His long "walk" gave him time to shake the cobwebs from his head, and the sun and warm, dry breeze helped with his headache. Feeling back to normal he raised himself so his chest was above those he passed in the street. As he slithered along the street he cast a watchful stare down at all he passed, every now and then stopping a random pedestrian to question what they were doing, where they were going, what had they been up to, just to keep some of the populace in line.

A bit more than an hour later he arrived at the palace gates. Cold steel in a hot desert. "Why didn't this steel ever heat up?" he always thought to himself. This was a world of magic beyond his comprehension, a world, when he was alive, he was supposedly descended from.

As he pushed the icy gates open a small man with a long spear ran up to him, clearly shaken by the form he was present with.

"S-s-s-sir, this is a r-r-r-r-restricted area. I-I-I-I'm going to have to a-a-a-ask you to leave...... Please."

"Oh, sssshut-up and go and change your armour. Fucking peon." He hissed, only slightly showing his fangs, "I have busniesssss with the Donia, and if you delay one more ssssecond I'm going to be bringing her your heart as a gift." Waving the small man aside he took no more notice of him and slithered off to the living quarters.

"V-v-very well Sir. H-h-h-have a nice day!"

"Jackass..." He muttered to himself. He will have to talk about the quality of guards that were posted here, it's a wonder there aren't more people getting in here.

The palace was always cold inside, like the gates. Though it should have been a refreshing change from the triple digit heat outside, it always felt more like an ominous shadow, an oppressing feeling of death and evil. Of course the macabre art and sculpture lining the halls also contributed to this. Then there was Her door, a massive wooden door almost 8 feet across and nearly double that height, cut from a single piece of wood, wood unlike any tree he had ever seen. The wood was a cross-cut section from a tree, showing the expanding rings perfectly, but how could any tree be this wide?

In the center of the door was a cast-iron knocker of a simple ring design, and a matching handle to the far right side. As he dropped the weighted ring the loud bang echoed throughout the hall and after was an eerie silence. Whispering under his breath, "So this is the calm before the storm....."