Leon sat down upon the platform that Justin had been imprisoned on, his eyes wandering the room. He felt surprisingly at peace despite the magnitude of what he’d just done; Justin would likely wake soon, and when he did, Leon’s entire world could—and probably would—change.
But he’d also finally made his choice, he’d follow through with his promise with Valeria and give Justin a chance to make peace. His decision was made, he could live with whatever came next.
As he waited, his eyes drifted once more in the direction of the great ice demon that was just as enveloped in vines as Justin had been, though given the size of its body, it had much more than just its head, hands, and feet sticking out. The thing was still alive, but only just.
[Xaphan,] Leon whispered into his soul realm, [I found an ice demon up here…]
He felt the flame demon’s magic senses pulse out of his soul realm and take in their surroundings. He was a little concerned that Xaphan might mention Justin, but fortunately, the demon was far more concerned about the things that mattered to him rather than to Leon.
[Ahhh,] Xaphan crowed. [I know him.]
[You do?]
[Yes, he was imprisoned with me way back in the day. I told you that your Clan imprisoned five demons of great power, but only two agreed to form contracts with them. This one was of the other two, who stuck to his ideals and refused to bow.]
Leon nodded, remembering that Xaphan had said the two who, like him, refused to bow to his Clan had managed to escape, leaving him behind. The demon had speculated that they had returned to the Void, but it seemed he was mistaken.
[I guess he must’ve come here for some reason,] Leon said. [You think those other demons in this place were his doing, as well?]
[I’d say that would be a safe bet to make.]
Leon nodded again, the story making some sense in his head. The demon likely would’ve been drained of at least some of his powers, like Xaphan had been, so instead of returning to the Void, Leon guessed he must’ve gone somewhere remote where he could force blood sacrifices to be made to him. He must’ve somehow known about Nestor’s place in some form or fashion, though, and come here when he thought his powers were sufficient to take it. At some point, he summoned demons, though whether they were to aid him in taking Nestor’s place or to enforce his rule over whatever humans he’d conquered, Leon could only guess.
Regardless, whatever went down, the ice demon had found his way here and been captured by Nestor. Now, he was nothing more than a magic power generator, keeping this place running despite its advanced age.
[I think I’ll leave him there,] Leon said.
[I would recommend the same,] Xaphan replied. [Though, he looks like he’s in a much worse state than I was; if you were to cut him down, he wouldn’t live for longer than a few days. No reason to worry about him. Do you need assistance with anything else?]
Leon glanced back at Justin, who was beginning to stir. The older man’s aura was still weak and barely able to be sensed, showing just how weak Justin was. Leon doubted that Justin would be able to harm him, even if he tried with all of his might.
[No, I think I can handle this myself.]
[I’ll be here, just in case,] Xaphan said as his attention slid back down into Leon’s soul realm.
[Thanks,] Leon responded as he turned to face Justin.
It took the man a few more minutes to open his eyes, and when he did, his eyes cracking open just enough to take in his surroundings, he found Leon standing over him, looming like an angry titan. His brilliant blue eyes met Leon’s gold, and though neither spoke for what seemed like an eternity, an entire conversation was had. The simple fact that they were here now and in the positions that they were was enough information for both. They knew where each other stood.
Leon spoke first. “The man who runs this place has been dealt with.”
Justin didn’t move. He simply lay there on the floor, staring up at Leon standing over him.
“I cut you down,” Leon continued, confirming what Justin had probably already guessed while letting the implication settle in his mind. “I found you here, weak and imprisoned, and I released you.”
Justin took a long, deep breath and tried to push himself up, but he was too weak and fell back to the floor. It was all he could do to just roll over onto his back so that he could see Leon better.
“… Why?” he croaked, his voice sounding dry and gravelly as if he hadn’t drunk anything in months—which, Leon realized, he probably hadn’t.
Leon smiled, his face a cross of quiet fury and amusement at the situation. “What an innocuous word. ‘Why’? And yet, it’s so heavy. Justin Isynos, you murdered my father, you murdered my grandfather, you murdered my uncle, and yet when I found you vulnerable and near-death, I released you. I wonder if a man like you would even understand.”
Leon took a menacing step forward, but Justin didn’t even flinch. His face was one of tired resignation, as if, no matter what was going to happen, he would accept it, he would not run from it.
“The answer’s a bit complicated,” Leon continued, his eyes locked with Justin’s, his tone dissonantly light-hearted and casual, “I suppose I can credit several people with my decision. My father, Artorias, who always tried to teach me the benefits of compassion and restraint. My mentor, Trajan, who tried to teach me when to forgive and when not to.
“I’ll admit, as a side-note, that none of these lessons stuck particularly well, but I’m slowly learning.
“And that brings us to the third person who convinced me to do this. Valeria.”
At the mention of his daughter, Justin’s eyes went wide, but he said nothing. Leon, on the other hand, seemed to be reveling in his position of power over Justin, his smile growing wider and wider as he went on, enjoying every second that Justin’s life was in his hands.
“I’ve had to balance all of this with the Thunderbird constantly telling me to kill my enemies, to leave them no room to strike at me when my back is turned. I’ll admit that that’s the advice that’s always resonated with me the most. No mercy, no quarter. This is what I prefer, if given the choice.”
“Then… why?” Justin repeated, his voice not sounding any more energetic. He wasn’t even trying to defend himself, to rise from the ground, call upon his magic, and place himself on a more equal footing with Leon.
And Leon knew why: his magic was gone, sucked out of him by those vines, and even if he were able to regenerate all of it, it would still take days before he was in any position to challenge what was happening right now.
“I would like to try this out,” he said, though his confident tone was at rather stark odds with how much he’d pained over the decision only a few minutes before. “The Thunderbird has told me to be ruthless, but she’s also told me to keep certain things in mind. I can’t do everything myself, I’ll need friends. If I can make peace with an enemy, as Valeria hopes we might, then it kills two birds with one stone: I gain an ally and deprive an enemy of a portion—however small—of their forces. Besides, I like your daughter, and I would like to try and be a better man for her, and for my other loved ones.”
Justin closed his eyes, appearing almost at peace.
After a while, he asked, “Where is she? Valeria? I assume she’s still in the capital?”
“No, she was fired from her position as a Royal Guard when you left, she’s been following me ever since. She came with me to this place, and the last I saw of her, she was safe. She was with a powerful mage, someone whose power I trust greatly, Valeria’s probably safer than we are right now…”
Leon’s voice faltered a little. He didn’t know how well either Valeria or Maia were doing, and if he hadn’t found Justin here, he would never have stuck around in this place. He would’ve left to find them as soon as he could. But he felt Maia’s connection with him slowly recovering, so he wasn’t as anxious as he was right before he confronted Nestor.
Justin’s reaction was a little more subdued than Leon expected. The man hardly seemed to care, continuing to lay there with his eyes closed.
The smile on his face faltered a little in light of this seeming indifference, so Leon asked something else, something that he’d been dying to know for a long time.
“I’ve told you my reasons for not killing you, not that it seems to matter at all. So let me ask you the same thing: why?”
He didn’t have to be clearer than that, he and Justin both knew what he was talking about. Of course, Valeria had told him why Justin had come here, but it was something Leon wanted to hear from the man himself.
He didn’t have to wait long, Justin seemed almost excited to tell him, with his eyes opening and a brief, unsuccessful struggle to rise up right before he started to speak.
“I came here because Lord Kamran ordered me to,” Justin said, his tone injected with more energy than when he was asking about his own daughter. “He took my wife hostage in a raid on my home. I did everything within my power to get her back, but in the end, I was forced to submit to him.
“But I had annoyed him, and when he received word that an enemy of his had left a child behind here, he ordered me to find him—you—and put an end to you. He was also enemies with the Thunderbird Clan, so when I found out that your father’s line was descended from that Clan, I had to target your paternal family, as well.”
Leon’s smile grew thin. “Valeria seems to think you a good man, but I would hesitate to call these the actions of a good man…”
“I want to return home, and it’s not like anyone would make a fuss about a few people like you dying off.”
Despite the inflammatory words, Justin had settled back down, speaking as if he were commenting on the weather rather than talking about the killing of Leon’s family. But for all that that infuriated Leon, he kept himself calm and collected with rather terrifying ease.
“That’s a whole lot to unpack,” Leon said sarcastically. “Let’s start with—”
“Let’s not start at all,” Justin interrupted. “If my daughter is here, she’ll see me. I don’t want that. At all. Not like this. Leon Raime, you have more cause than most to kill me, in that I take some comfort that my death will be from someone I’ve wronged rather than from someone I haven’t. I want you to kill me. Before Valeria finds me.”
Leon cocked his head, his smile still plastered all over his face. “This is new,” he thought out loud. “I’ll be honest, I’ve never had someone ask me to kill them before.”
“There’s no need to lose yourself in the novelty, all you need to do is open my throat and then walk away.” Justin leaned his head back as far as he could, leaving his neck completely bare for Leon to strike.
“Justin Isynos,” Leon replied, “I did not kill you when you were stuck in those vines. What makes you think I’m going to kill you now?”
“If you have any mercy or compassion, then you’ll spare my daughter the sight of her crippled father,” Justin said as he closed his eyes again.
“Define ‘crippled’.”
“My magic has been taken, and my body has been ruined. I’m no better than a first-tier mage. My powers won’t come back without more work than I think I can manage.”
Leon almost burst out laughing at this display. He shook as his lips pulled away from his teeth, his eyes closed, and he had to turn his head away from Justin before he could bring himself back under control.
“And to think,” he said after a moment when he turned back to Justin, “I’ve been paranoid and shit-scared of you for so long, and yet when I finally find and confront you, you’re not even resisting; instead, you’re literally begging for death. I have to say, I’m both delighted and profoundly disappointed. However, if you want to die, you’ll have to off yourself, I made my decision about whether or not I’d kill you when I cut you free. You don’t now get to check out so easily–I may not be killing you, but that doesn’t mean you’re forgiven, I still expect you to try and redeem yourself for your crimes.”
The edges of Justin’s mouth began to curl. “My crimes are philosophical,” he said. “Never have I tried to kill someone who didn’t deserve it, whether by action or blood.”
“Do you not consider being sent here to murder a child a crime that you are committing?” Leon asked, his voice still deceptively civil and light, though his aura was starting to take on a hint of killing intent.
“I was sent here as a form of exile,” Justin said. “Either I would kill the son of one of Kamran’s enemies, or I would never return. Either way, he wins. I was never expected to actually find you. But if I did, I would’ve killed you without hesitation. The Thunderbird Clan was tyrannical, they ruled over the Kingdom of the Storm since the fall of the Primal Gods and Devils. They did not do so without shedding an ocean’s worth of blood, and many more despicable things besides. You were a child, yes, and every death of a child is a terrible thing, but the legacy you’re inheriting as you gain in strength is one that the universe is better left without.”
“Tell me of these things, then,” Leon said as he crouched down to get more on Justin’s level. “Tell me of these crimes that have damned me to death before I could do anything more than eat, sleep, and shit.”
“The genocide of the Maharala, Typulian, and Ergarden peoples,” Justin began, calling upon it so swiftly that Leon couldn’t imagine he was making it up. “The massacres at Sereni, Itapoli, Isynia, and Gorgollex. The Princes, Princesses, and other high-born members of your Clan have been guilty of rape, murder, and the proliferation of slavery for generations. Your Clan made the Kingdom of the Storm so dependent upon them that when their leaders failed to return after the Nexus’ last Reconstitution, the entire Kingdom fell apart into anarchy. Even now, no one has risen to take up the mantle of the Thunderbird Clan, and the region is the weakest and least powerful of the Seven because of all this infighting. Your Ancestors were lawless tyrants, they were base criminals, and they were vile, unrestrained people. People lament the chaos left in the wake of their fall, but no one laments the Thunderbird Clan.”
As Justin spoke, he opened his eyes again and stared directly at Leon as his smile widened.
“Now, kill me, Leon Raime. Avenge your father and your father’s family. End me, and spare my daughter the pain of seeing her father reduced to such a painful existence.”
Leon didn’t move. He stared at Justin, both of them smiling at each other. Whether or not Justin was telling him the truth wasn’t something that he could tell, but he suspected they might not be completely accurate. Justin wanted him to kill him, so he was poking at any potential loyalties Leon had to his Clan.
‘That’s not going to work,’ Leon thought with some satisfaction.
“Your daughter will find you alive and… as well as you are,” Leon said as he stood back up. “No matter what happened in the past, they don’t excuse you coming to kill me, though in that judgment I’ll readily admit my bias. Still, I promised her that I would try and make peace work between us, and while you may be all ‘woe is me’ right now, we’ll see if that holds up when coming face-to-face with Valeria. When that happens, we’ll have more words to break with each other.”
Leon leaned down and grabbed Justin like a ragdoll and slung him over his shoulder. Justin was much lighter than Leon expected, though given how injured he was, he figured he shouldn’t have been so surprised. The man was thin and bony, as if all of his muscles and extra body tissue had been sucked out of him with all of his magic power.
But Leon didn’t spend too much longer thinking all of that over. Instead, with a smile of victory on his face, with Nestor defeated and Justin quite literally in hand, he began to stroll back to the door. It was time for him to reunite with Maia and Valeria.
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