"And you haven't managed to rein them in?!" Anglacite half-shouted in an almost accusing tone.

"What do you want me to do? I was trying to rule them in a manner different from you!" Stelimus shouted in response.

"It's not dumping half an ocean on land that you'll create a gentle river! You're supposed to slowly eb the water in. You should KNOW this!"

"Oh. Yes. I forgot about that in the 'How to king' class." He tapped his head. "How silly of me."

Anglacite strained his forelegs and audibly strained his voice in anger. "I'd strangle you if I could touch you physically!"

The god-king casually floated in the air and waved his foreleg multiple times through Stelimus.

"Stelimus Anglacite, was it?" a voice called out. It was Gfefner.

"Yes. Why? You're my uncle, right? Um..." The deer bobbed his hoof as though he prepared to throw some dice along the floor. "Your name escapes me."

"I am Gfefner."

Stelimus frowned dramatically as though extremely disappointed in his uncle. "What kind of name is 'Gfefner'?"

"We were name by the deer that we took up north. Are you going to stop on your own people?"

Stelimus pondered sarcastically then nodded a bit too energetically. "Yeah. I might."

Gfefner facepalmed and shook his head, but Tyveda came to break up the tensions. "MEANwhile, I am your aunt: Tyveda."

"See? Now that's a proper name."

Gfefner grunted when he attempted to strangle Stelimus, instead only phasing through him much like Anglacite.

"You can't touch him," Anglacite grumbled.

"If I could o the MC Hammer dance, I would. As it limps, I can't."

"...What?" everyone spoke in unison.

"Nothing. Never mind."

"Well, we wanted to discuss things with you and-" Tyveda paused and bit her lower lip when she saw the tiny pony huddled up next to her nephew. "-the pony-song."

"What kind of thing?" Copper asked. It seemed being next to Stelimus let her calm down and take back control of her senses, but she was clearly still shaking.

"Rebirth things."

Stelimus and Copper looked at each other while Anglacite stared off into the distance, a massive frown of disappointment adorning his face.

"Please don't..." he sighed.

"What's wrong with him?" Stelimus asked.

"How can you be reborn? Spells or something s-similar?" Copper asked.

Tyveda bobbed her head left and right. "Mmmmmmmmmm-no."

Stelimus narrowed his eyes then looked at his father who dropped his head in acknowledgement.

"Oh hell no!"

"What," Copper asked.

"They want to be reborn as--"

"Your children," Gfefner finished.

Both Copper and the deer king's faces burnt to a crisp red.

Tyveda was smiling earnestly. "We wouldn't need to worry about being separated nor would we lose our connection with our own people."

"And I hear that cross-breeds have better lifespans and bodies than pure breeds." Gfefner turned towards his brother. "What do you think, Anglacite?"

"Leave me out of this."

"But you have a chance to return to the world of the living. Why don't you?"

"He's kind of my son? That would be extremely disturbing. I'll wait for his descendants."

Gfefner shrugged. "Suit yourself. We'll be here waiting for you."

"Where could you even 'hear' about the lifespan thing?!" Copper blurted.

Stelimus whispered what his experiences with Grimliss had taught him and she nodded in understanding. Unfortunately, it didn't alleviate what the two god kings were insinuating without even trying to sugarcoat it.

"How would you even know when to inhabit the body? Upon birth? You'd kick out the soul born there just to get a new body?" Stelimus asked.

"No," Tyveda said. "We'd be watching you and inhabit the new bodies as soon as it's over," she explained innocently and with a smile.

The two frowned almost to the point that it looked like their faces were going to fall off.

"Oh. That's SO much better," Copper spoke sarcastically.

The couple refused, but the ghosts wouldn't give up. Much like the other three, Stelimus noticed that they were extremely blunt and uncaring for those around them, preferring instead to further their own interests. What would they have been like had they lived just as long as the three? Just imagining it made Stelimus shudder viciously.

Niris took quite a lot of time to rebuild, and even with a week's time, the many buildings and shrines were still heavily damaged. The gods of death did not appreciate it, and so cursed their followers for their 'slow work' after having 'helped' them all. Oriyis was angered to no end and, despite the wishes of Hora and the Temple leaders, channeled the powers of Zelmar once more and freed his people whilst damaging his body even further.

Yolumay, however, found interest in walking around with her aunt whilst perusing the many wares of anyubinites, but, while she looked for weaponry and armor, Effervescence looked for things deemed 'beautiful' by her very picky and 'refined' eyes. One such stall was setting itself back up and wiping some sand off the valuables after a sand storm. It was a small assembly of weapon racks and armories under a large red tent that let the sun's light pass through, giving everything under the cloth's protection a darkened and red appearance. The anyubinite in question was a scrawny thing, even by anyubinite standards, and ye didn't seem very happy at all.

"Do we have to go in there?" Effervescence complained.

"Yes. We looked at those desert centered carnivorous plant giants you wanted to. Now it's my turn to look at something that I want to see."

Most weapons on the table ranged from slings of varying sizes to knives of different shapes and design. The weapon racks held several khopesh of the some variety as the knives, spears, lances, and halberds with crescent moon blades taking a good third of the wooden beam they were affixed to. Shields were also present, as were bows. The shields, however, were made of stretched leather over either a tall, rectangular wooden body or the tough chitin of whatever beastly insect existed in this desert.

"Finding anything to your tastes, deer?" the anyubinite asked passively.

Yolumay leaned towards a khopesh and hummed in interest. Its blade was worked black with the handle being covered by a white leather tape and painted over with curious symbols that meant nothing to the deer princess.

"Yes. This...thing intrigues me."

The jackal blinked a few times. "The Khopesh and Kutky? That's a very expensive weapon."

"Then why is it just hanging around here? Someone would steal it and sell it for big money."

The jackal crossed yis arms. "Do you really think they would recognize things like that? Additionally, a weapon having a name and history doesn't make it more valuable by money standards unless the wielder was held in high regard."

"So you're saying the previous owner was mostly unknown?"

"Yes. A shame, too, as ye killed fifteen of the insect colossi on yis own before falling." There was a long moment of silence. "That was a lot."

"Oh..." the two deer said in unison.

"And what are these symbols?" Yolumay asked.

"They are the words of Yhmjet: God of war, scripture, and death. They say: "The sword can be used for writing just as the quill can be used for warfare. Dip it within the red ink and 'write' what comes to mind."

"...I don't get it," Yolumay shrugged.

"Me neither," Effervescence agreed.

"You might in the future. You want to buy it?" the anyubinite asked calmly.

"How much?" Yolumay asked.

"Three hundred coin."

Effervescence casually pulled a golden nugget the size of her head from the sand, causing the merchant's eyes to sparkle and have a dumbfounded expression until the god-queen cut a large piece of the nugget off and dropped the rest back into the sand. The jackal grabbed the rock and placed it in a small strongbox behind yim. When ye handed it to Yolumay, the deer felt a brief shock course through her and the blade shimmered a deep blue for nary a second. Looking at it, the deer princess nodded.

"It has a history, and so I will add more to it. I must name it as well, however," she hummed.

"Perhaps later," Effervescence groaned as she rolled her eyes.

"I can't name it now. There's still much it must do to prove that it is worthy of a name."

Tenyom and Radivus did not want to play or shop, however. They were more interested in the military practices of the anyubinites, and with the agreement of Hora and Oriyis, were given as much time as they wanted to learn and train from the jackals. The most significant they learned, however, was the teamwork that they displayed. While reindeer had their own methods of doing such, they didn't have the same 'interlocking' methodology. Shield bearers would run through the line of archers and, with a shield in two hands and one on their back, plant a wall of thin leather and chitin to protect the ranged troops from counter fire or sling. Thin openings near the top and the middle allowed the bownites to see and fire as accurately as they possibly could. The two deer learned this firsthoof by testing its ability. Even Tenyom could not approach them nor use any stones she threw as they would simply bounce off the interlocked, stacked shields.

Other techniques involved the anyubinites having what they called a 'Wind Spinner' in their native tongue. It would involve pairing up a shield bearer and swordsanyu together. Both would carry two of their respective armaments and go to battle like this; Both requiring the protection and trust of the other. Without it, both would die. Stelimus' bodyguards volunteered for such a thing and found that, with Tenyom as the shield bearer due to her size, and Radivus as the sword user, the two became nigh impossible to fight...for the neophytes of the Anyubinite Army. There was much more for them to learn, and despite the two deer's seemingly innocuous and innocent expressions, they knew precisely what this meant when it came to defending their king, and so they trained. Their only true moment of respite were to learn fighting techniques of the anyubinite army.

Stelimus and Copper, however, took this time to both heal and mend some much older wounds. The two had gone to the outskirts of the damaged capital to rest upon a sand dune and amuse themselves with the various mirages the desert tried to torture them with. The two were just finishing to laugh at what almost looked the tundra with many kobolds waddling around.

"So..." Stelimus started. He had trouble looking Copper in the eyes. "I wanted to talk to you about some...stuff."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. I...Well, I guess I haven't been very kind to you these past few years."

"How so?"

"Not trading affection, not taking you to nice places, and dragging you into the death zone that is my home."

"Well, I did find that you acted strange when I was giving you affection, Stelly."

"Yeah..." Stelimus sighed.

"So what is it, then? Was it because I'm a pony?"

"No."

"Do you just not like me?"

"What?! Of course I like you," Stelimus quipped.

"Oh..." Copper looked into the distance and blinked. "Are you actually gay? I've heard of relationships like this."

The deer King looked at his wife with a face of disapproval.

The mare threw her forelegs up. "Hey. It's okay if you are. I'm not judging."

"No," Stelimus said dryly.

"Then what is the problem?"

"Well..." He scratched the back of his head and took a deep breath. "I can't really tell you the source of the issue, but, because I helped you when you were so young, I kind of saw myself as a surrogate father figure."

The mare tilted her head. "What? But we're barely a year apart in age!"

"Like I said: I can't explain the source, but I CAN tell you that it's what helped me get through all these events that should have normally been impossible for someone of my age and 'experience' at the time to have been able to overcome."

"So, what is it you're saying?"

"I have more life experience than most of the deer back at the capital, but they'll never know. This as much as I'm willing to tell you."

"So what does this mean for us?" Copper frowned sadly and her eyes began to glimmer.

"Don't do that," Stelimus growled.

"But--"

"Seriously. Don't. The start of my life here was so cliché I predicted every potential event. You doing the 'sad face' here just lacks a fountain, a single tear for me to wipe away, and a tiny rainbow created by the glimmer of the fountain's water spray floating gently in the soft, cool summer air." The deer king mimed the movement of some items he described with his hooves.

"That sounds so romantic," Copper cooed.

The deer king felt an upset churning in his stomach. "Just, I want to be able to start over. I had an 'epiphany' and I would rather we be able to talk about our feelings for each other and mend the marriage into a way that's better for both of us without it being a forced perspective."

"Forced perspective?"

"Yes. We didn't choose the marriage. Our parents chose it before we were even born. Or, rather, before I was even born." Stelimus rubbed his foreleg nervously.

"So you'd rather we work on our relationship, talk, and do things together, right?" The deer king nodded to Copper's question. "Yay!" The pony glomphed the deer king. "More time with Stelly!"

"This is going to be harder than trying to teach history to my daughter," he sighed mentally.

A week later, the visitors were once again on Hora's boat with Hora yimself. A gitz-gitz-guak had accompanied Stelimus to the port through the desert to discuss multiple things concerning the renewing of the alliance and multiple ways to ensure its stability after so long, but they would not be joining the visitors for their return trip. The three spirits had followed them as well to say goodbye, but something was missing.

"Where's the contraption you said would help us?" Stelimus asked.

"We are having trouble with it," Hora answered quickly. "We haven't managed to isolate most of the Adwanee that Zelmar lets out through Zaoris Oriyis. This is why I despise date announcements." Ye rubbed yis forehead. "That being said, another problem has come from the possibility of the 'black snow' being different than the 'adwanee sands'. We need more time. New problems and solutions arose during our research."

"So then we still have to wait?"

"Zelmar won't be back for another few hundred years," Anglacite explained. "You have time to wait."

"Are you sure about that?"

"We're unliving proof," Gfefner added. "Multiple hundred years separated us from death."

Tyveda approached her sister and whispered to her. "Never forget that immortality doesn't mean invincibility."

"I'm well aware of that, sister." she grumbled.

"Good! Then we can send you off."

"But wait! Come with us," Stelimus said. "I know someone--"

"We can't, Stelimus," Anglacite cut him off. "We can only manifest in this land, and it won't last for very long. We're going to have to return to the other side. If we ever find thin pockets like that again, we'll see you." He looked at the stag stoically.

Stelimus looked at the other two god-kings floating lazily in the air and frowned sadly. "But--"

"Your people need you, and Grimliss awaits. I am certain that he's done a good job while you were gone, but now it's your turn to put your hoof down. If you truly want to clean the deer of generations of my corrupted thought patterns, then you will have to ease them into it. Until then, you're going to be forced to be extremely aggressive with them." He brought Stelimus closer. "Got that?"

"Y-yes. I'll...I'll go. Thanks for the advice...d-dad," the deer king sputtered.

Taking one last look at the two dead god-kings, Stelimus walked back to his wife and onto the ship with his companions. Tenyom and Radivus both attracted everyone's attention.

"Where did you two get those?" Stelimus asked.

"Well." Radivus started.

Grimliss twiddled with a book made of thick slabs of marble tied together via white rope put through three holes on the "spine' of the book. It contained ancient spells that the god-king was transcribing to a sheet of parchment to better try translating the contents.

"This might have what I need. It's the oldest book of spells I know!" he strained under his breath.

The five members of the council quietly waited on the sides of the throne room whilst fidgeting nervously or just glaring at Grimliss who had better things to do than worry about the simple deer.

Grundyl whispered to his Fyovyor as they waited. "Are we still going to try and 'dispose' of him?"

"Of course we are. What a silly notion. Once he's gone, we'll have no problems with this childish leader."

Kuj cleared her throat, showing that she had arrived next to the two in secret. "When he tells us how to keep the black snow back, of course."

Tenyom and Radivus both burst through the massive entrance doors as regular palace guards followed them from the sides and, in a unified display, lined the walls of the throne room while Stelimus' personal body guards waited in the middle of the passage for him. After being given the all-clear, Grimliss wrapped up his work and stepped to the side to see his 'favorite' nephew. Grundyl approached the couple, intent on congratulating them, but Tenyom responded to this by a shield bash into his forehead and then his chest.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! This goes against your king's desires!"

Tenyom smirked in response to his complaint, causing the five deer's expression of certainty to change. They slowly looked to the deer king and saw that he was glaring at them from his seat. His wife was leaning against one of the arm rests and looking at them with a simple disinterest that sent shivers down their spines.

Fyovyor rushed to his colleague's aid and whispered to him as he helped him up. "I don't think we'll manage to kill this Stelimus."

"I should hope not," Yolumay chuckled. The five spun around to see the princess casually sharpening her new khopesh while Effervescence amused herself with maintaining and growing a large, tan-colored bud in a ceramic pot. "It would be a real shame if..." She looked up at the deer. "We needed five new heads at the same time."

"I'm glad you're back, nephew," Grimliss said. "I trust that your trip was a pleasant?"

The deer king looked at his uncle and exhaled quietly. "Yes. It was...enjoyable."

"Did they deliver on what they promised?"

"Not yet. It should arrive soon, but I know what the cause is."

An almost life-creating spark shone in Grimliss' orbits. "And what is it?"

"I'll tell you later. For now, I have a very important thing to do, and it involves running my country."

"I see," the deer pondered as he rubbed his lower jaw. "And how will you do that?"

"I'm not sure yet," he joked. "Maybe some executions of high ranking officials could help inspire me?"

Even with this empty threat, he kept thinking about the deal he made with Zelmar, and he didn't like it in the slightest. It had too much of a heavy consequence.

Dere we go. It's over, and I hope you all enjoyed this series (Normally, I have one more story for it. Normally. Not sure yet). Next is 'Lovie Dovey' .