Lord Shadow

The sun is still shining bright outside. One could see that is approaching afternoon

but as someone enters the room, he waves his hand.

A gust of wind swept through the windows

The curtains closed and the place quickly descended into darkness.

He waves his hand again and floating candles lit up before it floats near the ceiling illuminating the entire room.

Clicking his finger, the bulb on the corners of the room was turned on almost immediately. The room is now a bit brighter

There is someone else behind this man and he also enters the room. He looks at the waving of the hand, the clicking of the finger and he ask

'Why don't you open the curtain?'

'Wait' a cold but deep voice echoes in the room

the light of the candle seems to emits pleasant smell and magic particles that dances in the air.

The light bulb seems to illuminate the entire four corners of the room.

The entire room seems mystical and enchanting, like one had just stepped into a magcila wonderland

But is it for beauty?

Slowly, formation is formed and embedded into the area.

Then he waves his hand again.

The candles float into one part of the ceiling and then the fire on its wick was extinguished, frozen in the air like that

The light bulb was all turned off in an instant

And the curtain opens gently. The sunlight once again enters the room, the magical wonderland had now dissipated like it was a dream

'Ah, so, you want to make sure no one is here'

The one who is talking is Raymond and the one who is waving his hand is Azief.

And this is Azief office.

Azief did not answer Raymond question as he walks to his seat and sit on his chair and he gesture for Raymond to sit

Raymond sits in front of him, the sturdy table is the only divider between them

Raymond did not wear his golden armor or brought his weapon into the study.

Instead today he wears a little bit casual, a uniform of one of the members of the Quorum council. It has a bit of that military style robe but it is more casual.

Looking at each other, they seem to have many things to say to each other.

But, right now they are not Raymond and Azief. It is Death Monarch of Pandemonium and the Supreme general of the World Government.

They look at each other eyes, Death Monarch eyes is like always, cold and his face is expressionless.

Raymond on the other hand has a pure eye, his blond hair sways left and right as the wind from the windows is blowing his hair like it wanted to accentuate the handsomeness of this man

They are like the shining bright sun and the darkness of the void of space.

They could not be more different from each other.

Either in temperament or personality, they are very much different from each other.

Even though Azief invited Raymond to talk about some things, he is silent. In his head, there is many question he wanted to ask.

These question that he wanted to ask is not necessarily about the matters of the world.

The question he wanted to ask have something to do with Sofia. But, the words did not come out so the question remains unasked.

And Raymond also have his own set of question he wanted to ask Death Monarch

And like Death Monarch, his question also did not particularly revolve around the world affairs. It is the same subjects, only the question is different.

But just like Death Monarch, he also could not say anything and his question also remains unasked.

The silence did not last long

Azief then ask

'Loki tell you about the trident?' there is no greeting and no pleasantries. Death Monarch dove into the question right away. Raymond nodded.

Azief sighed

'Like always, his dark hands are always moving behind the scene' Then he said

'I will help you gain the trident back' he paused for a second before continuing saying

'In return, you help me with the establishment of the Ten Realms'

Raymond nodded. Then he asks

'The other world leaders…. how was their response?'

'they all agree to the formation of the Ten Realms'

'I thought one of them would disagree'

'the attack on the meeting change some of their minds' listening to this Azief could not help bu chuckles bitterly

'It seems that I have to thank the perpetrators for blowing up the Dome'

Raymond then added

'There is still some few details that needs to be ironed out. But, the big hurdle is already solved. So, it would not be long now.'

There is another silence between them. outside, the sun is shining bright and if you look from the office you could see the peaceful beach in the distance.

The silence did not last long

Raymond then asked

'Why are you rushing?'

Azief look at Raymond and said

'You must have a guess'

Raymond nodded

'You want to go into seclusion?' he added and said

'I expected it…..but hearing it from you….I am quite shocked. You are really fast. I don't know how the world is going to catch up.'

Azief nodded. It is not something he wanted to keep as a secret. And it is something that could not be hidden.

'You are breaking through to Essence Creation?' Azief nodded again.

Raymond does not know what to feel right now.

he is just about to break through Divine Comprehension and Azief is once again leading the pack, wanting to reach Essence Creation.

But, will he succeed this time?

From the intelligence he had, it seems that Azief tries to break though before but failed.

However, his failure the last time did not seem to affect him that badly. But, if he fails two times, it would be weird if nothing happens to him.

And no, Raymond is not hoping that he failed. Instead, he fears what would happen if Azief failed.

Then a new age of chaos would erupt again.

The only reason the world power plays nice with each other is because these delicate alliances that the world power have with each other.

If Death Monarch fails, the referee of the world no longer have the qualification to referee and mediate the conflict of the world...then they probably would no longer play nice with each other

A new warring era would begin with everybody eyeing the top peak of the world power will begin again.

And the situation of the world right now is even more unstable than the last time.

In the past everyone was groping their way forward

But, in this time, everyone already knows how the world works and so, if anything happens to Death Monarch at this juncture, then the instability of the world will be worse than the last time.

Death Monarch every move affects the world, whether it his successes or his failure. He is too big now and his shadows shrouded the world

In the past, if he makes a mistake, that is one individual making a mistake. Now, if he makes a mistake, one failure, it affects the entire world.

Like a mountain crumbling, it affects the base of the mountain and would buried the entire village under that mountain

Raymond is waiting

An answer, an explanation, a reason. Anything. He should say something. And Azief knows what Raymond expects of him

So he speaks.

'The threats of the world keep multiplying and the enemy Earth has to face become stronger'

Raymond nodded at this.

Sighing, Azief then said

'The moment I open the Time Space tunnel and bring about the Multiversal Convergence, it is like we are making a fire in a dark forest'

Raymond then interjected

'And the fire is bright'

Azief nodded

'Bright indeed. And many civilization and powerful beings began to look at us. The only way to make sure Earth could survive the coming new dawn is to have enough strength'

'You're confident this time?'

Azief simply nodded.

Raymond then said

'Then, I hope you will succeed'

Azief thought nothing of Raymond congratulations or well-wishes.

Because he knows that Raymond is sincere. If it's any other person, they might be wrecked by hatred seeing him getting stronger

But since it is Raymond, he has no such thought. They might be rival once upon a time, but they also have respect toward each other.

Azief trust Raymond so much that when he goes to the Seresian world, he always knew that Sofia would be safe. Because Raymond would be there to protect him.

Right now, with his identity and his current relationship, it is very hard to try to protect Sofia. And he knows that if he dies do it openly, Sofia would hate it

And he knows he have no right to do it right now.

But, he also could not stay by her side all the time. Because it is over when she rejected his proposal.

And even though, he said that it is over, for some reason even Azief didn't believe it.

It felt like this would never be over. And Azief don't know whether that is a good thing or a bad thing

Maybe, it depends on his intention

Because what he shared with Sofia is special.

There are some parts of him that he never let her see.

But, there is also a part of him, that she is the only one who saw it. There is some feelinsg that he shared only with her

And a piece of his heart...is there with her.

Always

There is a feeling of nostalgia between them, and they know each other

They have been through so much together that it is almost impossible for thing to be truly over between them

This is the scary thing about time.

It is hard to win against that time that they spent with each other. Memories that is etched in every second of the time they spent together.

And now, he has Katarina. And he wants to do right by her. He does not want her to think that she is the rebound girl

Because she is not. And she deserves better than that.

So, he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

But at least Raymond is beside her.

Though, Azief don't know if he could stand seeing Sofia being with Raymond.

It is one thing to know if she dated someone else.

It is another thing, if he had to see that new boyfriend.

Sofia did not date Raymond.

But Raymond wanted to date her.

That much is obvious.

When a man does the thing that Raymond does, it is very easy to know his intention. And Raymond was never the type of guy that hides this kind of intention.

He is very straightforward and very open and aboveboard. So, it is hard to criticize him. Azief knows that he had never been straightforward with his feelings.

There are things in his heart that he could not just opens up easily like Raymond does.

There are not many things that they need to talk about.

If this is the only thing they want to talk about, there is no need for the protection formation and there is no need to meet with Raymond face to face.

But there is a reason why Raymond is here.

'Is there any more questions?'

'No, I think I would get the full story when you give your memory'

Raymond just nodded as he gives something like a USB stick to Azief.

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