Empire of Light: Book 5 - Ancient City Of Evil

Chapter 12: Warnings From A Faraway Land

  Montague rubbed Cheryl's foot absently, wondering why he felt her tense up slightly. He wondered what could have changed her light mood so quickly.

She said we have unexpected visitors, he thought, running his hand over the bottom of her padded foot. I wonder who it could be? We didn't have anyone else scheduled for today besides Queen Zephale.

He looked up as he saw the members of the Royal Court enter the throne room. When he saw his mother and father enter, Montague grimaced and put increased pressure onto the Empress' arch. Cheryl, in the middle of addressing her Court, suddenly reached down and slapped her son-in-law lightly on the head.

"For Omeru's sake! Gently, cub!"

"Sorry," Montague replied.

"Haha. This might be something I'll have to get you to do later for me, Monty," Shaya giggled.

"No thanks, Mom."

"You'd be better off asking a troll, Shaya," Cheryl said, then cleared her throat and slipped into her other role effortlessly. "Court, we have some very interesting visitors," she said. "Bring them in, Thaddeus."

This time, when Montague looked up, he saw Lana Schwarzwind's face go from her usual happy, cherubic smile to a frown, and his mother appeared worried. When he saw the visitors, he noticed their clothes seemed foreign, and both appeared tired. His keen eyes spotted Shaya cursing under her breath.

"Welcome to Lexford," Cheryl said. "What may I do for you?"

The smaller one wearing a black labcoat started to speak, then reached up and removed the taller one's hat and thrust it into the man's hands. "Greetings, uh.... " He glanced down at Montague, who stared back while performing his task.

"So that's what she looks like," the bigger one said suddenly. "Damn. Demara sure had some weird taste. Birdboy, too."

"Demara?" Cheryl said sharply. "What does he have to do with anything?"

The smaller of the two gave his companion an annoyed glare. "Absolutely nothing, but uh... Highness? I mean, Your Majesty..."

A chuckle came from the Raku Empress. "Speak as you normally would, or we'll be here all day."

"Oh. All right. We came here through a space-time rift to warn you about a creature we've learned about recently." He went on to explain that the two of them, along with an agent of Shinra fought a strange creature. They had forced it to flee. "We have every reason to believe that this creature is bent on destroying all humankind... well, all living things." The man in the odd labcoat said, then explained how he and his friend had discovered something called the G-Virus in Umbrella's lab, as well as information concerning something that had been codenamed The Proto-Nephilim. "We want to offer whatever aid we can."