Eisen walked toward the capital city's gate after having taken on his true demonic form. The golden, illuminated crystals growing in the cracks of his skin were brightening up his every step. Being inside a cave and overshadowed by the 'God of the Mountain', the area was relatively dim, meanijng that his general glow was practically ethereal in this setting.
His shining, golden armor simply accentuated this even more. The gate itself had been built inbetween the god of the mountain's legs. For the past few days, Sky had been rattling off all sort of trivia that he knew about this city, including the reason behind this fact.
The founders of the city had believed that, by walking by underneath the God of the Mountain, they would be able to receive a sort of blessing from him, to be able to live underneath him and his protection. Of course, whether that had any merit to it whatsoever was unclear.
The 'city' system that was put into place through the different crystal cores all over the world was certainly influenced by landmarks to an extent.
Churches, local specialties, amount of citizens; there were many things that would end up giving a passive benefit to the land influenced and managed by the cores, and something at the scale of the 'God of the Mountain' had to be amongst the things that gave this capital a protective benefit of some sort.
Eisen and his entourage were soon stopped near the entrance to the city. While there weren't any walls ereceted here, giving free entry to practically anyone and everyone, someone like Eisen still drew the attention of the guards. They approached him, looking him up and down, careful with their weapons.
Of course, they had been told that many influential people would be arriving soon, so they were aware that potentially unique and powerful individuals may arrive, but that also meant that particularly dangerous people could come here to take advantage of the situation.
"I apologize for the rudeness, but could you identify yourself?" one of the guards asked, trying to be as courteous as he could be, and Eisen smiled and nodded his head. His rumbling voice, influenced by his demonic transformation, sounded out soon enough, "My name is Eisen de Grandour, son of the first chieftain of the Fire Clan and King of the country of Asgard.
I am here for the council meeting in a few days."
The guards couldn't believe what they heard. They took a step back and lowered their heads, placing their hands onto their chests, "We were told of your arrival in advance. It is an honor to be in your presence, oh great Eisen. You will be received properly at our Lord's residence," one of the guards explained immediately, before the other proceeded.
"It would be our honour to be allowed to guide you there. By our Lord's request, we simply ask you to head there immediately before proceeding in this city on your own."
Eisen nodded his head quietly. That was a reasonable thing to ask. Simply having another king walk around in your city's capital without even having been greeted was something more than just... bothersome. The only thing that he didn't quite understand was that he had even been expected in the first place. Not to mention, that they were specifically told that he was truly 'Eisen'.
"Of course. Even I'm not tonedeaf enough to simply do what I want here," Eisen chuckled, trying To release some of the tension that had clearly built up in the guards' bodies, though judging from their reaction, it really did not help. Just when he was trying to figure out why, a message window appeared in front of the old man's face.
It was the specific messaging system in place for a Knight to speak to him.
---
[Kiron] Grandfather. I ask you, please be more careful with your words. What you are saying could be considered quite rude should this reach the King's ears.
[Eisen] I don't think I understand... what do you mean?
---
Eisen glanced down at Kiron, who was amongst the people carried on a platform by Askr, who stood right next to him. He really didn't understand what Kiron was trying to say. It was just a light joke, and a harmless one as well. Rather, it really wasn't even a joke, just a lighthearted response to the situation. However, Kiron seemed to think otherwise.
And judging from the others' expression, he wasn't the only one who thought the same way either.
---
[Kiron] I apologize for being so blunt, but we have just arrived from a journey through this country where we have visited most influential people of power, but not the actual King himself.
---
Eisen looked at the message that was floating in front of his eyes, and then glanced back at Kiron, before guiding his sight at the guards once again. At this point, if he wasn't too old to feel embarrassed by situations like this already, then his face would probably be quite flushed. Though at this point, Eisen didn't really care much anymore.
Even if he acted a bit tone-deaf at times, in his own opinion, this was nothing he really had to worry about right now. Sure, it was rude not to immediately go visit the King, but considering the structure of this country, 'King' was really just a title that existed for purpose of consistency with the system.
Of course, this country, like any other, had a 'Country Core', and the leader of this place was, as such, called a 'King'. But from what Eisen knew, or at least thought, that was nothing but a title without much merit to it beside the King being the head of the council. This country didn't have a true monarchy, even if the system of the cores tried to force it into one.
At least... that's what Eisen's rational mind told him. It was what his vague memories of this country had told him the moment that they approached this continent. But his gut-feeling, truly seeing the faces of the guards, told him that he shouldn't be so sure about this right now. Luckily, due to his own position, it wasn't like the guards could really say anything.
Eisen was sure to have a passive-aggressive encounter with the King, but at the end of the day, doing whatever he wanted was something far more befitting of 'Eisen' anyway.
The guards guided them, though there was really no proper reason for this. It was a straight line to the King's residence, or rather, the 'castle', anyway. It was a quiet large structure carved into the back of the cave's wall.
Clearly, it was something that was trying to imitate the 'God of the Mountain', since the clifffside wall around it had been carved in such a way to resemble a pair of hands cupping this structure protectively in its palm. That being said, it was clearly still work in progress.
Or so Eisen hoped, since the quality left much to ask for, especially with the comparison of a true masterpiece in everyone's direct view every single day.
Eisen guessed that, instead of really guiding him, the guards were supposed to keep an eye on him, and make sure that he didn't run off to do whatever he wanted without heading to the King first and foremost. But as Eisen expected, the people of this city, whether they were Giants or otherwise, were definitely more than just enamored by his view.
Not only was Eisen one of the more unique beings they had seen, a giant with flaming, cracked skin and golden crystals overgrowing him, he even had a completely wooden giant in tow. It did take quite a while but soon, Eisen and his entourage reached the 'castle'. They walked up the giant steps, each of which was the size of a decent wall on earth, and soon stepped into the structure itself.
There, the guards excused themselves, and the servants took over instead.
Eisen was quickly guided toward where the King was currently waiting, while the servants were clearly attempting to do whatever they could to get Askr, together with the literal army he was carrying in his arms, to go somewhere else. As though they wanted Eisen and the King to speak alone.
However, without even needing to use much of his 'royal influence', he was able to convince the servants to let it be, and as such, they all made their way into the main hall of the Giant King's castle. It overlooked the whole city, the back of the giant stretching out far in the distance while the King itself sat on his throne and looked away, straight at Eisen.
It was a young man. In human terms, he couldn't have been older than 25, though in regard to Giants, he was many times older than most of the people living in Asgard. From his healthy, nearly olive-colored skin with just a slight gray hue underlying him, Eisen could tell that he was a Mountain Giant.
A clan befitting the one who ruled in this particular city, in the cavity below the largest mountain in the world.
"Welcome, Eisen de Grandour! Ruler of Asgard, son of the first true Fire Giant, trickster of the people!" the King exclaimed, stretching his hand out forward as he crossed his legs with a subtle smirk on his face, "I am glad you finally chose to go out of your way to meet me. Certainly, you're playing your role more than well enough.
The real Eisen is honestly just as rude as you, so I must admit that you've done your research at the very least."
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