“You must be joking.” Alexis snarled as she stared down the entity standing before her.

“Well, if that was joke, then it wouldn’t be very funny, now would it? I can assure you that I am speaking the absolute truth, no lies or fibs included.” Lord Wolfenstein replied with his(?) usual ambivalent tone.

Alexis, after being brought back from the place beyond time along with her children and the entire city and population of Necrograd, was quickly informed of what had transpired and, as you might imagine, was livid at both the Luminas Church and Lord Wolfenstein. She was furious at the Church for daring to strike at her children and her city and she was also infuriated by Lord Wolfenstein’s unwillingness to inform her husband of his(?) ‘spiriting away’ of what Kain had thought he had lost before her husband had gone on his rampage.

If the entity had simply informed her husband of what he(?) had done, perhaps the grief her husband had suffered could have been immensely lessened. Not only that, if her husband had known that his city, its people and his family had been spared erasure, he might have been more cautious and methodical in his assault on the last bastion of the enemy church rather than mindlessly charging in with no plan other than a recklessly blind rampage. Needless to say, Alexis was not at all in the mood for Lord Wolfenstein’s games. She demanded that he(?) work his(?) ‘magic’ and return her husband to an awake state, but the entity refused to comply for reasons he(?) would not divulge.

“Oh, I see a joke here. You are obviously joking, because if you weren’t it would be treason!”

Alexis was practically screaming in Lord Wolfenstein’s unamused face, but the entity refused to move from his(?) position, both figuratively and literally.

“Please, relax. There is no harm done from this and no harm meant.” Lord Wolfenstein said as his(?) eyes fluttered lazily. “It was either that or he curbstomps everything. And we can’t have that, now can we?”

“And what is wrong with that?!”

Lord Wolfenstein sighed audibly and slightly tilted his(?) head.

“Well,” Lord Wolfenstein began, “to quote a line from a rather popular old cartoon from a world far removed from this one, but with slightly altered wording; ‘With every step, an earthquake. With every breath, a hurricane. He now lives in a world made of empty eggshells, constantly having to be careful not to hurt someone or break something.’ With his power now at maximum, he could shatter this entire planet like a crystal ball impacting concrete at Mach 1 if he, in a rage, stomped the ground with as little as 10% of his full power. Sealing that strength and letting him take a well-deserved nap to readjust to his old power’s limits is a necessary measure to prevent all that he cares for from being reduced to floating space debris.”

Alexis was still not happy with the entity’s response, but if what Lord Wolfenstein said was true, then she and her husband would never be able to enjoy each other so long as her husband had his new power. She knew her beloved wanted to treat her gently, even when in bed, and if Kain truly had enough power to smash the planet at that peak of strength then he would never permit himself to come close to his family. She knew Kain rarely feared anything, but one of the things he did fear was accidentally hurting those few he genuinely cared for. If he was still at full power and completely awake, he likely would choose to go far, far away from Darksol in order to avoid hurting, killing or destroying those whom he cared for.

In that case, perhaps sealing his strength was a good idea. But even still!

“Then why not simply use you ‘great and might power’ to seal his and then use it to keep him awake?”

Lord Wolfenstein shrugged and let his(?) eyes wander.

“Well, for one thing we both agreed that everyone here depends on him way too much. Think of this as a bit of a test; a test to see how you all fare without him constantly holding everything up. It will take a few years or so for him to reawaken. You can’t fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool with a single eyedropper in an expedient manner, so be grateful that he’ll be up when he will be. And, if worst comes to worst I can simply flip the switch and awaken Darksol’s greatest WMD.”

“You didn’t answer the question.” Alexis growled.

“Well, I did. But if you can’t read between the lines, or read the lines at all, then that’s not my problem. Anyway, for now my job is done and I’ll be heading off for a while. Please honor the terms of Kain’s agreement while he sleeps, otherwise it’ll be back to the place beyond time and space for you all.”

With those words, and a potent threat, Lord Wolfenstein vanished.

“Damn that bastard!” Alexis screamed as she stomped the black marble floor of Necrograd’s throne room. The cracks caused by her understandable tantrum were immediately repaired by the power that coursed through the citadel, but all that did was add more fuel to the furious fire that was her anger. After a few minutes of raging, Alexis’s wrath was interrupted by the damnable entity appearing once again.

“Oh, yes. I forgot to tell you something.”

“WHAT?!” Alexis roared at Lord Wolfenstein.

“Please go to the throne room of the corrupted mobile fortress along with your children and the former Heroes. There is a bit of schadenfreude that needs to be done, and it will be all the better if there are a plethora of witnesses. Do invite others for the show, it’ll be a lovely bit of karmic comeuppance. Oh, and please bring the freed slaves of the quote-unquote ‘True Hero’ Kevin. They’ll need to and want to see this. Meet you there!”

Vanishing again, Lord Wolfenstein once again left the still livid Alexis to stew in her own rage. After an hour and a half, Alexis had calmed down enough to not rip apart anyone who got too close to her. After calming down even more, she decided that whatever the entity was planning to show, she had to be there to make sure it wasn’t harmful to her husband, herself, her children and her nation. She knew that if she were to go alone, the entity would never appear and what it intended to show her and the others would never come to pass.

Begrudgingly, she retired to the study and penned out a few letters before sending them off. Whatever that enigmatic bastard was planning, she would make sure it never got the chance to hurt her family or her nation.

“Alright, you piece of shit wannabe god, let’s see what you have up your sleeve.”