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Blood dripped from Anshu’s sword to pool at his feet.  The Indradian was facing away from Leon, but Leon could see his shoulders heave with every breath and hear his every labored inhalation.  The results of his choice were right in front of him, but Anshu hardly seemed interested in looking at them.

Instead, he seemed keener on processing his choice, on thinking over all that had happened that led him to where he was right then.  Leon was perfectly fine giving him all the time he needed to think; he certainly needed a few seconds after Anshu swung his blade before handling the aftermath.

Eventually, after almost an hour of silence, Anshu signaled his desire to talk with a simple, “Thank you, Leon.”  He then collapsed to his knees.  The sun was setting, dyeing the Endless Ocean a beautiful garnet red, and it was there that the Indradian’s eyes now seemed drawn rather than the crimson blood staining the mountaintop.

“Anything for one of mine,” Leon replied.  He let a few more seconds pass before voicing his burning question, “Why?”

Anshu continued staring at the sea for what seemed like an age.  “What does it matter?  It’s done, isn’t it?”

“Is it?” Leon asked, casting his gaze to the north, peering beyond the mountains to the Indra Raj.  He could still see a figure flying desperately to get away from them, though the injuries sustained meant that keeping a fast pace was beyond his capabilities.  “Do you think there will be no repercussions for this?  That the Rajah will let this go?”

“I’m finished with it,” Anshu whispered as he glanced down at the bloody hands of the Rajah, still lying where they’d fallen after Anshu had severed them.  Three cuts he’d made: two to separate the Rajah’s hands, and one more between the legs, to unman him.  After that, Anshu stepped away, and after seeing that he didn’t want to kill the Rajah, Leon gave the screaming, bleeding monarch several powerful healing spells and then practically kicked him off the mountain.

The Rajah would live, but unless he found some rare herbs—despite the power of the Raj, he certainly didn’t have ready access to Thunderman or Imperial healing magic to regenerate what he’d lost—he would be considerably less the monarch that he was before Leon’s attack on Kaia.

“So long as he doesn’t come after me, I won’t come after him,” Anshu croaked, his voice sounding like it had been squeezed through all the gravel of the Border Mountains to pass his lips.

“If he did, he would die,” Leon declared.

“That, I think, has been made clear,” Anshu replied.  “If not in so many words.”

Leon frowned.  “You still didn’t answer my question.”

“I don’t want to answer it.  I’m…”

Leon waited, but Anshu didn’t seem intent on finishing his thought.

“You know that my father was murdered,” Leon stated.  “It’s come up enough times before.  Have you paid enough attention to my affairs to know who the assassination was coordinated by?”

Anshu turned from the sea slightly, glancing at Leon out of the corner of his eye.  “Justin Isynos,” he whispered.

“The very same,” Leon confirmed.  “Before I recruited you to my retinue, did you know that I once had an opportunity to kill the man without anyone ever finding out about it?  I could’ve taken his head right then and there where I’d found him.  But I didn’t.”  Leon fixed Anshu in his golden gaze.  “He was pathetic, then.  Broken.  And though I was still making peace with the idea, I knew then that I liked Valeria much more than just as a friend.  It would’ve gained me nothing to have killed Justin then, and cost me much.  How could I have ever looked Valeria in the eye again after killing her father?  I know that pain, and wanted to spare her.  I think…  Well, I don’t know, but I think my father would’ve understood.  Justin was more directly involved in the murders of my grandfather and uncle, too, so I…”

Leon sighed.

“I suppose it’s better to look to the future, and not the past.  Revenge doesn’t bring anyone back, and only serves to momentarily satisfy.  Anna certainly didn’t seem satisfied when her parents’ killer met his deserved end.”

He went silent for some time before Anshu spoke up again.

“Long did I fantasize about what I would do when I finally confronted him,” the Indradian confessed.  “A dramatic showdown in his throne room, perhaps?  A one-on-one duel, like in all the stories.  Like a hero come to life, facing down the great evil that destroyed all he held dear.  Or maybe we would meet in battle, and I would enact some clever strategy to capture him and drag him off for long tortures and a grand execution.  Or maybe I would sneak into his palace and slit his throat in his sleep.  Maybe I would’ve woken him up first, if he were asleep, and enjoyed the look of terror on his face.  Maybe, maybe, maybe.

“In the end, I did none of those things.  I rallied support and our armies met in battle, but he remained in the back while I was swarmed by his mages.  Three hundred I cut down, but in the end… what did I achieve?  In the end, I was captured, not him, and it was me who was put under the knife.”

Anshu took a long, deep breath.  He glanced over at the Rajah’s hands and, with a tiny expression of power, disintegrated them with a blast of light magic.

“As you said, Leon: we must look ahead, not behind.  How can we live if we only ever look back?”

“Is that why you spared him?” Leon asked.

“It didn’t feel right,” Anshu explained.  “Just seeing him there, hovering before me, like swine on a platter.  What glory is there in killing a man like that?  Would that help my family rest?”  Anshu paused a moment before turning his eyes back to Leon.  “Honor demanded that I kill him for his transgressions against my family.  Honor also demands that I serve my King as faithfully as I can, and to not make needless trouble for him.”

Dropping to his knees, Anshu laid his curved blade on the ground before Leon.

“You came for me, though I did not deserve it.  You pulled me from the hell I strode into.  I had a foot in Yamaloka, but you tore me from the claws of Yama’s servants.  Leon Raime, I have not served you well in these past two decades.  I have ever been distracted when I should have seen what I had.  You have shown me kindness and generosity that the Rajah never did, and I squandered all of it to honor the dead, who no longer care about honor.  For that, you have my eternal gratitude, and my eternal service.”

Anshu bowed to Leon, his hands and forehead touching the ground.

Thusly prostrated, Anshu began speaking again before Leon could tell him to rise.  “To kill the Rajah now would’ve done you a disservice, Your Majesty.  You have saved me, and I cannot make trouble for you.”

“If I cared that much about trouble, I wouldn’t have torn apart half of Kaia,” Leon replied.  “Get up, Anshu; I appreciate this, but you should know how much I tolerate this level of formality.”

Slowly, Anshu rose, though he remained on his knees.  A bit of the mountain’s dirt stuck to his forehead and hands, but he didn’t clean himself.  “Your Majesty,” he said, “how can I repay this?  You have saved my life, and though I could not bring myself to take it, you also gave me my revenge.  If you would have me, I will serve you till the end of time.  I only need to be told what to do.”

Leon smiled and rose from where he sat upon the boulder.

‘Idiot Keeper,’ he idlily thought.  ‘A boulder’s a shit chair.’

He strode over to Anshu and laid a hand on the man’s shoulder.  “You are one of my people,” Leon stated.  “So long as you serve with honor and morality, then I readily accept your fealty.”

Anshu bowed again, and before Leon could stop him, kissed Leon’s foot.  Leon fought valiantly to stop himself from cringing, but that was a battle he lost; his face twisted in a tight grimace, but he said nothing.

When Anshu straightened up again, Leon was a bit more forceful with getting him to his feet.

“Good, good, good,” Leon said.  “Now that that’s done, why don’t we head home?  I’m sure the Empires are going to want to talk at some point after all this, and I’d rather do so from the comfort of my palace.”

“I apologize again, Your Majesty,” Anshu stated.  “Had I not—”

“Enough with that!” Leon loudly interrupted.  “I allowed you to go!  And all the Primal Gods and Devils acting in concert couldn’t stop me from coming after one of my people!  So stop thinking that this was all your fault!  I made my decision, and I’m sticking with it!  Now let’s put this whole damn thing to bed and go home!”

Without waiting for a response, Leon all but hauled Anshu into the air, and the eighth-tier mage, weak though he was from months of torture, had recovered enough from the healing spells and potion to take flight under his own power a moment later.

Together, Leon and his retainer turned east and took off at great speed.  Leon was pleased with how all of this turned out, but all the talk of revenge put thoughts in his head that soured his mood on the way home.  He thought of Justin, whom he’d spared, and he thought of Lord Kamran—or rather, he thought of the concept of Lord Kamran, as he knew barely more than nothing at all about the man.

There was still a man out there whom Leon could blame for the downfall of House Raime; Justin’s former Lord, the man who’d held his leash, and who yet held Valeria’s mother as his ‘ward’.

Lord Kamran awaited him in the Nexus, and now that Anshu was heading back to Kataigida, there was no longer any pressing business that would get in Leon’s way; he could now fully focus on achieving Apotheosis and preparing to face Lord Kamran in person.

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Leon and Anshu’s return to Kataigida garnered great fanfare.  Some people were a bit dismayed at Leon simply flying off to attack the Indra Raj, the idea of peace hadn’t yet cemented itself in the minds of his people that many people were all that upset that he’d single-handedly trashed the palace of a foreign monarch.

In effect, Leon had shown the strength of the Thunder Kingdom by humiliating a weaker Kingdom, and his people loved it.  It had been a glorious victory, and the glory wasn’t his alone; it also belonged to his people, for a King’s glory was his Kingdom’s, too.  When he made it back to Raimondas, the Screaming Eagles celebrated his return with a three-day festival, which he and his family were more than willing to participate in, even though Elise and Valeria were a bit upset at his handling of the situation.  Cassandra faked being upset, but Leon could tell that she thought the whole thing was hilarious, while Maia didn’t seem to care at all about how he’d gone about things and was only upset that she’d been left behind.

When she expressed that, though she hadn’t used so many words, Leon had silently promised himself to take her to see Chola at least once before leaving Aeterna.

Anshu was more of a mind to avoid the festival, but since rescuing him was the whole point for Leon raiding the Indra Raj, he was dragged out into the public eye, too.  He didn’t revel in the attention, but Leon could tell that he had some fun, too.

Reactions from beyond his Kingdom were far more mixed, however.  The Indra Raj had joined their voices with the Pegasi States in demanding that something be done about Leon’s Kingdom, and the added international support turned a few more Imperial ears, but the desire for peace—and the desire to achieve Apotheosis on Anastasios and the Grand Druid’s part, Leon was sure—played no small part in maintaining the status quo.

Still, the Lord Protector, Grand Druid, Keeper, and Arcaion, who yet remained in charge of the Sunlit Empire despite facing some challenges to his authority, met with Leon on the Sword a month after his return.  Many fingers were wagged and much emphasis was placed on no one wanting Leon to fly off the handle like that again, but in the end, no more was done.

Not that there was much they could’ve done aside from going to war since the Thunder Kingdom wasn’t yet that open to outsiders, despite Heaven’s Eye increasing their presence in Stormhollow—though that was mostly through hiring locals rather than bringing in outside talent.  The only thing they could’ve done aside from going to war was to prevent Leon from accessing his Clan’s palaces again, and Keeper seemed intent on doing just that.  However, Leon met with him privately to assure him that he only did what he did to rescue Anshu, that he didn’t want to go on murdering and conquering his way through Aeterna, and that whatever Keeper decided to do, the fact that he rescued his retainer made it all worth it.

Keeper didn’t respond positively, but neither did he respond negatively, and Leon took that as enough of a win to relax.  He was working on achieving immortality, after all, and that meant that he had plenty of time to wait.  And if Keeper still denied him what he wanted, then there was always the possibility of finding other sources for needed tools, materials, and knowledge, or if he was feeling particularly impatient, simply taking what he wanted from the Sentinels after getting strong enough to do so.

He was still committed to not antagonizing Keeper overmuch, though, and he didn’t want to kill anyone to take stuff from the palace that he didn’t need, so he ruled out any planned raids on the palaces unless something drastic changed.

Once all of that was taken care of, Leon returned to his tour of his Kingdom, picking up where he’d left off in Bison territory.  From there, he toured the Tiger lands, and then the Bears.  Given that these Tribes were those that sided against him when he was made King, for the most part, he spent as much time as he could stand, and then some, interacting with the elders, Chiefs, and people of these Tribes.

From there, he went to the Common Lands to check in on Marcus’ work.  Given how sparsely populated it was, Marcus hadn’t had much trouble establishing a more centralized bureaucracy given the year and change he had, though yields of refined Titanstone hadn’t yet increased simply due to the need to build more refineries to handle the material.

In all, Leon left the Common Lands happy with the progress being made and soon returned to Stormhollow.  He still had his Kingly duties, but he didn’t have any more pressing business that required his attention.  As a result, he was able to devote more time to training and his family.

He and his ladies were still having trouble having children, despite Elise, Maia, and Cassandra’s enthusiasm for the process, and nothing they did seemed to have much effect.  Leon always took responsibility for it, though, and did his best to shield his ladies from any criticism, whether it came from themselves or anyone else.

Fortunately, there were precious few in his court who dared to criticize any of them where he might hear them.

The next few months saw his retainers having more luck, however, as Alcander and Sofia had their first child—a healthy baby boy.  Alix and Gaius were more public with their relationship, Anna and Eirene got married, and Leon thought he may have imagined it, but he could’ve sworn that after being turned down by the Jaguar, Red was spending more time around Anshu than she used to, and the Indradian didn’t seem to mind the company…

On the power front, Leon had sent the next few batches of Hesperidic Apples to Helen, and after some experimentation, she managed to make what the Thunderbird described as particularly low-grade ambrosia.  The substance was as golden as sunlight and gave off a scent of apples and warm wind blowing over a grassy field.  However, it also had the consistency of syrup, and was far too concentrated to be ingested properly without being watered down first.

Still, even this lowest-grade ambrosia was more potent than regular Hesperidic Apples, and with greater and greater yields from Tikos, Leon knew that he could look forward to his Thunder Kingdom growing in strength quite rapidly over the next few years.

Almost as if he were heralding in this new age of power, Xaphan finally ascended to the tenth-tier; his body’s flames turned bright yellow, and his yellow eyes brightened to a yellow-white.

Valentina, too, made some progress in her study of blood magic, and her breakthroughs were used to make the next bloodline awakening ceremony that Leon participated in the safest in Kataigida’s history—two thousand three hundred and seventeen teens took part, and only fourteen died from the physical stresses of awakening their blood.

The giants were also getting more and more situated as more and more of their number were extracted from Rakos’ body and put into increasingly diverse golem frames.  Enough had finally done so that Leon and the Ravens even set aside a large valley in the mountains for them to settle in.  Rakos had tried to protest, but Leon insisted that the giants build themselves a home.  Giants were far more susceptible to the ravages of time than wisps, after all, and Leon wanted them to not only maintain a steady population but to grow in number.  If they were to do the same job as wisps, then he’d need as many giants as could be born.

In short, Leon’s Kingdom, family, and friends were thriving.  Leon himself could finally sit back and relax, knowing that he’d finally found himself in a stable situation that he could learn, love, and grow within for as long as he needed.

But every night, at the stroke of midnight, he took off into the sky in either his human or Thunderbird form, depending on which mood struck him, and gazed upward.  There, the stars twinkled invitingly, and after some time with Nestor, the Thunderbird, and the navigation wisp they possessed, he could even pick out certain stars in the sky that were entire planar clusters.  These clusters were regions that fell under his Clan’s banner in times long past, and if he had his way, they would again find themselves beneath the aegis of the Thunderbird Clan.

But no star ever attracted his attention quite like the one that burned brightly in the exact center of the sky, so luminescent that not even the light of the moon could obscure it.

The Nexus.

A safe and secure position he found himself in, but the Nexus awaited him.  He couldn’t allow himself to get complacent.  Every night, he looked up at what awaited him far away from Aeterna and reminded himself that this was not the end, that his journey continued out there, amidst the stars that burned so brightly in the darkness of the Void.

And he was eager to reach them.

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