While Yaji'is was falling into his gentle sleep, his older, bigger brother appeared standing before him. The tall eight foot, nearly nine foot, Lupinossai staring down at him with his radiant green eyes. He was covered in his old, usual armor made of black and red furs that covered his body with bones underneath the furs, including the helmet that was over his head. Aribius wasn't here for relaxation. It was far too serious to relax.

"Yaji'is, get up. We have things to do and matters to discuss." he said in a grave tone with his voice.

If there was anything Aribius felt like doing it was the urge to smite his brother, but he wouldn't. Instead he would just cross his arms and stare down at his brother. He would retaliate with only words for now, deciding to be merciful to his sibling.

"This is coming from a man who can't stay hooked to one girl. You've claimed you have loved Ciri since you were a pup, and yet to this day you still cheat on her. Going out with other girls, sleeping with them, saying you love them only to smash their dreams." he said with a snippy tone to his brother.

Then he added, "You always were the disastrous child of the family. I can forgive you for being an idiot, but I can't forgive you for the fact that you believe everything you do has no consequences. You haven't changed ever since you had our village burned down and everyone slaughtered."

He rolled his eyes. Aribius was not necessarily getting angry at what Yaji'is was saying about him, although Amaretto was a touchy subject. He was used to his brother always having a short temper or being so offensive and insulting. He just crossed his arms and kept staring down at his brother. "Well, in some worlds other people do the same thing. I've even seen humans eat dogs, so I don't see what's morally wrong if I eat them. As for making a new world, you must understand. I'm giving those people a second chance to start all over again. many are actually very happy. I'm not as evil as everyone makes me out to be, you know."

Then he'd kneel down and was face to face with him. "I didn't come here to argue, Yaj. I came here to solve our problems. Our lives were perfect before our parents died. You know this as much as I do. The demon who held their souls has died recently, all of those souls are scattered across our homeland including mom and dad's. This isn't about Ciri, Alina or Amaretto or what you and I have done in our past lives. It's about mom and dad and the fact that we are brothers. We shouldn't be doing this to each other, especially when our parents need us the most."

He would make a deep, long sigh. "I still love you as my brother, Yaj. What you did when we were little doesn't matter anymore. Will you come with me back to Sliinkaa to find our parents? I could use my little brother's help."

"As long as it's for them." Is all Aribius said. He was keeping it short and to the point; they needed to find their parents. He stood up and motioned his hand in a circle and opened a portal in front of them. Through the portal was the barren land of ash and death. It lacked trees, structures or any amounts of scenery. it was mostly just flat land damaged by constant war and chaos.


Aribius would step through the portal, inhaling deeply and exhaling. He would grin at the environment. "Mmm, it has been a long time since I've been here. Missed that old, homeland-burnt smell." He would even chuckle at his own comment.

"Mmm, straight to the point." Aribius would grin at his little brother. He would scratch his own chin as he thought to himself and slowly looked around the scorched land. Since he had recently become an official god it did make some things easier for him to do, such as locating souls. He stood there quietly, focusing and thinking hard. He was feeling the energies of the world and all the roaming souls.

Regardless if his brother was patient or not Aribius took his time on this matter. Then he would quickly hold his brother's shoulder and they would both be teleported to a new location. The brothers would soon appear at the mouth of a massive cave. Aribius would begin to speak as he walked into the cave while also casting a few fireballs to float around in the air to help light up the darkness. "Mom and dad should be in here somewhere. I remember this old cave used to be some cult cave, but it's turned into a bit more of a hidden market district over the years with some of the demons. They always did have a weird sense of greed and being materialistic. Our parents souls should be in here somewhere, probably being traded or something morbid being done to them."

"Well, I figured since they're both of our parents I'd just let you tag along. Why do you have to make everything so difficult? Like your eyes for example. You know the anatomy of over 70 species and you can heal someone missing half their body just by looking at them, yet you stay blind when there's light. No wonder you fit into Rhy'Din so well. You just over complicate everything and do things that make no sense and be all dramatic. You're even a shape-shifter for the sakes of a man named Pete." Aribius replied to his brother with a harsh truth, but he would continue walking.

Around the two brothers was almost like a black market. There were things being traded between various people and creatures. Souls, enchanted weaponry, armor, precious jewels and more. All the people around them ranged from evil elves, imps, dragons, centaurs, hydras to even just regular looking lupinossai or humans.

Aribius would lead the way through the filthy, cavernous market until they came across a black dragon that was at least 20ft tall. It had spikes along hits head, spine and tail and it seemed to be dealing with trading souls for items with other people. Although, there was some customers he ended up scaring off by nearly biting into them when he didn't like what they offered. "This should be the fellow, by the way." he added.

The dragon was about to speak to them both, but he was interrupted by Yaji's threatening statements. The black dragon took no offense it seemed and stared at Yaji'is with an amused look. "This is coming from a purple rat. I don't even know who you are."

Aribius was staying very relaxed and stayed peaceful unlike his brother. After the dragon spoke he would speak in turn, "Silluth, this is my short-tempered little brother. He's being over dramatic as usual. Anyways, we came for my parents' souls and I do know you have them."

Silluth would then start to chuckle a lot. He began to look very relaxed and tilted his head, "Oh, brothers. I know how that goes. How is Ferunoth by the way?"

Aribius just smirked, "He's fine. Less irritating ever since I met a nice, fine red-head lupe to distract him with. He's been overall helpful ever since I captured him though."

Silluth would grin showing lots of sharp teeth, "Ah, you found a lady to put up with you. Congratulations. It is nice to hear my brother is doing well. I never could put up with him myself. Anyways, yes I have your parents and I could give them to you, but you know I don't do things for free. All I will ask of is a favor and I will give their souls to you."

The tall lupe would cross his arms and think on wondering what this dragon wanted him to do. "Yes, I know that game. What kind of favor are you asking of?"

The black dragon would make a few items appear on a table in front of them. It was an amulet with a locket that had 2 small stone pieces inside of it. One was blue, the other purple. It was missing a third gem where an empty slot represented. "I need a stone. It's clear like a diamond. I would go get it myself, except the issue I am having is it is guarded in the old Dra'sol Valley. As you might remember dragons cannot go there. There is a human female there that goes by the name Queen of Forever. A real mean lady. Anyways, she has this stone that I require and it's a source of great power."

He gave the dragon a small nod. "Uh-huh, and what are you going to do with this amulet once you have all this power?" he asked with simple curiosity.

That was when Silluth laughed to Airibus, "To escape this mortal hell and go elsewhere, perhaps go to some other world and bring tyranny and rule over some inferior species and take some of their females."

The response also had Aribius laughing as well. "You and Ferunoth are too close to being brothers, except he's just lazy and eats food. Anyways, you have yourself a deal, Silluth. We will return with the stone and take care of this lady." He waved to the dragon and began to make his way out of the cave. "Come on, Yaji'is. There's no fighting here. Save your energy for later," he called out over to his brother.

Aribius would follow and catch up to Yaji'is. He'd take hold of his shoulder gently and they would teleport them to the Dra'sol Valley. "No walking, dear brother. Would take too long." he grinned down to him. He could sense the frustrations of Yaji'is. It amused him and he figured he may let his brother loose like a rabid animal this time around when they come across another creature.

The old, large lupe would begin walking through the rocky valley. It was a dreary place that seemed to have a permanent twilight lighting to it. A gentle mist running across the ground of dirt and rock. The valley was eerily quiet and no one else was to be seen. It was an empty valley aside the natural dull scenery. The only thing that was noticeable was a walkable path that went through the valley. It had many foot steps that walked either way if one looked close enough.

"I will agree that it is a rather stupid name. I could think up something better than that. The only problem is it's not like many things here ever made sense from the beginning. Seems like most people in this world have no clue of what they're doing and are just trying to make a name for themselves," he said calmly. Aribius was handling the situation entirely with ease. He had no fear of potential dangers and was in no hurry to save their parents even if he was trying the best he can. To him there just wasn't any reason to act foolish or out of control about the situation unlike his brother.

Noticing that his brother was quiet, Aribius decided not to say much and just walked with Yaji'is. His arms were crossed in a passive manner as they continued on and on. While he looked around and saw nothing himself he did have his very sensitive hearing. His ears would occasionally turn some trying to pick up any possible sounds. He was also using his god-like powers to sense anything out there, but there was nothing.

Eventually he decided to speak after several minutes of quietness. The vibe he was getting from his brother certainly felt negative and it was even making him disturbed. "I know you hate me," he said in a gentle voice, "and I don't expect you to forgive me anytime soon. Do you want to know why I am the way I am, Yaj?" he asked rhetorically before continuing. "It's because of what you did all those years ago. When you sold out and had our village slaughtered and I lose my girlfriend . That is why I recently tortured you and Ciri and why I kept her from you. I don't get mad, Yaj. I get even. I did to you what you did to me."

Before Yaj could speak though he would continue further, "The only thing I didn't do is put you through years of misery that I went through. I gave you a taste of what it felt like. The sad part is, I can forgive you for the things you have done, yet you can't forgive anyone. After being in your mind for years though and owning your soul I did know it's not that you hate the world; you can't forgive yourself. This is why I did not torture you longer as you have tortured yourself more than I could have."

A long sigh came from him. "Before you say anything though I would like to say that, at least, you are not all in the wrong. What we both went through as kids was a bad time. You did what I do now and that's getting even. You wanted to get even with the people who all were involved and supported the public killing of our parents and the priests who tried to re-educated us. Perhaps you did not mean for Alina to be killed. Accidents happen. Perhaps I acted out of envy and grief on my own part. I guess in the end as we think about it, neither of us are in the right. We both have done much wrong and no one will forgive us. No one will forgive you and no one will forgive me, but we can forgive each other, Yaji'is. Only we know what we both have truly been through and I don't care what happened all those years ago. You'll still always be my little brother."

Aribius gently shook his head to the part about redoing their past. "Because there's too many consequences. Would be universe implode? No, but our lives wouldn't be nearly the same and everyone's lives would also be different. I would not know Amaretto. Yes, you can argue I'd be with Alina, except Amaretto would still be lonely and hurting. She would not have me. Someone who can give her anything and make her happy. She would likely meet someone else or she would end up going after her sister to kill her or other bad things. We have to live with what happens. Someone has to suffer while others will only be happy."

He looked down at his brother as they kept walking together. "Whatever happens in the future we can always be there for each other. Whether family is in trouble again or some ugly demon or whatever comes to attack us, we can work together as brothers. That's why I wanted you to come with me, Yaj. We are brothers. We should be there for each other when needed and we are also here together to come get our parents. You would have been upset if I found our parents by myself and I would have been somewhat annoyed if you went off and did it without me as well." He would grin and went to go rub Yaj's head with a hand.

Even before it was mentioned by Yaj, Aribius had already heard footsteps nearby. He sensed someone or something that was nearby and was not entirely living. By the time he went to turn his head to see what it was nearby the figure had leaped somewhere from the side and land in front of them.

In front of them stood a man that was merely four feet tall. It was an anthro cat wearing a a torn jacket and a hood over its head. It also wore torn pants, no shoes or gloves were on him though. He held a staff that was no bigger than himself and was planted in the ground in front of him, with both hands on the top as he stared at both Lupinossai. Different parts of limbs of his body had seemed to be stitched as well as if he was put together and he had heterochromia eyes. One eye being purple, the other being green.

Aribius held no surprise seeing the small figure before them. He, if anything, sighed at the sight as a form of discontent seeing it was a cat. "Oh, lord, it's an evil, small cat with that weird eye problem. Guess we could always take him home though. He's about your size, Yaj. Could be playmates.". He made an amused chuckle.


The cat raised a brow in the direction of Aribius, "This coming from a man of astonishing fur design. You look like a dumb raccoon, yet you say I'm not fine. Now I must ask what reason you have to walk my trail. You better answer quick or I'll have your tail." he did give Yaji'is a look as well. The cat seemed to be making a verbal threat even though it physically did not look like one at all. The voice of the cat had a gentle form to it and his words spoken well.

"And it's a rhyming cat. I'm not sure if this is worse than Ferunoth." Aribius just shook his head in discontent. While he tolerated many things in life, there was somethings he couldn't. A talking dragon was one and a strange, little rhyming cat may be another. While he thought on that, he would look to his brother wanting to see how he would react as to this strange little encounter. h was wanting to see if his brother was really going to lash out in violence as he commonly did or perhaps see if some of his words to calm his brother worked.

"Queen of Forever? What a weird endeavor. What does the gem look like?" the strange feline asked them both. His eyes frequently looked at them both, switching to either one while watching them. He stayed still, not moving at all. The only movements that were even done was his ears twitching some and his tail slowly swaying behind him.

Aribius raised a brow at the comeback the little cat had, but he would ignore it and went on to clarify, "The gem is said to be like a clear diamond."

The cat then looked upwards as if thinking about something. "Clear like a diamnd? I do not think clear would be the right word. A diamond has transparency to it, but it actually refracts light..."

The old, large lupinossai would interrupt the feline before he went further with a deep, long growl, "I do not care. I really don't. Do you know here the gem is? And tell me now before I rip your damn tail off, shove it down your throat, rip your ears off and bash your head in with a rock."

The stranger would go quiet and stared at Aribius for a lengthy moment. It was an awkward silence. "Do this cat a solid, then you will have your gem." Although, right after he spoke Aribius extended his sharp claws and bared his teeth. The feline would then change his words, "Fine, fine. You types are absolutely atrocious when it comes to these things. Go about 30 meters forward, 5 meters left, look down, there will be a normal looking rock. Touch it. It will take you to her. Now, bye. Humph!" he'd then disappear from sight.

Aribius just rolled his eyes and started walking forward slowly and spoke with a bit of an irritated tone, "I'm already annoyed with this."

A response was not made to his brother; just silence. Once they got to their shortly arrived destination, Aribius saw Yaji'is pick up random rocks until the teleported. He saw the rock drop to the ground and then he picked up the same one that would teleport him to the same location.

They both would have arrived in some kind of courtyard. There was some walls around it that were made of stone and rocks of the mountain, although one side of the courtyard was still open and overlooked the entire valley. There was old, cracked and broken walkways that led around the courtyard, there was areas between the rocky paths that was once places of flora life and lively pawns that were all now either dried up or dead. There was stylish, though weathered , pillars in areas that used to add decoration to the area. Although, in the middle was a makeshift throne where pillars and such were crumbled around. In that throne was once again the same strange feline, except he was wearing a white tattered dress. A gold necklace with the gem they wanted was around his neck as well.

Aribius looked around for a moment examining the surroundings of the courtyard. For a moment he was thinking to himself this would be a nice place he could have, although then he saw the cat sitting on some old, ruined stone throne and even wearing a dress. He just sighed, crossed his arms and approached the feline.

"So, let me guess. You're a cross-dressing cat with those weird freaky eyes and just so happens to be the Queen of Forever, even though that doesn't make any sense because you're a male cat wearing a dress. Not only that, I'll go ahead and assume that the gem around your neck is what we want, you're going to want us to do something stupid for it. I think I will just kill you and get this over with." he said jumping straight to the point.

"Actually, I'm not really a male. I really am female, or I was. I got attacked a while back, lots of me was chopped up, but I sorta lived. Sorta. It was actually down in some cursed graveyard when I was digging up dead people so I could take their body parts and organs for some experiments, but I got ambushed, got chopped up. Turns out you don't really die there. So, after people took some of my body parts, I pieced myself together using other bodies. Wasn't any female parts though, so ended up with more or less a male body. Did I mention I was kinda dead?" the cat chuckled.

Although, he did continue, "And yes, this is the gem you're looking for. I assume you're tired of this because you have to deal with a dragon. That's why I live here. I got quite tired of those things." He would get up and walked over towards Aribius, "Let's make a deal. A simple one. Promise me a marriage to your cute brother there, and you'll get this gem. Oh, and you can't kill or snatch this from me. I have contingency plans for such tricks."

Aribius didn't hesitate to answer, "Fine, I'll marry you both. Now give me the gem so we can get our parents." he said to the feline quickly. It was almost as if he didn't give a thought to it all and just wanted it all over with.

Both Aribius and the Queen of Forever looked at Yaji'is as he exploded into anger. Neither of them said anything to stop him and let him fume until he turned around and began walking away. Aribius looked back at her before speaking, "How do you know we're brothers anyways?" he asked almost as if nothing really happened. His voice remaining calm and showing no sign of change. if anything, he was used to his brother over-reacting to everything.

She would giggle and watch him walking away. Her eyes even having a bit of a lustful look. She liked what she saw. "Word gets around. And mmm, I just love a ferocious man. I don't think I could pass this one up."

Aribius started to chuckle a lot, "You're one really messed up lady. You and my wife would get along I bet." he grinned and winked to her. "I'll be right back. Going to talk him down."

"Don't keep me waiting!" she said giggling and went back to sit upon her throne of stone. She would eagerly watch from that position and waited for the outcome.

Aribius would go over to his brother's side and walk with him, though he would put a hand in front of him to stop him. "Yaji'is, everything we're doing is for our parents. If we want to take the easy way out, you'll agree to the deal and we'll be on our way. No fighting, no soul snatchings, no blood sacrifice of some sort. Just a simple ritual of bringing two people close together. That's all it is. Also, don't talk bad about my wife. You could've married her and got along just fine. You pass up Ciri for other women, then you passed up Amaretto. This is all you're left with when you pass up the best women. You get leftovers."

He sighed hearing his brother's irrational thinking coming back. Leaning down, he would speak more into Yaj's ear to whisper to him, "Yaj. You do that and you could lose their souls forever. Look, just marry the thing. What you do after the marriage is none of my business. You can cut her head off and stuff her in a coffin on your honeymoon for all I care. Just agree to the ceremony and we'll be done. That's all that you have to do. Just kill her after your ceremony and you'll solve your problem."

He hoped the more dark route of this agreement might help persuade his brother into agreeing. Truly, Aribius didn't care if the feline was killed after they were married, but he did care about getting their parents back. He was just hoping Yaj would care enough as well without doing anything risky.

The feline screamed in joy, hoped off her throne and ran over to Yaji'is pulling him into a big hug. The strong scent of decay was probably quite strong on the feline's body. Neither did it mind nor did it care if Yaji'is was uncomfortable, though.

This had Aribius laughing. He felt a little bad for Yaj, but just seeing that freaky undead feline freaking out his brother had him uncontrollably amused. But, business was business. He would walk over to them and he held out a hand. "The gem. We need it now." he said to it firmly.

The cat just sighed, took off the necklace and handed it to him. "Very well, here. I am a girl of my word. Shoo, you silly boys. Go get your parents. Don't worry about me. I'll definitely catch up to get my hot new fiance." it would giggle and smirk at Yaji'is and would even go to kiss him!

Another chuckle came from Aribius watching Yaji'is trying to be smooth. "Careful, Yaji'is is one of those 'not 'til married' guys. He's saving himself." he grinned and winked at them. It was more funny to him since it was happening to his brother and not him.


"Oh, how chivalrous," it spoke gleefully. The feline took a step back and made a shooing motion with its hand. "Good luck, boys. I will not keep you waiting to get your parents. Will see you both later." it gave a wink to Yaji'is.

Aribius just smiled, "Farewell, fine lady." He placed a paw on Yaji'is shoulder and would teleport them both back to the mouth of the cavern. He stood there holding the gem in his paw and looking down at it. They were finally about to have their parents back. His eyes moved to Yaj's direction. "Sorry about the weird feline thing, but you know we have to get our parents back." he said to him as he began to turn to go back into the large, populated cavern full of all the evil critters bargaining for things of value.