Meet the host.

Meti needs little introduction, at least to your party. She's dressed as she was back in the game room with no fear of people gazing upon her form. Despite how dangerous everyone might be, she acts completely safe in the presence of her allies. Though beside her is an elven man and a human woman. It's them that your attention is on, especially when the man steps forward to speak.

He's garbed completely in a fancy blue suit and a matching tie. His hair is short, blond, and slicked back. As an elf, his ears are pointed, and his skin is radiantly flawless. He casts a purple gaze over the other guests and a warm smile rests on his face. When he raises his hands, you can see a number of beautiful rings on his fingers as well. "I thank all of you for coming." His voice is deep.

"Could you have picked a better spot?" Vex raises her hand, yet speaks up immediately anyway. "This place sucks."

It's the elf beside William that speaks up. "Yes, but it is also incredibly private."

You look down to see something moving in the snow. A few tiny critters skitter around. They look like copper balls with tiny glowing cyan eyes. You're immediately reminded of the day you were attacked outside of your home--the moment before you hit 10th level and lost control. They look exactly the same. Your heart beats faster, and you slowly lower your hand down to grab the pummel of your sword.

"It is a shame that Lord Efrin will not be joining us today, but we shall begin regardless," the elven man continues. "I am your host, Elok Daven. This is my first time meeting you all, so I apologize for making you all wait so long. First impressions are important after all."

Your mind races. There's too much to consider. When your eyes move to the girl, suddenly you're hit with a pang straight through your chest. She has snow-white hair tied up into lengthy pigtails, pale skin, and wears a lab coat that hangs down to her thighs. She has a black button-up top beneath that, and then below that, a pencil skirt. She has white stockings that reach up to her thighs.

Vivi reflects in her face. There's no doubt who she is. You remember back to your dream, when you recalled the memories of your ****. Then you think back to Alice's story.

The man who made Alice. Elok Daven. An elven mage who excelled with magical machinery. He once made an iron golem that caused a lot of destruction, but nobody knew what happened to him. We searched a hidden dungeon of his, and that's where we found Automated Lifelike Intelligent Construct Experiment... Alice. Her cyan eyes, and her blush. The energy she shoots. It's so similar to the things that attacked us back then, before I saw the light. And there was a woman there beckoning me.

"You--!" As you start sitting up in your seat, the woman in the coat holds up her hand.

"You may want to hear what he has to say, Kyle Warren. I assume you do seek answers," she says.

Shit! Do I tell everyone? Niki would flip her lid. God damnit.

"All I ask is for you to hear me out," speaks Elok. "Because I believe that everybody here has questions. I can feel the tension from here, so please. There will never be discussion without introductions. Perhaps that will relieve some of the stress. As I said, I am Elok Daven. A pleasure to meet you Demon Kings." He bows politely.

"... The Elok Daven? As in, the one infamous for all those inventions?" Kashura blurts out. "I thought you perished!"

"Fortunately not." He chuckles. "I have been busy with many things, but you also may be wondering... Was this meeting not specifically for those labelled as Demon King? Yes, and I have every intention to earn the name myself."

"Someone who just calls themselves one but nobody else does must be pretty lame," says Lady Vex. "Try destroying a few castles or something at least. I've never even heard of you, so this whole inventor-thing must be from Tivera or something."

Niki slams her hand down on the table. "Wait a minute! I knew I heard that name before. We went to your stupid secret lab in Tolis and had to fight a stupid slime! That means you're the one that made Alice. Didn't you?"

She figured it out.

"Why did you leave Alice all alone?!" Eva shouts.

Elok shakes his head. "I did not mean to abandon that place, but I was **** to flee. I did hear one of my old laboratories was cleared out, but I certainly did not consider an ALICE to fall into your hands until word reached me more recently."

William stands. "Introductions? That sounds appropriate. But you owe both Warren and I a proper explanation for what you did to us."

Vivi's sister responds. "But you were so accepting. I'm surprised you're sour."

"Taking away my will was never something I accepted." He throws his one hand up into the air. "I am William Cresswell, a human from Earth! I was brought against my will by these two here, and while I remember little, they experimented on me. Changed me. They promised me great power, and I naturally agreed to work beside them. That's until I learned the truth of what they wanted. A pawn. Now I'm the Demon King south of here. That's my introduction."

So did he adventure around and then turn on everyone, or has he been the Demon King down that way the entire time I've known him?

Elok claps. "A dramatic one at that. You are not entirely correct, however, and I would appreciate you not trying to slander my name so early in the meeting."

He takes his seat again and takes a deep breath. "Beside me are close allies of mine. Jika the harpy, and the elven assassin Stilet."

"Stilet? Woah," Niki mutters. "That's not a name you usually wanna hear."

"Why?" you ask.

"She's a pretty infamous assassin," Kashura explains. "Though I heard others use the same name just to sound more intimidating, so who knows if it's true or not. Still, it's a rather exciting idea either way."

Stilet remains silent in response.

Vex rolls her eyes. "Fine. I'll go next. You probably know already, but I'm Lady Vex, the cutest Demon King who's ever lived. If you've ever travelled northwest of here, surely you'd know just how feared me and my minions are. I've brought two of them today, Kashura the Sorceress Queen and the kitsune Masumi."

Of course, Kashura stands up from her seat again and strikes a pose. "As my lady said, I am Kashura Saylinor, the Queen of Sorcery! Together, we strike fear in the hearts of mortals. My magic can easily rend the flesh clean from a dragon's bones."

Masumi smiles and bows her head. She chuckles at the antics of her allies. "How cute."

"... Eh?"

"I guess it's my turn," you speak up--standing from your chair to look over the colourful guests around you. "I'm Kyle Warren, and honestly, they started calling me a Demon King for a number of strange reasons I'm still trying to figure out. I'm in the same boat as William. These two kidnapped me from my house in another world and did weird things to my body, but I did take the head of Sa'dis. These two girls are Eva and Niki."

"We kicked his ass!" Niki yells.

Eva smiles bashfully. "It was nothing, really."

"Wonderful." Elok walks forward and pulls out a seat. Meti takes the offer, and he pushes it in after she does. Then she moves to the next, and pulls out a seat for the white-haired girl as well. That leaves one remaining between them. "Allow me to complete introductions with my allies as well. This here is Meti, and as you may be able to tell, she is in fact a jinn."

Vex blows a raspberry. "That's not as rare as a kitsune."

"It might be actually," Eva mumbles.

"Excuse me?!"

Once Elok brings himself down to the table, everyone is sitting, and the meeting finally feels like it's able to begin if it didn't already. The entire time, you can't take your eyes off both him and Vivi's sister. You want to know more, but you have no idea what to ask, or how.

"Lastly, this is my dear assistant Breiah," he says.

"Why don't you just explain why we're here already?" Vex asks.

"I believe I was rather clear in the letter. We are all powerful, influential beings distrusted by many. Were you not also curious of potential allies or future enemies? Knowing one another will certainly prove to be valuable. Do you not agree?"

"So you can study us." William nudges up the bridge of his glasses.

Masumi raises her hand. "Excuse me, but are we going to overlook that two of the people at this table claimed to be from another world? I've only heard of legends involving such a thing, yet they seem adamant it's true."

"And it's our hosts that did it!" Eva shouts.

Elok looks to Breiah. "I am afraid the cat is out of the bag, or so to say. It would do little to try keeping it a secret."

"I should have guessed William would come right out with it." She clears her throat, pulls out her chair, and stands before the table with her hands behind her back. "As he previously said, I'm his assistant, but that's not everything. I've also helped him become who he is today. Isn't that right, Elok? Don't try to take credit for everything yourself. We worked together to pierce through space and capture specimens from another world. Our experiments had reached a dead end, and we had a theory."

"So you wanted to experiment on someone from Earth instead?" you ask.

"Precisely."

"Use the power of Goa. Make your own class. Implant it in someone you can control."

Kashura turns her gaze. "Is such a thing possible...?"

"It was difficult, but we succeeded with two individuals," Breiah continues. "Granted, the experiment wasn't a complete success. We weren't able to control either specimen."

"Vivi told me you were working with an elf to crown him a Demon King." You shoot her a piercing glare.

"You can't mean... Ah. Of course you'd be allied with her."

William grabs his chin. "I see. You failed with him, so you tried with us. Yet he still considers himself a Demon King even without anyone else referring to him as such. You're still planning something."

You look to the other Alice. It's deeply unnerving just how similar she looks to the Alice you know.

Breiah looks straight at you. "And yes. Delphi was one of many tests. I'm honestly surprised she still lives."

You squint back. "How much do you know about me exactly?"

"We know of your new-found Castle," Elok responds. "Naturally, I must say that if you try anything we may see as threatening... Well, I do hope that it is far more fortified than when Sa'dis had claimed it. Do you understand?"

He's smiling, but that was an obvious threat.

Vex leans back again, slapping her heels down on the table as she leans back once more. She peers around and counts with her finger. "Kyle, William, Elok, and me. Four Demon Kings. Yeah, I get it. You all want to learn everything you can about each other so you can stab each other in the back one day. Meanwhile, I'm minding my own business, living the life. And if a day comes when I want to expand, I'll just attack you head-on. No need to dance around it like a bunch of pussies. I thought you were men. How boring. This is why I don't like going this far east. Back home, there are some real men, let me tell you." She brings up her hand and pretends to squeeze around something long and thick.

Elok Daven looks to his maid and beckons a hand. "Will you retrieve the gifts now?"

"Of course, Master." She curtsies and makes her way back to the tent.

"Gifts?" Eva perks up. "I like gifts."

She returns with a bag. From it, she withdraws four thin, flat, silver, round objects and place them down in a stack like plates.

You peek over and see by the top that they appear more like mirrors. There's a glass face that reflects the shimmer of glowing lanterns around you. Not the stars, unfortunately, thanks to William's obscuring fortress still looming in the sky.

The ALICE hands them out to each Demon King at the table.

"Allow me to explain." Elok gestures a hand the item before him. "These are specially made scrying mirrors. Speak one of our names, and it will attempt to connect with the appropriate other end. If the one you are trying to speak with allows so, you may then speak to one another. It is a fast method of communication, and they link only to each other. Nobody else will ever hear what had been said."

Jika looks to it with suspicion. "How can we be sure you aren't listening on the other side?" she asks.

"I promise that is not my intention. But if you worry that much, have your own mages investigate it. Even choose not to use it at all."

Not a bad thing to have either way, but I'll definitely have it inspected as soon as I can.

Vex tucks it under her arm and stands up from her seat. "Well, this has been a little entertaining, but if nothing exciting is going to happen, I'd rather get some sleep."

Elok sighs. "I was hoping that we could all have long, civilized conversations, but I have a feeling that will not be happening tonight."

For the first time since you saw her in the casino, Meti speaks up. "You have given them much to think about, Lord Daven. Two of the four Demon Kings present have been revealed to be from another world. But I trust you all to communicate as needed. And Kyle Warren, I would like to challenge you to another game one day, if you wish."

"True, true. I have not exactly come across as trustworthy, have I?" His purple gaze shifts between the others. "However, I doubt any of you fully trust another person here. That is precisely why I held this meeting."