Aspheri - Shadow's rule. - open -

Be'lakor smiled once again as the gaurds formed around him. He towered over all of them, but he did not act superior. He simply followed them. They made disgruntled sounds which he geussed were disagreement, Be'lakor had obviously spoken out of line, and had possibly offended the Princess. He shook his head as the gaurds led him to a large, multi story building.
"So, is this it?" Be'lakor asked, his eyes returning to their green colour, emitting the eerie green glow. "It seems far too nice, for what i deserve, but i am grateful. You have my thanks...Soldiers of Aspheri." Be'lakor walked through the doors at their approval, and was transported to a room. He entered, and simply sat down, and let the time go by...

Shadow had hurried back to the throne room, breaking into a run when there was no one else around to see her. She arrived in the throne room, out of breath as she was no longer in the habit of running. She flopped down on the throne, her hands reaching up to take off her mask. She pulled on one end of the ribbon, undoing the knot. She placed it on the small table next to her, forgetting that Bart was supposed to be in the room. She rubbed her temples, sighing. She was tired, having barely slept because of all the sudden rise in ambassadors from other dimensions.

Bart smirked furtively to himself, shaking his head slowly, as he noticed the person he had known as Shadow Roth be taken out of breath, which wasn't something he was used to see. Especially since he had known her before. And before that again, before the prophecy and everything. He lifted his head to the princess, preventing himself from seeming too rude to be in front of royalty. He remembered everything from the beginning, to now. The first meeting with Shadow, in Grenoble. The quest for the All-Teller necklace. Karthragan's death and Shadow' rebirth. Her living as an exile of her family. They had only really become friends when they were together for so long. And now that a year or so had passed, he only came with the notice that he had missed her greatly.
"So," Bart began, interrupting the silence, trying to change from the ideas roaming in his head, "why did you bring me here?"

Shadow had leant her head back against the back of her throne, her hair spilling down her back like a black waterfall. She almost jumped out of her skin as Bart's voice sounded across from her. She grabbed her mask, holding it with one hand over her face.
"Damn it, Bart, you couldn't have announced your presence before I took my mask off?!" She said, turning her gaze to meet with the red eyes of the Kraferr. She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves.
"I sent you here so that I could talk to you," She said quietly, glad that her mask hid the blush that was creeping over her cheeks.

Bart felt slightly offended as the words of the demoness met him, but he did not show it in any way physically. He was used to doing the wrong things, especially since he had lived with Dominique. He tried not to concentrate on that, knowing that any of his words of excuses wouldn't bring him to anything. His bright red eyes glinted under the small strips of brown hair that fell over his forehead, which he pushed away with one elegant sway of his hand past his face. He readjusted the long sleeves on his hands, and nodded quickly before looking up at Shadow from where he stood. His purple tail coiled itself around his left leg, tightening strongly.
"What do you wish to speak of?" Bart asked, tilting his head ever so slightly to the right in intrigue.

Shadow's gaze softened slightly, her one visible violet eye seemingly smiling. She tried to quickly think up an excuse that would fit her reasons, but nothing came to mind. Therefore, she settled on just telling him the truth.
"I missed you," She said quietly, simply. "Three years have passed in this dimension, although it would only have been one back on Earth, and I can't exactly just nip over there for a quick chat anymore."

"Eh, not like I wanted to have a chat anyways,"' Bart replied briefly, sneering at himself idiotically, "a teleportation f*ck-up, that's what I am... Still surprises me that I find myself on Aspheri, though..." Noticing that he was about to wander off-subject once again, he lifted one hand to scratch the back of his head, making his brown hair spike up at the back. He shook his head to the ground, and he turned it to Shadow, smiling gently.
"I've missed you too, Shadow," he continued, a calm expression on his face, but seemingly glad to be here after all.

Shadow smiled sadly behind her mask, still holding it in place as she hadn't retied the ribbon. She remembered the games by the lake that they had played when she was trying to train Bart to teleport correctly, even though she was fairly sure that he was going to be a failed case, although not for lack of trying. She broke eye contact wit the Kraferr as a wave of sadness crashed into her heart, and she didn't want him to see it. She didn't utter a word, her violet eyes glistening in the firelight with unshed tears.

Bart turned completely to the demoness, taking in a deep breath. He sensed that Shadow was sad, but he didn't want her to know that he knew, because if she was hiding it, it was for a reason. Since months, Bart had been able to detect emotions quite easily. He opened his eyes wide, looking up at the princess, seemingly so sad.He couldn't show any of his emotions right now. At least, not the too deep emotions. He let out a sigh, ending ascendantly slowly.

Shadow took a deep breath, reining in her emotions again. When her gaze turned back to meet Bart's, all traces of the previous sorrow had disappeared, having been buried deep within her mind.
"I guess we should think about trying to get you home before Dominique finds out that you're missing," She said quietky, her voice sounding flat and emotionless.

"Before I left, I said that I would be gone for a few days," Bart replied quietly, looking at the ground, "we got into a sort of... Argument, and we just needed some time alone. Nothing much. That means I still have fairly some time left." Bart tried to think, but the thoughts of him being in Aspheri always deconcentrated him. He tried to keep calm, but with his new appearance in a land of which he had totally no knowledge, it sort of asked him to come out and actually learn a few new things. But deep down, he knew that Shadow was right, and that he had to leave. He looked up at the princess, breaking his previous gaze at the ground. "Well, I can go back to Earth whenever I want, I think... I still remember... THAT lake's song..." Bart paused for a moment.
"Do you remember that lake, Shadow?"

Almost immediately at the mention of the lake, Shadow's eyes filled with tears. She tried to blink them away, her gaze turned from Bart's, but they spilled over. The hand that wasn't holding her mask in place was shaking slightly, but she quickly placed it on the arm of the throne, trying to limit the obvious fact that her emotions were affected by the thought of the past. The scars from Vrael's arrows tingled slightly, as if reminding her that they were there. She drew a shaky breath, but was unable to rein in her emotions again, leaving her to pray that it wasn't to obvious to the Kraferr in front of her.

Bart closed his eyes, turning them to the ground and opening them again, looking at the black marble, which seemed to have been so clearly cleaned, and it was recent. He let out another breath, and folded his arms behind him, lifting his head to see the sad demoness. It was almost painful for him to look at. Seeing one of his best friends cry after an unintentional meeting... He felt as if his place wasn't here.
"Yes, you do remember that lake," Bart remarked quietly, "with the same memories as I do..." Bart took a step forwards, uncurling his arms from behind his back.

The hand that Shadow had placed on the arm of the throne strayed to the scar one her shoulder that had been left by Vrael's arrow. She gritted her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut, burying the memories. She had forgotten them for three years, and then the Kraferr had to go and awaken them once more.
"Please," She murmured, "Can we talk about something else?"

"Yes, of course, Shadow," Bart replied quickly, looking at the ground in shame. He gulped quickly, frowning at himself for not having stopped his words before they had come out of his lips. He shook his head quickly, trying to throw away the thought that had just come into his mind again, from long ago. He shouldn't have brought them again. "I don't know how you feel, having to be stuck here, without any other issue..." Bart muttered darkly, "and I probably never will. I don't want to have to torture you with such things." He growled at himself, turning his head sideways to prevent himself looking at the demoness.
"I need to leave." Bart turned around, clenching his hands into fists.

"Yes, I think it may be better..." Shadow murmured quietly, her shaking hands reaching round the back of her head to tie her mask in place again. She looked up as a messenger walked into the chamber, hurridly bowing and looking briefly at Bart before letting loose with a stream of demonic. Shadow nodded occasionally, seemingly listening intently.

Once the messenger had gone, Shadow groaned inwardly, holding her head in her hands.
"I can't help you get out of her now. Apparently, yet another Ambassador has come."

"Isn't it simple enough?" Bart asked, turning his head to Shadow, "I mean, I just have to remember the song of that area... Then, the teleportation should work." Bart frowned at himself, and turned his head away. He still had screwed up his last teleportation, what was going to say that he wouldn't screw up this time? Bart mumbled incomprehensible words under his breath, and a thought struck him.
"If I may ask," Bart continued, turning his head to the princess to only leave a glint of his red eyes through the sides of his hair, "one whole year has passed on Earth. The prophecy said that on the next moon following your 'death', and Vrael would 'cry to the skies', while Alba would be 'lost to the void'. What happened?"

"No, it's not that simple to teleport between dimensions, which makes it all the more puzzling for your arriving here." Shadow said quietly, her violet eye becoming cold, emotionless. She suddenly cocked her head slightly to the side, as if listening.
"Vrael's tale shall have to wait. You must leave the chamber before the ambassador gets here, or we're both screwed."

Bart nodded quickly sideways, and he continued out of where he came from. His footsteps did not resonate as a normal human's would in a room this large. The light flickering from the candles danced as Bart passed them, and disappeared into the darkness of the hall, past Phantom, without any sound, accompanied by a deathly silence. The room seemed cold as he left it.

As Bart left the hall, another figure accompanied by five soldiers passed them, the leader giving the Kraferr a long look, as if planning something. He entered the hall, bowing slightly before Shadow, who inclined her head in his direction.
"Phantom, Wraith, you may leave us," She said briefly, looking Wraith in the eye and secretly willing her to accompany Bart to wherever he wished to go in the dimension. She then made eye contact with the ambassador, listening to the beginnings of what she was sure was going to be a very long and boring speech.

Bart heard the gentle pawsteps of the canine that advanced towards him. He turned his head to look at Wraith, smirking slightly. He looked down at the black-furred she-wolf with certain interest. He lifted his head ever so slowly to glast a glance towards the Ambassador that Shadow had mentioned, and he turned around away from the vision, not speaking a word, letting Wraith follow him further into the long and dark corridors that evoked for him what someone had to go through to become evil.

Shadow listened halfheartedly to the ambassador. Yap, yap, yap, more of that roundabout language that she had grown used to and bored of. Unfortunately, some of his words caught her attention in a bad way...

Wraith and Phantom padded alongside Bart, one on either side of the Kraferr. Passing demons in the corridors looked from Bart to the wolves, and then back to Bark before bowing and hurrying on their way.

Bart hesitantly gave the bows back to their receivers, not really knowing what to do else. He took care of not taking too much time, though, because the canines kept on padding away, and he needed to keep up with them. Bart's tail flicked gently at the air, before locking itself around Bart's right lg, making him sense a sort of premonition. Which he couldn't know whether it was good or bad. When his tail moved awkwardly when there was no reason to, Bart also seemed worried.

Shadow listened to the rest of the audience while trying to hide her emotions. The only sign that showed her emotional state were her hands twitching slightly. As soon as the ambassador had gone, she took a deep, shaking breath before whistling a certain tune under her breath.

Wraith pricked up her ears before glancing at Phantom. The other wolf inclined his head. Both wolves stopped, looking back the way they had come, where the sound of high heels on the stone resonated.

Bart also jerked to a stop at the hearing of the high-pitched sound, with which his fur went spiky and tingly. He shakily turned his head to the side, to glance at where the footsteps were coming from. He did his best not to move by reflex, in other words, preparing himself in a defense position. His tail tensed greatly at the sound of the whistle, becoming one straight purple line in the darkness, before shriveling up like a burning snake, and coiling itself back on Bart's leg.