With The World Against Us

Chapter 5

"Diamanda, I was not expecting you here." The king addressed his son. "What is so important that you need to personally visit my office?"

"To start, the Deity of War is currently here." The prince said. "Secondly, we have a situation with those who claim to be the prophets of Emery."

"How could you allow the Deity of War into our kingdom?!" The ruler scolded. "And what authority do you have to address our guest by his name?"

"Your Majesty, I apologise if I overstep but your son is not at fault for Xerxes' appearance in any way." The brunet defended. "I also requested for him to address me by my name, seeing as he now walks among the immortals."

Vitaly sighed. "It matters not, just get that abomination of a being out of my kingdom."

"That is something I can not do, even if I wanted to. Let us also not forget that Naiha is as much my kingdom as it is yours."

Diamanda's father muttered under his breath before rising to his feet and leaving the pair of immortals without a word.

"It seems King Vitaly will not be of any assistance, I shall confront the temple goers myself."

"I'll join you, I'd rather like to avoid Amadeus and his son currently."

"It would be an honour, but I must decline. As much as your husband and I have animosity between us, it is only natural for me to not overstep any boundaries with his spouses." Violet eyes shifted towards the painting at the back of the office.

"Just forget my mention of Amadeus then, I'll join you with purely professional intentions."

"It is an issue with the people of my temples, it is not your duty to inconvenience yourself with it."

"They are people of Naiha before they are people of your temples, it would not be an inconvenience for me to make an appearance as they are engaging in unlawful behaviour."

The prophetic deity sighed in defeat, knowing that he could not sway the prince towards staying in his home.

Hesitantly, he accepted the blond's proposal, a joyful grin on the young immortal's face in response.

"Good afternoon sir, Your Highness. How can the Temple of Prophecies assist you today?"" One of the temple's monks greeted, not recognising his patron deity.

"Good afternoon, we urgently would like to speak with all of your prophets." The prince demanded, his demeanour seamlessly shifting to what one would expect of his rank.

"Might I be so bold as to ask the reason you request our prophets? It would interrupt them during their time of communication to the Lord Amos."

"It is an extremely private matter, and I do believe your Lord would understand them needing to attend to mortal duties." The brunet stepped in, masking his irritation with a polite smile.

"I see..." the man began to look nervous behind a failed attempt to seem as if he were deep in thought.

"Consider their summons a direct order from the crown, we will meet with them in your available private prayer room." Diamanda spoke again, gesturing towards the open door deeper inside the building.

"Yes, of course. Right away, Your Highness." With those words the monk scurried off.

The brunet looked at his companion with a smile.

"I didn't know you could put such fear into a person." He mused as they made their way to the empty prayer room.

"I, as simply 'Diamanda the twenty-three year old man', can not but 'Diamanda the Prince of Naiha' can. The threat of disobeying the highest power in the kingdom is enough to get even the most stubborn of citizens to bend to your will." The young prince chuckled while they sat.

"Your Highness, you requested our presence urgently?" A woman spoke, interrupting the pair's banter while her colleagues filed in behind her.

"Yes, thank you for your attendance." Diamanda spoke, once again shifting into his princely persona. "Emery, please initiate the discussion."

The group looked to each other in confusion before meeting the brunet's gaze.

"Firstly, I would like one of you to close the door. It would be rather...unbecoming for innocent passers-by to overhear anything spoken about." He demanded, the 'prophet' closest to the door did as asked before settling into their earlier position once more.

"Lovely," Emery sighed, "now please share your reasoning for scamming the innocent citizens of Naiha."

"Scamming? Sir, you must be confused for there is no fraudulent behaviour behind our prophecies." A rather arrogant man replied.

"I see how this is going." The deity murmured with a sigh.

"Your prophetic abilities are a lie, therefore you are all frauds." He said simply, hoping to get his point across.

"What nonsense do you speak? You can go to the mountains and question our Prophetic Lord yourself, he will simply confirm that we are truthful." A woman spoke this time, her grin sickeningly confident.

"For a bunch of supposed prophets the only thing truthful about you is the length your unintelligence goes."

"And who are you to make such a claim to begin with?"

"The deity you speak of. If you're going to lie about your connection to me the least you could do is know at least my most used disguises." The brunet spat, his eyes narrowing.

"Nonsense, do you think we would be unaware of the presence of Amos?" One member of the group screeched.

Just as Emery was about to respond once more, he stopped and closed his mouth. Diamanda curiously stared on, watching as his companion's eyes glaze over.

"Sir...?" A 'prophet' spoke, approaching him with an outstretched arm.

The violet eyed deity began mumbling in an unknown language, eyes starting to fill with blood instead of tears as they remained unblinking.

"Emery, Emery!" The blond frantically shook his elder, trying to snap the man out of whatever horrific trance he was in.

In the palace's grand library, Vitaly sat across from two deities at one of the many tables in the room.

"I know you think whatever you plan to say will be important to us, so before you begin, do kindly ask yourself 'am I wasting the time of these two deities by opening my mouth?' and we can go from there." Amadeus spoke, a calm smile on his face.

"Do not forget who has jurisdiction over your life, immortal." The king said as he grit his teeth.

"Your son has more jurisdiction over my life than you ever will." Amadeus' eyes gave way to his amusement. "Not to mention the fact that your rule has run its course, don't you think so, Vitaly?"

"What are you trying to imply?"

"My darling dove is off attending to something that you should not have allowed in the first place, which inconveniences him. So-"

"Just get on with it!" The ruler interrupted, his eyes tired.

"What my father was trying to say before you so rudely interrupted is: your rule will officially be over before the prince is back home." Xerxes finally spoke with a bone chilling smile.