Ker

None had gone unnoticed. Ian turned away from the wall and walked as he had done many a time before to his favourite place. The thinking cliff, he'd named it after he'd spent enough time on it pondering over matters of the Hollow and the mortal world.

Although the mortal world didn't hold his concern. It was Iris who occupied his thoughts and every of his actions were intended to find his way back to her. Many moons have passed in the mortal realm and more so in the Hollow.

The shift in the realms had not settled. He'd sensed her presence in the dark corners of the Hollow but found that she was out of his reach. The Hollow held many mysteries, as it seems. No trace of the source who had shifted the balance within the realm. All the sound collectors had returned with empty hands. Even for them, creatures who could crawl into the most unexpected places across all realms, they had found no trace of what was disrupting the realm. His powers dwindled, unstable more than ever before.

" Tell me," He began the moment he'd sensed Nobos's presence. He wanted to know all there was to know. As a guardian of the cursed place, he found it hard to believe that he was prohibited from reaching every corner of the Hollow.

" My reach," Ian added after a few moments of silence, " As a guardian, my understanding was that I'm to rule and protect it, " He continued, clasping his hands behind his back and drawing a deep breath, a cleansing breath.

" You are," Nobos cleared his throat," But there are some places that none of us can reach. It is called the Great Chasm. It is protected by something or someone else. Not quite your domain" So he was right. He'd hit a wall when he tried to pry further. A veil, shrouding the place. Impenetrable.

" Interesting, " Ian hummed, " Is that all there is to know or ...," Ian drawled waiting for Nobos to fill in the silence between them. His silence and his worried and rather sheepish expression were enough to know that he had barely scraped the surface.

" Shaddow Valley was a...Well, it still is some sort of a prison...No that's not right, " Nobos amended, " A place where they could do no harm and still be allowed to exist," He fumbled with his words, sputtering absolute nonsense.

" You'll have to be a little more specific. I fail to follow you," Ian turned to him fully, giving Nobos his full attention.

" Well, it is rather complicated and I don't know the full story. A lot of details had been lost over the ages. And none of it has been written down out of fear, that someone might try to free them. So, you'll have to settle for what I know, which is not a lot," He wasn't closer to knowing what exactly lay behind that veil even after all the muttering.

" Nobos, my patience is wearing thin. I have spent ages trying to decipher that damn book, which is nothing more than a pile of useless parchment. The only use we have for it is to warm ourselves up with it. Not that we need it and now this, and I'm getting tired of losing at this game. I have a feeling that I already lost before I even started, " Ian vented his frustrations as he stomped inside his little obsidian palace.

" The Algea...three sisters, daughters of Ker. They feed on all sorts of pain and suffering. And if they can find it they will be the cause of it. And if I'm not mistaken Shaddow Valley was their home. A place made just for them. And the creatures and the Shaddow Lords were their keepers. And when Iris slayed the Queen of the creatures and took the liantur stone from her, she released them from their bind, and now they are roaming in the mortal world. This is not going to end well," Indeed, it was bad. Monsters were a problem on its own. Add an all powerful entity into the pile and you have yourself a battle of the ages. And the mortals would lose.

" Ker" Ian took a deep breath, " How do we reach her?" It was better to get ahead before everything would quite literally go up in flames. He'd watched Iris do it while she was in Oros. And he was sure he'd found the sisters. It all made sense. She'd relinquished her powers. It was the only thing that made sense.

" You summoned me," A disembodied voice said, and Nobos made himself scarce in an instant. Ian sighed and grunted. It's not like he is going to die again.

" I did, " Ian hummed, " Show yourself. I don't particularly enjoy speaking to the empty space before me," He countered and the flames affixed on the wall flared, flailing.

A tall, slender figure began rising from the floor before him, taking the form of a woman of celestial beauty, goddess-like.

" Pleased to obey the command of the Hollow," She mockingly bowed before him, pinching her dress with her long slender fingers.

" If you are here to mock me. You may take your leave. I'm in no mood to prattle and have a laugh," Ker smirked and shrugged as she glided across the floor, looking around the throne room. There wasn't much to see.

" You're quite scrappy, compared to the others, " Ker absently hummed, as she glided towards his throne and began stroking the armrests.

" I don't understand what she sees in you. I have searched her heart and soul. She is of good intentions but everything she touches wilts away and dies. No wonder my daughters found her a fitting host," Ker plopped herself on the throne. Her voice sounded distorted, still. A little grating to his ears, but he hoped she would state her business and be on her way.

" Release her," Ian demanded, in an almost barked command.

" I don't hold her any longer. She has returned to the mortal realm. It was her most fervent wish. She claimed that she could control my daughter's wrath. I was merely curious, and also I haven't seen anything remotely interesting as my daughters at work in a very long time. The great chasm can be such a bore sometimes," She amusedly sighed and yawned. Delightful. A bored deity. This outta be good.

" Please, by all means, make yourself comfortable," Ian replied with feigned politeness and clasped his hands behind his back watching Ker, languidly blink as she stared into the distance. A sense of ennui that he couldn't ignore plastered all over her expression. He internally sighed. Ker will be the end of him. He could feel it in his rotting bones.