SS #5

Darkness and Baros’ Wedding

Thursday, 10th of June - Monarcity, Chias - Chochica Empire:

Nazar took his family to the empire he ruled over.

Due to an unexpected appearance from a certain criminal, there is a wedding reception now.

The criminal turned out to be in a secret relationship with Baros.

At the back garden of the castle, Baros was standing awkwardly in his cyan coloured armour.

“Baros, please change into something less embarrassing,” Nazar pleaded to him. “I beg you.”

Baros forced a stiff smile on his face.

“I-I am comfortable in this.”

Nazar frowned.

“DUDE!” he massaged his temples.

He paused and took a few deep breaths.

“Phew. Please. It’s your own wedding, dress up properly. I beg you.”

“...”

“Nevermind, it’s an order. Get changed. RIGHT NOW!”

Baros let out a heavy sigh.

“...Yes, sir.”

Baros vanished into thin air.

Nazar breathed out in a relieved manner.

“I wanna kill myself,” he forced a smile on his stiff angry face.

“Why do you look so worried, fam?” Emma spoke to him with her arms crossed above her chest.

“I...”

Nazar thought about it.

“Huh, why am I worried? It’s not like it’s my wedding,” Nazar loosened his arms in an agitated manner

“Don’t worry, no one will marry you.”

“I don’t even want to get married,” he scoffed.

“Not even to Laura?” she said with a blank look on her face.

“Of course, not,” he sounded paranoid.

Emma smiled thinly in return.

“I WILL NEVER EVER EVER EVER GET MARRIED TO ANYONE!!”

His shout caused a shockwave through the castle.

"Woah, calm down, idiot," Emma raised her arms to try and protect her.

At that moment, a faint glow appeared around her, but she did not notice it.

"Why are you so worried?"

"Umm," he sounded very nervous. "This is the first time I am attending a wedding, so--"

He slowly trailed off as he noticed something.

With a creaking sound and a stiff smile, he slowly turned his neck to the right.

Seeing his brother with an angry smile on his face, he clasped his arms in front of his chest and bent his upper torso forward, bowing.

"Look, I wanted to come but there was a major problem. I couldn't let this entity run wild. It was the multiverse or you."

"And you chose the multiverse?" Emma covered her mouth with her right hand, and with snickering laughter, she tried to add more fuel to the fire. "Oh, how rude of you, brother. To skip the wedding of your older brother… Wow, that's so low."

Nazar glanced back at Emma and frowned.

"And couldn't one of those angels take care of him?"

"Aha!" Nazar stood up and pointed at Emma with his index finger. "That's because I accidentally made it and it went out of control and because…"

He thought he had an excuse, so his smile vanished.

"Okay, fine. I will make up for it somehow."

"Nah, you can't, my dude," Angela looked disappointed. "I have never been more disappointed in you. I want to take back all the good things I have done to you. I bought you juice once in year 7. So, give me back the money."

Nazar stared at her in a puzzled manner.

"That was ten years ago--"

"Oh, and it has to be the exact same coin I gave you then."

Nazar let out a heavy sigh.

“Fine. I will find it for you.”

“I don’t need it now,” Angela replied immediately.

“Okay...”

Nazar glanced at his mother who was near Aeron.

However, she just shook her head.

Frowning, he tried to plead to another figure that seemed to appear as soon as he glanced at "him".

"Dad, you say some… thing…"

His "dad" returned a faint smile as he shook his head.

Nazar let out a heavy sigh.

“Nevermind.”

Nazar glanced back at the maids who were standing nearby.

“Where is Darkness?”

“She is with her friend,” replied Ella, a tall and muscular yet feminine looking maid with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Nazar stared at her with a puzzling look.

“She has friends?” he squealed with surprise. “That’s more surprising than finding abstract breasts that are as large as the multiverse.”

Ella smiled stiffly in return.

“I am not making this up,” he said out loud frantically. “You have to belie--”

“Y-your majesty…”

Nervously, Ella pointed behind Nazar with her chin.

Looking behind him, he saw Darkness and her friend who was walking towards them slowly.

“Oh, hi, Lalatina,” he waved his hand at her stiffly as he forced a smile. “I hope you didn’t hear…”

Nazar slowly trailed off as he analysed Darkness.

She was wearing a bright red sleeveless one-piece dress with a dark red headpiece, which had golden decorations covering her head and face.

Between her palms, she was holding a red rose.

Behind her, there were golden glowing energy wings.

Emma went closer to Nazar and whispered, "That's new."

"Yes, since they were created by an angel, they want to symbolise it a lot in their special occasions," he whispered back.

"Interesting," she muttered.

Nazar plastered a big smile on his face, held out his arms in a welcoming manner and said, “Oh, wow, you actually look kind of beautiful for once.”

Emma elbowed him in his stomach.

“Please go easy on me,” he said in a voice that felt like he was in a lot of pain, but he was just messing around.

He glanced at the person next to Darkness and his jaw dropped.

“Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you?!?!”

The red-skinned busty, yet muscular woman smiled in return.

“KARLA?!?!”

“Yes,” Karla shot a wide smile at him as she tilted her head to the right slightly.

“What is a high-class demon doing with… Wait! Since when do you two know each other?”

“For thousands of years,” she thought back to the first time she met Lillian AKA Darkness.

“HOW?!”

Nazar thought he was special for having demonic friends, but it seems Darkness was a step ahead of him. He felt somewhat depressed.

“To use demonic magic, the person - Lillian in this case - has to make a deal with a demon. And that demon turned out to be me,” she said cheerfully. “Once the pact is complete, Lillian started tapping into my power. Her power comes from me if you didn’t realise it already.”

“Ahhh… Makes sense.”

“Why do you look so depressed, ex-lover?”

Emma coughed in surprise.

Nazar looked at her, “Don’t listen to her.”

He looked back at Karla who was snickering.

“Shut up! That was a one-time thing.”

“Haha, I am just messing around with you.”

Why does everyone mess around with me? He thought as he let out an exasperated sigh. Am I that docile?

Nazar noticed how Darkness didn’t utter a single word.

“Is something wrong, Darkness?” he asked in a serious tone. “You--”

“Y-your majesty,” Ella spoke nervously. “The bride and groom are not supposed to talk.”

“...Oh… Odd. Though, Baros did speak. (But then again, I practically forced him into speaking...) Ah. Why is that?”

She glanced left and right as she thought.

“I do not know,” she smiled stiffly. “No one has questioned it before.”

“Interesting.”

Baros teleported in, wearing a tuxedo. He looked very confused, though.

“Ah, so it fits. I am glad it does. I saw it in a movie and everyone wears--”

“Fweet!” Emma whistled and then bit her lip seductively. “Hot damn!”

Nazar glanced at her with complicated feelings.

“Anyway, Baros…”

He went closer to Baros and spoke slowly.

“Are you sure about this?”

“...” Baros nodded. “Yes.”

“Ah. Perfect. Let’s get on with this.”

In Nazar’s hand, a phone appeared.

As his eyes lit up for a moment, a number was dialled.

Holding the phone to his ear, he spoke in a stern tone.

“General? Yes, I need the document… Ah, yes. Right. Right. No, she is not a criminal… Fine. Anyway, send the diplomatic immunity documents ASAP. She is one of us now. Hm? Oh. Good, good, good. Do you want me to come… Ah, that’s great. Cool. Thanks.”

Nazar hung up the phone and looked at Darkness.

“Well, that’s that… Ummm?”

He saw Emma staring at him with her mouth open. Then he glanced at the rest of his family.

“Why do you guys look so surprised?”

“Your tone… You actually sounded like a king. That’s…. Surprising,” Emma could not believe what she was seeing. “I used to think you were just joking.”

Nazar rolled his eyes.

Nazar clapped his hands a few times and from the thin air, a priestess appeared.

She was wearing a white gown that covered all of her body, except for her head.

The priestess clasped her hands in front of her chest and closed her eyes.

“Shall we begin?”

Darkness -- Lillian and Baros stood opposite one another and looked down.

“O’ mighty Michael, our lord and creator, who has given us life and love, who has given us the chance to live in this wonderful world.”

Nazar’s eyes twitched once he heard the praise for Michael.

“Once again we hold up our hand to ask for your blessing.”

A magical circle appeared beneath Baros and Lillian.

“Two souls are to become more than what they are.”

The magical circle lit up with green energy.

“In life and death, they shall become one.”

The priestess opened her eyes.

“Through the good, the bad and the ugly, they shall forever stay united till death do them part.”

The priestess glanced at Lillian and then glanced at Baros.

“Ahlam.”

Seeing how both of them nodded, she narrowed her eyes.

“I ask again… Do you accept one another?”

Baros and Lillian nodded again.

With a stern look on her face, she looked around the audience in the garden of the castle.

“Does anyone object?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Very well, then.”

The priestess smiled a kind and happy smile.

“I, too, accept this marriage.”

Both Baros and Lillian took a deep breath.

“The [Soul Integration] will begin now.”

Energy surged through both Baros and Lillian, causing their body to stiffen.

Clenching their fists, they looked up to the sky, where they saw a huge white magical circle.

A light shot out from the magical circle beneath them and connected to the one up in the sky.

The priestess moved away from the magic circle and watched the two souls merge.

While their souls were mering, Emma started to whisper in Nazar’s ear.

“What is happening here? It’s getting weirder and weirder.”

“Ah,” Nazar started to explain. “You see, in order to get married in this empire, you need to have your soul merged with your partner’s.”

“Uh…?”

“Let’s go back a little. The reason they have this ritual is that it unlocks certain biological… “features” of the man and the woman. Without those “features” being activated, they can’t have children. It’s for birth control and they don’t want people to have children if they are not very sure about it or if something… unfortunate happens to them.”

“You mean rape, right?” she narrowed her eyes.

“Yes, that. Or if there is an accident with-- I am not going to go into details of it. You should know what I am talking about.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry, I know.”

Nazar cleared his throat and continued.

“Anyway, they also can’t get pregnant unless they carry another ritual, that’s just to be even safer. That’s how this species is made.”

“I see...”

“Also, they get married to “increase their love for one another” and… Basically, they get the whole soul mating thing to the next level. It also prevents cheating and stuff like that.”

“Interesting.”

“Actually, there is another ritual. That is the one that will fully unlock the child making abilities of the couple.”

Emma was confused but did not question it.

“So, if they want a child, they will go through this ritual and then another. You can get married and not want children, so you can skip the second ritual.”

“That sounds pretty interesting,” impressed, she smiled. “I wouldn’t mind being part of these people. This way, I don’t have to be on the pills or being too careful all the time.”

Nazar pretended he did not hear that.

“So, why do they get married if they don’t want to have children?”

Seeing the confused look on her face, Nazar looked around.

“Actually… I have been meaning to ask Ella about it before but I always forget. Why do people ever get married?”

Both of them let out a sigh as they did not have an answer. Or rather, they did not want to think about it.

“Marriage is one thing… but why do people have children? It doesn’t make sense,” Nazar rubbed his chin as he thought about it.

“I know, right?”

With glittering eyes, he looked at Emma in reflex.

For the first time, someone agreed with him.

“You have to carry them within you for 9 months, then they are born, then you waste stressful years raising them, then they grow up and then they leave you,” Emma spoke in a bitter tone. “Nothing good comes out of it, you know?”

“Agreed.”

They averted their attention to the two souls that were being merged.

The light slowly dimmed as their souls merged with one another completely.

The priestess clasped her hands once more.

“You are now husband and wife.”

A faint golden glow appeared around her as she cast a spell.

From the thin air, a book appeared in front of her.

The pages of the book flipped before her.

Words started to engrave into the book.

Two pages flew out of the book. One of the pages floated in front of Baros and the other in front of Lillian.

Baros and Darkness looked at the floating pages.

When the pages started to glow, it flew into the chest of the groom and the bride.

“Now, you are husband and wife,” the priestess said as she loosened her arms and smiled.

“Is that the end?” Emma whispered to Nazar.

He nodded, “Yes.”

“Oh,” Emma was not sure how to feel about this ceremony.

The priestess and the book vanished into thin air.

Without uttering a word to anyone, Baros and Lillian vanished into thin too.

“Alllllright, then,” Nazar understood. “I guess, that’s that.”

“This has got to be the most disappointing wedding ever… No food to feed on? Or sins?”

He looked at Karla who was standing near him.

“Come in. Be my guest for the day.”

“Thanks,” she smiled. “But still disappointing.”

“I heard Earth weddings are better. I will invite you to one if someone close to me was getting married.”

“Great.”

Emma and his family watched with a stiff face as he communicated with this demon as if she was a normal human.

Karla noticed that so she smiled cynically.

“I can’t wait to see everyone give me the ugly looks.”

“You can shapeshift,” he was trying to reassure her but it did the opposite.

Rolling her eyes, she waved her hand.

“Alright, I will leave for now.”

“Bye, then.”

“Come visit me one of these days ♡,” she winked as she vanished into thin air.

Nazar furrowed his brows as he glanced at Emma, who was looking at him bitterly, “What?”

“I am disgusted.”

“You are disgusted.”

She was disgusted.

“But why?”

She let out a heavy sigh.

“At least the food here is decent.”

“Hey, they might be aliens but they are far from barbaric,” he defended his empire with passion. “The food here is similar to Earth.”

“Hm, I see.”

“Alright, the wedding is over,” Nazar clapped his hands. “Now let me show you some of my other favourite places in this city.”

“Okay~ But show us the more alien places please,” Angela looked excited.

“Sure.”