Prince Amautu looked down onto the bloated corpse on the ground. The scented cloth pressed tightly onto his nose, in a vain attempt to lock out the terrible stench. Even so, he was assaulted by the sweetly rotting aroma of the dead.

“Is it certain that this is the killer?”, Amautu asked of the warrior who had brought him into this secret backyard on the outskirts of Arguna.

The warrior was one of his own, and unlike the barbarians of Medala, he was well-educated. Thus, he also did not wear the barbaric red tunics or their strange, long hair. Like the nobles of Chutwa, his hair was short to prove a regular care of his body and he wore the pure white colors of knowledge, just like Amautu himself. It had taken him a while, but by now the second prince had built up a sizeable force of these warriors for himself. With today's find, his efforts had finally born fruit.

“Yes, Master Amautu. This servant has searched along the Argu for weeks, as instructed. One of prince's warriors found the man as he was pulled out of the water by fishermen, just in time before the uncouth simpletons could loot and defile the body. After the find, it has been brought here as soon as was possible.”

The warrior seemed much less bothered by the smell than the prince was. It must have been because he had carried the cadaver for an entire morning. By now the stench was everywhere. Soaked into his clothing, into his hair, into his skin. Amautu tried his hardest to not show his displeasure towards the warrior. After all, he was loyal and useful. There was no reason to punish him for following orders.

“Good. So have Doctor Yalot or Master Ichtaka taken a look at it?”

“They have. The cause of death is as expected.”

“So it would seem.”

Amautu looked down onto the gaping wound which had pierced the thick plate armor and destroyed man's heart. The enormous hole left an unnatural opening in the chest of the pale, lanky corpse. By now it had been frayed at the edges, rotted off by time and nibbled away at by the fishes, but it was still obvious that the assassin had died from a single, massive impact.

“What do you think would have caused a wound like that?”, Amautu asked as he stared at the opening in the assassin's chest with morbid fascination.

“The doctor himself was unsure. It almost seemed like the attack was the result of a simple punch. However, that should be an impossible feat, even for a cultivator.”

“Firearms?”

“Unlikely. We found no lead ball inside. Not to mention, it would take nothing less than artillery to make a ball penetrate the thick eastern armor.”

While Amautu was in thought for a while, the warrior tried to be proactive, something the prince always encouraged in his subordinates.

“Should this servant arrange for the body to be found somewhere inside the palace?”

Amautu thought for a while. Revealing the identity of the attacker would prove useful indeed. After all, he had aimed to weaken the influence of the Arcavians for a while now. However, at the moment there were more important issues to consider. For now he still needed the help of the dull merchants.

“No. Keep the body safe, dry it out and make sure no one else sees it. There is much to be learned from this corpse and much to be used to our advantage. I would rather not have my uncle know too much.”

“Prince has a strategy.”

The warrior sounded relieved. After Amautu's failure at the ancestral assembly, their future had felt like stepping through darkness. Amautu's original plans had proven futile and there had been no more road ahead. However, the return of the old beast had given him a second chance. It was time to replan his strategy and return light to his path. He had to guess at the old man's intentions and fulfill them however much he could. For now the bastard was the ancestor's favorite, but that didn't mean that Amautu was without a chance.

“Whatever killed the foreigner, it looks like my elder brother is not quite as helpless as he may appear. That's good. In a stalemate position, unequal information is something to be used to your advantage. You would do well to remember that.”

“This servant thanks Prince for his advice.”

The prince nodded, still lost in thought. It was important to train up the warriors, educate them so they could later serve him to the best of their ability. However, it would be a waste to only use the body in one way.

“Contact the Arcavians. Let's see how much this body will be worth for them. And go find Master Ichtaka. This prince knows just what it is the ancient beast wants, but to reach our goals, help from the west will be required.”

A smile formed on his lips. He wasn't in control like before, but he wasn't out of the game yet. He would play until he ran out of pieces.

“Old thing! How could you betray me like this!”

Pachacutec was enraged.

“Pacha, you should show some respect for your father,” his mother's voice came back, sweet as honey.

There was no trace of admonishment in her words. Still, the youngster remembered just whom he had to thank for his meteoric rise, so he turned to the old man in the back of the room.

“I apologize, father.”

With an exhausted wave, Elder Caelestis waved off his son's insincere apology.

“There was nothing to be done. Laqhis knows too much already. If I had not bowed to his demands he would have destroyed us.”

“'Laqhis'? Do not idolize that southern weakling! Does your own son matter less than a monkey? Or do you mean to tell this empress that the vicious little beast shares your noble blood?”

The shrill voice of his lover reached Caelestis from the other side of the room. His reply was accompanied by a tired sigh.

“In any case, there is nothing much to be done. I told you that Pacha will be emperor. Neither Corco's nor Amautu's opinions carry weight in that decision. Neither does mine, or the opinion of any man within the ancestral hall. It is all up to father emperor, no one else.”

“But how will we guarantee our victory? This hero won't give up the throne to a barbarian or a traitor! Only this hero has the mettle to unite the estates once again!”

“For now, we only need to wait. At most we should get closer to the foreign merchants.”

“What!?”

There it was again, that shrill voice. He had almost forgotten what the woman sounded like whenever she spoke to someone she wasn't fond of. Over the past few days, there had been plenty of chances to be reminded.

“How dare you even make that suggestion! Those dirty foreigners are a means to an end, nothing else! If we give in to their demands, how will we ever control the empire?! And again you say we should wait! You said the same before and look where that got you! How could a rose like me ever be so blind to fall for a coward like you?! You are nothing but-”

“Enough!” Spurned on by his anger, life returned into the elder's voice, for the first time since the fatal conversation in the grand court. “You see that this is all your fault, do you not!?”

“How dare-”

“You know nothing about the grand ancestor, and how could you? Father emperor does not care who sits the throne as long as the Pacha faith is toppled and traditions are broken!”

“...why would grandfather want that?”, the baffled hero asked.

However, Caelestis was too focused on Spuria to consider his son's question.

“I told you it was a bad idea to attack Corco. Yet you would not listen. Even worse, you tried to make the outsiders responsible, when father emperor wanted the exact opposite! You forced our meeting three days ago, because you would not trust me when I guaranteed that Pacha's nomination was safe! The spy that day is the only reason Corco ended up opposed to us, the only reason we lost the nomination today. Do you understand that, greedy wench!?”

“How would I know, you selfish-”

“Trust! You should have trusted me for once in your life. Never have I done anything to Pacha's detriment. And yet you always assume the worst in people. I know my father, more than anyone. Corco won't win the nomination no matter what he does. He is a true heir to Titu. Hard working, tough, brilliant...”

Pacha snorted his nose in response. Caelestis knew that his youngest son didn't like Corco very much, or the attention he was afforded by himself.

“...but he is too traditional. He values family and Medala more than anything in the world. He stands opposite to everything father emperor wishes to achieve.” The elder's voice turned grave as he was reminded of his father's goals.

“...and what is it grandfather wants?”, Pacha asked again, this time in a timid voice. Even the dim hero could read the elder's heavy mood.

“...what the great defender of Medala wants is immortality, nothing less.”

“Ridiculous! Has the old thing lost his mind?”, the furia shrieked.

“He has not. Rather, he has walked farther and seen more than any man on earth. Remember how many winters father emperor has lived beyond. Over the last fifteen years, he traveled the outer lands. At the start, the goal had been to either return with the wisdom to aid House Pluritac or die in an attempt to find the edges of the world. However, father emperor found something else, he found hope.

“In the Chutwa Empire to the west, you know what they call their emperor? His name is Xiutecuhti, the immortal king.”

“Just a name. How childish one must be to believe in these lies, how desperate,” Spuria countered.

“...it is said the Immortal King is a thousand years old. You might think it childish, but look on the Pluritac bloodline itself. Through the World's Embrace, we are also afforded time far beyond mere mortals. If the Chutwa truly possess techniques which exceed our own, it is the ancestor's greatest desire to acquire them.”

“Then wouldn't that mean Amautu has an advantage over us?”

Pacha picked up on the problem immediately. Caelestis suppressed a sigh. His son only showed this sort of quick wit when it came to his brothers overtaking him. He really shouldn't have let the boy spend so much time with his petty mother.

“No one outside of the ancestors and a few officials has spoken to father emperor. And only I have been afforded regular talks, no one else. This is our great advantage. We not only know best what it is that father emperor wants, we can also contact father emperor in person to pledge our allegiance. Even more, there is no guarantee the immortal technique exists, no guarantee it will be effective on a man as old as the grand ancestor and no guarantee the scholars will ever hand it over to a man they would consider a barbarian.

“This is where our great chance lies to overtake Amautu, for father has a second plan. If he cannot become an immortal in the truest sense, he can still become immortal in the eyes of the people. However, to achieve his goal he has to break with traditions we have upheld for generations. Do you know of the church of Arcavus?”

He looked towards his son in expectation.

“...I... this hero would have to ask his advisors...”

Disappointed, again. Despite the elder's repeated insistence, Pacha failed to study up on the western continent. Why oh why could the second son not turn out as brilliant as the first? However, he couldn't let his feelings show. The people in this room were the only family he had left. He didn't want to die alone.

“The Arcavians believe that their gods used to be humans. All their gods are their former lords, ascended into the heavens. That is where father's goal lies. If he cannot become an immortal, he will be a god instead. If you wish to be emperor, you will need to be the one to propel him to godhood, so you best work with those foreigners again. And be sure to be polite. We will need their priests, their money and their lies.”