Aliadam did it. It had only been three days since his return, and he had already managed to restore the spirit race's glory by a significant amount. He rebuilt his Emberbloom Palace, took back spirit territory, and secured it with a wall of blazing fire.
That was a great feat in such a short time, and while all this went on, Moist was still in a coma. Aliadam's attack the other day had affected her so much and had further thrown the human nation into unrest.
They were not really aware of the details, but they knew their goddess had been struck and deeply hurt. The redemption of the spirit race and the reclaiming of their territory put their hearts in even more turmoil. It all just happened overnight: a whirl of blazing fire breaking the chains that had bound them to slavery under the humans, and their mouths filled with praises for the return and unfathomable power of their king.
Aliadam had boosted their powers with his fire, giving them the strength to break the chains and become free at last.
At the time Aliadam began raising the blazing fire wall around spirit territory, the humans were already on their heels, making their way to the capital. They had no idea what was going on but believed they would be safest in the capital, where the goddess's holy sanctum stood.
Although Aliadam had no intention of hurting them, he allowed his people to torture those who had been overly cruel to them—even to death if they so pleased. The rest he let escape to the capital. The first human the spirits fell upon was the duke himself, Duke Cedric Alerian Ashford. His cruelty toward the spirits was beyond measure, and following closely were other nobles who treated the spirits ruthlessly as well. They all died gruesomely beneath the mercy of the spirits' wrath.
Their revenge was very satisfactory, and it went a long way to show Moist how far Aliadam was willing to go to make her pay for what she had done to him in the past. Maybe the fear of facing him kept her unconscious; it was hard to tell. But Aliadam was very patient. He intended to wait until he heard news of her waking, then proceed with his next line of action. For now, there was still a lot of rebuilding, reforming, and reclaiming to do in the spirit kingdom to restore its glory to the fullest, and he was going to focus all his energy on that and let Moist be for the time being. Besides her, there was someone else he awaited—the person of even more importance to him—and her unconscious state was already getting him worried.
It had been more than seventy-two hours now and she still had not regained consciousness. He could no longer stay calm about it; he had to do something, anything, to make her open her eyes. He honestly felt like it was his fault she was in that state and did not plan on forsaking her. Never again would he reduce his people's interests to a second priority; they would always come first—he must make sure of that.
With hastened steps, he walked to the specially decorated chamber in his Emberbloom Palace where he had placed her the moment he rebuilt the palace, having spirits who volunteered as maids attend to her and report to him the moment she woke. Up until now he had received no news and hence decided to check on her himself.
He had a whole load of work lined up for the day, but all would come after he was sure she was okay.
His aura engulfed the whole chamber the moment he walked in. The spirit maids present bowed their heads on sight, giving honor to his glory.
Before their salvation, he had worried they would not recognize and accept him as their king, but that was not a problem at all. The spirits never forgot who they were— their true heritage, history, and their true king. From the moment he emerged, his aura was felt in their hearts, and his immediate act of saving them made them truly believe he was their king, their long-awaited savior from unending torture.
"Any improvements?" he asked, his hazel almond eyes gazing over the still-unconscious Vesper in displeasure.
"No, your grace," one of the maids answered.
"And what did the old unicorn say?" he asked again, lifting his eyes from Vesper and hoping for good news.
The unicorn clan were renowned for their healing abilities, and just yesterday he had sent for the oldest of them all to come check on Vesper. A unicorn's healing abilities grow stronger with age, so Ma Ladea was the best choice of physician for Vesper.
"She maintained that she was fine and only needed rest," the maid replied.
"If she says so, then…" Aliadam exhaled deeply. "And the human girl?" he asked again, referring to Saskia.
"She left early this morning, your grace. The demon came to take her back."
Saskia had spent all of yesterday with Vesper, refusing to let her out of her sight for the short while she had to stay. The dreadful demon that accompanied her seemed to be keeping her attached; when she was not with Vesper she stayed excited by the demon, and the time she had to spare she spent with her friend.
Aliadam had only allowed her access after understanding that she was Vesper's best friend. It was unbelievable to him at first how this tortoise spirit managed to be best friends with a human. What could he say? Everything about her fascinated him: from how her weak spirit essence was able to give him the warmth he needed during his time in her shell, to this very moment—she kept engaging his interest.
"Keep your sight and attention on her at all times and be sure to inform me the moment she opens her eyes. Am I understood?"
"Well enough, your grace," they replied, bowing deeply.
A bit relieved, he left the chamber immediately. He had to hold a meeting—a very important one. He did not want to waste any time restoring the strength of his court and his army too.
He had summoned all spirits of noble blood and high clan. The spirit kingdom's nobility and respect were mostly ranked by spiritual energy, bloodline power, and spiritual essence. His blood was the purest and his spiritual energy far more powerful than any other spirit's, so naturally he was king.
The power ladder was as follows: he stood at the very apex, most powerful and bearing the most enduring spiritual essence. He was not just any spirit, but a divine spirit, one with the ability to influence natural laws. After him came the Ministers; they commanded lesser beasts, led the army, and possessed immense power. Some spirits under this category were the white tiger (only this breed of the tiger clan), the nine-tailed foxes (not all foxes in the fox clan), the azure lions, the black tortoise (not all tortoise of the tortoise clan), and the tempest hawks. Next on the ladder were the Nobles, possessing a deal of spiritual energy a bit less than the ministers. They ruled territories and exerted their influence heavily on the lesser spirits. Spirits under this class include the silver direwolves, jade pythons, inferno tigers, and unicorns. After the nobles came the Awakened. They possessed a reasonable amount of raw strength and spiritual power. They used elemental breath (qi) and led packs. This category of spirits made up a large portion of the army and workforce of the spirit kingdom: the likes of shadow panthers, black panthers, frost elk, and thunder eagles. The last on the ladder were the Fledgling—possessing minimal power and spiritual strength. In this class were spirits of no specialty, like the normal foxes, normal tortoises, and normal tigers. The stone rabbits, flame sparrows, and bloated frogs were also in this class. They usually served as maids and helpers to the king, ministers, and noble households, holding only minimal property or handiwork to their name.
The fledgling made up the largest portion of the common spirits, living their lowly lives in peace and acceptance.
In addition to rulership in the spirit kingdom, each clan also had a clan leader to represent their interests—since they were of many species—and to hold every clan member together under a harmonious communion.
The spirit kingdom was the most versatile among all races, yet they managed their affairs properly and maintained absolute order within their borders.
That order was what Aliadam sought to restore as soon as he could. He had already summoned the ministers, and they were surely waiting for him.
He planned on restoring the army, building the workforce, and choosing a new right hand, all as fast as possible.
Moist's indefinite coma was time he planned to utilize as much as he could, so that by the time she woke up he would be done with rebuilding the spirit kingdom and could give dealing with her his full attention.