What Even Is Adventuring?

It Jaehaerys very little time to travel from his kingdom, westward to the westernmost region of the Dawn. In truth, the kingdom was more Northwestern than strictly North anyway. He arrived at the En Gulf with the one and only person he would ever allow to act as his escort, Modana.

Walking along a cliff side of the En Gulf and heading South by Southeast, Jaehaerys wasn't actually sure where he was going. More than anything, he had only wanted to stretch himself out, loosen up, and adapt to whatever changes to the world may have occurred during his time asleep. For as beautiful as Eshsira was, she was equally as infuriating and Jaehaerys rather not be bothered with her pettiness if he could help it. He wasn't that weak-willed little drakeling she'd ushered to the throne after usurping power from his absentee father.

"You're lightly dressed, Jaehaerys. Not expecting trouble?" Modana asked, walking alongside her emperor but lagging behind him only slightly. Even though she was his right hand woman, and his most prized advisor, she didn't think so highly of herself that she could walk adjacent to him.

Jaehaerys ran a couple of fingers through his long silvery white hair, allowing the winds to caress it gently with the easy breeze. "Whatever do you mean? I have my most powerful shield and sword with me." He casually brushed her question aside for now. He wasn't actually sure what she was actually getting at. Modana was a practical woman and didn't worry about the way he dressed himself. There must have been something she was worrying about.

Modana breathed deeply, placing a hand to the pommel of the blade at her hip. Unlike Jaehaerys, she was in her fully armored grab, as she usually was. "I meant for negotiations. They tend to trend sour when you're looking to acquire brides." After all that was the reason for what Jaehaerys had set out on this adventure.

Jaehaerys chuckled quickly after she spoke, "Oh that was a lie. I have enough, there aren't anymore treasures in this world that I wish to collect...." He turned his eyes to Modana briefly, slyly. "Save for one..." before closing them and folding his arms. He'd prefer just to walk in silence for a while.

And so they did, walk in silence. At least for a while. Jaehaerys contemplated on where they were heading to and what they could do there. There was always fun in subjugating another land under his oppressive rule, but Jaehaerys wasn't interested in a battle that he could easily when and he knew Modana wasn't interested in acting as a dignitary there until he could properly appoint one of the men within his inner circle. Besides, the only civilization worthy occupying where the Atlanteans and not even his contracted scholars, or himself, in the thousands of years he had been alive could pinpoint where their city was. They could already be within his territory for all he knew.

"Jaehaerys." Modana's voice, again, cut through his thoughts. She sounded tense to him, like she'd been alerted to something, and Jaehaerys turned his head slightly to take a look at her eyes which were shining emerald green. She was using the sovereign eye, so there was something that required his attention.

Modana rose her hand as if she were going to yawn and covered her mouth, however this was a cover so that if anyone were around and could see them then they couldn't read her lips. "There, on the cliff." It came from her training as an assassin. Much like she could read lip movements and eye motions, she was well versed in hiding them as well.

Jaehaerys didn't move his gaze from Modana, nor did he speak, at least for a time. When he finally did, he looked back forward and pulled at the collar of his jacket. "Ignore it. We had lands to conquer. I'm feeling... peckish."

Modana nodded her head, lowering her hands as she did so, but she did not do as he asked. It was rare that she ever really did when it came to his safety. She kept her eyes glowing with the emerald green of the sovereign eye and a hand dangerously close to the sword at her waist.

Jaehaerys waved as they passed from close to the edge of the cliffs onto more stable and solid lands, still heading south by southeast. He could practically feel the intensity of Modana's tenseness, but he felt it unwarranted. In his mind, and as far as he'd come into contact with, there was nothing that could stop him if he so wanted it to be so, and that fact was further amplified with Modana at his side. He supposed he liked that she was so cautious for them both, but sometimes it could be the greatest of mood killers.

"Calm down, Modana, you're radiating." Realizing that he could actually feel an aura radiating from her that complimented the quiet and warm breeze through the plains that they were beginning to cross. Jaehaerys unfolded his arms, stuffing one of his hands into his pocket while he held the other one out to the side to allow his fingers to dance in the faint gales he commanded to play with them.

Modana nodded her head calmly, "Of course, your majesty. I'm as calm as ever." The glow of emerald that had been irradiating from her eyes grew faint, but was still very present. She remained facing forward, following Jaehaerys as a loyal bodyguard should, and watching as his hair flowed with the winds so naturally that it was practically enchanting. His air of regality and sovereignty was truly intoxicating to her.

The sudden chill in the air did nothing to help Modana's mood, and now even Jaehaerys was a bit wary. Not for the same reasons as Modana, but because even if he didn't know where he was going, final destination wise, he had specifically chosen to walk this path because of the temperate weather. Extreme colds nor extreme heats, neither were Jaehaerys favorite weather condition at all.

"No one told the air to grow cool." He rose his free hand, granting an orb of light that shined so brightly that Modana needed to shield her eyes briefly. Through a bit of mild manipulation of light, Jaehaerys formed a miniature sun, by creating a ball of light that could generate heat, in which he tossed in the air right over his shoulder. It wasn't huge and it generated just enough heat to keep the general area around him and Modana moderate, like he liked it. He stopped walking.

"Jaehaerys?" Modana stopped in her tracks as well.

"Hmm, I like this place." There was a brief shimmer in his right eye before it sharpened. He generated no aura, but the winds whipped around him. "I want it." He pulled his other hand out of his pocket and folded his arms. Modana couldn't even count the number of times she had seen it, but Jaehaerys' huge soul manifested before her very eyes as he stood there, beginning the process of spreading his wavelength across the plains and towards the cliffs they had just come from.

Jaehaerys didn't show any emotion on his face at all, besides his usual look of utter annoyance or irritation. Subjugation was in process and this would make the most beautiful of vacation spots for him and his wives. He wondered if he should downsize on their numbers though. "Fear not, my God-Slaying Weapon, we are the righteous and the worthy. This, belongs to us."

Modana's aura of had a dampening effect. A dampening effect powerful, even with the perceived frailty of it. To her knowledge, her mastery over her soul was second only to her divine commander. She used it to weaken the affects of the growing hot ball of light as well as the resistance it was putting up to Jaehaerys rightful claim to the land.

"A weak resistance from a coward. You needn't waste your power, Modana. It stops here." Jaehaerys minded not the ball of light, since he was already on to doing the next thing. He knew whatever it was doing wasn't of his own volition, but it mattered not to him. Modana could dampen anything, there was nothing immune to the affects of her wavelength, and that helped with causing Jaehaerys' influence to spread unhindered. He could snuff the ball of light, but instead he used his mastery of time and space to pass a wave of accelerated time through it to speed up the mini sun's timeline to the point where it would swell, explode and die. Jaehaerys and Modana both could survive the miniature cosmic event.

Jaehaerys could see how far his influence had spread, and apparently, for now, it hadn't passed any further than where the light of the miniature sun had spread. Of course, any amount of spread was enough for Jaehaerys to enact his Weighed Words and begin subjugation by voice as well. "Stop you futile efforts." Was all he said, he would allow his soul to do the rest if their was a person, or a thing, within the 'light of his rule'.

"Modana." Jaehaerys commanded, and she knew exactly what he wanted before he had to say it. Quickly, she absorbed any of her lingering wavelength back into her reserves and stepped a tiny bit closer to Jaehaerys' side. the emerald gleam in her eyes were gone, but it was clear that she was still remaining peevy to what was going on around them.

Jaehaerys, again, didn't care about what was going on around them, for it was a useless resistance that he was beginning to lose his patience with. Once he set his sights on something, he would have it. There was only a once where he couldn't get what he wanted and he swore it would never happen again. "Again. Commence Conquest." Jaehaerys pushed his hand forward, beginning the process of moving his various energies against the blackened plains, this time visible flexing his spiritual muscles and actually putting forth a small amount of effort in expanding his dominion past where it already was. A resistant force only made him want this area even more.

"No. No one takes from me. Only gives... unconditionally." Jaehaerys whispered on the winds as he rose his hand, conjuring a bit of time space shenanigans once more. He created a dome around he and Modana, as well as the expanse of his current acquisition in this area. Effectively, it was just under the black ice that rose and tried to encroach from above and extend and premeated through the ground to stop anything that could be happening there as well. As for it's effect, well, it would begin to turn time backwards, Modana and Jaehaerys would be unaffected, and his dominion wouldn't shrink, but any ice that had tried to eat away his wavelength would have that reversed.

Jaehaerys could see all of this, with his Sovereign Eye and his Emperor Eye both. One was to read the ebb and flow of energy while the other the ebb and flow of wavelength and souls. Usually the Emperor Eye could only see what was within Jaehaerys domain, but if something was dangerous close to it then he could get a small bit of a reading on it. His Sovereign Eye could see all energy, so together they were formidable and allowed him to see this wasn't a just a natural resistance of the land against him, but a person.

Jaehaerys placed his other hand on the shoulder of his partner and patted it. "Show yourself, I know you're acting against me. Modana sensed you long ago."

"Fine, I tried to allow you a honorable surrender and meeting with me. You declined." Jaehaerys named his fingers, causing his dome of time to shattering which, with his control over time, allowed for making a space between him and his domain and the encroaching black ice where time and space did not exist. Jaehaerys had been peevy to the fact that after a short amount of time the black ice was able to adapt to his time reversal and so he decided to secure his perimeter by surrounding himself a distortion where space didn't exist. Unless the being controlling the black ice repaired it, or could stably pass this ice through an area where space didn't exist, then there would be no more absorption his wavelength and no more encroachment for the time being. By extension this also made Jaehaerys invisible since photons couldn't occupy the barrier of broken space.

But all Jaehaerys really needed was a small amount of room to breath, in which he retracted his his domain until it was no more, though that wouldn't be common knowledge unless the person could see the invisible, to all other eyes beside Jaehaerys' and Modana's, line that signified where Jaehaerys territory began and where it had yet to go. The wavelength would linger as a decoy, and still be viable for manipulation, but it wasn't the main concern.

Free to talk, because sound waves wouldn't pass through the barrier either, "Modana, it clearly doesn't think we know where it is. Shame really. We begin the assault." He could laugh as he rose his finger, using the combination of his Emperor and Sovereign Eyes to read the rays of light from the sun overheard and concentrate some into a beam that shot right for the "gleaming sapphire" in the at pinpoint accuracy and great swiftness. As stated, his Sovereign Eye could read the ebb and flow of all energy while the Emperor Eye could do the same with Wavelength and Souls. Once he'd been able to get a reading on what was close to his domain, even if it was small, his Sovereign Eye could pinpoint the source accurately. Modana's eyes were sharp from his years as an assassin, and her Sovereign Eye, while not really as powerful, was comparably as accurate. She saw the sapphire before they had gotten to this point.

"Fool, grandstanding before the greatest emperor this world has ever known. You are nothing more than an animal. I'm ashamed I considered you a person and your resistance a threat." As Jaehaerys had surmised and planned, he expected the opponent to be proud of their perceived advantage, but Jaehaerys had only needed the second between where he made the spacial displacement and when he retracted his domain to put his actual plan into motion.

There was a bright and blinding flash of light, as Jaehaerys could generate it himself and he didn't need to be in contact with natural light to manipulate it, and he and Modana's forms, which were "still inside" the dome of spacial displacement had burst to produce this light. Outside the dome, high above it in fact, Jaehaerys and appeared with his hand still to Modana's shoulder, standing on a platform of light. To accomplish this disappearing act, the beam of light he had conjured outsdie teh dome was actually him pulling himself and Modana outside. It was simple to conjure clones, and with his ocular prowess it was easy to read the flow of any lingering photons, before the area went dark, and transport himself from them to the multitude of others outside. Such a feat was Light Manipulation 101.

Modana sighed, shrugging Jaehaerys' hand from her shoulder and folding her arms. "Jaehaerys, perhaps civilized conversation would be-"

"Fine Modana, if that's what you advise."  He folded his arms as well, but not moving his platform of light, nor receding any plans he may be setting into motion. For the spacial displacement, he assumed whatever was resisting him would be able to repair it just fine and if they were physically inside, they'd get out just as easily. "Being, thing, what is the meaning of this?"

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He could laugh as he rose his finger, using the combination of his Emperor and Sovereign Eyes to read the rays of light from the sun overheard and concentrate some into a beam that shot right for the "gleaming sapphire" in the at pinpoint accuracy and great swiftness. As stated, his Sovereign Eye could read the ebb and flow of all energy while the Emperor Eye could do the same with Wavelength and Souls. Once he'd been able to get a reading on what was close to his domain, even if it was small, his Sovereign Eye could pinpoint the source accurately. Modana's eyes were sharp from his years as an assassin, and her Sovereign Eye, while not really as powerful, was comparably as accurate. She saw the sapphire before they had gotten to this point.

Due to his previous attempt to utilize light in the area that did not come from the actual sun, but only the suns that were the 'Blue Stars' in the space already enclosed, when he attempted to spread his light again, he would find himself still in the same area, simply because it had been closed off before he used his second technique, and during the first technique, which had already passed. Therefore, when he released his light, he would be standing in the same place, only now, with his light shining in tandem with the light of the 'Sapphire Infernos.' The space was illuminated to look like he was outside, in order to make him believe that he had escaped, simply from the light of his own projection, however he was still well within the confines of the 'Black Skull,' regardless of what everything looked like based on his own projections from his own glow. Thus, if he were not careful, he would trick himself into believing he was somewhere he was not; a Space-Time Displacement that had been Placed in an Isolated Space to preserve the Displacement as it was.

Whilst the light of the Sapphire Infernos disappeared, their presence still remained in the exact same places as they were; photons in the air that had taken the projection of what Jaehaerys wished to see, like a simulation chamber. Thus, exiting from his head, harboring a reflection of the 'Emperor's Eye' was a homing 'Black Skull' that came from out of the darkness of his pupil, growing large enough to match the size of his head and gaze at him with a single glowing blue eye. "This is not your land. You're an intruder trying to conquer our territory. It is not appreciated, unless permission is given from the one who rules this territory." The homing 'Black Skull' seemed to float about aimlessly through the bright, sunny sky as if a looming satellite in space, yet with its single eye ever locked on the man at hand, as well as his influence, which could be viewed by the 'Emperor's Eye' that had been reflected in the light of the blue eye of the skull, itself. "Where did you come from? Why are you here? If you cannot abide by these laws that promote peacefulness, we will escort you out and back to where you come from."

"This all started because you were spying, we were only passing through as is our right to do." Modana said.

"You attempted to conquer a land that does not belong to you," the skull's teeth chattered as it spoke, "In which, if you wish to do, you must take it from those who own it, as law of conquest." It homed over Modana's head, still inspecting them both, "However, you can speak to someone about acquiring your own land in this area without such vulgar methods, which may be met with resistance. There are other ways to receive than just to take by force."

"That was only after you began watching us, you cannot deny-" Modana began, but Jaehaerys unfolded his arms and rose his hand to quiet her before folding his arms again. Obediently, she quieted down so that her partner could speak.

"Your scare tactics don't frighten me, show yourself person behind this shadow. If you wish to speak, you won't do it while looking down." And with that, Jaehaerys stopped talking and stood as he would and he knew Modana would do the same.

Jaehaerys shifted his eyes to his left, and then his eyes to his right, before looking at Modana and then back towards the skull. All during that time, he didn't say anything and didn't even look like he was going to do so either. Unfolding his arms, he checked his nails.

Finally, he took a deep breath, feeling that Modana would want him to handle this civilly. "Sure, that's what I was asking for in the first place, fool. An audience for 'Negotiation'... as Modana would call it. Besides, this charade was to draw your shadow out of hiding. If I wanted this land I would have conquered it a thousand years ago, or more, before you were a twinkle in your father's eye."

"Watch your filthy mouth," the skull snapped with a clattering clack, light pouring over it like skin. "It's almost as vile as your attitude. You're only moments away from a thorough beating, right proper." The head of a girl whose hair blazed with the intensity of a red sun took the projected image of the light, still hovering before Jaehaerys and his loyal servant. "You're as disrespectful as you are pompous. That's surely saying something. A shame that your definition of 'negotiations' lingers around more of a tyrannical opposition. Tragic behemoth." The head shook shamefully at he and his warrior princess. "So, what lowly snakepit have you been scrounged up from, into the broad daylight, you cold-blooded serpent? Certainly not a native, are you?" Last she checked, they didn't breed his kind about here.

"A pot calling a kettle black, surprising how anyone ever can stomach visiting this land, but it isn't you who I want to speak with much like the other one. I've already submitted to the idea of civil conversation if the one I want would come out of the lost city below the ocean. I've seen it."Jaehaerys sighed deeply to himself, placing a hand to Modana's shoulder to stabilize himself.

He then continued. "It clear that I'm not native, I don't understand the customs and rules of your kingdom and I already hinted that it's been close to a thousand years since I've been around here. It's clear that I was only passing through, I admitted that the attempt to 'take over' was a simple charade to draw out the person that was watching me and my partner as we walked. Assassination attempts are a norm, and I'd rather deal with them quickly than have a dagger at my neck until the assailant thinks of the most opportune time to engage, which is almost usually never, unless you're Modana.

"Again I've opened myself to civilized conversation that doesn't hinge on petty and childish name calling, especially with a person as egotistic and narcissistic as myself. I'd be willing to share whatever information that you need in order for this ordeal to end, but name calling and personal attacks against my character are ways to get 'more of a tyrannical opposition' from such a 'tragic behemoth' as I." He made sure to make it clear that he was mocking her manner of speech, by emphasizing the pieces he'd lifted straight from her speech verbatim.

"Of course, you could always let me and my God-Slaying Weapon be on our way, but I trust company isn't something you have often now is it?" He smirked.