The Wraithwagon stopped once they reached the courtyard of the palace. They all stepped out and an entourage rushed forward to attend their Queen.
Ran stood, gaping, as he watched the proceeding of a normal day in the life of a queen in hell.
Mukoku spared a glance at him and smiled. There was nothing kind about it.
"Kaito Ran shall be given quarters in the servants' abode, he's to be my knave," She announced to all her people.
The entire courtyard paused what they were doing to stare at him.
Ran could have sworn he saw some staring at him in jealousy while others glared daggers at him. But when he blinked it was all gone.
Mukoku turned around and departed into the palace.
Ran stood there, not knowing what to do when Soran Haru tapped him on the shoulder.
"I will be leaving now, Kaito Ran," the acolyte said.
Ran stared at him, curious and puzzled. "Where to?" He questioned, wondering why the boy had to leave when they just got here.
Soran Haru's face darkened and if not that he looked like he was ruminating, Ran would have feared that he was glaring at him.
"I have business to take care of in the city," the boy said. "There's a cambion there who owes me. A cambion who owes me a great debt."
His eyes focused back on Ran, a piercing gaze that arrested the younger boy's attention.
"But you don't have to worry," the acolyte said, affirming his words with an assuring squeeze to Ran's shoulder. "I will be back. I have not forgotten my promise that I will help you fight and rebel against the forces of Naraku."
Ran nodded, glad to have someone by his side for this journey. He wouldn't mind doing it alone, he had dedicated everything to it, after all.
But it would be good to have someone by his side.
He watched as left through the gates of fossilized jaws of a demonic kaiju, thoughts and prayers with the boy.
He was still curious about this great debt Soran Haru had mentioned.
Some servants, as Mukoku had ordered, came to him and led him away to the servant quarters the Queen of Severance had declared he'd be staying in.
The inside of the palace looked like a horror house that had been abandoned for centuries.
Ceilings were lined with cobwebs hidden in shadows. Shadows that appeared to be moving.
A curious Ran stopped to stare at them and he saw strange things moving in the shadows. Narrowing his eyes he could barely make out something that looked like a limb.
And then whatever it was moved across the ceiling into the light.
Ran jumped back, screaming in shock. "My kin," the young boy swore.
The figure of a twelve legged human-sized spider scuttled across the roof before returning to the shadows once more.
Slowly, eyes where he knew the creature to be, or at least where he guessed it was as it was too dark to see it, Ran turned around and hurried to join the servants who'd almost left him behind when he stopped to investigate what he'd seen in the shadows.
Panting as he caught his breath from the shock he'd be dealt, Ran issued a question.
"What was that?" He asked, his voice wobbling for a moment. "Tha…that thing crawling above us?"
The two male servants, both who had the two horns, tailless, neon bright eyes form distinct to the Lilims, turned around to stare at him impassively.
"That there, boy," one of them said with an amused patience, "is a demonbug. There are lots of them here. Ants, blood draining mosquitoes, some worms… you're new here right? Stay away from the worms, far away I should emphasize."
Ran nodded sharply, fervently accepting that advice.
By the kin! He hadn't known there were demonbugs in Naraku. He hadn't even known there were demonbugs in existence, much less in Naraku.
There had been no mention of them in the book of Calidation. It was the reliable, comprehensive reference guide for everything concerning Naraku.
At least it was supposed to be, now he was mentally weighing how much weight to put in the written words of the Book of Calidation.
Following behind the servants, he made sure not to cast his eyes about in order to take in the blood-chilling architecture of the building.
He could have sworn that he might have seen skulls used for decorations…
Anyway, he kept his eyes ahead, doing his best to memorize the routes they were taking.
The fog-light from the dimly bright solid-smoke bricks didn't provide much illumination but they managed to reach the servant quarters without any more surprises.
The servants opened the door of the one that had been issued to him. "If you need anything," one said, looking bored.
"You get it yourself," the other completed; the one who had told him to stay away from the worms.
Both Lilims turned around and walked away.
Ran stared at them, a frown crinkling up his face. He didn't need a seer to tell him these men did not like him.
Shaking his head, he stepped into the room. Everything in it was made of wood.
Ran was not of nobility or wealth, regardless he'd grown up sleeping on a good enough bed. Here there was none. And there were no clothes either. Just an empty space as small as a kitchen island, just as narrow too.
The floor, walls, and ceiling were of wood, there was a single smoke brick on the wall that provided some light but much of the room was still in complete darkness.
From what he could remember from the Book of Calidation, it was called sulfur-stone and was created with a mix of a concentration of sulfur and kin.
Staring into the room in trepidation, Ran stepped back out and closed the door.
His heart fell as his stomach rumbled. Now he'd have to go and find food somewhere.
Resigned, he turned around and headed in the direction the Lilims went.
That was how he found himself going through a palace that was as silent as a house that was surrounded by robbers.
The quiet made him tense. He even started to hear voices echoing around him.
One whispery and another too muffled to make much else from it aside that it was a female.
After the seventh time his ears picked up on the voices, he started to suspect that they might be real.
Well, as real as anything could be in Naraku.
Still, he found his legs taking him towards the voices, his curiosity getting the best of him.
Soon he came upon a room with a heavy obsidian door. Carefully, he moved towards it and pressed his ear gently to it, near the keyhole.
Arching a brow, he realized it was Mukoku speaking with someone. And she was saying something about a beast.
".... surprised by the beast?"
A low whispering voice responded to her question. "It was a Lagarakei, My Queen," the voice whispered in a low tone, almost hissing. "There are rumors that the Prince of the Blazes went to the Noxsphere in search of something, but upon his exit some of the sigils were broken, providing enough space for a few Lagarakei to break free."
Ran heard a sharp intake of breath and pressed his ear more into the door. "Have the Noxsphere been resealed? Please tell me the sigils have been replaced?" Mukoku asked, sounding tense and like how she'd sounded when she was caught off guard by the attack when they stepped into hell.
"The Feys have seen to that. But there's still the problem of the Lagarakei."
"Do we know how many managed to break free?"
"No, My Queen."
"And are we aware of if any of them have managed to make it to Dragonhearth and reunite with HIM?"
There was a haunting silence. It was as if even the very air stilled in anticipation of the answer to that question. Ran himself froze, sensing this aura of horrified expectation.
And then the whispering voice spoke again. "The Feys have been able to confirm that none of them have made it there. HE is still there, still imprisoned. There is nothing to fear, My Queen."
Ran remembered having read something about Dragonhearth in the Book of Calidation, but he couldn't really remember much about it. It had only been briefly talked about as a reference to something in the book.
Wasn't a great dragon imprisoned there? He couldn't exactly remember but he was sure it was something like that.
There was something powerful there though, at Dragonhearth, he remembered reading something about it.
Mukoku spoke again, but this time her words chilled his veins.
"You might as well just come in if you are going to stay for the whole meeting," she said,
Ran froze, going completely rigid as he heart began the beat to the flow of his emotions as they bounced from fear, to terror, then apprehensive dread, before declining to panic.
His thoughts were in a state of confusion, he equally denied and accepted the fact that she was addressing him.
Was she talking to him? No, she can't be, could she? Yes, he'd definitely been caught. No, he may not have been, she couldn't possibly be able to see through walls…
"Yes, I'm talking to you Kaito Ran. Come in before I drag you in myself."
Despondent, feeling like death was hovering over his shoulders, Ran pushed down on the door handle and swung it open.