As crazy as it is to believe, if Semra's actually here then it might not be an entirely bad thing. So far she's always attempted to help you, and you imagine if she really wanted to kill you, you wouldn't have heard a thing.

"Semra. why am I not entirely surprised to find out you're somehow mixed up in this?" you say not turning your head.
"Because while you may be a fool obsessed conquest and order, you're not an idiot."
"Obsessed eh? And what would you call your being here?"
"A mother's concern…mmmm" Semra says as both of her hands rub your chest. Her face is now side by side yours and you feel a small kiss on your cheek.

"Do you know how fucked up you sound whenever you address us as mother and son?"
"Oh you know you like it. I trust by the fact that you have not immediately attacked and that you're actually enjoying my company that you're willing to hear me out?"
"I wouldn't say I'm actually enjoying your company, but you did come all this way…you might as well speak your piece while I'm in a diplomatic mood." You respond and slowly turn around at which point Semra backs away.

"So was your clumsy plan always to invite Mortimer and kill him thus chopping off the head of the Nakol Kingdom immediately, or were you actually trying to learn how he became infamously immortal?" Semra asks.
"Mortimer?"
"Yes, you know the lurid little king that you have captive right now? His real name is Mortimer Fudwick. Sounds almost like one of those silly gnome names doesn't it? If you thought he was annoying within the short time you spent with him, just think if you had to listen to the shit on a regular basis as his advisor."

Advisor. Well this is starting to make some more sense.

"So is that where you've been all this time? Hiding out in the Nakol Kingdom as the sorc…as Mortimer's advisor?" you ask.
"I wouldn't say I've been hiding. I've merely been securing my future. I'll admit it's not been easy and Mortimer's ongoing sexual talk has long since gotten past the point of being boring. He's not nearly as good as he thinks he is…"

This last implication shouldn't surprise you but that twisted part of you that apparently still hasn't disappeared completely nearly causes you to say something. You manage to stop yourself, however Semra smiles at your momentary lapse in stoicism.

"Why…you're jealous!" Semra says nearly laughing.
"No I'm not. You're being delusional again." You say trying to maintain your calm demeanor.
"Deny it all you want, I know the truth. See, I KNEW I would ALWAYS be the only real woman for you. You never forget your first eh? Don't worry, no matter how many times I lay with that effeminate fop he'll never be anything the man you are." Semra says totally enjoying this situation.
"I don't need your reassurance to tell me that, what I was going to say is that I'm a little surprised that a proud svelk woman like yourself has resorted to thinly veiled whoredom for survival. To a monkey no less."
"Look, if this is really bothering you, we can always go discuss this on your bed over there. Doesn't look like it's been used in years and I'm sure despite your age you could still give it to me in a way that only you can…"
"Semra, will you get to the fucking point of your visit, before I stop entertaining the idea that you aren't a complete fucking selfish backstabbing bitch who ultimately only looks out for her own best interests?" you say in a raised tone of voice.

Semra chuckles a bit at your outburst.

"Oh I did miss that anger of yours. Sexy. That passion. That hate that bubbles underneath. Mortimer has none of that. His demon does, but he's rather useless in the physical aspect due to being trapped in a crystal and all.
"Okay I heard the word demon. Let's focus on that."
"(Sigh) Very well, to business…"

Semra goes on to explain that Mortimer's reign over the Nakol Kingdom solely hinges on a deal he made with a demon named Zelvix over a century ago. He got youth, power, magic abilities and all the sex he could ever want in exchange for his soul. However Morty wasn't a complete fool, he managed to trap the demon in a crystal prison of some sort which has made the deal unable to be completed properly which now has made Mortimer "semi-immortal". Now the demon just sits biding its time, waiting for the day it's released or when Mortimer actually dies so it can claim what it was owed.

"So basically what you're telling me is that Mortimer doesn't know shit about eternal youth let alone immortality other than what this demon gave him." You say.
"Basically."
"Knew it was too good to be true." You say and get your sword.
"What're you doing?"
"Well there's no point in keeping him alive no is there? Might as well go ahead and be done with it…"
"Wait! That's another thing I wanted to talk to you about! You can't just kill him, I mean you could, but it would be extremely…bad. Killing Mortimer is also going to release Zelvix and trust me, you don't want to do that, he's a demon lord of great power."
"If he's so great how the hell did he get tricked by some hedge wizard?"
"Probably due to typical arrogance like all of his kind. Look I'm just telling you that it's not going to be a simple matter of just cutting his head off. If it was, I would've done it years ago on general principle of being a bad lay. You go in and kill him now and it's going to be bad in the long term not just for you, but for the entire world."
"The world? Aren't you being just a little overly dramatic? And since when are you so altruistic?"
"Since unleashing a demon army would not be in my best interest that's why. Contrary to popular belief, we svelk aren't all looking to see the world burn, but that's definitely what will happen if you kill Mortimer. Personally I was trying to find a way to banish the demon, I think I might be on the right path, but it's going to take a few decades still I think."
"A few decades? Fuck that, I'm not waiting that long and I know you're not telling me the entire truth anyway; you've got another angle in this. Now get the hell out of my way before I forget that you're actually an enemy of mine."
"(Sigh) Fine. You know, usually as people get older they learn to become more patient. I can see though your growing fixation on living long enough to conquer the world is becoming a major flaw. Of course what else do you really have right? You have no master any longer. You have no significant other. You can't have children. You have nothing except your Empire, which will undoubtedly fall soon after you die and you KNOW it. So you're now starting to seek out a way to conquer death. You're getting more like Casimir everyday. Congratulations, you are your father's son."
"I don't fear death Semra, never have."
"Never said you did, I taught you not to. I believe though…bah nevermind. Further discussion on this subject would be wasted on you. Go then, kill little pathetic Mortimer. Perhaps if you're lucky when the demon army is unleashed by Zelvix and eventually overruns the world, you will get that warrior's death rather than the old man in bed death where you are decrepit lying in your own filth and too weak to even lift yourself up."

"You done?" you ask as you advance towards the door and Semra with sword in hand.

"Just one more thing. I hope you remember this day as one of the many that I could've killed you and didn't. Mortimer wanted me to assassinate you, you know. Now I'll take my leave. Until next time lover." Semra says and disappears. You still hear the faint patter of footsteps so you figure she's only turned invisible rather than some sort of teleportation. You call for soldiers, Eyes, mages and whoever else who will listen, since you have a feeling Mortimer's escaped.

When you enter the cell he was being held in, you find the Eyes and mages that were watching him burned from the inside out. You're not sure how he did it without other soldiers and such being alerted and him being bound and gagged, but Mortimer's obviously escaped and Semra was running interference for him while he did so.

Several of your soldiers and others begin apologizing for not knowing what had occurred, but you wave them all away saying that you're not angry at anyone. When they ask if you want a general search and alarm sounded you decline.

"No. There would be no point, however I'm fairly certain that he'll be leaving his ship behind. Sightmaster Warrick is probably still in the area having it watched. Someone go inform him to have everyone killed aboard and start having it refitted according to Empire standards."

Just as you're finished giving that order, your advisor Kivan has arrived in a hurried fashion.

"Emperor, I just heard! Are you okay? Has the Sorcerer King really escaped?"
"Escaped, is a relative term, Kivan. Let's just say he's temporarily eluded my immediate clutches. If his situation is anything like I was just told, he's got bigger problems than the likes of me. In any case, we're officially at war with the Kingdom of Nakol now."
"I see…is there anything you need right now?"

You briefly think for a moment.

The only thing that comes to mind is getting your best general back to Evigrus. Decena from what you know has more or less pushed back the Iznac and at least established a good foothold on the continent where your people aren't on the verge of being annihilated. Flog and Snilkez'ka will still be there along with whoever is Decena's second.

Of course you've been regularly receiving much needed resources and riches from Nyttrus thanks to Decena's presence there. You don't necessarily worry that the Iznac are going to suddenly be a problem due to her not being around, you're just a little concerned that without a strong leadership presence, the orcs are going to run wild and fuck up the regular shipments or disregard them altogether. And you can't afford for that to happen if you're going to be going to war with Nakol.

You call Decena back

You made a promise that you wouldn't keep her any longer than necessary and that if war broke out here, you'd want her to lead the new eternals into battle. Your word is still your bond as far as those close to you go.

Seeing as you want her to get back as quickly as possible, you tell Kivan to have one of the new longer range airships that can travel a lot further than their predecessors sent. (Another recent improvement courtesy of Elam's work with the gnomes) Maybe it'll even instill a little fear into the natives of Nyytrus if they happen to catch sight of it.

While you're waiting for her arrival back, you aren't wasting any time getting the rest of your plans underway. You figure a four-pronged attack will work suitably for the initial assault.

You'll have your fleet attack south Nakol from the sea and land troops there. You'll have the rest of your airships fly over the mountain range and bombard northern Nakol. Your kobold forces can dig under the large mountain range as usual. Finally you'll have the majority of your forces march through the mountain passes. You'll hold back your Eternals until Decena arrives, besides it would probably be best to "test" the Nakol defenses located in the pass choke points anyway.

This is going to be a bit different from the conflicts in the past, your armies aren't going to be relying on any magic support at all. What few mages you have left are either overseeing the next Eternal tanks or are part of the Eyes now (Aside from the ones that Mortimer killed recently). You don't know just exactly how powerful Mortimer's own magic is, but you do know he's the only wizard in his kingdom so you're not anticipating any problems, if technology has proven anything its that the lowliest unskilled peasant can figure it out and use it with great efficiency. A sign of the times you suppose.

In any case you have no doubt that when the time comes, it'll probably be up to you personally to take down Mortimer in a magic showdown and if Semra is in your way then you'll deal with her as well.

By the time Decena arrives your invasion of Nakol is well on its way and going more or less as planned though there have been a few hiccups here and there. You meet Decena when she gets off the Storm II. She's much more "weathered" looking from when you sent her to Nyytrus. Granted as a warrior she will collect battle scars and such, but she almost is unrecognizable. She has a "stare" that you've seen in more than a few soldiers that have broke under the strain of battle, but this seems impossible for someone of Decena's training and experience.

Still, she manages a smile when she sees you.

"General Decena reporting for duty my Emperor." She says.
"No need for the formalities, I'm just glad to have you back." You reply.
"It's good to be back. Just show me to my next assignment."
"Well we do have a little time before that…are you okay? I mean how is everything Nyttrus?"
"When I left everything was fine. If I seem a bit off, I'm just a little tired I suppose. Apologies Emperor."
"Hrm, maybe you should rest first before running off into battle again. This war doesn't need you right this minute."
"If that is what you wish…um can I talk to you in private?"
"Erm, of course." You answer unsure of what to expect.

You and Decena find some place secluded and no sooner have you asked her what's on her mind; she's wrapped her arms around you and buried her head in your chest.

"Please never send me away for that long again." She says.
"Decena…what…" you sputter unsure of what this is about exactly, but she's obviously upset. "What the hell happened over there?"
"I dunno…I just…I dunno. I was fine for the first year. I missed you, but I was fine. After that though I started feeling a crushing emptiness. I think it was some sort of Iznac magic. I got hit by a black cloud of some sort by a priest. Haven't felt right until I got the news I was coming back here."
"You never said anything in the letters."
"I didn't want to worry you, I wanted to stay strong for you…I guess I'm failing again though…"
"You're fine Decena, just come with me, maybe I can figure out what the hell these Iznac did to you."

When you get Decena back to the palace you check to see if she's under some sort of curse or something similar. Decena insists that you don't make a fuss and definitely not use any sort of healing magic on her since it will shorten your own lifespan. You reassure her that whatever you need to do probably isn't going to do anything major to you.

"It's more important that you're in the best physical condition and the right frame of mind before I send you back into another major conflict. Besides, if I lose a few days, weeks or even months, what's the difference? It's not like I'm going to live forever anyway." You say.
"Don't say that." Decena says.
"Why not? It's true."
"But I don't want to believe that it's true. I want to believe that you'll somehow live forever and ever. In fact I know you will!"

You flash a quick smile and shake your head a bit. Decena still retains an image of you being "invincible." To be fair, probably most people do (Even the cynical probably just believe you're too "tough" or "magical" to die), but then they don't really know you as closely as Decena does. And the way she believes it is more of a childlike hope that she never really grew out of. Funny considering that she never really had a proper childhood.

After a few magical incantations, you discover that Iznac magic is indeed still affecting her, but its rather easy to get rid of, in fact it seemed to prey upon the fears in her mind. Not surprisingly that involved being away from you and that started to gradually mess with her head. It's a testament to her willpower that she managed to fight it off for as long as she did. Being actually around you probably weakened the magic.

It's actually a good thing you called her back when you did, who knows what might've happened had you not done so. It is a bit alarming though since you weren't aware of what powers the Iznac had other than the letters Decena sent.

"You should be fine now, but you said that everything is okay in Nyttrus? I mean did anyone else get hit with this type of Iznac magic?" you ask.
"Yes it has happened, but Iznac priests aren't that common. I mean I saw orcs and kobolds get hit with the same spell, but it didn't seem to affect them. I mean at least nothing I noticed. They seemed to continue to act like…well orcs and kobolds. There were a few instances of my human soldiers committing suicide though."
"Well, I guess I won't concern myself too much about it then since orcs and kobolds are the main ones over there. Guess their more simplistic minds are a good defense against the magic. Orcs don't really fear anything except perhaps looking weak, and kobolds only fear failing the Empire and myself. I imagine if the magic affects them at all it might only entice them to fight harder. Bad for the Iznac, good for us. In any case as soon as this Nakol business is over with, I might just have to take a personal trip over to Nyttrus."
"How long do you anticipate that this conflict might last?" Decena asks.
"Hard to say, I assumed that it might be a costly war and that the sorcerer king would have powerful opposition, but so far nothing of major consequence. I wonder if there will actually be anything left by the time you lead the new eternals into the thick of it. Hell, I'm starting to wonder if it won't be overkill, but I'd rather it be overkill than underestimation. Besides I'm sure he's going to pull out a few tricks that we haven't seen yet."

With a few more brief bits banter, words of encouragement and some rest, Decena seems back to her old self and is eager to lead the new eternals (who are just as eager to get into battle seeing as they've been training their whole lives for a moment like this.

Just as you figured, Mortimer does have other tricks up his sleeve to make the invasion go a lot more difficult. You don't know if he always had an agreement with them or perhaps they're just siding with him out of spite, but the satyr and harpy clan survivors that fled to the Nakol mountains after the Tor War rear their ugly head again. This mainly involves their usual ambush tactics in the various mountain passes, but apparently there are still enough of the harpies to mount full assaults on your airships.

Apparently Mortimer doesn't have a problem with their mages either since they still have a few left and they're using their elemental magic to a great degree causing rockslides in the mountain passes, strong damaging winds against your airships and even violent tidal waves against your fleet. You don't remember them having quite that much magical strength before so you imagine Mortimer must be enhancing their abilities with his own.

There are also reports of svelk mercenaries among the normal Nakol army. You knew that not ALL of them threw in their lot with Eldolith. These must be the ones that followed Semra. Well you can finish that job too.

It doesn't matter what the sorcerer king does though, nothing is going to save him as far as you're concerned. When Decena breaks through into Nakol lands with all your new eternals under her commands they prove that point by completely razing several major settlements. Between her leadership and their skill, his soldiers aren't standing a chance against them.

This war might be far from over, but its not going to take as long as you thought it might.
Year 54

Nakol's existence as a nation is coming to an end. You've seized most of its territory. Its armies have practically been wiped out, and you've even eliminated most of Mortimer's allies.

The only major objective that's left is Dequilet, the capital and currently the only thing saving it is a large magical barrier completely surrounding the city. So far it's proven impenetrable to conventional means, which means you're going to have to resort to magical ones, which unfortunately despite your own best efforts you've failed to bring it down, though you feel as if you've gotten close.

You doubt if Mortimer is doing it himself, you imagine that Semra is probably helping him upkeep the barrier. He might even have a couple of satyr mages still left, though you doubt it. In any case, he's got help and you're probably going to have to resort to a bit of help as well if you want to bring the barrier down.

"Galen's a given, as are the Eye mages, but I'm going to have to take mages off overseeing the Eternal tanks for this project as well. Don't want to, but it'll be necessary." You say while explaining the next course of action in your command tent to Decena.
"We're going to have to wait for those mages to come here, that's at least a few days. I hate this sitting around, is it truly the only way?" Decena asks.
"Unfortunately. Last time I tried to bring it down, I nearly fell unconscious. With enough magic energy though I'm certain it can be brought down, as soon as it is, I want you and rest to blow apart those walls and rush in as quick as you can. Don't worry I won't be far behind no matter how woozy I feel afterwards."

Just as Decena is about to acknowledge your plan, that old familiar voice is heard.

"You know none of that is necessary if you listen to my plan." Semra remarks.

The instant Decena sees Semra she raises her voice and attempts to attack her, though you hold her back from doing so.

"Don't bother Decena, she's not really there. It's an illusionary image. Right on time too. You're starting to get predictable Semra." You say.
"Semra? Is this that svelk bitch you've told me about?" Decena asks.
"Oh so he did talk about me to you. I'm not surprised. Never could get me completely out of his mind…"
"Fuck you svelk! He told me about all the hell you put him through!"

Semra does her usual gleeful smile at Decena's anger.

"My, she IS the aggressively territorial one. Isn't she? Almost sad that her feelings for you are so strong when your own for her are…limited. Trust me dear, he can't ever love you back. How could he? You're not even young looking anymore…"

At this point you have to restrain Decena again.

"Decena, don't pay attention to her. She's just enjoying making you miserable. It's what she does. Semra, what the hell do you want? Shouldn't you be making plans to escape or something?"
"Who said I wasn't? But right now I'm actually here for you. Need your help in killing Mortimer, well what's left of him anyway. It's getting harder to figure out when he's completely all there or not. Zelvix is starting to gain mental control over him due to his shattered confidence and willpower. This war has been very stressful on him as you might expect."

Decena asks what she's talking about and you quickly mention about the supposed demon army that will be unleashed when Mortimer dies, though with the way Semra's telling it, it sounds like this Zelvix is already getting loose…assuming she's telling the truth.

"Semra, didn't YOU claim that it would take you about a decade to properly banish this demon?" you ask.
"Well with you rushing head long into attacking Nakol, I had to step up my research now didn't I? Don't worry though, as I said, I've got it figured out, just need your help in doing so. Remember how we linked our energy together when we were extinguishing all those little gnome souls? Well we need to do something like that again, but this is going to require a slightly deeper connection. Namely we'd have to link our very minds together so as to make the magical connection strong enough to face the demon."

"Here we go…" You think.

"You can't seriously trust this woman!" Decena shouts.
"He most certainly should trust me considering how many times I've warned him about shit and indirectly AND directly saved his life. After all if he'd trusted me all those years ago, he might've saved himself a lot of bother on a certain island. Y'know you still have never told me how you exactly came out of Mortos relatively unscathed. Perhaps you can after we take care of this mess?" Semra remarks.

You don't answer immediately. You've been put in this position several times before and it's the same old thing. Semra tells you something, you distrust her, you usually follow her advice against your better judgment and while things don't necessarily go entirely your way, you can never deny that had you not acted things would be much worse.

But on the other hand… it's the same old thing. You know she's not telling you the whole truth and something about this demon situation seems even more suspicious especially since she's actually encouraging a linking of your minds. Even if she's telling the entire truth about the demon and this being the only way she feels is the way to defeat it, would it really be a victory if Semra had magical access to your mind? Who the hell knows what she might be able to do.

"All of this is pointless anyway, we can't get in unless that barrier goes down." You say.
"Oh that thing? I can make a small opening in it for a small period of time. Of course when I do so, Mortimer will probably instantly know I'm working against him and it's possible he'll completely lose himself to Zelvix, but we should have enough time to do what we have to do." Semra remarks.
"Or I could just wait for my mages to help me bring the barrier down. Then when I do get that barrier down, I assault the city with so much firepower that nothing of this world or another is going to survive it. I don't care how powerful this demon is." You say.

"Optimistic that you believe that, but I tell you sincerely that won't be enough to stop Zelvix. He's in a weakened state now due to his long imprisonment, but as soon as Mortimer's dead, it won't take him long to regain his full strength and when that happens, count on several magical gates opening up. Now MAYBE you'll be able to even repel the demons that will undoubtedly come screaming out of said gates, but quite frankly, YOU are not the young Eternal you used to be and your odds will not be good. And your Empire's odds if you should fall in battle? Even worse. You already survived one trip that you very well shouldn't have…actually you've survived many things you probably shouldn't have, but those days are becoming more unlikely as you approach your twilight years. I understand that you'd rather die a warrior's death, however I doubt very seriously that you wish to die a fool's death. It is one thing to die in a battle that has been properly planned. It's entirely another when you die because you purposely ignore all your information and don't take advantage of the tools and resources that allow you to win efficiently. I'M giving you this chance to win this war now in the most efficient way possible."

You continue to listen.

"We've been in this all too familiar position before Eternal. Why take the chance of making the same mistake twice?" Semra asks.

Decena looks at you as you seriously begin to consider Semra's offer.

"Emperor?" she asks.

You join with Semra

"Fuck it, let's do it." You say.
"That's my boy." Semra remarks.
"What?! Emperor you…you can't…" Decena reacts.
"Are you still here? Hush tank child, the adults are speaking." Semra snidely comments, this time though Decena ignores her and focuses all her attention on you.

"Emperor…I don't understand why you would trust this woman after all the terrible things you've told me about her, but maybe it isn't my place to understand. Maybe I am unable to understand the ways of a living god. And that IS what you are. At least to me. I will always love you no matter what. I will always serve you faithfully no matter what. Now if YOU believe that this svelk's plan is what is necessary to win, then I will trust your judgment. However I still cannot trust her and if you're entering this city, you aren't going alone. I insist that I go with you."

Decena has dropped her formal stance at this point and is looking into your eyes while holding one of your hands with both of hers. She still believes so much in you…

You nod which causes Semra to roll her eyes.

"(Sigh) Very well if you want to bring your former tank baby fuck toy fine. Maybe she'll come in handy as demon fodder, but that's it. I don't have the power to keep an opening in the barrier for very long, now hurry up and meet me at the city gates." Semra remarks and her image disappears.

"Well I guess I better make a general announcement before we leave." You say and exit your command tent.

Your announcement to your soldiers is brief though their response is one of encouragement of course. They're probably inspired by the fact that you're willing to do a "one on one" confrontation with the leader of the enemy. Whatever their own private thoughts on your policies and rulership, nobody can ever claim that you've never been willing to put yourself in the same amount of danger.

Of course with you and Decena entering the barrier, thee is the question of who is going to be in charge of the main attack force just in case something should go wrong.

"Colonel Flevas, you're in charge of the army."
"I am?" he asks surprised.
"Sure, you've more than proven yourself time and time again. You've earned the respect of the troops just as much as anyone else. You have the rank. If anything does happen, get Galen and the rest of the mages here to take down the barrier and then hit the city with everything you got. Though if that barrier comes down and we aren't out of there within a twenty minutes, bombard the place, and if you start seeing anything that doesn't look like it belongs from this world coming out of the city, start hitting it with everything anyway."

With that last command you and Decena approach Dequilet. As soon as you get to the barrier a small opening appears and the pair of you enter. The city gates then open and once again you and Decena enter.

Two things are immediately noticeable. One is how very ornate and elaborate the buildings are, even compared to other Nakol cities you've been to (Granted those were mostly half in ruins at the time) You've never been one for pointless decoration, but you have to admit the city is quite a sight.

The second thing you notice. There are no people at all. Nothing. It's like the entire city was evacuated, but you're fairly certain that didn't happen. Considering how desperate Mortimer has been to save his own skin, you can't imagine that he did something so selfless. Besides nobody reported an exodus of people leaving the city and there were no such sightings.

"Beautiful isn't it? Nothing compared to svelk architecture to be sure, but fairly good for the lesser-born monkeys. Especially without any of them around anymore dirtying up the place." Semra shouts as she walks towards you.

Decena grips her weapon, but makes no other move.

"So where is everyone?"
"Oh most of them are inside the big palace just up ahead. In these last few weeks ol' Morty's had himself a non-stop orgy. Takes the edge off. I have to admit such things are an amusing distraction, but when it comes to you monkeys even I can only stand one at a time. Anyway, shall we prepare for our…merging?"

At this point Decena grabs your arm.

"Emperor are you sure abut this? I mean we could still just chop this bitch's head off then go in and finish off the sorcerer king and whatever demons we may face. Just me and you."
"Its okay Decena. This svelk bitch has always been inside my head in one way or another, what's one more? Besides, my life has always been an open book. I have no hidden secrets of any worth. She's already know all my combat techniques considering she taught me most of them. As much as I might hate to admit it, she's a far more skilled magic user than I will most likely ever be so there is nothing to learn there. Anything she might use against me psychologically she's already tried and failed."

You turn to Semra, who stands silently listening. You walk towards her still talking.

"So she can access my mind because I KNOW I'm strong enough to resist whatever the hell she might attempt. Because ultimately it isn't me who needs to be worried about this joining, it's her. This will work both ways, and who knows what secrets might she hold in that svelk brain of hers. Secrets that she doesn't want ME to know and I'm sure there are quite a lot. Now are YOU prepared for this?" you ask Semra face to face and you notice that there is a brief show of concern, then she answers.

"I can handle it if you can, lover." She answers confidently.
"Well let's get on with it then." You say.
"Stare into my eyes and focus." she says and begins the process.

Suddenly your mind goes to another place.

You see what's in Semra's mind or at least a glimpse of it. Images are coming at you so fast you can't make out all of it, but you see a mixture of the horrifying and impressive at the same time.

You see what must've been during the time of when the svelk ruled. Everything is very regal and elegant looking, though much like the svelk themselves, it radiates a certain coldness. You also see the svelk treating their subjects (Most of which are of races you've never even seen before) worse than the Empire ever could. They also have greater control too thanks to their magic.

What you aren't seeing is any images of Semra herself and you're even sensing that she's experiencing pain during this process. Semra is obviously blocking some of her more private thoughts. She's showing you a general history of her life, yet somehow only telling you half the story. Meanwhile she's probably trying to scour through your mind of everything.

However, while you may not have the magic skills she does, your powers have grown considerably over the years. Her attempts to keep portions of her own mind shielded fail and you see even more…

You see the image of a young svelk girl. You aren't sure how old, but by human standards she would definitely be considered a child. It's Semra and she is holding the hand of an adult male svelk.

They are both in a city where a large crowd of svelk are gathered having a good time throwing what looks to be sveld babies against a nearby wall which has a big target on it. Semra looks very happy and cheers whenever one splats into a bloody mess in the center.

It would seem that Semra's entertainment preferences didn't change much for her. Several images of her enjoying similar activities with the same adult male flood your mind. The adult male is her father.

In any case, the idea that she was once a child is bizarre, but then everyone starts as one at some point right?

You see many images of her father. He was obviously a warrior mage of great skill that enjoyed violent battle and crushing the enemies of his empire though you also get a sense of "honor" about him. In that regard he must've been unusual for a svelk. He also was much different around Semra who apparently brought out the "lighter side" of him.

You then see more…intimate moments with her father. Namely sexual in nature. You can't say you're surprised to see this given her own personality. This relationship apparently went on for years.

You're loathed to think it, but her father seems very much like…well you. His face even vaguely resembles your own if you had the dark skin and pointy ears. This must just be another piece of the sick puzzle of why Semra has a bit of an obsession for you.

It's obvious that Semra is really trying to do her best in blocking all of this from you, but she continues to fail.

Then you see a black spot. Like a pit of endless despair.

The next images are brutal and violent. You see war, specifically a civil war. The svelk are warring with their own kind, or rather the "impure offshoot" of their own kind, the sveld. Dark elf against elf in a war to the death.

Then you see images of svelk cities burning to the ground and falling into ruin followed by hordes of svelk scattering and becoming the nomadic mercenary society you've always known them to be.

You see Semra's father in battle with a mob of demonic beings. They also have a much older Semra on the ground. This must all be during the fall of the svelk Empire.

The demons are doing their best in trying to rape Semra, but she manages to get the upper hand and fight them off. Then you see Semra's father being brutally ripped apart by the demons before Semra can do anything to help him. One demon even runs off with his head. A great sense of sorrow floods your mind.

And then you suddenly feel yourself being pushed away. The contact is broken and Semra immediately turns away from you and some sniffling sounds can be heard.

"(Sniffle) There. It's done. Let's go." She remarks while rubbing her eyes and walking briskly towards the palace.

You stand silent for a moment somewhat in shock by what has just happened. Never thought you'd see AND actually believe Semra having feelings of loss and genuine sadness.

"What…what the hell happened?" Decena asks.
"I think I saw something she thought she could hide from me and failed spectacularly." You answer.
"What did you see?"
"A lot, but probably not everything. All I'll say right now is the woman has serious daddy issues." You say.

Decena pauses for a moment before speaking again.

"Don't we all?" she says looking directly at you and walks towards the palace leaving you standing alone.

"Alison didn't." you mumble to yourself and follow.

As soon as you set foot in the palace a horrible stench fills your lungs. It smells like all manner of bodily fluids, waste and then some. Vermin of all kind run about what looked to be a picturesque palace at one time, but now is home to well, filth.

"Ugh! That's really awful! I actually feel sick! Not even sections of the jungles in Nyytrus smelled this bad!" Decena remarks.
"I can honestly say I've only encountered a stench this bad once before and it wasn't an orgy that caused it." you say remembering Gnome's Home.

You point up ahead into the large chamber that Semra is waiting for the pair of you. And there lies what is causing the majority of the smell. The dead.

Hundreds of filthy naked bloody bodies must be piled up in the center of the chamber like some grisly pillar. Other bodies lie about on the floor. Really you can't really walk into the place without stepping over one.

"It would appear that the orgy has been cancelled." Semra remarks.
"I take it that this is a sign that Morty's gotten worse?" you ask.
"It's a safe bet. I don't know if you can feel it, but I'm definitely feeling more of an infernal presence. Zelvix may have very well completely taken over Mortimer's body by now."

"Sadly the little fucker is still making squeaking pleading sounds for his freedom, though his voice is starting to dim. His torment while delicious now, will be even more so in hell when he finally shuffles off his mortal coil. But I ramble, please come in with your friends Semra. I'm sure all of us can come to some sort of deal…" a dark booming voice says behind the doors up ahead. Probably the throne room.

Semra turns to you.

"Whatever you do, don't listen to Zelvix. Demons have a way of persuading you into doing things you'd never consider."
"What like linking your mind with them?" you say.
"I'm serious! If you think that I'M a manipulative untrustworthy bitch, think of me five times worse and you still haven't even begun to understand just how bad demons can be. Now as soon as we go in, he's not going to attack us directly at least not immediately. He'll try to get us into a deal first. What we need to do is perform my banishment ritual on him. You actually don't need to do anything; I'll do the work. I just need your extra magical energy as well as your inner willpower. Together we can do this."

Maybe its because your minds are linked now, you get the sense that Semra is telling the entire truth about this. Usually you always have suspicion or doubt about her words, but not this time.

"Hey what about me?" Decena asks. "Both of you are wizards with all kinds of mind protection, what the hell am I going to do when the demon starts attacking mine?"
"Don't worry Decena, I'll cast a powerful mind shield spell on you, but I'm more than confident that you've got the inner strength to resist any demon lies." You say.
"I'd highly advise against that! You need to stay focused! Upkeeping a spell on her is just going to divide your energy. She probably should just wait outside." Semra snaps.
"Semra, she's here to help me just like I'm here to help YOU. I'm not going to deprive her of something she wants to do. You say its going to divide my energy, I say let me worry about that and you worry about your role in this. We're all in this together remember?"

Semra throws up a hand in exasperation.

"Fine." She remarks.

You tell Decena that she just needs to deal with any threats other than Mortimer since you know at some point he's probably going to have minions running in to help him. You also remind Decena to NOT kill Mortimer since the whole point is to keep the demon in weakened form while Semra banishes it.

Each one of you knowing your roles, you all enter the throne room…

The confrontation

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 Decena

Maybe you're not going to help Zelvix, but you're not going leave Decena to fight off that monstrosity by herself. Semra will just have to hope Zelvix doesn't have the strength to reach her before you can get back over there.

You let go of Semra's hand though you still feel a link with her allowing the transfer of energy. You can tell she's somewhat angry though that you're being distracted.

Decena is busily trying to hack away the flailing limbs of the massive blob of flesh trying to squeeze through the doorway. You see the sides of the walls begin to crack.

"Decena, get out of the way that thing is going to grab you!" you say and shove her aside. You follow up by casting a cone of ice at the thing in an attempt to slow it down.
"Why not fire?" Decena shouts.
"If I set this blob on fire, it's going to still come at us except it'll be burning as well. Better that we should freeze it in place. I'll take care of this thing, you go over to Morty or Zelvix, or whoever the fuck he is and prevent him from reaching Semra, remember don't kill him!"

Decena nods and runs over to Morty's body which has nearly reached Semra, that is until Decena pulls his leg, drags him away and kicks him in the face. Zelvix bellows in anger and emanates unnatural hissing noises.

Meanwhile you're still attempting to freeze his "pet" in place. You periodically smash chunks of it off, but it's a losing battle. It continues to roll its bulk into the doorway and the sides of the walls now successfully begin to give way. You jump back to avoid being crushed.

"Semra, you better hurry the fuck up before this thing crushes us all!" you say smashing another bloody frozen chunk off of the mass.

Another 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.

You walk over to Decena who is near Mortimer's body. She looks okay, but she's rubbing her head.

"You all right?" you ask.
"Yeah, I just…damn. Towards the end there, the demon was trying to get into my mind. It wasn't even that long, but shit was it intense. I'm glad you had that spell protecting me."
"I'd never abandon you." You say and embrace her.

"Well isn't that just sickeningly sweet? I do all the damn work and you hug her? Not even a thank you to me, but then you've never been grateful for anything I've done for you." Semra remarks who is looking a little exhausted herself.

"Semra, if I were you, I'd be thankful that I'm letting you live." You remark.
"Oh you just say such things. We both know that you could never kill me. We're mentally linked now you know. I KNOW you still desire me! Even now that you're turning into a feeble old man I STILL dwell within your thoughts. I will ALWAYS be within your thoughts somewhere." Semra snaps.

"Then you also know what you just said isn't entirely true. While before you could at least lie to yourself and make the assumption that in your twisted mind that somehow we were a couple. You now have complete access to my own thoughts and you know what you've seen? You've seen that my mind has been always honest with you. Would I like to fuck you? Yeah, and then I'd like to slit your fucking throat. I'm not going to pretend to be a completely well adjusted person, in fact I never have. Honestly given everything I've gone through, it's amazing that I'm not completely fucking insane."

Semra remains silent as you continue your rant.

"In fact given that we're so linked now there is less that YOU can actually hide from me now. I'd think you'd like to remember that fact. You know what you are deep down inside Semra? You're a scared little girl who misses her daddy. I'm not even going to get into your completely fucked up relationship with him, because honestly I'm not in a position to judge. But the fact remains you saw the man you loved and possibly only held any sort of true feelings for get ripped apart by demons before your eyes and you couldn't do anything to stop it. Just like you saw your entire civilization and way of life get torn apart and couldn't do anything to stop it."

Semra's eyes narrow at your attack on her tragic childhood.

"Y'know. You'd be a rotting infant corpse right now if it wasn't for me. You weren't even meant to be an Eternal." She says coldly.
"And? What the hell does all that matter, I've made the most of my mistaken life now. And yes, Semra I'm well aware of ALL the times you've saved my life or trained me, or graced me with your magical svelk vaginia. It doesn't matter, I've put up with your shit and then some. Your whole weird obsessive relationship with me is some sort of twisted attempt to re-create what you lost. Well as I've told you time and time again, I'm not the one and I'll never be the one. Time to grow up and face that fact. You're always telling me that I need to stop worrying about keeping the Empire alive and how I should just move on with my life. Well take your own damn advice."

Semra says nothing and the two of you just stare at one another for a moment. Even though you're mentally fatigued you begin to prove your point by attempting to access deeper reaches of her mind. She easily stops you, but your point is made.

"Very well Eternal. You've made your feelings and your mind quite clear to me. Possibly the clearest they've ever been. And as for moving on with my life? After what has happened to today, I'll certainly be able to do that with better purpose. Unfortunately for you, there are svelk elsewhere in the world and that is where I shall go and unite the svelk properly once again. Oh don't worry though lover. That won't likely happen in your pitifully short lifetime. Heh. It probably won't even happen in my lifetime, but I will plant the seeds and build the foundation. And KNOW that once again WE will be the rulers of this world. I will be remembered long after you've been forgotten like the lesser born you are."

Well the love is gone, if she's calling you lesser born again.

Semra begins to walk over towards you once again causing Decena to grip her weapon, but you know that she doesn't intend to attack.

"And now I shall take my leave which I'm sure you'll be most thankful of. I know we've said goodbye many times before, but I believe this shall be the real one. I can see that your path is ultimately one of predictability and eventually obscurity. Perhaps good enough for you, but not for me. Never for me. I will say this though, I'm proud of you. You saw my weakness and you pounced. I taught you well. Goodbye Eternal."

Semra nearly moves closer as if to kiss you, but she takes a look at Decena instead.

"He's all yours tank baby." She says and begins to walk away.

You watch her walk past the mass of bloody flesh and through the doorway hoping that this will indeed be the last time you have to put up with her.

She can't help but say one last thing though.

"Better get a good look while you can, because it'll be the last time you get to stare at my ass again." Semra laughs and in a few more seconds she's walked out the palace completely.

There is a silence for a moment and then Decena begins to speak.

"So what now?" she asks.
"Well let's start with this for one thing." You say and swing your sword downward severing Mortimer's head from his dead body. Never hurts to be sure.

"Come on, we should leave the city too before Flevas starts having it blown to pieces with us inside it." You remark.

Decena nods and you make your way out of the palace and towards the city gates. The barrier is completely down now and there is no sign of Semra. She's probably long gone and on her way to who knows where now. Though you do wonder about this location she mentioned where there are still svelk. Can't be anywhere on this continent and from what you know there aren't any on Nyytrus. Another undiscovered land mass perhaps? To be quite honest you're not sure if you'd even want to bother finding it if it's full of svelk.

But if the day ever came where they appear on your shores, you'll be sure to make certain that none leave to go back to it.

Decena and you are quiet as you leave the city, but just as you see your army banners in sight she has to ask.

"Why didn't you try to kill her?"
"Heh. Good question. I was sort of wondering why myself. (Sigh) The reasons are a bit complicated I guess."
"You…you didn't really love her…did you?"
"Hah! No, of course not. Everything I said was true and she knew it, that's why she left and I could tell she meant it this time. Mind connection and all. Hell, if I knew it was going to be advantage to get her to leave me alone, I might've agreed to it a lot sooner."
"So what were your reasons for not killing her?"
"Well for one thing it wouldn't have ended that way had I initiated hostilities. First of all we were all fatigued and in no position to effectively fight one another. Even with you helping me, she would've just escaped and probably bothered me in the future. At least this way I won't have to deal with her again. Not as good as her death I suppose, but I'll take it. Second? I made a promise that I'd help her and I was going to keep my word. Call it foolish honor or a foolish sense of gratitude that she did save my life many times in the past. Whatever. I made the choice and it's done now."

Decena seems to accept your response even if she doesn't entirely understand it, but then you give a third reason.

"One reason I suppose…and I never EVER expected to feel this way…but I actually felt a twinge of pity for her. What I saw in her mind…shit…it's no wonder why she's so fucked up even for a svelk. Almost seemed more like a punishment to keep her alive so she can still live with all that emotional burden she tries so desperately to keep locked up tight. I dunno. Maybe I'm just growing soft and weak in my old age. I mean every step I'm taking right now is painful. There was a time when I could've taken on two of those abominations and not even have been tired. Guess Semra was right about that. I will grow old like everyone else and eventually I'll be forgotten."

"Not to me you won't. Not to me." Decena says touching your arm, you touch her hand with your own.

"I know Decena. I know…and I'm sorry for what I did to you." You reply.

Decena of course doesn't exactly know why you'd be apologizing to her. In her mind she doesn't ever think you did anything excessively negative to her. And even the times you did, she's ultimately written it off as something that was "for the good of the Empire" in the long term or probably made her own mental excuses for you.

And of course that's the lasting damage you're apologizing for.

Smiling again at Decena and giving a few words of praise for her deeds during the fight, the pair of you meet up with the rest of your army where Flevas says he's glad to see you both since he was planning on carrying out an airship bombardment just in case.

"Fuck it. Let's bombard the city anyway and let the wilderness reclaim it." You say.
"You sure? It's practically intact." Flevas asks.
"Yeah. I don't like the architecture. Too…pretty." You answer.
Year 56

You enter Brenda's office where upon the pair of your smile at each other.

"So, how's the new bride?" you ask.
"Wonderful, of course. I'm happier than I've been in a long time. Thank you for performing the wedding personally." Brenda remarks.
"No problem. Glad to do it, but I said it before and I'll say it again. Never did I EVER believe that you'd remarry. Let alone to Warrick of all people! I remember when you hated his guts!"
"Ha ha, yeah…that seems so long ago now. I was too full of misplaced anger and hate. Glad I moved past it and reconnected with Warrick again."
"Sure, but I just never knew how well you two were reconnecting. When you both told me, I was completely taken by surprise." You chuckle.
"Well of course you were unaware. You were too busy fighting demons, monsters and sorcerer kings. Yeah, I know it still seems strange, but Warrick and I have a lot more in common than not, you know? I mean we grew up together, we trained together, and we served together. We're both Eternals. We're just always going to have that special connection. I mean I will always love Roldan, but why spend the remainder of my life alone if it feels right with another? We both came to that conclusion."
"Hey, you don't need to explain to me. I understand and I'm happy for the pair of you. Anyway I just came here to let you know that the new Eternals have been released from their tanks."
"So did they meet with your standards?" Brenda asks.
"Yes, most of them seem to be very much like the third generation though perhaps with signs of displaying higher intelligence overall. I'd definitely say they're ready for your training." You reply.
"So you do still want me to train them?"
"Sure, you did well enough with the third generation didn't you? I'm just wondering where the hell we're going to send them when they're all grown up. It's likely that Nyttrus will be completely under our control by that time."
"Maybe we'll discover a new continent?"
"Maybe, I'm certain they're out there, though I've cut down on spending for exploration for awhile. I'm trying to focus on rebuilding the destruction that was caused to the Nakol and getting Nyttrus under our control as well
"How is it going over there anyway?"
"Better than I expected, worse than I hoped. 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. (Sigh) Going to have to do something about them of course."
"What about the kobolds?"
"Heh, Dedicated as always. The original leader I sent, Snilkez'ka is still alive and kickin'. She and the rest of them are the main ones holding down the forts. Never thought I'd be so glad of their high birth rates. The third generation Eternals are getting shipped over there soon, so hopefully things will get better."
"Will you be going over there?"
"I dunno. I might, if only to keep myself busy. There are no more major challenges here on Evigrus anymore and I'd rather not send Decena there. Wasn't a pleasant experience for her and its not necessary for her to go through that again."

Brenda nods and you suddenly go into a brief speech about Decena and how proud you are of her and engage in general praising of Decena's accomplishments.

"You know…and I've never addressed this because I didn't think it was my place to do so, but I still don't understand why the two of you split up…I mean granted the age difference might normally cause difficulties in being able to relate to one another, but considering that you're both warriors, you both have an unwavering dedication to preserving the Empire and more importantly you are both Eternals, you have a lot more in common than most people. I mean she is your protégée is she not? It only seems natural that the pair of you would be an item."

Brenda's bluntness takes you a bit off guard. She normally isn't so confrontational.

"It's complicated." You answer.
"No, it really isn't. Look I don't know the whole story, but I DO know at one time you and Decena were together even if you didn't make it public knowledge. I also know that you DO care for her and its not just in an average friendly way or a master-subordinate way. You love her and for some reason you're denying yourself of it."
"I'm not denying myself of anything."
"Well what then? I know it wasn't Decena's idea, that girl still worships the ground you walk on. Probably more than anyone in the entire Empire."
"Look Brenda, I understand you're still on a positivity trip due to your own newfound marital bliss, but my situation is different. It will ALWAYS be different all right?
"It's not that much different…"

At this point you slam your hands down on Brenda's desk and get in her face, knocking over a few things on her desk.

"IT IS DIFFERENT. You can't understand and be glad that you don't." you remark. Brenda is silent at your aggressive stance. You stare at her for a few seconds and then back away.

"Now then, the new eternals will be transported here in a few days, I suggest you prepare yourself." You say and turn to leave.

Brenda though is in rare form and can't help but continue.

"Emperor?" she says.
"What?" you answer.
"You didn't do to Decena, what that svelk bitch did to you and I don't think Alison would want you spending the rest of your life mourning her."

You stand in the doorway for a moment with your back to Brenda.

"I know I didn't do what Semra did. I was hideously more successful…and as for Alison…she doesn't want anything. She's dead." You reply and leave the office.

Well you're in a shitty mood now.

You spend the rest of the day doing a lot of introspection, weighing pros and cons, taking into consideration every side and all your personal feelings on the matter. Every once in awhile you speak to Alison's portrait as if she's going to answer. All of which ends up pissing you off even more because you find it to be a pointless endeavor when you should be focusing on more important matters.

You've got a damn Empire to run and here you are struggling on what to do about a girl (Or actually a full grown woman now, that has a bit of an arrested development) that likes you. What the hell are you an idiotic hormonal teenager? You thought you settled this a long time ago.

You begin to mentally blame everything and everyone. You blame Brenda and Warrick for their new happy marriage. You especially blame Brenda for bringing this up to you. You blame Decena for becoming so attached to you. You blame Semra for…well everything. You blame Alison for dying on you. You blame Cyrus for killing her. You blame Casimir for setting up the assassination. You even blame Marik for having a hand in creating Decena and then not successfully killing her.

Ultimately though you've got nobody to blame, but yourself and you know it and you need to just make a final decision on what to do about Decena.

You go to her now

You've played the brooding tortured loner for too long. You're the damned Emperor, why the hell are you putting yourself through this unnecessary restriction and misguided attempt at "morality?"

The "damage" was done a long time ago and it isn't like Decena is special in this regard. You routinely have propaganda pumped out to keep thousands of people brainwashed throughout the Empire. Decena just had the luxury of a personal lesson.

So you took advantage of her youth and your position of power. So what? You still trained her to be the best. Would she have grown to love you if you hadn't done what you did? Doesn't matter. It's done. She loves you and you do love her. The years that have passed between the pair of you not being together have proven that your own feelings for her are genuine. They always were even if your approach wasn't quite conventional.

You've done far worse things than the "corruption" of one young girl who has done nothing but thrive because of your guidance. No, it is a far crueler thing to deprive her of what she wants the most. And it's a far more intelligent thing for you to accept her fully into your life as an equal.

And as for the long shadow of Alison…well… even Brenda moved on with her life. It's been long enough.

You take look at Alison's portrait.

"It's true that I'll always love you in some way. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have known about how good such a crippling emotion can feel." You chuckle.

"Thank you." You say and leave your room.

Decena is currently still stationed in Nakol mostly keeping the potential chaos down while you rebuild and continue to establish order there. You have a message sent to her to return to the palace at once.

When she returns she's in for quite the surprise when you immediately go to embrace her.

"Erm…not that I'm complaining, but what's all this about my Emperor?" she remarks.
"It's about us. Once and for all I see what was meant to be. We were meant to be together." You answer.

Decena's reaction is one of silent shock rather than the overwhelming happiness you believed.

"Are you serious?" Decena asks calmly.
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" you reply.
"…I…just…" Decena stumbles over her words.
"What? What's wrong? Aren't you happy with this news?"
"Well…yes…but…"
"Did you find someone else?" you ask believing that could be the only reason for her hesitation.
"No! There could never be anyone else! It's just…I have to know…"
"What?! What is it?! Spit it out!" you exclaim.
"I have to know if this is real. I mean REALLY real. You'll always be my Emperor, but I have known you in a more intimate way once before and you dismissed me, and I accepted it. In time I have even become used to that fact. But if we are to become intimate once more… I can't go through losing you in that way again. I just can't…so if this is just a flight of fancy or something I'd rather not…"

At this point Decena is getting upset, and you have to reassure her.

"Decena, this is real. No bullshit. I'm serious. I've searched my mind, body and what might be a soul about this and I know there's nobody else I would rather become my wife."

Now Decena is struck again with surprise. She probably figured you two were just going to start bedding each other again.

"Wife? You're serious? But wouldn't that make me…"
"Empress. Yes, it would. You would have an equal say in the Empire. Possibly more than anyone else besides myself." You answer.
"Oh…I don't know…I mean…I'm a soldier. I don't understand all the intricacies of running a country like you do." Brenda says.
"Pfft. You think I agonize over all of it? I let Kivan and other bean counters handle most of the boring stuff anyway. I'm just saying you would no longer have to feel subordinate or subservient. We would be equal. We would rule together. You understand?"

Decena nods and a smile forms across her face.

"I do." And she leans in to kiss you.

In the weeks that follow, "I do." is said by the both of you again at the ceremony when you finally make your joining official. There is celebration and merriment, though the wedding itself is not an excessively fancy one. It certainly has more security than normal however and is held in the palace.

Later as the night goes on, Warrick and Brenda sit at the table with you Decena. The pair of them have been in rare form the entire event with their intake of alcohol. While they aren't drunk, they're certainly less formal than usual, but then this isn't exactly a time for formalities.

"See? Didn't I tell you Brenda? I told you he'd marry her." Warrick says.
"Warrick you said no such thing! In fact you kept telling me that I shouldn't have opened up my mouth about it!" Brenda remarks.
"Bah, you must've misunderstood me. I always knew it was inevitable." Warrick says refusing to acknowledge his mistake.
"Glad to know you had faith in me Warrick." You say causing Warrick to raise his glass before taking a drink.
"Heh, well I'm certainly glad you said something Brenda." Decena says.

Brenda leans in on the table speaking directly to Decena. You can smell the alcohol; she's definitely been drinking more than Warrick tonight.

I just want to say, you're fucking beautiful in that dress. Seriously I mean it. I dunno how you still look so young. Must be all those years you spent in that fucking tank."
"Erm…I guess…" Decena answers.
"I'm telling you right now. HE'S the lucky one." Brenda says pointing to you. Without you he'd just be moping about this palace all lonely and still pining over that human girl…"

This remark causes a bit of silence from everyone, and Warrick starts to tell Brenda to be quiet while Decena just looks at you.

"Erm, Brenda I think you've really had too much to drink now…" Warrick says.
"Now no disrespect to Alison…I mean she was a warrior. Certainly someone to be respected…but…"
"Brenda! Shut. Up!"

You wave your hand in downward fashion to Warrick.

"No, it's fine. Brenda spoke her mind once to me before and this all turned out fairly well, so I'm sort of interested in where this is heading." You say.

"Apologies. I'm a little intoxicated…" Brenda says.
"Brenda. Seriously. You obviously got something to say. So say it."
"All right…Emp…I will."

Brenda takes another drink.

"I'm just saying that you and Decena belong together for several reasons, but most of which is because you're both Eternals! Doesn't matter if you're not from the same generation or not, you've got more in common than anyone could possibly know. All of us do. We NEED to stick together. I mean it's not like we can breed…"

Well this is an unexpected twist and now a few bystanders are trying their best not to look like they're listening.

"Why can't we breed anyway? Have you figured that out yet, mighty emp? I mean we're fucking superior to…like everyone! So why the hell can't we breed?"

At this point Brenda's voice is getting louder and Warrick keeps apologizing and begins to motion Brenda towards an exit. You reassure Warrick that he needn't worry about himself or Brenda and to just get her to sleep it off somewhere. Kivan runs over to ask if everything is okay and you tell him yes, but that you and Decena are going to retire and the rest of the guests can continue enjoying themselves if they wish.

When you and Decena get back to your room, she addresses the situation that just transpired.

"What exactly was THAT all about? What was all that about us Eternals having to stick together, asking why we can't breed and such?" Decena asks.
"I have no idea. Really. Brenda's usually always been calm minded about things. I'd say it was the drink, but that was only the spark. It's obvious she's had these feelings for a while though. Maybe, I dunno. Maybe she wishes she could've had her own children. I know she's thought of the third generation and now the fourth generation of Eternals as her children sometimes. She's seen them all grown up and directly trained most of them. I guess a maternal instinct has kicked in." you reply.

"You know…I do wonder too though sometimes. Why is it that we're sterile?"
"Well the process isn't exactly the safest. There's bound to be a sacrifice somewhere. When the original emperor had us created, he probably did it on purpose or wasn't concerned about such a sacrifice. When Marik created your group, he probably didn't care about the sacrifice as well. And to be honest, I've never looked into the problem too closely either. I was more focused on potential combat ability rather than fertility."
"Hm, perhaps you should."
"You saying you would've wanted children? Barefoot and pregnant? Taking care of little monsters instead of out there on the battlefield brining glory to the Empire?" you ask.

Decena laughs.

"Well maybe not, but I dunno…I mean if you and I were able to have children, I might not mind it. I mean we would be bringing in another Eternal into this world. Certainly a worthwhile endeavor and still serving the Empire. I mean Brenda might've been drunk, but she was correct that we ARE superior to the other races. I mean I know we look human, but you know, and I'll bet every other Eternal out there knows that we are ultimately better than humans. I know you've HAD to think it on several occasions. I mean you're the best of all of us! If we could actually breed, we'd eventually replace humanity as the dominant race. You'd also be able to have heirs."
"You're my heir."
"Well obviously, but I'm going to die too someday. The Empire needs a strong ruler to hold it together."
"Wait a minute! I thought you always said I was going to live forever." You say with some amusement.
"I said I WANT to believe you will, not that it's actually going to happen. I guess even though I've never said it out loud, I am sometimes concerned about the Empire's potential future."

Never before have you heard Decena speak in such a manner. Oh you've heard her talking like a soldier or a general about ruthless battlefield tactics and strategy. But this…is a little bit different. She's speaking with a prospective plan for the future of the nation.

She's speaking like a ruler. Like an Empress.

Brenda was correct, she is right for you.

"Well, that is all certainly something to think about, but who knows maybe we'll defy nature tonight." You say and start moving Decena towards the bed.

The pair of you proceed to enjoy your wedding night.

The next day 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.

Looks like you and Decena will be taking your honeymoon on Nyttrus.
Year 60

Eighteen years ago the Children of Tor launched an all out assault on you and while it was a fierce battle, it was the beginning of the end for them as an effective fighting force.

You hope that the Iznac are going to suffer a similar situation here today, because if not, it's going to be the beginning of the end for the Empire. Only one civilization is going to come out of this alive from this conflict.

You're currently holding the line at Fort Canopy, but it isn't the only major battle going on right now. You know only a few miles away Decena is undoubtedly doing his best to defend Fort Tangle and General Flevas is taking the fight to the Iznac in the jungles.

High in the air through the rain and in the near distance you see a multi-colored dragon unleash a gout of flame from its mouth, which engulfs the Tornado. 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.

The Storm II fires another volley of cannon fire at the dragon wounding the great beast, but it isn't enough to kill it. The dragon bellows and turns its great body around to focus its attack on the Storm II. It isn't going to die easy like its two siblings did over the past few years. It's going to fight with everything it has.

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.

Several small frog like beings eventually make their way in by scaling the walls with their masters. They're generally just referred to as "frogs" but their formal name is the Glip. The Glip almost remind you of the kobolds. Despite being under the harsh dominion of the Iznac for who knows how long, none of the villages ever joined the Empire when the war broke out. Didn't matter that the Iznac used to (and probably still do) sacrifice and eat the Glip, they ultimately still remained loyal to them.

While they've certainly had their moments, mostly due to ambushes with blowguns and poisonous darts and their camouflage abilities. The Glip are not close combat warriors by any means. It isn't surprising that you've not had to fight many of them. Even the Iznac know their skills are better suited elsewhere. The fact that you've started to face a lot of them does give you an indication of how desperate the Iznac have become.

A group of orcs smash through the barricades of the fort. You sometimes shake your head at the stupidity of that situation. You have no idea how the Iznac managed to come to accept the rebellious orcs as allies, but you guarantee it wasn't for any reasons other than convenience. Did the greenskins actually believe that Iznac saw them as anything than handy fodder for this conflict? If they broke away from the Empire because they didn't like being used in such a way, then they completely missed the point.

Then again being orcs they probably didn't think that far ahead or perhaps they just wanted to fight the Empire and didn't care about the reasons. In any case, no matter who wins this conflict, the orcs lose. The Iznac have a habit of ritually sacrificing their "neighbors and allies" to their gods.

It doesn't matter in the scheme of things because even with overwhelming odds, your Eternals are still holding their own against all attackers. The only thing that concerns you slightly is…

You hear a roaring sound getting closer to your position and the sounds of great wings flapping.

It would appear your concerns will be arriving soon. You just hope that the Storm II and the Tornado did enough damage to it before they both went down. You don't have the advantage of Decena helping you take it down like you did with the last two dragons.

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 try to keep that side of the fort relatively free of invading forces.

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.

When the dragon passes you temporarily put down the barrier to take a small breather seeing as you aren't immediately being attacked by Iznac ground forces anymore (Which have mostly been killed or broke and run by this point)

Several soldiers point up and announce that the dragon is slowly turning around for a second pass.

"Everyone spread out and find your own cover! Shoot the overgrown lizard when in range!" you shout and make your way back up to the battlements (Those that are still intact that is).

You stand on top of the battlements and see the dragon coming straight at you. Almost as if it was personal and who knows maybe it is. This creature may very well want you dead for killing its only two companions. Or perhaps it's just intelligent enough to recognize you as a genuine threat.

You summon up all your energy and unleash a stream of lightning at the dragon just as it's beginning to open its mouth to breath fire. It doesn't stop. It doesn't even slow down despite the fact that you've undoubtedly just shocked the hell of its brain.

A gout of flame comes directly at you.

"Shit!" you shout and put up your own personal barrier to block the flames. Which succeeds, but it does nothing to stop the dragon's approach. It's fully intent on ramming you at this point.

You no idea what would happen if you just stood there with your barrier up. It's possible the dragon would severely smash its own face in from the force, maybe even breaking its neck, however its also possible that it would hit with enough force that it could actually move you. In this case, right off the battlements on to the ground several feet behind you.

Your Eternals unleash gunfire as the dragon gets closer and you're left to wonder if this high-risk plan could potentially end this dragon threat once and for all.

You keep the barrier up

Probably one of the crazier things you've done and its entirely possible you're either trying to prove something to yourself or you just want this battle to be over with win or lose because you're getting very tired. Probably a little bit of both.

"Okay, you fucking overgrown flying lizard, it's either going to be me or you today." You say and expend more energy to reinforce your barrier.

For a brief moment you see the dragon's face get closer and closer and then…

There's a great smashing force that causes you to fly off the battlements.

You don't actually fall straight to the ground, but instead you actually sail backwards in the air for a moment and into one of the many decimated tree trunks of the nearby jungle. You feel a cracking sound as your back and head slams hard into the solid wood of the tree and then you begin to fall straight down. Even if you weren't completely knocked senseless by this terrific force you don't have anything that could slow your decent. The best you can do is shield your face with your forearms as you crash to the ground.

Another cracking sound is heard when you hit the ground and you're in more physical pain than you've been in awhile. You're not dead, but when you try to move, you find that you're unable. At least not your legs, which are completely numb. You've broken your back and the bones in your arms are probably broken too, though you're definitely feeling the pain from that injury.

While you're lying half paralyzed away from the fort, you can hear the audible sounds of battle coming from it. You aren't sure what happened to the dragon, but apparently it didn't manage to ram straight through you and keep going. It's in the fort thrashing about and roaring in pain. Pieces of stone from the fort go flying in different directions; you just hope one of those stone blocks doesn't hit you since you're in no position to move right now.

There's nothing you can do save for one thing. Heal yourself with magic. You focus all the magic you got on mending your spine first and then your other wounds next. The dragon, gunfire, clanging of weapons and shouting can all be heard while you do this.

By the time you're finished, you can barely stand up. You don't know if it's due to your drained state or if the magic still needs time to take affect completely. In any case you start to limp back to the fort, which has started to become much quieter.

When you enter, the fort is practically destroyed, several Eternals lie dead (or in pieces) and right in the center lays the dragon with severe wounds all over its body, exposed bones, torn wings and bleeding profusely.

"Emperor! You're alive!" one of the eternals shouts when he sees you.
"Glory to the Empire! We feared the worst when we saw you fall from the battlements. It was a great show of bravery on your part to face down the dragon in the way you did! Never before have I seen something so inspiring! It also caused the creature to crash to the ground where upon all of us took advantage of the situation. As you can see we have brought honor in your name by finishing off the beast!" another boasts.

"Oh really? Is that why it's still breathing?" you point out causing the eternals standing around to back off suddenly.

The dragon is indeed still breathing, but it's very weak. It's dying. Your eternals go to strike, but you tell them to hold and shake your head at them not being observant enough to see that the dragon is still alive in the first place. You walk towards the dragon's head and grab a nearby axe on the ground.

The beast manages to look at you with one eye and does nothing. You wonder if it still actually has some strength left in it, but is just too tired and old to continue fighting. Maybe it's ready for it all to end. To join its fellows.

You have no idea what dragon's think or even if they do think in such complex terms, but when you take a look at this creature you can't help but think how old it probably is. What has it seen? Did it once have its own civilization of sorts? What was it like at its peak? What caused it to ally with the Iznac? Was the arrangement some sort of compromise to avoid possible extinction?

Extinction that has come anyway at your hands.

You get closer to the dragon and ready your axe. The dragon still makes no move. It just closes its one good eye.

"Y'know… sometimes I feel like you. Old and broken down, just wanting to lie down and let the sleep take me. Perhaps, I'll even find myself in the same position one day…(sigh) anyway, on your way dragon. Looks like it was you today." You say and swing the axe at the dragon's neck.

You have to hack away several times before you manage to sever its head. A cheer goes up from the eternals who survived the battle.

"No cheering yet. This was barely a victory given all of our casualties and the condition of this fort. We also still have no word on Flevas' company or how my wife is doing at Fort Tangle. Now let's get organized and find out." You say.

The next few days still see a lot of combat. Decena was a lot more successful at Fort Tangle, but then she didn't have a dragon attacking it. She congratulates you on your victory though and is glad to see you're still alive from your ordeal.

Eventually her and Snilkez'ka's troops push forward and attack Iznac cities. Without their dragons anymore, it's a lot easier to go faster on the attack.

Unfortunately Flevas' suffered an ignoble fate. He was killed fighting off a mixture of Glip and Iznac troops in the jungles and he was unlucky to be felled by several poisonous darts that the Glip love to use. His company fought on and won, but you've lost a good commander. Such are the ways of war. You and those who served under him will at least remember Flevas' deeds. He certainly proved that elves could be an asset to the Empire rather than just whine all the time.

It is truly the beginning of the end for the Iznac civilization and it is now in sight. You predict perhaps at least one more year of heavy fighting maximum, then maybe three more years of random raiding from the hold outs and survivors.

After that? The Iznac will either be hiding in the farthest reaches of wilderness, will have completely submitted to your rule (Unlikely) or completely exterminated. You're betting on that last one, as it seems to be the way of things.

In any case you'll soon be ruler of two continents. What comes next is unknown, but you know that you're going to have some downtime to think about it. In fact you have somewhat of an idea of what to pursue next.

Its something Brenda and Decena mentioned the day you got married. The Eternals and their inability to reproduce. You're thinking that will be your next goal. You nearly died in your battle with the dragon and by healing yourself in the way you did, you probably just shortened your life span anyway. It's time to start thinking about your potential legacy and future of the Empire.

The current eternals have proven their worth and then some, but they could still be better. The next generation that Brenda is training will undoubtedly be better still, but the fifth…that's the group you want to break the mold with.

There's got to be a way. Maybe you, Elam and possibly Galen can figure it out if you put your heads together. Hell, maybe even the gnomes might have some insight on the science side of things.

The time for simple conquest of territory is coming to an end at least perhaps for now.
Year 67

Peace is a good thing for most people and in your elderly years you can even sort of appreciate it a little more, but the problem is, you've got hundreds of new Eternals who have been bred and trained for war and nobody to send them up against.

To be honest you thought maybe that Semra would make good on her claim of resurrecting the "Svelk Empire" again and perhaps invade with an armada filled with svelk warriors, but haven't heard or seen a svelk since you last spoke to her. Then again she did say it wouldn't happen in your lifetime.

While you haven't put as much time and money into exploration any more, there are still efforts being made by private expeditions, but nobody has had much luck in finding any new lands worthwhile.

In any event you're going to have to have them do something with them soon, just maybe not today. You also have to meet with Elam, since apparently he's come up with a possible solution to the sterility problem of the eternals.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find something for them to do, but let me just say you've done a fine job with them as usual." You say to Brenda.
"Thank you, but I don't think I'll be able to effectively train the next batch. At least not full time. Getting sort of…"
"You don't need to say it. Trust me, we're all getting that way, don't worry I'm going to have Decena training the fifth gen. Training's definitely going to go a little differently, but then if my meeting with Elam is going to be a positive one then these next Eternals are going to be different anyway."
"So the rumors are true? Elam's figured out a way?"
"So he says. Trust me, I'm just as surprised as you are. In any case, I'm off to meet him."

You bid Brenda goodbye and head to the location where new eternals are "born." When you arrive a couple of workers and ask if the children will be arriving today to which you reply no and ask if Elam has arrived yet. They tell you that Elam has indeed arrived and is waiting in Chief Supervisor Gregory's office. They also mention that a woman came with him. You have no idea who that could be. Girlfriend perhaps? If so, you honestly didn't know Elam even paid any attention to anything that wasn't scientifically related.

You enter the office just in time to see Elam criticizing Gregory's lack of adventure in his chosen profession.

"Bah! You've always been too cautious Gregory! Even the gnomes with all their needless safety pre-cautions aren't as timid! That's why you're still here watching tanks and I'm creating new and better things for the Empire!" Elam boasts.
"Really…I'm fine…I like it here…" Gregory says quietly and then looks in your direction and straightens up in his chair.
"See? What did I tell you Zana? Same ol' Gregory! Hah! Oh Emperor! Didn't see you there! Apologies."

You tell everyone to dismiss the formalities and tell Gregory to leave as you have important business with Elam. He nods, and leaves. The woman though does not. You have no idea who she except she looks to be in her thirties, wears spectacles, has long curly red hair and is dressed in technician's clothing similar to Elam.

"I trust this woman is somehow important to what we have to discuss, otherwise you would not have her here?" you say sitting down.
"Oh! Yes, apologies once again. This is Zana, and she's been invaluable in helping me on not just this project, but on several others in the past." Elam says.
"Zana? Why have I not heard of her before? I know the gnomes let Elam into their city on my insistence, but I didn't realize we had another human inventor there." You say.
"Oh, she was born there, Emperor."
"What?"

At this point Zana speaks for herself.

"Actually Elam as I've told you once before, I wasn't born in New Dessle I was just raised there. Sometimes I wonder how you invent so well with your memory as foggy as it is. At least our Emperor has a good reason for not remembering me. He has an entire Empire to rule." Zana says playfully pushing his shoulder.
"Wait. We've met?" you ask.
"Oh yes. We briefly met when you first incorporated New Dessle into the Empire. I'm Klemto's adopted daughter."

That was so long ago, you barely remember, though you're starting to now. Yes, she was only a teenager then.

"Ah yes…starting to remember. I remember you ran up to Klemto telling him that you wanted to help fix your lighting system. Klemto gave you permission, but was slightly embarrassed that you interrupted his meeting with me and then only briefly greeted me before running off."
"Good memory. I know it's late, but I apologize for my impetuous youthful ways."
"None necessary. Wasn't offended then either, in fact I remember applauding Klemto for raising such a child that wished to serve their community in a meaningful way."
"I thank you my Emperor. And I have continued to serve the Empire in the same way."
"I believe it, otherwise Elam wouldn't have you here, so I'm guessing you both must have come up with a solution to our problem. So let's discuss that, shall we?"

Elam begins to excitedly tell you about all the tests they did and a lot of scientific talk without actually getting to the point. He particularly enjoys talking about how some of the fourth generation eternals you granted him permission to take for testing years ago, managed to reproduce under the right conditions. He mentions it was only the one girl and she died in the process, but the child she gave birth too managed to actually survive for a few minutes.

When this doesn't exactly fill you with confidence, Zana speaks up again.

"What Elam means to say, that despite the limited success, we have definitely found a way to make the next set of Eternals fertile. The magical process is what is causing the problem. At first we thought it was too much magic, but in actuality it's too little." Zana explains.
"Really?"
"Yes, despite enhancing many of the traits of the eternals with each generation, the magical energy has been too specific in its task. The Eternal's body should be completely immersed in the energy while in the tank and then the appropriate chemical mixtures can be added, and then…well I won't bore you again with technical talk. Rest assured though we both believe very strongly that it will work.
"So…what? Do we need to sacrifice an entire mage for a single fertile Eternal?" you ask.
"Well…that would work, if you had the numbers, but from what I do know, magic has been on the decline for some time now. There are…what? Like twenty mages in the whole Empire now? Most of which are old men and women and none of them particularly very powerful. Not powerful enough for our purposes even if we did completely drain them. Honestly we would need someone with at least the power that Galen had, but unfortunately as you know we used him as a test subject, which ended up helping us come to this conclusion in the first place. Not all is lost and we can still accomplish this, but…"

Zana hesitates to even speak it and even Elam who is usually in an excited state is very somber looking. You get the impression you already know where they're going to go with this…

"Let me guess. I have to sacrifice myself." You say.

Elam and Zana don't answer.

"Well?"
"Yes, but we still aren't sure about the results, I mean this isn't an exact science… I mean…"
"Not an exact science? Then what the fuck are we talking about Elam? Zana just said she was certain it would work! Now you're telling me it might not and I'm supposed to kill myself in the process?"
"No! That's not what I mean! (Exhale) Look what I mean is I believe we can set it up so you'll be able to survive the process. I mean you're so powerful and your magical abilities are vast. I mean even for a man your age you're in good physical condition and you can withstand more pain than most. I can't believe I'm saying this, but…I THINK if we take the necessary safety precautions, you'll be able to survive this process, but the downside is we're not going to be able to do this with a thousand or even half that number of potential eternal candidates. We can do it with a hundred maximum and you will definitely lose all your magical abilities in the process." Elam says and is beginning to sweat.

"And what do you say about this Zana? Do you believe this could be done?"
"I won't lie. I don't know. I mean yes it is possible if we were very careful and severely lowered the amount of Eternal candidates, you might survive, but I just don't know. I do know that the process will still result in the desired outcome for the Eternals though."
"However, there is another process that Zana and I have discussed that may be more desirable to you." Elam suddenly exclaims.

Elam takes a deep breath and asks you.

"How would you like to be immortal?"
"This is a joke right?"
"No joke my Emperor. I'm very serious." Elam says and you have no doubt that he is, though Zana looks skeptical.
"Elam, the Emperor wants to hear real solutions, not theories."
"It's no theory! I'm starting to get results! In fact I dare say I'm even more certain about this approach than the one with the Eternals! Emperor, if you give me a little more time to perfect the…"
"Elam, will you explain from the beginning for once?!" you shout.
"Yes. Apologies my Emperor. Okay. It's going to sound crazy, but then I'm sure the concept of a ship that flies in the air did once too right? I believe I've found a way to keep a person alive long after their body has died."

Already you're joining Zana in your skepticism.

"Sounds like magic to me. Specifically necromancy. Last I remember you weren't a necromancer Elam and I have no intention on being some mindless walking corpse."
"No it's not raising the dead, it's science! No magic involved at all! In fact YOU wouldn't have to do much of anything. Y'see, all I need is your brain." Elam says with a creepy grin.

Well this conversation has taken an interesting turn.

"Elam I don't know if you're aware, but I sort of need that to live in the first place."
"(Sigh) What my over zealous colleague is trying to say is he's been doing experiments in his spare time on various human subjects. Well, not ALL human subjects, but specifically the brain. He's managed to remove entire brains and keep the subject alive." Zana interjects.
"WHAT?! I just said I have no intention on walking around like a mindless corpse!" you exclaim.
"No, he's not keeping the subject's bodies alive. He's been able to keep the brains alive. At least for a little while…"
"I'll be able to keep them alive indefinitely with a little more time!" Elam exclaims.

Now this conversation has just gotten weird. You rub your face and head with your hands and try to assess the situation.

"Okay wait. Let me get this straight. You're saying you can remove my brain and keep me alive? How? Where the hell would I be? How would I do anything?"
"Well that's why I need a little more time. However, YOU would be floating in a tank filled with certain chemicals."
"Floating in a tank?"
"Yes, well at least temporarily. I mean I believe we could in time hook you up to a machine system so that perhaps your brain waves could control something like the automatons that we create in New Dessel. I believe with your innate magic powers you could probably tap into some sort of telepathic ability with the right jolts of electricity to the tank. You'd be able to give orders to people through their minds so communication might not be a problem…" Elam says and continues speaking, but you're starting to get overwhelmed.

This is absolutely insane what you're hearing. And not just the brain part, you mean all of it. Even the way to make the Eternals fertile sounds crazy. Especially given some of the experiments that were performed in order to explore the possibility in the first place. Now Elam's telling you he's been cutting brains out of people and keeping them alive and he's suggesting on putting YOU in a tank. You can't help but see the irony of being in a tank for the rest of your life.

And the strangest part about all this? You're more than willing to entertain both ideas.

If you sacrifice yourself so that the new eternals can breed then it won't be one in vain. Quite frankly how many more worthwhile years do you have left anyway? Maybe it would be better to die so that a legacy of sorts can live forever. Besides, there is always the possibility that you could survive the process. Of course there's always the chance it could all fail horribly. Elam and Zana may seem very certain that it will work, but you still have your reservations.

As crazy as Elam's idea sounds, part of it intrigues you. Immortality would give you that time you always wanted in past. Time enough to conquer the world. With immortality, you wouldn't need to worry about some sort of legacy, you would always be. He says he needs more time to work on it though which is a concern, then there's the fact that you'd be floating in a tank. Would you grow bored? Would you go mad? Would you even be "you?" Elam said there would be the possibility of setting something up so you could interact with the outside world, but again who knows if that will even work?

You've got a decision and you need to make one or the other.

You children

Elam's always had wild ideas, but this "immortality" plan just sounds too far-fetched and quite frankly more than a little risky. You'd be sacrificing the original plan entirely just to what? Live forever as a brain in a tank? What kind of life is that?

Even if something were set up so you could interact with the outside world, you'd still be very limited. Never again could you lift a weapon or cast a spell and face your enemies in battle. Never again could you enjoy the company of Decena in a meaningful way. And what of other potential mates when you eventually outlive her? You can't imagine how you could be satisfied with the existence even if you did manage to conquer the rest of the world. Who knows what the long-term effects would be. You still think you'd probably go mad eventually.

If the immortality involved your current body, you're not even sure you'd accept it. Not with how much you ache on a regular basis. No, immortality was never in the cards for you. This "life" wasn't even supposed to happen, so why entertain an impossible dream? You've achieved much in this life and if the end is coming soon then so be it.

"I'm not spending the rest of my life as a disembodied brain for any reason. We're sticking with the original plan regardless of the consequences. However, I'm also not quite eager to shuffle off this mortal coil just yet, so we're going to take the safety precautions and try to keep me alive. So when are we to start?"
"Uh...well, whenever you are of course my Emperor. I mean you'll have to collect the babies for this project first, then after that's done, we can get started." Elam says.
"Okay then, I'll have the Eyes gather candidates right away. In fact, given the nature of this project, I'm going to tell them to get an equal amount of males and females. As for you two I want you to gather whatever staff and equipment you need."

Elam and Zana both acknowledge your command and leave when you dismiss them. Elam makes one last attempt at asking if you're sure you don't want to be immortal to which you tell him you've made your decision.

Now all you have to do is tell Decena which you do so later that night.

"…so that's the process. If it succeeds spectacularly I'll still be alive and we'll have fertile new eternals. If it fails spectacularly then none of that will be true." You finish explaining to her.
"And you're sure this is what you want to do?" Decena asks.
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well I wasn't aware that Elam had found a potential way to keep you alive forever."
"As a brain in a jar or tank or whatever? You really think I'd want to live like that? He needs more time to perfect the process anyway and who know how long that would be if ever?"
"No, I suppose you're right. I wouldn't like to live like that either. Who wants to live forever right? But about this other process, you'll be putting your life in danger, are you certain it will work?"
"Elam and this Zana are both confident that it will. While Elam's always been a bit on the eccentric side and prone to take risks, he's always come through on his projects and Zana's likely to err on the cautious side anyway due to being raised by gnomes. In any case I'm more than willing to take this risk if it's going to bring about what we've been talking about for the last few years."

Decena smiles at your response.

"I think that's one of many the things that I've always loved about you. Your willingness to put yourself at risk for the good of the Empire. You've never been one of those rulers that has shied away from potential danger. There is one thing I ask though. I mean regardless of whether or not the process is successful, if you don't survive it. I mean if this indeed it, I want to be with you during this moment." Decena says holding your hand.
"Of course. You'll always be by my side." You answer and kiss her.

After a bit more discussion, it's also agreed upon that Brenda and Warrick should probably be there as well.

Over the next few days, the Eyes acquire the Eternal candidates and soon everything is ready. You arrive at the Eternal factory with Decena, Brenda and Warrick. Elam, Zana, and several technician and physician types run around hooking up strange machinery and placing the babies in the tanks. Gregory is also here and goes up to you nervously telling you that he's very concerned, as none of this extra equipment looks very safe.

Eventually Elam and Zana approach.

"Everything is ready my Emperor! One hundred candidates all hooked up in the tanks, all we need is to strap you in to that chair over there and we can get started." Elam points to a chair that looks more like a torture device you've had used on enemies before…in fact you think it IS and Elam's just modified it!

"I have to say you're a braver man than I." Warrick says clapping you on the shoulder.
"Yeah, I mean I'm just looking at that thing and it looks painful." Brenda says.
"Well I have faith that you'll laugh off any pain and come out of this alive." Decena exclaims.
"Glad to hear someone that's optimistic about this. Well no point in drawing this out, let's do this." You say and walk towards the chair.

Sit in the chair and get strapped in. This is followed by several painful needles being stuck in your arms, legs and chest with rubber tubes hooked up to a large machine, which in turn is hooked up to the tanks. Decena stands close by the entire time.

"Don't worry my Emperor. I'll make sure Elam doesn't push the controls too hard. Unlike him, I actually was born with a sense of safety." Zana says checking on your lines.
"Well glad to have you working on this then." You respond.
"I'm glad just to have this chance to work on this my Emperor. You don't know how long I've waited for the opportunity to work so closely on something directly involving you. It is a very great honor. One that I shall never forget for as long as I live." Zana says and leaves smiling at you and Decena to check on what Elam is doing.

As you're mentally attempting to prepare yourself, suddenly Decena whispers in your ear.

"I don't trust her." Decena says.
"What?" you answer.
"Zana. I don't trust her. Something doesn't feel right about her."
"Like what? Did she say or do something? Because I rechecked her file that the Eyes had on her and she's nothing but clean. Well maybe except a lack of judgment in sexing up Elam on occasion, but I can't imagine there are a lot of choices in human males in New Dessel."
"I dunno. It's her tone. The way she's being so eager to please. It's almost as if she's trying too hard and has a hidden agenda."
"So what are you saying?"
"I don't want her on this project. I feel you're in direct danger with her at the helm of those controls."

Decena is quite serious in this accusation and you have no idea how to respond.

"Decena, Zana worked on this right along side Elam."
"Well I don't know, maybe they're in it together! Or just have Elam perform this procedure, I don't care, but I DON'T want that woman involved in this procedure any longer!"

At this point Decena has made enough noise to call the attention of several people, including Zana and Elam who come over.

"What seems to be the problem my Emperor? Are you having last minute concerns? If so, we can call a halt to this…" Elam asks.
"No, Elam. I'm fine. Decena is just having I believe some last minute concerns."
"My Empress, as I said, I will make sure that your beloved…" Zana starts to say before being interrupted.

"Silence bitch!" Decena snaps and everyone is silent.

"I don't know what you have planned exactly, but let me make this clear. I DON'T TRUST YOU. And I don't want YOU working on this project any longer!" Decena says.
"My Emperor, with all due respect, I need Zana to help me with this!" Elam exclaims.

At this point Zana begins to protest her innocence in a polite way, trying very hard not to sound out of line, but Decena isn't hearing any of it and even draws her pistol.

"Decena, are you sure you're not just scared that I'm going to die and deep down you don't want me to go through with this because you want me around a little longer?" you ask.

Decena grabs your hand and looks straight at you.

"My love, there are many times you could've died and while it was always a concern, I always accepted it as a possibility. If you died in battle, then it would have purpose at least. You would have been serving the Empire. Even if you died of old age or some other natural cause I could accept it because you would have still died serving the Empire. And IF you die in this process then I can accept it, because you will be dying to secure the future of the Empire."

Decena pauses and takes a deep breath and turns to everyone else while pointing at Zana.

"But I cannot accept you going helplessly into danger like this. THIS woman has ill intent. I FEEL it in my heart. I FEEL it in what I guess would be my soul. EVERY warning, EVERY instinct about her is telling me that she is wishing you unwell. All of us perhaps. I can't even prove it, but I don't need to when I FEEL it."

Decena then turns back to you.

"My love, if you genuinely believe this woman has no ill intent then I will as always defer to your judgment, however if you trust my judgment on this matter even a little bit, then I beg of you to let me kill her where she stands."

At this point both Zana and Elam's eyes widen. The nearby technicians almost shuffle back as if not wishing to get caught in the fallout. Even Brenda and Warrick are a little surprised by this.

Elam at this point once again begs you not to kill Zana as he needs her for this project to work. Zana stays silent, though she probably believes that anything she'd say at this point might cause Decena to shoot her anyway.

And here you thought the only thing you were going to have to worry about today was trying to stay alive long enough to create some fertile Eternals…

You believe Decena

She might be completely wrong, but if she really feels this strongly on this matter you'll honor her judgment.

"Warrick. Brenda." You say and with a glance they know and walk towards Zana who continues to remain in shock.

"No…no!" she shouts and before she can run, Warrick and Brenda both restrain her. She struggles a bit, but then stops.
"Elam, can you do this yourself? Honestly answer the question!" you demand and stare at him.

Elam begins to stammer and stutter, but with your eyes piercing him, he looks sadly over at Zana, who looks on helplessly and can't believe that even he would turn against her.

"ELAM! NO!" she shouts.

"Yes…I can my Emperor, but I do need someone to watch the gauges, and levels…" Elam says in defeat. You think this is the first time you've ever seen him in such a mood. He must've had deeper feelings for the girl and she wasn't just the occasional fling.
"Good. Gregory! You're doing that now."
"Um, I am my Emperor?"

While Gregory is pondering his new position, you turn back to Zana.

"My apologies Zana, but this is your ruler's final judgment on the matter. Take solace in the fact that you've served the Empire well and that any family you may have will be…"
"FUCK YOU TYRANT!" Zana shouts, nearly causing Decena to shoot her, but you tell her to hold fire.
"Decena, stop. Zana has at least earned herself a proper execution rather than being shot like a rabid dog. I'll look past her current outburst since I understand that she…"
"I said FUCK YOU. You don't know SHIT about me! And if it wasn't for your bitch queen here, this would've went smoothly. Oh how sweet that would've been to have seen the look of shock on your face as you and all your dreams of fertile Eternals was destroyed before your eyes." Zana exclaims with her face turning into an angry sneer.

Now everyone is looking at Zana and Decena's gut instinct has been vindicated.

"Who are you? I mean who are you really? Did Semra put you up to this?" you demand.
"I'm nobody. Nobody of importance at least not until YOU came around and killed my entire family!" Zana says.
"Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?" you ask.
"I was going to be a princess! I would've ruled a kingdom one day! YOU and YOUR 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 an 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 this crazy fool!"

This news causes Elam to collapse on the floor. He can't believe the woman he's worked with so closely and shared a bed with is admitting to trying to assassinate you. (As well as having a low opinion of him)

"You really think I was going to let you breed a set of new Empire abominations that could possibly keep it going even longer? Possibly even forever? Never!

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. Your quest for vengeance was as pointless as your entire life. Take her away."

As Brenda and Warrick begin to drag Zana off, she struggles once again and this time manages to get free of Brenda's grip. Then she presses some sort of device underneath her sleeve and an electric shock zaps Warrick causing him to also lose his grip and fall backwards.

"Not how I wanted to do it, but just as good!" Zana says grinning and reveals a bomb strapped under her clothes.

She takes one step towards you and Decena shoots her in the head. She falls backwards and before the bomb explodes, you raise your hands up (ripping the straps and ripping out some of your attachments in the process) and create a barrier protecting Decena, Elam and yourself.

The bomb explodes and you look on sadly as you see Brenda and Warrick caught in the immediate blast. A few of the other technicians are killed too. (Gregory fled and hid as soon as things started looking hostile!)

After its all said and done, many of the tanks have been destroyed, though not completely a problem since you had a thousand of them. Some of the hundred you were using were unfortunately damaged, but new babies can be acquired. Some of the equipment was damaged, but again not too much of a problem since it can be fixed, rebuilt or replaced and the main piece was protected by the barrier.

While Decena unhooks your from all your attachments, Elam is silent the whole time. He's utterly in shock by everything that's happened.

"I had no idea…I mean…" he utters and then turns to you.
"I swear my Emperor I didn't know!"
"Calm yourself Elam, nobody's executing you, especially when you've still got a job to do. Besides, nobody apparently knew, well except my lovely wife here." You say and look at Decena.
"I'm just glad you're all right, but this sets our goals back! And Brenda and Warrick! (sniff)" Decena remarks getting a little upset over their deaths and hugs you.
"I know…I know. It was no way for them to die. There almost isn't anything left to…well give a funeral. (sigh) I'll sort out what's left of them put them in the same coffin and burn it. They can least be sent on their way together. We can have a formal memorial for them both later. As for our plans, they may be set back, but not by much.

You turn to Elam.

"Elam I want all the damaged equipment fixed as soon as possible. Gregory and the rest can help with that. Also catch Gregory up to speed on what his role will be on this project, because we WILL be doing it as soon as possible. In the meantime, I'll have to appoint a new Sightmaster and have the Eyes get all new candidates again, but before they do that, going to have to purge New Dessel."
"You are?" Decena asks.
"Do you really see any choice? You didn't trust Zana on pure instinct and you were correct. How can I trust that she was telling the truth that the gnomes didn't have anything to do with this? Maybe not even all of them knew. Maybe Klemto anticipated she'd eventually seek revenge and just took a hands off approach so that he couldn't be directly implemented. Maybe they're all genuinely innocent. Doesn't matter. We're trying to secure the future of the Empire and its obvious the gnomes are a potential threat."

You chuckle at that last remark.

"I can't believe it. I sounded just like Casimir. Guess dad would be proud." You say.
"Okay, so how do you want to handle that? As you know that mountain city is a fairly well defended fortress." Decena asks
"Yes, and things have changed severely since then. We've already got a large number of Eyes positioned in that city. All we have to do is send in another large group, telling the gnomes that it's a routine changing of the guard and when they're in, they unleash the death. Make no mistake this isn't going to be an honorable action and it will be ugly, but it will be the easiest way to do it and the fact that it will get done is the important thing."
"Agreed. Long live the Empire." Decena says.

The project is set back at least a couple of months. The purging of New Dessel takes awhile due to the gnomes locking themselves in hard to reach sections of the city, but eventually the entire city is purged. You at last finished what Casimir started though really you wish it hadn't been necessary. You never hated them. Klemto just saved the wrong baby and brought death on them all because of it.

In any event, mostly technicians, inventors and other human families with members that have similar mechanical or scientific skills will resettle New Dessel.

A giant memorial is held for Brenda and Warrick. Heroes of the Empire that shall never be forgotten, right along side Roldan and Kane. Even though Decena is by your side, you can't help but feel a great sense of loss. They were the last of your "siblings" and now you are alone. In fact you may even be joining them soon. You weep privately for them both.

Eventually Elam and Gregory have all the equipment fixed and ready again and the Eyes have the suitable candidates ready. You return with Decena to complete the task you originally set out to do.

Once again you're strapped and hooked up to the modified torture chair. Elam is remarkably subdued. You're guessing he's still taking Zana's betrayal hard. Still, perhaps its good, it will give him more focus on what is important, serving the Empire.

As you prepare you and Decena exchange one kiss for what might be the last time.

Elam pulls the lever and the process begins. Lights, buzzing, rumbling, and all manner of machinery noises can be heard throughout the room.

The oddest thing is you're not feeling as much pain as you thought you would. There is definitely a tingling sensation and it feels as if all your hair is standing on end, but you've felt things a lot more painful.

You are however feeling very tired and it is all very draining. Eventually you can't fight it anymore and you fall unconscious…

Hours later you wake up on a bed still hooked up to a machine. You feel very weak, but apparently you've survived the process. Decena, Elam and several physicians stand around you.

"I'm…I'm…alive?" you say.
"Shhh. Don't speak too much. You really need to conserve your strength." Decena remarks.
"Did…did it work?" you ask.
"Well I suppose we won't really know until several years from now, but Elam says he feels the results are very positive. He says there's been a side effect he didn't anticipate." Decena says.
"Side effect?"
"Yes, my Emperor. Your magical energy actually gave all the candidates an innate magic ability. I mean again, obviously we can't see exactly what that means now, but I fully anticipate that these Eternals are also going to have magic abilities. Possibly on par with your own. It's almost as if your own DNA rewrote their genetic code."

Elam just said something that no one except he understood.

"Erm. It's something I've been theorizing about. It's uh…technical talk, don't worry about it. Basically though what it means is its almost as if you personally created all these children the old fashioned way. You're the father of a hundred children. I… uh guess congratulations are in order." Elam says and shakes your hand which is still weak.
"Sheesh. Thanks I guess." You say.
"There is one thing I really should tell you though, Emperor. It's your condition. While you've survived the process, I fear it has taken a toll on your body. Your life span has probably shortened quite a bit. I mean I dunno how much, but…"
"Elam, I didn't even anticipate living through this process so whatever I got left will be just a bonus. Really I didn't even expect to live this long and if events had gone a certain way, I wouldn't have even made it out of the crib. I'll tell you this though, I'm going to TRY to live long enough to make sure this process worked. And if it didn't well you can strap me to the chair and try again!"

Elam smiles and says that he'll try to do everything he can to extend your lifespan a little longer and reassures you that you won't be dying tomorrow. At this point Elam excuses himself saying he and Gregory should make a routine check on the tanks again. The others follow his lead.

As the others leave Decena stays by your side. She says nothing and just looks lovingly at you though you feel a bit sad.

"I'm sorry, you'll have to take care of a feeble old man now." You say.
"Shh, that doesn't matter. I love you."
"I'm also sorry that…well…I just had one hundred children and you weren't directly involved."
"Ha ha! You think I care about that? I'm THRILLED that you did! It means that you'll live forever after all! I knew you'd find a way somehow."
"But what about you?"
"I always expected to die someday and I'm fine with that. What matters is that YOU live forever. Because as long as you live forever, then the Empire lives forever and if the Empire lives forever then I live forever. As do all those that have served it loyally. As will all Eternals. This is just the beginning my love. You have created a new race. One superior to all those before it."

Decena proceeds to give you a kiss and hug you. You enjoy her warmth and realize even if you did die right now, it would be a perfect death.