On the way back from their wholesome little family trip to the sun, it very quickly became a whole lot less wholesome as soon as Astra got involved. The entire trip back, she stared at Seth and Scar like they were freshly cooked meat slathered in gravy.

There was a... hunger in her eyes that chilled them to their very core. It made them feel like dead men marching to their own execution, and they had a feeling they knew the exact method of that execution.

They quickly dropped Nixie off, under the excuse that she needed to keep up with her training after her little candy binge. Scar was intended to leave at the same time, wanting to start his journey of endless hunting in the pursuit of strength. But Astra had other ideas.

***

Seth stumbled down the corridor, his legs trembling beneath him. They had lost all sense of solidity, all of the strength that had been previously coursing through them was gone and had instead been replaced by nothing but jelly.

For three days straight, Astra had kept them locked in here while she 'tested their endurance.' Even now, poor Scar was still locked in the beasts lair and was being devoured by her.

He just... just couldn't understand. There were two of them, yet she was outlasting both of them! It seemed that her evolution had given her near infinite stamina, so long as she had the actual energy to back it up.

But that was the only detail of her Celestial nature that they had time to figure out, as she was a bit too busy to talk and discuss details of abilities with them.

Wobbling his way through the ship, Seth rooted through the kitchen, desperately looking for anything to drink. He just needed something to refuel himself before he completely collapsed, it was the only reason he was allowed to leave.

He almost wept when he found nothing, realising the foolish folly of letting a child loose, unsupervised, in this kitchen. She had taken almost everything sweet tasting or that pumped her full of energy, as if a child didn't have enough of that already.

All that was left, naturally, was the fruits as well as the few oddly shaped sweets that she refused to eat for some strange reason, despite their shape having nothing to do with the way they tasted.

With nothing in the canteen, Seth dragged himself to his workshop, desperately seeking his secret stash, for when he was working on projects all night long. But there was nothing...

He collapsed into his work chair, staring ahead of himself with dead eyes as he dreaded the next few days. Of all the challenges he had been through, all the trails and tribulations. This one was somehow the one that was challenging him the most.

Yet it had to be done. It was what was right.

Letting out a deep sigh, Seth muttered softly.

"I just wish I still had that jug of juice... What I wouldn't give for- HURGH!"

A wave of nausea overcame him in an instance as he felt something shift in his body and swiftly leave him. Thankfully, it wasn't his lunch, as he managed to keep that down. But his head was completely spinning, so much so that if he wasn't already sitting he would have absolutely collapsed.

It reminded him of the time his sister had taken him to the fair. He had eaten an entire bag of chips, the British use of the word not the american, before making the genius decision to go on the teacup ride and see how fast he could spin himself.

He had lost his lunch that day.

Once the nausea wave subsided, Seth let out a groaning sigh before opening his eyes only to find a jug of freshly squeezed orange juice sitting on the desk right in front of him. Droplets of condensated water trickled down the side of the glass jug, hinting at its cool and refreshing nature, while its sweet aroma drifted into his nose, calling to him like a siren.

It had most definitely not been there before. Even if he was completely clueless, it would have been impossible for him to miss that. There were no drinking glasses nearby, but watching one of those droplets drip down the side of the jug, Seth didn't care about it either.

He grabbed the jug and gulped it down in one breathe, before slamming the jug down and letting out a relieved sigh.

"Oh thank god. I don't know how this got here but it's a... miracle."

His words trailed off as he realised what he was saying, before laughing softly.

'The Soul of a God. Looks like it really did do something. That must have been Worship. I wonder...'

He immediately searched inside of himself, looking for that same energy that had escaped him. But other than the small trickle he was constantly gaining, so much so that he had stopped noticing it, there was nothing left.

A years worth of Worship for a jug of freshly squeezed, ice cold orange juice.

It was a terrible conversion rate, but he knew little about it. He definitely wasn't as skill as the black dragon was, and perhaps it was simply a numbers game. After all the worship of a country was nothing compared to the worship of a planet.

Who knows, maybe if he got those numbers then he could produce two jugs! Wouldn't that be amazing. Would definitely make world domination totally worth it.

Seth chuckled to himself at his little joke, although he did for a second consider it, but there was definitely no way that any version of him was going to do such a thing.

He pulled himself from the chair and was about to return to his 'stamina training' when something caught his eye. He frowned softly, looking towards the envelope that was resting in the middle of his work desk.

Yet another thing that had simply appeared out of thin air and had definitely not been here before. At least the juice was explainable by his idiotic, accidental use of Worship. But what was with the letter?

He reached out, but as soon as his fingers brushed against it, the envelope vanished in a flash of light.

Seth blinked softly, tilting his head in confusion, before feeling something inside of him. On instinct, he willed the something to come forward as the envelope appeared in his hand once more.

He frowned at it, dismissing and summoning it a few more times just to check it worked, before letting out an amused chuckle.

'Some kind of Requital? I don't remember getting anything like it though.'

He flipped it over in his hands, examining it closely. It was a fairly simple envelope. But it had no name on it, no address as to whom it was supposed to be opened by. The only thing it had to identify it by, was a red wax seal holding it closed.

The seal itself had the design of a dragon's body curled up like the Oroborus, with a ball of fire resting in the middle. It didn't take a genius to figure out who this seal belonged to.

'What is that sly old Lizard up to now? How is he even sending letters from beyond the grave?'

He gripped the letter, about to pull it open and find out for himself, but the moment his fingers dared to touch the wax seal she could sense it.

"Seeeeth~ Seth dear, What's taking you so long? Be a good boy and come back to bed. I'm not finished with you yet, not even close~"

Seth shivered as Astra's angelic voice drifted into his ears from far down the corridor. If she was calling him that could only mean that Scar had fallen in the line of duty. The poor man was completely spent, and he was next.

He was painfully reminded at that moment that devils were once angels too.

He took a few seconds to regain his breathe and confidence, before exiting the workshop and striding back to the bedroom as a proud warrior, ready to slay this beast once and for all... or die trying.

As for the letter, he dismissed it as he left, pushing it into the depths of his soul and sending it off to the only one of them that was free from this torment of lust. Although Corvus might not see it the same way.

As he was strolling through the castle of Ravenkeep, his days maid loyally and eagerly pattering behind him like a lovesick puppy, Corvus stopped in his tracks and sneezed softly.

The maids eyes widened in shock, unable to process the fact that he could even do that. For some reason she had put him above the notion of basic bodily functions. The fact he had previously been a puppet that didn't need to do any of those probably didn't help.

"Apologies, I guess someone must be thinking about me. I guess it happens sometimes."

The maid let out a soft giggle, before they continued on their way. Corvus' attention, however, was swiftly drawn to the letter that appeared in his hand. He inspected it briefly, noting the same peculiarities as his other self. But unlike Seth, Corvus managed the daunting task of actually getting it open, as he began to read.

'To the Ruler of these Lands...'

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