Hedan changed the topic: “And the child… You would damn him to be erased, then? You and I both know the Second Eye’s true purpose.”

“The Smoke Witch will warn him, I’m sure of it,” Wodan refuted, but he didn’t say the whole truth of his intentions. He did write it, however:

Subject VK-697 is in possession of Artifact ATDGK-1479, the “Left Eye of Koschei”. As detailed in Report No. 54 on this cultivation branch, the artifact is suspected to have been used as a soul receptacle in order to evade extermination and potentially return via reincarnation into a direct descendant. Due to Subject VK-697’s proximity to Subject ZN, I predict that she will take action to prevent this from transpiring when she learns of the Left Eye’s true nature. While simple disposal of the artifact is a possibility, Subject ZN’s heretofore displayed tendencies and capabilities suggest an alternate option: Initiating Subject VK-697 into the Walking Way of the Despot of Self. As the aforementioned cultivation method’s inventor, Subject SI-371, demonstrated during his lifetime, advancing to the point of Id-Ego Fusion renders one capable of fending off possession and even subsuming invading spiritual presences regardless of difference in spiritual magnitude. The practitioner effectively becomes omnipotent within their own mindscape.

Due to the nature of Koschei’s prophecy, such a turn of events would not subvert its events; I would, in fact, argue that with the child at the helm it is more likely to come to fruition than if Koschei were to take control, due to the Second King’s scheming nature. Subject VK-697, in contrast, has already been strongly influenced by Subject ZN’s heretofore brief tutelage, steering towards more straightforward solutions to hostility.

Seeing as I am entirely aware that my younger brother is reading this as I write it, and considering his inferior reading comprehension, I will word my theory in simple terms: I’d rather the kid absorb his grandfather than the other way around, as he is most likely to simply kill his enemies than he is to entomb them in immortal flesh prisons as Koschei would.

Instead of a crow golem bringing Wodan his tea it was his brother’s black-sleeved hand that did so, and Wodan felt him staring daggers through him as he smugly took the first sip, knowing that Hedan wouldn’t dare or even think to put something untoward in his drink.

“For once, we agree on something,” the black-robed brother conceded. “I can not predict what hell she would raise if Koschei took that child’s body.”

“I do not recall you holding her in such high regard.”

“I cannot deny objective fact; again and again she exceeds my expectations. For all the frustration her thwarting of my favored side brings me, I can not deny it. Whichever of the Inheritors is to blame for her, he can die happy knowing that his works have superseded ours.”

The Inheritors; a name for Ikesians born from the idea that they had been designated as the inheritors of their lands when the Akhezian Empire decided that their civil war was more important than ruling such a remote place.

“Are you still bitter over the decision to relinquish the Ikesian territories to the natives?”

“They are not natives any more than we were. The only true natives of Ikesia live in the mountains and speak in tongues so twisted even our universal script doesn’t work on them. And no, I am not bitter; I haven’t been in seven centuries. They can not be faulted for political choices made by the same fools who damned our race to childless timelessness.”

“Holding a grudge for a millennium and a half does not make you appear graceful at all, brother.”

“What difference does it make? You’re the only one who knows.”

A great city loomed on the horizon, spires of glass and blackstone mingling with white stone and roof tiles. Its walls, once standing sentinel and proud, had been broken through in several places, evidence of the vast might which had been necessary to siege the city. Seemingly perpetual storm clouds swirled over the city as tendrils of unnaturally iridescent smoke rose from the city like the fingers of some malignant wizard casting a curse over the place.

“So ominous…” Zel uttered as they rode by. ”You’d think the Capital would have the newest, cleanest reactors to power it.”

“It does, the real bleeding edge. All the people who knew how to run them were either killed or became fugitives, so the occupationist morons have been brute-forcing the new AFI-LL reactors with what little knowledge they managed to scrounge up. From what I’ve heard they’re running at one-third efficiency at best, the rest of the reaction fuel escapes as waste heat and that horrid smoke. Wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that they knew how to run the reactors and were just intentionally misusing them to damage the environment and torment the people. Let’s… Let’s move on, we can’t risk being in eyeshot of the capital for too long.”

And so they did, avoiding the main road as they circled the capital towards the eastern mountain pass.

The Lady in Red remained in the demesne which she clandestinely ruled only long enough to personally receive the offer from Crovacus Estoras, the governor of Willowdale, to join the Free Cities Alliance. She presented this very offer to the duke and, by leveraging the Fifth Eye Incident and promises of renewed prosperity for the duchy, she easily convinced him into accepting its terms in full. At the moment this task was complete, she departed, leaving her right-hand man, Tian Meng, to oversee the duke and ensure he stayed the correct course. Despite the good duke’s lackluster intellect and mental illnesses, Karmesin fully believed with Meng’s counsel would suffice to ensure he functioned as an acceptable puppet ruler. After all, he had been competent enough to keep Arches out of the war and push back against subversive elements from the Occupationist faction; with Meng’s wise oversight, she was comfortable leaving the duchy to pursue Newman.

With a rich income stream from its expanding mining and refining operations, the duchy of Arches would soon find itself in the midst of a modernization akin to that which far more significant cities had undergone during the Great Industrialization. By leveraging the immense output of Fulgur-Igneic reactors and with assistance from the genius minds of Willowdale, the duchy would furthermore be able to begin developing tools with which even dragonbone could be mined and worked.