The Undying Emperor [Grand Conquest Fantasy]

Two noteworthy events occurred in the heart of midsummer. Most importantly was the Petition of Reformation, penned and submitted by none other than Austin Feugard. Had the other event not transpired first, Lucius would have taken a horse and ridden back to the capital. Not to contest or support the petition, and it's hundreds of bureaucratic notes which were so menial and specific that an army of scholars and scribes could not have analyzed them and provided competent feedback, but to bring Aria vi Solhart back under his control.

The very day that the Feugard boy's carriage arrived at the gates of Hearth's Bay, the ground shook and those who witnessed it ran in terror. The great, marble golems awoke. In this time, there were two, poised as guardians of the city wall, immobile for years beyond human memory. The fact that they were not mere statues had faded to the realm of myth and even the gleam of their stone bodies had been lost as dirt encased them like barnacles encase the belly of ships. When the ancient knights lifted their heads, they flexed their joints and readied their weapons. A dozen were killed, vagrants mostly whom had taken to sleeping against the ageless rock, but others were felled by the great sheets of sediment that came crashing down from the golem's arms.

The guardians should not have moved, lest peril approach the very heart of Vassermark, and many still remembered Acheliah's promise. Even the king had lost faith that the golems were true, an issue brought on by the angel's own flippancy about the security of the capital. A wave of chaos rolled through Hearth's Bay, sending some cowering in fear and others snatched up arms. The guard had much work to do that day.

To her credit, Acheliah was out from the palace at once, and before the sun had even set she darkened the door of Lucius' home. He had secreted himself away for the evening to share a meal with Aisha and it was Leomund that confronted her at the door.

Her greeting was curt, reaping blade in hand. "Vita's adorer, where's the killer? There's things that need killing."

As great a swordsman as Tolzi was, he did not place high odds upon himself against Acheliah. He told her he was out, but could be fetched. Alexander's cry struck a chord of tension into the air between them. Both knew with a glance that he would not back down if she pushed into the house.

Her smile was sly, the viperous look of a woman assessing a man already claimed by another woman. "Why so tense, Leomund?"

"Why don't you tell me what has you so panicked that you would come here yourself? Seems only wise that I would be worried too, no?" he asked, stalling her as he waited for Lupa to join him in the hall.

Another set of feet trod across the floorboards and as soon as Golden spoke, Leomund reflexively retreated from the door, hand to his sword. The former angel got so far as asking what the commotion was when Acheliah recognize him. Her reaping blade cleaved through the door frame as she brought the weapon to bear and stabbed it forward. His mortal flesh shrank back, but not quick enough to save his neck from the blunt side of the scythe.

Leomund knew his priorities, sharing quick words with Lupa and before Golden was even able to gasp out a greeting to Acheliah, Lupa was out through the back with Alexander clutched to her chest.

"A pleasure, cousin," Golden said, his grasping at the wall knocking paintings from their hooks. He tried to smile, but he recognized the reaping blade well.

"You're supposed to be in the south. Not enough people for you to eat?"

He tried to laugh. "Cousin, please. You're the one that conquered Giordana. We're all the same kingdom now, aren't we?"

She sneered, but the reminder of Charles blunted her anger. "Just what have you done to yourself, Golden? It's like you peeled your skin off and put it back on."

"It was high time I made a trade, don't you think? We've waited an awfully long time."

"Only because you never put down roots."

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"I wouldn't have been a good influence, and that's saying something. What is this about killing, exactly?"

"A more pressing concern than you, I'm afraid," she said, and stabbed him in the chest with her finger. This was not the jovial jibing of kin. She punctured through vest, shirt, and flesh to leave her mark upon his thumping heart. As he cringed in pain, unable to retreat lest even the blunt side of the scythe rip open his throat, she said, "But I'll find you after."

He cursed her, clutching at the wound. He suffered her mockery as she deigned to seal his flesh for him. Only then did she take the weapon from his throat and take a seat within the drawing room. The angel brooded there, ignoring the wary watch of both Leomund and Golden. When at last Lucius threw open the door. She took note of his budding sweat, but said nothing of it. "Do you have a horse?"

The boy had to swallow his adrenaline and dredge up civility. The angel was seated in his house like any polite guest and had done no harm to his family. He only found out about Golden's mark later. "My good one is outside the city, but yes," he said, thoughts spinning as he looked at the reaping blade.

She smiled. "Well, my other cousin has caused a problem," she said, strain in her face growing. "Rather than consulting with me, like he should have, Aurum has caused a mess. He went and dug up something older than he should have. It's a stupid plan really. If I were Amurabi, I would have accounted for the danger centuries ago, and frankly, Amurabi is a better spellcrafter than Aurum. Well, I shouldn't say better. He has his weaknesses and Aurum has his strengths. The wizard was always more about physics and logic. No elegance(1). Why Aurum thinks the old weapons will be of any use is beyond me, but I am certain he wasn't aware of the other golems he just woke up."

"Golems? Whose golems? Is someone here at the academy trying to make golems?"

Acheliah smiled and shook her head, until she thought more about the problem. "I suppose I don't know if they are, but I'm hardly concerned about some craftsman's prototype. I need you to come north with me."

"Me? Or an army? I only have a sword," he protested.

She arched an eyebrow. "I'm not going to ask you to stab it," she stated. "I'd have you bring that Brume cretin as well. Both of you will have a similar effect upon the…" she trailed off as the merest twitch of Lucius' expression betrayed him. "I suppose it will just be you then, won't it?"

Lucius turned up his hands. "Brume is unavailable."

"Never liked that degenerate. He would have been put to death in better years. Perhaps I should have stripped him of his stigmata. Regardless, night is not yet upon us and people are dying. My people, Lucius."

At last, Lucius relaxed. Violence had come to him, but not for him. "Are you going to ride with me? Or will I have to chase after you as I fly?"

Her expression soured before she admitted. "You won't be able to hear me if I'm flying, will you?"

He shrugged. "Won't be able to hear you if you bite your tongue off either."

"I don't need your worry," she declared, and to my disappointment it seems that she did not stumble a single word during the hours in which she sat upon the back of Lucius' saddle. Indeed, she made what should have been a clumsy affair graceful, and as they pushed the beast to trot ever northward, she told Lucius of a monster that would keep children awake at night.

This was no beast from beyond the world. Like the guardians of Hearth's Bay, it was a weapon. Both were refined from the years of chaos before the founding of the human kingdoms, when magic was plentiful but life scarce. When the sun was first made, its bulwark against the dark was just as strong as it is today, but like animals first discovering fire the pain was new and there were many creatures that tried to sink their teeth into the great mass of mana known today as the sun. True, they came through the barrier burned and bloodied, but there were many still and no one knew how long it would take for the presence of the sun to deter them more than the harm.

The gods themselves receded during this time, but had not yet lost contact with the humans. They had no desire to place themselves in the way of the monsters, but their divine beasts were plentiful. The great wastes of mana from this fighting created a host of changes throughout Lumisgard. The animals changed, and geniuses were cultivated among the mortals. It was these prodigies that challenged the laws of magic with naught but their own minds and bent material to will. They hewed stone and carved intent upon the cores. The constructs were given granite lungs with which to breathe in the ambient mana and with that, they fought alongside the angels.

As the great beasts dwindled, so too did the magic, and so the weapons had to be made more efficient, and new sources of power had to be found. Finally, a weapon was made that Acheliah could not tolerate, but could not bring herself to destroy. It was sealed away and forgotten, lest such a terrible time come that even it would be needed. She found working with me more tolerable, for at least I possess a rational mind.

But, that day the grave titan answered the call and began it's march across the world to arrive before Aurum.

What she meant is that I cannot perform such miracles as healing a thousand soldiers at once.