[Jaykobell]

Under normal circumstances, building and forming a kingdom, or even a small low-key village, would take years. Building houses and facilities required resources, like money, space, labor, and so much more. Having such a thing appear so suddenly, overnight, or in the blink of an eye, was simply impossible.

And yet, that was exactly what happened.

In the territory of a powerful, large kingdom, a much smaller little kingdom appeared. The whole thing happened in the blink of an eye; from one second to the next, a new, tiny little empire appeared. It literally stumbled in the first empty strip of land it had found, landing with an earthquake that resonated throughout the kingdom that already inhabited the land.

The appearance of the kingdom had been an unusual even to begin with, but the empire itself was shrouded in mystery. Apart from its sudden appearance, its existence was even questioned throughout the original kingdom it had landed in. Some people claimed it had truly appeared, but the non-believes were adamant that the strip of land was still empty and deserted. It didn't take much time for the original citizens to spread the word of a new kingdom, just a little ways away.

The kingdom that had made such a fuss was, admittedly, not too shabby, but certainly nothing outstanding. It was very little, probably not clocking in at any more than a few hundreds of people. It had a simple design with typical royal colors, but all houses were different according to who lived in it. The one thing that stood out in this little low-key kingdom was the large castle that sat in the very middle of it, shining with rich golds and reds, along with an obvious air of royalty. Along with that castle, the presence and feeling of that kingdom was different, and definitely not human — although the very majority of its citizens were of that species.

In the large castle, the king fell to the ground, landing on his knees in a slumped fashion.

He was a young boy, and in human standards, much too young to be ruling over a whole kingdom. He was not a boy, looking to be a young adult man in his early to mid-twenties, with striking purple eyes and dirty blond hair.

He held on to his large crown, which had fallen to the ground, along with him. His large velvet cape was draped all over him as he remained awkwardly slumped on his knees, exhausted, and his eyes staring blankly ahead.

"The move was perfect," a voice spoke from close to the king, and it got closer as it added, "king Koniglitch."

A much taller and older-looking man stood by the king's side. He was no elder, looking somewhere in his forties, and nothing short of handsome despite the fact he getting up in years. His grey-blue eyes had a small hint of inhumanity, despite his human appearance. His short black hair was combed perfectly, matching his equally fitted outfit of black and white.

He offered a hand to the slumped king, urging him back up.

Koniglitch didn't react immediately, although he eventually took the man's hand. "Koni," he corrected the older man, although his voice was so devoid of authority and emotion that it was underwhelming.

"If you insist," the man replied, cracking a smile and the cocking of an eyebrow at Koniglitch, just as he helped the king back up in his feet. "Well?" he inquired afterwards, tilting his head, and observing the king attentively — he looked positively exhausted and lifeless, but that was to be expected.

Koniglitch looked up at the man with empty eyes. "What do you think, Laurence?" he asked, and there, his voice had a small hint of annoyance. "I'm exhausted," he confirmed, since the butler seemed insistent on hearing it from the king himself.

"You moved the kingdom while you were still recovering from the previous move," Laurence pointed out, slowly letting go of Koniglitch's hand, even though the king was clearly weak on his feet. There was a short pause on his part before Laurence went on to add, "Hopefully, this kingdom is not as aggressive as the previous. You are in no shape to move again until a good month — if not two. You look positively awful."

Koniglitch let Laurence's comments go over his head, too exhausted to get angry or to dwell on them. Not to mention, the black-and-white butler was right. His aching, burning body and the splitting headache were proof of that. "I need to sleep," he pointed out flatly, just as he picked up his crown — nearly tumbling back down again — and started heading towards his sleeping quarters, albeit at the pace of a snail. An unsteady, exhausted snail.

"I will wake you if anything happens," Laurence replied, watching attentively as Koniglitch forced himself to his room on his own. Of course, the butler would handle the small problems, and hopefully, the king would have time to sleep off his inhuman exhaustion. If things got tricky, however, he would have no choice but to wake the king.

[Thunder]

Though the kingdom that Koniglitch's own appeared within was large, word still traveled quite quickly given the bizarre events that unfolded. Following the unprecedented earthquake and the sudden appearance of the smaller kingdom, confused mumblings and excited whispers of the common folk swiftly snaked their way up the ladders of society and reached the ears of those in power. The highest of them was extremely displeased.

Armatas, the Blazing Lord of Telos, was at first quite skeptical of all the talk. The earthquake was real enough- he felt it and, to his chagrin, had to deal with repairs- but an entire kingdom appearing overnight, with no hints of its construction? That was nonsense. Even the most uneducated of peasants couldn't possibly believe that. Still, since it was making such a ruckus, he decided to send out an investigative group to examine the veracity of the rumors. What they reported back to him came as a surprise.

A few days following the kingdom's mysterious appearance, the group sat with Armatas in his castle's meeting hall, a large, stone walled chamber with a long mahogany table in the center. They brought with them one of the most famed mages in Telos, Nahlmer, who had taught the lord's younger brother about magic. Sitting directly across from Armatas with hands folded, the mage, who sported oddly youthful features and a rich swath of midnight blue hair despite his older age, eyed his ruler grimly. In a low, even voice, he began to speak.

"The kingdom has indeed appeared in the middle of Telosian lands," Nahlmer announced, "and its arrival appears to be correlated with the earthquake that occured a few days ago. I had my suspicions about the situation, and when I visited the supposed site of the kingdom, I confirmed my ideas. The fabric of space has been twisted. I suspect that the kingdom was somehow warped to its present location."

"I don't believe it," Armatas growled, scowling at the mage. "Who or what has the power to do such a thing? More importantly, I want to know if this damned place will be a threat to us. If what you say is true, they've got a death wish if they stormed right into my lands!"

The lord's anger did not faze Nahlmer one bit. Keeping eye contact, the mage gestured at his robes, which were made of deep purple silk and accented with silvery specks resembling stars. "My lord, I have the power to bend space myself. It is why I could sense the spatial disturbance in the first place. Granted, I have never done anything as drastic as moving an entire kingdom, but in this world there exist many creatures of unfathomable power. I would not be surprised if someone or something with such ability lived in that kingdom. As for the level of threat, I cannot tell you that. We did not attempt to enter the kingdom or otherwise contact its residents. If I may advise you, I think it would be more proper for you to do that, my lord. You are, after all, our ruler."

And so Armatas, with a small entourage of soldiers as his guard, set off for Koniglitch's kingdom. He expected to meet his younger brother near there, just in case there were strange magics at work in the area.

[Jaykobell]

As Koniglitch slept and recovered from the move, Laurence took care of business in his absence. As his first butler, so to speak, it was his duty to make sure everything went smoothly. If the king was unavailable in any way, shape or form, it was Laurence's duty to put on those shoes. Whether he had to do chores, order the other staff to do certain tasks, or anything in-between, it was the butler of black and white who had to make sure no stone was left unturned.

At that time, Koniglitch still required a lot of sleep, even days after the move. The boy had forced the kingdom to pull out of a specific dimension because of how violent and aggressive the previous land was. They'd lost the gamble then, landing their little kingdom into a very dangerous area. While Koniglitch had the means to protect his kingdom, the fact remained that moving the kingdom around this place and that wasn't to put it in danger, but to learn about the cultures of the places it appeared in. However, a culture of violence and death and war was not one they wished to learn about.

Unfortunately, it sounded like they'd landed into a bad situation once again, as it had been laid down by another one of the main butlers.

"I picked up something strange coming from nearby," the white-haired man recalled, repositioning his glasses and looking over his report. "They were not from our kingdom, but from the one we landed into." He stopped then, taking off his glasses and sighing as he folded them. "Did we land into a war zone again?"

Laurence said nothing, instead looking over the other butler. "Because they sent reconnoissance means nothing, Dexter," he pointed out, giving the butler a look.

Dexter ran a hand through his hair, having clipped his glasses by the breast pocket of his shirt. "No, it doesn't mean anything," he admitted, but his tone wasn't any happy about it, "but we had a hard enough time from the previous kingdom. Koniglitch can't afford another war-like situation." He narrowed his eyes at the black and white butler, pausing for a short time before adding, "Moving so soon could've ravaged his body very badly as it is."

"Koni," Laurence corrected the perplexed butler, and he showed his teeth just a little in a cocky smile as the other gave him an aggravated look.

"Don't start, Laurence," Dexter sighed, certainly not in the mood for petty matters when the discussion was, in fact, a serious one.

Laurence's smile got a bit bigger, but it slowly degraded back into a neutral, if not irritated expression. "Bad news, Vincent?" he called out to seemingly nobody, and he saw Dexter blink, before the white butler turned around.

Through the doors of the throne room came another butler, and the last of the top trio.

As Dexter was almost entirely white and Laurence was an even split between black and white, the one known as Vincent was quite almost all black, sporting a black outfit and black hair, matching one another. He looked a lot scruffier than the other two, his hair a mess and his clothes loose and far from being formal.

"Pretty bad news," Vincent growled, gritting his teeth a little and narrowing his eyes at the oldest butler. "We're being invaded."

Laurence quietly let the words sink in, and then he noticed Dexter sighing in an exaggerated and exasperated manner, rubbing his forehead. "There you go. I said so. Another war zone!" he blurted out loudly, and he sounded nothing but extremely displeased. "Really, Laurence? Do you let him move just anywhere?"

Laurence looked over the two butlers quietly, his head resting against his hand, elbow sitting on the arm of the chair. "Precisely so," the older butler confirmed, straightening up. "I am not to interfere when Koniglitch uses his powers. That is not part of my duties here," he pointed out, and after a short pause and a flicker of his eyes from one butler to the other, he added, "nor yours, for that matter."

Dexter frowned, but he said nothing; in the meantime, Vincent's expression got gradually worse. "So then?" he asked, waiting for Laurence to turn completely to him before continuing. "Are you retaliating or not?" He cracked his hands, getting ready for a fight. "Dexter, come up with something."

"We're not moving," Laurence interrupted, raising a hand to stop whatever Vincent was trying to do without his consent. "Koniglitch is asleep, and he needs his rest. We are not starting anything if we can avoid it." He paused, giving the two butlers under him time to quiet down and understand his words. "Dexter, come up with something in case we do need to retaliate," he instructed the white butler, turning to him before changing his focus on Vincent. "Vincent, stand watch by the doors of the castle. Intercept them if those intruders you saw come here."

"Which they will, if they have any brains," Dexter grumbled, clicking a pen open and slipping his glasses back on.

"Ugh," Vincent growled with annoyance as he received his orders. "Authorization to pummel them if they approach me?" he asked, and he hoped Laurence would have the decency to give him that.

The split butler chuckled and gave Vincent a smile before his face turned to stone. "No."

Vincent grumbled again as he let his arms fall. "Ugh, goddammit." The black butler cursed under his breath as he spun around, and as if he'd never been there to begin with, he literally flipped through space, disappearing in front of the two other butlers, so that he could teleport comfortably to the front doors of the castle.

As Dexter quietly devised a few plans here and there, Laurence watched on, keeping a mental track on the state of things. Whoever those invaders were, he hoped this would turn into a simple misunderstanding. It was true that few kingdoms appreciated the sudden appearance of Koniglitch's empire, but usually those who did care sent a simple request for an audience: they didn't quite bother to march in so quickly. And with their experience with the last kingdom, they didn't need a repeat of that.

[Thunder]

It was easy enough to find the strange kingdom. By this point, everyone in Telos knew about it, and all were quick to direct their lord to its location. As he rode towards the destination on a fine black horse, Armatas scowled and wondered who on earth dared to intrude upon his territory. He had quite a reputation in the area for his powerful army and his own ferociousness. Surely nobody would willingly deal with that.

When he and his men finally came upon the kingdom, he raised an eyebrow, not sure what to think. All the excitement over the new kingdom had led Armatas to believe that it was a very large place, but it was, in fact, quite tiny, occupying a small piece of land. The only element of note was the large castle in the kingdom's center, which boasted a highly regal design with glistening red and gold. It was obvious that whoever ruled this measly place lived in there. The lord gritted his teeth, determined to march up to the grand palace.

But before that, he had to make sure his brother was with him. Glancing around on his horse, Armatas could not see a trace of his younger sibling. "Where's Arkiel?" he spat. "Where is he?"

"I-I'm here, brother!" a voice gasped from behind.

Armatas spun his steed around to find Arkiel running towards him, panting heavily, trying to keep his mage hat from falling off his head. Perched on his shoulder was a Trimmed Grondalith that he was never seen without now, a familiar of sorts. Arkiel skidded to a stop in front of his brother, breathing hard, hands on knees. Armatas let out a growl of displeasure.

"You're late," the lord snarled.

"Surely you can't expect me to run as fast as a horse!" Arkiel cried. "What's the situation, anyway?"

Armatas jabbed a finger at the red and gold castle. "We're going in there immediately, and we're going to find out who's responsible for this damned intrusion!"

The Blazing Lord turned his horse around again and whipped the reins. The black steed whinnied, reared up on its hind legs, and charged into the small kingdom. Arkiel ran after with the small army close at his heels. As the Telosian group plowed through the kingdom's streets, they earned many a stare and whispers of fright. Eventually, they came to the front doors of the castle, where a rather unkempt looking man dressed in all black was standing. Armatas stopped right in front of the man and glared.

"You!" the one eyed tyrant barked. "What is your name?"