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Chapter 5: The Storm

 When they woke up the next day, it was stormy. They decided that it was too unsafe to travel to the next region, and that they would stay in Chiaya for the day. Echo went back to bed, and Destry went to a shop to get some food for the party. Lilia wasn't anywhere to be seen. Evren went out on the balcony, and saw her outside splashing in puddles. Lilia looked up at him, and shouted "EVREN! Come and join me! It's so much fun!". Evren didn't really want to go down there, but Lilia made it look kind of fun. He left the inn and joined Lilia.

They started splashing around the puddles and running around. When they got tired of the rain, they went under an awning for cover. It was in that moment that Evren realized something. He turned to look at Lilia, and began to say something. "Lilia... I love you... So much." he said while blushing. "Evren... I love you too!" Lilia replied. And then they kissed under the awning.

Meanwhile, so close yet so far off in a realm known as Nocturnae, the Demon King and his second-in-command were plotting a new way to take over the kingdom of Dosnatia. "I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HOW COULD THEY HAVE SLAIN AQUARIA!" thundered the Demon King. His second-in-command, the forgotten deity, Meirxae, draped herself over him. "Do not fear, Your Grace, we will surely find a solution." she said in an eerily soothing voice.

"FETCH MY MAP!" the Demon King commanded. Meirxae fetched the map from among the many ancient items. The Demon King placed a hand on it, and closed his five eyes. "I sense them... They are still in Chiaya. They are just slacking off." he said. "This is the perfect opportunity to execute our plan!" Meirxae said excitedly. "At last, we will have our revenge on those Dosnatians for exiling us!" the Demon King said powerfully.

"I'll do whatever it takes to help us take Dosnatia. Even if it results in my demise." Meirxae said as she fetched her ancient weaponry from a cabinet.

Hundreds of years ago, the Demon King was once a human prince, heir to the Dosnatian throne. He was described as "emotionless" and "unfeeling". When he inherited the throne, he became a tyrant. He would have people imprisoned and lynched because he felt like it. Later in his life, he discovered the dark arts. He memorized all the worst spells, and tested them on his servants. He was so horrible, that the people of Dosnatia began to riot. Eventually, the remaining castle inhabitants turned against him. By then, he had become known as the Demon King. The people planned to have him executed.

The Demon King became aware of their plan, and searched for a way to escape. He found a spell that would send him to to the Dark realm, Nocturnae. But in order to perform the spell, he would have to devote his entire existence to evil. He obliged, and began to transform into a horrible form as he recited the spell. Horns protruded from his head, his hair grew long and dark, and three more eyes appeared on his face. His skin turned cold and pale, and his fingernails turned to claws. He had become the Demon King he was said to be. A portal to Nocturnae opened up, and he entered.

The people were shocked when the Demon King was nowhere to be found. They had no ruler! When things had calmed down, they appointed his sister as the queen. She continued to rule Dosnatia to this day. In Nocturnae, the Demon King began to create monsters to build him a palace. When it was finished, he began to create more monsters solely to do his bidding. Later, he started creating more powerful monsters with the intention of taking back Dosnatia and claiming the throne.

Meirxae was once an all-powerful deity, worshipped by all of Dosnatia. Temples were erected in her honor, and prayers were said there. She loved the people of Dosnatia, and they loved her. But as centuries passed, the people of Dosnatia developed more ideologies and beliefs. By the time the Demon King's sister took the throne, she was almost completely forgotten. That outraged her. How could those people, who had once adored her, now not know who she was? She had devoted herself to making sure they were happy, but now they had rejected her. She finally cracked when the first temple made to her was demolished by a storm and nobody did anything about it.

It was then that she gave up on being good to the people who abandoned her. As she became more and more evil, she underwent several form changes. Her hair, which was once the color of light itself, was now the color of the night sky. Her eyes went completely white. Her beautiful white and gold garments became an inky black and silver. Her skin became gray.

She ventured into Nocturnae, and kneeled before the Demon King. She pleaded for him to take her in as his second-in-command, because she hated Dosnatia as much as he did. After many tries, the Demon King took her in.

They had began to form a great plot, one that would definitely land Dosnatia in their grasp. The Demon King was even thinking of making Meirxae his queen once he reclaimed the throne. They developed the monsters that Destry, Echo, Evren, and Lilia had slain, and were now focused on stopping those four.

Back in Woodpine Town, Evren and Lilia had headed back to the party's room at the inn. Echo had woken up, and was sitting on the bed. Destry had bought some bread and milk at the shop, and just walked through the door. He passed out the bottles of milk to everyone, and set the loaf of bread on a nearby table. Destry wondered how to cut it, but then he got an idea! He took his sword and began to slice the bread. "ARE YOU CRAZY?" Lilia shouted to him. "You could cut yourself!" Echo said. But Destry ignored them, and finished slicing the bread. He handed out four uneven slices with a big grin on his face.

The party ate their food, and spent the rest of the day talking to each other. "Do you think we'll ever get home?" Evren said suddenly. The party went silent. Neither of them really knew if they would be able to return home. "I hope we will..." replied Echo. As night began to fall, the party crawled into bed and fell asleep to the sound of the rain. The next day, the

rain had stopped, but it was still cloudy out. However, it was nice enough for the party to travel to the next region.