"Dominus!"
As Oli greeted his old friend, the gods of Kartonia were left speechless. Many had no clue who that was while the original leisure gods all tuned into Moranti's reaction. Moranti dropped his jaw and didn't bother picking it up, dumbstruck at the man in front of him who seemed not a day older than the Kartonian gods.
With a head of medium-length, flawlessly white hair, the new arrival greeted Oli with a smiling nod. His eyes also white, with only the outer edge of Dominus's irises and his pupil helping everyone understand where Dominus was looking. Adorned in white robes with gold embroideries, Dominus then looked back at the man he was most eager to meet.
But Dominus said nothing yet, allowing another person to cross the rift and steal most everyone's attention.
That man seemed to be less noble by default as he positioned himself one step behind Dominus on his right-hand side. His cloak looked to be stitched together from shadows and covered his entire body. Only his face was uncovered and that was because his hood was currently down.
While that man shared a bow with Oli, another figure entered the room via the rift. He was wearing a cerulean jacket adorned with silver buttons and accents. His button-down shirt was white with an open collar and his long, loose-fitting pants were a shade darker than his sky-blue jacket. The man was half-smiling as he looked over the crowd of people and stood on the side opposite Dominus, showing off the two dangling silver earrings in his left ear, the light brown hair on his head, and the man's cerulean eyes.
Finally, two men walked through the rift before it closed.
One was recognizable to everyone in his all-white apparel. He was greeted first by everyone as they were all familiar with Daruun to some extent.
The last man, however, was only recognizable by two of the Kartonian gods. Duorda was bowing nonstop to each of the entering figures but the reverence he showed the last man was all the more clear. Of course, Jack was the only other god who had once met the vizor-wearing, one-armed man now standing beside Daruun in a casual shirt and pants.
"Allow me to introduce my friends and coworkers," Daruun stated, silencing everyone without question. "This is Dominus, leader of the Mirror District, and his long-time assistant Eeole. This is Gradsdum, leader of the Azure District. And this is Silas, the man who brought us district leaders together under a cause worth fighting for… You may speak now."
Each of the gods struggled to think of something to say. Most of them still had a less-than-rudimentary knowledge of what a district was, let alone the significance of meeting such influential figures face-to-face.
Taking the lead, Dominus spoke first and smiled back toward the man still staring at him. "You're Moranti, right?"
"Yes… And you're…" Moranti paused, bowing properly to the white-haired man. "It's an honor to meet my most powerful ancestor!"
Karronteel gasped and immediately bowed as well. "It's an honor!"
"Oh… there are two of you? Daruun, why didn't you mention the other one? Were you trying to keep one from yourself?" joked Dominus. "Moranti, and… What is your name?"
"K-Karronteel!"
"Moranti and Karronteel… From now on, you will be under my wing and receive training from me personally!" Dominus proudly announced, stepping forward and embracing them both by surprise. "To see others of my race again… It's a wonderful thing that I've been patient to see. You won't go back on our deal, right Daruun?"
"Of course not." Chuckling, Daruun waved a hand innocently. "As agreed, they'll train under you and the first seven of your race will be under your command while the next three will work for me while keeping ties with you."
"Then now we only need to find you two--"
"Excuse me…"
"Yes?" Dominus blinked, surprised to see another god step forward. "Go ahead, you may speak."
Nodding, Dragas grabbed Moranti's hand and bowed as he had earlier. "My name is Dragas and I'm his wife."
"His wife? But you two may not--"
"Actually, Dominus, she's known as the Dryad Goddess of Kartonia. Her race is known for control of nature and other support skills, as well as their unnaturally high fertility," added Daruun, helping Dragas in her moment of need.
"Really? In that case, I'm glad to hear that Moranti has found himself such a wonderful mate." Nodding politely, Dominus asked, "How many of you are there?"
"Umm…"
"The race was nearly wiped from existence by him," Jack spoke up, pointing to the crippled Sun Dragon in the far corner of the room. "But Moranti was already too strong for him to kill at the time and I believe there may be more Spectral Dragons or even Sun Dragons sealed away in ancient items hidden across Kartonia. We'll make sure to scour the entire planet and not miss a single one."
"Thank you, Jack." Dominus bowed his head formally, showing his genuine appreciation before glaring intensely at the far corner. "But that's the man responsible… Mind if I--"
"Sorry, Dominus, but I can't let you have him," Daruun chimed in. "I'll need to do my best to extract the mind bead inside his head before examining his memories for intel. And though it's likely we'll lose most of those memories, extracting his mind bead will help me verify the proper protocol to remove hers."
"Thanks, Dad…" Skaryn bowed his head and embraced Kylon again. "See, you'll be fine."
"So this is the assistant you've been blathering about? Mind if I try him out?"
"Gradsdum, you're not allowed to break him or beat him. Just because you're the only one lacking an assistant doesn't give you the right to bully ours."
"Relax, Dar-seven. I'll be careful to--"
"Sorry, Gradsdum, but no can do."
"But Silas--"
Shaking his head, Silas mentioned, "I've taken a liking to Jack. From what I've heard about his challenge on Glacier Keep and everything Daruun's explained to me, I'm sure Jack's got the potential to work for the enterprise."