Willem motioned for Arania to sit down and tell him the good news.

Arania did exactly what was expected of her at took a seat in the chair that Willem materialized.

"Speak now." Willem stared into the demon's eyes as if reaching into the depths of her soul.

Arania lowered her head submissively and stuttered out the secrets she uncovered.

"The majority of citizens in Blood City are dark elves according to one of the slaves. The Magical Beings made a deal with the Stinging Blood Tortoise thousands of years ago for protection within it's territory." Arania sputtered out a couple of sentences before the ominous feelings took over her.

"Continue." Willem read her heart palpitations for proof of a lie, while strengthening the magical connection to monitor her thoughts.

"The promise made between the Magical Beings and the Tortoise is known among all citizens. In exchange for protection inside the Stinging Blood Tortoise, they promised to slay his mortal enemy and attain it's Primordial Soul." Arania focused as hard as possible to recall the exact words the tortured victim used.

Arania's voice overlapped with her thoughts inside Willem's mind, word for word.

"Primordial Soul..." Willem attempted to recall anything on the topic, but this term was never mentioned in any books he had read.

"Master, there is more." Arania continued to hang her head.

A brief pause and no dismissal from Willem gave Arania the consent she needed to keep speaking.

"The dark elves worship the Moon Goddess, so they volunteered to raise a city with the Tortoise's permission. Inside the Tortoise there is no Sun, only darkness with a tinge of red from the tendrils of the Tortoise, which is the ideal for dark elves who are used to living underground or in mountains." Arania licked her chapped lips multiple times while reciting word for word what she was told.

Willem released his strengthened grip on the connection to Arania and stopped reading her heart. The release was akin to a wave of pleasure washing over the demon. Cold shivers washed down the humanoid body as Arania removed herself from the chair and knelt before Willem.

"Keep on it, even if it kills them. If they die, keep their bodies strapped in as a warning to the others." Willem issued his orders and left the study room first.

On his way down the stairs toward the Grand Hall, an intriguing thought occurred to him while he stared at the runic teleportation circle.

Willem removed a gem from his spatial spell and stenciled onto it the teleportation spell in front of him, connecting a magic tether from the gem to the self-sustaining runic circle.

Upon completion, the beautifully cut gem radiated the same yellow color as the runic circle. Willem wrapped the gem with leather and made it into a necklace.

Without testing it, he created six more identical gems with an identical connection to the runic circle.

"This will do nicely." Willem spoke out loud as he finished the final necklace and looked around.

A few of the family members from the major families had been waiting patiently to offer a snack to Willem who had been absorbed in thought.

Willem graciously accepted the snacks and went back to the Grand Hall, finishing up the decorations with the help of the families.

The little girl that Willem rescued, Lia, sat down at one of the tables while watching her "daddy" manipulate magical energies to accomplish what he wanted.

Her large blue eyes shone brilliantly as she mimicked Willem's actions. However, she was far too young to manifest any sort of magical powers. She only copied Willem out of affection.

Willem smiled while watching her and doing his work. The small spirit wolf pup that Lia was to take care sat on the table, lapping up milk but being unable to stand for any length of time.

In the Royal Palace.

Grand Mage Archus patiently waited outside the throne room while the guards stayed by his side. After a few moments, the doors opened to the throne room and a royal attendant ushered the Grand Mage inside.

The guards took their leave and the Grand Mage walked inside. Upon arriving at the steps to the throne, Archus kneeled and offered his greetings.

"Oh my, Grand Mage Archus. Pray tell what warrants your visit this day?" The Queen hid a malicious smile behind a pink fan covering her face.

"Forgive my impudence, my Queen. Today I have business with The One True King." Archus flicked his cloak to reveal his hand rolled into a fist and placed above his heart.

"Anything you have to say, can be said to the both of us, here, now." The One True King smiled, but his eyes remained expressionless.

"As you wish, I have done as you asked after the meeting and begged my pupil to come back to the fold. As you know, his power is far greater than mine, so I appealed to him as his mentor." Archus remained kneeling as he delivered his report.

"Very good, time will tell if this little story has some truth to it. Remain in your Private Sanctum, and do not step a hair out of line or your life and the life of anyone under you is forfeit." The One True King continued to smile as he uttered his threat.

"As you command, my King." Archus stood up from his kneeling position and distorted the space around him, teleporting from the Royal Palace to his Private Sanctum.

The King sat quietly on his throne and spat at the ground in front of him as Archus left. The royal attendant immediately found a rag to clean up the spit.

As the royal attendant kneeled in front of the King to clean up the spit, the King kicked him down the stairs.

The royal attendant crashed at the bottom of the stairs, whimpered, and immediately stood up. He hobbled up the stairs and continue to clean.

The Queen had a scowl on her face as she looked at the royal attendant. The King just sat upon his throne and continued to laugh.

"Forgive me for my clumsiness, my King." The royal attendant begged.

The King watched as the royal attendant scrubbed the floor in front of him clean.

"Leave us, I wish to be alone with my Queen." The King stared at the royal attendant as he scampered away in fear.

When the doors closed behind the royal attendant, the King stood from his throne and grabbed his Queen by the arm. He forced her to stand up and he ripped at her garments until nothing remained.

With the Queen's memories altered completely, the only thing she knew was that she loved the King unconditionally. Therefore in her mind the King could do no wrong.

The King however understood that the Queen he had now was not the same Queen he had married when she was younger. The younger Queen had a fiery personality, was short-tempered and never did as she was told. This Queen was level-headed, or more so just a broken doll, and all she could do was express her love for her King and her scorn for all others.

Even if the King was a little rough, his Queen never got mad or sad, but instead took the assault as if it was in her very nature.

The One True King understood that this was not his Queen, nor were there any signs of him ever getting her back. However he had found a new use for his Queen as a catharsis for his nightmares.

He bent his broken Queen over the arms of her throne and began to sexually assault her from behind. His massive hands grabbed flesh with no thought to holding his strength back, thrusting in and out of her orifice with reckless abandon.

Though the Queen loved the King very much, her body still had the reactions of a normal human. So while her face contorted and revealed ecstasy from the unfolding event, she began to bleed between the legs from a lack of lubrication prior to intercourse.

The King did not stop his violence as he continued to roughly abuse her body, tossing her to the ground and shoving himself inside her.

Nor did the Queen even squirm or speak, but instead just lay down and maintain eye contact with the only man she had ever loved in the entirety of her life while he used her body.

When the King was finished with his catharsis, he covered his Queen's body in a white sheet and carried her to the bed. The vaginal tear had dyed the bed covers red, and showed no signs of stopping.

The King sighed as his Queen looked at his quizzically. With a little focus, he activated Darkness Healing to heal the wound and stop the bleeding.

"Stay here, I will be back in the morning." The King commanded as he slipped on a black cloak and left the bedchambers.

The Queen laid in the bed and thought about how much she loved her King.

Outside a brothel in the inner city of the Bastion of Hope, a cloaked figure entered and asked for a couple of women to attend to him.

The proprietor asked if there were any specific requirements or if any two women would suffice.

"I want one that looks like the Queen." The cloaked figure dropped a few gold coins and headed to one of the rooms.

The proprietor swiped his brow of sweat and picked up the gold before finding a woman who looked close enough to the Queen.

After fifteen minutes, two women entered the room that the black cloaked figure was in.

"Are you the man who was looking for a Queen?" A young, beautifully curvy woman with blonde hair and green eyes innocently asked.

The woman standing behind her was a little older, with wrinkles creasing her face. The woman could easily be mistaken as the Queen's body double, if the King had gotten to her first. That was how eerily similar the woman was to looking like the Queen. If it were not for the less than mediocre clothing they wore, the cloaked figure would have been sure it was in fact the Queen.

"You can go." The cloaked figure ordered the young blonde girl to leave.

The older woman closed the door behind her and got on both knees in front of the cloaked figure. Without removing his black cloak, she expertly removed his flaccid penis from under his robes and began to fellate him with vigor.

The cloaked figure reached out and grabbed the back of her head, forcing her further down until she began to choke on his hardening penis.

The woman attempted to resist with all of her strength but she could not break from his iron grasp, and she was beginning to feel short of breath.

The cloaked figure released the woman's mouth from his genitalia in a moment of hesitation.

The woman choked for air and wrestled away from his grip.

"What did I ever do to you, you pig!" She screamed as she attempted to get away from the cloaked figure.

The cloaked man reached deep into his pocket and pulled out a handful of gold, enough money for her to stop being a prostitute and live a life of luxury twice over.

After some slight hesitation, she eventually sat back up and placed his hand on the back of her head.

"Do whatever gets you off." There was a particularly savage tone to her voice, but she nonetheless opened her dripping mouth willingly to be ravaged by his still erect penis.

The cloaked figure did not force himself upon her anymore, but instead ran his fingers through her hair gently. She took this as the queue to continue her work.

The cloaked figure caressed the back of her head as she continued to perform fellatio on him. After ten minutes had passed, he lifted her up off the ground and laid her on the filthy bed in the damp room.

With one quick motion, he hiked up her unexceptional brown dress and removed the underlying cloth protecting her place of business.

The prostitute was already moist by the time he entered her, and the heaving mass under the cloak gently began moving himself inside her. The intercourse was so gentle and serene that if one was to walk in, they might be convinced the two were lovers.

After the cloaked figure was finished, he left the room with the woman in a daze and placed the gold from his hand onto the reception desk.

"Was it that enjoyable, esteemed guest?" The proprietor rubbed his hands together greedily eyeing the coins.

"She is now my property." The cloaked figure waited for a reply.

The proprietor counted out the gold coins before depositing them safely in his pocket.

"Of course, where shall I send her things?" The proprietor bowed to the figure.

"Burn them. Tell no one I was even here." The cloaked figure no longer hesitated as he returned to the room, grabbed the woman and teleported to the Royal Palace bedchambers.