Contains a depiction of Himerish's character before the ending of 3rd saga.

(Also hi to my usual readers; I'm not dead yet. I'm just pretty overwhelmed, but I promise I'm working on S3 and Angel of Heatherfield.)

"Oracle. The Overseer would like to see you."

Himerish nodded, and Tibor left the room as a black-clad figure strode in. The figure hurled itself towards him, and he laughed. Whenever she did this, he imagined her to be black mochi, a favorite snack.

"Athuri! My friend!" Himerish opened his arms wide.

"Hime-chan~!" Athuri greeted back and hugged him. Always so eager to show affection.

"You missed the new guardians."

"Woops. What about? Were they here for training?"

"Not at all."

Himerish led her to the records hall, where the faces of each guardian were carved. Athuri's face crumpled as she gazed at the walls.

"I had them experience each other's powers, to cast their doubts away."

"Yeah." Her voice was rather dry. Of course she wouldn't agree.

"They didn't wish to swap abilities and were perfectly content with their own."

"Uh-huh..."

"But they still helped each other through their trials. What a nice team."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. They passed. So..." Athuri pointed to the carvings. "Why did you replace the faces on the wall?"

"It's nothing big. It's just a glamour."

Himerish commanded the veil of glamour gone. In an instant, the inhuman figures became as human as they should be. The face of N'ghala and the guardians directly below her, however, changed into those of XinJing, and five distinct dragons.

"Tsk, tsk. Really?"

Himerish smiled even wider. "It's simply a countermeasure. The Oracle before me did it, too."

"Right."

"I know. I know this place... can change minds. It changed hers."

Himerish was no fool, and on top of that, he can read minds. One of his then strongest guardians cast her gaze upon each and every face with black fire in her eyes. Her heart raged with dismay and betrayal. Her mind could not see a good reason behind employing only Earthling humans as guardians.

Her name was Nerissa.

"But, y'know, I always tell my champions." Athuri groaned. "True, some of the chosen do refuse the call, but I let them go. Their missions, in fact, are deathly, but I'd rather have a functioning, incomplete team, than a complete yet dysfunctional team."

Himerish narrowed his eyes. Now that, he did not agree to.

"That lowers the mortality rate..."

"Anyway, Athuri... it's different in the case of the guardians today. Meridian needed to be liberated right away."

"Oh, you should've waited a little more."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. Not when their friend was the long lost princess heir to Meridian."

"The citizens of Meridian..."

"Cannot afford to wait any longer."

"Tsk, tsk..."

Athuri slid away, no doubt disappointed. Oh, well. This was why Kandrakar and Arucar were two different ruling bodies, but still held a similar rank under the dragons.

"Anyhow, what can I do for you, Athuri?"

Athuri's face molted into her viscous slime body. "I have the next group of the chosens."

Himerish raised his brow. This was rather auspicious.

"And we are nearing the Period of Fine Tuning," he remarked, "Isn't that wonderful?"

"It's ominous, and I don't like it."

"Is that why you hide your face?"

"Yes."

Himerish shrugged. He supposed that Arucar too, which followed the principles of time so zealously, could wait. "But what can we do? Who are we to challenge the dragons' wills?"

"That's right, which is why I come to you! The Period of Fine Tuning! We've never found chosens right before the Fine Tuning!"

Athuri's very fluid body spread around Himerish in a fervent attempt to size up their rather peculiar situation. Himerish gave the slime a few pats to comfort her, even a little.

"Don't fear."

"There is much reason to fear!"

"They may be children, but they are the chosen."

"They are children and we are supposed to be their role models!"

"Then, have a little more faith in them, Athuri. The dragons choose humans as their vessels, because humans have the strongest willpower to triumph over negative influences and control the most awesome of powers, as the best at their best..."

"And the worst at their worst, stubborn and conceited when they think they know better than the dragons do!"

Himerish rolled his eyes. "What is it that you're fearing, then?"

Athuri returned to her humanoid form, that of an old, wrinkled woman with big eyes, clad in a black robe. Himerish inwardly sighed.

"Urgh, forgive me, Hime-chan. I let weakness take over me."

"Forgiven~"

"But what I've been thinking is that, the dragons might soon reshape the world."

"And they will if they want to."

"And the chosen are still children."

"Children die everyday and nobody really questions that, or else they'll lose their sanity."

"The chosen have barely proven their worth as vessels to deities, Hime-chan."

"Impurity, lack of experience and wisdom, youth. You worry too much."

Athuri frowned. "What's wrong with you? Why don't you ever question why things have to be like this? I watched hundreds of boys die, and no matter how many times it happens to me, I still mourn. But, you spared no tear when one of yours died at the hands of her trusted leader."

Himerish narrowed his eyes. "I will not allow myself to dwell on little things. A warrior is a warrior, no matter how old. Likewise, a guardian is a guardian and a champion is a champion, no matter how young. They will die if the dragons decide they should, for the sake of the whole universe."

Athuri glared at him. Finally, with a groan, she turned around. She started walking to the exit. Himerish cocked his head. He could never get used to the head of Arucar, the agent of nether. They were simply too different.

Actually, sometimes, he wondered why Arucar existed. This body trained their chosen, allowed them to know the reaches and limits of the power bestowed by the dragons - how inconvenient! If these children rebelled against her, she would be powerless to stop them. What was an overseer, to the vessels of the gods of destruction?

And Athuri wouldn't say a thing, but Himerish was rather positive she too suffered a case like Nerissa's some time in the past.

And then, Athuri turned to him, with eyes like daggers.

"You need to change, Hime-chan. The ways of Basiliade are too indifferent to the ways of the humans you govern."

"If the dragons will it."

"Oh, they will. Kandrakar's heads don't last too long in their positions, do they?"

Himerish shut his eyes and counted. Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. He took a deep breath.

Athuri was gone. Back to the realm she governed, no doubt. They would both forget about this, for nothing would change.

There was nothing wrong about the way he handled things. Nothing at all. Himerish was simply doing what his predecessor did, too, and a faithful Elder of Kandrakar would never stray from tradition, as agreed by earlier Congregations so many cycles ago.

And Athuri... Athuri was just too human. Weak.

So basically it's like this:

Four dragons plus XinJing created Kandrakar. Four other dragons and a yet unnamed dude created Arucar. They were both called the courts of agents of aether and nether, respectively.

Kandrakar was ruled by the Oracle, a form which XinJing used to supervise the first rounds of guardians and elders. Likewise, Arucar was ruled by the Overseer, who presides over their own elders and the champions, the male equivalents of the guardians.

Today the Oracle is Himerish, while the Overseer is Athuri.

Alright?

Also a little trivia: Himerish was counting in terms of Chinese Zodiac animals. This had also been a way to count time and divide the day into 12 sections, 2 hours each. Amazing, right?