The gathering

By evening, #212 had escorted tens of high-ranking officials flying to and from the edge of the twilight zone. The nonstop rumbling, catering, and interacting had left him exhausted.

'I'm a soldier, not a damn diplomat,' he thought to himself and very nicely greeted a group of royal escorts that had come from the most southern territory of the Sehra. They were called Underwoods, and they looked like extremely tiny wyverns.

The most interesting part about Underwoods was that they were very short-tempered and would uncontrollably be very tempted to spit fire. However, since they were made of wood, they'd instantly get obliterated by their own fire breath. Their social system did not have a king or a queen; those who lived past two years without burning themselves would be the most respected and considered as elders.

#212 was currently greeting one of the elders. His eyes were half-closed as he dangled up and down in merriment. He was so high that #212 had tried speaking to him three times already, but he was just too happy and careless, living in his own tiny world.

'That explains how he has lived for so long,' #212 thought to himself.

"Sir, please follow me," he said.

"Follow you to the fields where I eat the seeds and leave you only leaves," the elder hiccuped and shook mid-air.

#212 felt like crying but held it in himself; the event was about to begin. It was almost evening.

Below, the entire grove had been lit up, and the space cleared. The trees had willingly and unwillingly obeyed the Dark Queen as she made the final arrangements. It looked like a flashy and calm heaven below.

#212 and his companions were at a loss for words. He looked around trying to find some help, and luckily he did. His eyes landed on Aatish; she was flying upwards like a burning comet.

"Wait here," #212 asked his companions and flew to Aatish. He caught up to her.

"Aatish, would you like to help me? I'm busy, and there are some guests standing by my companions, so just tend to them, okay? I'll be back."

Aatish was too polite to reject; she shook her head in agreement as #212 bailed out with his companions, laughing in his heart.

*********

The grand event, probably one the biggest the entire Sehrayeshomaal had ever seen was jampacked with creatures of all kinds, there were close to a thousand attendees in total from all the corners.

There were bibul-buks spread all over the grove, they were tiny little snail like creatures, the size of human hand, that did magic and held an open book attached to their shell. The book would write itself whenever they'd spot something ineteresting happening.

Bibulbuks ran the biggest journalist industry in the entire sehra, they had been recording events since the dawn of ages, some speculated that they also held detailed events about the hero and raid.

Bibulbuks teleported through space and time, they didn't slither like common snails.

Their leader stood by Hira, listening to her instructions as she told him in detail how she wanted the documentation to happen.

Isra was carrying huge pillows alongside seamstress-bees to somewhere and Khadija was still waiting for the bread to bake. But the most difficult job was of Haniya's and Justuju's, It took them all their mental capacity but with the help of both Queens, they had managed to make the grove look breathtaking, there wasn't a single spot that wasn't properly illuminated.

They also had made some friends in the process, Haniya felt it amusing that in the culture of Sehra, courtesies like offering a helping hand as a guests existed.

And then the event started,

The Dark Queen had made the space for five grand halls in the entire grove, and they were furnished to the brim with huge flying canopies and comfortable pillows placed everywhere. Each hall hosted a specific rank of creatures,

The biggest hall and the most grandest hosted all the leaders, including both the king and the Queen Cloudflouds.

The second hall was for personal escorts and high ranking officials.

The third and fourth hosted all those who remained, including creatures of the grove and the staff.

The lightwork was amazing; Gimpi and Isra had talked to a new company of bulbeaks that managed all the affairs of lightning, and they had done an outstanding job. there were hues and shades of lights spread around and arranged brilliantly.

Right after the evening thickened, and the sky darkened.

Queen Golden and the other leaders stood in a circular row in their enormous tent, scores of servants flew around taking care of even the most minute of details.

The Queen called for #212 and he came,

"Has Salazar arrived yet?" she asked.

"Not yet my Queen, the crow is still missing" #212 replied.

"Where is Amawas?" Queen Golden asked.

"Last i saw her, she was almost recovered my Queen, i havent seen her since."

"Alright, keep an eye out for her and ... goto the borders and let me know when you spot King Salazaar okay?"

"As you command my Queen" #212 bowed his head and flew away.

Half an hour later, the familiar old red serpent king slithered through the grove. The crow escorted it to the biggest tent. Salazar had sized down for the occasion, but he was still enormous, radiating an aura of malice and power.

He reached the tent and looked at Queen Golden and bowed his head, then took his spot.

Now then all the leaders had come, the meeting was about to begin.

********

There were a total of ten leaders, apart from Hira and Queen Golden. Seven of them had declared for the sovereigns unwillingly and only three of them were of free societies.

Luminaaras being one of them was a proud society that had resisted the sovereigns rule for ages, just like the bees.

Their artefact blessed them with command over radiance, their entire beings were crafted by an intricate meddling of different lights that somehow gave them a humanlike appearance in the end.

The Queen of Luminaaras sat cross legged just across Queen Golden, she wore a majestic dress that looked like a floating frock. She was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful beings in the entire Sehra,

Just by her side was the king of Gloom-Chimmers, another free society that had resisted the sovereigns, their king was entirely opposite in nature. Where the Queen of Luminaaras illuminated the entire hall with her beauty and majesty the king of Gloom-chimmers brought about an aura of depression and coldness, he was a creature that looked like black fox with two horns bent backwards.

He wore a silky robe of dark black color that had tens of bells hanging from it, he sat cross legged, eyes stuck to the ground.

Then there was the crimson death itself, trying to bury Queen Golden with his ominous slithering Gazes. Salazaar had willingly or unwillingly defied the sovereigns and assisted the bees, the news of it had already spread within the societies, he had been declared as an unofficial ally by the rest of the societies.

There was another one, in the crowd, masked face and body in countless floating ribbons of fabrics, It was the Queen of the pledged society of Raaz, Sister of the sovereign Roop.

Unlike Roop, her sister did not radiate an aura of malice instead she sat humbly, barely uttering a word. Her gestures spoke of simplicity and respect.

She was also a good friend of Queen Golden.

"My kings and Queens, first and foremost i express my deep gratitude that you all took time to attend this gathering here today and i beg your pardon for summoning you all in such a haste, i'll be straight to the point. Recently we conducted an operation to recapture our artefact, the vine, our special ops team infiltrated the Khandaq ruled by the sovereign Adaawat, they managed to reach the lowest level where they found the vine preserved in a grand hall, there were also other artefacts aswell, those of Gloomchimmers and the Luminaars, I ordered the captain to retrieve as many as he could."

Queen Golden summoned all the artefacts and placed them in the middle, The Luminaar's Queen was awestruck, She moved closer to the artefact and took it in her hands,

"All yours Lara!" Said Queen Golden

"Really, just like that?" Lara said.

"Just like that," Queen Golden replied.

Then the king of Gloomchimmers came and lifted up the artefact, slowly examining it from all the sides.

"What do you want in return Golden?" Said the gloomy king, keeping his eyes stuck to the artefact.

"Nothing, Just some of your sincere time that's all" Queen Golden replied. Mantaining the charisma.

The Gloomchimmer king nodded and dismissed the artefact.

Queen Golden then continued.

"As you know, we have already managed to kill a sovereign. Our affiliate Qatan sacrificed himself to kill Inara, and that left only Adaawat looking after the entire sehrayeshomaal, Respected monarchs, to mantain the integrity of our free socities, and build upon that an ever lasting age of peace. Let me present you"

The name Qatan rose murmers and odd reactions from the crowd.

"That scoundrel... dont take his name infront of us" One of the leaders said as he bumped his fist against the carpet.

"Oh Qatan..." Another one spoke, seduction finding its way into her voice. Queen Hira looked at her with odd curiosity.

"He used to give us tiny little sweet balls, amazing sweets, such a big loss we have lost him" A particularly fat leader spoke, lost in the 'particular' candies of Qatan.

"Sires, can i.. have your attention for a moment" Queen golden pleaded and that drew all the eyes right to her.

She took a small pause and looked thoroughly at all the leaders.

Then mumbled,

"Amawas, do it" and right in the middle of the hall a pool of darkness appeared, almost as wide as the entire floor, drenching the edges of the cushions in black liquid, then from the darkness a confused figure of a familiar short tempered sovereign emerged right in middle of the sitting.

"The remaining sovereign that corrupted the Sehray-e-shomaal, Adaawat"

Adaawat looked around, his eyes wide in shock and horror until they reached the Dark Queen. Adaawat remembered waiting for Shahrukh and Roop in the gateway hall but they had never come, and now suddenly he found himself standing in middle of all the leaders he had oppressed in Shomaal.

He silently commanded the earth to spit out its dead but before his lips could utter something, his entire being pummeled to the ground, cracking it in wide cracks, His spine twisted under an enormous weight.

A wave of murmers and awes rose from the leaders.

Struggingly, he managed to raise a finger as the the sky above thundered and shook, a sillouhette of a menacing looking coatyl slowly formed but before it could complete, Aatish rose, behind her a league of bird of preys ready to strike at the abomination at anytime.

Queen Golden looked up at everyone as she walked to the pinned Adaawat, and before he could sputter anything, her beak shot through his chest as she pulled out a yellow and black core filled with corruption, bending all the light around it into itself greedily.

"This is your sovereign, the one you were so afraid of. I Golden, of the free society of the bees, declare an end to the oppression and tyranny in the sehray-e-shomaal and promise an ever lasting age of peace and prosperity."