Knariss

A lone figure sat at a massive table, stacks of papers in front of him. Mountains of reports from around the world and a certain one from the fey wilds. Out of all of these two had his undivided attention, the new dungeon that had appeared on the world, that felt of his mother’s power, and a request from King Oberon demanding the return of a missing fae queen.

Even knowing about the dungeon for ten years, he was still caught off guard by his mother's presence emanating from it. So, he chose to once again dispatch his most loyal follower and her team to investigate. So, with one problem solved that still left him to figure out how to prove if Faun Sway was behind Oberon's anger or was, she being set up. Probably both, fae are well known to twist the truth or flat out lie to get their way, everything is a game to them.

It was more than likely one of Titania and Oberon's daughters got too full of themselves and decided they were strong enough to embarrass Faun Sway in her own domain. A foolish assumption, Faun is both a fae queen and a goddess. They could fight her at the same time and still lose.

He spoke in a deep rumbling voice as he stood from the table. “The dungeon I can understand, at least a little, Anarchy the Dread Fiend himself decided to drop that on us and no one can predict what he does. Unfortunately, Titania and Oberon on the other hand won’t care that one of their kids made a deadly mistake, they won’t stand for them to be demeaned in any way, and I doubt Faun just ups and lets them go, mostly because there's no way she admits to having them.”

Now standing he paced the floor trying to think of a solution. Literally anything at all could solve the issues that were going to arise.

The sound of heavy metallic footsteps that came from the hall and broke him out of his thoughts.

“Well, somebody's working hard today, huh Lyrox?”

“Oh, Langston it's you. This isn’t work it's a fucking nightmare of a problem. Faun Sway probably captured one of her sisters and is continuing to do who knows what with them.”

Langston watched Lyrox for a few seconds before speaking. “Well, I can confirm that the Summer Queen did invade the Twilight Forest during a meeting between Faun Sway, Anolis, Feltza, and myself. Faun asked us to leave and said she would contact me later. It's been two weeks since then. Soo has Oberon or Titania made any accusations yet or are we in the clear.”

Lyrox reached back to the table and grabbed Oberon’s letter. He glanced over it in his hands quickly before handing it off to Langston, who went ahead and read through it.

To the Belfa Pantheon of Knariss.

I Oberon first of my name, Mighty Sovereign of the Deep Forests, Lord of the Wild Hunt, and High King of the Fae-folk do so declare that my wife High Queen Titania’s bastard daughter, the illegitimately crowned, Twilight Queen Faun Sway spawn of the hated Dread Fiend has unjustly imprisoned my true blood daughter Solaris Summer Queen of the Fae-folk.

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that if she is not returned to the wilds in three days' time, I shall unleash the Wild Hunt and the entire might of the Fae Wilds on you. If she is not freed, we will come for her and we will regretfully end the lives of those who stand against us. We will burn your cities, your temples, and your sacred places. Your people will know the rage of a fathers heart.

Sincerely High King Oberon

Dictated but not read.

“He can’t be that stupid, can he? They must realize we would crush them in an all-out war, right? Plus, the whole dictated but not read line is complete bullshit. That old huntsman knows he wrote this.”

“They're weird like that, still we shouldn’t let our guard down. This whole thing smells like a setup, they're after something and they're willing to sacrifice their people to get it. The Wild Hunt and army of fanatic fae is nothing we can’t handle.” Lyrox said while pacing the floor beside the table.

“Then why alert us to their plan at all. They stood a better chance of attacking us if they used the element of surprise right?”

Langston’s words were a flash of revelation to Lyrox who now understood some of what the fairy king planned.

It’s a trap when they take too many losses they're going to go complain to the Aether Court. They’ll whine about how they gave us time to prepare, probably in some vain attempt to make it seem like this fight was agreed upon by both sides. Make us look like sore winners who could have accepted a surrender but didn’t. Believe me when I say that the entirety of the Aether Court will fall for this sob story, it wouldn’t be the first time, they’ll demand we give Oberon something of value to make up for all the losses they take.”

Langston's eye nearly bulged out of his head at Lyrox’s explanation. “What about the Nether Court, the other half of the Ethereal Pantheon, your mothers a part of it right, maybe she could help us avoid that outcome.”

Lyrox sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “My mother despises all forms of violence, if this becomes a fight, she will stand against us. She will want to know why we didn’t just listen to Oberon’s demands and return his daughter to him to avoid all the blood shed. She would even go as far as to side with the Aether Court if they vote on which side is right. Her distaste for violence is one of the reasons the Fae Wilds and its inhabitants act without consequences; they're really good at playing the victim.”

Langston groaned and his armor squealed as he sat his massive frame down at the table. “I’m starting to understand why Faun Sway hates her mother and that entire side of her family. They're all a bunch of spoiled children who are too used to getting their way. So, what are we going to do about it then?”

Lyrox paced the floor every so often he would stop and drum his fingers across the table. He continued this pattern throwing in some low pitched mutterings. Then he stopped and took his seat again, a smile plastered across his pale face.

“Alright, here's what we’ll do!”