Finally! What the fuck is up with these dwarves, do they have long stairs or something? For fuck sake, I don't think I'll ever visit one ever again. Well, with that done, let's finally see what lies within this mountain!

Beyond us was a giant steel door, it had a diamond pattern engraved onto it and was already opened all the way. Well, that's probably why they lost to the royal elves all those years ago. I took my steps into it, and frankly it looked like a goddamn weird maze. Everything was high up, with pillars only in certain places. I could clearly see that there used to be some thriving society inside this place somehow, since there's a sign which says blacksmith and another which says groceries... and in front of me is a balcony and two sets of stairs which lead to the eastern and western side of the mountain. Yet there was none going straight down the centre... to where you can clearly see a throne.

So, Flare, what do you think of the interior design choice?

...

Hey, Midget who is uncomfortably loud at times yet doesn't have any decency whatsoever to politely talk to me!

...

Flare? Are you dead?

Astral rejection field. Sorry, it took some time for me to realise it since I couldn't reach Flare at all. It appears that there's something within this mountain which has the power to cast the entirety of it in such a thing. An Astral rejection field causes people with weak souls to either submit or be cast away from the area the field covers. However, since your soul is Flare's now it stopped any way of Flare communicating with us and essentially made her go to sleep. If you step out of it, she'll come back without any issues.

Huh, so that's the case. Well, alright then. Guess it's just me and you, Sophia. Since Flare isn't here there's something I want to ask of you.

I began to walk down the entrance of the mountain, there were more stairs leading to the balcony but it wasn't that much to whine over. There was the occasional bit of rubble though.

Oh, what is it?

Show me the title Incarnate of Flames, Embody Flaryvn and Flaryvn's Fury. Oh, Ultimatum Moves as well.

Incarnate of Flaryvna:

The Goddess of Flames, and recently Wine and Nihilism(still weird).

She lies within you, born again as yourself. You are the Goddess of Flames herself. You shall possess great strength and be able to Embody Flaryvna herself and

even set her wrath upon others.

You are a deity.

Embody Flaryvna-1:

To embody her is to release true power.

Using such a skill, you will be able to gain great abilities and even bend the things under your rule to your will.

[All Stats+300%]

[Access to all Flame abilities]

[Locked]

[Locked]

Upon using this, your body shall switch to Flaryvna's until undone.

Flaryvna's Fury-1:

Never get a god mad.

[Damage: 500%]

[Locked]

[Locked]

[Locked]

Ultimatum Moves:

The moves to finish everything.

Current Ultimatum Moves:

N/A

I see, so if I use embody Flaryvna, me and Flare basically switch places and if I use the the fury then I do a lot of shit to people. Now, I'm not exactly sure how to train those...

Ultimatum moves on the other hand are more obtained instead of just learnt. Interesting, guess I should work on that somehow.

Why did you require Flare gone just to look at all of those?

I managed to reach the balcony and saw that there was a pretty big drop down below, I suppose that might actually kill me if I drop down below.

... Your relationship is codependent.

Oh, that's what you concluded from all the information you gathered, right? What's the matter with it?

What's the matter? I just realised that I mistook something important, your relationship is codependent indeed but I was most definitely wrong about it.

Wrong about what exactly?

Who enables who.

What, did you think I enabled Flare all this time? Silly you.

I didn't think that, which is why I was wrong. You're enabling Flare's insecurities, her low self-esteem and her recklessness and moral behaviour. You're making her want to believe that she is with you because she wants it to be so. You are using Flare, aren't you? Which is why you didn't look at any of the descriptions.

I have no idea what you're talking about, bub.

It all fits together now that I look at it from a wider perspective. From the beginning you planned on bringing Flare along with you, didn't you? You then slowly manipulated her into believing that she wants to be with you for her own reasons. The reason why...?

...

You don't like being alone, do you? Which explains your alcoholism and your reason for dragging along Flare, right?

Sophia.

You are smart, which is the issue here, isn't it? You can see it all, which is the reason you want to die so much because you know-

HEY! SMARTASS!

A lovely theory and all but it is most definitely wrong. Anyways, with your silly ranting on about some weird fan-fiction with me and Flare done and out of the way how about we try and focus on finding something drink in this hell-hole? Not to mention eat.

Well, from what I can decipher in the maps I have, take a left and then head straight down.

Finally, for an index you really know how to go on about bullshit for so long. Seriously, the moment Flare leaves you start going off into fan-fiction land.

I've been spending my years as an index doing nothing for too long. The least I can do is make some weird theory.

I walked down the path that Sophia told me to, of course what did surprise me was quite honestly the midget skeletons that were waiting for me. Like honestly, I thought it was a joke at first. There was about five.

"Dwarf skeletons?" I gave them an inquisitive look, they only returned it with their body language and they also spoke.

"Royal elf child?" Well, I just realised how bad this situation is. I look like a royal elf and these people were killed by a lot of royal elves. I don't fancy my odds as an inbred kid against some strong men who are most likely stronger than. They were quite small, obviously and held swords and axes with some pieces of armour dangling off somewhere. Although, they were just bones so there's nothing to hide.

"So, how goes being undead?" I wasn't expecting it, but it's still an interesting discovery. They were silent and began approaching me. "Anyone a fan of Lord of the Rings the Return of the King? Remember the scene with the army of ghosts?"

Nope, that did nothing, I think I'm going to die by some skeletons, while it certainly beats suicide in terms of interesting deaths, I don't think it'll be that pleasant.

However, they weren't that interested in killing, when they grabbed my arms and legs they started carrying me away, which is probably the better term for captured.

Not going to fight back?

I'm hungry, I've walked up a damn mountain and these are five well-trained dwarves who have died by royal elves. The chances are I'll die.

Good point. So, where... oh. From the directions they're heading and the map I have, they're heading towards the throne room.

Wait, am I going to meet a dwarf king? Queen? That's actually pretty cool! I'll consider that an achievement.

It wasn't long before I did arrive at the throne room, which I was correct in saying was the place right opposite the balcony. I'm surprised I didn't see the skeletons here.

In front of me, sat a man in a rusted iron chair, he was what you'd consider average height. He was most definitely a skeleton and king, since he wore a crown and even wore some steel armour! A full kit of it! It had the symbol of a yellow hammer on it and besides him was a giant... mace. Like a fucking huge one.

"So..." he has a stoic voice! He has a damn stoic voice. He really sounds evil, I wonder if he's really evil. "You're a royal elf... kid. What the heck are you doing wandering around in here?"

"I'm hungry, got anything to eat?" Well, I am not going to lie, I couldn't handle it anymore. So I am going to ask the skeleton king for some food.

"Uh... want some ale-" before he could finish his sentence, I answered.

"Yes. Now." He certainly was confused yet still had one of his servants pour me some and hand it to me. I drank it instantly! Surprisingly, it did quench my hunger and thirst, I had no idea dwarven ale could do that.

"How did you end up here?" He himself had some ale, yet oddly enough he was drinking it. I have no idea how he's doing that.

"I came in from the main entrance. So, what's with the skeletons and the weird city?" I was constantly getting refills from one of the servants.

"Oh... well you see when I had died over millennia ago, I had survived miraculously, however it was as undead. So did my subjects, and we decided to rebuild our kingdom. We tried the best we could but it remains as it is now. To prevent any wandering spirits from entering and the royal elf spirits, I put up an astral rejection field." He chuckled at his own words. "We remade the brewery and even fixed a few of the commerce. So we have what we have here."

"Oh, cool... now a question, can you remove the astral rejection field?" I politely asked him.

Wait, you've just met him, he hates your kind and you're asking him to remove a defensive measure? You really must like Flaryvna.

The skeleton king looked down at me, quite puzzled by my words.

"No... why would I do that?" Well, I suppose I must try to convince him somehow, otherwise this wouldn't work.

"Well, you say that the astral rejection field keeps away souls. However, it's also possible that it limits souls and that the souls of your men who aren't reborn into the undead. How long have you had the astral rejection field up for?" I decided to try and converse with him lightly.

"Since I woke up, the royal elf spirits bothered me at the first instance they could." Well, this makes it very easy! 10 luck must be really lucky.

"Well, if that's the case then perhaps you are limiting your own men from moving on? The reason you're acting kind towards me is because you're a good man, is it not? And as a good man you want to allow your men to move on, right? So what is more important right now? The security for you or the freedom for your men?" Chances are, what I'm saying is total utter bullshit.

"... Well, for a child you certainly have your wits about you. I did not think about it, the reason why my men came back could be because that I was acting so selfishly and my own desires had blinded me from doing anything for them... and for such a thing, I apologise. I shall let you move on my men!" It was then, a sudden pressure felt relieved from me and all the skeletons in front of me went completely limp into bones as if they had all the drained of their life. Some bones even flung about.

Wait, were you actually right? Did the astral rejection field stop them from moving on?

Of course not, Sophia. The royal elf spirits just killed them all. I wouldn't be able to handle them so I had them kill themselves.

To think that you killed an entire undead army of dwarves just to bring back Flaryvna from her sleep. It's like Snow White! Except it's mass murder instead kissing.

I did this to find the rest of the alcohol. You have the map and I have desire to drink it. So, let's find the brewery!

A/N:

Well... :3

[th_091_-1.gif]

Miscalculated by two hours. XD