Welcome to Gaia! ::

- A large, spacious hallway. Stone pillars, rock formations, thick marble slabs of earth. A throne, empty, at the far end, blazing red and gold tapestry torn to shreds.

And around the circular earth engraved through the marble itself were seven seats. Seven thrones.

"All Kings, fine your thrones." The Voice had no presence, other than that of simply existing in this fabricated room itself. Why it chose this particular room, this particular location was perhaps a secret in itself. Was this where its true form resided? How powerful did they have to be, to be able to see and hear all, to form and fabricate with their wills, a single thought. How desperate did they have to be to summon, for the first time, all of them together.

The only other time all had been summoned was during their Creation, when they were first named and crowned King, and given a role. Even for the Kings themselves, few truly remembered the events that had transpired prior to their roles. They were Kings, and would always remain so.

Seven of them, and an invisible eighth presence. There was no chair for the Silver King, there was no acknowledging the fallen. Each King could see clearly all the others, displayed as they were, as they were sometimes seen, closer than most dared to reach towards the other.

"There are three rules for being a King," the Voice continued, patiently. "The first, all Kings cannot attack another King. The second, a King cannot defeat themselves. And the third, whomever so defeats the other King and takes the title as True King will receive their hearts desire."

This was nothing new. These were simply words to reinforce what they already knew.

"There is in addition, however, not a rule, but a reward" It felt as if someone, something perhaps had clenched their heart, weighing each and every of their actions, at who they were, their very core, that strange unsettling feeling of them being entirely transparent. "One question." Pause. "As Kings, you have been granted each one question to ask. State your question and you will receive one answer in truth."

Considering the situation that they had found themselves in, Xiu couldn't not claimed to be surprised that they had suddenly all been called together. In a way, the Red King almost considered this a blessing--this meeting would be a, if only temporary, way for her to keep her mind off the uncomfortable fear and anxiety that was clutching at her chest. Although she knew that there was nothing she could do but wait and pray for the safety of her warriors, she still couldn't shake away her concern.

Her hands were clasped in front of her as she strode down the hallway, her gaze briefly flickering to the side to take in her surroundings. Although the image was not clear in her mind, she could vaguely recognize the pillars and the marble--she had been summoned here once before, but that had been a long, long time ago. It had been ages since she had seen this place.

Or any of them.

When she stepped into the circle of thrones, she quickly came to realize that there was, at present, only one other king. Without hesitation, Xiu dipped her down , head at Mengyao in a polite greeting, her eyes meeting his for a moment before she turned and settled down in her throne. Setting her hands in her lap, she dropped her gaze down towards them as she listened silently to the Voice.

The first few points came as no surprise to her--they were rules that each and every one of them knew and had to obey--but the offer of allowing each of them one question surprised her. Xiu had plenty of questions, of course, but it was the matter of selecting one of them in particular that worried her. How would she choose? What was it that she wanted to know the most?

The Red King remained silent as she mulled over her choices.

"Haven't been here in a while," Harrison grumbled, walking down the hallway uneasily. He was carrying B0nez piggyback-style.

What was the deal here? Calling a war, Silver Kingdom in pieces, everything going straight to s**t- and then getting the old gang together again? For what?

A glare-a-thon?

He hoped the Voice kept this short.

The closer he got to the room, though, the more nervous and...well, watched he felt. Which was saying a lot for a Kingdom whose main symbol was an eye.

No attacking, no suicide, blah blah blah...and that old promise. That the True King would be able to get whatever they want. Their heart's desire. Harrison felt a stab of bitterness. If he was so interested in their heart's desire, what did he have to rip out their hearts for? His guys were out there, somewhere, doing gruntwork for him, while he dicked around up here...he said he'd be looking out them-

Reward? He perked up.

Oh. Questions. What the hell could he do with a question. He headed over to the blue-looking chair. B0nez was still sleeping off all the recruiting. ...And drooling on his back. But there had been one that bugged him, one that he knew all too well in this business. So, okay, this guy gives them tons of power, granted wishes...and for what? What was the catch?

"I got a question," Harrison braved. "What's in it for you?"

"Excellent questions!" chirped a voice from just within the hall. In the interim between hopping from his kingdom to their meeting grounds, Mort had shuffled off the heavy burden of his decisions and outfitted himself with a smile regardless what this occasion would bring. Green being the majority of his outfit, the king of creation found himself vastly entertained to be with the other six on a piece of land prime to be made into something. Even now his imagination threatened to place them somewhere else: perhaps instead at a quaint dinner table with everyone's thrones as their natural seats, or seated at the top of an amphitheater while their fighters duked it out below, or even stretched out on a beach with their thrones being reclining tanning beds . . .

But no, untapped plot of land it is. Sigh.

"Hail, all." Mort strode in casually as you please, hefting the compass that had been the focal point of his power as he nodded to the others in greeting. "Terribly unfair it is, terribly. far too many questions to ask," he mumbled, though judging by the strained smile on his face the complaint was hardly at the forefront of his mind - he was certainly going to keep the darker emotions at bay as long as he could, however. "Is it all straight to the interrogation for you all? Frankly I'd like to ask after my fellow kings and how everyone is viewing this . . . new plot twist."

No silver throne, no silver king. Poof. Gone. Just a prickle at the back of his neck of what might come. The image of his kingdom desolate and broken, feeding grounds for the carrion of other territories to steal Miasma - it made him flinch. Even the Voice's repetition of what they already knew seemed to resound in his ears like death knells.

"It's a little too convenient in my opinion."

Sometimes an active imagination was the worst thing to have.

He draped an arm about his throne and leaned lightly against it, nudging his glasses up. Maybe it was the sense of something coming, maybe it was the conflicting worries that had cropped up, or maybe it was the fact that they were called here for the first time in ages - in any case, the green king had a little too much energy coursing through him to comply with sitting down just yet. "A great challenge this is! A dialog wheel with many options but only one choice to make . . ." Mort tapped his chin and screwed his face up in thought.

"Very well, I'll add the third. Who killed the silver king?" he asked The Voice, tapping the compass to his leg. "It isn't often you have regicide without so much as a stir in their lands." And as far as he had been aware, the Silver Kingdom had been pretty much the same as it always had been before it suddenly imploded.

Harrison looked over as Mort strolled in, and rolled his eyes.

Green Kingdom. Always so...chipper.

But he had a good point. ...Unless he was trying to cover up- no, that wouldn't make sense. Not with the Voice. And there was no reason to pretend, anyhow. The Voice had made the stakes pretty clear.

The blue throne had enough room for both of them, and looked...more like a real fancy blue loveseat. He huffed and flopped backwards, awkwardly rearranged B0nez so he was snoozing against Harrison's side. B0nez curled against his arm.

"Now there's a few questions for the ages. But, heh, we've got word from the Silver Kingdom and I wouldn't exactly call it it without a stir."

He flipped open his phone to see if he had a signal in here.

He didn't.

Though the current series of events that played out before them seemed to each be more ominous than the last, King Thackery still found this to be a joyous occasion. The Voice had taken note of each Violet citizen's immeasurable greatness! It tasked them with something of value! And now...a grand reunion!

He moved through the hallway at a brisk pace, more excited than urgent, impatient that he could move no faster and get there no sooner. His mind buzzed with anticipation, a thousand thoughts of what this meeting might really be like. It had been so long that his imagination filled the gaps where memory failed; thus, the expectation for what was to come was, of course, very high by now.

He hurried, but he was still late, and the voices of the others had begun to carry down the hall. No. No, no, he couldn't miss this! Not after all this time!

Frantic, he broke into a sprint, dashing into the room of the seven thrones. He went skidding into his own seat, landing in a crumpled position that looked mostly like sitting. But most importantly, he'd made it.

He breathed a sigh of relief, glancing over them all.

"Oh, yay! This is so great!" Shifting, he moved to sit cross-legged, hands folded in his lap, ears perked to listen to the valuable words of the others attending. Through the air of solemnity, the Violet King seemed pleased as a peach.

"Your questions only merit one answer. I wish for only one ending. I wish for only one True King, greater than the Great King themselves. Everything else is necessary. Everything else is chosen. The choices you make speak for themselves."

Another pause. Another second ticking by. "There are seven Kings. There are seven Crowns. A True King would not see their Kingdom fall. A True King would fight because they are chosen. A True King would not betray their kingdom nor themselves nor see their subjects scatter and crumble."

The conversation in itself seemed rather cyclical, if not a blatant repeat of what they already knew, and even then, the Voice still made no mention of the Silver King.

"Now Kings, rise, and turn to face your seats, your thrones." Where there had been mirrors behind them, the frame shifted, revealing eight ornate gate-like structures. Each of them was coloured like their Kingdom, and the top decorated like their crown design. "Remember these, your entry as Kings. Protect them, for their destruction is you and your Kingdom's demise."

For a second, the gates seemed to ripple, as if something threatened to appear from the other side, a strange sense of terror and helplessness. Powerless. Fear. The feeling subsided as the thrones once shifted back to their original forms. Mirrors. Nothing more, nothing less.

"It is an honour to fight as a King. Your subjects will serve you proud. The True King may obtain anything they so desire."

The arrivals of the last two kings was met by an even look as she briefly offered the pair the same, polite nod that she had given all of the others. Although she would have ordinarily liked to be a little less formal, considering that they were ultimately trying to destroy each others' kingdoms, it didn't seem appropriate to be anything but distant right now.

Xiu had to suppress a small sigh when they were given their answers though. Of course the Voice would choose to answer their questions cryptically, of course. Giving a tiny, almost undetectable shake of her head, she rose to her feet and obediently turned to face her seat. Only what caught her attention was not a silk-covered crimson-colored throne, but a dark, elegant gate that bore a design much like the Red Crown. And then it rippled.

At once, she lifted a hand to clutch at the fabric over her chest, her heartbeat suddenly quickening as she felt the back of her neck prickling and the wave of fear that suddenly washed over her. Her soft breathing became shallow, and it was only because she was frozen in place that she did not stagger backwards and away from the gate. However, just as quickly as the feeling appeared, it suddenly disappeared, fading with the gate.

...

Without turning around to face the others, she shut her eyes and took a deep breath. When she turned back, her expression was as smooth as ever, her gaze flickering towards Mengyao at his goodbye. She watched after the Gold King silently for a moment before bowing her head to the others.

"Take care."

And then she was gone.

[ Exiting ]