“Things are not looking good for us, your Majesty!” knight captain Catrina said as she was kneeling in front of her Empress. A letter has just come from the capital addressing Morrigan. Needless to say, the contents were all but bad news.

“I know. Those nobles, taking advantage of the fact that I was not in the country and the recent destruction, are all conspiring against me. They spread the false rumors on how I have abandoned the people to go on this ‘ludicrous’ conquest. They even defied my orders and stopped Minister Sinclair from sending out supplies for the mass. Bunch of greedy fat pigs! It’s so funny that I forget to laugh.” Morrigan sipped her wine.

“Then we must head back to Zagon and put them back in line. With you back in charge, the people won’t have anything to complain about.”

“It’s not that easy. They will just press on how I do not have an heir and will force me to abandon the throne or to marry some douchebag and make him the king. Either way is not very pleasant.”

“But it’s not your fault! They poisoned you so that you can’t have a child! It was already fortunate that you survive that.” Catrina raged. She remembered the day when Morrigan collapsed, coughing blood during a banquet. With her master on the ground groaning in pain, the knight could see the eyes of those aristocrats staring at her, hoping she would die. In the end the Empress survived but not without a cost. The doctor told her that while the poison did not kill her, it damaged her internal organs and made her unable to have a child.

But that did not make Morrigan falter. She simply accepted that fact so easily to the point of being suspicious, as if she knew it would happen sooner or later but didn’t do anything about it. The culprit was never officially found but she already had an idea on who did it, just not any proof.

“It doesn’t matter. If I don’t name an heir within the next week, they will force me to. And if I resist, a civil war might break out, just as they want it. And if I try to delay any further by not coming back to Zagon, the people will revolt. What a mess I am in! If only Alastor has accepted my proposal…” Morrigan sighed.

“I don’t understand why you are so obsessed with the boy. Can’t you just take someone else in his place?” Catrina asked.

“No it has to be him. He is the rightful heir after me. It’s either him or nobody else!”

“Please forgive my imprudence, your Majesty, but why him? Why do you risk everything you have built just to have him?” Catrina could not understand the motivation behind Morrigan’s decision. She has spent years trying to reform the court, to keep her power and now she was prepared to risk everything for that boy? The knight was aware of their relationship and the fact that he was Lakyus’ son but still, to do so much for the child of another, to that extent….

“…Penance….to make amends for what I took from his mother…” Morrigan mourned.

“Your Majesty?”

“When Lakyus first came to the palace, I was very happy. I have always dreamt about having a sister, someone I could talk with, someone I could confide with, someone who is not constantly scheming for me or against me. We used to spend the entire day in the garden, picking out the most beautiful magnolia.

Lakyus was not the gloomy child everyone thought she was. Despite having been brought up in a small cottage constantly worrying about food, she held a determent and unyielding soul, the purest I have ever seen. She was the kind of person who spoke her mind without regard to ranks. The servants are so natural around her, unlike their fake smile when they were with me. In a way I envied her. I was curious about this strange girl.

Then one day during one of my adventure to uncover her secret, she found me. At first I was reluctant but we eventually became friends….and sisters. Her smile was the only thing that kept me going in that place of conspiracy and treachery.

I remembered on my twelve birthday, which was a few months after Lakyus moved to the castle. Like usual I received plenty of gifts, from luxurious jewelry to the finest cloth of the kingdom. But I knew they were just there to gain my favor and in respect of the queen. However, when it was Lakyus’ turn, she brought me a wreath out of magnolia. It was so clumsily made the thing looked like it was about to fall apart. Yet it was the thing that brought me to tears. I was so happy at that time. It was like yesterday. Her smile with her unkempt hair and her cloth with soil on it. But it was also the last time Lakyus ever smiled.

A few days later, her mother died suddenly without any clear reason. Lakyus’ power was discovered and the king locked her away in a tower. My mother murdered Lakyus’ mother. When I learnt of that terrible truth from her, I was so angry, not just at the old miserable wench but also at myself for not noticing her intention. Just as she was guilty for the murder, I too shared the blame for being ignorant. I was the reason that my mother did so many terrible things to them.

On numerous occasions I pled father to let her out but the fool was too obsessed with power to even see his own daughter as a human being anymore. To him she was a weapon, a tool to be used. I could no fathom the hardship and the cruel experiments my sister had to endure all that time. Sometimes I sneaked out of the palace to go see her. I would climb that tower wall just to get to her window but not once she answered me. I could only watch as she went deeper and deeper into despair.

When she finally was able to go out, it was to kill the demon lord. I objected to the idea but no one would listen to me. So I asked the hero Arshe, who was an acquaintance of mine at the time to keep me informed of the situation.

You would not believe how I reacted when Arshe sent me a letter, telling me that Lakyus was pregnant and would soon become a mother. It lifted a part of my burden, knowing that she finally found happiness. The demon lord had no intention to go to war. Everything was going to be okay.

But life is cruel. Just as we humans who live in this world. Someone killed both of them and their baby missing.

The day Arshe told me what happened, I swore an oath: that I would find the child and would do anything to give him back what he deserved: the throne, the power….a family.

So you see, it can’t be anyone but Alastor.”

“…Your Majesty, are you sure you want to tell me this? Are you not afraid I might be a traitor?” Catrina asked.

“We have been together for years now. I know what kind of person you are. And you are a demon. Surely you would not do anything that might harm your future king?”

“I may be a demon but my allegiance lies with you, your Majesty, as well as all of us here!”

“Thank you! It’s hard to find good help these days!” Morrigan chuckled.

* * *

“Look at this place! It’s huge!!! To think something like this was right under my feet all these time…Incredible!” Alastor exclaimed.

Alastor was currently standing inside a huge underground room facility that lied beyond the metallic door from where the Destroyers previously came from. The ceiling was so high, along with the glittering gems and fluorescent moss that made it look just like a beautiful night sky filled with stars. An entire city could fit here without any problem and indeed it already looked like one.

From barracks to training grounds, lines after lines of demon troops were doing their daily exercise. At first the army could seem a bit unorganized, probably due to the fact that the demons themselves were quite diverse in form and origins. Some looked just like a normal human being or an elf while others were sentient monsters capable of speech and emotions.

One such example was what seemed to be a hydra, monsters closely related to dragon with eight heads and renowned for their limitless regeneration ability. This same monster with ferocious temper in the wild was now letting a small chucking down a barrel of booze together with a group of mixed races: human, elf, dwarf, beastman. They were all once a prime, each never thought that this day would come where people of so many different races, even monsters would sit down and drink together. Could this be what peace would look like? That image stuck on Alastor’s mind.

He continued his tour in what seemed to be an underground cavern.

“After king Asgore’s death, we have decided to move the entire army to this underground facility called Tartarus. But to be frankly I am not sure what to think about it. I mean sure it’s huge and very useful to us but in the end it’s just a very big cave. Even if he wanted this place to be used to store his army, I expect something more from the legendary Artificer. Again I did not speak with him that much. Aside from a few exchanges, for most of the time, the Artificer would only talk with lord Asgore and each time only they are allowed to be in this cave by themselves.

That’s what I think until I find this.” Mephisto led Alastor to the far end of the cave where no one was around. They stopped before a strange structure that poked out from the ground. A metallic pillar with black wires made in rubber connected to the ground. It had a cylinder shape and an entrance on the side.

Entering inside, the wall was pure white with a few strange looking shape sockets that went inside the wall. However these sockets were covered by a glass wall that prevented anything to be put inside.

“We stumble across this strange …device after lord Asgore passed away. It is made in a special material similar to the door at the entrance. Indestructible steel. But I can’t find any purpose it might have been used for. It could be one of the failed prototype the Artificer has created and just tossed it here. But I can’t see how this could be a weapon.” Mephisto sighed.

“These sockets….they look like something can be put there….some kind of key perhaps?” Alastor examined the strange holes on the wall.

“That I don’t know. If those are keys then what weird shape they are. And there are four of them….”

“Whatever they are, they might be useful so keep an eye for something that looks like that.” Alastor said.

“Will do. Though I swear I have never seen anything that looks like that. Anyway I will have to check on the armory after this so if you want to come with me…” Mephisto spoke.

“Ah no it’s fine. You just go do your thing. I will stay here for a little bit.” Alastor said.

“If you say so. Well you know your way out so please call if you need me!”

With that Mephisto walked out of the pillar and flew away.

“Hum…Mephisto is right. These are weird looking shape keys…but somehow I feel like I have this one before, the weirdest one out of all of them.” Alastor was looking an odd socket that had something close to a cylinder shape. A thin half circular thing was connected to two sides of this cylinder, almost looked like the handle of a bucket or something similar.

“Yeah I definitely saw something like this but can’t figure out what….Hell this looks just like that………lantern…..OH SHIT! THE LANTERN!” Alastor finally remembered what this odd looking socket reminded him of, the Anima lantern he recovered from the Archduke of Ceadric.

Thankfully he always brought it together with him right inside his magical dimension. But how would he put it inside this socket? Breaking might seemed like a reckless thing to do. If it triggered some kind of trap or self-destruction sequence that would definitely be not good.

He decided to take a closer look around the room to see if there was something he could use to open these glass walls. There wasn’t much inside the room to be inspected actually. Aside from a small glass orb that looked similar to the one above the entry gate.

Alastor decided to knock on the thing to see if something would come out. Suddenly a beeping noise rang along with a green light scanning his body.

“SCANNING….Personnel not found in database…Please identify yourself!” a womanly voice spoke in a monotonous tone.

“What is this thing? Is someone actually inside this? A fairy perhaps? Or a spirit?” Alastor asked himself as he continued to knock on the glass orb.

“You have five seconds to identify yourself!”

“Or what?”

Suddenly a metal plate slide in and blocked the entrance of the pillar. Alastor was now trapped inside without a way out.

“Five……”

“Oh oh not good!”

“Four….”

Alastor tried to kick down the wall but it didn’t budge.

“Three…..Preparing Purge Protocol…..Two”

“Wait wait!”

“One….. Commencing Purge”

“I AM ALASTOR”

“…….Purge cancelled…..The data for Alastor has yet to be updated. A verification process is required.”

Without warning, a metal snake-like thing with a sharp needle at its head slashed out and took a small amount of blood of Alastor from his hand.

“Ouch…you devil!” It actually didn’t hurt that much, at least nothing compared to what he has been through. However he just didn’t like the fact that this thing, whatever it was, did even give him a warning up ahead. If the boy didn’t want to discover the truth behind this contraption, he would have gone all out and destroy this place.

“…Analyzing sample….Confirmed a parent relationship with demon lord Asgore! Welcome to Tartarus, lord Alastor!”

“You freaking damn machine! What are you?”

“I am not allowed to disclose this information until the door of Tartarus has been opened.”

“Door to Tartarus? Are we not in Tartarus yet? Isn’t Tartarus that cave?” Alastor asked.

“Negative. Tartarus is further in the underground and further access requires the four keys you see in this room.”

So whatever Tartarus was, it lied even deeper than Alastor thought it was. That was to be expected from one like the Artificer. Surely a name like Tartarus would not be given to a cave. It must be something incredible useful or powerful to be so well hidden.

“What is Tartarus exactly?” the boy asked.

“I am not allowed to disclose that information. Further access requires the four keys….”

“…Alright I have the keys, a few on them at least. Open that glass wall thing!” Alastor said.

The glass wall was finally lifted. The boy hurriedly inserted the lantern into the socket. It was a perfect fit. Immediately the glass walls closed down than the lantern was transferred down to the underground.

“Hey where did you bring it to?’ the boy shouted.

“In order to protect the key, I have transferred it to a safe location. Please insert the other three keys!” the voice answered.

Alastor took out the Ara Amulet he received from Scarlet and Maria. There was indeed another socket for it and just like the lantern, the amulet was gone the moment he put it in.

“Second key acquired. Please insert the last two remaining keys!”

“I don’t have those!”

“Then find them and we shall speak again. Also please do not forget to bring the Heart and the Proof of Command! They are vital to Tartarus!”

“What is the Heart? I don’t suppose it’s a real heart is it?”

“…I am not allowed to disclose that information.”

“Fuck you!!! How am I supposed to find it if I don’t even know what it looks like? I guess you will say the same thing for that Proof?” Alastor angrily said.

“Actually I can! That information is not classified.”

“What is it? Tell me!” the boy pressed.

“It’s a crown!”