The white ball split into three, with one deflecting another attack by Oriyis and gusting him away into an inclined tidal wave of ice.
"That should keep him trapped a while," the orb said.
A hoof extended from the orb closest to Stelimus and laid on his shoulder. Little by little the orb took a ghostly white, semi-transparent form of a tall deer that gradually formed into king Anglacite looking at his son with a warm, almost proud gaze.
"I see my efforts were not in vain," he said.
"Dad?" Stelimus uttered. "How?"
Anglacite frowned. "Well, I was expecting a more happy reaction than just saying 'dad'," he mocked.
"Hey, give me a break! You were a maniacal despot!"
The ex-king gave pause to mull his memories and nodded in agreement. "True, but I was referring to my efforts in getting you strong enough to fight on your own with various abilities." He looked to his son's side and nodded. "And you must be the pony-song that he was to marry."
Copper tilted her head to the side. "You don't remember me? You hated the idea of needing to resort to an alliance with my people in the Crystal Empire because we were ponies."
Anglacite shrugged. "My memories during the fear influenced by the black snow are hazy and muddled, at best. I'm sorry for anything I did, but I managed to force my way out of that hole every now and then."
"Like...when you said sorry when Grimliss killed you..." Stelimus awed with realization. "That still doesn't excuse your behavior. You could've at least TRIED to fight it!"
"It wasn't his free will that allowed that, stag," an orb with a female voice spoke.
The orb landed next to Anglacite and formed into a female deer about the size of the former king. Her fur was just as white, but her antlers broke off in different directions and swirled around in a corkscrew shape all the way to a narrow point at their end. Her fur was extra fluffy, and her muzzle was a narrow, rectangular shape. Her eyes were rather small compared to Anglacite and Stelimus', but had a fiercer, more focused expression. Her hooves were covered in a glittering sheen of ice, and her antlers let loose a steady stream of icy mist from the end of their spiral points, reminding Stelimus of cloth decorations that fly in the wind.
"Give my brother a chance," she insisted.
"Wh--Brother? What?!" Stelimus clutched his head and yelled.
Effervescence bore through three anyubinites and approached the ghostly figures for a better view. "Sister Tyveda? Is that you?" she asked.
The doe turned around to view the god-queen and flinched. "Gah! What happened to you?!" she bellowed.
Effervescence frowned. "Yes. Only Tyveda would be so dramatic to everything."
"And you're still prissy and 'fawnceh' about your appearance." Tyveda blinked several times and stared at her sister. "What happened to you?"
"We don't have time for this," Anglacite complained. "If we continue with our familial pleasantries then he'll get free of the ice prison before we have time to fight him."
Stelimus and Copper remained silent at the bickering of the god-kings, moreso because they couldn't comprehend what was going on than the current situation of seeing them. The other orb landed next to Stelimus and started morphing into the shape of a deer much larger and slightly taller than Anglacite: The tallest deer Stelimus had ever truly seen. His features were quite a bit bulkier than what the deer king was accustomed to, but his face was a gently, more refined expression. If anything, he had a 'Mr. Handsome' air to him. His antlers ran along the side of his face and muzzle like tiny, velvet veins whilst the two main bodies rose up and curved forward, extending quite a bit. The whole left side of his torso showed hairlessness and massive scarring; An indicator of what he went through when he died.
"I think we have better things to do then bicker incessantly," he spoke with a level voice. "Focus on Zaoris Oriyis while he remains in the state between transformations, and aid the gitz. They need aid." He looked at Effervescence and spoke loudly as the winds picked up in strength. "Use your new abilities to summon as many plants sleeping in the sands to interlock and stabilize this sea of death."
"Y-yes, Gfefner."
Stelimus swore he saw her push back some tears.
"She's so emotionally unstable," he thought to himself. "Maybe I should've been more lenient on her, but--"
"I suppose you think that you should have been more lenient with my sister, Nephew Stelimus?" Gfefner asked him.
"Wh--How...?"
"I've...learned many things on the other side," he trailed off. "That being said, I'm certain that what you did to her was more than justified as I have seen brief glimpses of your personality. Straight to the point. She needed her perfect little world to be destroyed at one point. An island can only have so many resources."
"I'm so confused right now."
"Like my brother said, we'll explain afterwards and answer any questions you have." He bapped Stelimus' shoulder. "Stay behind and watch your pony-song wife."
"But what about my sister and my guards?"
"Effervescence will pull them back as well. You should stand back, too. Good work with using what limited powers you have, but with your body in that shape you might end up joining us before your appointed time."
Stelimus frowned at the -probably- unintentional offense. "Fine, I'll stay behind, but I want answers after this."
Gfefner nodded and joined up with his brother and sister into facing the zaoris having broken out of yis ice prison and wiping and remains of ice on yis body. Or, perhaps, was Oriyis an 'it' now?
"The dead wander the plains, but for why?" the creature wondered. "Interesting indeed."
Oriyis' form cracked and snapped as the black substance reformed his body into a form meant for terror: Long, sharp, dextrous claws extending from his fingers; Massive arms filled not with muscle but excessive sinew and bundled nerves; And a face with multiple, glowing eyes of white.
Anglacite huffed and stared at the giant. "Zelmar, I presume?"
The giant smiled, creating a horizontal line of white on the left side of its mouth and a vertical one on the right. "The antlers know? Even to the dead mysteries are created. The familiar soul hasn't heard or smelled. How did it crack this one?"
"Even the dead aren't immune to learning."
The entity remained silent for a moment as the black energies around it flickered outwards in a simulacrum of 'reaching out'. "They are not affected?"
Tyveda scoffed. "We're dead. There's nothing more for us to fear."
"And all fear leads to the unknowance of death," Anglacite added.
Oriyis took his time to build up a laugh after starting with a series of quiet chuckles. "Death is simple fear. Doesn't like. Much too easy to tread upon. True fear delves past the end of flowers." It left its arms at its sides while still lifting its forearms and opening its palms, engulfing the spirits in adwanee sand.
"How is he holding us?" Gfefner strained to say. "We're incorporeal!"
"Let them go!" Effervescence shouted!
She surfed towards Oriyis upon an absolutely titanic vine of intertwined thorns and cacti, but her emotions proved to be a mistake for one with no proper control over them. The creature leaned backwards, and, with a swipe of its left arm, smacked the god-king with a lariat and grabbed her in its other hand.
"What are the fears of this one? They wonder curiously. Losses? Shame? Or something other?" Zelmar pondered as it approached Effervescence's forehead with its hand.
Effervescence opened her mouth to scream, but all that came out was air. Her pupils shrunk the more the black, spindly finger pressed against her. Mere seconds passed and tears started streaming down her cheeks uncontrollably.
"Ah. Amusing. Common, but not uncommon, the fear of abandonment, but the river runs over outside. And the familiar soul is the cause!" It pointed accusingly at Stelimus. "The world had its apocalypse, and now what remains could crumble. The green fears the lands will burn and become salted because one patch was poisoned."
A playful, sinister grin grew on its face. "But what about the familiar soul itself? What are its fears related to the yellow cornucopia? Does it bleat?"
'Zelmar' moved away from Effervescence, yet its hands did not leave the god-king. In fact, it 'split' apart, giving the impression that its arms and torso melted off then reformed facing Stelimus and Copper while its 'original' limbs remained in place.
"Stay away from my son!" Anglacite roared.
"To see what's outside that door," the creature hummed cheerfully. "To pick and eat and play some more."