//------------------------------//
// Into the Mixture 
// Story: Deer Me: Adwanee Sands 
// by The Psychopath 
//------------------------------//

The streets of the city were crowded with anyubinites, but much to the surprise of Stelimus, there were no other species present. It was quite odd, especially with it situated so close to Saddle Arabia. Many of the normal citizens stopped their actions momentarily to see the immense army and strange looking guests walking down their streets. For Yolumay, it felt like they were parading and displaying their military force, almost as if they had been freshly captured prisoners.

"How come there are only anyubinites here, Hora?" Stelimus asked as he scratched his antlers. "I thought that the Saddle Arabians would've been here."

"Because our borders are closed. We still have limited trade relations with bordering countries, but that is it." The jackal pulled his staff from his back and thrust it violently downwards, pushing the hilt out from its retracted hold and into the sands below. "We have no need for outside interference and impeding of our culture."

"But what if we want to learn about your culture?" Copper asked. "I think it would be interesting to see cultural exchanges and historical discoveries with you."

Hora ignored the mare and continued through the street, making the mare puff her cheeks up in frustration. Rounding the corner opened the group up to an immense bazaar filled with a wide assortment of stalls, not too dissimilar to the one that was occurring in the streets of the tundran reindeer's capital. Stelimus' nose stung with the advent of various spices grown in and around the region being sold in the shops and on the streets. For Gregary, the spices displayed in such a manner always made him think of colored sand, and in some sort of sheer bit of surprise, there were just a few performers filling glass containers of various shapes and sizes with different amounts of colored sand, creating different types of artwork.

"You think we could get something like that when we get back home?" Stelimus whispered to Copper.

"Oooo. I'd love that. That looks so colorful!" 

A few groups of anyubinites wearing long robes of different colors would often block the way, and much to the deer's surprise, their own escort would stop instead of force the way through like with the civilians. While the robes of these figures were single colors without decoration, the faces were far from being plain. Different kinds of makeup were applied to the faces, ranging from white paint creating different shapes converging to one point, to others displaying microscopic events on the skin. Their headware wasn't spared from this either: One such anyubinite's ears were half-way cut off, and the dried remains were wrapped together and placed atop a small pedestal of white wood sown into a cowl that wrapped around the wearer's head down to the neck while avoiding the face.

"Your people are very...'creative' with the worship of their 'gods'," Stelimus chuckled.

"Each deity has a specific manner in which they want their priests to display their faith. Some require simple make-up and clothes while others want physical displays, such as sacrifices of one's body. Each group created their methodology over time and the gods accepted them as it made each group unique compared to the other."

"Interesting," Yolumay hummed.

Stelimus was once skeptical about these tales of gods and goddesses, but after what he lived through, his own beliefs were put into shock. However, he's had more than enough time to cope with the changes and accept them for what they are. It might not be his home reality, but if Gregary didn't adapt, then those around him would suffer for it. At least, that's how he perceived it. He wasn't really sure how to go about everything.

"We're at the home of our Zaoris now." Hora looked at the group with a tight glare. "I would suggest behaving yourselves."

The palace was  gigantic aberration in the eyes of the deer and pony. It resembled a blindingly white, 'step' pyramid with a flat top. A third of the way through, the body was spun in such a way that one of the corners floated over the entrance and a sizeable amount of the wide, stone pathway leading to it. The third part of the pyramid was parallel to the first portion. Strangely enough, the path to the gigantic pyramid was left bare. The lands it held were immense and without much in terms of decoration aside from a few domes, but that was it. On occasion, one could see a few guards patrolling around, but it was the only visible activity on the palace sands. Placed in a manner that allows one to see only one set, three arcs had been set up next to the pyramid and gradually shrunk to a third arc standing above the pathway. In the middle of these white constructs was the symbol that Hora revealed upon his chest when he attacked Yolumay. They had been sculpted in the material to allow the shadow they projected to make that shape, once again, upon the floors.

"What's with that symbol?" Stelimus asked when he saw it on the floor. "It was on your chest as well."

Hora chuckled. "It's related to your 'black snow'."

Lining the pathway large enough to accommodate two large, four-wheeled wagons side by side, were tremendous white monoliths whose bodies were formed of interweaving strands of rock and metal staring down at those who walked in their presence. Their interiors were hollow but glowed a faint, seafoam green. Solid, white pyramids were held by the 'vines' at the top of the monoliths, adding to their imposing appearance. All the white stones here, be they stone slabs for walking or part of the zaoris' temple, changed to a black color with the provenance of the sunlight. It was a strange but interesting material that Stelimus was sure would interest some of his more 'emotional' populace. He would have to try and tout a trade agreement if possible when this was all over.

"Ahhhh. The familiar soul comes closer," a familiar voice spoke.

Stelimus frowned and bared his teeth, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the anyubinites around him.

"Damnit. Not again," Stelimus mentally facepalmed. "I thought it was gone after the fight."

"Leaving never? Perhaps, but the soul is necessary. Grow in the world. Pull from another? Not necessary. Souls never anchored because of body."

Stelimus' face went from frustrated to horrified, and his fur became whiter than usual somehow. "You can...hear me? And spout random nonsense? You couldn't do that before!"

"Just by not doesn't mean can't. Speech not the end goal."

"Is there a problem, King Stelimus?" Radivus asked.

"N-no. Just caught up in my thoughts."

The group passed under the shadow of the pyramid's second half before entering the building fully. They were met with an immense hall with decorative tiles on the floor, and they were very triangle obsessed. Four corners connecting to mini-gardens were tiled with jungle-green while the rest of the floor was tan in color. The plants ranged from simple grass and bushes to palm trees and cacti, adding a bit of color from the cacti's flowers while the smooth walls themselves only added more tan. Three steps took everyone through an archway high enough that even a four-meter man would still need to go on his tip-toes to even attempt to touch the top of the arc. After a few hallways, another, even taller and wider arch opened up to an immense throne room where multiple anyubinites stood guard. The path leading to the throne appeared to float above a pool of sand that grew as more of the minerals fell from unknown locations above but shrunk as they funneled into various siphons below. A bright, white light shined from above, illuminating the room rather poorly. It was quite strange that such a bright light barely illuminated anything. The borders of the pathway to the throne were black in color and actually surround the little, octagonal-shaped platform the throne sat upon and ignored the direct path, almost as if it were holding everything up. 

An anyubinite whose features were hidden by the darkness sat upon the gigantic throne made from stone and what could only be defined as 'black metal'. Hora approached him and started to speak. The two exchanged words for some time until the zaoris himself called for the stag.

"Stelimus Anglacite, King of the Deer, come to me." He spoke in an unsettling, low-pitched, and uninterested tone.

This was the start of Stelimus' very first true job as a king: Diplomacy, and it was the hardest thing he would manage. Hiding in the blinding light were three orbs of frost mist that watched from afar and appeared to be stalking Stelimus. How they could get past the Anyubinites was something only they could know, and whatever intentions they had were kept as a mystery. Good or bad? Stelimus and Copper would learn in the future, mayhaps, or the orbs would disappear as they appeared. Who could know?