The banquet hall was, predictably, excessive.
Felix stood in the doorway, taking in the absurd display of wealth and power before him. The table was long enough to seat fifty people comfortably, though only six chairs had been arranged—five at regular intervals and one, he noted with amusement, placed deliberately at the center of one side, equidistant from all the rulers.
They really were trying to make this "neutral ground" thing work.
The hall itself bore the marks of all five territories, just like the Council Chamber. Icicles hung from one section of the ceiling, dripping slowly without ever quite melting. Shadows pooled in corners that should have been well-lit. Golden sunbeams streamed through windows that didn't seem to have any actual sun behind them. Living vines crept along one wall, flowering despite being indoors. And a constant, gentle breeze circulated through the room, carrying the scent of high altitude air.
"Subtle," Felix murmured.
"We wanted you to feel... welcomed," Solaris said, appearing at his elbow. The Light ruler had changed from his formal council robes into something slightly less ceremonial, though still radiant enough to make Felix squint if he looked directly at him for too long.
"By assaulting my senses with conflicting environmental magic?" Felix arched an eyebrow. "Thoughtful."
Solaris actually looked embarrassed. "Ah. Yes. Perhaps we... overdid it."
"Perhaps," Felix agreed, his tone dry as bone.
The other rulers were already entering from various doors—apparently each territory had its own entrance to the banquet hall because of course they did. Felix watched them with barely concealed amusement as they took their seats, clearly trying to appear casual and failing spectacularly.
Frost sat with rigid posture, his frost-pale features carefully neutral. Raven sprawled in his chair with predatory ease, red eyes tracking Felix's every movement. Verdant lowered himself into his seat with the slow deliberation of ages, wooden accents in his hair seeming to grow slightly as he settled. And Gale practically bounced into his chair, his windswept appearance somehow even more disheveled than before.
"Please, sit," Verdant gestured to the center chair with ancient courtesy.
Felix considered refusing just to be difficult, then decided he was actually curious about this bizarre dinner party. He moved to the chair with fluid grace and sat, crossing one leg over the other in a pose that managed to be both relaxed and elegantly composed.
Immediately, servants appeared—though Felix noted they emerged from doorways that definitely hadn't been there a moment ago. Spatial magic. Convenient.
The servants were an interesting mix, each bearing the subtle markers of their home territory. One had frost patterns on their skin, another moved with shadow-like fluidity, a third seemed to radiate gentle warmth, while others bore leaves in their hair or moved with the lightness of air.
They began placing dishes on the table with practiced efficiency.
"So," Felix said, watching the parade of food with one eyebrow raised. "Do you five do this often? The whole 'summon a stranger and force them to dinner' thing?"
Gale snorted into his wine goblet.
"You are our first," Verdant said diplomatically. "And, if this evening goes poorly, likely our last."
"Oh, it's definitely going poorly," Felix assured him with a sharp smile. "I'm just deciding how poorly."
Raven leaned forward, elbows on the table in a way that made Frost's eye twitch. "You're not afraid of us at all, are you?"
Felix met his crimson gaze without flinching. "Should I be?"
"Most beings are," Raven replied, his voice a low rumble. "We are, as you pointed out, the five most powerful rulers in existence."
"Congratulations," Felix said flatly. "Do you want a medal?"
The silence that followed was deafening.
Then Gale burst out laughing, the sound bright and genuine. "Oh, this is the best dinner we've had in centuries!"
Even Frost's lips twitched slightly, though he covered it quickly.
Solaris cleared his throat, trying to restore some semblance of civility. "Felix, we truly do apologize for the nature of your arrival. Perhaps we could start over? Consider this a... diplomatic dinner between equals."
"Equals," Felix repeated, his mismatched eyes glittering with amusement. "That's generous of you, considering you literally ripped me through dimensional space an hour ago."
"Point taken," Solaris acknowledged with a wince.
The food continued to arrive—dishes from all five territories, each more elaborate than the last. Felix recognized some of them from his own knowledge of the realms. Crystallized frost-fruits from the Ice territory that somehow remained both frozen and edible. Shadow-braised meats from the Dark realm that looked intimidating but smelled incredible. Light-infused breads from Solaris's domain that actually glowed faintly. Forest vegetables that were probably still technically alive. And delicate pastries from the Sky territory that seemed to weigh almost nothing.
"You're trying to impress me," Felix observed, picking up a fork and examining it. Even the utensils were excessive—probably enchanted, definitely worth a small fortune.
"Is it working?" Gale asked hopefully.
Felix took a deliberate bite of the shadow-braised meat, chewed thoughtfully, and swallowed. "The food is excellent. The company is still undecided."
Raven's grin was sharp. "Fair."
"What do you do, Felix?" Verdant asked, his ancient voice genuinely curious. "When you're not being summoned against your will, that is."
"This and that," Felix replied vaguely, taking another bite. "I keep busy."
"That's not an answer," Frost observed coolly.
"I'm aware," Felix said pleasantly. "I'm just not inclined to share my life story with people who kidnapped me."
"We didn't kidnap—" Solaris started.
"You literally magically abducted me," Felix interrupted. "That's the definition of kidnapping. The fact that you're serving me dinner doesn't change that."
The rulers exchanged uncomfortable glances.
"He has a point," Gale said.
"He has several points," Verdant agreed. "All of them valid."
Felix leaned back in his chair, studying each ruler in turn. They were all watching him with varying degrees of fascination, hunger, curiosity, and calculation. It was like being examined by five very powerful, very interested predators.
Except Felix was the apex predator in the room, and they had no idea.
The thought amused him enough that he smiled—a real smile that transformed his features from merely beautiful to absolutely devastating.
All five rulers visibly reacted. Frost's fingers tightened on his goblet. Raven's eyes darkened with something primal. Solaris's gentle expression became slightly dazed. Verdant's ancient gaze sharpened with new intensity. And Gale nearly dropped his fork.
Felix noticed, of course. He noticed everything.
"So," he said, letting the smile fade back into something more neutral. "Now that you've got me here, what exactly is the plan? Stare at me over dinner? Ask invasive questions I won't answer? Try to figure out why I'm so 'mysteriously untraceable'?"
"We simply want to know you," Solaris said earnestly. "You appeared in our world—briefly—and then vanished. Can you blame us for being curious?"
"Yes," Felix said immediately. "I can absolutely blame you for responding to curiosity with magical kidnapping."
"You keep using that word," Frost interjected.
"Because it's accurate," Felix shot back.
The dinner continued in this vein—the rulers attempting to draw information out of Felix, and Felix deflecting with sarcasm and carefully vague responses. He learned more about them than they learned about him, which was exactly how he preferred it.
Frost was as calculating as he appeared, every question designed to extract maximum information. Raven's menacing exterior hid a sharp wit and darker sense of humor that Felix found almost entertaining. Solaris was genuinely kind, which made Felix feel slightly guilty about being so difficult. Verdant had the patience of millennia and kept steering the conversation away from confrontation. And Gale was refreshingly honest, asking blunt questions without pretense.
"Do you have a territory?" Gale asked at one point, through a mouthful of sky-pastry.
"Something like that," Felix replied.
"Where?"
"Away."
"That's the same answer you gave before!"
"And yet you keep asking questions," Felix observed with amusement.
As the dinner wound down, Felix felt the magical pressure in the room shift. The rulers were clearly reluctant for the evening to end. They kept finding reasons to linger—another course, another bottle of wine, another topic of conversation.
Felix recognized the signs of people who didn't want to let go of something they'd just found.
Too bad for them.
"Well," Felix said, standing with fluid grace that drew every eye in the room. "This has been... educational. Thank you for the meal. I'll be going now."
"Going?" Frost said sharply. "Where?"
Felix's smile was sharp. "Away. Remember? That place I'm from?"
"But we've barely talked," Solaris protested, also rising from his seat. The other rulers followed suit, suddenly alert.
"We've talked plenty," Felix countered. "You've asked me dozens of questions I didn't answer, fed me an excessive meal, and stared at me for two hours. I'd say we've covered the basics."
"Stay," Raven said, and there was something almost commanding in his tone. "At least for the night. We have guest quarters—"
"I have my own quarters," Felix interrupted. "Elsewhere. Thank you for the offer."
"Felix," Verdant said, his ancient voice taking on a gentle but firm quality. "It would be... inappropriate for you to leave so soon after arriving. Allow us to offer you proper hospitality."
Felix's eyes narrowed slightly. "I notice you're all standing between me and the exits."
"A coincidence," Gale said, though his playful tone had an edge to it.
"Right," Felix said slowly. "Well, here's the thing about exits—"
Reality rippled around him.
One moment Felix was standing by his chair, surrounded by five territorial rulers. The next moment, he simply wasn't.
The air where he'd been standing shimmered for a brief second, and then settled, empty.
Felix was gone.
The five rulers stared at the vacant space in stunned silence.
"Did he just—" Gale started.
"Teleport," Frost finished, his voice tight with a mixture of shock and frustration. "He just teleported out of the Council realm."
"That's impossible," Solaris breathed. "This is a locked dimension. No one can teleport in or out without our combined permission."
"Apparently Felix can," Verdant observed, his ancient eyes thoughtful.
Raven moved to where Felix had been standing, running his hand through the air. Residual magic sparked around his fingers—power that made even his dark energy seem pale by comparison.
"What kind of power does that require?" he muttered, more to himself than the others.
"More than we anticipated," Frost said coldly, his calculating mind already working through implications. "Much more."
"He played us," Gale said, a mixture of admiration and frustration in his voice. "The whole time, acting confused and annoyed, and he could have left whenever he wanted."
"Why didn't he?" Solaris wondered aloud. "If he had that much power, why stay for dinner at all?"
"Maybe he was curious about us," Verdant suggested. "Just as we were curious about him."
"Or maybe," Raven said, his red eyes gleaming dangerously, "he was amusing himself at our expense."
Frost's jaw tightened. "Either way, he's more powerful than any of us realized. And he's been hiding it."
"He said he'd play along," Solaris remembered. "'For now,' he said. He was always planning to leave on his own terms."
"The question is," Verdant said quietly, "will he come back?"
They didn't have to wait long for an answer.