--AN) It's late but 2 are coming!--
Blake and the girls both turned around to see a guard walking over to them, but the door was now fully closed. "This way. It is not good to keep the princess waiting."
Blake nodded and followed the guard through the halls. There were many twists and turns. Blake immediately noticed that they even passed by the same place many times. He wondered if the entire palace was set up in some kind of illusion that Titi was unable to see through.
But what caught his eye was that everything was black in color. The walls and the floors. The beams that held parts of the ceiling up. Even the curtains and tapestries were all black.
After some time they arrived at a large black stone door where six tall guards shrouded in black mist stood guard.
The guard leading Blake and the girls stepped forward and said a few words before stepping aside as two of the guards went to open the door. Only when the door was opened, a crack did the guard leading Blake say: "Please enter. Her highness is on the other side."
"Thank you." Blake gave a slight bow before motioning for the girls to follow him. The group moved through the crack, and once more, like how they entered the palace, the doors slammed shut behind them.
"You have come….." A soft voice filled the air. It was not too loud nor too soft, but even when Blake had yet to see the person speaking, he heard it as clear as day.
"My name is Blake. If I am not wrong, you are the princess of this palace?" Blake asked. He was trying to handle things in a polite manner, but he was not sure if he was doing a good job of it or not.
"That I am. I am the last remaining princess of my Naga clan on this mortal plane, Princess Gemini." Princess Gemini answered.
The room Blake was in was still made of black stone, but it had different colors strewn throughout the room. The carpets were blue in color, while the Japanese style room screen was made of white and red lining. He noticed it was embroidered with many different kinds of plants. It was simple yet elegant.
Behind the screen, he could see that someone was behind it, but he could not see who they were. He could only make out that they were at least part humanoid. But two things stuck out to Blake as he heard the words being said. "Princess Gemini, what do you mean by mortal plane? Do you mean planet?"
"Planet? No. There are many planets in the sky. Many worlds like our own. Many races like our own. They might differ in some ways, but they are all rich and bountiful worlds with mana unless that mana has been dried up.
"This plane is nothing more than a starting point. Each world that has life on it has one goal. To grow stronger until they reach the mortal plane's limit and break through to the plane above. What that strength is, I do not know. I do not know what lies beyond as I have been in this realm for who knows how long….." Princess Gemini's words were soft and full of sorrow. She took a slight pause before continuing: "With strength comes jealousy of those who wish to stand at the top. In order to do so, they will band together and try to take down the powers above them. They might fear the strength, but once you lose a key part of that strength, in order to keep you from being able to rise up again, they will stop at nothing to make sure you are unable to grow anymore."
"You sound as if you have lived through such a tragedy or more like you really have. When I first arrived in this magic realm, as you called it, I was on an ancient battlefield. Millions of swords were stuck in the ground with humanoid skeletons walking about." As Blake began to speak, he motioned for the girls to stay put as he moved toward the screen in the room. "From your words just now and the tone of your voice, I can deduce that the Naga, your people, had been the rulers of this world at the time. Your strongest members had gone to the upper plane and left you and your people here alone.
"From the battlefield I saw in this magic realm, I can guess you must have wanted to retreat from the world. But they somehow found you, and battle played out within this realm. Please stop me if I am wrong." Blake spoke calmly and slowly as he continued walking forward.
"No, you are not wrong. And surprisingly, you are right. I did wish to save my people. Our lands were ravished, and my people were murdered one after the other. The breeding ponds have dried up. They came and slaughtered the innocent and tried to kill us all off. I did everything in my power as I led my soldiers to try to protect my people. But we continued to lose ground. All that was left was this palace. In order to protect me, the soldiers I had left used a forbidden magic, turning them into death soldiers. This magic sealed their soul in the fog of death and made it so that they would never become normal again, but in return, they were able to cast a spell that stopped our enemies at the palace gates and killed every living thing within the magic realm except for this palace. Only I…. After all these long years have survived.
"I have been here waiting for the time the seal would weaken on my magic realm, and only then was I able to open a path here. To see if the world still existed as it did or if there were races who did not look down on the other races just because of their race or strength." Princess Gemini sighed as he slowly came out from behind the screen and looked at Blake, who was only a few feet away. "And now I have found someone who does not look down on the races…."
