“Empress, should I order some more food to come here?” Duke Kar asked as he saw his daughter feeding Emelia. Their whole table was nearly empty, most of it being eaten by Emelia, Leo and Agor.

Emelia looked at Kalene, who quickly nodded. Duke also nodded and looked at one of the servants to the side and made a small hand gesture.

Just as the servant was about to approach Duke Kar, a small scuffle erupted as the elderly scholars approached the main table with their long blue robes dragging across the floor.

“Happy birthday Duke Kar. Today I am here to present a message and a gift from her Empress Eina.” He spoke loudly so his voice reached the whole room.

Everyone quickly stopped what they were doing as soon as they heard him mention the Empress.

The man leading the scholars reached into his robe and pulled out a very decorated scroll. He slowly unfurled the scroll and began reading.

“I wish Ilas Kar a happy 90th birthday. Ilas has helped this country many times more than I ever could. For his many years of service, I am increasing your pension from 1000 Qi Stones to 5000 per month. I am also granting Duke Kar the new title: Epoch Guardian.” The old mans voice began to weaken and as soon as he spoke out the title he quickly waved for one of the servants holding water.

The young boy briskly walked over and handed it to him. The old man carefully handed the scroll to one of the old men as the drank from the glass.

Feeling refreshed, he checked his hand for any dirt or moisture and carefully took the scroll again.

“Ahem. This ‘Epoch Guardian’ title will be exclusive to him. His descendants shall all be granted the ‘Epoch Seeds’ title. The owner of the ‘Epoch Guardian’ title gains the authority to control the army at the same level as a Junior General and the ‘Epoch Seeds’ have the chance to gain the ‘Epoch Guardian’ title while also having the authority of a 500 man battalion. I Empress Eina Valentina hereby grant these to Iles Kar and his descendants.” The old man stopped and the whole room was quickly filled with applause.

At the main table Emelia was cringing. She got closer to Duke Kar and whispered. “Epoch Seeds? Really? I am embarrassed for them.”

Duke Kar felt her warm breath on his ears and he quickly turned as red as a tomato.

“Embarrassed? They gain a title, why would they be embarrassed?” He truly felt confused. They would gain a promotable title and authority within the army alongside it.

She just shook her head and Duke Kar stood up to accept his titles.

Meanwhile, no one noticed that Emelia had vanished in an instant, almost as if she was never there in the first place.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Kur? Kur?! Nada!” (Where? Where?! I need it!) Inside of Duke Kars office a low voice muttered as a figure opened all the drawers and cabinets, searching desperately yet still having enough time to fix everything as they were..

The figure wore the same red/silver armour as the guards who had been patrolling the whole mansion.

After rummaging for another few seconds they suddenly stopped. They took out some of the papers and quickly skimmed through revealing military plans and Hian’s defense front.

“Tur!” (Got it) The voice whispered.

“What d’ya have there eh?” The figure froze instantly. They didn’t move even a muscle, yet clearly trembled.

“C’mere, and take off that helmet, let me see your face.” The figure slowly turned around to face Emelia who stood by the closed doors and began limping to Emelia, slowly, one step at a time.

They stopped right in front of Emelia and their hand rose tremblingly towards their head and heavily lifted it until it revealed the face.

A beautiful feminine face appeared, long silky blue hair became like a waterfall as it fell onto the armour.

As the hair moved away from her face, her deep ocean coloured eyes stared at Emelia with regret and fear.

And the most important feature, the ears! Long pointy ears poked out of her blue hair.

Emelia began caressing her smooth white face and then moved onto her ears.

These ears? Are they perhaps not human? No one I have encountered before had these… A mutant maybe?

The girl stared at Emilia's eyes full of curiosity and wonder. She felt confused.

Emelia moved both of her hands towards the girls temples and closed her eyes, her hands began to shine a slight white as the girl also closed her eyes.

As soon as she closed her eyes she found herself in a total black void. And across from her, Emelia stood there.

“What is your name? What are you? Why are you here?” Emelia clearly and slowly spoke in Larystian.

“!?” The girl trembled slightly and opened her mouth but nothing came out.

“You merely need to think, and we can communicate, a language barrier is nothing.” Emelia had heard the girl speak a different language, and for the sake of convenience set up an easy Consciousness Conversation spell.

“H..How are you doing this?” The girl asked slowly.

“Answer me first, you can’t escape from this dreamscape, at least, not at your level. And even if you want to, you can never die until I want you to. So, who are you? And what are you?” Emelia smiled mirthlessly at her.

The girl looked around and saw that there was truly no escape so she just slowly tried to sit down, and seeing that nothing happened she relaxed.

“I am Serena Vernale of the Black Light tribe of the Dylarr Empire. I was sent here by Commander Quithan Vernalus.” She spoke out.

“Very good, but what I really and truly want to know is, what are you? Some kind of mutant, or a different species?” Emelia looked at Serena with interest.

Seeing Emelia eye her up and down like some kind of animal made her feel embarrassed, especially in this dreamscape. “W..What do you mean by m..mutant? Or species?” She stuttered and stared at Emelia weirdly.