Gaia. (16)

Relovan wasn't even sure which direction the voice came from, but he was spent. The Essence Aura had worn off, he was feeling unbelievably fatigued, and he wasn't even sure if he was going to survive the fall, but the one thing he made sure to do, was not let go of the Princess. A moment or two later, Relovan suddenly felt something very hard against his back, like a warm wall, and the instant he felt that thing, everything went dark.

"Gotcha!" Nura said as he caught Relovan and landed on a rooftop.

The Chief almost went clean through the roof, but managed to stay on it. He then jumped down to ground level where Carolina was waiting for him.

"Where is the Princess?!" The older woman bellowed as she approached the Adonian.

"…I'm right here, Carolina." Princess Nkanyezi replied.

Her voice was slightly muffled as she was pressed against Relovan's chest, but she was still there. Carolina then went through a myriad of emotions, from pure relief, to joy, to annoyance, and then rage. She looked at the unconscious Relovan holding her Princess like they were in a villa at some beach resort, and Nura could quite literally see her face change colour and steam threaten to burst out from her ears.

"How dare this Human peasant hold the Princess like this?!" Carolina barked while looking at Nura. "Get her out of there!"

"How dare you, Carolina?!" Princess Nkanyezi shouted. "This man saved my life, and you will not only appreciate him, but you will also respect him!"

"I will respect him as much as you wish after he lets go of you!"

"I gave him permission to touch me!"

Nura and Carolina both looked incredibly surprised, they even exchanged glances. Nura raised his eyebrows as if to say he was recusing himself from the discussion, and then looked at Carolina, clearly passing the buck to her.

"…I'm sorry Princess, but you did what?!"

"I gave the Enforcer permission to touch me – because he followed protocol and sought the permission in the appropriate manner."

"…even if he did so while offering you a planet, how could you say yes?!"

"How was I supposed to navigate through those dark sewers without being led somehow? He asking for my permission so he could hold my hand and lead me out of there! I don't care how you feel about this Carolina; we did what had to be done!"

The blaring of sirens appeared to cut the conversation short, but Carolina, who was still scowling and shaking her head, spoke one last time.

"You may not care how I feel about it Princess – and that is all well and good – but how do you think your fiancé will feel about it?"

A conveniently dramatic breeze blew through the street they were standing on, and silence between the two persisted right until the emergency services arrived. Relovan, whose arms were still locked on the Princess, suddenly opened his eyes. They were still obscured from view because of the peak of his cap, but he looked down at the Princess, and saw that she was resting her chin on his chest and looking directly at him.

"You're as warm as you are bright, Enforcer." The Princess whispered, which made Relovan's eyes dart around awkwardly.

He then opened his arms slowly, changing the way he held Princess Nkanyezi so as not to drop her, and when Carolina, who was watching Relovan like a hawk, realised that he was awake, she stomped her way over to Nura, who was still holding the Enforcer in his arms.

"Set that man down, Nurari Hyonto!" She demanded.

"I do not answer to you, Carolina – stop ordering me around." He snapped.

Before the bickering could start though, Relovan hopped down from Nura's arms and carefully set the Princess on the ground.

"Are you hurt in any way, Princess?" He asked.

"Not at all, Enforcer. You made sure of that on multiple occasions. I thank you."

Relovan simply bowed his head slightly and smiled, before looking at Chief Nura.

"Appreciate the save, Chief."

"Any time, Lawman." Nura grinned. "Also, well done. I knew you'd handle things."

"I feel like a lot of this could have been avoided if somebody with monstrous strength would have acted a little differently, though." Relovan said, eyeing the Chief suspiciously.

"Huh? Whatever do you mean?"

Carolina, who still had not addressed Nkanyezi since their brief argument, began walking around the Princess while appraising her physical condition. Her hair was loose, outfit was in tatters and she was covered in dust, but otherwise, was in perfect health. The bodyguard stepped to the Princess and wrapped her arms around her, hugging her as if she intended to squeeze her until her Royal head burst like a pimple. Nura smiled as he watched Princess Nkanyezi return the hug, and the two embraced, looking more like a parent and child than a bodyguard and a Royal. Relovan, who had been hauled off by a paramedic for the purpose of conducting tests, was seated in the back of an ambulance.

"It's alright, I wasn't really hit that much."

As Relovan and the paramedic spoke, Carolina walked around to the ambulance and looked at Relovan. She looked him in the eyes for the longest time, as appraising him or something, and after the longest and most uncomfortable silence, she got down on one knee, and held her hands in the traditional Thoba salute.

"For saving the life of my Princess, and ensuring that she was not harmed in any way, I would like express my deepest gratitude to you, Enforcer Relovan."

Carolina's eyes shut tight as she thanked Relovan, but that didn't stop tears from escaping from them. The Enforcer stood up in the middle of a physical test, stood at attention, and saluted Carolina in his way. The two remained like that for a while, with Carolina sniffling a few times. When she had recovered her composure, the bodyguard stood up and glared at Relovan.

"You are still not qualified to touch the Princess." Carolina sneered, before walking towards the Princess and nodding.

Nkanyezi looked in Relovan's direction and waved at him, and the Enforcer reciprocated the wave and smiled. All of a sudden, the handmaidens all zipped in from out of nowhere and surrounded the Princess, kneeling and expressing their happiness at her being safe, as well as profusely apologising.

"Wait, why are you all speaking like that? How did handmaidens like you survive all that?"

They all walked off as things were explained, and disappeared down the road. The Chief walked up to Relovan and grinned.

"You can't avoid trouble, even the day before testifying?"

"People violated the law, Chief. Speaking of, what happened to them all?"

"I believe Council Security got the fat guy, and even entered the sewer through the nigh on wrecked shaft to see what they could find down in the sewer."

"Understood." Relovan said as he nodded at the paramedic after the completion of the final test. "Yaksha got away."

"I'm not surprised… that one is really strong. How did you win?"

"…I didn't."

As the Chief and Relovan started walking off, the Enforcer relayed the details of what happened once they landed in the sewer. Meanwhile, elsewhere on Gaia, in a colossal room with a giant mural, somebody sat in a chair in near silence. It should have been actual silence, but this person had headphones on which were blaring music to the point where he was unaware of anything else. He was also reading a comic book – a paper comic book – and was completely taken by said comic. He didn't even notice as one of the figures depicted in the mural, a thin, sickly looking character seated on a throne, had started to glow rather brightly. In fact, this person was sitting with his feet up on a hard, granite table and was munching on some crunchy snacks – yet was dressed like some kind of monk. This guy was clearly behaving inappropriately, and because he was alone, there was nobody around to scold or keep him in check. Hours passed like this, and just as this monk's shift was about to end, he quickly stood and began cleaning up. He hid the comic book and headphones under a loose brick which had a trunk full of stuff, and as he dusted the crumbs off of his face and robes, the door began to creak open very slowly. He quickly ran over to wipe the table, but suddenly noticed the fading light on the mural. The time he took to watch the light eventually go off cost him dearly, as he was hit across the back of his head.

"Fisto, you useless brat!" A much older sounding person yelled. "How many times have I told you NOT to eat your greasy food in the temple!? And you clearly had your feet up on the alter again!"

"…uh, excuse me Priest, but uh… one of the Gods on the mural was glowing." Fisto said while rubbing the back of his head and pointing.

"Don't point!" The Priest snapped. "And of course there would be a glowing Deity, Void Lords are in town."

"…uh… yeah, but… this wasn't one of the Gods with a linked Void Lord… in fact, I don't think I've ever seen this figure glow before."

"What are you talking about?"

"The glow came from that corner over there…"

Fisto pointed to a part of the mural that caused the Priest to freak out a touch, his eyes nigh on bursting out of his head.

"Which one was it?!"

"Uhhhh… thing is, by the time I noticed the glow, it was already fading, sooo… I don't really know, but…"

"YOU USELESS PUNK!!" The Priest boomed, before looking at that section of the mural. "One of the Living Ones glowed… that signals the emergence of a new Favoured Soul… and we can't even identify which Living One it is, because of this idiot apprentice!"

The Priest proceeded to scold the apprentice deep into the night.