Chapter 924: Tales of The Shadow Palace

Chapter 924: Tales of The Shadow Palace



Arad sat on a large wooden chair as the three faced him, sitting on a large couch. For a moment, he seemed to carry a serious face, but his expression immediately softened up.

"I don't know how to best start explaining this, so I'll start from the end and work my way down." Arad looked at them and leaned forward, "The dark elf goddess Elis, you might've heard of her. And I bet Lyla and Tina here had known for long now that I talked to her with Aella before."

"The one who asked you to hunt a dark elf assassin?" Tina looked at him.

"Help, not hunt." Lyla looked at her, Mira had told her about that story as well.

Hati looked at Arad with a smile on her face, "And I guess you've met this so-called dark elf assassin... From what I know about Elis, I can also guess it wasn't a dark elf, but something more dangerous."

"She was a shadow drakaina with a dark elf humanoid form." Arad looked at her, "You seem to know more about that goddess's whims than I expected." He sighed, "The problem isn't the shadow drakaina herself, I can beat her with ease. The problem is something else."

He looked at Lyla, "That goddess, Elis. When I asked her why should I help this shadow drakaina, she said that if I didn't manage to get her healed...Mira might die seven months from now when giving birth."

Lyla looked at Arad with a stern face, this was her daughter they were talking about. She didn't expect her to be brought up in this conversation, but this was a talk that she expected to have sooner or later. "Birth complications are more common than people think. Giving birth never was easy to a safe thing, even with the abundance of healing magic. A lot of things could go wrong."

"Is that so?" Tina looked at her.

"Yeah. Mira's birth was quite complicated and we both almost died. That's why I never had a child after her." Lyla replied, "What about you? How was Serin's birth?"

"It was..." Tina scratched her chin, "I was lost at the edges of the desert, where Arad hid up not so long ago...I gave birth to Serin alone beneath a tree there. I guess I was lucky to have a smooth one."

"It varies..." Hati looked at them with a smile, "... from woman to woman, and from a child to another." She waved her fingers and a small glass of wine appeared in her hand. This woman didn't seem to get enough drinks.

"In my long years...I've popped out several ones and watched many women give birth, I even helped deliver a lot of them." She looked at Arad, "No two births are the same, and they are always unpredictable, anything might happen and cause complications." She started spinning the still half-full glass of wine above her sharp fingernail.

"Can't I learn shadow magic and take Mira there myself?" Arad asked.

"You can learn shadow magic, but you'll get lost. The shadow palace always moves through the endless shadows and isn't easy to locate. If you get lost, you'll not even find your way back to the mortal world. It might take you years, decades, or even millennia to return if you managed to return at all." Hati tapped her foot on her own shadow, "Look, can you jump into this and find the shadow palace on your own? I don't think so."

"So only the shadow drakaina can find it?" Lyla looked at Hati.

"Shadow dragons live within shadows and their senses are attuned to it. She'll be able to find the shadow palace and get back pretty easily. But..." Hati looked at Arad.

"That shadow drakaina is insane, she lost her mind and sanity long ago. What Elis wants is to heal her." Arad scratched his head, "So to save Mira, I need to find the shadow drakaina, get her sanity back, and make her carry Mira to the shadow palace..."

"I'll tell you a few things about Gracie so you can feel at ease, and not make any stupid mistake in her palace." Hati waved her hand as she leaned back on her seat, "Albeit the whole kingdom is filled with succubi, and that all those in the palace are half-naked horny succubi, she alone is a bit different." Hati smiled, "You'll find her wearing a pretty clean black and white maid uniform that covers most of her body, she even wears a maid hat thingy that she

changes every so often."

"Pretty tame for a succubus goddess." Arad noted.

"I actually gave birth to Astrid and Frida there. She's quite professional in her work, so you

don't have to fear anything on that side." Hati looked at Arad with a grin, "And no, I can't get you to meet or anything. I only got her to help since she wanted some of my tail's fur to make her headband or hat."

"In terms of power, how strong she is?" Arad asked, trying to gauge if they could escape if something went wrong.

"She is the mother of all life, and like all gods of her caliber, she's also a duality. Those who get close to her find that there are actually two Gracie, a twin. One represents life, and the other is death. Her full title is the mother of all life and death." Hati looked at Arad with an amused stare. "With a single glance, she could send you back to your mother's womb and bring you out as a half-developed fetus just for fun. And she's the one who gets to decide what is dead and what is alive, if she wants you dead, you'll be dead. Only the overgod survived that since without neither she nor the world itself would exist."

"Is her killing ability like the other gods?" Arad asked, trying to compare her to Korah.

"No, they order the soul to die, and it leaves the body. Gracie can outright make you a dead thing, she is death itself. That also means that Mira would never die if Gracie said she should be alive. Death and immortality are within her fingers." Hati giggled, "If you just knew about the billions who wished to suck her toes to get a simple lick of immortality. She rejected all of them with a cold stare, she is the gatekeeper of immortality and the only reason it's impossible to be immune to death. Except the Tarrasque, the overgod, and me."