Upon entering the throne room, Mortimer paces near his throne, looking up when you arrive. He certainly doesn't look like the fop you remember, his clothes are now partly torn and dirty. He doesn't look like he's bathed in days making his hair to stand up in a way that would almost be laughable if he wasn't currently possessed by a demon. His eyes give off an unearthly red glow.

The throne room itself is in shambles and pieces of dead bodies, entrails and blood are practically everywhere. A large broken crystal lies nearby, you can only guess that's Zelvix's former prison.

Semra says nothing. She just looks at you nodding, and reaches out for your hand. You give it to her and she grabs it. She then begins chanting. You take the opportunity to cast your mind shield spell on Decena who stands nearby watching every direction.

"So, THIS is what you've brought to beat me with Semra? I would've expected better from the likes of you. I don't know why you're even chanting that nonsense, it isn't going to work on me you know." Zelvix says. (It certainly isn't Mortimer anymore just on how deep the voice is alone)

While the three of you stay silent, Zelvix continues to talk.

"I have no idea why you continue to blame me for your father's death. Even I can't control my underlings all the time. Your people made a deal with me and I collected, what's so wrong about that?"

Semra continues to chant.

"You believe this woman? She holds a grudge longer than some hell lords do and at least they do for something reasonable like a stolen soul or something. She's just whining. Bah, I'm done with her anyway, I offered another deal when she first arrived here for old time's sake, but she refused."

Zelvix's banter is still met by silence.

"Anyway, how about you two? Oh no. No, I don't think you'll do. You're too much in love with this one. While I think under different circumstances twisting your mind would probably be child's play, I believe your master's presence makes it a bit too much of an effort to even try. You want his approval so much that you'd probably strip naked, get down on all fours and open your ass, pussy and mouth at the same time to an entire company of orcs if you thought it would please him. Blind loyalty is such a beautiful thing at times. Shit, I should be so lucky to instill such devotion. Oh well, guess that's why there's torture." Zelvix says to Decena.

Everyone continues to remain silent, but Zelvix now turns his attention to you. You didn't feel it before, but you start to feel an oppressive presence within your mind.

"Now you I can work with. Can't work with bitches anyway, too fucking emotional am I right? I'm sure you know what I'm talking about considering the company you're keeping. You think a svelk female is bad? Heh, try a demon girl. Your dark elves don't have shit on them. Lots of fun at parties though!"

You redouble your efforts to block out Zelvix's words…

"I have to say, you're quite skilled for a mortal. I'll even admit, I like your style, showing no mercy to your enemies, ruling your territory with an iron fist, I can appreciate a mortal that rises above his slug like station. And you were quite low weren't you? You were practically an abortion waiting to happen then through a minor mistake you got kicked upstairs. Good thing bureaucracy sucks doesn't it? It's okay though, you made the most of it and that's what really counts. I mean here you are talking to me, one of the greatest demon lords in the infernal realms…"

At this point you'd almost make a deal with him just so he'd shut the fuck up. He continues to pace, but you notice he holds his head for a brief moment.

"Hrmm, starting to feel something…no it's gone now. Nice try Semra, but you're not getting anywhere. Now who was I talking to? Oh yes, the Eternal."

You suddenly feel an even greater oppressive feeling on your mind. Between trying to support Semra, protecting Decena and fighting off Zelvix, you're starting to feel the burden.

"Not easy is it? Protecting everyone? (Sigh) I don't even know why you're helping Semra anyway. You know she'd backstab you if it ultimately served her purpose. You're not a stupid man, you have to know that she's just using you right now and it's not even for petty revenge. Well some of it is I suppose, but there's something greater here at stake and she's trying to achieve it. Let me tell you…"

Zelvix's deep voice fills your mind despite your best efforts to block it out.

"She's trying to revive the svelk Empire. Y'see she actually thinks by somehow killing me that the so called curse I put on the svelk will disappear. It's complete shit of course. The reason for the svelk downfall is their own doing and none of my own. I didn't cause their civilization to suddenly descend into civil war and rebellion, that had been coming for centuries long before I arrived. All I did was provide a service. A world saving one in fact. Why in certain circles one might even consider me a hero!"

You feel a greater drain on your energy as Zelvix continues.

"I bet she even told you that I'm planning on unleashing an army of demons on this world didn't she? Pfft. Please as if I need to worry about such things, I have my own kingdom in the infernal realm with millions of subjects and even more souls to torment! If its one thing I've learned as a demon lord, it's that you should only conquer what you can actually hold. I had a brother once who learned that lesson the hard way. Got his head chopped off by a mortal for his troubles. Hahahahaha! My brother was a fucking idiot!"

Zelvix laughs at his last statement, which is then followed by a roar of pain. Mortimer's body falls to the ground and he begins twitching and convulsing.

"FUCKING BITCH! I'LL RIP YOUR SOUL APART! RAAAAARGH!" Zelvix shouts while Semra keeps chanting. If anything it's given you a bit of temporary relief, but only for a little while.

"Well, it seems our little dark skinned whore has been doing her research. I may have underestimated her. The flaw of arrogance comes with being a demon lord I suppose…(Sigh) Very well then, as much as I've enjoyed chatting with you, I can see I'll have to cut to the chase…."

You try to think of pleasant thoughts to block out Zelvix, such as ones with your time with Alison, but Zelvix won't be ignored.

"Look, here's the deal and it's not even going to cost you your soul because I know you're too smart for that. What it is going to cost is a little bloodshed and that shouldn't be a problem for the likes of you, especially considering you never liked ol' Morty anyway. Just kill Morty, I'll take care of Semra and then I'll be heading back to the infernal plane because honestly I've had enough of this world."

You give no response, but you can feel your willpower getting to the point where you almost want to give in…

"Hey wait a minute. Maybe YOU want to kill Semra? She's in the middle of her spell right now and you're so close, there's never been a more perfect time! You'd catch her completely off guard. You could easily take that dagger that she once stabbed you with and at last do what you've always wanted to do with it. Remember just like the time when you two were exterminating gnomes? Don't you wish you could've taken that opportunity instead of following your orders? Well you have no one giving you orders right now. What is stopping you? You know you want to and all I want is to be free from this world. Kill Semra and I'll happily open up a gate and return home."

Zelvix deep melodic tone begins to make your mind succumb to his persuasion attempts. Never before have you experienced such a powerful force of raw will. Even in a few other instances where you faced a psychic assault it's never been quite like this. Granted it's in his favor that what he's proposing isn't anything you'd object to doing either. The ONLY thing that's giving you pause is the fact that it's a demon lord telling you to do this.

"Ah…I see you don't trust me…smart. Tell you what, I'll sweeten the deal. You seek to conquer and bring order to this miserable world do you not? You have the skill and ability, what you lack is time. So you seek immortality do you not? An immortality that even eluded your old master, and wouldn't you like to succeed where he failed? Your answer lies where you've always known it to be. The Isle of Mortos. I know you've made a halfhearted attempt at trying to locate it again. Would you like to know where it is exactly located? I can tell you right now if you just kill that…ARRGH!"

Zelvix once again feel the effects of Semra's ritual. At this point Morty's body is desperately crawling over to Semra in an attempt to reach her. Also just as you suspected Zelvix uses some sort of magic to bring the bodies from the room behind you back to life, except these aren't singular walking corpses. The pile of bodies have melded into each other creating a giant mass of flesh slowly rolling towards all of you howling and moaning while arms, legs and heads twitch about from it. It might be too big to get through the doorway, but you imagine that its sheer weight and girth will just break through the sides of the walls.

You're still staggering from your recent mind assault, but now that you're no longer being mentally attacked, you take a quick assessment of the situation.

Decena prepares to hold off the abomination by herself, Semra is still in her semi-trance and Zelvix continues to drag himself over to Semra.

You help Semra

Decena's a good warrior, you're sure she'll be able to handle the abomination trying squeeze through the doorway. Plus the quicker Zelvix gets banished, the quicker this all stops. Now that you've been given a temporary relief from the mental attacks, you run over to Morty's body and drag it away from Semra. You also hold him down and begin repeatedly punching him in the face.

Morty's possessed body struggles against you and while it's certainly stronger than it should be, it can't break free of your grip and won't be reaching Semra anytime soon.

Zelvix's power is fading, but he's not out of it yet and in between trying to break free he establishes contact with you mentally again.

"Ragh! Argh! Fool! You would deny your destiny of immortality? I told you I would tell you how to find the Isle of Mortos! Is that not what you want? You think…ARRRGH!" Zelvix's bargaining is interrupted by the agony of his impending banishment.

Soon Zelvix will be gone and this will all be over, yet isn't there a way to get what you want as well.

You think so and respond back to Zelvix.

"Zelvix, you've got little time left, so I'm proposing a deal to YOU. Tell me the location of the island now and I'll kill the svelk bitch myself. You don't have any options here."

You hear a deep chortle inside your head.

"Mortal, we ALL have choices. I know you and I know this game. You phrased your proposal in such a way that you didn't specify WHEN you were going to kill Semra…actually you didn't even say Semra. You just said svelk bitch. That could be any of them. No deal, I'm not telling you shit. A good attempt, but I'd rather die than have my last moments be one of being outwitted by a pathetic mortal!" Zelvix says
"Considering you're still stuck in Morty's body and going to be BANISHED in it, I'd say that's already happened."

Zelvix doesn't respond, instead you just hear a great bellowing inside your head, this is also followed by a scream nearby, you turn your head and see half of Decena underneath the mass of murderous flesh that has finally managed to break through some of the wall in an effort to reach you all. Decena still struggles to fight, but she's overwhelmed by the writhing mass of limbs striking her and the horrible rows of sharp teeth biting into her flesh.

"NO!" you shout and run over to help her by hacking away at the disgusting flesh blob. It has little effect other depriving it of a few less flailing limbs. You only succeed in chopping off a few chunks even when you attempt to freeze it in place (Which only slows it down rather than properly freezing it completely) You try to pull Decena away, but she's stuck and her lower half being devoured, shredded and crushed all at the same time. The strength in her is already leaving.

"I'm sorry my…Emper…" She manages to utter during the chaos of this situation.
"Don't talk! You'll get out of this, I'll think of something! I'll…FUCK!" you shout in frustration and still hacking away at the mass.

The whole time you've been distracted, you haven't paid any attention to the main conflict which is that of Zelvix who fortunately was still too weak to reach Semra.

A final unearthly wail from Zelvix and it's a sign that the end of this conflict is near.

"SSSSSSSSS NO! IT CANNOT END LIKE THIS! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY MORTAL SHIT! I CURSE YOU ALL! NONE OF YOU SHALL AAAARRRRGH!"

Morimer's body twitches and convulses one last time and you manage to turn your head just in time from your own battle to see a red spirit like mist rise from his body. An angry demonic face can be seen briefly followed by the red mist completely dissipating. In front of you, the mass of flesh you've been fighting goes completely lifeless. Mortimer's body is also lifeless. Whatever spark that was keeping him alive was only due to Zelvix's magic and he's truly gone now.

And then the blob of flesh you were fighting becomes lifeless as well and you are able to pull Decena away with some effort. It's too bad though, she's missing parts of her legs and even some of her innards, you can't even imagine how much blood she's lost.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry. I should've been there for you, I'll make this better, I'll make this better…" you start to say and begin to cast your healing magic, though surprisingly Decena manages to interrupt you by weakly grabbing at your hand.
"No…don't…let me die a warrior's death. Don't shorten your life span for me…the Empire needs you…"

You hold Decena closer to you, it won't be long now.

"Emperor…I love you…" she says looking up at you.
"I…love you Decena." You respond back.

These words causes a brief smile in Decena's final moments. It's all she ever wanted, your love.

The funny thing is, it's at this very moment that you realize that you could've probably had a real relationship with her. She was more than just a lovesick student that you thought you were re-enacting your experiences with Semra with. She was a worthy mate and potentially your successor.

And now that's all gone.

You wipe your eyes and get up off the floor, pondering your great loss today. In fact you've completely forgotten about Semra, though she hasn't forgotten about you, and she's been watching you the entire time.

"While I hate to disturb your moment of introspection, we need to get the hell out of here before your army starts bombarding this place now that the barrier is down. I imagine that you probably gave that order or something similar to your army correct?"

You ignore Semra.

"Hey are you listening to me? Look, I know you're upset about losing your little warrior girl and I'm sure she was a lot of fun in bed, but you need to get over that now. I mean utter devotion is a beautiful thing, but really at least Alison was her own woman and not someone looking for constant approval." Semra says as she walks over to you.

"Well I guess that's why you'll always be the true woman for me, right Semra?" you answer and grab her hand.
"What?" Semra says.
"That's what you're always telling me isn't it? I mean any woman I have any sort of feelings for seems to die. You on the other hand survive everything…heh…just like I survive everything…it would seem you're right we ARE meant to be together…"

At this point you put both of your arms around Semra's waist. You can sense that she's genuinely surprised by this sudden show of affection for her. You can also feel her attempting to read your mind, but she'll see nothing there but a strong desire to take her right there on the floor.

"Hmmm, while I don't mind this sudden enthusiasm lover, we really should…" Semra starts to say before you shut her up with a kiss. She tastes exactly like you remember and it's intoxicating.

You waste no time in stripping off your bloody sweat drenched clothing, and Semra despite her concern that your army will start bombarding the city, loses that worry as well as losing herself in the moment.

Then soon the pair of you are naked on blood stained floor and as you thrust into Semra, you try to ignore your aches and pains from your earlier battle.

It's almost like your first time…

Well other than the fact that a rotting mound of dead bodies lies nearby, along with Decena's corpse which probably hasn't even gone completely cold yet.

This is wrong in so many ways, but after your great loss today, you're going to get something out of it. And that something ISN'T Semra's magical svelk vagina even though you've convinced her that it is.

Semra has to know something about the Isle of Mortos or at least how to get back there. She's been around long enough and given her relationship with Casimir who was a former "citizen" there, the chances that she knows something is very likely.

"Mmmm yes! Yes! Ravish me! Ravage me you fucking abomination of nature!" Semra exclaims and slaps you hard in the face.

Semra's having so much fun that she doesn't seem to realize you're getting to know her in an intimate way that you're sure she didn't want you to. It's difficult trying to hide your true intentions to Semra, but you manage to do so by filling you own thoughts with a mixture of lust and hatred. You also think about how much you want to slit her throat. It's certainly enough to be convincing since it isn't exactly untrue.

In her state of arousal Semra's mind is much less guarded, as her focus is no longer one of defense, but one mostly of pleasure. While part of her is expecting you to try to kill her and she's certainly prepared for it, that's not your goal at least not today. It's the perfect cover as far as you're concerned.

You see many things about Semra's life, some very interesting, some rather mundane, and some even sort of surprising to you.

For example, just before Semra pushed you away during your first mental joining, there was another she was upset about losing, though you didn't see it the first time, namely an infant son. Apparently demons had killed and consumed part of it before Semra and her father could save it (Which then soon lead to her father's death). You can only imagine it was their baby together.

This loss explains a few other things you see which must take place later on in her life, such as a bored one night casual sexual encounter with some svelk warrior that also resulted in pregnancy. This must've been Eldolith's father since she was born soon after.

Her relationship with her daughter was never a good one and it's apparent she saw her daughter as something barely better than…well "the lesser born" as most svelk would say. Perhaps Eldy was a constant reminder that she was NOT Semra father's offspring and never would be.

But you're not here to delve into the tragic past of a very broken woman, you're here to find out vital information that you know she must have.

And you think you've just found it.

You see a continent that you've never seen before. It isn't Evigrus and while you've never been there, it's not Nyttrus either as there is no trace of jungle. The place has large tracks of forests and several ruined cities. Inside such ruined areas you see groups of svelk fighting each other. Other groups wander the countryside in the usual nomadic manner that you've traditionally known them to do.

Oddly there doesn't seem to be any other race living on the continent, or at least no other sentient creature. (Strange beasts you've never seen still seem to exist though) Another thing that stands out though are these large circular structure made out of mithral. They seem to be all over the continent though it looks like most are damaged in some way.

This has to be the svelk "home." It is. You gain all this information from Semra's mind which is like an open book at this point. And these circular structures are portals, or they used to be. They probably lead all over to different parts of the world and that includes…

"DECIEVER!" Semra suddenly shouts and tries to punch you, but you hold her down her arms. She's on to your plan now.

"Don't fight it Semra, just lay back and enjoy it." You mockingly say and try to probe her mind again, but she's already taken steps to block you out more effectively. You've learned all you can, but it might be enough.

Finished with Semra mentally, you "finish up" with her physically as well before letting her go. Predictably she punches you in the face and crawls backwards from underneath you.

"So was it good for you?" you say, holding your face.

Your continued mocking is met with a blast of fire that you just barely block with a magic field.

"I know where you're going Semra. You're going back home to Dokkrus to ironically try to do something you were criticizing me for. You're going to try to resurrect the Svelk Empire again. Try to unite the tribes as it were. That's good. We all should have a goal. I know what mine is."
"You think yourself so clever, but if you try to pursue what we both know what you're trying to pursue, be prepared to suffer considerable losses." Semra warns.
"What could I possibly lose Semra? Tell me, because I'd truly love to know. I have no more loved ones for you to kill. The Empire? You told me I'll lose that when I die anyway. My life? You think I fear death? You know I don't. I only seek to MASTER it."

You pick up your pants and start to dress as you continue your monologue to Semra.

"In the past you've mentioned about how my efforts of world domination and expanding the Empire are all in vain because I'll eventually grow old and die anyway just like Casimir. Well congratulations Semra, you motivated me to avoid his fate because unlike him, I will succeed. I WILL become truly immortal and NOTHING is going to stop me."
"Well, then its good we had one last tryst because I can see now you're leaving me no choice!" Semra shouts and resumes her magical attack.

You block the magical bolts and try to run for some sort of cover. Semra casts a poisonous cloud, you remember that one, but this time you're able to get out of its range, though in doing so you are hit by her follow up attack, which involves throwing a dead body into you. You fall to the floor face first as the body slams into you a fairly fast speed.

"Shit!" you groan and turn around with the body still on top of you, and that's when you see that it's Decena's. Her dead eyes stare into your own and then you feel a kick to your face that probably would've taken out your eye had Semra been wearing her sharp toed boots rather than her current state of undress.

"It's been fun lover, but you need to learn the last lesson and that's no one lives forever." Semra says…and then the roof of the palace starts collapsing on the pair of you. It would seem the bombarding of the city has begun.

Seizing the opportunity, you push Decena's body off of you and try to stab Semra with your dagger. Unfortunately between your exhaustion, the crumbling ceiling and Semra's alertness you miss, but instead of trying to attack back, she takes the survival approach instead.

"Next time Eternal." She says and runs out the entryway
"Next time Semra." You mutter and pick up Decena's body before making haste for the exit yourself.

It's difficult carrying Decena's body while tired and trying to avoid being blown up by the bombarding. Doesn't help that you start seeing airships approaching.

"Sheesh, Flevas. Glad to see you're not fucking around, but this isn't helping me!" you mutter and quicken your pace.

Fortunately, you manage to get out of Dequilet before it's completely decimated and fortunately there is a pause in the bombarding when someone with a telescope spots you just outside the destroyed city walls. You make it back to camp in one piece.

"Emperor! My apologies, but I thought…" Flevas starts to say, but you're not in the mood to hear anything.
"Forget it Flevas, you were doing your job…just (sigh) here…" you say and lay Decena down.
"Have her body shipped back to the capital, she will receive a war heroes' funeral."
"Certainly my Emperor." Flevas says and snaps his fingers to have some other troops move her body.

"I'll be in my tent. Don't disturb me." You say and retire to your bedroll. As you allow your body to at last embrace the rest it needs, you think about Decena's last words to you.

"Don't worry Decena, your sacrifice wasn't in vain. The Empire will always have me because it IS me and I will live forever. I promise." You say as you close your eyes.

…

Year 56

You enter Brenda's office where upon she smiles briefly at you, though with everything you have on your mind, you don't return the gesture instead you just nod.

"Hello Brenda, I trust you and Warrick are still enjoying your new marital status." You say guessing that what's put her in better spirits as of late.
"Yes, Emperor. I'm happier than I've been in a long time. Thank you for performing the wedding personally."
"Think nothing of it. Though I didn't think you'd ever remarry, let alone Warrick. But if you two are happy then that's good. You should hold on to that as long as possible for one never knows when it will suddenly be taken away from you."
"Um…of course my Emperor. We certainly do cherish our time together." Brenda responds at your rather grim comment.

"Anyway, I came here to let you know that the new Eternals have been released from their tanks. You'll be training them soon." You say.
"I'll be looking forward to it. I trust they met with your standards?"
"Yes, most of them seem to be very much like the third generation though perhaps with signs of displaying higher intelligence overall. Under your guidance, I have no doubt that they'll be just as effective as the third gens." You reply with a sigh.
"Is there something wrong my Emperor?" Brenda asks.

"Yes, it's Nyttrus. The place is becoming a pain in my side that I don't want to be bothered with, but I find that it might become necessary to step in personally soon. We've got more than a few strongholds there now, but the Iznac are far from being beaten, unfortunately most of the humans there are sick or dead due to disease and Iznac magic. Flog's also dead and the orcs have become slightly less disciplined as of late without his calmer leadership. There have been a few reports of deserters running off into the jungles and forming their own communities. Just glad Snilkez'ka is still alive and the kobolds are holding down the forts there until the third gens arrive."
"Couldn't you send airships to bomb Nyttrus to speed things up?
"They don't really have the range to travel across the vast oceans yet though Elam's working on fixing that with the gnomes. In any event if they did have that sort of range I might be inclined to have them try to find Dokkrus first since that's my real goal."

Brenda tries to give you some words of encouragement, but they don't improve your mood. Instead you just leave Brenda, once again wishing her well on her new happy marriage.

You spend a few days wondering whether or not you should head to Nyttrus with the third gens. Ultimately you decide not to as you're still hoping to hear something soon about Dokkrus. As soon as you get word about that, you want to be on the next ship going there. You don't want to be in the middle of a conflict that you know you'll be compelled to complete if you directly get involved.

In the meantime you go back to more mundane matters such as ensuring that the rebuilding of the new Nakol province remains on schedule. You also take time to hone your magic abilities; in fact since your "intimate" mind connection with Semra, you actually feel a little more powerful or rather you gained a brief insight into spells she never taught you during training.

A few weeks pass and still no word about Dokkrus, however you do get bothersome news about Nyttrus again.

You're informed of the latest problems on Nyttrus by Kivan who received a message about it in the middle of the night. The Iznac have apparently unleashed a powerful "secret weapon" in the form of three very large flying lizards. And these aren't wyverns either. They are creatures that Casimir once told you were rare even back in his day. They're dragons and apparently they've already destroyed one of your forts on the continent.

This isn't news you wanted to hear. Now you're going to have no choice, but to go over there.

You still can't do all this alone though, you still want to wrap this war up as quick as you can and you'll need some competent tacticians and strategists to do that. Snilkez'ka has her way of doing things you're sure, but they probably work best with other kobolds she commands.

The third gens are good warriors, and a select few of them are indeed leaders, but most of them are rather…well unimaginative sometimes. You don't think that's the fault of Brenda's training, but perhaps just a tendency towards conformity due to their creation. In fact you can't even think of a single one that has stood out to you during the war with Nakol. Hopefully the fourth won't have that problem when they're ready.

So you make up your mind that General Flevas should accompany you. The elf is pretty much the best one you have right now and you believe his vast scouting skills should come in handy. Given that all the orcs ran off and rebelled, you also won't have to worry about Flevas not being respected as a leader. The third gens and kobolds seem fairly neutral towards him.

You go back and forth on whether or not to bring Galen. His magic would most certainly help against the dragons, but you're wondering if you want to put up with his tendency to complain. True he's much better at not doing it, but he always manages to find a way.

Who you really wish you had is Decena. She would've been perfect for this mission since she already worked well with the third gens. Just another reminder of your loss.

Maybe though you just need another Eternal. An Eternal who always likes "vacations" away from his usual duties, namely Warrick.

He certainly commands respect amongst the Eyes and besides you he's probably the next most feared name in the Empire. As Sightmaster he's also skilled in less traditional forms of warfare, which will come in handy in the jungle filled continent. Of course the only concern with bringing him is that leaves the "mainland" of the Empire, relatively… well the word isn't undefended, but without a major figure to oversee any possible problems that may crop up. You suppose Brenda and Kivan can handle things if something really gets out of hand.

Which brings you to another problem and that's taking Warrick into a war in the first place. Warrick's job at one time was probably a bit more dangerous, but as you've established order over the continent, stomped out dissension and all of those other necessary things, it's become even more like a "desk job." Warrick still keeps up on his training and such, and you know if you called for him to assist he'd jump at the chance not just out of loyalty, but because he always has a bit of desire to get in the middle of things again.

He could very well get killed and a better head of internal security, as far as you're concerned there is none. His loss would be even greater than Decena's you believe. Though it's the more "moral" problem that surprisingly has you rethinking this.

Warrick just married Brenda, the pair of them don't see each other every day, but they're able to do so when they can. It's the happiest Brenda's been since she was married to Roldan. If Warrick was to die, well you can only imagine what that might do to her. So if you lost Warrick, you might be "losing" Brenda as well.

Of course that's all speculation. You don't intend on losing Warrick at all, but you have to prepare for that possibility and the repercussions of such things.

You take Warrick with you

You need to take care of this situation on Nyttrus and the only way you're going to do that is with people you know that are going to be vital for the task. (Which also why you decide to leave Galen here.)

You go to see Warrick at the Eye Headquarters, he's a little surprised at your sudden visit, but happy to see you as always. He's even more excited when you tell him you want him to come with you to Nyttrus.

"Of course Emperor! I have to say I'm glad for this opportunity again. The last time was when we went to New Dessel together and while I'm glad it worked out anyway, I was always a bit disappointed we never got to fight along side each other." Warrick says.
"Well I'm fairly certain that will definitely happen in Nyttrus. Anyway, I'll be leaving in a few days, will that be enough time to get your affairs in order and delegate various responsibilities here?" you ask.
"Should be, I'll get started on that right now."
"Good, then I'll see you in three days."

Thinking nothing more of this, you return to get your own affairs in order, explaining to Kivan that you want regular reports on the Empire sent to you in Nyttrus. The second day comes around and it is you who gets a sudden visitor although perhaps not totally unexpected.

"Emperor, I told her you were busy, but…argh!" Kivan says as Brenda pushes him aside and into the wall. She looks very upset, but apparently she knows better than to come in armed while in such a state of agitation. (Not that doesn't mean she still isn't potentially dangerous)

"Kivan, I'd suggest you leave us alone." You say, to which he nods wincing at his aches and closes your door. Brenda continues to stare at you.

"Well? I know you didn't come all this way to wish me well in Nyttrus, say what you need to say."
"You know that my loyalty to the Empire is absolute. You also know that Warrick's loyalty to the Empire is absolute as well. We were trained to do everything in our power to ensure its survival and success. I TRAIN all those new Eternals so that they learn that lesson as well. To know that the good of the Empire is above ALL, no matter what."
"And I know this Brenda. Your actions everyday are proof of your dedication. Yours and Warrick's."

Brenda begins nodding her head in agreement in a rapid motion while breathing hard.

"Yeah…SO WHY THE HELL ARE WE BEING FUCKING PUNISHED?" she shouts.
"I wasn't aware I was punishing Warrick, has he said he doesn't like the new assignment he'll be accompanying me on?"
"Hah oh…oh of course not! Not good old loyal Warrick! He of course feels honored by this assignment. He doesn't even know I'm here, because if he did, he'd try and stop me from getting himself killed!"
"You seem to lack faith in your husband, I know him to be a skilled warrior."
"Of course he's a fucking skilled warrior! He's also not a young man anymore! He's not as fast as he used to be, he's not as strong as he used to be and you want him to fight fucking dragons? And unlike you he doesn't have the advantage of powerful magic abilities to help keep him alive!"
"Brenda if you haven't noticed I'm not exactly young myself, why the hell do you think I want his help? Because I greatly increase my chances of survival against three flying lizards and an army of savages! And contrary to popular belief magic is just another tool for battle, it's not some wonder solution to win wars. If it was and I actually had that power, I'd certainly be using it."

Brenda now starts shaking her head and sighing.

"You don't get it. You don't understand."
"Yeah, I think I do Brenda. I get it better than you think. I lost Alison the same day you lost Roldan remember? You just found happiness with Warrick, happiness that you never thought that you'd ever experience again since Roldan died. Now that happiness is in jeopardy because there is the possibility that Warrick may fall in battle. Well you know what? Death is a possibility anywhere."
"Except by going to Nyttrus you're increasing his chances tenfold! And you're right you do know about loss, so why the hell would you want to put ME of all people through it again."
"Brenda if there was another way, don't you think I would? You believe I actually WANT to potentially cause you distress? No, I don't. You and Warrick are pretty much the only ones now that I can identify with on any level anymore and quite frankly losing either one of you would deeply wound me as well. I don't pretend to say it would be as strong as you feel for each other, but I would feel the sorrow."
"(Sob) but why…must he…we just got married…we…(sob)."

Brenda at this point can't quite keep it together. You have no real comforting words for her. Just cold facts of duty.

"(Sigh) He's needed Brenda. His Emperor has called him. He has to do his duty and serve his role as we all must for the good of the Empire. It was not my intention to upset you Brenda, but you know that as unfair as this all seems Warrick has a job to do. You worry that your happiness and time with him will be cut too short like it was with Roldan, well even if that does happen, count yourself lucky that you managed to enjoy the moments you DID have with him."

You pause for a moment, reflecting on Decena.

"At least you managed to realize a good thing before it was too late."

Brenda stops sniffling and manages to compose herself. Still upset, but resigned to fate.

"Very well, I've had my say, and I accept your decision my Emperor. Apologies for my momentary lapse in judgment and falling victim to emotions." Brenda says and starts to turn away.

"Brenda wait." You say before she leaves.

Brenda turns back around and you exhale deeply.

"I still need Warrick's help in Nyttrus, however I believe I can get by without him for awhile. Nyttrus is a large continent and I'm going to try to fortify our current holdings and retake our recent losses. So while I'm doing that, you've got Warrick for another year. Make the most of it."

Brenda's sad expression turns to one of a smile.

"Thank you my Emperor."
"Hm, well just remember you both STILL have your duties here that you need to perform. I expect Warrick to still take care of Eye business just like I expect you to continue training the fourth gens."
"Of course. Again I thank you."
"Okay then, inform your husband that his trip to Nyttrus is postponed for a year."

Brenda again thanks you and leaves.

You finish packing what personal belongings you feel you'll need for Nyttrus and the next day you get ready to leave for the docks and board the ship to take you to Nyttrus.

The next day you take a long look at Alison's portrait before your journey.

"I'll be back Alison… I always come back to you." You say and leave.

Year 57

Within the short time Warrick has arrived, your spirits have picked up a little. It's been a frustrating time here especially since the dragons have so far still eluded death. Though with Warrick now here you hope to correct that problem, but more importantly Warrick has brought with him very good news.

"So Dokkrus has been found at last?" you ask.
"Yes, my Emperor. Received word just as I was preparing to leave for here and since I was already on my way I figured I'd deliver this news to you in person."
"Ha ha! This is great! I'll have to send another message of how I want to proceed. I don't want any engagement on there yet, just some spying and exploration." You say.
"Did you want a message sent to the Eyes to handle this? My second is more than capable of carrying out these tasks. Wouldn't have picked the person otherwise."
"Yes, good idea. I want a ship with Eyes sent to Dokkrus, we'll send that message to the homeland later, right now though you and I have business with killing one of these flying lizards. I believe we've finally managed to track one to where it makes its home in between its attacks." You say.

"You mean you haven't slain all three yourself yet?" Warrick asks.
"I wish. But now that you're here I'm confident that their continued existence will no longer be a problem, so you ready?"
"Sure am, Emperor. It'll be just like the old days!" Warrick exclaims.

In high spirits and a positive outlook for the future, you, Warrick and a company of Eternals set out to kill one of the dragons.
Year 60

"Well, looks like we've lost the Tornado." Warrick says as the pair of you see through in the near distance a multi-colored dragon unleash a gout of flame from its mouth, which engulfs the airship. Already heavily damaged the flying fortress can't take anymore and begins to explode. Minor ones at first, then one large one. Flaming pieces of the machine fall from the sky.

"It's all right. It's all right. The Storm II is still there and hopefully it'll kill that damn thing or at least wound it enough for us to do so. Either way that flying lizard dies today. This war will be all but won with its death. It's the last one and I'm glad it's finally decided to come to us this time, because I'm sick of chasing it all over this damn continent. I want to get the invasion of Dokkrus underway properly and I can't very well do that if I'm stuck in this damn jungle continent." You say preparing for the large group of Iznac approaching Fort Canopy.

"Hrm. Certainly is a lot of them. Better get on with this." Warrick says and orders the cannons to fire upon the multitude, which puts a dent in their numbers, but doesn't stop their advancing.

You look over the battlements and see several Iznacs climbing the walls of the fort like an army of ants. They aren't even using ladders, they're just scaling the fort with their bare hands. It's actually rather impressive, until you unleash a chain of lightning to zap all of them. The shock is enough to at least cause most of them to fall off if not outright kill them immediately.

"Slaughter the four armed spider eyed bastards! Make them realize that their domination of this continent has passed! This is the time of the Empire!" you shout to the Eternals defending the fort.

Your people are doing their best though they can't stop every Iznac from scaling the fort. Soon the gunfire is replaced by sounds of close combat weaponry. No matter how far the advances in technology, it always eventually comes down to looking your opponent in the eye and feeling their blood splatter as you end their life.

While you're busy hacking off the limbs of an Iznac warrior, another loud explosion in the distance is heard followed by a bright flash in the sky. It's not lightning from the storm, but rather the demise of your Storm. The Storm II joins the Tornado in crashing to the ground after losing its skirmish with the dragon. Hopefully the rain is making the jungle wet enough or else the flames from the wreckage of these downed airships are going to cause an inferno throughout the jungle.

"Damn! The Iznac brought their little frog slaves and the remainder of those orc traitors!" Warrick says and cuts down several Glip before helping the rest of the soldiers fend off the orcs smashing through the fortress' gates.

It doesn't matter in the scheme of things because even with overwhelming odds, your Eternals are still holding their own against all attackers. You then hear a roaring sound getting closer to your position and the sounds of great wings flapping.

You shout a general command for the still working cannons to be pointed towards the dragon and to prepare to fire when the beast is in range. In the meantime you and Warrick try to keep that side of the fort relatively free of invading forces.

"Hey, you think maybe I can get the chance to kill the dragon this time? I know you're the Emperor and all, but you don't need to prove your superiority all the damn time." Warrick jokes.
"Yeah? Well maybe you'll get your chance if you aren't as slow like you were the last two times." You retort.
"Slow? Well excuse me Mr. lightning fingers, but we all don't have the ability to blast something out of the sky with a thought."
"Well that's why I'm the Emperor." You snicker.

The dragon gets closer and you give the order to fire and unleash your own magic bolts at the creature. It's definitely wounded from its ordeal with the two airships, but given your experience with the other two dragons, you know it's far from being out the fight.

In fact it's so determined that it doesn't distinguish friend from foe when it blasts its flame breath on the fort. You manage to protect most of your people with a magic barrier, but for those outside its protection, most are set on fire if not incinerated immediately. On the positive side, it reduces your enemies, on the negative it ignites the gunpowder barrels for the cannons causing a massive explosion and completely destroying one side of the fort.

While the barrier still protects you and everyone within initially, its still a lot of strain on your energy and you begin to feel the fatigue setting in.

"No! Damnit! Fight through it!" you mutter to yourself hating your weakness.

While you're busily trying to fight through your fatigue, you don't notice where Warrick went and that was to the highest point he could get to on the fort and some how JUMPING on the damn dragon when it made its pass!

You almost can't believe your eyes as you see the dragon flying away from the fort with Warrick desperately trying to hold on to one of its legs. You can see him hacking at the dragon's underbelly. The dragon bellows in pain and begins to turn to make a second pass, but Warrick's assault makes another attack on the fort a non-priority for it.

You see the beast twist and squirm in an effort to shake Warrick free and then eventually the beast makes another loud screech and the both of them go crashing into the jungle no doubt destroying several trees in the process. You can still hear the dragon in the distance, so you know it isn't dead yet (Though probably badly wounded), but who knows about Warrick's fate.

In the meantime Fort Canopy isn't immediately being attacked anymore as most of the Iznac have fled or been killed at this point. You quickly order your remaining troops to secure the fort and take a small group with you to head towards the dragon's roaring noises.

Fortunately the jungle isn't thick here and the noises make tracking pretty easy, though by the time you reach your target, you see the severely wounded dragon with Warrick in its mouth and shaking its head from side to side. Then with one more shake, Warrick goes flying out of the dragon's mouth and slams into a nearby tree. You can't quite make out all the damage, but it looks like he's missing an arm at this point. Who knows what other grievous wounds he's suffered.

In any case the dragon has now turned its attention towards your direction, but its not exactly in the best condition itself. It makes a coughing noise and a pitifully short burst of flame and a large amount of blood emanates from its mouth. It even tries to flap its wings perhaps in an attempt to escape, but one wing is so torn up that it can't lift off even if it had the strength to do so.

You focus a full attack on the dragon

As regrettable as it is, Warrick's condition is secondary; killing this beast is top priority.

Despite the dragon's weakened state, you don't take any chances and unleash a blast of cold on the creature, which slows it down even more. Eventually its skin starts to frost over until parts become as ice.

"Fire at its head!" you shout and the troops with you do so immediately with chunks of the dragon's frozen head breaking off as bullets go into it. You finish up with a couple of magic bolts to shatter it completely. The headless dragon flails slowly about for a moment though you don't really stand around to be mesmerized by its death twitches as you suddenly find yourself attacked by Iznac warriors who had fled from the fort, but apparently were still lurking in the jungle.

They down a couple of your people, but they're really no match for you and are quickly dispatched. With all enemies beaten, you finally go over to where Warrick's body lies. As you predicted, he's already dead.

"Shit. How the hell am I going to explain this to Brenda?" Is about the only thing you can utter at this point.

Warrick isn't the only loss as you soon to come find out. Flevas also died during his own battle in the jungles with the Iznac (Though the battle was successful). Fortunately Captain Snilkez'ka lived and was also successful in defending Fort Tangle against the Iznac hordes.

With the dragons dead and this large Iznac offensive repelled, its safe to say that Nyttrus is yours. The Iznac will probably linger with petty raids for awhile, but eventually much like the Torites they will become only a memory. After assigning new orders and giving out a few field promotions, you return to Evigrus with Warrick's body.

When you arrive, you waste little time to give the sad news to Brenda though as soon as she sees you enter the training room by yourself, her face already displays the look of someone who already knows what you're going to tell her.

"Brenda, I think you can stop training the eternals for the day, I've got…"
"He's dead isn't he?" Brenda interrupts.
"Yes." You answers.

Brenda is silent and pauses a moment before telling the fourth gens to stop training for the day and to return to their barracks. They comply though most of them take a moment to stare at you and whisper, presumably in awe that their Emperor has paid another visit.

With the two of you remaining in the room, Brenda addresses you again.

"It was a death fitting for an Eternal I trust?" Brenda asks.
"Oh yes. Yes it was. He died in battle with a dragon. I cannot think of a more glorious death."

Brenda inhales and exhales, rubbing a hand over her face, trying to hold back tears.

"Good. That's good. (Sniffle) That's more than Roldan got at least. Was there enough of his body left for a proper funeral?"
"Yes, I've brought his body back from Nyttrus. The arrangements for a heroes' funeral will be made as soon as you're ready."
"Okay. Well I'll see you tomorrow to make the arrangements, now I believe I should get my students back in here, don't want them to get lazy and make any reckless mistakes when the time comes."
"Brenda you can take as much time as you need, you…"
"No. I have a duty to train these Eternals and I will see to that task. Warrick did his duty for the Empire and so I will continue to do mine for the Empire. These Eternals are going to help ensure the Empire's continued survival one day and the Empire must survive for as long as the Empire lives on, Warrick will live on as his sacrifices will not have been in vain."

You nod at Brenda's decision.

"Okay, well I shall take my leave now." You say not having much more to add.
"Thank you my Emperor." Brenda says before you leave.
"What for?"
"Giving me that extra year. I'll cherish it for as long as I live."

You leave Brenda to morn in her own way, which apparently is immersing herself in her work despite feeling horrible. To be honest, you're not exactly feeling great yourself. Warrick wasn't just a vital member of your command, he was one of your "siblings" and now it's just you and Brenda.

Warrick's funeral isn't a spectacle. Brenda's requests a quieter and much more private one. He of course is still placed in a grave next to other honored Empire heroes, but for the most part only you, Brenda and a few of his closest subordinates attend. It is here you get to meet the one Warrick appointed to be in charge when he left for Nyttrus, Cassandra.

Warrick mentioned her a couple times during your time in Nyttrus, though he neglected to mention she was an elf. Actually you didn't even realize there had been any elves recruited into the Eyes and you're sort of curious of when this happened and how she rose through the ranks, so its just as well that she makes a point of wanting to speak with you after the funeral.

Later the pair of you go to talk in your meeting room.

"So…Cassandra is it. You're my new Sightmaster eh? Warrick never mentioned you being an elf." you say.
"I didn't think that was a problem, my Emperor."
"No. No problem. Warrick just never mentioned recruiting any elves into the Eyes actually. He did mention you to me a few times during our time in Nyttrus though. Assured me you were very competent at your job and had complete trust in you. Considering I've come back to a serene Empire, I'd say his judgment was correct."
"Thank you my Emperor."
"Hrm. So seeing as that was about all Warrick mentioned about you and I've only just come back from Nyttrus and have not yet had time to look up your paperwork, tell me a little about yourself and why you wanted to see me immediately."

Cassandra mentions that she grew up in Rask where her family endured a lot of suspicion due to their being a group of separatist elves that were giving the Empire a bit of grief there before Captain Kane's effort's solved that problem. Though some humans that lived in her village at the time still murdered her brother one night. Of course nobody said they saw who did it, but it was known. Of course her family being elven, nothing much was done about it.

Cassandra said she was angry about it for a while, but then realized that that sort of thinking wouldn't get her anywhere in the long term, so made a vow to try to work within the system. Her first step was to join up with an Empire militia, which was used more back then in Rask due to most of the regular troops fighting in the Felkan War and the fact that ogres and giants were still a nuisance. These militia groups were also made up of some of the lower class rabble that were either poor, patriotic, looking to fight or a combination of all three. As such there weren't any restrictions for the most part.

Of course she had to struggle to be accepted the entire time and was practically disowned by her parents who while law abiding citizens, couldn't believe she'd willingly join an "injust" system. She held her own though and learned a lot during that time though it wasn't really until Warrick became Sightmaster for the Eyes, that she came into her own.

He was looking for new recruits in Rask and she signed up for Eye training. She nearly didn't even get in, but fortunately Warrick intervened and allowed her to prove herself, which she did. She goes on to say she kept a relatively low profile since it made life easier in general among her peers.

"Not so low profile now, you're the Sightmaster." You say.
"Yes, and believe me I wasn't even expecting it when Warrick assigned me to take the position. Though as an Eye, I still prefer to keep a low profile."
"Understandable. I trust you are not having problems with any of your subordinates?"
"Oh, you mean being an elf that's in charge? Oh no. Actually I haven't had any of those sorts of problems for quite some time. Really after you had all elves still in slavery freed and promoting a man like Flevas to eventually be a general, I've encountered less hostility overall…though I imagine being an Eye might make the average person pause before insulting me." Cassandra says with a slight smile.

Sounds like Cassandra enjoys the little power trip she has over most humans, sort of like Flevas in that regard actually. No matter, as long as she does her job, you don't care. Warrick was confident in her abilities and you have no reason to distrust his judgment and after your little discussion about her past, she addresses the original point of wanting to see you.

"I wanted to talk to you about Dokkrus. It is my understanding that you plan on invading it?"
"That is a major agenda in the near future, yes."
"I see. Well since its discovery I have kept apprised of its situation via Eye agents as you requested. Granted this intel is limited due to the distance, but here is what we've learned." Cassandra as this point hands you a large folder filled with reports of what has been discovered about Dokkrus. She then gives you a brief run down on her own thoughts of it.

"Now, I've never been to Nyttrus, but from what I've heard of the place the situation you'd encounter at Dokkrus would be much the same. Heavy resistance mixed with non-traditional tactics. Perhaps worse given that these are svelk we're talking about."
"I didn't expect it to be a walk in flower fields. Besides aren't the svelk fighting each other most of the time?"
"Well, most of them are, but last reports state that one group is starting to show more signs of unity. Its not a stable thing mind you, but its there nonetheless. There has also been a lot of sudden efforts in mining and metal working. Oddly though, the group of svelk don't seem to be focusing on building weapons though, it seems to involve these giant metal structures that are in locations all over Dokkrus."

Semra. This has to be her doing. She's already preparing and if you had to hazard a guess, she's trying to repair some of those portals. Is she planning to use them to teleport directly somewhere in the Empire?

Cassandra says that this unified groups isn't very large. It's not even an army, but then maybe Semra's just planning a precise strike against you, like say a sudden assassination attempt so she might not need a lot of people. With those portals working, she might be able to just drop in anywhere.

Something has to be done now. Cassandra has already said she believes an all out invasion is going to encounter problems, but doesn't everything involving dark elves?

You try a different approach

While the temptation to just send your forces and invade the place is the logical choice, you have a feeling Semra is probably expecting you to do just that. While your current military situation isn't the worst, you've still got most your Eternals locked up in Nyttrus right now and you definitely want them to be sent in if you're going to invade Dokkrus.

"Okay, I'm thinking no invasion for now, however the svelk need to be stopped on what they're planning to do, or rather at least what this group is planning to do." You say.
"You'll hear no argument from me on messing up svelk plans, but given your tone you sound like you already know what they're planning which is something I was no able to gain knowledge of unfortunately." Cassandra says.
"Those metal structures that have been mentioned in reports? Those are portals. You're aware of the svelk named Semra aren't you?"
"Yes, I am familiar with that name as Warrick mentioned her a few times. Former advisor to the former Emperor, former trainer to the first Eternals and all around treacherous bitch?"
"Yeah, basically. Well without going into a long story about it, I know that she's trying to unify the numerous bands of nomadic svelk into another svelk empire. From what you've told me, she's already busy doing that and as I said those metal structures are portals leading to who knows where. Probably all over the world. It's probably how the svelk used to run their empire in fact. Obviously Semra's trying to get the things working again as another step in rebuilding her overall goal."
"If that's the case then maybe you should invade."
"No, I imagine Semra already is expecting that and you're right in that it'll be a nightmare to hold territory there. We just need to sabotage what she's doing, and I'm thinking this is going to be more of a job for the Eyes since they've already been doing a good job there and I want you to lead this operation in Dokkrus personally."

Cassandra wasn't expecting that order.

"Of course I will obey my Emperor, but I'm going to need more details on this plan of yours and I'm concerned about the internal security here if I'm gone along with…well however many Eyes you intend to send."
"Don't worry about the security here, I mean its important as always, but the days of civil unrest seem to be behind us a bit. As for how many of your Eyes you want to take, well that's up to you. I'd suggest that you take only the best and get by with as few as possible. You're going to be relying on a lot of stealth and hit and run. Basically I want you to multiply the chaos there. Cause these little nomadic bands to remain at each others' throats. Shouldn't be too hard, but try to make sure it seems like Semra's group is the one doing it. It'll definitely make them pause before joining her."
"So use their own nature against them. Got it. What about the portals?"
"Since Semra is the only one trying to get them to work, focus on stopping those efforts as well. Obviously that means sabotaging the mine, mines, or wherever the hell she's getting the material to rebuild them. Killing the miners works too obviously. The best thing to do is to destroy whatever portal Semra is trying to fix completely. I imagine magic is going to be involved so it would probably be best if you took your Eye mages with you."
"We don't have too many of those left you know." Cassandra says.
"Hrm, well if you need to, take non-Eye mages with you. There aren't many of them left either, but it should be enough…in fact take Galen with you. Lazy whiner needs to be useful for a change. And he WILL whine, but other than myself, he's the most powerful mage the Empire has, so don't get him killed unless it's absolutely necessary to the overall mission."
"Is the overall mission to kill this Semra?"

You chuckle a bit.

"Heh, well if you have a good opportunity to do so, I certainly won't condemn you for it. In fact if you DO manage to kill her and bring me her head I'll grant you whatever you want within my means and that's quite a large list I assure you. However I'd advise you NOT to even attempt to engage her if possible. She's extremely dangerous and quite frankly will probably know as soon as we start hampering her mining operations that the Empire is involved and will make adjustments to her plans. Even with Galen, you most likely are not going to match an encounter with her so my advice is don't fight her unless you have no choice."
"So our main mission is just to sabotage her portal fixing attempts?"
"That's only part of it yes. However the other part is just as important, if not more so. I WANT one of those portal structures."

Now Cassandra looks at you as if you've given her the impossible.

"Emperor, from what I've heard those structures are…huge! I don't see how we're going to be able to move such things."
"That's because you won't be, at least not initially. I'll be travelling to Dokkrus at some point to oversee that part of the plan but I need to discuss with the engineers for a way to extend the airships' distance so they can reach Dokkrus as well as carry one of those structures back here. Hmmm, I suppose it probably would be best to send a few engineers with you so they can report back and give an idea of exactly how best to move this thing without damaging it. I'd send Elam, but I'd rather keep him here to work on improving the airships. Maybe I'll just send some gnomish engineers…of course the gnomes won't like that, but fuck 'em they get more than enough special treatment."

You finish up telling what else you require of Cassandra and then make your next stop to speak with Klemto about getting some gnome engineers to go on this trip…

"But…can't you just use Empire engineers?" Klemto asks.
"Last time I remember New Dessel was incorporated into the Empire decades ago. Your engineers ARE Empire engineers. If you're asking why I don't use human engineers, well let's just say other than Elam, I still have more faith in gnomish ones. A testament to your peoples' fine works. You really should be flattered."

Klemto doesn't know how to respond to such a remark so he continue to try to plead with you.

"But Emperor, please be reasonable! Most of my people ever really leave this city anymore and most have no desire to, and you're asking them to go to a far away land with where sadistic svelk roam all over the place? We're not fighters, I think our history shows that." Klemto remarks.
"Heh, I dunno if that's entirely true of a race that makes the deadliest weapons outside of the most powerful of magic. Not to mention you're the only group that ever rebelled from the Empire at one time AND lived. I assure you though your peoples' safety will be top concern. I need them the most for this part of the mission to succeed. They will have the best protection. As soon as it's over, they're coming back immediately. You have my word on that."
"I…just don't know."
"Klemto, this is more of a courtesy visit as well as giving you the option of sending those who are…less resistant to the idea. You know the deal Klemto, you're part of the Empire and you have to obey its leader regardless of how much freedom and leniency he gives this place."

Klemto looks at you knowing that those words are more than just a polite threat. He sighs heavily and gives no more struggle.

"(Sigh) Very well, let me…" Klemto starts to say before he's interrupted by a red haired woman dressed in a slightly dirty work outfit. She's human to your surprise and doesn't look like one of your Eyes (Let alone Elam).

"Hey uncle I'm just, oh!" the woman says when she sees you.
"Zana! I thought someone told you not to disturb me! I'm in a very important meeting with the Emperor!"
"Apologies uncle Klemto, but I left my lucky hammer over here when I visited yesterday and I don't like being without it." Zana says while smiling and nodding at you. "Apologies to you as well Emperor."

You aren't terribly offended of course, but you're wondering why a non-Eye human is running around New Dessel until you suddenly remember meeting Zana a long time ago, she was just a teenager then.

"Emperor, uh you remember my adopted daughter don't you?" Klemto asks.
"Yes, first time I made my visit to New Dessel. As I recall she interrupted that meeting to ask if she could fix some lighting problem you had at the time." You say.
"Good memory! I'm surprised you remembered someone as unimportant as me!" Zana beams.
"Mm, well when you're the Emperor, you have to try to remember everyone no matter what their status because under certain circumstances a peasant can rise to become a general. Besides, I also remember commending Klemto on raising a young lady with respect for dedication and hard work. Glad to see that you're still at it."
"Oh yes my Emperor. I work primarily with Elam, do you know him?"
"Elam? Oh yes, I definitely know him." You answer.

At this point Klemto begins to get nervous and tries to push his niece out the door.

"Okay, Zana you've found your hammer, now the Emperor and I still have important business to discuss."
"What kind?" Zana asks.
"Oh just something concerning engineers and a rather adventurous mission." You say.

Klemto's fears have just come true.

"Emperor…please I beg you…not Zana! I mean I'LL even go if you need me to! I'll send ALL of New Dessel!"
"Relax Klemto, if Zana here is skilled enough to work next to Elam, I'd hate to break up the team. She won't be going to Dokkrus." You say.
"You mean the dark elf continent? Yikes. As much I want to serve the Empire, I do believe I'd be a liability at such a hostile place! I'm no fighter!" Zana remarks.
"Well you and your uncle don't have to worry, your skills will be better served here working on the new airships I want Elam to build." You say before Zana leaves.

After getting over his initial worry, Klemto says he'll get that list of engineers to you immediately. You leave Klemto's office and head to where Elam's workshop is located. When you enter he doesn't appear to be working on anything important, he just seems to be watching some rodents run around in a container, though they look like they have a small piece of metal on their heads with wires connected to them.

"What the hell are you doing Elam?" you ask completely startling him.
"Emperor! Apologies, but I get very engrossed in my experiments sometimes. I've been coming up with some theories on brains and how they work. Figured I should test animals first and then work my way up to more sentient subjects." Elam answers.
"For what purpose? I thought you were building new weapons in here."
"I am…but…forgive me my Emperor, I'm getting bored with just engineering technological devices and weapons. Lately I've been feeling a pull towards my old love of biology. I mean yes we can create machines and other wondrous devices to make life easier, but what about making a LIFE? Y'know when I was young and before I worked under Marik, I was kicked out of the physician's guild by short sighted fools who couldn't appreciate my ideas." Elam says.
"Yes, I believe Kivan mentioned that to me when you were promoted to the Eternal Project." You says.
"Sometimes I miss working on the Eternal Project. I think we could really make advances there." Elam says.
"Hm, didn't know you felt that way Elam. Did you have any particular ideas in mind for the next new batch of Eternals?"
"Oh several. For one, I was thinking of how to go about curing that sterility problem you all seem to suffer from…no offense my Emperor."
"None taken. Your idea is certainly a worthy one, but I believe the magical process that's necessary to create Eternals is the cause of that one flaw."
"Yes, but I'm wondering if there isn't a way to eliminate the magical process altogether."
"I don't see how." You say.
"Well I didn't say I had all the answers yet, but I really believe if I could focus my studies, maybe I could find a way we could create Eternals just using the technology and medical aspect."
"Okay, sounds intriguing. Might be good given how few mages there are around nowadays. If you do come up with anything important feel free to let me know, but ONLY if you come up with something solid AND you don't let it get in the way of your other work here."
"Of course my Emperor. So what was it that you wanted to see me about?"
"Oh, I need you to make the airships travel a longer distance. Namely to Dokkrus."
"I guess we're bombing the hell out of that place next eh? Okay, I'm sure its possible; we'll just have to go through our routine tests and that is still going to take time. Hope you don't need them anytime soon though."
"I'd prefer if this was done as soon as possible, but given the vital importance of the mission these airships are going to be going on I DO want it done right. Namely they're going to be lifting up a large metal portal and carrying it back to Evigrus."
"How big are these metal portals and what are they made out of?"
"Mithril I believe. At least those were the latest reports. As far as size, well they're about as big as the front gates to the capital. Maybe bigger."
"That large huh? You sure you can't just put them on a ship?" Elam asks.
"That would require digging up their base and dragging the damn things across hostile territory and THEN loading them on to a mostly wooden ship which is at the whims of the ocean and the occasional large denizens that lurk within it. The only ship we've got that might be able to carry it without danger of sinking or capsizing is that giant vessel we captured from Mortimer before the Nakol War. And even then I'd still have my doubts."

Elam glances at his rats again before continuing.

"Well you don't actually think we'd be able to load one on an airship do you?" Elam asks.
"No, of course not, but the airships could carry the portal underneath it with strong chains and hooks. Also saves the problem of dragging it across hostile territory since it could just be pulled straight up off the ground. I'm thinking maybe even TWO airships could carry it while flying abreast each other." You say.
"Well, that would definitely stabilize and help distribute the weight, it also means the airships are going to have to be smaller so they can even share airspace so close together…" Elam exhales. "But…it's certainly doable. Like I said, I just hope you don't need these immediately. I'll need specific schematics of the portal as well, I mean exact size, dimensions and weight if possible."
"I'm sending gnome engineers to Dokkrus, I'm sure after a suitable portal is found they will report such findings."
"Okay. Good. Well I suppose my side experiments will have to wait a little longer. I'll get to work immediately on this my Emperor." Elam says.

After a few more words with Elam, you leave New Dessel trying to feel positive about the plan you've set in motion. You know there is going to be something that will inevitably try to hamper your plans, but you just try to keep in mind that this is one more step closer to immortality.
Year 62

"The transport airships have made their test run to the outskirts of Dokkrus and returned. They're ready for the real mission now, my Emperor." Elam remarks.
"Good, because we're sending them and a couple of the upgraded regular airships." You say.

This is a major step closer to your goals. Cassandra, Galen and the rest have managed to locate and hold a fairly intact portal for you. The base around it has already been dug out for easier lifting and they haven't suffered many svelk attacks, well not many concentrated svelk attack at least. The svelk that are attacking are just the regular xenophobic type that doesn't want outsiders on their territory. They have no real grasp of the greater plans that are going on.

Semra's actions have been surprisingly minimal though apparently she's been too busy defending her own territory (and portal and mines) from not just your sabotage attempts (Which unfortunately haven't been too successful), but from other svelk warbands. It would seem that Cassandra and your Eyes have at least successfully managed to keep up the ongoing chaos there.

Won't be long now.

"Emperor, may I accompany you on this mission?" Zana asks.
"Huh?" you say being interrupted by your private thoughts.
"May I accompany you on this mission, my Emperor? I know I sounded a little afraid the last time Dokkrus was mentioned, but I admit part of me still wanted to go. I'd like to join you on this mission. Besides, I did have a hand in building these airships, it might be best if someone with that knowledge came along."
"I imagine Klemto might have some objections to that." You say.
"I love him, but he's too over protective. Besides, you're the Emperor if you want me to come with you then he has no choice but to comply right?" Zana says almost in a flirtatious way. You're not exactly sure how to take that, but Elam definitely looks surprised. Maybe even a little jealous.

"Well, that is correct…okay fine you can come with me."
"This will be a great honor my Emperor! I'm looking forward to this!" Zana says.
"You will be accompanying me aboard the Storm III." You say.
"You're going to be on the Storm III?"
"That was the plan given that it's the flagship, why where did you think I was going to be?" you ask.
"Well I assumed that you'd want to be aboard one of the transport airships to better oversee the process as well as to better defend it from attack in case the svelk try something."
"That's sort of why I have the Storm III and company going with them. They will be defending against possible svelk attacks, though barring Semra's meddling; I don't see any major threat to any of the airships themselves. The svelk are remarkably still stuck in the dark ages when it comes to weaponry."
"True, but I know you have the ability to cast those large barriers for defense. I dunno I just don't see your own extra protection on a transport airship as such a bad idea. It would allow the escorts to focus a little more on protecting the other."
"Hrm. Never hurts to be sure I guess. Duly noted, I'll think about it."

With Zana's brief suggestion she excuses herself to get her things prepared for the mission, leaving you alone with Elam who realizes his glances of faint jealousy have caught your attention and he is now trying to not make eye contact.

"Elam you're acting like a teenager. I'm not remotely interested in your woman so you can stop worrying that I'm going to start fucking her on the airship." You blurt out.
"Uh…um…thank you my Emperor…I uh…" Elam stutters a bit at a lost for how to respond.
"How long have you two been an item anyway? It doesn't really show much when you two are together."
"We try to keep it professional my Emperor. Human women here aren't in big supply here in New Dessel and I can't identify with any of the Eyes, but Zana…she's something special…never have I encountered a woman with such a magnificent intellect for science!"
"Mm, I'm sure that the only thing…" you smirk.
"Well her physical attributes are nice as well.' Elam says.

Elam goes on to ask if he can discuss his desire to work more in the medical and biology field when you return. You tell him that he may continue his experiments as usual, but you're going to need his help with the portal when it's brought back most likely.

Your don't bother talking with Klemto about Zana. You figure she can tell him herself, assuming she even bothers and decides to just make it a surprise for him.

You do take the opportunity to look at the new airships. It's odd, but as many times as you've seen them up close this will be the first time you'll actually be on one of these things. Even on your return trip from Nyttrus you went by boat rather than waiting for another airship.

When the day arrives Klemto approaches you. You're guessing he must've heard the news by now. He comes to you hat in hand looking pitiful.

"Emperor…I understand my daughter is going with you…I just beg of one thing and that's that you see that she's safe."
"You make a lot of demands of your Emperor…(sigh) She'll be fine Klemto, you worry too much. I doubt if the svelk are even going to be able hit us if they even attack. Besides, she's going to be aboard the Storm III and given that it's the heaviest armed airship we have right now, she'll be one of the safest people there."
"Well that's good to hear. At least she'll be close to you."
"Not necessarily. I might be flying on one of the transports. Zana suggested that it might be best if I was aboard one to better defend it in case the unexpected should happen."

As Klemto's mind fills with worry again, you wonder if you should take Zana's advice or not.

You board the Storm III

The transports are going to have enough protection with the escorts. Besides you'd rather be on the biggest, most well armed thing in the sky.

Zana seems a little surprised to see you aboard the Storm III when you're about to lift off, but says that it'll be an honor to be so close to you on this mission. She then says she's going to be walking around the Storm III making sure everything is running smoothly. You see this as reasonable so you think nothing more of it and tell her to carry on.

After about a half hour you finally get used to the idea of being so high in the air and less paranoid. You didn't think it possible for you to be, but somewhere in the back of your mind, you had the concern of this thing falling out of the sky which is probably why you haven't stayed in one place on the ship for very long and have felt the need to pace about it.

You also have been bumping into Zana every so often. Not on purpose, but you seem to just be appearing in the same places she happens to be. This wouldn't be a problem, but each time you do, Zana seems increasingly agitated whenever she sees you and it's obvious that she attempts to leave the area as soon as possible.

The next time you see her she's coming out of a door on the top deck of the ship wearing a heavy jacket with some sort of backpack on her back. Once again you completely surprise her.

"Hey Zana, once again we meet again." you say.
"Heh! Um yeah, my Emperor. Still following me I see." Zana replies.
"Not on purpose, but should I be following you?"
"No. I mean, there's no reason to of course, it's just what I've been doing is so boring and not very interesting."
"Probably, but there isn't much to do on here anyway…so what's that on your back?"
"Oh this? Uh, just a back pack full of stuff…"
"Zana, why the hell are you so nervous? Every time we've bumped into each other you've run off like your ass is on fire."
"Have I? My apologies then my Emperor. I suppose your presence is just a little unnerving at times. We all want to do our best in front of you, you know."

You give a sideways glance at Zana. You've NEVER known Zana to ever be nervous around you. In fact she's always been very casual to the point that most rulers would probably find it disrespectful.

"Okay…I understand…so what's in the backpack?"
"Um…as I said nothing of important my Emperor, just tools…"
"Okay so let me see inside."

And it's at this point Zana goes silent for a moment and her nervous facial expression turns into one of complete desperation before she turns around to run from you.

"STOP ZANA! STOP HER!" you shout and go after her.

You have no idea where she thinks she can run to until you see her attempting to climb the railing of the Storm III in an attempt to jump off it. Fortunately you and another crew member grab her before she's able to. She then tries to fumble with something inside her jacket, but you wrestle it away from her. It's some sort of black rectangular device with a button on it.

"What the hell is this Zana?" you say while your crewmembers keep her from getting up.
"Why don't you press it and find out TYRANT!" Zana shouts and now her expression has changed again, but to one of complete hatred.

You've never been the most technologically inclined, but if you had to guess, Zana has planted a bomb aboard this ship and this thing is going to detonate it. You immediately tell crewmembers in your vicinity to spread the word and to look for it while you hang on to the detonation device for safekeeping.

You then tell your crew to take off Zana's backpack. It's odd as it really isn't a bkacpack at all so much as it's a large sheet of canvas with reinforced rope attached. You've never seen anything like it before, but you again if you had to guess, it was supposed to decrease the speed of Zana's fall.

"Interesting invention. I'm guessing one of your own design? I'm just wondering though we're quite far from any land mass. Even had this invention worked, were you really planning on swimming all the way back to Evigrus?" you say.
"I calculated the distance, maybe I would've made it, maybe not, but either way it would've been better than allowing your continued existence! Murderer! Tyrant!"
"So who put you up to this? Semra?"
"Nobody put me up to this tyrant! I have my OWN reasons as I'm sure countless people would have for wanting you dead! The only difference is that I had the guts to actually try to kill you. YOU MURDERED MY FAMILY! YOU STOLE MY LIFE!" Zana screams with her mouth spitting saliva in anger.

"Zana you've lost me. You claim I murdered your family, but from what I know I wasn't even in the vicinity of the destroyed village of where Klemto found you."
"I didn't grow up in a village! I was going to be a princess! I would've ruled a kingdom one day! YOU and YOUR I EMPIRE destroyed all that before I even had a chance to enjoy a taste of such a life! Klemto didn't just save a random Felkan baby, he saved a HEIR TO THE FELKAN FUCKING KINGDOM!" Zana shouts.

It was a very long time ago. Almost a different life even, but you vaguely remember seeing a crib in the Felkan royal palace, yet no baby or even signs of a dead one. You never thought too much of it at the time, but apparently even though Zana was just an infant, Klemto must've told her about her real heritage. He probably lied to you thinking that you would've had her killed.

"Because of YOU, I've had to live a miserable existence working on machinery surrounded by fucking GNOMES! You know what that's like? Being the only human in community of damn gnomes? It SUCKS! Then when some humans do fucking arrive, they're from the same nation that destroyed my birthright! It almost sickened me to even sleep with that crazy fool Elam!"

How long must she have been waiting for the right time to strike? Was it always this way or did it slowly gnaw at her? A life that was stolen from her. Did Klemto or the gnomes put her up to this? Was this their plan in some weird way?

"Okay, since you're in a talkative mood, did Klemto or any gnome put you up to this?" you ask.
"What? So you'll have an excuse to round them all up and destroy their souls again? I heard about what you did to them. And maybe I might find them to be timid, tiresome unattractive little know it alls, I find it deplorable what the Empire did to them. I can't believe they allowed themselves to be dominated by a nation that systematically exterminated them from not just this life, but the next as well!"
"So did they help or not?" you ask again.
"No! No they did not! My father would've probably had me jailed if he knew what I was planning. Those cowards wouldn't dare stand against the Empire, but I fucking would! And did! Not that this will save them. After you're done killing me, you'll probably have them all killed as well for any excuse will serve a tyrant!"
"It's amusing that you keep calling me that. What did you think your parents were? They were a KING and QUEEN. You think they ruled by popular decision? Do you think YOU would have if you became queen? My actions that day weren't even personal. I was just following orders like a soldier. Your actions however today are misguided and fatal. Such a waste. Even had I known your origins, I would not have had you killed if you had remained true to serving the Empire. You probably would've even replaced Elam as top engineer when such a time came. Your quest for vengeance was as pointless as your entire life."

Zana says nothing else, she just continues to look at you with hatred in her eyes. At this point a few of your crew has come back saying that they found a bomb near the spare gunpowder barrels and another one near some vital machinery. They were disarmed and disposed of by dropping them over the side of the Storm.

"Well, I guess there's only one more thing to dispose of." You say and then nod to your crew still restraining Zana.

To her credit she doesn't beg for her life and continues to curse you even as she's falling over the side of the Storm to her death. Considering some of crew from the other nearby ships may be wondering what's going on if they've seen someone being thrown overboard, you make an announcement that you want the crew to signal the other ships to let them know everything is fine and that the mission is going to continue as expected.

As for the mission, that goes off relatively quietly without much trouble. The portal is hooked and lifted up without any problems. There doesn't even to be any weight concerns, though given that you had two transport ships just in case it isn't too surprising.

There aren't any svelk attacks either. When you bring Galen, Cassandra and the remaining Eyes aboard the Storm via rope ladder, Cassandra says if you'd arrived a few days before it might've been a different matter since they suffered a very large attack accompanied by mages. In fact Cassandra mentions that they were encountering a lot more mage types among the ranks of the svelk. She goes on to say that Semra's group has disappeared completely meaning they stopped working on the portal and abandoned all their mining operations.

"Knowing Semra she's probably changed her plans slightly again." You say.
"Did you want us to stay then? I mean we might need some reinforcements, but I think the remainder of us can survive on our own a little longer out here." Cassandra asks.
"No. You're all needed back home. Dokkrus will be invaded properly at some point in the future, but for now I've got more important things on my mind and I need all the security that I can get on the homefront right now. If the svelk suddenly start teleporting an invasion force then so be it. We'll be prepared, I'm going to start calling the third gen Eternals back from Nyttrus anyway. Besides, we've got one of these portals now and if we get it working like how I want to get it working, then we'll be fine." You say and then turn to Galen.

"I want to talk to you about your findings, I assume you studied this one and several others while on your vacation."
"Vacation? Dokkrus was the worst assignment that…" Galen starts to say until you glare at him.
"Uh, nevermind my Emperor. Yes, I'll speak with you about what I found. Of course."

With your mission accomplished and all your people aboard, you return to Evigrus where the airships land in the fields near New Dessel. The portal itself is moved into the mountain city.

From there you bump into Elam AND Klemto together. Good, this will save you time.

"Where is my daughter?" Klemto asks.
"Yeah, where is Zana my Emperor?" Elam says.

You snort and shake your head at this question.

"Well there's no easy way to tell either of you this, so here it is. Zana was a traitor that tried to kill me while she was aboard the Storm. So I had her thrown overboard where I assume she died."

Klemto and Elam's jaws just about drop.

"WHAT?!" the pair of them exclaim.
"You heard me. She's dead and that's it."

Klemto's face displays the first signs of tears, but also of anger. He's about to speak, but you stop him before he can do so.

"Klemto. I'd advise you to think VERY carefully the next words you say to me, because there are only a few reasons why I'm not going to have New Dessel purged of every gnome in here. Number one, I still believe I'll need the help of gnomish engineers for this next project and two Zana made it very clear that her plans were all her own and not the result of some gnomish conspiracy. Given how passionate her hatred of me was, I have no reason to disbelieve her."

Klemto says nothing.

"That being said, I'm ALSO going to forget the fact that YOU lied to me and that she was the daughter of the ex-Felkan royalty. I understand the lie, but this might've been avoided had you not lied to me in the first place…or failing that you needed to lie to her about her true heritage. Either way, I'll let the knowledge of your OWN poor judgment be your punishment."

Klemto continues to say nothing, the man is overcome with grief and can't even be in your prescence, he just leaves holding his head in hands. Elam is still a bit in shock.

"Was…was there no other way?" he asks.
"Are you kidding me Elam? (Sigh) No. There was no other way. If it's any consolation, she never loved or had any real affection for you. She even called you a fool that she only slept with due to the lack of other available humans that didn't completely disgust her. Well that and I imagine she probably saw a possible opportunity to get closer to assassinate me by being closer to you."

Elam just listens on in silence.

"And you, like Klemto, should count yourself lucky that I need you to work on this project because this incident wasn't the first time you mistakenly placed your trust in an assassin. Or have we forgotten the OTHER bomb attempt on the first Storm that Warrick managed to stop?"
"Um, no your Emperor. Apologies. I…have no excuses and thank you for your mercy."
"Hrm. Get that portal working and it will be a start."

Elam leaves your presence and you're left to rethink the "independence" policies on New Dessel. That time has now passed.

A few hours later during a discussion with Elam and Galen about how to get the portal working again, an emergency goes up throughout New Dessel. At first you think its some sort of sudden gnome uprising that Klemto has stirred up, but the event is much less urgent though perhaps a little tragic.

Klemto apparently went home, drank a lot of ale and then calmly shot himself in the head. He wasn't always well liked by his people due to his decisions, but enough of them thought highly enough of him to immediately go into mourning due to his death. There is probably a fear of what will come next too since he was their leader for so long; in fact none of the gnomes of their little council even steps up to replace him.

Hardly matter though, since as far as you're concerned this is as good as time as any to completely do away with the "era" of New Dessel "independence." It was a long time coming anyway. Maybe Klemto even realized that and with the death of his daughter he saw no more point in seeing the "bad times" again.

In any event, things are starting to look up for you and you're one step closer to your ultimate goals.
Year 65

"It…it was horrible, my Emperor! The place was so dead. Like I could feel it everywhere…my…my hands…my skin…wrinkled with age! How could I have aged so quickly? It's an evil place! Don't send me back! I beg of you!" the test subject pleads while groveling at your boots, but all you do smile.

"WE FOUND IT! WE'VE FINALLY FOUND IT!" you shout in glee.

After Elam's tinkering with machinery to repair the portal, sacrificing several lesser mages to fuel the portal with magical energy again, you and Galen trying to channel the energy to get the right location and after sending in several "test subjects" with ropes tied around them, you've at last discovered the way to reach the Isle of Mortos.

The Island of Mortos seems to be so heavily disguised by magic that it's impossible to actually find through normal means. Basically the necromancers only allow access if they want it to or in your case, meddling with a magic portal for so long that you eventually found it through trial and error.

Now that you've found it, the current problem is that it's a one-way trip. Hence the ropes you tied to the test subjects so you could pull them back through. (Though that still didn't always ensure their return)

There's also the fact that "dialing" the way to get to Mortos in the first place has been fairly taxing on you and Galen who isn't looking so great nowadays.

"A testament to your persistence, my Emperor…can I go lay down? I feel sort of weak." Galen remarks.
"Galen you're a wizard, you of all people besides myself should be happy to discover a new mystery of the arcane! I mean with magic apparently dying out, I'd think this would be fairly interesting to you."
"Emperor, in all honesty I'd rather just be back home using charm spells on young girls."
"That's your problem Galen, you have no true ambition!" you say.
"Yes, you're right my Emperor. I'm a lowly worm before your greatness." Galen says.
"I'll let that remark pass since I KNOW you're intelligent enough to NOT use sarcasm on me. And I'm not going to let your whining and depression annoy me today as this is a great break through."

At this point Galen says nothing and just shuffles off to find some place to lie down. You also ignore the test subject who has already been taken away by nearby Eyes to who knows where.

You continue to stare at the portal, which will now lead you to Mortos. You almost want to enter right now, but you know that it will still have to wait. You call Elam over who normally isn't a nervous sort, but is when he gets near the portal.

"So…this is it then?" Elam asks.
"This is it Elam. Have you finished building that other smaller portal for me?" you say.
"It's almost finished, though it took a lot of mithril to build it. Good thing Nyttrus had several deposits, because it's not like we had much of it. Also it's going to need magical energy of course for it to be fully powered. I imagine you've still got mages left?"
"Maybe a few still locked up, but I question if it'll be enough…well there's always Galen. Should work."
"You're going to sacrifice Galen?"
"He's served his purpose and he'll serve it one last time for the greater good of the Empire. He's getting old and weak anyway, how many years does he really have left? Wasn't aware that you held any fondness for him."
"No, I don't really. Still though…what about your Eternal Project?"
"What about it?"
"Well without any more mages you won't be able to continue it correct?"
"If this plan goes the way I hope it does, it won't matter, besides I thought you were coming up with an idea to take the Eternal Project in a new direction without the use of magic." You say.
"I was, but then I had to focus my efforts on this project and as I know it was of great importance to you, I didn't want to divert my attention." Elam responds.
"Probably was wise of you. Well, after we get the second portal up and running, you'll be able to pursue your desire for more biological experiments and find a new way of creating Eternals."

Elam nods and excuses himself to go back to work on finishing the other portal. The smaller one is going to be the "return" portal back here after its power up, "calibrated" and dragged through the Mortos portal.

The test subject didn't say anything about any ghoul creatures or other undead around, just a dead feeling everywhere so it looks like you go lucky as far as the location is concerned. Though you still have no idea where you'll be located on Mortos. After all you only visited the place once and that was thirty years ago. You were so different back then. The trusting, loyal, good soldier that never questioned anything.

You've been thinking more about those last few days with Casimir recently, your trip to Mortos and the days immediately afterwards. The big lie that Casimir perpetrated just to secure his own immortality was still nothing compared to the one that nobody except Jacob and Semra knew about. It's still odd to think about how you were never truly meant to be an Eternal.

Still, it's often been said the bigger the lie; the more people are willing to believe it. Maybe its because your entire life is a "lie" that you managed to achieve so much within it. Maybe that's why you managed to become a successful Emperor and maybe that's why you intend to succeed where your "father" failed.

Nicodemus, the necromancer that you encountered during your last trip to Mortos, tried to convince you to not pursue the same path as Casimir. Semra has tried to do the same on several occasions. As far as you know, they're still the only two that are going to be your major obstacles between you and your goals. You aren't sure what Semra's been up to as there has been no sign of her or any indication of an attack from Dokkrus, but rest assured when she does pop up again, you have no doubt its going to be at the most inopportune time.

As for Nicodemus, you imagine you'll have quite a fight on your hands with him and that's not even counting other necromancers that must live on the island and their undead. You haven't been idle though. You've been practicing and strengthening your own magic abilities.

Eventually you stop your reminiscing and decide you need to get on with your plans, you aren't getting any younger.

In another few weeks, Elam tells you that the second portal is ready, so you gather up Galen and the remaining mages to go about its activation. Galen repeatedly tells you that he doesn't think there's going to be enough energy within the captive mages power up the second portal, but you assure him that there will be. The fool doesn't even consider the possibility that HE is going to be joining them. Well not until the last moment when he's grabbed by Eyes and strapped down to the draining chair hooked up to the portal.

"Emperor?! What is this?! No! I was loyal! You can't! You…" Galen shouts before you punch him in the face and have him gagged.
"Stop whining Galen." You say motioning Elam to hit the switch and watch the last of your mages being drained of their energy and life.

When the portal is powered and you finish your calibrations, you have the smaller portal ready to be dragged through the larger one. Several Eyes, several third gen Eternals and some very nervous engineers all prepare to enter, plus one.

"Emperor, you're going with them?" Elam asks.
"I'm confident that this is going to work and if not, well then I don't deserve to be Emperor any longer. Let's get going." You say.

You enter the portal and you have that old familiar feeling…

A deadness all around you. The land is still dead, everything is still drab and gray. Same way it was when you last were here. The others with you all begin to complain about not feelings quite right.

"It'll pass if you keep your mind focused, the key is to not let this place cause you to spiral into a depression. Come on we need to get this portal into a good place…that large rock structure in the ground over there looks as good as any. I want the engineers to embed this portal in it, don't want it just standing out here in the open wasteland. Follow me and DON'T stray too far. There are magic areas or what are called negative zones. You step into one and you could be an old man or even a corpse before you knew what was going on. I'll be able to detect them, just follow me."

Your small march to the rock destination is uneventful other than some of your people still saying how this all feels so hopeless. Unfortunately most of it is from the engineers who are less accustomed to this sort of thing.

As you wait for the portal to be embedded in the rock, you begin to ponder if you still shouldn't wait awhile before marching an army into Mortos. It might be this place sapping your "enthusiasm" but the grim reality of how difficult this is really going to be is starting to set in the closer you get to your goals. It does occur to you that Nicodemus was powerful enough to destroy Casimir with barely any effort.

You do some scouting now

You decide that the best way to keep your mind off things is to keep yourself occupied. So you tell some of the Eyes to accompany you and tell the Eternals to keep a good watch over the engineers.

You remind the Eyes to follow you, as the danger of stepping into a negative zone is great. They all acknowledge your order apathetically and follow.

A few moments after the portals are both out of sight, you start to hear more complaining, bitching and overall whining. You'd swear you were travelling with Galen or several copies of him.

"Damn it, what the hell is wrong with you all? You're supposed to be Eyes! Start acting like it before I have to make an example out of one you!"
"Oh what's the point? We're all dead men anyway!" one of the Eyes exclaims.

You travel a little longer and eventually you encounter a ruined structure. Probably not where the book is located, but no point in not checking it out since you're already here.

You all approach the structure slowly. You because you're cautious, the rest well because they're all still suffering from the effects of the oppressive aura of Mortos.

When you get close enough an ugly head pops out from around the corner of the ruins. When it sees you it makes an inhuman scream and comes loping at you.

"Shit, ghoul. Quick, there will be a multitude of them!" you exclaim backing off and blasting the ghoul with a fireball.

As more ghouls come pouring out of the ruin, you motion the Eyes to prepare themselves for combat, which they do so but only reluctantly.

"COME ON! These fuckers are going to eat you!" you shout.

There aren't as many ghouls like when you walked into that town of them last time, but there's enough to be dangerous. You fight the ghouls with blade and spell, but your Eyes are barely putting up a fight despite you yelling at them and the very real threat of death the ghouls pose.

Pretty soon the ghouls begin to get the upper hand over your Eyes, some of whom have given up completely and practically laid down to die.

Frustrated by this place altogether you begin flinging fireballs at the ghouls regardless if the Eyes are in the vicinity or not. If the weak willed fools wish to die then so be it. Eventually the only thing left is you and many charred bodies.

You sit and rest for a moment from the battle. You realize that you're going to have to train your people to endure this place. It's obvious that this place is going to affect your people more than you realized…

Then suddenly a panic wells up inside you and you make haste back to the portal.

At first your major concern is that you'll find everyone not doing their job or at worst dead by their own hand, the reality is much worse however.

The portal lies on the ground and partially broken, magic still powers it, but its highly unstable now and its changing different colors quickly. All the engineers are dead and some of your Eternals are too, but it doesn't look like everyone took their own life. It looks more like a slaughter.

Two of the Eternals still live and have a deranged look in their eye; in fact they're eating one of the engineers. It would appear that the negative aura of Mortos may have another side effect other than severe depression.

Upon seeing you, they both attack like a pair of ghouls. You easily put them down with a couple of magic bolts, but the damage is done.

You look at the portal and you ponder if you should risk going through it or possibly continue searching Mortos for the book and hope that maybe you could find a way out of here that way.

You also ponder if you just stayed put that maybe someone from Evigrus would try to send someone else with a rope tied to them through the portal and you could get home that way.

You ultimately do decide to wait for what you think is a few days but nobody shows up. You're actually a little surprised, but then they might think that if going through killed you that what chance would any of them have?

This doesn't have a good effect on your own morale which has been diminishing by the day due to the oppressive aura of Mortos and your current hopeless situation. You also haven't eaten or drank anything for quite some time, you're starting to feel those effects as well.

Lacking any other options, you decide that you'll have to take a chance on the portal because you don't think you'll have the strength to find the book in your current condition, even if you had any idea where it might be located.

You stare into the portal, which still changes different colors rapidly. You don't have a good feeling about this. You're fairly certain in fact that you'll wind up on the other side in pieces, but there is little choice in this matter.

"Well better an unknown risk than a certain death." you say and you jump in…

The good news is you do make it out of Mortos in one piece.

The bad news is you reappear several miles under water in the middle of one of the oceans. Taken completely by surprise by this you gasp for air and your body cannot handle such crushing pressure.

Your dead body falls to the bottom ocean where it provides nourishment for the creatures that live there.