Grafunullif was walking up a steep path through a forest of stubby plants with huge leaves. The plants didn’t come up much higher than waist height, and were incredibly verdant. The soil they were growing in was a rich red colour that stained the sandaled feet of the villagers.

From further ahead on the path a young girl came running up to Graf.

“You’re finished on the beach already!” said the child.

“Yes, our guest needed to rest.”

“The King’s doctor sent me to get you, there’s going to be a talk about the King and they wanted everyone to be there. Hurry up or they’ll be mad at me!” said the child as she ran back along the path. Grafunullif sighed and followed at a slight jog.

Konseses was located in a large steep sided valley. The valley is about a kilometer long, the valley abruptly ends where the river spills down a steep waterfall into the sea. There was a small river that ran along the bottom of the valley, the valley’s sides were a white stone that struck a contrast with the green and blue of the valley floor. Either side of the river were small rice farms that extended right up to the steep valley sides. There were two paths that ran along either side of the river and stone bridges connecting them every twenty meters or so. Accompanying every bridge was a path through the fields on both sides of the river each going up to the edge of the valley walls. Where these paths met the walls there were footholds hollowed into the rock. These footholds lead up to caves in the valley walls. The majority of the inhabitants of Konseses live in these cave systems. Those that don’t live in the caves live in houses built on top of the valley walls, these houses are the same kind as the beach hut that Hao was staying in. There were a few hundred people climbing down the sides of the valley and hurriedly making their way down the paths to the largest cave in the valley. It sits upstream of the river, where two smaller rivers come together to form the river that carved out the valley. Where these two rivers meet is a sheer sided v-shaped cliff with waterfalls on either side of it. There are many holes in the faces of the cliff, each one is a different room within the King’s Court. There are many entrances to the King’s Court, and many bridges leading to those entrances.

The path the Grafunullif and the child were taking lead to a bridge upstream of the King’s Court over one of the smaller rivers. They had joined a small group from some nearby fields.

“Is the King really dead?” one of the farmers asked Graf.

“That’s what Yoyoyon told me,” said Graf.

“If Yoyoyon said it then it must be true.” said the farmer.

They made it to the Gateway, a large stone castle that acts as the northmost entrance to Konseses. Yoyoyon was waiting for stragglers at the entrance to the Gateway, which was a stone castle with a large door leading to a courtyard. Beyond that was another larger door that opened up to a short path to the ampitheatre. It was in the Gateway that the King resided, and it was in the courtyard where the King died. His blood was still on the ground. Grafunullif's hospital was located next to the Gateway, it consisted of a series of smaller buildings dotted around the top of the cliff.

“Get a move on! They’re all waiting for you!” said Yoyoyon.

“I bet they’ve already started!” said Graf.

“You know what they’re like, they were throwing a fit earlier because it was taking too long for people to get here.” Graf picked up her pace.

Graf, Yoyoyon, and the child entered the amphitheatre and made their way to the nearby front row seats. There were about three hundred people in the seating and a constant steady stream of small groups made their way to empty seats in the audience.

“You’re finally here.” said one of the three people standing in the middle of the arena.

“We already started, and we’ve made up our minds about the situation already, I want you all to listen closely.”

“They had Alig up there talking about Hao earlier, then they just talked between themselves and then they had me blabbering on about the King’s death for a bit.” said the man sitting next to Graf, who was the King’s doctor. “You didn’t miss much. Especially if you’ve already met Hao. What’s he like?”

“He seems decent enough, I think they should let him into the village.” said Graf.

“I agree.” said Yoyoyon.

“How did the King die then?” asked Graf.

“I don’t know.” said the doctor, who then lowered his voice. “Listen, Graf, the King was immortal. It was something to do with that ‘control of the land’ thing. Rami couldn’t have killed him. However, there was no doubt that Rami did stab the King with his spear. I believe he had the intention of killing the King, and that somehow the immortal King did die.”

“That’s unusual. Not very surprising though, what was the King, 200?” whispered back Graf.

“Listen Graf, I don’t think we should allow Hao into Konseses. From what I’ve heard you were healing him when the King died. I don’t know how but I think that made the King susceptible to death, and I think the King knew that. Besides, Alig recons Hao can read, which can mean nothing but trouble for us.” said the doctor.

“Where will he go then?” asked Graf.

“There are ways we could deal with him, we could send him to some other land. But first we’ll need a new ruler, so just let the King’s children decide between them who will take the throne, then we can deal with Hao, OK?”

“Alright.” said Graf.

“That concludes our decisions concerning the man on the beach.” said one of the two men in the middle, he was wearing clothes similar to Alig; a tasseled scarf covering his body and leather trousers. His scarf was made out of a royal blue material.

“Now, concerning the succession of the throne. Whoever is first able to command the land’s spirit, like our father was will take the throne.” said the other man in the middle, he was wearing a royal blue shirt and again, those animal hide trousers that many of the villagers wear. He was much taller than the others in the village at 7 feet tall. The third person in the middle, the King’s daughter, was drinking out of a large jug. She looked to be rather drunk.

“How long do you think that will take?” asked someone in the audience.

“Shut up!” shouted the tall prince. “You speak when I say you can. Never talk over me. Scum.” he said before he walked out of the amphitheatre.

“Right! You can all go back to whatever you were doing.” said the Princess.

"Xararanaxara, have you ever seen a giant river whilst healing someone?" Graf asked Xararanaxara, the King's doctor.

"No, have you?"

"Whilst I was healing Hao. Around about when the King died."

"Well, you know how incomprehensible the King's control of the land is. I bet something happened to it when the King died and that the river was just how your eyes percieved it." said Xararanaxara.

"I suppose that makes sense. It just felt so real. More real than anything I've ever seen before."

Grafunullif was trying to tell him about the monster, but her body refused to let her.