. The Black Kraken Sea is South of the Demon Realm and borders with the Gargoyle Country, the Minotaur Tribe, and the Land of the Golden Sand. Basically, the desert can be reached only by crossing the sea, which is considered a danger zone."

"Yes, it's the Kraken's territory and many other powerful sea monsters."-Kass

"The Kraken?"

"Master, the Kraken is like us, one of the twelve Mythical Beings. It also wasn't subjected to multiple reincarnations. It has always lived in the Black Sea and notorious for its aggressive behavior."

"What notorious? It's just a damn squid! If it dares to attacks then I'll skin it then eat it. Hmpf!"

Zaarae didn't consider the Black Kraken as a dangerous entity, then again, she's one of the Twelve so there aren't many beings that are her equals. If we were to grade the Kraken and the Empress, the former is a grade under her. Mythical Beings are equal if not a little bit stronger than the original creations of the Twelve, like Emir, the Archmage, for example.

************

Author's note: Since we're talking about Mythical Beings, why not tell you a bit more about them.

Bonus Lore: In total, there are 12 Mythical Beings, however, not all were born from the same source. Some spontaneously came into existence while others were born. The Fire Phoenix and Ice Phoenix, for example, were the creations of the natural laws of their respective attributes.

The Twelve Mythical Beings are: The Fire Phoenix(1), the Ice Phoenix(2), the Black Kraken(3), the twin-headed Death Lizard(4), the Insidious Roc(5), the Queen Arachne(6), The Rainbow Qirin(7), the Spectral Bone Ghost(8), The Monkey King(9), The one-eyed flamingo(10), The Frog of Destiny(11), The Headless Soldier (12).

There is also a 13th mythical being, which is Zodiak, but as he appeared many years after the appearance of the rest, some still don't consider him as 'mythical'.

Obviously, the power of the twelve Mythical Beings varies as not all of them specialize in absolute strength. Some have heavenly powers which can even defy the natural laws, like the Frog of Destiny, which is rumored to be the most mystical and mysterious of all 12. It has only been sighted a handful of times but those who are lucky and witness it, they are granted to change their very destiny, something that not even Bilgart, The Watcher, is able to do.

There is also the Headless Soldier, which is a mythical being born after the war between the Twelve. Their accumulated and overpowered powers fused together and created the monstrosity known as the Headless Soldier, who still roams the land and kills everybody in sight. Far, far back in the past, in the 2nd or 3rd era, the soldier had single-handedly slaughtered four Gods and one Titan but since the corpses, no one was able to confirm this.

Amongst the twelve beings, Midolf and Radolf disappeared a long time ago only to appear with Arthur again. The two phoenixes always fought each other and ended perishing more than dozens of times but thanks to their Nirvana abilities, they always resurrect and become stronger.

Author's note: What I'm going to talk about now has nothing to do with reality and science, it's made up by me to better explain this story.

Multiverse and Omniverse: The first one is just what's considered the whole world of existence, which includes the three remaining universes and the destroyed Castra Obis, the hidden and secret Realms are no exception too. It's a term invented by 'God' and has been commonly used by the knowledgeable inhabitants ever since the Era of Beginning.

Omniverse, however, is a totally different concept. It's only related to time, and time alone… the omniverse is the combination of all the parallel timelines. When one travels to the past or future, they are still their own timelines and there is only a slight deviation in the space-time continuum. But, when one jumps from timeline X to timeline Y, it can cause serious consequences and possibly even the destruction or the merge of the two timelines. Not only that but also the omniverse will automatically try to regain balance by eliminating the source of the severe deviation, sometimes it can even end one timeline to save the latter, in case one is more important than its counterpart.