A few minutes after the Envoy's proclamation, Mercury appeared at Donovan's door. "Well brother, it appears that we may find out some information and perhaps straighten out this mess afterall." Her deep green eyes looked up into the Smith's and she handed him the Ruby of Redemption. "Please hold onto this for me until I return. In case I do not, I'm sure you will do the right things. I will try to get word back to you."

Without waiting for a response, she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek before whirling around, her black hair swirling out like a skirt. Then she headed quickly out the door.

The next several weeks passed in a blur. The Entropian envoy blazed through Shadow after Shadow, rarely stopping for rest or food. It seemed uncomfortable with Mercury's presence, and rarely spoke much. This did not change until after the mighty tree that served as the border of the realms was passed. Then, as the Shadows began to warp and show signs of corrosion and decay, the envoy loosened up considerably. It began making small talk about the Shadows they passed through and their bizarre inhabitants, seeming to want to engage Mercury in some form of conversation.

Soon enough the envoy brought them to a white road that remained constant across the Shadows, no matter the terrain. It even remained solid in the middle of a twisting storm in which several shadows merged and warped together, fusing in ways that defied all logic and reason. According to the envoy, such storms were a fairly normal occurence and nothing to get excited about.

Within a few days at this tireless pace, the duo reached a truly strange place. The sky was black, as was the ground and even the water. All three continually melted, dripping sable tears. Pearlescent lightning ripped across the heavens at irregular intervals, with no sound. A strangely sweet floral scent seemed to flow through the air at times, replaced with the stench of brimstone and rotting carrion at other times. Mercury's horse shied as the ground rippled away and then rippled back. The envoy's horse showed no reaction.

As the two rode the white road through the ever-shifting landscape Mercury could feel the sub-arctic chill of the world around her shift to volcanic heat and back without warning. Translucent bubbles floated about her, displaying images of sunlit fields and pristine forests before vanishing. The envoy was notably silent whenever the bubbles appeared, turning its masked head away. Even its' horse would not look at the bubbles.

After an indeterminate time, the ground just gave way beneath the two. They were surrounded by the blackness, led only by the glowing white road. Five or six days passed in this fashion before they emerged as suddenly as they had submerged. When they did, they were surrounded by buildings that were easily ten times the height of even the tallest Ebonite. These buildings shimmered in a prismatic array of colors, and yet the colors were all muted and sad, as if something had washed them out. Each building was falling apart before Mercury's eyes yet they never fully collapsed either.

An array of people were gathered at the side of the road. Each one was different. Some featured scales. Others had wings. Fur, talons, coils, and all manner of forms and shapes were on display, some clothed and some not. All viewed Mercury and began murmuring. The murmurs only increased when the road cut through a field the size of Birnham Wood where the bodies of Ebonites, Shadow-dwellers, and Entropians were still being buried by masked and silent teams. The envoy was quiet and it led her carefully across the field and up the side of a mountain three times the size of the one that held Castle Ebony.

The Palace at the top of the mountain, once it came into view, was enough to encompass the Castle at least twice over. The washed-out white of the crystal gleamed faintly in the lightning. The envoy led the way up the switchback trail, to the top of the mountain, only to show Mercury there was nothing there. The envoy touched a nearby grayish crystal and pointed up. The white road suddenly shot upward, connecting from the bare plateau to the front steps of the grand Palace. The envoy led the way up, spoke briefly to the demonic-looking guards, and then gestured to Mercury to wait. It went on ahead. Less than an hour later it returned and spoke to the guards again. This time they stepped aside.

The envoy led Mercury into the Palace and everything simply stopped. For a long, timeless moment she had no conception of where she was. All of her senses just cut out suddenly. Then she was back, minus her horse, in a hall lit only by silver flame in ebon braziers. The envoy opened a door under an arch and stepped aside. From within came a booming feminine voice.

"Come forward, Princess-Regent Mercury of Ebony. I, Omega, Empress of Entropy, would meet with you."

Mercury stepped forward and gave an appropriate bow for a meeting of monarchs. "I commend your hospitality and welcome the opportunity to sort out the past differences between our peoples."

[n.b. Mercury will happily chat up the envoy on the way about anything and everything. She is not necessarily very forthcoming about Ebony and the Royal Family, but is happy to learn everything possible about the shadows and peoples on the Entropy side of the Multiverse and especially about Entropy itself, along with its citizenry, royalty, etc.]

There was a brief sensation of rapid movement, then Mercury was standing in a circle of silver light in a vast blackness. Shortly, a figure appeared. Seated in the dripping darkness above and to Mercury's right was a female. Twice the height of Dalatriene even seated, the woman possessed hair of crimson and eyes that continually shifted, as if she couldn't decide what color they should be. Although she appeared humanoid, the wings of ice and lightning that extended from her back belied that.

Talons clicked ominously against something solid as she surveyed Mercury. A spiky tail lashed back and forth, emerging from a dress of blood-red flame that crackled and burned without harming her. She stared for a long moment at Mercury, then spoke in a slow, cold voice that echoed about the chamber at a sonorous pace.

"You are brave to come here, Princess Mercury. Considering that your mother spied upon us and your brother led the invasion that cost me my entire family and many of the lives of my people. Why should you care about sorting out past differences? Is it not the Ebonite way to solve all matters with the point of a sword? Is it not the Ebonite way to destroy indiscrimately, as was done in the past?

You'll forgive me if I wonder, given recent events, just where the trap is here. When comes the next attack?" The suspicious Empress eyed Mercury, but her shifting eyes made it hard to see what she saw when she looked at the other woman.

OOC: The envoy would have told her that the Entropians are those "fallen from of old", and when pressed would grow visibly sad and mention ancient legends of a great paradise that was destroyed in the distant past. It would point out local landmarks and sites of interest along the way, and the more fluid (if corroding) nature of the Shadows on Entropy's side. It would also bring up that until very recent Entropy was ruled by the Emperor Nullius, a man much beloved by the people, who fell in the recent war. His young daughter Princess Omega was the only one left of the Entropian Royal Family to take the crown after the invasion was stopped, and the Entropians are not very pleased with Ebony at the moment.

The Princess shrugged, "perhaps brave to some, foolish to others. I am not like my brothers, and no duplicate of my mother. I do not know why my mother came to Entropy, nor what she told my brother, which in turn convinced him it would be a good idea to lead the cream of Ebony's army to the far side of existance to die."

Mercury spread her hands, "However, I do know that long before my mother came here Ebony was plagued -- as it still is -- by what appears to be one or more creatures from Entropy. And I know that even before that, when my youngest brother died or disappeared, that he or his killer fled to Entropy. I like to think that I knew my mother well enough to know that she would not come here without cause. I suspect that Entropy's hands are not entirely clean in this matter."

"As for using a sword," the diminutive woman continued, "I use one when I think it necessary. However, it is not my first inclination. While I appreciate that you lost your family, so did I. A thousand years ago my father was cut down in a most cowardly fashion. I later avenged his death, although the culprit was the King of y'Nobe and a peer and lover of my mother. But my father's killer's death did not bring my father back or lessen the pain I still feel at his untimely passing."

A brief look of anguish and loss crossed Mercury's beautiful visage. "As monarch in everything but name, it is my responsibility to look after Ebony's people, not to take revenge. In any case, my mother did not see fit to call upon me to avenge her death, so I can only assume that my brother did whatever she asked of him. He died the death he always hoped to die, fighting in battle against those he deemed to be foes of Ebony."

"If you believe that someone must pay for the death of your family, then as their heir and successor, I am willing to take full responsibility and pay whatever consequences for the actions of my Mother and brother if it will bring peace to our lands. Neither I nor Ebony have any interest in Entropy's lands or shadows."