The woman gave a small yelp of surprise as the woman materialized out of her painting, nearly falling off of her stool and knocking over the canvas as the paints she had been working with clattered to the ground, creating a pool of paints on the floor of her workspace. Obviously this was a little less than normal occurrence and the woman took a brief moment to catch her breath before she recovered enough to regard the woman.

[b]"The Temple? It's in the Royal Quarter. Follow the street until you pass through the Academic Quarter. The Temple should be easy enough to see then If your still lost, ask one of the priests in the Royal Quarter. They'll be able to take you there."[/b] The woman replied, with a friendly smile. She was a little upset her painting had pretty much been ruined and her paints knocked over, but it was just a trifle. Something like this wouldn't stand in the way of her passion. Besides, she meant to try that new paint that used the blood of a frost wyrm as a base anyways....

Across the street, on the roof of another one of the buildings, a figure sat wearing the uniform of the Scath guard. He quietly motioned towards another standing to his left, who simply nodded, and took off towards the Royal Quarter. The other sat, and waited, intently watching this intruder. It was more than obvious she wasn't your average visitor, and the High Priestess needed to be informed. Though, knowing her she already would know something would be amiss the moment this stranger stepped foot in the Grand Temple. The one he sent as a messenger was to inform Lord Tyzitla and Lady Nixxis. Normally, Lord Shalir or Lord Alimer would deal with this, but right now they were out of the city on some business in Limuk. Lady Nixxis had just returned from a scouting mission on Arella, and would likely not take too kindly to being interrupted in the few moments of downtime she got. The Scath guard chuckled as he watched the intruder. This woman better hope Lady Nixxis was in an amicable mood. Which never happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~Royal Palace~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Throne Room of the Palace was as dark as it ever was. The room was long, and shadows were deep. The ceiling was at least as high enough to allow even a giant to stand comfortably in the room, with large stone pillars held the massive ceiling above the stone floor. The walls were made out of massive granite slabs, carved right out of the mountain that the city was built upon. On the right one, was a large mural, depicting a battle of ages past between Lord Tyzitla and the ancient beast he slayed right here in the city before building it as a testament to his strength, and the knowledge he used to defeat the beast. The left, depicted a mural of the building of this city, and the first followers of swearing eternal fealty to the god. The floor was a dull grey color, the granite smoothed by used of magic. For lighting, the room only had a few braziers hanging from the pillars, and the natural light from the windows that were carved high into the wall, creating a dark, murky atmosphere.

On one end of the Throne Room, was massive stone doors that were half as tall as the room, intricately carved with a depiction of an eye on either side. On either side, stood a guards, wearing heavy looking armor and barely moving an inch. Someone could have easily mistaken them for decorative pieces were it not for the other suits patrolling the hallways. From the door, a dark blue carpet rand from them to the other end of the hall where the Throne was put. It was equally as large as the other parts of the room, with the back of it as tall as the doors, and to get to it one had to walk up some stairs, putting whoever was sitting on the stone throne higher than everyone else in the room. On either side of the throne, two large tapestries having the same depiction of an eye sat, seeming to bore into the soul of whoever was kneeling before the Shadow Throne. This Throne room was where formal meetings with other important people were held, be they gods or mortals. Right now, there were no such meetings taking place. Tyzitla sat bored upon his throne, awaiting the report from Nimue and trying his hardest to not send his daughter back to the void, who was currently latched onto his shoulder and wouldn't let go.

[b]"Daaaaady,"[/b] The winged woman whined, her green eyes giving Tyzitla the best puppy-dog look she could muster. Thankfully for him, he had grown immune to those eyes after some time. At least, that's what he'd like her to believe. Truth be told, she was still the most adorable thing in existence to him. Maybe that was just because she was his daughter though....hm. He would have to test that. Would another daughter be equally as adorable? Or even more adorable? Irisha was like a daughter to him, but that was different since she was technically adopted. Either way, he would have to put that idea on the back burner for now. He wasn't sure he could handle another little ball of violence like Zyla at the moment. [b]"You promised you'd come back to the Citadel I get sooooo lonely with just killing things every day! And the shadow servants aren't any fun!"[/b] She had her arms wrapped around his left, and was giving him an affectionate nuzzle.

[b]"Oh please Zyla. I see you everyday."[/b] The god sighed, giving his daughter an affectionate pat on the head, getting a pleased smile in response. [b]"And what creation of mine did you kill today already? I told you to stop doing that, some of those are quite important and took a long time to perfect."[/b] He harshly continued, giving her a quite hard swat on the head with the hand that had just given her a pat. Zyla let out a small hiss, and backed away, rubbing her head and giving him a hurt look.

[b]"Owwwwie."[/b] She whined, before taking a more serious stance and crossing her arms under her chest, taking a laid back position as she seemed to float on some non existent surface. [b]"Hrmph. I think of it as Quality control."[/b] She said, giving a confident smirk. [b]" We both know your older stuff is kinda lacking."[/b]

[b]"That's because most of my older things serve some purpose other than fighting."[/b] Tyzitla sighed. Before Zyla could respond with some rebuttal, a person dressed in dark armor, wearing a cloak and two swords at her side appeared from the shadows of the room. Unnatural blue strands of hair fell as she knelt before the Shadow Throne out of respect for the two figures currently having what looked to be an argument to her. Tyzitla gave Zyla a serious look, which elicited a sigh from the demigod.

[b]"Yeah yeah, I got it. Back to the Citadel with you."[/b] she floated to the ground, giving Nimue a friendly wave as she reached the floor, tendrils of shadows wrapping around her body as they pulled her in. [b]"I'll drop buy for a chat later, Nimue!"[/b] She said to her with a friendly tone, before disappearing completely into the shadows.

[b]"Please...hesitate from doing that."[/b] Nimue replied with a sigh after the demigod was gone. From her tone, it was obvious she didn't think to highly of Zyla or her antics. That was a problem for another time, however. She stood from where she was kneeling and gave Tyzitla a salute. [b]"My lord, I have returned from my mission."[/b] Tyzitla said nothing, and simply motioned for her to continue. [b]"Nothing knew to report from Arella, though I heard some whispers of her being interested in Valeria for some reason or another. I can't confirm or deny them, but I shall keep the Knights on the lookout for similar rumors and such."[/b] Tyzitla nodded, his hooded face moving from Nimue towards the door on the far end of the hallway.

[b]"The other matter?"[/b] He spoke, whilst not taking his attention from the doors.

[b]"Ah yes. Shalir and Alimer seem to have it under control. The Wyrm has been dealt with accordingly, though we lost a few Scath recruits in the process."[/b] In truth, the Wyrm attacks have been on the rise as of late. They were growing more aggressive, for whatever reason. A pain to deal with, but nothing he couldn't handle. He just hoped that this wasn't a sign for things to come. Perhaps he should speak to Irisha about seeing if she could learn anything from the whispers of the Shadows. However, before he could ponder this thought further, the doors to the Throne room were opened, a Scath guard walked in and knelt before the throne. Beneath his masked face, Tyzitla frowned and Nimue glared at the knight, a scowl forming on her face.

[b]"What business do you have interrupting us?"[/b] She growled, backing off and bowing her head in an apologetic manner after a motion from Tyzitla.

[b]"Speak."[/b] His voice was loud, and seemed to be everywhere around the room at once, the shadows seemed to writhe with the word. Obviously, Tyzitla was annoyed as well.

[b]"Forgive me my lord, but there has been an intruder. We know not how they got into the city, they did not come in through the gates, the Scath would have seen them, had they. We have a Scath guard tailing them at the moment, I was dispatched to inform you and Lady Nixxis."[/b] Tyzitla didn't even have to say a word for Nimue to take action.

[b]"Where were they last seen soldier?"[/b] She sharply asked.

[b]"An artisan shoppe in the Merchant quarter, though by now they have-"[/b]

[b]"Inform me on the way there, and gather some of Shalirs' knights. I shall resolve this situation quickly, my lord."[/b] With a wave of dismissal, Nimue and the guard left, leaving Tyzitla alone with his thoughts as was the normal routine of the day. Tyzitla sat quietly on his throne, eye closed, as if in thought. An intruder? Curious. They weren't an ordinary traveler then. Perhaps they worked for a god then? Arella? Malag wouldn't have used stealth. He'd just come to the front gates and attempt to burn the city to the ground. So this era of peace was coming to an end then? Not a surprise. Many have ended before now, and this wouldn't be the last. Whether he would live to see any more peaceful times come to an end was up to chance. 

Everything came to an end some day, nothing lasts forever.

Even gods.

Even him.