The three individuals sat around a round table, thick silence descending upon the room after the elder's words.
After the idea was confirmed by the grandmother, Akari had nearly collapsed, falling into a chair and laying her head on a table.
Both Vaelmyr Droskyn and the old lady, who had been revealed as Meredith Droskyn, followed her to the seat, watching as she contemplated the turn of events.
There hadn't been any other questions, nor responses asked after the revelation of the man's status, only a heavy tension that filled the room.
This awkwardness resolved in a moment as Akari turned her head upward, addressing the Sea King ahead of her.
"W-Why are you here, Lord Droskyn…?"
Her voice was quiet, a mere sliver of her usual self, with the sheer authority and power of the King suppressing her actions.
While he had masked his presence, strength, and even location from the world, making him appear as a normal human, he was still above the norm.
And as such, when he responded firmly, Akari nearly flinched from his movements.
"This is my homeland, as you can see."
His voice was hard as he opened his arms wide, pointing to various pictures of himself and even to his own grandmother before continuing.
"However, four days ago, in a location on the edge of the Abyss, a presence broke through the world's boundaries."
Akari's eyes widened at the King's words, the insanity of what he had just said resonating deep in her mind.
He himself looked up at her, a scowl-stricken expression engraved into his face.
"Lord Quinn reached the area before me, reporting that an Apex had breached the Abyssal Wall before the Convergence."
Straightening his posture, he stopped for a moment, thinking about what he should next say, before stopping himself entirely.
Anything else was beyond the scope of what he could tell a regular civilian, no matter who they had ties to.
To his left, his grandmother sighed, pointing at the kebab in front of Akari and speaking quietly.
"You need your calories, honey. A growing girl needs her protein to get to the same level as my grandson here!"
Smiling at slamming her fist into the sweater her grandson wore, the surprisingly audible sound of hand hitting muscle echoed through the bar.
Such an instance was likely the only time, possibly in history, where someone had so blatantly assaulted a Sea King and gotten off with only a flustered look.
Opening her mouth to speak, a nervous smile on her face, Akari addressed Mrs. Droskyn's statement fully.
"I mustn't… I couldn't disrespect one of the King's in their own home by eating food I didn't pay for…"
Vaelmyr rolled his eyes at the words, reaching into his pocket with such speed that the pink-haired girl flinched.
Yet all he brought out was a small sack of coins, one that he threw far behind him, landing on the counter gently.
"Here. Paid for. Now eat. Not eating my grandmother's food would insult me more."
The girl froze, realizing that in a way, she had been disrespecting the man and his grandmother, deciding that she would erase the kebab from existence faster than anything she had ever eaten before.
In a series of quick bites, she devoured the entire portion, her eyes sparkling as she realized how phenomenal the cuisine was.
Meredith smiled, speaking quietly to her grandson, so that Akari couldn't hear.
"She's one of Xeon's. Has there been any developments in his case?"
It was a question asked not as the wholesome grandmother of a Sea King, but rather as a once-powerful figure in the Oceanic Association who held the same power as a Commodore.
Vaelmyr could only shake his head in response, frowning as he remembered what Marshal Twynam had told him earlier that month.
Xeon Maxus, a Commodore in the Hunters' Guild, had been charged with orchestrating human trafficking between Svall and Sea Fallen.
It had been discovered after the disaster that throughout the many months he spent in the city, he had hired pirates to kidnap various clergy members and even children to sell.
The evidence was numerous and highly stacked against him, yet, with such power and influence that he had, it was unlikely to result in legal action.
So as he looked at the innocent girl ahead of him whom that man had selected, he could only frown.
Akari herself knew little of what her mentor had been accused of, having left for Corvassa the day before charges were filed.
Now, she sat in front of a Sea King and an ex-member of the Association, an empty skewer in hand.
Realizing it would be rude to sit in silence, she asked the King of Souls a relatively common question among natives of the Sea of Dreams.
"Have you had any important dreams recently, sir?"
She had always wondered if strength played a part in how lucid the prophetic segments were, and now, when faced with the only Dream-native Sea King, she would get her answer.
However, contrary to what she had believed, the question was not as simple as it was normally perceived.
The man's expression darkened, muscles tensed, his presence leaking out through the carefully placed seals that wrapped his body.
He didn't respond for a moment, falling deep in thought.
"Yes. There is one dream that plagues me non-stop. It is endless and unrelenting."
As if he were being pushed along by an unknown presence, he continued speaking, describing his dreams in detail.
"I sometimes awake to ice covering my skin, the pressure drowning me in an endless bath of snow. The face of something ancient, a monster that is older than this world and the people that reside in it."
His words were hard, an unreadable expression passing across his face as his grandmother patted his shoulder.
Letting out a heavy sigh, he took a bottle of wine from the cabinet beside him, popping the cap off and downing it in seconds.
"Ah. I apologize for my rant and my drinking. I cannot get drunk on boring beverages like this, so don't worry about me. Now, I must ask, what mission brought you this close to the Abyss?"
Leaning forward in his chair, he eyed the girl curiously, his presence masked carefully, a thoughtful smile working its way to his lips.
Akari looked between him and the old woman before replying, a strange sense of inferiority plaguing her as she began to talk about her accomplishments in the face of a King.
"I was recommended by Commodore Xeon Maxus for the Hunter examination, and my mission was to come here and kill the terror plaguing the East Coast. I dealt with it yesterday, and the core is inside this pouch."
Moving the small bag she had carried with her the entire day up onto the table, she unlatched the strap, showing the two the glowing object.
Obviously, leaving such a valuable item inside a shoddy hotel was off the table; therefore, why not bring it with her when exploring?
Vaelmyr looked at it with tamed curiosity, and a respectful nod of his head signaled his approval of the girl's actions.
"A basilisk core. I have seen them in my own sea occasionally. Their poisons taste sweet when brewed together with—"
He stopped himself, a quiet cough getting him back on track.
"I must say, a mid-level terror is quite the difficult mission for someone in the yearly exam, even the top recommendation holder."
Letting out a laugh, he took another swig of wine, looking at the girl with a proud smile, waiting for her response.
Akari herself furrowed her brow, parting her lips and speaking to the man in a hesitant but firm tone.
"I'm not the top of my exam group, sir…"
Her words were resolute, a signal to both members of the Droskyn family that she was absolutely telling the truth in her statement, not simply being humble.
Meredith furrowed her brow oddly, concern obviously present on her face as she assessed the situation.
"But Miss, if hunting a mid-level terror wasn't the hardest mission, then what was?"
Vaelmyr mirrored this sentiment, curiosity brimming at the edges of his vision, a slip of paper he had pushed aside coming back to his mind.
Akari could only answer quietly; the sound of the harsh wind outside slamming against the glass window nearly drowned out her words.
"My friend, Aaron Grimstall, is in the top spot for my exam. He was recommended by—"
Her words were cut off by the Sea King, who had remembered something else mentioned by William Twynam weeks ago.
"Camilla Buckley."
There was a heavy silence that befell the room, not the slightest bit of movement being seen throughout the kebab shack.
This lasted for nearly an entire minute before the man spoke up again, addressing Akari once more.
"Aaron Grimstall… What an interesting name… I once met a man named Langsworth Grimstall in the Sea of Dreams; however, that was when I was a child."
Looking at his grandmother, he waited for her reply as she opened her mouth, realization dawning across her face.
"When you were little, I met him in Sea Fallen. He was a nice man, yet he was oddly afraid of everything. He acted strangely around you, but you acted fine around his son."
There was a pause as the two Droskyns looked at Akari, hoping for anything else of use to their memory.
"Aaron's father's name is Tibb, if that helps?"
Waiting while his grandmother reminisced about the distant days, the Sea King turned towards the girl, asking another question that had been weighing on his mind.
"Did he tell you what his mission was?"
An odd suspicion had irked its way into his mind after reading the report submitted by Lepaie Quinn about the incident of a few days ago.
Illusory dots in his mind were building up a theory, yet, without more evidence, it would stay as such.
"I-I caught a glimpse of it in the office. He had to hunt and bring back a piece of a high-level or Apex-level terror."
The air froze as Vaelmyr rasped his finger along the table, puzzle pieces clicking into place as Quinn's words flashed through his mind.
There had been a ship in the area, one that had another challenger of the exam who was a member of the Steinfeste family.
What had caught his attention was the additional detail added by his first-mate Irvin, an eye-witness account that Lepaie regarded as an illusion.
Scrawled into the blank space of the paper, a hastily written note had been scribbled in neat handwriting for anyone who read it.
Sensed two lifeforms on the vessel. Lepaie Quinn's dreamstate failed to register one. Requesting additional data immediately.