The Lord of the Seas - An Isekai Progression Fantasy [ Currently on Volume 2 ]

As they finally sailed past the regions of Nozar, beyond the seas that once hemmed them in, it was only then that Lukas felt his shoulders ease—if only slightly. The weather was still relentless as ever, winds howling and waves crashing against the hull as if the waters themselves still bore grudges. But Lukas' Divinity allowed for safe travels, the seas obeying his effortless command.

Finally, they were headed back to Easthaven. They were out of enemy territory now.

Lukas stood silently outside a sealed door flanked by two guards—men he had personally appointed the moment the news reached him. They were guarding Varian's quarters, the same room where Ellion had found his master's lifeless body.

Since then, the door had remained untouched, locked and most importantly untampered.

Varian's body had been moved to the refrigerated morgue within the ship's lower decks to preserve it until proper rites could be arranged. But Lukas had made the decision almost immediately to leave the room exactly as it was. For all he knew that room could very well be a potential crime scene.

Now, Lukas questioned the guards softly, asking if anyone had entered or tried to do so, or if they had seen anything unusual during their shifts.

They shook their heads. "Nothing out of the ordinary, sir."

"No strange visitors? No one loitering nearby?" Lukas questioned further.

"Only Ellion that first night. No one since."

Lukas let out a slow breath and gave a quiet nod. "Stay alert. I don't want that door opened unless I say so."

"Understood."

Just as Lukas turned to leave, a shadow rounded the corridor's bend.

It was Valkari. She froze the moment she saw him, and he stopped too.

Their eyes locked.

They hadn't spoken since Nozar. Not since she had killed that boy. And not since Lukas had sworn that he'd kill her if she dared to put any of them in danger again. Her gaze flickered from Lukas to the guards posted by Varian's door. Something unreadable passed across her face, and for a moment, neither said a word.

Then Valkari finally spoke, voice quiet but clear. "I was looking for you." A pause. "Can we talk? In private."

Lukas studied her carefully. He didn't answer immediately but he knew he would have to have this conversation with Valkari sooner or later. So Lukas gave her a slight nod, gesturing for her to follow him. He thanked the guards and as they both left the hallway, reminding them to stay vigilant.

Lukas led her to his quarters, a modest space carved from necessity rather than luxury—sturdy walls, bolted-down furniture, a single window now fogged with salt and cold. He closed the door behind them with a soft click.

Inside, there was only silence aside from the muffled downpour.

Lukas moved past her and leaned against the desk, crossing his arms. Valkari stood near the door, shoulders squared, face unreadable.

"Jesse told me," she began, her voice quiet but steady. "About the Shard of Obedience...and what he plans to do with it."

Lukas turned his head slightly, not surprised, but curious how much Jesse had said.

She looked directly at him. "Do you think it's really possible?"

Lukas moved to the table at the side of the room and rested a hand against its edge, fingers tapping absently against the wood.

"I don't know." he finally replied. "Even I cannot say for certain if it will actually come to fruition."

Valkari's gaze didn't waver. "But if it does work…" she stepped closer.. "If Jesse succeeds—if we really can set our people free—does that mean war?"

Lukas's eyes met hers. She wasn't asking this to provoke him. She was asking because she had to know what they were walking into, what he might be leading them into. He took a long breath, letting it fill the silence.

"There's a good chance all of this doesn't work," he answered honestly. "But if it does…then no. It does not mean war. War is the last thing I want, Valkari."

She nodded slowly, but the look in her eyes told him she didn't believe it would be that simple. And she was right to doubt him.

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What Lukas did not say—what he could not say aloud just yet—was that he'd already been thinking far ahead of Jesse's plan. If it did work…if Jesse's vision became reality…then the political landscape would shift whether the Kingdoms liked it or not.

And Lukas was beginning to understand this game was played.

Magnus would keep Easthaven out of it. That, he was confident of. The old man had too much to lose, and his support was firm in the shadows.

Now, having direct contact with Rowan, the defacto King of Khaitish, meant that there was a real possibility Lukas could convince Rowan to keep Khaitish out of this; to let Jesse's vision play out without the need for war.

That would leave only the Kingdom of Nozar. And Nozar, if they stood alone against the Kingdom of Dragons, would have no choice but to accept the freedom of his people. Even with the Hero, victory was not guaranteed for Daerion if the other Kingdoms of Humanity did not stand with Nozar.

If Lukas could give his people that freedom…if he could return them to the land they were exiled from…then he would've done everything he came to Hiraeth to do. Lukas would be able to return to Kairos Castle where he could spend the rest of his days with her.

But Lukas shared none of that aloud. What Lukas did tell her was simple.

"There doesn't need to be any more bloodshed," Lukas said softly. "Hiraeth has already seen enough of it."

"I hope you're right," Valkari whispered.

Yet, something still lingered in the air between them. A silence thick with tension that hadn't yet broken. Valkari's voice, sharp and raw, shattered that tension into pieces.

"How?" she asked, stepping forward even closer to him. "How can we just move on from this?"

Lukas straightened slowly, eyes narrowing slightly. This was no mask. This was Valkari as she truly was. And she kept going, her voice rising with every word she spoke.

"How can we just forget what they did to us? What they continue to do now? Two hundred years, Lukas. Two centuries of chains, cages, humiliation. And we're supposed to just let it be? That we can simply return home and smile like nothing happened?"

Her breath trembled. Her fists were clenched.

"I was sold, Lukas. Like cattle. Like livestock." Her voice cracked now. "By my own brother. By my blood. And do you know what they did to me?"

Her eyes were wild, glassy, burning. "I have been whipped. I have been beaten. I have been humiliated, again and again and again. Do you know how many nights I prayed to die just so I wouldn't have to wake up in that place again?"

Lukas said nothing. Because there was nothing he could say.

She wasn't asking for comfort. She wasn't asking for sympathy. Valkari Ishtar was demanding an answer from the one person who stood in her way of allowing the hate she still carried within to consume her. Her voice dropped. Not quiet, but lower, tighter and sharper.

"I'm asking you now," she took a step closer, tears clinging to her lashes, "how can I possibly forgive them? How can I forgive them after...after all that they've done to me?"

Lukas looked at her for a long time. And then, softly—

"Tell me. Do you know who the Monarch is?"

Valkari blinked, thrown off by the sudden shift. "O-of course I know who he is."

Everyone did.

"He is the Dragon Lord responsible the first ever civil war in Linemall's history. The same Lord who butchered his own kin. The same monster who drowned cities of Linemall in blood."

Valkari nodded slowly but did not see where he was going with this.

Lukas stepped away from the table, toward her. "Tell me now, should I be condemned for his actions? Should the children of the Seas, should all who reside in the waters of Linemall be punished for his atrocities?"

She shook her head. "No. That would be...foolish."

"Why?" he pressed.

"Because it was the Monarch who is responsible. Not them."

"Exactly." He let the silence stretch for just a moment. "Then tell me why should the rest of humanity—the children, families, the ones who have never lifted a hand against us—why should they be punished for what's been done to you? Why should all of them be held responsible for what has been done to our people?"

Valkari's mouth opened, but no words came. Her lips trembled and then her shoulders shook. Tears began to fall—silent at first, and then in ragged gasps. This time, the tears that fell were not one of a crocodile's.

"I don't know what to do," Valkari whispered, voice broken. "With all this…this anger. All this hate. I don't know what to do, Lukas."

Lukas stepped forward, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "Then let it go."

She let out a wet, bitter laugh, trying to wipe at her eyes. "It's not that easy, Lukas."

"I know," he said. "But you can try."

She looked up at him, her eyes red and glistening.

"I can try."

He nodded. "And that is all I can ask you to do. This cycle of hatred, it can end. It can end with us."

Valkari nodded slowly, wiping her eyes again with the back of her sleeve.

Lukas hadn't forgiven her and he didn't know if he ever would forgive her. What she did to that boy, it still sat with him. He could still see how she had brutally killed that boy. But what he could accept was that she was trying.

She was trying to be better. She was trying to live for the future instead of drowning in the past.

"Thank you," Valkari whispered.

Lukas just sat with her in the quiet of that room—not just warriors, not just survivors, but something more vulnerable than either of them had allowed themselves to be for a long time.

Just two people trying to make peace with a broken world.