As they left Blossom’s Palace, Kazius would notice the somewhat giddy and excited expression Damon seemed to have as the Werewolf spoke up.

“Did you see her? I couldn’t stop looking at her. She was incredible!” Damon exclaimed.

Of course, Kazius’ first thoughts were that maybe Damon was talking about the Lady’s ridiculous chest size. Before Kazius could respond though, Damon would speak up again.

“She was so tall!” Damon exclaimed giddily, practically beaming as he spoke of the woman’s height.

Kazius could not help but let out a small laugh at this, cheering up a little. His friend was a funny one, but it was good seeing him like this. He had been worried with how serious he had been since he lost his eye. Kazius was his friend’s emotional support, yet he himself wasn’t feeling happy so it was good seeing the others were okay.

“I hope you are able to get her attention then. Hopefully you can do that while we convince her to join us… It will be hard though. If we want to stand a chance against The Church and The Demons, we will need her to bend the knee though.” Kazius responded with a small smile.

“We will avenge Grandpa.” Alice would speak up, sounding determined.

“Remus didn’t deserve that at all…” Azanor admitted, “I suppose he is at least with his wife now.” He added, all aware how much he missed his Rose.

“I just wish Ratier had been half the man he was.” Rowan admitted with a sigh, “Well, darlings. I would love to stay and talk more, but I have work to do. Walk around and enjoy Blossom, won’t you? Don’t stray too far though.” Rowan stated with a wave and wink.

“See you later new friend!” Eve waved happily.

Azanor sighed at Eve’s words, likely being reminded of how much Eve didn’t remember, but would also wave at Rowan half-heartedly. Holding onto Eve with his arm, at least their relationship improved.

“I can’t sit here looking at flowers. I am going to find a place I can practice with my spear.” Damon stated in a determined manner despite not being fully recovered. “I have too many reasons to not stay weak.” He admitted with a frown. “I never had anyone in my life that acted like how Remus did.” He added, “He may have been Alice’s grandpa, but to me he gave me a glimpse to what a dad should be. I won’t stay this way, so I can keep people I care about safe.” Being quite serious. He may still be his goofy self at times, but it was clear Remus’ death had changed him. Honestly, Kazius knew it changed him himself as well… Perhaps in not the best of ways.

“I’ll go with you.” Kazius agreed.

“Me too!” Alice exclaimed.

“Seriously? You two are the ones that got the most hurt, you know?” Azanor questioned in concern. His hand placed on his face in disapproval, “Why are you enabling them, Alice?” He questioned only to get a serious expression from the 3. It was clear he was not changing their mind.

Azanor sighed at this, looking almost defeated without them even saying a word, “I’m going too then. I need to get better stamina and actually put some effort in.” He stated, echoing Remus’ suggestion considering Azanor did not intend to consume anymore souls.

‘Azanor wants to exercise? I guess Remus really did change all of us.’ Kazius would think to himself in shock.

“I will do my best too!” Eve exclaimed

With that, they will all go practice. They found a field near the city that seemed appropriate.

Their training was… A frustrating endeavor.

Damon would attempt to strike a nearby tree with his spear, but indeed losing an eye had truly affected his depth perception. While before he wouldn’t miss while wielding the spear with his hand, now he would struggle to even hit an unmoving tree.

Alice couldn’t make up her mind on what to change her sword into even now, likely only feeling more pressure. The metal lump that was once her sword would wiggle and swirl as if it was a liquid, but would then go back to being a metal ball whenever she seemed to struggle to think of what weapon she wanted.

Speaking of Azanor, the poor Demon struggled with some of the most basic of exercises. Still, like the others, he wasn’t giving up either.

As for Eve, she surprisingly did sit up and all kinds of exercises with little effort, but honestly, the best way for her to learn to fight would be with realizing what she was. Whatever that was… Kazius honestly still had no clue, but he was beginning to think it wasn’t because Azanor did not want to tell him, but rather it may just be difficult to explain.

Kazius on the other hand had no way of practicing necromancy. Friends with the Lady or not, he knew the people here would not be content with some newcomers digging up their loved ones and messing with their remains. That left Kazius with practicing his shadows, something that Elande had so easily cut through… It frustrated him. He didn’t know how to improve the strength of his shadow. He was basically just playing with them. Compared to a Dragon or Elande he may very well just be a child, or so he felt.

Then there was communicating with his shadow, it was normally so cocky yet with Elande, it had told him to run. It didn’t help him at all. The situation was so infuriating it even made him consider looking for his father for help, despite how nefarious Azanor warned him Seselis was. What else could he do if he wanted to protect his friends?

Still, what was strange about his father… Was…

‘If he really is the King of The Shadow Fiends… And shadows are his domain…With what I have been doing with shadows… My father must have…’ Kazius would think to himself, realizing something.

After his realization, he would think further on his situation. While everyone was working hard, Kazius felt like he was doing worse of them all. He couldn’t practice necromancy and his one power was useless against real danger. His shadows were not strong enough. If they really would face a Dragon, they were screwed with their current strength. As King, as their friend, Kazius felt like he was allowed less weakness. Who would bend the knee to someone like him? Especially someone like Sakura… Or even that Red Dragon from the vision in the mirror hall…

Bottom line was… That Remus was dead because of him… He didn’t regret changing the future… And perhaps Death could not be cheated without a price… But still… If he had been stronger… This may not have happened. He dragged his friends into this vision… And he couldn’t even protect them… He couldn’t play with shadows forever, he needed to do more than just play. In the past, he told Azanor and Damon that he had the resolve to be the terrible men that they were… Perhaps it was time to live up to that.

‘So you finally realized it… Though… A part of you… Must have already known… You’ve always known… They will die if they keep this up… Even if they get stronger… You will become a burden… Won’t you be a proper King?’

“Kazius?” Alice would speak up, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Are you alright? You seem out of it… You have just been staring at the floor…”

Kazius smiled at her warmly, “I am alright… I will be right back, okay?” He assured.

“But where-” Alice began to call out to him only for Kazius to leave before she could question him further, his smile fading the moment that he was away from his friends. He knew what he was about to do was bad.

Once he was out of sight, he would go into the forest alone.

“The shadows are your domain, aren’t they… Father? I’ve been playing with them for so long… You must have known this whole time, haven’t you? I am quite mad at you, you know… You’ve watched me struggle quite a lot… Why?” Kazius questioned with a scowl only to hear a dark deep chuckle coming from his own shadow.

‘Your foolish mother thought she could hide your birth from me… What an idiotic woman she is… As if I would sink so low as to copulate without a purpose… I don’t have such desires like flesh beings do… You have made me oh very proud… My son…’