Ghaelvord sat with perfect posture, back erect, head held high, in his colossal blackwood throne. The baroque pipe organ rose up behind the tall throne, dwarfing it. Thousands of pipes adorned it. The throne itself was covered in glyphs like a Norse runestone. The glyphs were gilded with gold. A glossy, specular reflection emanated from the polished metal.

“Do you like my home?” Ghaelvord asked innocently.

No one answered him.

Hunter sat directly in front of the throne in the main hall. A heavy, unbreakable chain bound his arms behind his back. Malacoda had cinched the chains up painfully tight. Hunter sat with both knees supporting his weight and stared up at Ghaelvord. Ghaelvord sat high above him. To Hunter’s left, Virgil sat bound in the same manner. To Hunter’s right, Tiyana sat similarly bound. On a table off to the side, Shenouda lay unconscious. Malacoda stood to the right of the throne. He had his arms crossed and his lower lip stuck out in an expression of indignation. Virgil’s caduceus staff and Hunter’s two crystal-blade swords lay directly in front of the throne. Ghaelvord had arranged them directly beneath his feet, tantalizingly close to their owners, but absolutely out of reach.

Ghaelvord smiled. Despite his shoulder injury, which he barely seemed to notice, he spoke with effervescent mirth.

Ghaelvord began, “Oh how the mighty have fallen. So, you are the wizard who confounded my armies for all of those long years. Fascinating. I will admit, when I woke up this morning, I wrapped my robes around myself just as I do every morning. I never, for a second, thought that I would have the enigmatic wizard who antagonized me for centuries sitting chained in front of me. Ha! Sometimes life skips the lemons and gives you lemonade.”

Ghaelvord slapped the armrest and shook his head in an expression of wonderment.

He went on, “Life can be filled with such charming surprises.”

Virgil felt defeated. His pride kept him from hanging his head, but he could not bear to look into Ghaelvord’s mocking sapphire eyes so he turned his head and looked sideways. He determined to endure the derision stoically.

Ghaelvord took his time looking from face to face of his captive audience.

After he allowed his words and tone to sink in, he begun again, “And you,” he looked at Tiyana, “You are an exquisite beauty. Pretty women have always been the Achilles’ Heel of great men, I suppose. Nevertheless, come on wizard, or Virgil, as I suppose I should call you now, if that is your real name. Really? After all of the antagonization that you have given me over the long years, you let one mortal life defeat you? This is one woman who will die someday soon whether you give up or not.” Ghaelvord laughed. “Am I the only one to see the irony here? You surrendered in order save the life of a mortal, who will simply die anyways, regardless of what goes on here today. What did you really accomplish?” Ghaelvord snickered.

“You’ll eat those words one day.” Hunter said the words through gritted teeth.

He stared defiantly up at the macabre throne.

Ghaelvord laughed again, “One day?” He raised his eyebrows. “That is a bold claim for an infant Dahjaat. You don’t know who I am, do you? You have been Dahjaat for how long? Two weeks? Three? Ask me how long I have been Dahjaat.” He paused. “Okay, I will tell you. Forever, well, for as long as I can recall anyways.”

At that Ghaelvord laughed good-naturedly. His tone had become subtly grittier as he talked. Abruptly, his tone changed.

It became cloying again and he said, “Excuse me. Where are my manners? You all are indisposed and I am taking advantage of it. I am not the kind of fighter who kicks a downed opponent.”

Tiyana chimed in, “What do you want? Yes, we came here to find out what was going on, yes, we wanted our associate, Shenouda, back. We heard that you did some horrible things, and we heard that you planned on beginning a war that would cause widespread death and destruction.”

Ghaelvord smiled, “You heard this? Interesting, I think that I know who told you these things. What did he tell you?” Ghaelvord addressed Virgil, “What did you tell them?” He turned his attention back to Tiyana, “Did he tell you that I destroyed the Aldenduenum, that I plan on enslaving the human race?”

“Something like that.” Tiyana responded.

“Well, allow me to set the record straight. I love the Aldenduenum. I use their technology every day. It’s great.” Ghaelvord sighed, “but they forgot about us. We, the Dahjaat, have evolved to a level of self-awareness that humans will never reach. They simply cannot. The gap between the human and the Dahjaat is no different from the gap between the human and the ape. While the downfall of the Aldenduenum was a great tragedy and in a perfect world, would not have had to occur, the world that we live in is imperfect and they had to fall before we could rise. But, come now, we are rehashing tired old debates. It is just so much water under the bridge at this point. The time has come…”

Ghaelvord’s eyes looked as if they would pop right out of their sockets as he made methodical eye contact with each of the three prisoners.

“The time has come for the Rise of the Dahjaat.”

Ghaelvord took his longest dramatic pause yet.

“You mean the enslavement of the human race?” Tiyana asked.

“Enslavement? Absolutely not. Are the earth’s animals slaves to humans? Mankind was evolving once. Unfortunately, science and technology outpaced evolution. Synthetic evolution outpaced natural evolution. This event was unprecedented.” Ghaelvord paused for effect. “And what did the humans do, celebrate? No, they became frightened of themselves. They put limits on their faculties. They prevented themselves from changing, from adapting, from using their natural abilities. They relied solely on their machines. They supplanted their work for God’s. Our planet is constantly attacked from without and from within by cosmic and geologic forces. Despite all odds, however, life burgeoned here on Earth.It burgeoned on its own, without the artificial limits put on it by the Aldenduenum. They wanted to stop that progression, the progression that defines who we are and where we are going. The Tower of Babel was their downfall. It was not a physical tower. It was merely the supplanting of their works for God’s invisible hand.”

“So, you are some sort of hero?” Tiyana asked with disgust.

“I am only a vessel, sent to correct the imbalance, to clear the obstacles, to break the dams. I will make technology work for us and not the other way around. Under my reign, no impediments to the progression of life will be erected. That, dear guests, is the aim of the Chthonians. So, you see, the Aempyreans are living in the past. They cannot see the big picture. They are hypocrites really.” Ghaelvord shrugged his shoulders and pointed at Virgil. “Look at him, the wizard. Did he ever shirk his abilities? No. No Dahjaat, Chthonian or Aempyrean has ever given up our superhumanity. We always progress while mankind stagnates. We accepted a life of exile and unfair degradation in exchange for our right to be who we are. Our goal, the goal of the Chthonians, is only to give humanity the same freedom that we have.”

“Freedom by conquest is no freedom at all.” Tiyana said.

Ghaelvord heard her, but he looked as if he was deep in thought.

He addressed Virgil in a slow, questioning tone, “They say that you were born to a human mother and fathered by Dahjaat.”

Virgil said nothing and refused to make eye contact.

“We know that is not possible, and yet…” Ghaelvord tapped his chin, “and yet, here you are conjuring thunder, becoming invisible, using body doubles, adapting, progressing…” Ghaelvord stroked his chin, “I have to assume that if you could declopse that you would have. I have to wonder, wizard, whether you are human. From what little we know of the time before the Aldenduenum banned magic, it would seem that you use it. You use what the Aldenduenum banned.” Ghaelvord laughed again and practically shouted, “You are human aren’t you? You are human, but you never gave in. You rebel.” Ghaelvord shook his head, “You shrewd, shrewd rebel.”

Virgil saw an opening and went for it, “We can live in peace, Ghaelvord. All of the bloodshed is unnecessary. The Aldenduenum are no more. Your quarrels are settled. Our values and your values are different and I would welcome an open, honest discussion with you about our beliefs. But right now, beware of vanity. No ideal can ever outweigh the genocide that you would perpetrate.”

Ghaelvord replied, “That is where we part ways. No price is too great to pay to restore mankind. No price is too great to pay to let life flourish. Life in a cage is no life at all.”

“Go blow it out your ear.” Hunter said sardonically.

Ghaelvord looked disgruntled. He had been enjoying himself. Brute force alone never did seem to be enough to keep an administration in power. He needed to hone his message.

Once Hunter broke the pace of the conversation, Tiyana jumped in, “You will lose.”

Ghaelvord raised his eyebrows and looked at Tiyana. Malacoda stood by the throne in idle silence. Malacoda never had a shred of interest in politics. He only enjoyed the challenge of a good fight.

Ghaelvord grunted skeptically and addressed the bold prediction, “Oh? Is that so?”

“You might make waves, but we’ll have the last laugh. You want to know why?” She said defiantly.

“Absolutely.” Ghaelvord said in an expression of Socratic irony.

Tiyana replied, “Because we have the bombs. We will turn you into radioactive waste before we give in.”

“Tell me something that I do not know.”

Ghaelvord adjusted his weight in his seat and got comfortable.

He said in a conspiratorial tone, “I’ll let you all in on a few secrets. What’s the harm? None of you are going anywhere.”

He laughed again.

“Nuclear energy, as primitive as your efforts at utilizing it are, is the key. Your race has yet to invent anything better; though, according to a recent research report I read, you may be close, without even knowing it. But I digress, nuclear energy. That is the gamechanger. That is why in a few weeks’ time, my armies will descend on France and seize power there. France has the third greatest number of active nuclear warheads with over three hundred. Nuclear energy powers over a third of the country. To make the situation even better, they produce all of this energy internally. They, in fact, make more energy than they can use and have to export it. I can take the country, redirect the energy inward, and keep the entire nation running without outside help.” Ghaelvord spread his open palms wide in a gesture that said, “See, I have it all figured out.”

He continued, “They will, of course, not know what hit them. The yzorak are equipped with Aldenduenum weapons that cannot be stopped. They use ionized particle beams that easily disintegrate any element. No armor, no defense will stop them. As soon as we take the first city, the ranks of the yzorak-al’ghul will grow. In a few weeks, while the French assess how they will deal with us, I will ramp up a yzorak production facility. I will produce thousands of new ghouls every day. My armies will grow exponentially and before our opponent truly understands what kind of an enemy they are facing, they will fall.”

Ghaelvord was revealing his plans. If Tiyana could keep him talking, then they could learn vital information. If, somehow, they ever escaped, then the information would be essential to their efforts. She could tell he enjoyed the colloquy, so she threw him a bone.

She said, “We will wipe you out. Once the world sees your ghouls, sees the perverse mutation, then they will universally turn against you. The entire world will unite against you. You will be nuked into oblivion if necessary.”

Ghaelvord replied, “One would think so, I suppose, but no such thing will happen. The beauty of the doctrine of mutual mass destruction is that you only need enough bombs to destroy the other side. I will have that. One of the major flaws in the doctrine is the danger of first strikes. Supposedly, if you are struck first and hard, then you will not be able to retaliate. I, of course, will retaliate. Enough underground facilities are equipped with intercontinental ballistic missiles to ensure that I will have the bombs and delivery systems for a second strike. Also, you have seen my army. Every city in the country could blow up around them and they would go on about their business as if nothing happened. Also, I know my enemy. I will take out the capital of the top ten countries in the world ranked by Gross Domestic Product. It will send a clear message. That message will be, ‘I can launch a second strike, no matter what you throw at me, and by the way, I can launch a third and fourth and fifth and so on and so on ad infinitum.’”

“You’re a monster.” Tiyana said.

“Dear girl, do not worry. I can win the hard way or the easy way, but I can assure you that it will be the easy way. When France falls unexpectedly to an army that no one knew existed, no one will risk a first strike. The danger will be far too unknown. They will assume that the danger is there and that it is real because they have no other choice. No one will nuke me. No one will take that risk until they know more about me and my armies, but by then, of course, it will have been too late. The swarm will have begun to spread across Europe. Pockets of yzorak will appear on every continent. France will become a mere headquarters. Soon, nations will capitulate. The first ones to sign treaties with the empire will receive preferential treatment. Do not worry. I have it all planned out. I am quite prescient, as Virgil here can attest.”

Tiyana wanted to keep him going for as long as possible so she riposted, “Your ship is somewhere in Nacala. You took the Alexander. That ship is a big one and powerful people are looking for it. What can you do? Drive it right through the Bay of Bisque, or through the Strait of Gibraltar? You will never get through Gibraltar and in the bay you are smack in the middle of the Brittish, Spanish, Portugese and French navies. It’s practically the worst possible place to mount a naval attack.”

Ghaelvord smacked his armrest with his open palm, “This is a clever one, eh Malacoda?”

Malacoda looked at his boss, but said nothing. The conversation made him uneasy. He had a great deal of faith in his leader, but he was hearing plans for the first time. Malacoda did not like finding these things out at the same time as his enemy, even a captive enemy.

Ghaelvord went on, “You hit the nail on the head. Congratulations, you get to move to the front of the class. I will not attack from the west; that would be a terrible idea. No, I will drive the boat right up through the Suez Canal.”

Tiyana looked shocked, “The Suez Canal? You cannot be serious. The canal is only a few hundred feet wide. You’ll have a big ship in a tight space and you’ll be driving the world’s most wanted stolen vessel. Look, we’re going nowhere; you can tell us the truth.”

Ghaelvord laughed, “But I am. Even as we speak, my good friend President Macamo is retrofitting the ship. It will look exactly like one from his fleet. For all appearances, the ship will be carrying timber from this very forest. It will fly under a legitimate Mozambican flag. Trust me. I have either thought of everything or President Macamo has thought of it for me. We are quite close you know.”

“What is to become of us?” Tiyana asked, partly out of burning curiosity and partly to keep the conversation moving.

Ghaelvord took a deep breath, “Excellent question. What should I do with you all? I am open to suggestions. I am not unreasonable, after all.”

“You are not immortal.” Virgil blurted out angrily. “You are a blight. One day you will die and face judgment.”

“I would not be too sure about that.” Ghaelvord replied cryptically.

From Ghaelvord’s robe he produced a long, dark cigar. As the conversation went on, he cut it, lit it, and began puffing on it.

Hunter jumped in, “Let us go.”

He tried to say it boldly and with a straight face, but he failed and, at the end, his voice got higher as he sort of turned the statement into a question.

“Hmmm, probably not going to happen.” Ghaelvord replied. “Anyone else?”

Hunter tried again, this time forcefully, “Let Tiyana go. She’s not a part of this. This is between you and me, one Dahjaat to another.”

Ghaelvord replied, “No, sorry, you wasted your turn. Next.”

The wheels turned in Tiyana’s head as she said, “Keep us captive. Let us get to know you. I think that we can find common ground.”

“Okay. I’m listening.” Ghaelvord replied.

Tiyana continued, “You and Virgil have had your differences. You have your side of the War and he has his. We were drug involuntarily into the middle of it. We only got involved to save Shenouda and to clean up any messes that we might have made by awakening you. That’s all.”

“Go on.” Ghaelvord said.

Tiyana continued, “The unknown scares us all. You can understand that, the fear of the unknown. I’m realizing now though, that you have ideas on how to improve society. Maybe those ideas have merit. I’m not going to lie and tell you that we see eye to eye, but let us learn from you. Let us absorb everything that you have to offer. Maybe, just maybe, we can find common ground. In any case, there’s no rush. We are not going anywhere.”

Ghaelvord responded, “Eloquently put. Bravo. I, for one, enjoy and welcome the unknown, but I can see how others prefer predictability. What do you say Virgil? Shall we set our differences aside and grow together?”

Virgil looked up defiantly, “I will fight you until I draw my last breath you vile betrayer.”

Ghaelvord threw his hands up in a gesture of mock frustration, “You should listen to this woman. The fairer sex levels us out, Virgil. We males tend to tilt toward extremes. What about you? I believe they call you Hunter. What do you say, do we all sit around a campfire singing or do I kill you all?”

Hunter felt torn. He wanted to side with Virgil, but he could not bear to say anything that would endanger Tiyana. His affection for his wife got the better of him and he hung his head.

“Spare us.” Hunter said without making eye contact.

“Two against one. I guess I will not kill you. Oh wait, this is not a democracy, it’s a dictatorship. Of course I am going to kill all of you! How else could you have possibly thought that this would end?” With that Ghaelvord burst into raucous laughter.

“Liar!” Hunter screamed.

Hunter clumsily struggled to his feet and rushed at the throne. He dropped his shoulder and rammed it as hard as he could. It shook, but did not fall. Ghaelvord hardly moved from his lofty perch. Malacoda leapt into action. Hunter felt hands around his shoulders throwing him back to his place. He landed hard on the ground between Virgil and Tiyana. With his hands bound, he could not break the fall and he felt pain in his back and tailbone. His shoulder also hurt from ramming the throne. When Tiyana saw it, she worried that he might have dislocated it. Hunter ignored the pain. His rage pushed away all other feelings.