Warning: some graphical descriptions in this chapter.

Grogar and his two sons headed toward one of the city’s many inns, after all, aside from those that lived here gods and mortals constantly visited Aarukamma.

“So, how many people are we expecting?” asked Arash as he walked at Grogar’s right, his armored hooves thudding against the stone of the ground.

“I actually don’t know how many of them are present in the city, let me check,” said Grogar and Arash nodded while Grogar closed his eyes and stretched his senses to find two familiar presences. Once he found Sheol and Shuma he sent a telepathic message, “Hello there, Sheol, Shuma.”

“My Lord!” responded Sheol and Shuma in surprise.

“Sorry to bother you, but would you two accept an invitation for breakfast?” asked Grogar amicably.

“Well, we wouldn’t oppose m’Lord but we are currently with our husbands and sisters here in the city,” answered Sheol.

“Perfect, I’m also in the city with two of my sons and we are going to meet with another. Would you and your family like to come with us for breakfast?” asked Grogar.

“No we wouldn’t m’Lord,” said Shuma.

“Perfect, are all eight of you there?” asked Grogar and he receive a mental nod, so he opened his eyes and answered Arash’s previous question, “Eight people.”

“A little more than expected but it should be fine,” commented Heron.

“We will be meeting Maha in the Lunar Ambrosia Inn in the Eastern section of the Middle Ring,” said Arash and Grogar communicate the location of the place to Sheol and Shuma before receiving another mental nod from the pair.

“Will any more of your siblings be joining us?” asked Grogar and Arash shook his head as they walked through the city, moving away from the tower toward the east, which was difficult considering the sky was in an eternal twilight/dusk. They passed beneath the aqueduct that masked the division between the Central and the Middle Ring, from there they walked through the city until they reached a rather large building, one that could easily be equated to a mansion. However, the surrounding area was occupied by many tables, on the inside of the mansion the whole floor was converted into a dining hall with bar counters evenly spread throughout the place.

“Greetings m’Lords, would you like a table for three?” asked the receptionist, a young centauress, her humanoid torso had brown and white fur coat on her arms and it extended to her quadruped torso, she was wearing a nice but simple formal blue sleeves robes with a silver moon decorating the right side of the chest and the back. She obviously had bovine ancestry if judging by the fact that her humanoid torso looked like a minotauress and her quadruped torso was that of a cow.

“That won’t be necessary, my dear, we are here to meet with someone in a private dining hall. A red goat by the name of Maha,” said Heron and the young centauress blushed at Heron’s charm before she shook her head and her horns glowed for a moment before a scroll appeared in her hands. After looking for a bit she seemed to find what she was looking for before bowing and motioning for them to follow while saying, “This way, my Lords.”

As they followed the young centauress Heron just looked at her rump as the group climbed the stairs, Grogar didn’t comment but Arash just rolled his eyes as he saw how his brother was practically drinking the centauress’ behind with his eyes. Again, must creatures didn’t have a problem with nudity but it was considered rude to stare, especially when people walked around without clothes, and most centaurs don’t cover their quadruped parts. Anyway, once the group was on the second floor the receptionist led the trio through a luxurious hallway and they passed a few doors before she stopped in front of one and gently knocking. Then she opened and said, “Excuse me, Your Highness, the ones you were expecting have arrived.”

“Thank you, that will be all,” said a regal and cultured voice from inside the room.

“As you wish,” said the young centauress before moving out of the way and bow. Arash and Heron entered the room.

“We will be expecting more guests and they might ask for me instead of Maha,” said Grogar before entering the private dining hall.

“We shall inform you when they arrive,” said young centauress before leaving while Grogar entered the dining hall.

The room itself was decorated with statues on the four corners and along the walls, a chandelier made of crystal floating above the table that was long and spacious enough for at least twenty people. Aside from Arash and Heron who were sitting on the left side of the table near the end, there were two other goats on the table directly in front of them, both were goats. The first was similar to Heron in a sense, he had an androgynous figure that while muscular it wasn’t as evident and he was slightly shorter than Grogar himself, he was covered in golden armor with purple decorations, the opposite of Heron’s, his fur was reddish brown but he had a long red mane with black highlights, his horns came from his temples and curved slightly up before twisting forward, he also had a purple left eye while the right side of his face was covered by a scar tissue. The second was like a smaller version —being around 7ft 8in— of the first but with horns curving up before twisting and pointing straight up in addition to the two horns that were similar to the red goat, his fur being a dark blue a shade lighter than Grogar’s and his armor was red and less decorated, plus he lacked the mane.

“Hello, father,” said Maha Iode, the red goat, as he looked away from the book he was reading before attaching it to a chain on his the left side of his belt.

“Hi there, Maha,” said Grogar as he sat on the head of the table before glancing at the smaller goat and asked, “Who is he?”

“Greeting, Your Majesty, its an honor to be before you,” said the smaller blue goat as got up and placed his right fist on his chest, “I’m Manda Buthos, Prince Maha’s second in command.”

“And also my son,” said Maha and as Grogar looked at his grandson he looked at Arash who was glaring at Heron, then he said, “Let me guess, he was being his incorrigible self with either the young centauress or the young male ahuizotl working on the reception.”

*sigh*“The former,” said Arash and Maha’s horns started to glow purple and a bottle of wine floated to Arash who accepted the bottle. Then he commented, “Of all the siblings I had to be paired up with him for this meeting.”

“Why, brother? You speak as if it’s a bad thing,” said Heron, arrogance and self-centeredness was practically oozing from his voice, that plus the sarcasm made his brothers groan in frustration. Then he turned to face his father and asked, “So, last I heard you were traveling around Tambelon with Faust, just doing some sightseeing and searching for a romantic spot? Or just the perfect place to ravish her.”

“Frankly, that’s none of your business. You don’t see me asking what and who you do with or where,” said Grogar as he took a sip of his wine.

“Indeed, brother, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong,” said Maha as he too took a sip of his wine and talk to himself, “Knowing him its probably between the legs of some of his soldiers.”

“You speak as if it’s a bad thing,” said Heron in a coy tone.

“Honestly, I’m surprised all of your soldiers are not always involved in a legion, wide orgy,” grumbled Maha.

“We try that once but we had to stop at some point, so instead I decided to have a never-ending but smaller orgy in my castle and the participants just switch in and out. Fun times, especially with my shapeshifting,” commented Heron absently.

*groan*“Why one of the few siblings that have similar powers to me insist in wasting them in his vain and hedonistic pursuits?" asked Maha as he facepalmed.

“Huh, better than wasting my time with my nose buried in dusty old tomes,” commented Heron with disdain in his voice before adding, “If wasn’t for the fact I know some of the fathers and mothers of your kids I would question if you made them in a lab or something similar.”

“Do not mock my pursuit of knowledge,” said Maha as his body was enveloped by a purple aura as his eye glowed and in response, Heron’s body started to glow with a lilac tone as did his eyes.

“Enough,” said Grogar calmly but with power and finality, which caused the aura of both princes to subside.

“See what I have to deal with, father,” said Arash as he gesture toward his brothers.

“I remembered to teach you to always be true to yourselves and to always treasure family, whether you pursue your own pleasure, knowledge about existence, constant self-improvement or something else entirely it doesn’t matter,” said Grogar and the two just glared at each other for a moment.

“Tch,” was the response of Maha and Heron before looking away from each other. After that, they remained civil and the five of them just talked about what happened in the millennia that Grogar was absent, then they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Your Majesty, your guests have arrived,” said the young centauress as she opened the door and Grogar just nodded before moving out of the way as he got up and meet Shuma and Sheol.

“Shuma, Sheol, its good to see you two again,” said Grogar as he hugged the two goddesses.

“Its good to see you again, m’Lord,” said Sheol before kissing Grogar on the cheek and Shuma did the same soon after.

“Let us introduce our sisters,” said Shuma as she motioned the rest of the group she and her sister came with.

Next to the black goats were two 9ft tall minotauresses with a black fur coat, similar to the two goats they were wearing simple yet elegant grey tunic-like collarless dresses with a root-like pattern and with the side seams opened below the waist-line, that was over a loose pajama-like trousers and to finish they had a large sash wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder and baring the midriff. Both had pleasantly full and motherly figures that exuded grace, experience and warmth that only a mother could show, all of that was enhanced by their exposed pregnant bellies that looked quite big even for someone of their sizes and like all minotauresses that reach that stage of their lives their breasts seemed full and heavy but ready to be milked. Their horns came from their temples before curving up and slightly forward, incidentally their horns, as well as Sheol and Shuma’s, were decorated with golden rings and all four of them had bracelets and earrings, the only difference between the two minotauresses, aside of the jewels they had, was that one had a purple sash over her right shoulder with a floral pattern while the other had her a blue sash over her left shoulder with flowing patterns that one would associate with water giving the impression of a river.

“Your Majesty, the one with the blue sari is Utprith, she is the oldest of us,” said Sheol as she gestured toward the minotauress with the blue sash over her left shoulder.

“Sheol, there is no need to comment on my age, what His Majesty would think?” asked Utprith feigning embarrassment.

“And the one with the purple sari is Ulldhu,” said Shuma and Ulldhu just waved at Grogar almost shyly, especially at the intense look Grogar was giving the two sisters.

“Ok, something like this can not be a coincidence,” commented Echo.

“Indeed, someone is behind this,” replied Grogar as he placed his hands on the cheeks of the two minotauresses and they felt a sense of familiarity. Everyone just looked confused at this gesture but Sheol and Shuma recognized the action and the expression on their sisters' faces.

“My Lord, are they…” started Shuma.

“… like us?” Sheol finished her sister's question.

“Yes,” answered Grogar, much to the confusion of those present, before adding, “There is no way that four of my siblings reincarnated as sisters in the same family all at once. Someone or something is behind this.”

Grogar took in the four stags/harts that came with his sisters and the reincarnation of his two youngest brothers while Sheol and Shuma explained what was going on and his sons and grandson listened with mild interest as they waited for the introductions to be finished. All four of them had a reddish brown fur coat and their slender frames were mostly exposed, there were drawings of lines that weaved and flowed together on their arms and pecs giving a Norse/Celtic vibe. The first had dark green spaulder with forest green edges over his left shoulders with and being held by a strap across his chest while his antlers had small amounts of moss hanging. The second had two light blue spaulders with gray edges over his shoulders being held by straps across his chest and his antlers seemed at first to have small jewels stuck in them but upon closer inspection, it was dew reflecting light. The third had a sandy brown spaulder with auburn edges over his right shoulder and his antlers seemed to have a thin layer of dust. Lastly, the fourth had no armor and his antlers had small flowers that seemed to be colored spots on his horns.

“And the four of you would be?” asked Grogar wanting to get the instructions out of the way, while he was happy at the fact that he was reunited with four of his siblings so far he was also angry at the fact that something or someone dared to disrupt his family's rest in the afterlife.

“I’m named Dainrot, Your Majesty,” said the one without armor and flowery antlers

“I'm called Dunera,” said the one with sandy colored armor and dusty antlers.

“I am Duratet,” said the one with light blue armor and dew covered antlers.

“And I’m Dvaliyrnir,” said the one with green armor and moss-covered antlers.

Grogar nodded before returning to his seat and once he was there the eight new guests took four seats on each side of the table, then Maha asked, “Father, you seem to be upset, is everything okay?”

“I wasn't my intention to ruin the atmosphere and while I'm happy to be with four of my siblings…” started Grogar before trailing off.

“The fact that all four of them ended in the same family as siblings is concerning because the chance of that happening is so astronomically small that there isn't even a number to express it,” concluded Maha.

“Which means that their reincarnation was by design,” added Arash and that bit of information worried the family of eight.

“Exactly, someone or something disrupted my siblings’ afterlife,” said Grogar as his eyes glowed red and the oily shadows that made his cloak seemed to writhe in response.

“Do you want us to investigate and hunt down whoever is responsible for this, father?” asked Heron as he looked at his father and ignored the eldritch feeling that he got from his father's cloak.

“No, I have a feeling about who is responsible for this, my only question is ‘why they did it?’,” said Grogar before taking a deep breath and say, “But let's not dwell on it and just enjoy a good meal.”

Not long after a knock was heard on the door and a waiter came in, a young female ahuizotl with dark blue as well as light blue fur on her muzzle and hands, she had yellow sclera with green feline-like eyes, she was wearing the same blue and silver robes as the receptionist, from behind her was a long and sinuous tail with a hand in its end holding a small stack of papers. She carefully approached the head of the table and handed one of the papers to Grogar, the menu, while saying, “Your Majesty.”

From there they chose their meal and the waitress just took their orders before leaving while saying, “I’ll back be with your order shortly.”

“So, who knew that one of greatest sources of recruits for the Imperial Legions and the Imperial Army was the reincarnation of four of father’s six siblings?” commented Heron and that caused the four deer to frown. Heron was infamous for his hedonistic pursuits as well as being a perfectionist and it was no surprise that his legion was the same. All princes that proven themselves were given an Imperial Legion to lead and every one of them were responsible for enforcing His Majesty's rules through Kamagati while the Imperial Army did the same in Tambelon, however, the Legions had the advantage of being “blessed” by their leaders and considering the enormity of their task it was no surprise that fertility deities were the best source of recruits for the military in general.

“I would appreciate if you didn’t make it sound like its all we are good for,” said Utprith with an indignant tone before taking a sip of her juice.

“Indeed, Prince Heron, I would appreciate if you didn't direct such comments at our wives,” commented Dainrot after putting down his mug of mead.

“I apologize for his attitude, he tends to be insufferable when he is in a good mood,” said Arash with an apologetic tone.

“‘Our’, Faust did mention that you were all marriage but I never asked if it was a group marriage or not,” said Grogar absently.

“Group,” said Arash and Maha at the same time, Grogar just shrugged and the group just chatted amicably as they waited for their food. After their meal arrived they ate their meal and spend the morning just catching up, while it was awkward at first to met his brothers reincarnations but gender wasn’t really a factor in reincarnation and he knew many shapeshifters as well as mages that were very found to the gender changing spells, so he got over that pretty quickly.

Two hour later

*ping*

Their conversation was interrupted by the Mother Box detaching herself from Grogar’s belt and floating beside her owner/user to inform him of a new token she acquired.

“Really? From who?” asked Grogar.

*ping*

“An Ōtsutsuki? That might complicate thing in the future,” commented Grogar.

“Father, what is this strange device?” asked Maha, curiosity evident in his voice.

“This is a Mother Box, a living computer made with incredibly complex combination of magic and science capable of high dimensional calculations as well as creating connection through time and space,” explained Grogar and since MB floating at Grogar’s right she was also Maha’s left, the red goat reached out to grab her but MB floats away.

*ping*

Maha didn’t understand what MB said but he could feel that MB was rather crossed, then he turned to his father and asked, “Would you mind lending it to me? I wouldn’t mind reverse engineering it.”

However, that seemed to be the wrong thing to say as a suffocating amount of bloodlust descended upon the room while the eldritch void that was Grogar’s cloak started to spread like a heavy miasma. Grogar had enough control to not let the Necrosword touch his “sisters” and their husbands, despite the fact that his sons and grandson were relatively unprotected they just tensed and their eyes hardened with a strength that was familiar to the gods of old, after all, they were not only from Grogar’s own lineage but he made sure to train them to lead his armies.

“I would appreciate if you don't take that tone with my friend, boy. She is a fully sentient and divine being,” said Grogar and the shadows seemed to be ready to reach for the ones that angered its master and savagely tearing their flesh before devouring it as the living abyss that it was.

“I apologize for my rudeness,” said Maha as his eye glowed with a mysterious energy ready to fight, he respected his father but was unwilling to die without a fight.

“It's not me you should be apologizing to,” said Grogar as he held out his right hand with MB floating just above it.

“I apologize for my rudeness,” repeated Maha but this time directing the apology toward MB.

*ping*

After MB’s answer, the room returned to normal and everybody just sighed in relief.

“I apologize for ruining our reunion, but I think it's better we part ways,” said Grogar as he got up and the other did the same before heading out, they paid for their meal and Grogar asked his sisters, “Where are you heading?”

“Back to our home in the Plains of Cerap’nos,” said Ulldhu with a bit of confusion.

*ping* *BOOM*

After the black minotauress’ answer MB opened a Boom Tube at Grogar’s silent request while Grogar himself said, “Let me at least make sure you arrive home safely.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said the eight of them before walking through the portal, which Maha was looking at with burning curiosity.

“You had to open your mouth like you did, hadn’t you?” asked Arash knowing that despite everything Maha could be rather tactless and blunt in inopportune times.

“I regret the question, more specifically its wording, not its meaning or its intent,” said Maha as he crossed his arms while Manda stood behind him, then he turned toward his father and asked, “Regardless of that… she seemed to have informed you of something and you said that it could complicate things in the future. Regardless of you being our father, you entrusted the safety of Kamagati to us, so I obligated to ask, what happened?”

“My Mother Box just informed me of a new token,” said Grogar.

“Token?” asked Heron as he raised an eyebrow.

“A ‘calling card’ if will, an artifact capable of summoning another being from outside of both Kamagati and Aurbis, a group of beings simply known as Displaced,” explained Grogar and this caused the four others to tense, universes outside the Void of Voids was unthinkable. Upon seeing their expression Grogar just smiled wickedly as he asked, “Where do you think I was all the time my body sat undisturbed upon the throne?”

“Do we need to prepare for an incursion?” asked Arash with a professional tone befitting of the third highest authority in the whole Tambelonian Empire.

“No, there is a barrier outside of our ‘Local Multiversal Cluster’ and it would be almost impossible to breach or sneak ‘around’ it, however, it’s possible to invite them in using their tokens to call them, I might even create a token of my own in the future,” explained Grogar.

“You said ‘almost impossible’, what should we expect if the barrier fails?” asked Maha after paying attention to his father words.

“Well, Displaced can vary to barely above a mortal to above my level, so anything just as strong as me and beyond but they might be weakened afterward,” explained Grogar and his sons nodded before Maha looked at Manda, who extended his right hand and a staff appeared. The staff itself was black and taller them Manda himself, in its end was a red jewel that was shaped like an eye and it had two horns similar to the upper pair of Manda’s horns. The sorcerer hit the blunt end of his staff on the ground and a purple portal appeared near the group by unfolding the air in front of them.

“Well, we should be going,” said Maha and Arash nodded.

“Indeed, there is much to consider,” said Heron an uncharacteristic serious tone as he followed his brothers and nephew into the portal that lead to realm/dimension where all princes lived along with their Legions, one of the closest realms to the mortal plane, like the moons to the planet.

*ping* *BOOM*

Gragar walked through the Boom Tube that MB created after his sons and grandson left.

Frozen North, Plains of Everlasting Night

Grogar came out of the Boom Tube just outside of the barrier holding the umbrums and windigos, it had been seven days on the outside but inside the barrier it had been almost a decade. Deciding to wait for the moment the barrier will come down he lifted the mother box and asked, “Show me the Phantom Ring and the Ōtsutsuki Contract.”

*ping*

A small silver ring and a bound scroll materialized just above the Mother Box and Grogar reached for the silver ring, then he heard it once he touched the ring, “I’m Volthoom the Acolyte of the Emotional Spectrum, Avatar of the Elemental Forces, the Emperor of Light and First of the Lanterns, if you seek to protect the treasure that is life itself, then I shall fight beside you. However, If I don't agree with you I shall either leave, fight you or not answer the call at all, you are free to call me at your own peril.”

“To the one that is hearing my voice, I am Ōtsutsuki Kazuki and if you are in need of my services sign this contract and summon me. We can negotiate the conditions of our contract after my summoning, I don’t care about morals and so long our contract is upheld you have my loyalty. Write your name with your life-essence and pour your energy into the scroll before calling out my full name,” Grogar heard another voice in his mind as he picked the scroll, after the message played out he opened the scroll and as he read its content he became fascinated by the complex spell work, however, he could sense many forms of energy aside from mana fueling different parts of the complex construct.

Grogar was so distracted by the token that he only came back to reality when a thunder-like noise disturbed his studies and when he looked at the barrier he saw that it was slowly disappearing. Just before the barrier disappeared completely Rasvelg, Aethon, Hungin and Munin appeared before Grogar, all of the four avian deities were kneeling before the Dark Lord.

“Speak,” ordered Grogar.

“Your Majesty, they have developed an entirely new society in the last decade as you ordered,” reported Hungin.

“It was quite fascinating to watch as these former formless beings adapted, especially why they developed their s-” Munin started to rambling but Grogar motioned for him to stop.

“Where are Dimmelith, Innandna, Abyzoyllou and Varcolac?” asked Grogar as he noticed their absence and once again he saw Aethon clench her beak and fists while radiating frustration as well as envy. It wasn’t long before he concluded, “Oh, by any chance did they acquired a ‘cult following’?”

“Indeed, My Lord, those four became quite popular among umbrums and windigos, especially Lord Varcolac,” said Hungin and by Aethon’s glare that was the reason for her frustration, her zealotry did make her rather unpopular.

Not long after Hungin informed Grogar the aforementioned four Old Gods appeared, the three demonesses knelt down before Grogar completely unbothered by the cold or the fact they were naked, on a side note their bellies unlike before were almost flat again, which showed their chiseled abs, but it was starting to bulge again with the beginning of clearly yet another baby bump. Standing on all four behind the trio on all four was a familiar wolf-like beast with horns and on his back was the umbrum/windigo pair that Grogar met before, they climbed out of Varcolac’s back before kneeling slightly behind the trio.

“Just answer me this, have they met your expectations?” asked Grogar, which caused Rabi and Fon to tense, depending on the answer all they worked for could be in vain.

“Yes,” said Rasvelg, Hungin and Munin simply.

“No,” said Aethon.

“Definitely,” purred Dimmelith, Innandna and Abyzoyllou, which caused Rabi and Fon to sigh in relief since the majority of the judges voted in their favor.

“Aye,” said Varcolac and Grogar just nodded before approaching Rabi and Fon who tensed.

“Well then, welcome to Tambelon and may you have a long and prosperous existence,” said Grogar to the two leaders.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said Rabi and Fon.

“So, which one of you got the honor of being their patron deity?” asked Grogar coyly.

“That would be me,” said Varcolac as he lowered his head to be near Rabi and Fon before adding, “They were quite receptive to my power and quite compatible with my philosophy. Speaking of which, now we have many new recruits ready to join the Hunter’s Guild as well as the Fighter’s Guild.”

“And what about those four?” asked Grogar gesturing toward the avian deities.

“We were merely observers, Your Majesty, but we did help in enlighten them about Kamagati,” commented Munin and his brother nodded.

“While we had some compatibility our presence didn’t have much of impact,” said Rasvelg calmly but that statement seemed to be enough to trigger his daughter.

“My Emperor! I beg for your forgiveness, I failed in the task of guiding these mortals, to make them see your true magnificence!” shouted Aethon as he hit her forehead on the ground. Then she continued, “We are all unworthy of your mercy, especially when we failed to show you the proper respect.”

“I see,” said Grogar with a neutral tone before lifting MB with his right hand.

*ping* *BOOM*

Rasvelg got up and after placing his hand on his daughter's shoulder she too got up before following her father toward the Boom Tube with her head down feeling that she failed Her Emperor.

“Well, we shall be off and inform the others,” said Hungin before hitting his staff on the ground and teleport himself and his brother away.

“And what about you three?” asked Grogar as the trio stood up before seductively walking toward Grogar with a sway of their hips before they hugged themselves against Grogar’s muscular body using both their arms and wings as well as their tails, their 7ft 7in frames contrasting against Grogar 10ft frame.

“We had a very productive decade,” said Abyzoyllou as she looked at her master with purple eyes while placing his left hand on her belly.

“Indeed master, they were quite amusing and made great additions to our collection/forces,” purred Dimmelith as she hugged Grogar from behind and nuzzling him with her cheek as she hung from his neck.

“Maybe you could give us a reward,” said Innandna in a sultry tone as she placed Grogar’s right hand between her legs before dry-humping —not that it was dry either— his fingers.

Varcolac just had an ‘I told you so’ and Grogar just sighed before creating tentacles with his shadow to restrain and pull the three away from him. He just smiled evilly before bringing his wet fingers closer to his mouth and lick them, then he said after cleaning his fingers, “Not bad.”

*moan* “Oh master, don't tease us like that,” said Dimmelith as she struggled to escape the tentacles of shadow holding her.

“Well, I suppose you are going to stay here for a while,” said Grogar as he looked at Varcolac just nodded while ignoring the blushing umbrum and windigo, so Grogar added, “Well then, don’t let me keep you three here, I sure there is a lot to do with setting up a Portal Network, built roads and trails to other cities as well as setting up supply line and the like.”

“Of course, father, we will make sure to take good care of Edh Nonet Hurr,” said Fon before she became a white mist before flying back to the city with Rabi becoming black smoke before following the windigo.

“Well, I leave you to your business then,” said Varcolac before walking toward the city.

“Where were we?” asked Grogar as he looked at the three demonesses.

“You were going to reward us,” purred Innandna.

“No, we’re going to see your mother,” said Grogar in a serious tone.

The three's eyes widen and they gulped nervously.

Author's Note

I based the military on the Imperium of Man before the Horus Heresy, both the Excertus Imperialis and Legiones Astartes, but the Legions are more akin to the Stormcast Eternals simply because they are magical in nature, mostly. Also, the tokens are from two other Displaced stories that I'm writing, Balancing Forces and Emperor of Light.

The inspiration for the names;
Maha Iode - Maha comes from the Sanskrit for "big" and Iode comes from Greek for "way" but the depending on the contexts can be read as "guide". The character is based on Magnus the Red the Primarch of the Thousand Sons.

Manda Buthos - Manda comes from the Sanskrit for "knowledge" and Buthos comes from the Greek "depth (of the sea)". The character itself Ahzek Ahriman a Chaos Space Marine and the most powerful Chaos Sorcerer of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion after their Daemon Primarch Magnus the Red himself. The shape of his horns is also based on Ahriman helmet.

Utprith - comes from Ut'Ulls-Hr'Her, also known as The Great Horned Mother and Black Glory of Creation, a Great Old Ones from Cthulhu Mythos; and Prithvi also from Hindi Mythology being the Earth Mother and the "witness of Buddha's enlightenment".

Ulldhu - comes from Ut'Ulls-Hr'Her mentioned above; and Kamaduh from Hindi Mythology a goddess known as "cow of plenty" and provider milk and fierce warrior to protect her master.

Dainrot - comes from Dainn, one of the Four Stags in Norse Mythology; and Herot from Anglo-Saxon Mythology, its the name of the mead hall were the story of Beowulf.

Dunera - comes from Duneyrr, one of the Four Stags in Norse Mythology; and Nara the province in Japan known for the deer that live in that region and deer are considered messenger of the gods in Shinto.

Duratet - comes from Durathrór, one of the Four Stags in Norse Mythology; and Satet the goddess of the hunt Egyptian Mythology who is depicted with deer horns and/or head, also associate with fertility and though to grant wishes for those who sought love.

Dvaliyrnir - comes from Dvalinn, one of the Four Stags in Norse Mythology; and Eikthyrnir the stag that stands upon Valhalla in Norse Mythology.

Cerap’nos - comes from Cernunnos from Celtic Mythology; and Apa'ro, also known as Malorne, from World of Warcraft, a being that takes the form of a white stag.

Edh Nonet Hurr - its the name of the city and its an anagram for "Horned Hunter".

Additionally, the four stag brothers are loosely associated with a season.