Arrival at the palace came sooner than Hirutila would have hoped. The first moments of peace he's had in 5 years and now he was back on his feet to meet with someone the Moogle only identified as the Emperor of this nation. He yawned as the ship docked into the airbase, being nudged to his feel, lazily stepping off. It was at that moment that he caught sight of his surroundings with any kind of focus for the first time, the sight nearly knocking him back down to his feet. The beauty of the palace was stunning for sure, but the true bizzarity was in the city itself. Was this still earth? How could a place like this exist? The sheer size and design of the buildings of Constantinople were like something from another world entirely. Hirutila considered for a moment if he had in fact died and been reincarnated in the Dewis realm, but perished the thoughts immediately as impossible. He could not place his finger on the exact reason, but despite the alien nature of this place, it felt familiar, like he had been here before, though he could not understand what would be causing that feeling. This was unlike anything he had ever seen, a true marvel of architecture and technology. However, Hirutila's marvel was cut short when he was taken by the arm by a pair of escorts who lead him into the palace. [i]Oh, humans![/i] Hirutila thought to himself when the guards took hold of him. "I had expected that I would see more of your kind," he remarked to the Moogle who had accompanied him. The guardsmen's target was a small gathering of others. Hirutila's eyes widened at the sight of other's in his situation. And so young, just what was the reason that they were all gathered here...one of the assembled caught his eye, a young girl. She looked no older than what his daughter, Dammania, would be. [i]Dammania...[/i], he winced at the thought of her, heart aching with the hope she was still doing okay. But any musings on the youth of those before him were killed when his eye caught sight of what was accompanying that girl. What [i]is[/i] that thing? A dragon? Possibly, to Hirutila it looked to be some kind of giant wingless bird with teeth and the skin of a lizard. He turned his eyes away from the repugnant creature towards the two new arrivals who seemed to be leading the guards. [b]Ack![/b] Hirutila barely had time to throw his arms up to brace impact as he saw one of the two young men swing his hand at Hirutila as if he was going to throw something. The ensuing Flash of light was likely the glow of death as he passed into Hell, he was sure. However, opening his eyes, he was still standing right where he was....In Chainmail and proper clothing that were not stained in blood and piss, and lacked that distinctively horrid torture victim odor too. "What the hell..." Hirutila exclaimed in surprise as he looked over the new vestments. How did he do that? That one who changed his clothing. A bodisatta? Perhaps, it would explain the seeming reality manipulation. He was so fixated on the strange little dragon creature that he had missed the introduction of the two young men. Shame, but maybe he could get some clues about where exactly he was by their clothing. Constantinople sounded distinctively Greek, and the temperature was a pleasant warm like back home. Good, he could be anywhere in the Middle East, North Africa, or the Balkans... The clothing of the men was unlike anything he had seen. They weren't Ostrogoths, though this seemed to be the closest to the Bosphorus area by his own memories of the climate while travling there as a merchant. Definitly was Europe, he could tell that much. And yet they were so foreign, yet so familar. That was when Hirutila caught sight of the sheild of one of the men. Ah, a distinctive insignia, finally a clue. A double-headed Eagle Yeah...useless. He had never seen anything like that before being used for a nation's insignia. [i]"The armor suits you. You know, I've met actual knights in shining armor that didn't pull off this look half as well as you do. Have you been here before?"[/i] A what in shining armor? Knight...that word he didn't recognize. The closest thing he could think of was a word in his own langauge, kneht, but that word...it meant servant or slave. Wait...that language wasn't Vandalic, nor anything else he could recognize. How did he understand it? Could he... "No, I've never seen this place before. I don't know where I am." What the...how did he do that? Something wasn't right about this place. But then the guards began to lead everyone into the palace. Hmm, perhaps everything will be explained in there. He hoped that would be the case. The War Council introduced themselves, The Emperor and Empress stated their case, speaking of some kind of collection of different words, all supposed different timelines, alternate paths of time. The concept of their being multiple worlds existing within each other was far from novel for a Buddhist like Hirutila, but this tale of different timelines, that was something that caught his interest. They they showed that threat, the Heartless, and Hirutila's interest was peaqued once more. Contact with the outside world was limited after he was thrown away in the Pharaoh's dungeon, but the image of that little creature recalled a memory long ago. ------------ "Stab it in the eye, twist it around real good!" Hirutila shifted to the tips of his toes, looking over the shoulder of one of the hunters, who plunged a hot poker deep into the downed beast's eyes, shifting it around as the smoke wafting out of the wound stunk the air with the smell of burning flesh. Curiously, not even this seemed to get a reaction from the creature. The men around here, Danes they were called, were complaining about these strange beasts showing up. They killed livestock, kidnapped women and children, sometimes they even took men, and left behind mutilated corpses when they left anything behind at all. Supposedly they had made it to Daneland though Slavic lands to the east. The Danes suspected that they were created by Slavic Witches, or were the corrupt ofspring of Slavic farmers and their animals. Whatever they were, they had become a massive problem, as nothing seemed to keep them down. Hirutila and Rago had come to the Danish lands to trade with their fence, an old man named Hrothgar. He and some friends had caught one of the beasts, what they had termed a 'derkvette'. The creature had been bound up, and the men were doing everything they could to kill the creature, though nothing seemed to really even bother it. Rago suggested just cutting its head off, though the farmers noted that previous decaptiations seemed to just cause the creature to just dissappear. "Disappear?" the Chadian pirate responded incredulously Hrothgar nodded, "I don't understand it, but they just...won't die" Rago responded by pulling out his own axe, slamming it upon the creature's neck. As if it was never theyre, it vanished. Rago whisled at the sight of that, "Huh, now that's weird." ------------------- When the two left Daneland to return to Corsica, Hirutila thought nothing of it, he suspected that it was a minor problem endemic to Europe. Now he was being told these things not only were everwhere, but they were an existential threat being commanded by some guy named Leo. To be fair, the explanation made it quickly apparent that Leo was more than just 'some guy'. The demonstration became intersting when the War Council put up a display of the beings Leo was in cahoots with. The emperor described them as Gods of old, but Hirutila knew these deities were still being venerated back at home, even if they looked a little different back in his own time. But then the girl shouded out something that seemed to make things make sense. [i]"That's the Annunaki!"[/i] "Annunaki?" he said in surprise at her, "Those are just dewos." The name was a little off but he recognized it. The Canaanites back in Vandalia called the 'fallen' Gods who did not side with the Buddha as the 'annunoth'. And the girl's contempt for these creatures seemed to match the hatred that Canaanites held for these fallen gods. "unless...You're not some kind of Canaanite, are you?" he asked Georgia inquistively. The thought lingered in his mind. Why would this Leo ally himself with fallen dewos? The emperor claimed it was to give the Dewos vengence upon 'those who worship one god' in exchange for aiding him in his misguided light versus dark philosophy. Hirutila cared little for the specifics of a crazy man's philosophy, even if this crazy man had apparently destroyed a major organization and paved the way for destruction. But the talk of the worship of one god got his attention. Perhaps he had something to do with that warlord in Africa back home. When the explanation was over, Hirutila spoke up once again. "Look," he said, speaking directly to the council. "I get the need to take out this Leo, given he looks to be an existential threat on a scale I can't even fully comprehend because aparently we're far beyond the year 1455 Etos Ptolemaiou and technology has gotten to the point that I've stopped trying to figure it out because I feel like my head will burst trying to wrap around this all, but I think I have to decline your offer." Hirutila continued his speech, "If you really were spying on me you'll know very well I'm not a hero, I'm just some guy with bad luck who took to stealing on the seas to pay back debtors. I'm too old to be doing this whole, save the world thing."