It had only been a week and a half since Kain and his little darlings had departed the now defeated Ruskian state, leaving it in the capable hands of those more suited to nation-building than themselves. By the time that the fifth day of that time had passed, all three were back in Necrograd and preparing for the next major thing that they needed to do. What would that be, you ask? What it was should be simple enough to figure out; they needed to deal with the surviving members of the former Heroes.

No, not in a violent or evil way, they just needed to make sure that there was no room for them to cause any discord. Despite the passing of time and becoming what he currently was, Kain still had some of his humanity left in him and he empathized (albeit in a minor manner) with the five former Heroes who had lost their comrade to his own hand. Yes, Kain wasn’t pure evil, he just had a very dark heart and occasionally teetered from the twisted villainy of a purely evil being to the actions and thought processes of a morally compromised yet still (mostly) neutral entity.

So, when the time came for Kain to once again summon them, he did so in a vastly different way than before. It was, in his opinion, highly likely that the castle would not be a place that the former Heroes would want to return to. Therefore, he decided on an entirely different place for them to meet up. A far more comforting place, one with more sun, more sand, more water and far more fun to be had.

…

The five remaining former Heroes stepped off the train one by one, a dour mood hanging over them and their minds fully prepared for a brutal execution. While the Abominable King had left to fight the Ruskians, they had been forced to bury their once comrade, the Japanese Hero by the name of Nagato Yamagishi. To Darksol’s credit, the state had shelled out some money and gave him a good burial, despite the complaints of necromancers and scientists who wanted to study Nagato’s corpse. Nagato was buried alongside those who died in service to Darksol, his grave was now just one of many in a graveyard inside a pocket dimension. According to the undertakers, this particular graveyard was unique in the way that, once buried there, the deceased could never be raised into undeath, even by the Kain, ‘God of Death and Undeath’ himself.

They did have some solace, some reason to be happy for their now dead friend. According to Kain, Alexis and pretty much everyone who knew a lot about magic, a summoned person immediately goes back to where and when they were the moment that they were summoned. If, for instance, you were summoned from New York City at precisely 2:49 PM on X Day of Y Year, you would return to that precise moment at the moment of your death on Mortis. To make things even weirder, you would even keep your memories, and, if you were lucky, you might even keep your power, even if it would be locked away and inaccessible thanks to the rules of reality being vastly different.

Thus, Nagato’s comrades had no concern that their friend was in any kind of danger. They knew that he was back home, having missed nothing and having an amazing story to tell. Maybe when they got back they could find a ‘Fantasy’ novel written by him detailing his adventures on Mortis. But, even with that bit of information making them slightly less sad, they had still seen their buddy be broken in front of them, blood and guts gushing from his mouth as he lay dead on the floor of the Abominable King’s throne room.

So, as they took their steps towards the meeting place that they were told to go to, they had heavy hearts and wondered if they too would soon be entombed beside their friend, just another grave to add to the cemetery. Each step was harder for them to take, and they all wondered if they should simply try and run for it, not that the rulers of the Greater Darksol Empire could not hunt them down with ease.

The vegetation around them slowly began to vanish as the dirt was replaced with sand. They could hear sounds up ahead, but in their gloomy mood they could not tell if the screams they heard were made with fear or joy. Too morose to look up and see the signs, they walked down the steps and…

Immediately covered their eyes as the bright sun practically blinded them.

They flinched as the light covered them, the warmth of the sun’s rays being a rare experience in Necrograd or the Dungeon. As their eyes began to adjust to the light, they realized that they were not, in fact, about to walk into an execution ground. They were, instead, walking down a flight of concrete steps towards a large beach, complete with beachgoers, food shacks, changing rooms and more. Hell, there were even a couple of lifeguards on duty, along with a few Coatl flying about and making sure no one was drowning or caught in a riptide.

Vladimir, the current party leader, looked at the map that came with the letter that the former Heroes had been given and realized that part of it had not been unfolded. Unfolding that portion revealed that Kain and the other members of royalty were just a short bit away down the beach. Apparently, according to the letter and map, Kain and his family would only be there for a few days, but during that time the former Heroes had to meet with them. While not entirely convinced that they would not be executed or made to ‘disappear’, the former Heroes decided that, if that was to be their fate, they would enjoy the beach for as long as possible before their inevitable demise.

And with that, they stepped off the stairs and onto the white sands of the biggest tourist beach in the Greater Darksol Empire.

…

“This isn’t personal, Hero. Just think of this as you doing your assigned duty by the will of the Goddess and Her flock.”

“You crazy bitch! I’ll kill you! I’ll rape you to death, you fucking whore!”

“Now, now. Don’t be like that. There’s no need to be so angry. You’ll be instrumental in our operation, so don’t be mad. A shame we did not have more like you, but even if we had those other, false Heroes they would not last long enough to make a difference.”

“Arrgh! Yaaaaarraagghha! Grrrrrrraaaahh!”

“There, that’s better. Once the process is complete, we can send you into the field to deal with the Devil and his whore wife once and for all. After those two are eliminated from the equation, we can begin phase 2. The generator is singing the hymns of the Goddess, and while the rest of the world has fallen to evil, that will not last eternal. This city will bring the true word of the Goddess to the heathens and infidels, and not a soul will be able to stop its warpath. The world will be cleansed, and I already know which den of sin and vice will be the first target.”