Garyushi Shangomaru 

Ryuni Capital City, Garyudōra, Ryudō-ShanGriLa, hTraé; Ammday, 21st of Shandowr 

The Royal Capital has always been a favorite place of mine; from the hustle and bustle of the market to the streets filled with the voices of its denizens. It somehow manages to keep me at awe, that isn’t to say that my life in Mirini hasn’t been pleasant, but Ryuni is my hometown.  

“Ah yes, welcome Your Majesty,” a merchant greeted me as I was making my way to the Royal Palace.  

“No, no, please,” I began, “I’m no longer a Prince, I’ve since taken up other duties.” Truth be told, I’d been appointed as the Prime Minister of Garyudōra’s sister nation, Miryudōra about a month and a half ago and it’s been fairly easy to manage and maintain; however the scar that was left on the people will take much time to heal. “But speaking of His Majesty, have you seen my elder brother?” I asked the merchant.  

“Ah yes,” he chuckled nervously, “I last saw the Prince causing a commotion at the Imperial Guild Hall.” 

“Oh Great Mother,” I shook my head in disappointment, “Leave him alone too long and he’ll always find his way to some booze.”  

“Oh I’m sure he’s not getting into too much trouble,” he continued, “ I remember seeing him with that one princess, oh what was her name?” 

Call it a hunch, but could he be talking about—? I pondered. “Do you mean Princess Rebecca?” I asked with urgency in my voice.  

“That’s the one,” the merchant replied with the goofiest of smiles, “I hear beast-folk don’t really care for rowdiness, and that princess sure did seem prim and proper. I bet she’s forcing him to sip tea instead of ale—.” 

“GATE!” I screamed, and instantly two enormous stone doors manifested in front of me, “I’m sorry but I must go, thank you this conversation has been most helpful.” I pushed the doors open and a vortex of mana swirled before me, I stepped through the doors and found myself in an alleyway near the guild hall. 

Dammit, I cursed, I’d forgotten that I never actually been inside the building before, which was a problem. I quickly ran inside the building and as I had suspected, both my brother and Princess Rebecca were chugging back full barrels of beer, much to the guild master’s displeasure.  

“Please Your Majesty,” one of the guild hall’s receptionists pleaded, “you have to pace yourself—.” 

“It’s always ‘Mind yourself, you’re a Royal,’ or, ‘You’re not acting befitting of a ruler,’ well who said I wanted to anyway,” my brother drunkenly exclaimed, his face was drenched in sweat and his cheeks were red from the alcohol. “Well ya’know what, Becca,” he hiccuped, “I’m gonna do my own thing.” 

“I bet you’ll still end up on the throne,” quickly quipped Rebecca, much to my brother’s chagrin.  

“Okay, okay,” I stepped in and interrupted “I think you two need to sober up, especially you.” I looked at my brother intensely, my being in Ryuni wasn’t for leisure, in fact it was an urgent matter. “We need to go to the palace and speak with the emperor, I was told that this was a pressing matter and I would like for you two to take your roles a bit more seriously,” I confessed.  

“Fine,” my brother threw his hands in the air, “But don’t think I’m not going to complain, I really just want to loaf around.”I made my brother and Princess Rebecca gather their things as we left the guild hall, I had to apologize profusely for my brother’s behavior and you better believe, I was going to remember that. As we walked outside the building, I’d summoned a Gate to take us to the Royal Palace where the emperor would be expecting us.  

The Ryuni Palace was more ordained than Mirini’s, mostly because the emperor of Garyudōra is, in lack of better words flamboyant in nature. We were greeted by a precession of palace attendants, knights and guardsmen, much to my brother’s annoyance. However, it was a reminder of the responsibility that he’ll eventually have to take up.  

“Welcome, Your Majesty, Prime Minister, and Princess Rebecca,” greeted Jasper, the top Royal Guardsman in all of ShanGriLa. “The Emperor has been expecting your arrival, he’s in the throne room now,” he continued.  

SLAP—! My brother slapped his cheeks in an attempt to sober himself up, “yeah, yeah, we know,” he snapped. 

“Show some respect,” I barked, “you may be the prince but you still need to have manners.” We bowed our heads and made our way to the throne room. I’ve always marveled at the beauty of this palace, it had a dragon’s essence embedded in its walls which gave it a feeling of divinity.  

As we entered the throne room, we were greeted warmly by the emperor, “My beautiful boys! Oh how I’ve missed you both,” our father came charging towards us, taking us into his embrace. The emperor of Garyudōra, Platinum Dragon Emperor Samael, at first glance, one would assume he were one of my siblings or classmate even, but due to him being the only full-blooded dragon in all of hTraé and being a Cardinal race, he’s blessed with longevity.  

“How is it you have more energy than your own children,” pointed a poised and hooded woman standing next to the throne, she removed her hood and revealed herself to be Shinar Pandora. In all of the realm of hTraé, Shinar Pandora was amongst the eldest and wisest, she had served as our patron goddess’s first subordinate and coincidentally was one of the Four Cardinal Races, a Nightskinned Demon. She was an elderly woman, however she didn’t let that stop her from doing her job as an advisor. Her skin resembled the star filled night sky, and she wore her hair in six straight-back braids that ran down her back. “Need I remind you that this is a pressing issue,” she continued, “please let’s continue, so I can put these old bones to rest.” 

My father stuck his tongue out at the Shinar, and she replied with daggers in her eyes, “kidding,” he giggled as he leisurely sat back on the throne. “Now, I’ve summoned you three here today to do a little investigation,” father began with the briefing. He stretched his right arm outward and the room itself shifted into something ethereal. In front of us, the emperor manifested a playback feed of a giant silver slime destroying a small village of Gargoyles. Father cleared his throat before continuing, “there appears to be a number of Slime Viper attacks in the north eastern region of Jigoku. I’d like for you to see what’s going on and report back to me with your findings.”The room’s air was thick, however I found it odd that he summoned us here just to have us investigate some Slime Vipers.  

“But aren’t Slime Vipers normally docile,” asked Rebecca, “it doesn’t make sense for them to be active enough to attack the denizens of Jigoku, especially considering they’re not even native to the land.” 

“Quite perceptive,” chimed Shinar Pandora, “the fourth Cardinal Race, the Slime race, aren’t known to venture outside of East Sidhe, coupled with the larger predators coursing the Void Ocean, the situation has caused many eyebrows to rise.” 

“So what, all we have to do is round up some slime,” blurted my brother, “why can’t we just have the Royal Guard take care of it?” 

Father gave us a mischievous smile before saying, “there’s more to this than just rounding up some slime. It’s also an escort mission, Shinar Pandora, if you will.” The Shinar stepped forward and waved her hand letting the mana swell around it.  

“This mission is something of a collaborative effort,” she began, “the current Demon Lord of Sleep, Demon Lord Morpheus is delegating a group for you to meet with upon your arrival to the continent. From there Demon Lord Morpheus will give the necessary information to aid you on the success of this mission.” The playback feed changed from the slime attack to a group of four mages, these must be the ones we’re supposed to be helping, I wondered. The feed zoomed in to reveal the group’s faces, there were three Nightskinned Demons, two male and one female, and the last member of the party appeared to be either a Hyuman or a Vampire.  

The two male mages wore long robes with gold and green stitching on the sleeves and hood, while the Hyuman had on leather pants and a white blouse. Lastly, the female demon appeared to be a Miko, she had a pure white kimono and a red bonnet covering her hair. She was placed in the front of the group and I’d assume she was leading the vanguard by the way she took command. The Slime Viper unleashed a massive and powerful explosion, spreading its venom throughout the battlefield and in a matter of seconds, the Miko erected an impenetrable barrier. The force from the attack caused her bonnet to fly off to reveal her hair, which is something Mikos are forbidden to show.  

“Oh dear Mother,” my brother gasped, “who is that woman? The one in the front, with the storm curls, Lady Pandora, is she related to you?” 

“Brother, be at ease,” I whispered, “this is official business we’re doing—.” 

“She is indeed,” responded Shinar Pandora, “her name is Twyla, and as a matter of fact it was she who insisted that the three of you take part in this mission.”  

I looked over at my brother and it was clear that he was smitten. Honestly, he wasn’t the type to fall head over heels for anyone. In fact, I didn’t even think he liked women, or men even. I just thought that he believed that romance and relationships were overrated. I could be projecting my own feelings of the matter, but I’d never seen him this excited to see anyone.  

“Twyla Les Fleurs Précieuses, Mansukabe Bouclair, Guillermo Devereux, and Spinella Tepes are, like the three of you,” continued Shinar Pandora, “candidates considered to be the realms next Demon Lords. Out of all of Jigoku, these four are most exceptional and I’m confident one of them will become a Demon Lord.” 

“So there are more candidates?” asked Rebecca, “well I guess that makes sense, considering there are currently five Demon Lords.” 

“Yes, to my knowledge there are at least twelve of you,” informed Father, “quite the impressive candidate class, wouldn’t you say Lady Pandora?” 

“Indeed,” she replied, “though that just means each of you will need to stand out amongst your peers in order to become worthy of the title of Demon Lord.” 

This was new information to the three of us, we’d only been given our own candidacy a month ago; “will any other candidates be taking part or will it only be the seven of us?” I asked.  

“It’ll only be the seven of you,” answered Father, “the candidates are off doing an equivalent mission for Demon Lord Anubis—.” 

“Twyla,” exclaimed my brother, I hadn’t paid him much mind, but I did catch him muttering to himself, and I’m assuming he was repeating her name. And as if a switch flipped in his mind, his demeanor did a complete 180, “M’Lord, when do we depart?” 

“What’s with the sudden change of attitude,” laughed Father, “if I didn’t know any better I’d say you’ve fallen in love! My little man is growing up!” Father continued teasing my brother, however he didn’t let it get to him, in fact his disposition was unwavering.  

“Father please,” my brother said with a straight face, “we must continue with this briefing, so that Shinar Pandora can get some rest.” 

“You’re concerned about the wrong things,” the Shinar announced, “however, since this is an urgent matter, you’ll need to prepare to leave within 24 hours. There will be a small ship ready for you in the Astral Cape that’ll take you to a port in the Akuma Dynasty of Jigoku. There you’ll meet with Demon Lord Morpheus to receive your next instructions.”The three of us each looked at each other and gave a subtle nod confirming that we understood.  

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” shouted Father, “the other Demon Lords and I agreed to give you all code names from this point forward. To be honest, it was all my idea, so you can thank me for giving y’all some totally badass names! Rebecca, you’ll be known as Eos and Shangomaru, you’ll be Aether—.” 

“This is so trivial,” interrupted my brother, “Father we must approach this with the utmost—.” 

“Lastly, you’ll be named Chronos,” Father ignored him as if he hadn’t just protested, “these names corresponds with the Aspect that you have an affinity for. Jasper—.”  

“Yes, Lord Second,” alerted Jasper, surprising the three of us. 

“Were you here the whole time,” questioned Brother.