Back in the castle's depths.

“What is it?” Fate asked, staring dumbfounded at the object hovering in the center of the room. There was an ominous aura that surrounded it, but it wasn’t exactly what he had been expecting.

It was a large, black sphere about three meters in diameter. It was giving off a vivid red light in all directions, but its own surface was such a deep shade of black, it almost looked like a disc until one circled around it to realize it was a three-dimensional object. Lanterns were hung up around the room, but they looked like recent additions.

These lanterns were one of the only hints of modernity in this otherwise ancient sanctum. Along with them, there were a few tables and a desk surrounding it. These surfaces were almost completely covered in parchment, ink, and various alchemical implements like glass tubes, tonics, and vials.

It was a familiar voice that finally answered Fate’s question, approaching from a desk tucked away in one corner, “The short answer is: we have no idea.” It was the dark elf consort Fate had met in the corridors earlier.

“Vexelda, right?” Fate asked.

She nodded and smiled, “I’m touched that you remembered my name, Sir Knight. Or am I to call you ‘His Majesty’ now?”

“He has accepted the throne, he is the new Dark King,” Silquintis replied. “What you call him will likely depend on whether or not he decides to keep you as a consort, and how concerned he is with formality.”

“Excellent, I will be happy to serve in whatever capacity you wish of me,” Vexelda said, wiggling her brows enticingly. “And no matter what you decide, a guy as cute as you is more than welcome to call me Vexy.”

“We can discuss that later,” Silquintis said, clearing her throat, “I have brought him here to show him the orb. Would you mind explaining the basics to him?”

“First rule of dealing with this thing,” Vexelda lifted a finger, looking me dead in the eye, “don’t touch it. Second rule of dealing with this thing, don’t touch it. I heard Silq telling you it’s the source of the curse of hatred, of which countless Dark Kings have suffered. That wasn’t just a metaphor. If you touch it, you will be cursed.”

“You’ve already fought off the curse by some miracle, it would not be wise to push your luck,” Silquintis reinforced Vexelda’s point.

“Got it. And you said that you don’t know what it is?” Fate asked.

“Not at all,” Vexelda shook her head. “Actually, doing any substantive research on this thing is next to impossible given that we can’t touch it. We can’t even touch it with tools or other objects, I suspect its hovering here because even shared contact with the ground would count. I haven’t been dumb enough to test this theory, though, as I can’t discount the possibility that doing so would cause everyone in the world to be afflicted.”

That was not something Fate wanted to think about, and frankly he was now uneasy to know that only about a foot of empty air was between the orb and the ground already.

“If anyone touches it by mistake, we are to lock them up in the dungeons until they die of thirst,” Silquintis said, direly.

Fate blinked, “That seems like a harsh punishment.”

“It’s not a punishment,” Vexelda corrected, “we can’t kill them mercifully because if we did, we would then get the curse. It’s smart, even if we order someone else to kill them, both the one directly responsible for their **** and the one who ordered it will get the curse. I think the only reason dehydrating them works is because of how long it takes. We can also starve them, but that takes too long and is a bit too cruel.”

That was sad, but Fate supposed that made sense. “So, what else do we know about it?”

“Not a lot,” Silquintis answered.

“We know that it is only quasi-real. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know what that means, it’s a term used almost exclusively by mages like myself who specialize in illusion and divination. I’d hope, if you made it this far into our kingdom, that you at least know how illusion magic works, right?”

Fate nodded.

“Well, unlike regular illusion magic, which can be dispelled as easily as knowing it’s fake, quasi-real illusions are at least partially real. This means that disbelieving them doesn’t completely dispel the effect, only softens them.”

Suddenly, as though saying these words had actually changed it, the black orb took on an appearance that was similar but different. Instead of its surface looking completely black save for small highlights, it gained much more texture. It was still smooth, but rather than just looking like a floating disc, it was much more apparent that it was a sphere. Additionally, dimly-glowing red runes were painted onto the surface in intricate and dizzying patterns.

“What—”

“You see it now, don’t you? Now that I’ve told you its quasi-real and explained the idea to you, you’ve disbelieved it without even realizing. Now you see the part of it that is at least partially real. As you can tell, it doesn’t exactly help in identifying what it is. Those runes and symbols are so ancient that our best linguistic scholars can’t even identify what they might mean. And since they are the result of some powerful illusion magic, we don’t even know if it’s a real language or just garbled nonsense meant to look like one.”

“That… is definitely strange,” Fate said but then had a sudden thought, “wait, what about undead? Can undead catch the curse as well?”

Vexelda giggled, “I like your scholarly curiosity. Unfortunately, you aren’t the first person to think of that, which is exactly why the third rule of the sphere is to definitely not let any undead touch it. They don’t get cursed; they just get outright destroyed. This is such a complete destruction that not even a soul is left behind. Since souls are considered sacred by most people, but especially those of the tundra folk, we’ve banned undead from coming anywhere close to it. You might have noticed there are no guards stationed immediately outside the door.”

“Frankly, if anyone made it this deep into the castle in the first place, we’d have far worse problems on our hands,” Silquintis added. “So, guards aren’t strictly necessary here.”

Fate just stared at the orb for a few moments, absorbing every inch of its mysterious and ominous wonder.

“That being said, it is of paramount importance that the secret of this orb is maintained. No other kingdoms knows of this thing, and only the highest ranking officials in the castle knows either. I hope I don’t have to explain why it’s best that the world at large doesn’t know that we’re sitting on something so dangerous here.” Silquintis said.

She certainly did not have to explain, Fate understood very well. He could scarcely even consider what he might have done if he knew even just yesterday.

“I suppose now would be a good time to discuss what you plan to do with Vexelda. Before she was a consort to the former Dark King, she was the heir to the Mirewood Duchy, the duke’s daughter.”

“I was part of a show of solidarity between the dark elves and the rest of the Dark Kingdoms,” Vexelda said, stepping closer to Fate and smiling. “There had been rumors that we were planning on seceding, but our father used me to banish that heresay.”

“I’m growing increasingly weary of hearing origins like that,” Fate replied. “Well, I will give you the same courtesy I gave Silq. I want to know what you want; it sounds like you didn’t have much say in the matter.”

“That’s very sweet of you,” Vexelda said, closing the remaining distance and clinging to Fate’s arm. He felt her soft breasts being pressed against his arm again like when they first met, “but I actually did have a say in the matter. I have eight sisters, one of whom is my twin. My father gave us all the choice, and I volunteered.”

“Really?” Fate blinked, looking down into her violet eyes.

“Of course, I was being offered to live in the lap of luxury, why not? Besides, I told you that I always thought the former Dark King was handsome. I think this new one is pretty good-looking too, by the way,” she wiggled her eyebrows at Fate and smiled. “If Your Majesty would have me, I’d be more than willing to be your consort or concubine or whatever. Just as long as you aren’t as stiff and chaste as the last guy.”

“Careful Vexelda, it would be wise not to make demands of him, he is your king,” Silquintis warned.

Fate shook his head, “It’s fine, I did explicitly ask what she wanted. And that sounds reasonable to me. However, I can’t imagine it would help our relationship with the dark elves much if I refused to recognize your nobility. I already have at least two dark elves at my throat, I don’t want to make any more enemies.”

“So, consort then?” Vexelda asked.

Fate nodded, “Seems like the best idea.”

As if summoned by Fate’s mention of her, one of the dark elves that had accosted him earlier suddenly burst into the room, “Lady Silquintis! Y-your Majesty,” she added this second title almost as an afterthought.

“Tess?” Silquintis turned as the dark elf took knee and knelt before them. “What are you doing here, I thought I was clear that nobody is to come in here without permission.”

“I apologize, your highness, but it is an emergency. Someone else has attacked the castle!”

All three of the others present shared a shocked look.

“Twice in one day? We must be lucky,” Vexelda said.

“Or unlucky,” Silquintis replied. “Who is it?”

“It’s one of the knights who escorted the Syldon princess here. I believe she must be trying to take her back.” Tess answered.

Fate looked at Silquintis seriously, “She probably doesn’t know that I’m the new King. She might not even know that the previous Dark King is dead. Did you tell the escorts when they arrived?”

Silquintis shook her head, “I did not, the situation was a little volatile. They may have sensed something was off, but there should be no way to know for sure.”

“Then this might be a misunderstanding. If she is a knight of Syldon, I probably know her, I might be able to reason with her.”

Silquintis nodded then turned back to Tess, “Lead His Majesty there, I am telepathically relaying the order to increase security around my quarters. I shall also teleport there directly.”

“Don’t use any living guards,” Fate ordered, “just undead.”

“Your Majesty?” Tess looked at him wide-eyed.

“I don’t want any more of your people to die over misguided crusades.”

Though he did not realize it at the time, this one sentiment resonated deep in Tess’ heart and laid the groundwork for her to consider her thoughts on Fate more carefully.

“All the same, I’d prefer to see the situation for myself this time,” Silquintis said. “I promise I won’t get too in over my head, my Fate.” She added this last bit after seeing the look the Dark King was giving her. Then she snapped her fingers and a swirling mass of shadow swiftly swallowed her and she vanished from view, leaving only a dark mist in her wake.

“Let’s go!” Fate commanded, and Tess obeyed.