Thick clouds covered the sky as a violent storm raged above the mountains. Lightning tore across the darkness, followed by thunder that rolled through the heavens.
With every crimson flash, the darkness briefly parted, revealing a hooded figure walking steadily across fractured black rocks surrounded by bubbling green liquid.
The toxic liquid hissed and steamed around him, but he paid it no attention.
At the heart of the cave stood three old women before a raised stone slab that served as an altar. Dark magical tools and twisted artifacts were scattered across its surface.
Their wrinkled frames were swallowed by old black ragged robes that filled the air around them with a foul stench. A few strands of damp gray hair hung from their scalps, and upon their browless faces were no eyes—only hollow sockets sunk deep into pale wrinkled skin.
They were...
THE GREY SISTERS.
"Haaaaah," Pemphredo, the sister at the middle, exhaled in an old calm tone, green stinking vapor oozing from her rumpled dark lips. "Freedom at last... No Ikaris Crestfold, no protector of the Seven Kingdoms. Just freedom for the demons... for us."
She smacked Enyo across her bony backside.
"OW!" she yelped, immediately snatching her hand back. She shook it furiously, wincing at the pain. "Gods!, Enyo! Your ass is nothing but bones!"
Enyo only smiled. "No freedom for my ass, eh?" she mused as the three of them burst into laughter.
The sound was hideous. Shrill cackles mixed with wheezing croaks and broken screeches, echoing through the cave like starving vultures fighting over a corpse.
"However," Enyo added with a grin, "the I.Vs are still there. Remember, they are the ones who drove us into this Deathly Hallows and took our precious..."
She broke into dramatic tears.
"Our p-precious..." she sobbed harder as all three of them immediately began crying.
Pemphredo even wailed. "Our precious eye!"
"The I.Vs are no longer in your way," came a sudden voice from behind them.
"Huh?" the three gasped in unison.
It was the hooded figure. The way he stood unfazed by the raw stench filling the cave and the unsettling dark aura surrounding it could only mean two things: he was a far greater being, and most importantly, he had been here countless times.
Deino sniffed the air like a hungry hound and exhaled as though she had caught the sweetest aroma.
"Ooooh, I know that smell," she gasped.
At once, the other two sniffed the air as well, and satisfied grins spread across their faces.
"Haaah," Deino added, "who else but the desperate prince?"
Pemphredo slapped her head. "Don’t call him desperate," she scolded.
Then she lowered her voice into what she believed was a seductive tone, though it was anything but.
"He is the true divine"
"The lovely prince!" Enyo bellowed.
"Every woman’s dream!" Pemphredo added, blushing.
"Heart of gold!" Enyo cried again.
"Beauty beyond handsome!"
Their voices echoed throughout the cave from every direction as they showered praises upon the man.
Then together they called, "The Golden Phoenix!"
The man gagged in disgust but their laughter immediately followed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The sound echoed hideously throughout the cave.
Then, just as abruptly, they stopped all at once, as though their minds were connected.
Pemphredo slowly raised a dirty, clawed, scrawny finger and pointed toward the hooded figure.
"Hang on, what do you mean the Illustrious Vanguard are no longer in our way, Prince Dante?"
The hooded figure slowly pulled back his hood; Neatly combed black hair appeared first, followed by a pair of emotionless dark eyes.
"First," he said coldly, "I no longer go by prince."
The women gasped.
"And as king," he continued, "I suspended them... indefinitely."
He took a few steps forward.
"Whenever they ascend to the heights I have set for them—heights quite impossible to reach—" An evil smile spread across his face. "Then I might consider lifting the suspension." He spread his arms slightly. "For now, enjoy your freedom."
The three women could only stare with mouths hanging open.
"See it as a gift for playing your part correctly," he added calmly. "However, this is a new era. One that I will rule with blood and death. When I unleash the purge, all the weak will be wiped from the face of the mandate"
Pemphredo swallowed heavily as she let out a shaky chuckle.
"Truly impressive. You honor us, my prin... uhm... King. Myyyy King... But tell us, Your Majesty... did you bring the main gift, as our deal required?"
King Dante smiled with his eyes closed. Yet for the briefest moment, there was hesitation.
"Of course." He paused briefly, his smile widening. "I am a man of my word."
Slowly, he raised his right hand and opened his palm. A sharp golden light gathered above it. The light twisted and folded into itself before forming a small silk pouch that settled neatly into his hand.
Dante calmly loosened the pouch and reached inside. When his hand emerged again, something dangled between his fingers.
An eye.
He held it casually by the optic nerve still trailing from its back like a pale cord.
Immediately they felt it, the three women gasped in delight. Excitement raced through their bodies as they trembled joyfully, like children being handed candy.
"It’s... it’s the eye!" Enyo cried.
"The eye!" echoed Deino.
Pemphredo remained composed, though the trembling in her voice gladly betrayed her excitement.
"Your Majesty..." she whispered, stretching out both hands. "May we?"
Silence followed.
Dante simply stared at them. One after another. Watching them squirm. Watching their anticipation grow and savoring every moment of it.
To the sisters, he was certain those seconds felt like hours.
But finally, he stepped forward. Still holding the eye by its dangling nerve, he lowered it toward the waiting hands. But just as it was about to touch her palms—
"No."
He pulled it back, Cruelly.
Their reaction was immediate; All three women lurched forward as if their hearts had been ripped from their chests. It was like dangling food before a starving animal and snatching it away at the very moment it was about to eat.
"My King! My King!" they cried, clawing at the air in a desperate attempt to reach him.
"Please, my King! Please! We want to seeee!"
"See?" Dante sneered, savoring their desperation.
"Quite the contrary. You have not fulfilled your own part of the deal."
The three turned toward one another, their hollow sockets filled with confusion.
King Dante frowned. "The boy still lives," he said coldly.
His expression darkened further. "I followed your pathetic rules. Yet the boy has escaped me. I should have killed him when I had the chance and taken the vial."
Deino slowly intertwined her fingers as a slow smile crept across her face.
"The great King Dante is frustrated?" She tilted her head. "How interesting."
King Dante’s gaze snapped towards her. "What is that supposed to mean?"
She ignored the question.
"The rule is not pathetic, young majesty ."
Enyo continued from where she stopped "It is quite simple."
Deino smiled wider. "And had you not followed it..."
"You never would have become the Golden Phoenix," finished Pemphredo.
Dante’s expression darkened.
"You may call yourself the Golden Phoenix," Enyo said.
"Think of yourself as the Golden Phoenix," Deino continued.
"But the boy remains the true Golden Phoenix," Pemphredo finished.
Anger flashed across Dante’s face. "How dare..."
But Enyo cut him off without fear. "Had you killed the boy immediately as you wished..."
"The Phoenix Vial would have died with him," said Deino.
"And then everything would have been lost," Pemphredo finalized.
Their voices began rising higher and higher, overlapping like an ancient chant.
"The king would discover your betrayal."
"The kingdom would discover your treachery."
"AND YOU WOULD HAVE LOST!"
Immediately, Pemphredo began again, "The beastly Vial is unique and chooses a permanent host." She raised one clawed finger. "If its host dies, it dies only to be reborn when the royal bloodline produces another heir, and then it grows with the heir, just as it has done throughout countless generations."
Enyo nodded. "Following our instructions was the only way to secure the beastly Vial of young, prince Star."
Deino continued, "For only when the true host is corrupted... Does the Vial seek another vessel..."
"But only temporarily." Enyo smiled. "The second host exists for one purpose."
"To heal the corruption," whispered Deino. "And once that corruption is cleansed, the power returns to its rightful owner."
Enyo took over again, "But now, you have corrupted the boy and forced the Golden Phoenix Vial—the most powerful Vial of all time—upon yourself."
The three of them spoke together. "We know you have no plan of cleansing his corruption. Therefore killing the boy now would not change a thing anymore. The darkness in him is far beyond your knowledge. Nevertheless, You would always remain the Golden Phoenix."
Their words echoed through the chamber.
"Now, my king," Pemphredo said as the echo died down, her voice carrying a strange sweetness, "just as you said earlier, we have always been loyal to your cause. Surely, you can reward that loyalty by letting us have the eye."
Dante only responded with a cold chuckle. He had listened carefully to everything the sisters had said, yet none of it had changed his plans. Looking down at them, he slowly twirled the eye between his fingers before speaking.
"I admire this little presentation," he said flatly.
"You see, my coronation takes place the day after tomorrow, and by then, I want the boy gone. My informant tells me he is currently hiding in Yunbuck Village among a group of Night Raiders. But before I destroy him, however..."
The sisters listened silently.
"...I intend to expose him for what he truly is, tear apart the reputation of the Dragon King, and restore my own honor in the process."
A satisfied smile spread across the sisters’ faces. It was as though Dante had suddenly begun speaking their language.
"And how do you intend to accomplish that, my king?" they asked, their voices overlapping eerily.
"It’s quite simple," Dante replied. He pointed toward them. "You."
The three sisters frowned. "We?"
"Of course," Dante replied. "Or have you suddenly lost interest in the eye?"
Still holding it by its dangling nerve, he tossed the eye into the air before catching it again—this time fully enclosing it in his palm and deliberately tightening his fingers around it.
The sisters visibly stiffened, their bodies trembling as they felt every bit of pressure being applied to it.
"Fine," they said hurriedly, stretching their hands in fear. "Fine. Fine. Fine. How may we help?"
"That’s what I thought." Dante smiled. "But what I want is the... Skarthrax."
The cave fell silent.
Even the sisters became unsettled.
They stared blankly at him.
"You intend to break containment?" Enyo asked. "But that would only compromise your rule, my king,"
Dante merely smiled. "Don’t pretend to be all sentimental now. You know you enjoy the idea as much as I do."
The sisters turned their faces slightly away, as though refusing to acknowledge what he had just said, even though it was true.
But Dante ignored them.
"I am not asking you to release it." He added, a cruel smile spreading across his face. "All I’m asking, is for you, to stop pretending its still chained."
The sisters did not respond immediately. Instead, faint smiles began to form on their faces, that made Dante smile evilly as well.
"Fine, you caught us." Pemphredo admitted calmly.
She glanced at him and noticed the expectant look on his face.
"Oh, you want us to do it now?"
"Ofcourse."
The three sisters exchanged a knowing look. Then, without another word, they moved towards the stone altar.
Enyo reached for Pemphredo’s hand, while Deino took the other.The moment their fingers locked together, the atmosphere inside the cave changed.
The magical tools scattered across the altar began to rattle.
Outside the cave, the green toxic liquid churned and splashed against the black rocks.
The faint smiles disappeared from the sisters’ faces.
Even Dante stopped moving.
A low, rumbling sound began to rise from beneath the stone altar. Then, a deep, monstrous roar erupted from within, shaking the entire cave.
Dante’s coat fluttered in the force of the sound, but he remained where he stood.
Then from behind the altar, a massive shadow rose. It was difficult to make out its exact shape. Only its enormous outline could be seen through the swirling darkness, with several long, twisted limbs stretching across the cave wall.
Two crimson eyes slowly opened within the shadow.
That was only when the three sisters released their hands.
The shadow remained for a moment longer,before it slowly sank back into the darkness.
The cave fell silent until pemphredo exhaled.
"It is done."
...
Far far away, at Yunbuck village. In a small distant cabin beside a sea shore.
Star was planning to leave Sarah and Zuru behind when he had suddenly felt a sharp, fleeting pain shoot through his head.
"Ah!" He had gasped and instinctively held his temple.
Sarah noticed immediately. "What’s wrong?" She asked worriedly. She was about to approach him but suddenly paused, her eyes widening.
"Y-your ring." She pointed shakily at his finger. "It’s... It’s glowing."
Star looked down and saw the bright golden light radiating from the ring, before quickly hiding his arm away.
"It doesn’t concern you." He replied rudely as he turn
ed and walked towards the door.
The pain that hit his head had vanished, but the sensation remained, like something had reached out to him from far away.
He slowly raised his hand again and looked at the ring.
The golden light faded but that did nothing to stop the feeling that...
Something was wrong.