The sun was on the verge of setting as Orou and Grizz stood in front of the palace, the sun reflecting from the jet black gate in front of them. Grizz was dressed in a blue suit that he had gotten as a gift from one of his deals, looking like one of the nobles straight from the palace. His usual characteristics were overwritten by pride and composure that Grizz had never shown. By his side was the official report from the governor, in his backpack a bottled jar containing the black line and in his boots, several hidden daggers he hoped he wouldn’t have to use today.

Strolling towards the guards like the world owed him an apology, the guard slightly raised his weapon, preparing to apprehend Grizz if he made any sudden moves. Instead, he calmly presented the document he held in his hands and patiently waited for the guard to read through it. After getting halfway through the document, he handed it back to Grizz and motioned over to the rest of the guards, doing his best to open the gate as quickly as he could. He looked at the backpack Grizz was carrying for a few seconds, wanting to approach but a bit hesitant on doing so. Eventually, the guard decided to do nothing but let Grizz and Orou pass, though he gave Orou a menacing glare for half a second before returning back to his job.

The palace grounds looked even more beautiful once there wasn’t a gate obstructing the view. Red, green and blue flowers were blossoming, similar to a dream he had once, the only dream he had ever had. The palace itself looked intimidating from this close and Orou wanted nothing more than to simply wander off and head towards the invisible gardens. Unfortunately, the two guards standing next to the massive palace door had already spotted them and were opening the door, so Orou’s plan of doing what he wanted would have to be cut short.

The two of them walked through the door and into a massive room. The room was lavishly decorated, though that wasn’t what drew Orou’s attention. Both Orou and Grizz looked towards the right, towards a wall completely covered in ancient pictographs. They illustrated the history of how beastmen evolved to what they were by conquering and pillaging everything around them. Both the sun and the moon were bowing to a beastman sitting on a bone throne, the earth that he was standing on seemed to be only a platform to elevate his status.

“Complete bullshit, if this was true, why are there still five kingdoms instead of one, and why is the king struggling to deal with the humans? Both ancient and current beastmen think themselves as something great while placing others below them.” While Orou looked at the pictographs with awe and desire to learn more, Grizz simply scoffed and sat down on one of the comfortable looking sofas next to the pictograph. Orou continued to inspect the pictographs, wondering how many years ago were they drawn onto this wall and how much of it was real and how much is simply fantasy.

They didn’t have to wait for long before a beastman with two horns approached them. He was dressed like a servant and behaved similarly to one, bowing to Grizz and asking him of his visit here. Grizz wanted to simply pass the governor’s paper to the beastman, before he held off and responded to him: “We’ve got an important discovery about the revolution to deliver to the king, it’s highly sensitive information meant only for privileged ears.”

Immediately after Grizz said that the beastman profusely apologised for his lack of respect, though he insisted on staying in place and not moving. “It’s important that I make sure you know of basic courtesy, like how to greet the king and how to properly bow,” the beastman was preparing to continue before Grizz cut him off: “The king prefers to be addressed as ‘Your Majesty’ and yes, I do know how to bow. It’s the first thing they teach you at in every courtesy lesson.” Grizz shooed him off by waving his hand and turning to look at Orou, ignoring whatever the beastman had to say.

Orou curiously observed Grizz’s current behavior and honestly, sometimes he couldn’t understand how Grizz expressed himself. Everything he had seen from Grizz showed that he often faked his emotions to get what he wanted, but this time, Grizz’s displeasure seemed genuine. The beastman awkwardly stood there for a few seconds before he realised he wasn’t needed. Once more, he bowed to Grizz with slight hatred in his eyes, though it seemed like he was used to being treated this way.

A few more minutes passed before the same beastman returned and humbled himself before Grizz once more, motioning over to the large double doors that likely lead to the king. “The king is ready to see you, please remember, no matter what you do, don’t make him angry,” the beastman slightly pushed against the double doors before they started to open themselves. From Orou’s point of view, there was no magic involved, so likely, this was another marvel of technology that Orou had never seen.

Stepping through the massive double doors, Orou was greeted by one of the most impressive sights of his life. The entire room seemed to be made entirely out of gold, the walls, the floor and the ceiling were reflecting the light from the golden chandelier that was illuminating the entire area. Ten large pillars seemed to be holding up the entire weight of the palace, by each pillar was engraved a golden dragon in all of its glory. Grizz took in a sharp breath as he simply looked around, trying to not get overwhelmed by what was around him. The numerous guards in jet black armor were looking towards them, double-edged swords raised high in the air in a ceremonial fashion.

Looking straight in front of him, he saw a beastman sitting on a throne made entirely out of red crystal, a golden phoenix perched on top of the throne, covering the beastman from both sides with its two massive wings. For some reason, the throne that the beastman was sitting on was making Orou feel uneasy, but a much greater source of fear was the beastman sitting on the throne itself. A strangely familiar beastman with luscious, golden fur and piercing red eyes was staring directly at the two of them. He was wearing a suit of metal armor that matched the color of his fur, by his side a sword made out of various crystals, red, blue and green, though if there was one thing this sword was, it was wickedly sharp.

Standing right next to him was a beastman with blue feathers and a beak on his face. He was dressed in red robes and in his hands was a twisted sceptre of some sort, half floating in the air. Grizz signalled with his eyes that he was the target they were looking for as he went forwards and performed an exquisite bow which would have any regular person trip and fall flat on their face. The nobles by the king’s side were carefully looking over at Grizz, their eyes sharp like an eagle’s, wanting to spot any mistake in etiquette. Even Orou felt the pressure of having countless eyes gathered on top of them, not to mention Grizz, whom the king was staring directly at.

“Greetings, Your Majesty. I have come bearing great news. We’ve comprehended one of the revolutionaries that was trying to sneak into the city. He was trying to smuggle in a truly vile thing, evil captured in a jar itself,” as Grizz said that, he pulled out the jar that was housing the twisted line. Immediately, every gaze in the room snapped towards the jar and while the blue feathered beastman wasn’t paying much attention previously, Grizz captured his attention by pulling out the jar. The king growled and pointed his finger towards the jar, immediately after, two beastmen came bounding towards Grizz and snatched the jar from his hands.

“You’ve done a great deed today by delivering this to me. Reward him with one of the highest quality blood crystals from our treasury.” The king’s voice was imposing and domineering, it seemed practically impossible to even muster up the will to say no to him. A single beastman went past them, most likely heading towards the treasury to get Grizz’s reward. Both the king and the king’s shaman had seemingly forgotten about Grizz’s and Orou’s existence as the king held the jar in his hand, carefully examining the black line within it. The king’s shaman was excitedly whispering to the king as the sceptre left his hands and started floating around the jar.

Both Orou and Grizz watched with interest what the king, the opportunity to peacefully examine the king wasn’t something you get every day. The nobles standing on the lower platform were scrambling up to see what the thing in the jar was while the guards made sure the king was safe from any threats. Orou instinctively used his spirit sight to look at the room in from of him, but strangely, he couldn’t manipulate the spirits in this room. No matter how hard he tried, they simply wouldn’t budge.

As the beastman returned back with a small box in his hands, Grizz carelessly tossed it in his backpack and leaned down low to whisper to Orou: “This is the perfect opportunity to sneak around the king’s palace, let’s go quickly before the king’s shaman doesn’t decide to wander into his study.”