For the fourth time in as many minutes, Darsi's eyes strayed toward the door of her new office. The former Madam had informed the Inferno Sniper that she was now her business's new acting manager. Louise Ravine had trapped her with words, and the quest immediately updated.

[Report to Madam Ravine in Lana]

Congratulations, you are the new acting manager of the Ravine House of Pleasure. In past years, this house has been the meeting place of many of Everspire's most influential people. Unfortunately, this business is no longer the epicenter of those with seats in power. Impress the people of Lana, and perhaps the old days will return again.

"That's very vague." Darsi wrinkled her nose and let her office chair spin slowly around. "What would Nix have done?" The thought caused her to laugh loudly. "Something unexpected, I'm sure."

The blonde opened her hud and accessed her friend's list. After scanning the names for any sort of idea, she stopped on one of the less obvious ones. "Worth a try."

She keyed the name and smiled when a face popped up in front of her a moment later. "Heya handsome. I could use a man of your skills."

The handsome face looked surprised for a moment before he was pushed to one side and replaced with a rather stern-looking dragon descendent. "What did I tell you about sweet-talking Rico?" Vooni frowned at her through the hud.

Darsi held up her hands in mock surrender. "I'm only teasing, Captain Vooni. I need the help of a Tailor, and since I'm currently in Lana, I assume you'll want to bring your Fire Team here to look after him."

"Lana is dangerous, but that's up to him." Vooni stepped to one side.

Rico was level 125, but only because all of Inferno had been promoted when his son was tossed into Northern Titania. "What kind of work?" Over the months, most of Nix's friends had been coming to him for small jobs. He had made several sets of casual wear for the Inferno sniper.

"It's for Nix's 'Khione Quest,' basically my first step is to make some clothes for my whores."

Rico's image seemed to freeze in place. "Pardon?"

"Whore sounds kinda derogatory, I suppose. The quest requires me to take over the management of a House of Pleasure. Every one of my 'employees' is naked... literally naked."

Vooni's face pushed its way back into the holo image. "Are you crazy? What kind of quest is that?"

"I'm not kidding. I can share it with you when you get here." Darsi kept a straight face while the couple discussed the issue. She knew a bit about Nix's Dad and how rough life had been for them during the last few years. Instead of being bitter or withdrawn, he adapted and managed to come out the other side intact.

Less than a minute later, Rico had an answer for her. "I'm going to bring my entire crafting inventory. I assume you want dresses, undergarments, perhaps a few interesting costumes."

Darsi let a laughed escape but then quickly covered it up. "Costumes? You really are Trip-7s Dad."

Rico pretended he didn't hear the comment. "Going to need two hours."

Vooni pushed her way in one last time. "Me and Aja will be escorting him. The rest of my team are busy with other things."

"Thanks, guys!" Darsi closed the hud and leaned back once again.

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

The next eight tendrils feeding the arctic leech were dispatched with relative ease. The creature basically used two defenses; intense cold that would kill most ground attacks and the quills which could take down fliers. Pon had to leave the area twice because his mana was being drained rapidly as the team progressed. Nix had the team retreat when the last of the tendrils was about to be severed.

/Alpha: Wind: I love this quest, boss. I don't think I've ever been so comfortable.

/Alpha: Jun Li: Can I keep this Ashobel?

/Alpha: Nix: No.

Nix stepped a few feet away and then burned through the remaining tendril with Balefire. Instead of retracting upward after being severed, the last tendril flopped lifelessly onto the ground while leaking blue fluid like a sieve. An angry-looking Pon placed yet another empty barrel under the deluge.

An Arcturis'Fraiza has been slain.

Ashobel-Wind laughed at the Fire Mage's expression. "Next time, don't bring six small kegs of beer with you."

Nix patted the old man on the back. "Or maybe just bring a few empty ones too," he amended.

Within a few minutes, the city's deathly cold air switched to the normal cold air caused by the Deep Winter. Nix blasted a large hole through the six meters of snow covering them and then activated his Archon bloodline.

/Alpha: Nix: Just taking a look. Now that the white-out is gone, we can actually see what is happening.

With nothing better to do, Pon followed Nix upward into the skies of Eidengal.

"The fuck is that..." Pon had his first real look at the mass of the AF. The creature's own ice was quickly disappearing. "Why would the AF ice melt away?"

"My guess is that it isn't real ice; maybe a chemical byproduct of the hosts." To Nix's eye, it looked like a city-sized stingray had been draped over the Eidengal. "There must be hundreds of thousands of quills."

Pon shook his head in amazement. "That's primal bone and blood. How are we going to clean all this up?"

Nix smiled suddenly, remembering the briefing that Semmi gave him the day before. "Ask Semmi, she has an idea."

Nix and Pon returned to the group a few minutes later and told them in detail what it looked like.

/Alpha: Semmi: Can you burn this thing off?

/Alpha: Pon: Sure, if we had a dozen dragons and a few weeks to waste.

/Alpha: Jun Li: You want all those quills?

/Alpha: Nix: That would be... YES!

/Alpha: Pon: Hey, Nix said you'd know what to do with it, Sem.

/Alpha: Semmi: How would I know that?

/Alpha: Nix: You remember what you said was a pressing issue for all the planes?

/Alpha: Semmi: Serious? Is that even possible?

Nix shrugged and sliced off a hand-sized chunk of the creatures body. They hadn't been able to see it before because it had been protected by the insane cold. "Anyone hungry?" The Inferno Leader's hand erupted into green flames, immediately the meat started sizzling in protest. After several seconds he dropped the flames and took a bite.

/Alpha: Jun Li: Anything has to be better than starving.

/Alpha: Wind: I wouldn't go that far.

/Alpha: Semmi: No way... You took a bite?

/Alpha: Del: Smells really good.

Nix ignored the team and chewed slowly, his face relaxing into a slow smile. "Holy crap..."

"Huh?" Pon produced a blade and sliced off a piece when Nix held it up.

/Alpha: Wind: You're fucking with us. That can't taste good.

/Alpha: Pon: More like great!

Nix tossed the rest of the meat to Del who immediately wolfed it down. "Let's find the Throne room so we can figure out what we're looking at."

/Alpha: Del: My track is filled with people now.

/Alpha: Nix: Alive or dead?

/Alpha: Del: Alive. The creature must have been blocking the life signatures.

The throne room was on the other side of the armory in Eidengal; farily close to the crafting area where Nix and his group had taken the Phoenix puppet. As the team progressed through the building they lit the cold torches. Pon would break off from the group whenever he spotted a fire place.

/Alpha: Jun Li: These guys were hit so hard and fast, that they couldn't defend themselves.

Semmi nodded an poked one of the guards standing just inside the door, jumping when the guard stirred slightly. With that thing dead, it will insulate the city, but we have to make sure all the chimneys are clear."

The Throne room door was wide open, several familiar faces stood just inside with their mouths frozen open. Pon leaned closer. "These are Emi's friends."

"Looks like they froze in mid-sentence." Nix spotted Edi, and Alfie next to Duran's throne. In the middle of the room was a large firepit that was open on all sides, a large stone hood had been built over it to catch the smoke. The Inferno leader started spamming balefire up the chimney, not stopping until he saw the hint of the desert sky.

/Alpha: Wind: What you going to do, Boss?

"Heat things up." Nix motioned for the others to move back before morphing into his Phoenix form, the majestic bird sat comfortable in the center of the three meter square and let his flames burn brightly.

The first one to wake was the King, his eyes blinked several times as consciousness slowly returned to him. His confused eyes scanned the room while he tried to reconstruct his memory of the events. It had happened so fast, traveling through the throne room, pushing the warm air away and replacing it with something unbreathable. His gazed fell on the Phoenix in the fire pit, and the members of Alpha team. The Rat King had come. "Nix..."