1 THE VISIT

A man stood underneath a plum blossom tree with his head tilted up to the snowing sky. His eyes glowing with a silver light so focused on the that one could swear that he could see the stars hidden behind the clouds. If one were to take a closer look they would see the nostalgia radiating from his eyes, it had been a while since he had last gazed at the stars from this plane. Though they were not as he remembered, it was still a beautiful sight.

He sighed as his gaze descended from the stars to land on that castle a bit over a kilometer away, he had come back to this plane for a task so he may as well get it over with. The plum blossom that sheltered him disappeared as he started moving towards the castle.

Walking to the castle the descending snow did not dare to touch him, diverting to the side it made way for him as he approached the thousands of guards separated into different groups. Each group in a petal shape with the castle in the center, with Noble stage guards at the edge and one or two Sovereign stage guards per group found closest to the castle. A force enough conquer most nations in the world each dedicated to protect their Lords, the esteemed guests of the Castle.

He did not pay them any notice and they did not even notice him as he calmly walked the kilometer to the archway made of the bones of an ancient dragon with engravings of mithril showcasing the glory of the prideful Gorgon Clan that owned the glorious castle beyond this gate.

None noticed him when he calmly pushed open the two giant slabs nor when he closed them after his passage.

He moved on to the doors of the castle to which he did the same where he was greeted with the ongoing celebration of nearly all the politically influential humans on this side of the world. Either allies or subordinates of the Gorgon Clan.

He walked past the Lord of Herioq as she discussed with the Duke of Pura how it would be best for their children to marry and how their alliance should set about conquering the Moon Mountains from the silver dragons.

The Lord of Ocea was having an avid discussion with the Queen of Tabeth about whether the phoenix egg they've just acquired from the hosts is best raised into a pet or should they have just have it as tomorrow morning breakfast. Problem was they really didn't know which sub-race the egg comes from, if it were a lesser phoenix it would just be a waste of time and resources to even help it hatch nevermind raising it, between the two of them they had to many of the things so the Queen thought it better to eat it as a different variant from the ones they have.

The King of Osera was discussing among his equals about how they think he should deal with a certain Demon Lord who's been active near his territory recently. The Lord of Ocra advised on a full on attack against the demon scum. At his words a number of people unconsciously stole a peek at the Baron of The Blue Wastelands - as his wife presented to him a hydra ivory mug she'd just acquired – who was known to have quite a few dealings with a number of Demon Courts.

The man walked up the stairs, on his left numerous cases showcasing some of the greatest - of those they were willing to showcase - of the Gorgon Clan's possessions in their full splendour for the guests to behold. But he did not give a glance to the silver-crowned phoenix, much less the Holy Arcanian Sword, even it forged from an angel's blood was not worthy of his attention.

He passed a blue-haired regal girl carrying a beautiful higanbana flower with purple tinted petals, he paid the flower a glance. As he walked out of the room his gaze returned to the flower as it flew in the sky thrown among other flowers as a group of girls celebrated the engagement of their companion. He only gave a light scoff at that sight.

He finally left the room and walked into a rarely used antechamber decorated with various magical paintings showing the exploits of notable historical personalities of the Gorgon Clan. He walked up to the far right corner where there was an animated sculpture of a man valiantly climbing up endless stairs and put his foot on a random step and started walking down the stairs. He walked for a while while descending the height of the Castle, on this flight of endless stairs he walked past the Castle's numerous halls, past the dungeon filled with the scum of the Gorgon Domain and finally past the treasury filled with riches where the stairs abruptly ended. He walked past the end of the stairs and came out a Magic Gate.

On either side of the man there were numerous cages filled with all manner of small low-level beings.

The lowest leveled guards in the entire castle patrol around the floor, he ignored them as he walked towards the direction where he sensed the particular being of interest.

It wasn't the beautiful sea nymphs whose tanks they had placed near the center of the floor for all to see, so he walked past the tank. Neither was it the mountain goblin known for their amazing abilities at finding rare minerals so he walked past them as well.

Instead he walked towards the demon section, there he walked past the noisy imps, the multiple-eyed beholders did not see him.

He only stopped once in front of a cage containing around 20 crimson succubi, their short stature and horns showed that they were of the lesser variant.

"Do you know why I have come for you?" the man asked the denizens of the cage. Only one particular succubus leaning on the far end of the cage lifted her head to look at the man, only she heard the man's voice. When she looked at the man, when she saw that silver gaze that seemed to light up the darkness of the world, she saw a silver coloured abyss that seemed ready to swallow all that is. When she saw that... she was afraid.