"Lights knows not to…..." repeated the butler-like creature.

No matter how many times it recited it, it couldn't gain an epiphany.

The creature wondered what its queen meant. It understood that there was bound to be a deep meaning in her words.

After a lot of pacing, it decided to ask her, "My queen, forgive me for not understanding."

It bent its wispy head low, low enough to show respect to its queen.

The creature was a wraith!

Another netheran variant! It was the variant of phantoms and just below its queen in the hierarchy.

As it was born in the same period as the queen, it lived to serve her, like its fellow wraiths.

It worshipped her like a god, and even when given a choice, the wraith would surely choose to die for her.

This was the difference between the netherans and the other races.

Netherans have a strict hierarchy that could not be easily challenged. They were born with the knowledge of who was stronger and who they should bow to.

For instance, in the weeping town, ever since the birth of the banshee queen, things have been in order.

After her emergence, followed the wraiths, who were her personal soldiers.

Succeeding the wraiths were two other variants of phantoms; Wights and Shadows.

It didn't take long for the births of variants to stop, and then came the normal incorporeal netherans; the phantoms, and ghosts.

Slowly, all the netherans gathered under her and formed a united force.

They were bound by instincts that made them unable to betray the queen. It made them unselfish, loyal, every good quality other complicated races lacked.

This made them one of the deadliest forces in the world.

...…..

"Look," ushered the queen.

Despite her appearance, her voice was quite coarse as if her throat had been crushed a million times before her death.

She twirled her fingers in the air melodiously for the wraith to see.

"W--What, my queen?" trembled the wraith.

Perhaps, it was considered one of the scariest creatures in the town, but when in presence of its queen, it couldn't afford to make a mistake.

Fortunately, the wraith's gifted intellect managed to save it. It realized that she was pointing at the air and dwelled on its senses.

Immediately, a loud snarl came out of it, "Humans!"

It recited the first verse of its queen's 'chapter', "Light knows not to hide in darkness."

It isolated the first word, "Light."

Light symbolizes life. Life was present in all things, particularly complex beings like humans!

"Darkness," the wraith isolated the last word.

Similar to life, darkness represented something big. It represented death. And he, his queen, all the netherans were full of 'death'.

In truth, they were never living, in the constant state of death, hence their other title; the Undead.

As soon as the wraith deciphered the two parties, he started understanding what his queen was talking about.

This was the Weeping Town, the home of netherans, filled with abundant [Nether Energy]. Should a human come here, they would stand out like the moon in a starless night!

It didn't matter what means they used, all the netherans would be able to tell.

"My queen, what shall we do? Should I go apprehend the humans?" begged the wraith.

It felt it shouldn't disturb the queen for such trivial matter, but it could only act on her orders.

"No," replied the queen, who took pleasure in dancing around the room to the song playing in her head.

She hummed and hummed without an end.

"Then, what should we do, my queen?" carefully asked the wraith.

Its queen was in a good mood. It couldn't mess it up.

"Wait….the situation is under control," mused the queen.

She sang a verse from one of the books she had read, "When light enters the dominion of darkness, it plays by the rules, as a guest should do."

"So, u mean---"

"Everything is in control. However, what's not in control is this?" sighed the queen.

She stopped dancing and went to a corner close to her.

At the corner was a large dome-like egg that pulsed every time she got closer to it.

"My queen, have you identified it?" inquired the wraith.

"No, it's a mystery, a great mystery just like the tiny dots in the sky," sang the queen.

She placed her hand on the egg and could feel an immense life force coming from it.

With any other creature, there would be a reaction, but when she touched it, nothing happened. The same as before.

"It's of light yet why is it dark?" mused the queen.

Her powers were the peak of [Life Drain] ability. Every one of her touches would drain the life of her target. However, despite feeling life in the egg, she couldn't drain its life force.

Dancing around the corner, she ambiguous hummed, "Mystery. It's a mystery. Like the golden egg that fell from heaven. Contrarily, it's not golden as it came from the ground, from the pits of hell!"

The story of the queen and the egg started a few months ago when the Wicked Season was at its closure.

Humans might not know, but she knew one of the hidden effects of the treacherous season.

It connects certain places to the homeworld of netherans. It wasn't a regular event, and sometimes skipped multiple Wicked Seasons, but when it happened, it happened.

That was the case months ago.

The queen was busy reading a book in the very same room when a nether rift appeared behind her.

The rift was unstable, blinking in and out, but it still managed to throw out an egg like it was too hot for it to handle.

Feeling the life force in the egg, the queen kept it by her side, waiting for the right time to devour it.

She watched as it grew, day by day, and became increasingly curious of the egg.

Now, she always spent her day singing to it.

.....

Current time.

The queen removed her hand from the egg and informed the wraith, "Soon. It will hatch soon. I will stay with it, ready to eat it when it hatches. Maybe I will become stronger then, strong enough to break the barrier."

The wraith nodded in approval.

For creatures like them, soon could mean any time from now to ten years from now.

Yet, it would make sure to prevent any disturbance for his queen!