Engagement Party

Dixen palace, Aries Continent.

For the past one week, Jason has been in a daze as the palace workers were busy with preparations for the oncoming party. While he passed through the halls, he would come across those who congratulated him and winked at him.

Because of this, he couldn't concentrate. He was also immensely nervous. He hasn't seen Xunia that week because she as recovering. Seeing his troubled demeanor, the queens decided to take him on a trip.

"We're going into town?!" Jason asked excitedly. The queens nodded and secretly sighed in relief that his mood has been lifted. He had never been into the technologically advanced city before and he was very curious about it.

They left him to change from his training clothes into something more suitable for their trip. He wore a navy blue shirt and black pants with golden studs. He styled his black and golden hair before spraying his very expensive cologne. He examined himself in the mirror and nodded in approval. He left his room to the front of the palace where the limo was waiting for him.

He entered and the limo began it's journey into the royal city. Transformed from a ruined desolate village to the most affluent cities in the realm, the city of Mall'uoer was one of the Aries Continent's national attraction. Visitors were rarely allowed because the city was closer to the Royal palace so it was filled with hundred percent Aries wolves. If there are foreigners, they were from the academy, high ranking officials and the council.

After an hour, they arrived in the city. Jason was once again stunned by the towering skyscrapers which were at least two times higher than the ones on earth. There were aerial roads which the limo joined once it entered the city. They all led into the skyscrapers. Seriel decided to give him a break down of the city.

"The city has different districts and the aerial roads connect them. There is the educational district, the commercial district, the housing district, the business district, the temple district, the entertainment district, the medical district, the technological district, the kids district, the border district and others. This district we're in is a portion of the border district. It encompasses the city and is the main source of security in the city" Jason nodded at her explanation and marveled on how just the border district was so big.

However, one district bothered him.

"What is the temple district?" The queens gave him a strange expression. Savannah tapped the window separating them from the driver's seat and told him to take them to the temple district.

"Since Xunia is there, I think she would be able to explain to you better, the religion of the faeries" Josephine said, taking out a necklace. The queens all brought out one and Lorema gave him one from her bag. It was a pearl necklace with a white diamond as the pendant. The necklaces of the queens were different and exuded different auras. Jason's own was producing pure light energy.

"Put it on. It's like a rosary but it's called the prayer circle. That white diamond came from the mine of the Angies territory and it is filled with concentrated light energy Metheron. When you get into the temple of light, Maery will teach you how to pray" Lorema explained and he put the necklace on. It felt cool to the touch but he knew that it contained tremendous amounts of energy.

"Your highnesses, we have arrived" the driver announced respectfully.

"Okay. Find a place to park and join us in the temple" Seriel replied and they alighted. The front if the temple district had an aerial landing board where people could alight from their aerial cars and enter the temples. There was a crowd moving into the temple district, giving a wide berth to the newcomers. Even if they were rushing into the temple, they didn't want to risk offending their monarchs.

Jason observed that most people had the prayer circles with them although they were not as exquisite as the ones belonging to the queens. Very soon, the queens were approached by high level protectors and led to their personal entrance where the queen was waiting for them.

In a medium sized office, there was a bad monk sitting on of the couches. His robes had 16 symbols on them and he had a much larger prayer circle in his hand. Opposite him was a youthful woman, dressed in a black gown with a glittering gold crown, relaxed on her chair. The monk had his head bowed the whole time and couldn't bear to look into the Queen's eyes.

The escorts soon reached that particular room and entered it. They bowed to greet the queen and the monk. They seated themselves in the office, with Jason right next to the queen. When the monk raised his head, he glared at Jason.

"Who are you and how dare you seat next to our queen like that?" The monk reprimanded. Suddenly, he shivered as the temperature around him went dangerously low. He discovered it was as a result of all the queens glaring at him.

"Head Priest Immanus, please respect yourself in front of the Lord of House Dixen. We will not hesitate to neutralize you if we find you a threat to our future Luna King" Seriel growled.

"The temple has become more daring, interfering with my matters. If I truly didn't want him beside me, do you think a measly Zenith core could stop me?" Xunia threatened.

The head priest flew up fro his chair and kowtowed several times before members of the royal family. Jason, seeing his obsessive apology, shifted closer to Xunia, clearly creeped out.

"Head Priest Immanus, please conduct yourself" Lorema said with disgust. The man nodded hurriedly and sat. The queens forgot about him and turned to Jason like a bunch of loyal dogs, waiting for praise. Jason, seeing this, shifted even closer to Xunia, leaving a small gap so their bodies won't touch. The queens hid their disappointment and told their leader why they came.

"So, if he hadn't inquired about the temple district, you wouldn't have come for prayer hour?" the Alpha Queen asked with a raised eyebrow. The other queens broke out in cold sweat.

"B...bu..but we prayed this morning just for this. Can't you be lenient, just this once?" Maery pouted.

"No. Prayer hour is about to start" she rejected them coldly. They grumbled silently but couldn't openly go against her decision.

"Regarding the issue of our religion, I think the head priest is much more suitable to explain it to our young Lord" she said. The head priest, seeing an opportunity to redeem himself, readily agreed to this.

"Long ago, before we discovered the existence of Judges, this was a realm full of mostly water that houses sirens and the little land housed various wildlife. The sirens weren't different from other animals so you can say this realm was full of animals. That was until Judge Light escaped from the pursuit of Judge Evil and was protected by the 12 founding wolves of our race.

Due to their innate talent, the Jude decided to gift them with connections to the Central realm, forming some kind of Metheron energy conductor and granted them neutral forms. She also gave them more land, making the ocean 40% And the land the remaining 60. The wolves began to grow and develop their religion, worshiping Judge Light as the supreme goddess of light. Till they found out her existence was much higher than a goddess.

As the Weries knew more about the Central realm, they got the attention of both the Central realms lowest citizens and the rejects of the underwaild. They migrated here and that brought the start of a very bloody war which had to bring the Judge back to the realm.

As a solution, she divided the realm into smaller dimensions which are similar to planets. The only way to get there is through a teleportation portals. Anyways, after the war, they had become faeries and they discovered their connection to other Judges. A single Judge descended and taught the leaders of all the faeries, forming the council.

From there, our present religion came to be. We realized we couldn't communicate with the great creator on our own so we used our affinity with the judges to offer requests and thanks to the creator. So far, it has been working. Especially when we discovered the use of prayer circles. With them, you can directly communicate with the judges" The head priest said with great excitement.

Jason nodded as he digested all the information. Before he could ask a question, a large bell rung across the temple district. It was the signal for prayer hour. The queens sighed in dejection and trudged out of the room into the temples. They got to a large hall with 16 doors which had the symbols that the head priest had on his robes.

Xunia took Jason with her as she headed toward the temple which has the symbol of an endless black vortex. It was the symbol of the abyss and darkness. Jason was asked to remove his shoe and studs once he entered the small temple. Xunia removed the prayer circle from her neck and draped it around her hand. She knelt before the altar while Jason watched.

"Void circle" she chanted and a Golden pentagram appeared on the black diamond pendant of Xunia's prayer circle. She clasp her hand and prayed.

"Come forth, mother of darkness and ruler of the abyss. Accept my offering as I offer my praises and requests up to the creator" A black shadow arose from the altar and enveloped the black crystals she put on the altar. The luster in them was sucked away, leaving ordinary transparent crystals. Even so, they were still extremely valuable.

Her next words were not heard by Jason but he knew she was praying fervently. Jason was confused as to why the most powerful person in the faery realm was praying with much intensity. However, it was not his place to pry. He waited patiently for an hour till she was done. Giving a deep bow, the black shadow dispersed and she arose.

"That's how you pray. I will accompany you to the temple of eternal light and teach you how to pray. Don't worry, it's very easy" He nodded and followed her out of the temple of the abyss. Right beside the temple of the abyss was the temple of eternal light. The symbol it had was a white sun with various runes inscribed in it.

He was given a white robe at the entrance and he had to remove his shirt. The pendant on the prayer circle shone as he approached the altar. He asked Xunia if she was fine in the temple of eternal light. She replied affirmative as she guided him in the process.

"illumination circle" he chanted and a Golden pentagram appeared on the white diamond of his prayer circle. He clasp his hand together as he prayed.

"Hear my call, Lady of light and ruler of the eternal sun. Accept my offering as I offer my praises and requests up to the creator" A white light descended from above and enveloped the shinning gold crystals on the altar, full of Jason's vital soul energy. Like with the black shadow, the golden luster of the crystals were stripped away.

He knelt and poured out his heart even though it as his first time. He felt very secure with Xunia beside him. However, what he could not see, his mate could see very clearly. In the white light, there was an ethereal winged figure who was collecting Jason's prayer. When the figure saw Xunia, it bowed and greeted her.

"Lady of the Abyss, Angel Farrel greets you"

"Angel Farrel, you're on prayer collection duty today, ehn?"

"Yes my lady. However, my shift would soon end"

"That's nice. You're working very hard. Send my greetings to your division leader. It's been long since I last payed the eternal sun battalions, a visit" Xunia said in nostalgia. However, the Angel broke out in cold sweat. The lady of the Abyss was notorious for her disciplinary ways. If she caught any one of the Angels slacking off, they would witness hell in heaven, literally.

"Y...Yes, my lady" Xunia chuckled at the scared Angel and waited as Jason finished his prayers.

Naturally, if anyone with darkness as a patron Judge came into the temple of eternal light without having light as their patron Judge or anyone else who didn't have light as their patron Judge, they would be punished by the guardian Angel collecting the prayers. However, as the Lady of the Abyss, no Angel could question her authority. Her rank was higher than theirs, only second to the Judges and she was much more powerful than them.

After Jason concluded his prayers, the white light faded away. Collecting the crystals into his formless void ring, he turned towards the exit with Xunia.

"I don't understand why the queens don't like prayer hour. It's very refreshing when you pour out your heart and you're baptized by the eternal light" Jason commented with a blissful expression.

"Let's just say they have very unpleasant experiences with the guardians sent to collect their prayers. If they had their way, they would never visit the temple district again and pray at home. However as public figures, I have to force them to come here once in a while. It gives me quite the headache" the Alpha Queen said, touching her forehead.

They were soon joined by the queens, who had very unsightly expressions on their faces.

"I hate you!" Paerish spat out with venom in her voice. The other queens shared the same opinions.

"Come on, they're just prayer Angels. What's the worst they can do?"

"Imagine being stuck with a bunch of spoilt angels refusing to collect your prayer for one hour!!! Instead of praying, we all stood there, arguing! It was so annoying!" Maery complained.

"Okay, okay. I'll talk to the Angel leaders, it'll be resolved soon"

"okay" they grudgingly complied.

"You know what, I still have some issues to settle in the temple district so you guys go ahead" Xunia said and went back.

After leaving the temple district, they headed towards the commercial district. The district was perfect for tourism and excitement. The ruins of the former royal city were centred in the commercial district. Lots of visitors, when they were allowed into the royal city one month in a year, flocked to the historical sites and paid up to 5 Jaspins just to tour the place for the day. That generated a lot of revenue for the royal city.

Some people, namely the council, the queens, the protectors and the staffs that worked in the royal house and cabinet, were given VIP passes and private tours of the ruins and were given access to restricted areas. The first place they took him to, was of course the ancient ruins.

Bypassing the huge gates and fences created to fence in the ruins, they were taken to the VIP lounge where a tour car was prepared for them. Jason was stunned by the meticulous planning of the staffs allocated to the ruins. What shocked him, however, was that the ruins were fenced. It should've been a big city but it was fenced and the commercial district surrounded it.

The tour began not long after and was given by a seasoned member of staff. It seemed that she was used to serving the queens and wasn't rattled by their presence like anyone else.

"Welcome to the VIP tour of the ancient ruins of Dixel city, the ancient royal city of the Aries Pack. Dixel means first in Jarun. We are now travelling through the first Werie civilisation to exist. Where the ancient Dixel castle once stood is where the ancient wolves saved the Judge Light"

"No way!" Jason gaped. The queens watched him in amusement while the tour guide continued her speech.

"Yes my lord. Please relax as I narrate the history and downfall of the ancient Werie civilisation.

Long ago, when the Weries were granted their powers, our ancestor was appointed the leader of the twelve Zodiac tribes. As time went by, each Zodiac leader had a sizable tribe and there was internal strife. After a long time of deliberation, they decided to separate and spread to other continents. The Aries tribe, however, remained. He claimed the Judge Light had given him the responsibility of that land and he couldn't leave it.

Many laughed at him for that but look at us today, we have a whole continent to ourselves. Anyways, we grew our civilization and thrived in this lands for about three million years. That's when we welcomed strangers. The history books say the first to arrive were the Angies, descendants of Angels. After them, the demons arrived, descendants of fallen angels. Two hundred years later, our realm was populated by the descendants o those in the central realm and those in the underwaild.

Somie le Vamioe, the blood wars, started with small skirmishes and territorial issues. For twenty years, there was tension and no one was willing to make the first move. That was until the Luna Queen, Vamioe Larena the first, was killed by an Angie and her corpse was eaten by a dragon. Enraged, Aries the fifth waged war against the Angies and the dragons. Since they were airborne enemies, it was a hard war. Our only advantage was that the Angies and dragons were natural enemies.

The first war went on five years before the Aries clan gained victory and chased the enemies off their lands. After a year, they went on a crusade to unite all the wolf tribes to fight against the enemies. A ritual implement, forged from one of the leg bones of Aries the fifth, was used to bind the conquered tribe to the Aries tribe. After ten years, the crusade was completed with much difficulty. Since the Aries continent was far from other tribes, the Werie Empire was built.

There was a variation in the bloodline of the royal Aries wolves. A particular Prince was born with white fur instead of grey or in some cases, silver. Prince Kathroli, the second son of Aries the fifth was made the Emperor of all the wolf tribes while his older sister, Princess Kenessa the first, was made the crown princess of the Aries Kingdom. Since the Aries Kingdom was the one that created the Werie Empire, the position of the Alpha Queen is always higher than that of the position of the Werie Emperor. Only the highest ranked Faeries in the realm know this fact.

The ritual implement, the staff of Bosar, was kept in the imperial city but it ultimately belonged to the Alpha Queen of the tribe. Soon, the second war began. Turns out, the dark faction had banded together and the light faction had also done the same. The neutral faction, of course, remained neutral and only the Vampire Emperor and the Sirens joined in the war.

It was a horrifying bloodbath that ensued for centuries. Civilizations rose and fell as the third, fourth and fifth wave hit the realm. It was so bad that the Judges had to descend and settle the matter. The Faery realm was further divided and everyone was given respective territories. A tournament was created to know who the most powerful is and that is where the council was derived from. However, they left out a small detail.

A bomb was being developed by the demons, which contained a fraction of the abyss, gotten from their ancestral land for the Aries kingdom. The demons wanted to get revenge on Queen Kenessa for killing their royal family like dogs. The bomb was released on the first royal city and it destroyed all semblance of life there bit by bit. The small abyss grew and it was too late when it was noticed. Only the royal city was evacuated as the others couldn't be saved. The only place left standing was the temple of light.

The Judge darkness came down and solved the problem by sealing the small abyss. To appease the people of the Aries Kingdom, one of the universal laws was revoked and all the people devoured by the small abyss were brought back to light,on the condition that those born into the Aries line would have darkness as their patron Judge. They of course agreed and that's why the Aries continent is a strong foothold for darkness. That's the end of the tour today" The lady said and bowed.

The tour car reached a place in the ruins that was particularly very clean and they alighted there. It was a temple, specifically, the second temple of light built after the blood wars. It was as big as the one in the temple district but it had an old feel to it. Beside the altar, there was a statue of a woman in white hood, which covered her face while her wings were set free. In her hands was a harp made out of gold and the finest silk. On the altar, there was a white flame, burning continuously and releasing sweet odors in the temple like incense.

"That is Angel Listria, one of the Angel leaders and replacement for the embodiment of music. That harp was made from pieces of her hair and gold found in her abode and was given as a gift to this temple. She is the favorite of the Judge of light. It is said that only those with the purest of heart and are baptized by light can be chosen as the master of the heavenly harp" Maery told Jason.

"That's why you brought me here, to inherit the harp?"

"Actually, we don't know if you can. The harp has another prerequisite but we don't know it. Only Xunia does but she still sent you here to try your luck"

"Okay" Jason said and moved closer to the statue.

The next thing that happened, shocked all of them. The harp flew from the statue, shrunk and landed in Jason's hand. He started to hear a song in his head and he sat down in a lotus position to properly hear it.

It was like a rhyme, filled with love and gentleness as it caressed his mind like a mother's embrace. It felt so familiar that it made his body shiver. When the sing ended, his eyes were still glazed over. A tear dropped from his eyes as he said a single word.

"Mother"

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"Do I really have to wear this?"

"What do you have against suits?"

"They're so formal...."

"But this is a formal occasion so you have to wear it" Sandre said in frustration. Jason was on the brink of tears, staring at the beautiful silver suit.

"I don't understand, it's a lovely suit. It's a suit that even I love. Why won't you wear it?" Sandre cursed loudly.

"Calm down honey, it's because he's nervous. He has two major events today and he's stressed enough as it is. Don't stress him more" Maery came in, massaging Sandre's shoulder.

"And you too, don't stress my honey. Put on your suit" Jason knew he couldn't argue against her so he complied. Few minutes after, he came out of his closet, looking dapper in his silver coat and pant suit. The couple whistled in appreciation as they saw him.

He walked out of his room and straight to the front door where a limo was was waiting to take him to the conference hall. Josephine was waiting inside to teach him how he would act when the ceremony takes place.

"Since it's an extinct ceremony and it has only been performed once, we made some adjustments. We changed your ceremonial wear and no headdress for you, thank Aries" Jason shuddered at the thought.

"You'll be given a ritual implement as a sign of your position, that is your harp, you'll take a blood oath and you'll need to present something beneficial to the Aries pack and the Weries as a whole. You're the highest ranking Lord in the whole realm and you represent the royal family so that's quite important. Remember you only give curt nods and handshakes. Hugs and kisses after you get married. Don't maintain too much body contact with anyone and they're all under you. The only people you bow to are the Alpha Queen and her escorts"

"Yes ma'am"

"Okay, you're ready" She nodded and smiled with pride.

Two hours later, they arrived at the venue and the ceremony commenced. Various big figures were dressed in ceremonial outfits, in various dazzling colors unlike the CQE. Many brought along they symbols of their authority and their ritual implements. Jason was shell shocked when he saw Emperor Kove brought along the staff of Bosar. Seated on the throne, in a silver ceremonial gown, a silver crown and a silver staff that had a silver crown and a grey wolf in it, was the Alpha Queen, smiling gently at him.

He had heard a lot about the staff in the hands of Xunia. It was created back when Aries the first saved Judge light with his favorite sisters, Aquarius and Pisces. Everything she touched turned to white particles except a particular tree in their forest. It was filled with darkness energy and that is what they used to carry her back safely. They gathered a bunch of these sticks, coated it with their very sticky saliva and made a make shift bed in which they used to carry her back to their den. The stick was called Silver demon and it was avoided by people because it had a lot of darkness energy in it. Once Judge Light gained her strength, she shaped the bed into a staff and gave it to Aries as a gift.

The staff of Nisorr. A very strong ritual implement that could be used as a lifesaving implement for the user and the personal belonging of the Alpha Queen.

The ceremony went smoothly as he had to greet the people there and be touched by their ritual implements. It was a huge risk but he had to show he had great courage and it took a lot of it to make sure he didn't faint from fear and anxiety. After a while, he walked up the stairs that had a Queen on each step. He bowed and received a touch on his forehead from each one of them. Finally, he got to the base of the throne and knelt before it. The Alpha Queen stood and started the second part.

"You have come to my throne to receive my blessing and become a prince in the household of the great ancestor Aries the first. You have abandoned all ties and bound yourself to be one with this great household to uphold it's honor and bring it to grater height. You have gone through the trial of kings and queen and have walked the steps up to the highest mountain to be received by me.

Do you, Jason Salmena, Son of Beta Greeane Salmena, of Pack Livresal on Earth, abandon all former ties to become, Lord Jason Jalreen Dixen of house Dixen, belonging to the house of our great ancestor and take this blood oath?"

"I do" she smiled, took his right palm and cut it. Golden red blood flowed out of his wound and mixed with the black blood in the bowl that the blood dripped into. She conjured black flames and burnt the blood, whcih evaporated into the air with an appealing scent.

"The ancestors have accepted your oath and offering. With the heavenly harp of Angel Listria as your ritual implement, I, Xunialesse Vortaire the fourth, the Alpha Queen, Leader of the Feary council and Lady of the Abyss, declare you as the new Lord of House Dixen" she announced as he rose. Everyone gave a deep bow as a silver isigna appeared on his shoulder, which only him and the Alpha Queen knew about. There was a loud cheering and the ceremony ended there.

He was ushered out by the queens as they struggled to get him dressed up for his engagement party. His silver suit was replaced by a white three piece one, with a black rose pinned to his breast pocket. He was given light makeup before he was rushed down to the palace where the engagement party would hold. It was held not far from the palace, in the open air and the venue was surrounded by a ridiculous amount of protectors.

The guests were all wearing gala outfits fit for the occasion and all had partners, even the queens. Everyone was elegantly sipping wine and making small talks with each other, waiting for the couple to arrive. Seriel tapped on her wine glass to get everyone's attention. The Half giant Beta Queen was dressed in an alluring red dazzling evening gown that brought out her figure.

"As you all know, we're gathered here to celebrate the engagement between my dearest old friend the Alpha Queen and the Lord of House Dixen. I want you all to give a warm welcome to the couple as they walk in" she announced and everyone clapped.

Walking hand in hand was Jason and Xunia. Xunia wore a black dinner gown with a rose pinned to her hair and black diamond earrings. Her makeup made her look extremely innocent like a teenager as she smiled brightly whilst walking into the party. Everyone gave a deep bow as theysaw the couple. They went to stand beside Seriel as she continued her speech.

"so the engagement gifts will be presented and the rings will also be given. From the Lord of House Dixen to his beautiful fiancee, this Golden birby and it's eggs is presented. He captured it himself in the dangerous Small Abyss " a cage occupied by the Birbies that Jason had capttued two weeks before was presented to the crowd which made him blush. The crowd gasped as the Golden Birbies were rare and sought after. They were so rare, that even the Dixen Palace had only one in their stables and Jason brought three. The crowd clapped and cheered loudly at the gift, causing Jason's neck to get more red.

"And from the Alpha Queen to her handsome fiance, the newest edition of her formless void ring filled with items that could even buy a kingdom. These items are for the Lord's eyes only Seriel said cheekily. Although disappointed, the crowd couldn't say much. Jason gasped as he saw the contents of the ring. He could only smile and accept it as he knew it was his engagement gift. The couple accepted gifts and greetings from the guests. They had a couple of dances and even had to peck each other lightly in front of the crowd.

All in all, it was a good evening.