Ten years later…

After being sold downriver by my own father and betrothed to Lyra, things got fairly calm. Night was skeptical at first when Darian approached him however he threw out that silly thought once Darian told him that I would give Solarian his life trace if he didn’t comply. I’m not sure if I should be flattered or pleased when a branch of the Beguiling Flower House opened in Flansbur within a week. Night even personally moved his office to the branch location. Soon his spy agency was implanted in every facet of the Atarian society, from beggars to Dukes, there were our spies everywhere. Darian was off on his own seeing to ‘my interests’, though I had no idea what that was supposed to be but then he had always been a resourceful and loyal follower. I imagine he must have been raging when he first found out that the other Heroes had turned on me, killed me and then blackened my name. Thankfully he decided to lay low instead.

Lady Goodard and Lyra still come over at least two to three times a month for weekends and I can’t say that I am displeased by the idea of marrying Lyra. She’s blossoming into a gorgeous woman and is quite delightful at that. Things have been going nicely, the Emperor was happy with the training of the Moon squad and apart from the random ranting from the Dracos and Restavs who came in last yet again for the last two war games. The mighty do fall harder than most. I tried gathering information on the five so-called Heroes and for the most part generalized information was easy enough to get but anything more specific was nearly impossible.

Tera and Dreal, from what Night could gather, were injured the most in the spectacular blast of my dantian. Sols, Kaban and Kava suffered only some light injuries as they were able to put up mana shields and they were further away. Dreal was the next least injured as he was able to hide behind the Demon Lord’s throne. Tera, on the other hand, was the closest and was still looking at me when I blew. From what Night was able to determine from reports from his agents her face was injured the most in the blast and while Dreal was able to heal her somewhat he was unable to fix the disfigurement on her face because the blast was not an ordinary one – it was a cursed blast. Now she wears a mask wherever she goes, a testament to her treachery if you ask me.

From what Night was able to determine, Sols was somewhere here in Ataria but he was laying low. Kaban was in the Kingdom of Gildan – a mostly human populated kingdom. Kava was back home in the Kingdom of the Elves, Tristera. And Dreal was still in the wind, as a healer it was obvious that he would be circulating between the allied kingdoms going where needed. He was the only one I had reservations about getting revenge on, and that was only because before I died as he healed me he mumbled ‘sorry’, before walking away after he was finished. Night found out that he had given up most of the glory of being a Hero and was now roaming the various Kingdoms helping out in hospitals and orphanages. Simply put, if he doesn’t come looking for me, I doubt that I will ever go looking for him. Tera stayed in Caladan, taking up the role of Head Advisor to the King as well as the leader of the light Paladins.

My revenge was going to have to wait a bit longer, I had started cultivating a few years ago and now I was at the 9th stage of the Ascendant’s realm. Cultivation on this planet was different than the usual wuxia stories that I had read when I was still on earth before the summoning. It was greatly dependant on your frame of mind, the willpower and determination you had. Of course your meridian veins played a role as well but more along the lines of how long it would take you to cultivate rather than what your final destination would be. There were several realms you could cultivate to. The first was the Apprentice realm, followed by the Mortal, the Ascendant, the Emperor, the Saint, the Divine and then the God realm, with each realm having ten stages. Needless to say, I kept my cultivation to myself and even hid it so that I would appear to be at the beginning of the Mortal realm, having a fifteen year old at the 5th stage of the Ascendant’s realm was mind boggling so I toned it down to something that was a bit more believable, albeit only if I was a genius.

In a month my wedding to Lyra was to be held. I had grown to adore her these past few years, aaaannnnddd then there was her mother Lady Goodard and her fearsome smile. I don’t think anyone has ever denied her something when that smile came out, oh she’s not a violent person but somehow, someway she manages to get whatever she wants when she puts her mind to it. Well the bridal party was being held today and Lyra was running around gushing with everyone and glorious in her smiles and jubilance. There were many guests arriving, including the emperor – whom I still have some reservations about by the way. Anyway, I was in the receiving line, meeting and greeting people when then Emperor arrived. The Emperor’s arrival heralded the usual fanfare and bowing and smoozing but after the emperor finally left the receiving line someone came up that almost made me lose my usual calm. It was that bastard Sols.