SON OF THE HERO KING

[Phoenix realm]

Nefertiti felt like she was constantly being tortured out of her mind.

“Oh my Lord, why impose such a trial on me. Why make me suffer so much?”

She had to be patient now. She couldn't let herself lose her calm.

Sitting in her room and gazing lovingly at the portrait of her beloved lord, Nefertiti continued feeling as though each and every second stretched into hours, while hours felt not unlike days, as days also stretched into months, years, and so on and so forth.

She had to be patient now, she told herself as she kept gazing on at her lord's picture.

The last time she was called to the queen's chambers, she had been notified of a news that she had longed to hear ever since her lord had left her side to further his training in the land of the dragons – the eponymous land of the ones that govern over the sin of pride.

When she heard that she would be able to finally see her beloved again, Nefertiti felt like she was literally flying on cloud nine, as though the gate of heaven were beckoning her with open arms, calling her to the embrace of paradise.

She had to be patient. Extremely patient. So...very…patient…

But what she couldn’t have guessed was that it was merely the start of her hell.

Patience, patience, patience. And all the more patience…

It was one thing to hold herself back, knowing that her lord would come sooner or later. In that situation, she was able to restrain her most primale impulses and focus on herself one way or another.

She had done great till now and was sure she could have held on for even longer. If only…

If only she didn't hear that news… She could've done everything in her power to hold herself back…

But now?

Now she was going crazy.

Absolutely crazy!

She wanted to go now!

She wanted to meet him now!

She didn't want to wait even a single second more, and wanted to just teleport to his side even a millisecond early…

She continued to curse in her heart as she wondered just why they had to wait for so long.

Why couldn’t they simply directly open the portal to his location?

Why…? Why….? Why….?

Of course she knew why, damn it. She knew that it wasn’t easy— to open a portal to another realm. She knew that there were many steps that needed to be taken in order to safely open a functional passage between two territories and that it cost an astronomical sum of Faith Coins just to make the connection.

She was extremely thankful to both Gabriel and Tiamat for giving her the opportunity to meet her lord again.

But that part of her represented merely a small part of her rationality that was still intact, the rest of her functional capabilities had gone down the drain already.

‘Let’s take a deep breath and relax.’

She inhaled deeply then proceeded to exhale. She did this step a number of times…

One, two, three, four.

She continued to do so but to no avail. It just wasn't working out for her.

But she knew that she couldn’t continue like this.

She then walked toward a mirror and looked deeply at her current self.

Her beauty was still present, unbeatable and unequaled or so she liked to think. But with her bloodshot eyes, her hair in total and utter disarray and her clothes were in total tatters, she looked more like a shrew than a princess of the phoenix race.

‘How unsightly I look!’

Nefertiti scowled at her current appearance, completely dismayed by how she looked.

‘What would he think if he saw me like this?’

This… What…

That one thought completely brought her mind back to the present state.

She couldn’t allow him to witness such a filthy and slovenly appearance of hers. She knew that the concurrence was rude and the time she had spent with him was miniscule and short.

She had no great adventure nor memories shared together with him. Her obsession was her own and for Sol, perhaps she was only one of his many many women. And she didn't really mind that for the most part. But she couldn't help but ask herself a question.

Did he even consider her a lover of his? Or was she simply someone to vent his desires on and then discard the next moment if he so wished.

She did not truly care. All she ever wanted was to feel his touch and his gaze on her and for that, she needed to maintain this unparalleled beauty of hers.

This was the only thing she had going for her after all.

Looking at the mirror, Nefertiti smiled, a smile she thought to be beautiful.

So beautiful that it managed to hide the sadness swirling behind her bloodshot eyes.

She loved him, but she knew that he did not love her as much as she did.

She dreamed of him everyday but he might never think of her if she were not before him.

He was her world, her obsession, her love, her everything— plainly, the reason for her existence. But to him, she was just one of many, nothing more, maybe even less.

She did not want this stalemate in their relationship to continue. She wanted to give a meaning to their relationship, to let it grow deeper.

She knew that mere beauty would never be enough to keep a man like him tied down to her.

Sol would never lack women and so she wanted more. So that she would want her for himself…

‘Stop thinking negatively.’

Standing up, she walked toward the bath.

Until the day she became strong enough to stand beside him, she would shine more brightly than anyone else in order to keep his gaze on her.

Until that fateful day comes…

———

[Dragon Realm]

After having a pleasant chat with Anubis, his now father-in-law, Sol was now alone in his room after a pretty charged day, though there was no sun, so it was pretty hard to tell.

Now though, Sol looked up at the ceiling and wondered what he should do now that he was free.

He had already visited Sheherazade as he wanted to thank her, but she was hibernating currently. So, meeting her was out of the question.

Clearly, what she did in order to help Sol had been too much for her tiny body and equally tiny existence.

She was in need of a long long rest. Long enough for her to recover.

Sol also wanted to simply rest, but he couldn't do that now.

There was so much he needed to do and so little time to do it all for himself.

Thankfully, by outing Nihil, Sol has managed to obtain some needed breathing time.

Without a demigod breathing on his neck, he had obtained the time necessary for his growth and the protection of Lustburg.

Sol was anxious and understandingly so.

He didn't like having something in his body he did not know the origin of.

There was also the constant feeling that this was just a period of peace before a great storm.

Then there was the problem with Lilith he had to take care of.

"What makes you so worried?"

Sol looked up as he saw Skuld appear out of nowhere in his room.

The only thing he felt was dimensional transfer.

'Why did Tiamat send skuld here?'

Sol knew that neither Skuld nor Tiamat appreciated each other and this was putting it mildly.

The only reason they were even working together was that they were both very rational beings who could separate business from emotions.

Otherwise, he had no doubts that they would tear each other apart. Though, with the difference of power, it was Skuld who would get completely destroyed.

Thinking about this, Sol couldn't help but have a weird image pop in his head.

That of a small Chihuahua barking relentlessly at a silent but dangerous big dog.

"Pfft! Hahaha!"

Skuld pouted and jumped on Sol, pushing him on the bed.

Now, straddling him like a cowboy on a horse, Skuld looked down at Sol with her puffed cheeks.

"I am happy that you are happy. But why do I feel like you just thought something very rude?"

Sol continued to chuckle, the image in his head refusing to go away.

It was simply too accurate. But he wasn't crazy enough to describe his thoughts.

There was some things a man should never divulge if he wished for a happy relationship.

“Heh…I had a very good new for you. But it seems like I will not tell you anything now.”

Sol’s eyes narrowed playfully as he hand went up to her slender hips.

“Is that so?…How should I convince you?”

Skuld shivered slightly and slowly began to grind herself on him.

“Why don’t you try to impress me? It will depend on your performance.”

The heat in the room this time had nothing to do with Sol power.

Skuld’s eyes shone with an eerie light. Love and passion filled with madness and desire. Right here, right now, she wanted Sol to focus only on her and no one else. This was a moment only for them.

But this wasn’t enough. As she was now, she was not complete. She needed her sisters.

She was even more so of it now with Sol power. They would form a whole. The start of a new order, a new beginning.

Of course, all of this was for the future. All that mattered now was becoming one with him.