White City.
The city was exactly what its name suggested.
Everything from its buildings to its streets was grayish white.
Buildings stood at the foot of the mountain, rising tier by tier with the terrain.
People came and went along the streets. Though hardly bustling, the city was full of life and a certain liveliness.
Farther up the streets,
the buildings gradually thinned out.
Then a gate blocked the way.
Beyond that gate lay an immense, open flight of stone steps.
It led to the summit, to a magnificent palace steeped in mythic grandeur.
Enormous, exaggerated stone pillars supported the dome of this white palace.
Throughout the palace, exquisitely carved sculptures filled its arches, yet all of them exuded an aura of death.
In the palace hall, a figure silently materialized upon a throne built from numerous golden skulls.
The Pale Empress, Sia Palenque Eggers!
Her bare feet, their toenails painted gold, rested on the cold base of the throne, which had been sculpted into the likeness of a human kneeling prostrate.
The empress's bare feet rested on the sculpture's head, as though she were treading upon the heads of all living beings.
She sat down, her black robe falling naturally to either side and exposing a stretch of pale thigh. Her fair, delicate skin was so dazzling that the figures appearing in the hall one after another dared not look directly at her and lowered their heads.
Sia Palenque Eggers surveyed her surroundings and spoke in a voice like a sigh. "She controls Death's Scepter."
In the hall,
every figure was shocked.
Harij, the heterochromatic uncle of Commander Alment Eggers, exclaimed softly, "Could she also be a descendant of the Underworld Emperor? Otherwise..."
Sia Palenque Eggers shook her head. "No."
"She is probably using some item to control Death's