Chapter 55

Heresy

“So how does it feel to be amongst us mortals?” A soldier mockingly asked.

Over the months Lykan had to take many such comments in stride. This was nothing new to him, he had endured as much if not worse from Ghane. At that time, he didn’t quite understand the root cause for why people would lash out. Now he understood the root cause, and while it was still tough to handle knowing that they were ultimately scared, made dealing with this situation a little easier. They were scared, or at least afraid of what he represented, an unknown variable to their otherwise perfect understanding of the world. In their view of the world no one could strive to be greater than they were. No one could want to try to fly harder, even if such a flight ended in a crash landing. The man and his cronies that now stood before Lykan.

As Lykan moved to get out of the man’s way a shoulder slammed into his shoulder. At least that was likely the original intent of the second mocking soldier. However, the truth of the matter was that even without his Powers, he was still more than a match for any regular human. When a shoulder violently slammed in his way, it was the attacker who fell violently to the ground while Lykan continued to walk along as if nothing had happened.

Stunned the man who fell to the ground got up angrily and looked to Lykan’s back, as Lykan continued as if nothing bothered him. This was the way he had learned to deal with bullies, at least this was the way he had eventually got Ghane to avoid him. All he did was avoid the man until dealing with Lykan was much more effort than they would get from bothering him. Sadly, he also knew the truth. He knew the reason why he had suddenly become a target for everyone.

They had a hero amongst their ranks, one who had achieved such heights that he could even sit at court with princesses of multiple kingdoms as a peer. Only to fall from grace as quickly as he rose. Many saw his fall from grace a return to equilibrium, a return of the status quo. He who rose from trash once again returned to trash.

These were the thoughts of many of the common soldier. Or at least the thoughts that Lykan gained from his interactions with the common soldiers. The only soldiers who didn’t give him a hard time were the soldiers who were at the invasion of Dunthir. These were the soldiers who saw and witnessed the overwhelming power of Nayali, the way she effortlessly struck down dozens of ships with the wave of her hand.

To have managed to conquer and stop such a monster caused many who were there as witnesses to have a sense of reverence for the man. The man who now sat as a martyr for the angry populous who knew nothing of war, and nothing of the dangers faced. Yet these few who were there were there saw the man single handedly save the kingdom from war a war they could not win. For everyone who was there saw Nayali’s destructive powers and capabilities firsthand. They saw the damage left in her wake, and they knew. They knew that Ajimal the Great was even more powerful, as powerless as they were against Nayali, they would be even less capable against her brother Ajimal.

Worse, even in his weakened state he clearly had a calming effect on Ajimal’s sister. At first Nayali was a terror to deal with. Someone who would fly off in a rage at anyone who performed violent actions against her Lykan. Yet Lykan had calmed her.

Even now while she seethed with rage and enough killing intent to make the whole room grow ten degrees colder. All it took was a quick glance from Lykan to cause the tension that had been built up to drop. Slowly the intense freezing cold in the air dissipated as the ambient heat began to melt away the prevailing frost that had accumulated. Leaving only hot steamy breaths as a visual reminder of what they all had just witnessed.

The group of soldiers who saw not only their friend get taken off balance by the stumble into Lykan, also saw the way he easily calmed Nayali with a glance. Seeing this, the group who had been standing behind their would-be leader suddenly began leaving the area. The leader no longer feeling the increased strength of his pack turned about to see that his friends were now leaving him. Suddenly feeling awkward at the exchange, he gave a crisp nod of the head to Lykan, before leaving himself, not saying a word in his retreat.

Only after they were gone did Nayali choose to speak. Though she was quite fluent in Sidherthan she made it a point to only speak Azani, thus retaining the right as a conquered foreign princess to have a translator made available.

This was part of their plan that her visions and the network of informants that Ajimal had built up came up with. They knew that Lykan had the Universal Linguist skill making him invaluable for any government. The fact that the government of Sidhertha did not take full advantage of this evolved skill alone showed how incompetent the government of Sidhertha was. The fact that he was not being groomed to be a foreign diplomat in some way shape or form showed their lack of interest in expanding. Instead, the government of Sidhertha seemed content with its place in the world.

There was also the fact that he was a cleanser. This was something that Nayali herself was unaware of at first, but slowly after weeks of being with Lykan she found that the anger and rage that flooded her mind was beginning to fade. She wasn’t aware of why this was happening at first, until she awoke one night to see Lykan meditating above her sleeping form while drawing out the darker parts of her Qi.

At first, she was enraged that he would dare try anything against her, yet even when she stirred he only opened one glowing bloodshot eye to look at her before continuing. Seeing the bloodshot eye that was glowing with the golden glow of Qi that was lighting up his eyes she realized he was doing something grand. She lay there for a time, and slowly felt the anger that had been forcing her mind to react violently slowly dissipated. It was as if a pressure had been building up in her mind and Lykan was slowly able to release the pressure against her mind.

After that first night she would lie still and wait for Lykan to perform his cleansing. Truth be told, such moments soon became her favorite part of her day. That was when she felt that she could see the true softer side of Lykan, the one that was truly caring. She saw the stoic silent facade he put on while working as a soldier. The way he said nothing as others jeered at him. The local populace at first threw half eaten apple cores at him. That was the first time that Nayali realized she might have an anger problem. For she didn’t remember flying into the air, nor the summoning of electricity. It was only after she summoned a bolt of lightning to strike forward at the kid, an angry kid who was a Dunthir refugee. One of many such cases who had lost both parents to the sudden siege of their city. If not for the fact that Lykan darted forward and managed to take in the full force of the bolt with one outstretched hand did Nayali stop to pause. The minute she struck him; she felt the torrents of power within her own body suddenly weaken as she felt the constraints of the gods coming forward.

She even saw the warning the gods gave her.

Warning Nayali Northstar, you are acting against the edicts of the gods. By attacking Lykan Vita you are going against your own words. A punishment of one year’s peace with Sidhertha has been added to your treaty. Any such attacks in the future will be met with additional punishments.

This increase in forced peace has been shared with all who were originally bound by the oaths.

So it was that an extra year of peace was added to the forced treaty. Making it so there were now three years of peace between the two nations. It was at this point that a few precautions were made for Nayali and Lykan. The first was that the two were to not break their deals. Well at the very least Lykan was not to break his side of the deal, as such every accommodation was made to make it, so Lykan and Nayali were together as originally noted by the treaty. There was the concern that if the two were forced to be separated for any length of time they would somehow break the treaty. Or cause the years that had been added to be removed as an equal penalty. Their new living arrangement as a couple, even going so far as to be moved to a couple’s building. Given the status of Nayali as a foreign dignitary’s immediate family they were given officer couple’s housing. This of course made it so the other enlisted had even more things to complain about against Lykan.

Lykan for his part took everything in stride. Rather than speak out, he just accepted the actions and reactions of people around him as if they were factors outside of his control. In the end he would merely shrug and do what he could in that moment.

Looking back on it now, Nayali could see why everyone was so angry at her and Lykan. Even after being taken down Lykan never looked humbled, never looked defeated. If anything, he looked the same before a fight as he did after a fight. This was likely the most infuriating thing about him, the fact that one could never know what he truly felt. Even with their forced cohabitation, he never seemed to be angered about the things that were outside of his control. Instead, he just went about his day as usual.

The worst part of the whole arrangement, at least as far as Nayali was concerned was that Lykan never looked at her. At least he never looked at her the way she wanted him to. He never looked at her the way the other men would, when they thought she wouldn’t notice. She had of course noticed; most made no attempts to hide their ogling of her figure. They would simply stare at her, until she would glare back. Upon locking eyes with her most would turn away in shock at being caught. Others would seemingly engage in a test of wills for a second, before their survival instincts would kick in and they would look away and take a reflexive step back.

Each time Nayali engaged in a battle of wills she would invariably turn back towards Lykan only to catch him giving a disapproving shake of his head, before continuing with what he was doing. He would never say a word, most of his day was performed with simple nods and gestures. Thus, why it was so infuriating for Nayali to see him actively try to strike up a conversation with that maintenance worker of his. He spoke to her, willingly.

Seeing their interaction rage set in, or at least it tried to. In the past she knew she would be rising to the air to strike down the harlot who would dare come between her and her Lykan. Yet it was a testament to the treatment that Lykan was doing, the calming effect he seemed to have on her, that she didn’t fly off in a rage right then and there. She just stared coldly at the woman who had gained Lykan’s attention. Not that he was interested in her, not physically at least. Instead, he was intrigued by what she could do, or rather the way she was doing what she could do.

Writing runes was a commoner’s task, every nation had their rune writes. It was also a well-known fact that only those who failed to be mages would take up the craft of rune writers. Those who could, would. Those who couldn’t wrote. At least that was the expression passed down as dogma amongst her people. Seeing the way they now treated Lykan and his remaining staff, all of whom were female, another topic of ire for Nayali, it was clear that rune writes were not well received in Sidhertha either.

Lykan’s fall from grace only seemed to help solidify the old prejudices against rune writes, as to many he was nothing more than another failed magi-officer. Yet even with his connection to his source missing it was clear to anyone who had eyes that there was a power to Lykan that was unmatched in others.

Nayali found herself counting down the days until Lykan would be free from his binding contract. The fact that his own people treated him like garbage only helped to solidify the thought that had been going through her mind, from the very start of this whole operation. Once his contract has ended, he will leave Sidhertha never to return. When he leaves, he will need a new place to go and he will still be bound to me.

That was the thing about the contract she had chosen. While there was a time limit to the peace treaty between the two nations that they represented. There was no time limit toward that amount of time they would be forced to spend together. While it would have been better if Lykan had lost completely and been forced to be with her, she could not refute the advantages of her being forced to be by his side.

From Nayali’s perspective it would only be a matter of time before Lykan became completely beholden to her. At least, that was her goal going forward, while she was the submissive one in the terms of the contract dictated by the gods. It was clear, at least from her perspective, that she would be able to eventually have as much say in their relationship.