The Royal Address

"King Reala!" Leraje yells as she enters the grand hall. Reala is sitting on her throne. One hand tapping idly on the smooth obsidian arms of the throne. Various courtiers glance at Leraje and are hurrying out of the hall even before Reala gives the gesture for them to disperse. The grand hall lives up to it's name. Lit by large blood red crystals embedded in the ceiling that pulse with an inner light. The entire area is made out of obsidian for the floors, ceilings and walls, dragon rib bones are used to form arches in the high ceiling and windows made out of stained glass depicting the victories of the darkness in vivid, gory and erotic detail line the walls and behind the throne. The entire place awash in a blood red light mixed with various specks of other shades from the light coming through the stained glass.

"Leraje... I was going to call for you before you showed up," Reala admits and Leraje kneels down in front of the throne.

"These rumours... You don't believe them do you?" Leraje asks quickly and Reala chuckles.

"Of course not. You're my best friend and utterly loyal to me I know you would never betray me," Reala says standing up and stepping forward, reaching down to cup her hand under Leraje's chin and gently lift her back up to her feet.

"I'm relieved to hear it," Leraje admits.

"Frankly I'm a little insulted you'd even consider that I might believe such a thing," Reala says with a pout and Leraje looks away, slightly ashamed.

"I should have known, my king," she says contritely and Reala hugs her.

"Relax! It's fine. I know you're just doing your thing. You have to be sure, but there's nothing to worry about. I know you're loyal," she says and Leraje tenses.

"Actually there's a lot to worry about..." she says and Reala releases the hug, looking at her confused.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"You remember when Queen Alkadabuki showed up here," Leraje starts.

"It was terrifying, but you beat her," Reala nods.

"I shouldn't have been able to. I should have told you earlier, but... She was weaker, much weaker. I don't know exactly why, but... I do know one thing. I didn't beat Alkadabuki, I beat a shadow of what she was. A weakling and however that happened it means one thing... Someone did beat the real Alkadabuki and whoever they are... They are the ones behind this rumour," Leraje explains.

"What does that mean?" Reala asks and Leraje sighs.

"Someone who was strong enough or resourceful enough to defeat Alkadabuki at her full strength is trying to undermine us and that is very bad for us," Leraje explains, "the only upside is that their choice of trying to undermine us proves that they don't have enough faith in their strength to fight us directly. If they had the strength they'd just show themselves publicly and let their greater strength rally demons to their side," Leraje adds.

"So... What do we do?" Reala asks seeming nervous now.

"I'm not sure. Attempting to squash these rumours will have no effect. People are already rallying against us believing they are rallying behind me. There's nothing we can do about that just yet, not while this threat remains hiding in the shadows. They are evidently aware of the shakiness of your rule and are doing a good job exploiting that. We need to find them and snuff them out quickly. Preferably in a way that reveals the lie to all your subjects and reinforces their fear of our power," Leraje explains.

"Then you have my permission to do whatever it takes to find and identify this person. They will be executed in front of everyone by my hand. You have supported my rule for all this time, I trust you to continue," Reala says and Leraje nods before Reala's hand suddenly slides up to her cheek and Reala pulls her face forward pressing her lips against hers. Leraje's eyes drift closed as Reala's tongue slips into Leraje's mouth, the two making out and then Reala breaks the kiss.

"Th... Thank you for your belief, my king," Leraje says shakily and turns to leave as Reala backs away, watching Leraje as she leaves and then sits down on the throne. After a few minutes she claps her hands and her courtiers file back into the room as things return to normal. Reala's fingers return to tapping on the throne as she thinks about her new mysterious enemy.

Elsewhere in an island off the mainland a white haired kyubi gently raises a paper to her eyes, reading what it says as in her other hand she holds a game piece, twirling it idly in her fingers, "Well well... Leraje is planning to betray Reala?" she says and then looks to the eager imp girl in front of her.

"Yes... This is a perfect opportunity, Mistress Orchid!" The imp says happily and then yelps as the game piece bounces off their forehead.

"It's a trick you idiot..." Orchid chastises them and they grasp their forehead groaning.

"Ah... Sorry Mistress!" The Imp apologizes.

"That being said... It might still be useful. Reala and Leraje don't know I exist... If this is from them it is at best a strange attempt to root out some of their more disloyal followers, but I doubt it. Leraje is smart enough to know the answer to the question which of our followers are disloyal is all of them. No I believe this is an attempt from one of those disloyal followers..." she muses as she rereads the report.

"Someone is attempting a coup and pretending to be Leraje?" the Imp asks and Orchid reaches out and pets their forehead.

"Yes! Exactly. You're learning. Whoever it is... It's someone new though. It has to be an unknown quantity. Such a ploy would be much harder to pull off if the people you are trying to trick know who you are, so there's a new player in the game and their opening gambit is already a masterful stroke," Orchid says as she starts to fold the report.

"I'd love to meet them, but unfortunately... I don't have the time," she says as she places the folded paper down, now in the form of an origami Fox, "my campaign against the western kingdoms is still ongoing. They've been annoyingly resilient to both my message and my forces. I can't head to the mainland until my rule here is absolute, but perhaps... If you can find a way to contact this new player... I'd love to extend an invitation to them, see what you can do, Mrei" she commands the imp who salutes and hurriedly flits out of the room. Orchid turns her attention back to the board in front of her, one of her tails picking up the thrown piece and placing it back on the board. "Risk... Was that what that Tomoko girl had called it... Such a useful game she had devised," Orchid thinks to herself as she looks at the miniature map of Ruyanei, various coloured pieces representing her forces, Reala's forces, the Light's forces and her own opponents on the Archipelago stood on the board, a representation of the forces arrayed in the real world. I might have to add a new colour to represent this new player," she muses.

At the volcano, the dragon bursts out of the lava carrying Doom in it's clutches and drops Doom on the edge of the volcano's rim before landing itself. Doom let's out a sigh, relieved to be breathing proper air again and then turns to the dragon and spreads his arms wide. The dragon rears back before engulfing Doom in a jet of flame. The rim of the volcano melts down to lava and pours down the side of the volcano as the laughter of Doom echoes out. The flame dies down and Doom stands there unharmed laughing triumphantly.

"I thank you... I promise to uphold my end of the bargain," he says before turning away and heading back down the volcano. When he arrives in the Dragon tribe village his forces are alerted and show up to greet him. He smiles, "my loyal friends... I am sorry for the delay, but we are ready to continue now," he declares and then nods to Isidora, "you have carried out your part of the plan and now it is time to move on. It's time for 'Leraje' to gather her troops," he explains "and for Doom to make his appearance at court..." he adds and cheers go up from the gathered.

Elsewhere in a deep dark cave littered out front with the bones of humans, demons, goblinoids and various others creatures, something within stirs as a figure approaches. "Runa betrayed and killed her father and now lord Ruya's only other living relative Raig is dead. The line of the Ruya draconic family is gone... Who then do the Draconic kind have to look towards as their leader?" the creature asks the creatures in the cave. There are hisses as if in answer and the creature continues to speak, "The demon king Reala? A pitiful weakling barely holding onto her oversized throne! The dragons need a new leader!" the creature declares and then abruptly grows in size becoming a massive red dragon, broken scales cover it's body, scars from old battles, "it is time for a new leader and it shall be me! I am Carx Mura! The Mura draconic clan once ruled these lands before being defeated by the Ruya clan, but now that they are gone it is time I take my rightful place as ruler again! Dare any of you oppose me!" he declares, spreading out tattered wings in a grand display. There are hisses again and he chuckles, "then it's decided... Carx Mura is your new leader and as my first act... The Draconic clans have wallowed in weakness since the defeat of King Ruya and we shall teach the other races of the Dark why we were once so feared!" he declares and the hisses that come from the cave now are loud and approving.