Late afternoon of the day they arrived, Grogar and Faust’s cabin

Grogar and Faust were sitting on the armchair, more accurately, Grogar was sitting in the armchair while Faust was sitting sideways on his lap as she placed her head on his muscular chest, which allowed her to hear the strong and steady beats of his powerful heart. The two of them were just relaxing and basking in the afterglow of their previous act, an act that Faust could never get enough of. They have been relaxing for a while and Faust was actually dozing off by the time Grogar suggested they spend some time in the hot spring.

The pair took a quick bath to clean themselves before heading out, on the shared backyard of the four cabins was the hot spring and Grogar was the first to enter on the warm and relaxing water while Faust tied her hair in a bun before entering in the spring beside her master, both of them sat there with the water just past their shoulder enjoying the suns setting in the north. Just as the second sun was setting they heard a few voices.

“C’mon Sunday, a dip in the hot spring is a good way to relax,” said an female voice, its owner hidden by the steam of the spring in the cooling air, Grogar looked to the left and saw three figures approaching and it was difficult to make out anything other than their silhouettes.

“Indeed, besides it looks like someones is already there, meeting new people outside of your job will be good for you,” said a male voice with a somewhat dull tone, it was immediately followed by a yelp and one of the silhouette hiding behind another, which caused the owner of the male voice to sigh.

Soon the three figures approached, the first was yuètù with gray fur, like all members of his species he had a slender figure that was rather androgynous but by the visible muscle, the scar over his left eye and the stoic expression on his cute yet fierce face he was quite a fighter, that was enhanced by the strips of black fur on his grey coat, he had three lines on his cheeks and a line just beneath the black tip on his ears. The second was a two-tailed fox with snow-white fur and by her wider hips and round chest that was covered a tuft of fur she was female, she had blue eyes that were similar to the “tiger bunny”. The third figure was hiding behind the white kitsune and would peek from behind said kitsune while being enveloped by the two tail, which hid the gender of the third figure and all Grogar could tell was that he or she was a yuètù as well.

“Hello,” said Faust with a warm smile as she looked at the group.

“Greetings Lady Faust, Your Majesty,” said the male yuètù before entering the hot spring and sigh in relief.

“C’mon Sun, just a dip, besides its rude, to not introduce yourself and leave His Majesty waiting,” said the female kitsune before sighing, then she said, “Look, I’ll go first, ok?”

The hidden moon hare nodded and slowly moved away from the tails of the kitsune, which showed her slim but feminine figure covered with brown, black and white fur in seemingly random spots.

“Greetings, Your Majesty, Lady Faust, I’m Sōkō but my friends call me Skye and it’s an honor to meet you,” said Skye as she bowed before looking at her male companion in the water and sigh, then she added after entering the warm water, “My partner, who apparently has no intention of introducing himself, is called Wanjin but everyone calls him Jack. I apologize for his rudeness but he tends to ignore everything that isn't related to his objective/work.”

“It’s perfectly fine,” said Grogar before looking at the nervous moon hare.

“I-I’m Shai and it’s an honor to meet you, Your Majesty, b-but my friends call me S-sun or Sunday,” said Sunday nervously as she bowed before slowly walking toward the spring, then she placed one foot at the time before sitting on the edge and slowly lower herself in the water.

“She is not very good with people, isn’t she?” asked Faust as Skye relaxed in the warm water.

“Not really, m’Lady, she very shy in general but the only times her shyness disappears is when she is doing her job,” said Skye as leaned on the stone as she let the warm water do its job.

“Oh, and what’s her job?” asked Grogar out of curiosity.

“She’s a doctor,” said Skye before sighing contently.

From there the group started to chat, Faust and Skye to be more precise and after some coaxing from Skye Sunday joined the conversation, Grogar and Jack just glanced at each other before nodding and sharing some alcohol, their drinks floating between then in a small tray of wood, all in all, it remained Grogar of Japanese hot springs from Earth. The moons were already in the sky by the time Jun without her prosthesis, Katsu and Cheng joined them it was quite funny when they saw Cheng with a smitten expression when his eyes landed on Sunday, Jun and Katsu just giggled at the awkward but adorable interaction between the two rabbits before interacting with their fellow kitsune-yuetu couple. Grogar just chuckled when Katsu’s attitude annoyed Jack enough for him to sigh in resignation and join the conversation. Soon they said their farewells before heading back to their cabins and get ready to sleep.

“Today was fun,” said Faust as she laid her head on Grogar’s chest after placing a safety spell on tip of her horn to avoid any accidents.

“Yeah,” said Grogar as he hugged Faust closer with one arm while placing his other arm behind his head, of course, he also placed a safety spell on tip of his horns.

“Good night, master,” said Faust before kissing Grogar cheek and use a wing as a blanket for both herself and her master.

“Good night, little lady,” said Grogar before closing his eyes.

Next Morning

Grogar had an interesting dream, his ability to use dark magic and his control over the shadows allowed him to connect with the Necrosword and learn of its history. He saw a Primordial God of Emptiness and Darkness, Knull, being assaulted by the light of creation, the Big Bang, and from there the invasion and battle against the Celestials as they shaped the Marvel 616 Universe. He saw as Knull shaped the darkness of the abyss into a crude sword and use said weapon to cut off the head of a Celestial. For that action, he was banished to the most distant corner of the universe and back into the void, what was left of his domain after the Celestials filled it and called it “space”. He saw how Knull created a forge in the head of the dead Celestial, a place that would eventually become Knowhere, and using the fires of creation he forged/tempered the living weapon he drew from the void. The fire of the forge and the beats of the hammer left a permanent scar on the weapon that would eventually become known as the All-Black Necrosword God-Slayer, the first Symbiote of the Universe.

The Lord of Tambelon saw as Knull started his crusade against creation to destroy the “light”, he saw how much like himself Knull slaughtered armies of gods until one lucky god struck him down and both of them fell in a desert world where his first-born was stolen by a mortal, Gorr. He saw as Knull use a fragment of his power to take over the lifeforms in that world, how he learned and evolved as he controlled many hosts when he forged symbiosis. But that only lasted until he was struck by Thor the Thunderer and he lost control over all symbiotes, how in their desperation they bonded with mortals and learned honor, nobility as well as similar values but in Knull’s mind his children were deceived and poisoned by the light of life. His children rebelled and created a prison to hold him for eternity, a prison they called Klyntar.

Grogar found the fact that the symbiote to be a mixture of darkness and emptiness to be quite fascinating, it was like they were a hybrid of Heartlesses and Nobodies but their mission of destroying life made them closer to the Elemental Force of Death, also known as The Black or The Rot, from DC. However he noticed that by technicality Knull could be considered a Void Dweller and the red marks that this version of the All-Black Necrosword had meant that it wasn’t a part of Knull but the entirety of his power and Grogar could, if he wanted, to recreate the whole of the Klyntar/Symbiote species here in Tambelon, that was an interesting prospect for his army. He also noticed that despite this Necrosword containing the memories of the original this one was forged/modified by Old Grogar himself before he took over, a parting gift so to speak.

The Dark Sorcerer opened his eyes before carefully removing himself off the bed without waking and he put on his pants before heading outside. Once outside he started to perform some movements, it was quite earlier in the morning and the sky was still dark and the suns had not risen yet. Since his companions were here to relax he opted for letting them sleep, by the time the first sun was visible on the horizon he had a bit of sweat running down his face and he was visited by another early riser.

“I’m surprised you would train your body,” said Jack as he walked up to Grogar wearing just a pair of shorts.

“Is that so?” asked Grogar without interrupting his routine.

“In my experience, mages prefer studying and nobles don’t like to make an effort in general unless they are raised in a warrior culture, like the gryphons,” said Jack as he placed a water bottle and towel on a nearby rock.

“I am of the opinion that all the knowledge in the universe is useless if you can’t act on it, so better to have a body that can keep up with the mind than die because you failed to move,” said Grogar as he finished his routine.

“Wise words, Your Majesty,” said Jack as he stretched his muscles and once he finished he asked, “Would you be up for a spar?”

“With or without magic?” asked Grogar as he assumed his battle stance after making a spell to create a circle around them.

“With,” said Jack simply as he too assumed his battle stance.

At some invisible signal Grogar barely had the time to blink by the time he defended Jack’s first attack by raising his arm left arm, that happened after two runic circles appeared beneath Jack’s feet with the purpose of enhancing his speed, then he jumped slightly to the side before creating a platform with another runic circle, which he used as leverage to jump at Grogar’s head with a flying jump kick that would have gotten past the curve of his horn and hit his jaw.

“Oh, no mercy whatsoever, uh?” commented Grogar as he lowered his left arm and using his great strength he used his left leg as a leverage point to perform a roundhouse kick, under normal circumstances Jack would be defenceless in mid-air but the tiger rabbit just made a platform with another runic circle to jump away from Grogar. The dark sorcerer commented after performing the kick and return to his initial stance in one fluid motion, “Good grasp of runic magic and you also have more bite than expected for a species that normally is prey and rather passive.”

“You are one to talk if the stories about you are any indication,” snorted Jack as he faced Grogar, the irony of that comment about prey and passiveness was not lost to him, especially coming from a goat.

“Cocky aren’t we?” said Grogar as he showed his fangs with a smile.

“At my age, it’s just the experience talking and it’s not arrogance if you can back it up,” said Jack as runes appeared on the back of his hands and feet, then a flurry of punches launched invisible bullets of air and his kicks launched invisible wind blades.

Grogar just used the same runes and matched each projectile launched by Jack, each time the invisible projectiles met a small spark and an explosion was heard, like firecrackers. That had the unfortunate effect of waking the occupants of the nearby cabins and most of them peeked out of their windows to see what was making that noise this early in the morning. Most of them just peeked through the window but some of them came out and seemed to be ready for their morning exercises. However, neither Grogar nor Jack paid attention to them as they kept their barrage of invisible projectiles, eventually, Jack sidestepped and was about to land on another platform to attack Grogar but Grogar overlaid his own runic circle over Jack’s and that caused the rabbit to phase through the runic circle and land on the ground.

“It seems you have lost,” commented Grogar and Jack raised an eyebrow, so the sorcerer pointed down and Jack followed his finger and saw that he was outside of the sparring circle that was set up previously.

“It seems so,” said Jack as he deactivated the runes on his hands and feet.

“So, an enforcer, huh?” commented Grogar and Jack just snorted before walking to where he placed his bottle of water and took a few sips. Enforcer, mages that focused exclusively in practical combat application and were giving their name by their duty of hunting down and kill mystical threats, which included rogue mages, as well as reinforcing the Mage’s Guild’s regulations, some of which were written by Grogar itself, some of them were even part or worked part-time in the Warrior’s Guild. After this little recollection, Grogar asked, “So, for how long have you worked as an Enforcer?”

“Um, it has been around a century or so since I became an Enforcer,” answered Jack as Grogar sat beside him while the other decided to start their morning routine since they were already awake. That little tidbit of information draw the attention of Jun but she didn’t show any reaction outside of the sightly twitch of one of her ears, which was not lost to Katsu. Not far from them was Rime and Agate doing some katas and they seemed full of energy today.

“A rather long life for a yuètù,” commented Grogar before taking a sip of water from a bottle offered by Faust.

“Indeed, only thanks to a promise I made, a contract,” said Jack as he looked at the morning sky.

“I see,” said Grogar before asking, “With who?”

Jack only response was a quick glance to the snow white kitsune doing a morning run with Katsu and Jun was all the answer Grogar needed. The goat had no intention of asking which type of contract was made, after all, it wasn't his business. As both males rested Faust returned with a few trays of food floating behind her and helping her was Cheng as well as Sunday. Soon enough, everyone was gathered for a picnic and the all of them shared the first meal of the day.

“Mmm, it’s a while since I had a meal this delicious, I hope you can give me some tips, m’Lady?” asked Skye as she looked at Faust and by the glances that Sun was giving the kitsune she was also interested but it was too shy to ask.

“I wouldn’t mind, dear,” said Faust with a warm tone.

“So, are you three going to stay here for long?” asked Jun before taking a sip of her coffee.

“Seven days,” answered Jack with a dull and stoic tone.

*chuckle* “That makes a funny reference,” said Echo after Jack said that particular line, which brought up the memory of a certain horror movie, on the outside Grogar showed no reaction as he slowly drunk is morning tea.

“Yeah, our plan was to spend our break, ten days, here this little town before returning to Agartha. This is our third day here,” clarified Skye before starting a little dispute with Katsu over some berries.

“Indeed, let’s just enjoy our time here,” said Rime before raising her mug of coffee.

“Cheers!” said everyone as they did the same.

Six days later, late at night

“Are you sure you don't want me to accompany you?” asked Faust with a worried tone as she stood at the door, she was wearing her favorite nightgown and was not bothered by the fact she was exposing herself to anyone passing by, not that there were many people walking around at this hour with the exception of the guards patrolling the place.

“There is no need, my dear,” said Grogar before kissing the alicorn on the lips tenderly. Then he said with a reassuring tone, “Its just a meeting and it will probably take all night, plus tomorrow I need to check on the Umbrums and Windigos.”

“Just be careful, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you again, master,” said Faust before hugging Grogar.

“Don’t worry, little lady, I’ll be back no matter what,” said Grogar and Faust nodded before pulling back, then Grogar picked the Mother Box on his belt as he donned his living cloak.

*ping**BOOM*

“Thank, my dear,” said Grogar to the Mother Box before he attached it to his belt again. Then he turned to Faust and said before walking through the portal, “See you tomorrow, little lady.”

Aarukamma, the city of the gods

Grogar walked out of the Boom Tube and emerged in an ancient looking city, the placed was made of stone and the simple houses looked like houses from antiquity, however, despite the simplicity in their design they were well decorated both with both precious metals and plants. It was like a combination of a city and a garden, that combined with the many pyramids and towers that could be seen all over the city also gave the impression of a giant temple complex. It was like all the great ancient cities of Antiquity were seamlessly blended together, or better yet it was as if all other cities were based in aspects of this one, maybe this was what the world would have looked like at the time of The Great Tower of Babel, which was appropriated when looking at the central tower in the city. The city itself was surrounded by green and fertile land and that eventually gave way to the shore that led to the crystal clear water, all of that floating in an endless sky that existed both above and below, its orange tint gave the impression of dusk despite not having either stars or sun(s) visible.

“It reminds me of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,” commented Echo.

“Indeed it does,” said Grogar before walking toward the central tower, as he approached the tower he was greeted by a crowd of lesser gods and goddesses in the great plaza surrounding the central tower. Once he passed the crowd he stood in front of the entrance he was greeted by two armored figures, both were goats like Grogar himself and they were quite tall, the first was around the same height while the second was a few inches taller than Grogar himself actually.

The first was a white goat with two horns curving backward coming from the top of his head, he had quite a muscular and well-sculptured figure, only the fact that Grogar knew who this figure was allowed the sorcerer to identify him as male because otherwise, his rather androgynous figure that was covered by his purple and golden armor was borderline impossible to tell his gender. His well-groomed fur told everyone around him of his vanity, the well kept armor and sword told everyone around him for his perfectionism, lastly, the red cape hanging on his back and being held on his pauldrons by to small ornamental golden wings told everyone present of his status. The second was also a white goat with two horns that curve up and twisted to the side before pointing back, unlike the first he had a really masculine figure with his broad shoulders and narrow hips, what was not covered by his royal blue and gold armor. His fur while well kept it was also average, his posture denoted discipline and pragmatism as did the good conditions of his equipment.

“It has been a while, Heron, Arash,” said Grogar as he looked into the purple jewel-like eyes of the first armored figure before turning to look into the clear blue eyes of the second figure.

“Father,” said Arash Hrod as he nodded, it was short and to the point.

“Your sons and daughters will be elated to be in the presence of our exalted father once again,” said Heron Fulgur, his voice overflowing with pride and vanity, however, it also felt like silk to the ears of those who heard it, like a work of art that mesmerized other and he knew it. Then his expression brightened and that combined with the somewhat long fur on his blowing on the breeze gave him an almost painting like quality as he said, “Maybe we should plan a little family reunion.”

“That will be for a later date, maybe after my visit to Agartha and Atlantis,” said Grogar as entered the tower and his two sons following him.

“Maybe we should gather in Agartha,” suggested Arash with a thoughtful look.

“As if I would lower myself to enter a hole in the ground, brother,” snorted Heron and he glared at Arash. Then he suggested, “Atlantis would be a far more appealing place to visit, plus the rich architecture and beautiful marine life would make a fine place for our reunion.”

“You know that not all of us will agree simply because you said so,” said Arash as he glared at Heron.

“Enough,” said Grogar with a calm tone but the finality in it was evident and the two brothers stopped, then Grogar added, “I will choose the place and date but I wouldn’t oppose to a little get-together after this is over. Now, its time for the meeting.”

“Yes father,” said both of them as the trio emerged in a great auditorium, instead of stands/bleachers it had many platforms, the ceiling of this hemispherical was decorated with arcane runes of many languages that gave the impressions of stars and the line made the place feel like an observatory filled with star maps. Each platform had a dial of stone with runes on the front and in the platform itself, there were a variety of decorations and items of furniture that seemed to match their occupants' cultures/needs.

“It looks rather similar to the Galactic Senate Chamber from Star Wars, only more magical,” commented Echo and Grogar just gave a mental nod as he and his sons walked to a platform in the center of the Chamber’s floor, the circular platform had a single throne in its center. Whispered could be heard as Grogar sat on the throne and Heron stood beside him while Arash pressed some runes on the dial, which caused the platform to float up until it was halfway to the ceiling at the center of the room. This meeting occurred once a year or when something that affected the majority of their universe of Tambelon as a hole, which included his return and the emergence of not one but two new species, but that was incredibly rare.

Grogar looked around and saw that many platforms were occupied, major and minor deities of many species, there were also some proxies/representative of deities that didn’t leave their realms for one reason or another. Grogar just announced, “Let this meeting begin.”

A few hour later

The meeting was long and boring in Grogar’s opinion like any political gathering alliances were made and unmade, Grogar himself remained mostly as an observer but he did interject once in a while. This meeting was merely a formality but one he had to deal with, however, it held great importance due to the fact that it was the first meeting that Grogar himself was attending, his awakening marking the beginning a new era for everyone, literally since this year would now be considered the year 0 of the Second Era or AA(After Awakening) to mark Grogar’s return. Truly a historical occasion, the only ones that weren’t present were the ones that were either occupied by some task, like ones that Grogar tasked with watching the Umbrums and Windigos, or were unwilling to leave their realm(s) for one reason or another, which included the Top 5 strongest deities in Kamagati.

*chuckle*

“Something amuses you, father?” asked Heron as he heard Grogar chuckled.

“Just musings of an old goat,” said Grogar as he observed the ongoing meeting, floating platforms coming and going as deities talked in the annual meeting.

“Such as…” started Arash before trailing off.

“Just that in all those millennia the Top 5 remained unchanged and while the lower half of the Top 10 suffered some changes only one of you managed to enter that list,” commented Grogar and while Arash just shrugged Heron had a look of disdain twisting his almost perfect features.

“Why did let those disgusting creatures even live in the first place? They are nothing but abominations and only Neth and her forces are tolerable,” said Heron his beautiful face twisted and the bloodlust he was radiating actually caught the attention of some of the gods present.

“Your opinion is irrelevant, brother, they were allies of our father and they held their end of the deal, as such they were entitled to a piece of Kamagati,” commented Arash with his harsh and objective tone.

“Besides, ‘abominations’ is rather subjective and I have no problem with them, I actually enjoy their company and I won’t deny worthy allies because they offend your sense of beauty,” said Grogar before Heron could retort to Arash’s comment and after that they remained in silence. It didn’t take long for the meeting to end and the three left the tower, then Grogar asked, “How many of you are here in the city?”

“Just the two of us for the meeting and Maha is in the city for personal reasons,” Arash informed his father as they walked toward the city.

“Well, there is a group I intend to meet and we can talk before I head back to Tambelon,” said Grogar and Arash nodded.

“Who are you meeting, father?” asked Heron.

“Your aunts,” answered Grogar and the brothers just raised an eyebrow each.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait. Anyway, I got a bit of inspiration when I read Venom Vol 4 Issue 4, with told the origin of the Symbiote race and showed the very first Symbiote, which happened to be the All-Black Necronsword, as well as its creator Knull.

Inspirations for the names:
Wanji - comes from one of the Chinese expression for "Jack of all trades, master of none", which reads Wànjīnyóu(万金油). A literal translation would be "10,000 gold oil". The character itself is based on Jack Savage from the cut content from Zootopia.

Sōkō - comes from the Japanese ideograms for "Blue" and "Light", she is based on Skye Winter, also from the cut content from Zootopia.

Heron Fulgur - "Heron" is a bird from which the Phoenix was based on in Egyptian Mythology, it comes from BNW or "gray heron", while Fulgur is Latin for "lighting". The character itself is based on Fulgrim, also known as The Phoenician and the Primarch of the Emperor's Children Traitor Legion, from Warhammer 40k.

Arash Hrod - "Arash" means either "truthfulness" or "bright" in Persian while "Hrod" means "fame" from Old Norse. The character itself is based on Roboute Guilliman, sometimes referred to as the "Avenging Son", "The Victorious" and "The Blade of Unity", the Primarch of the Ultramarines, also from Warhammer 40k.