Tyrant of the Ruined Sun

Silence fell upon us as though it we were struck by it, as we all turned to the origin of the voice with half surprised half confused expressions.

"Seraphina!" Valdour bellowed a second later, reaching for the little girl in an effort to stop her.

"What do you mean little girl?" But Maximillian quickly asked, his eyes both hungry for hope, and weary of it’s pain should it prove nothing but empty words from such a young and unknown source.

"Seraphina that is enough, come back here..." Valdour continued his quest of trying to stop her, even grabbing her arm to pull her back, yet he was interrupted again by none other than her.

"Teacher please!" She looked back at the giant, who stood ten times her size, with pleading eyes, before she looked to me as well, with the same unspoken request within them.

"Let her speak Valdour." I said a moment later, wanting to hear this nearly as much as the increasingly displeased dragon did.

"Sire..." The giant looked to me with an odd expression, but I did not heed it, as I said.

"I said let her speak Valdour!"

"Thank you master!" She bowed to me with a smile across her cheeks, before she turned back to Valdour and uttered. "I’m sorry teacher."

And then with the same breath turned back to us, and declared to the room at large "I think I know of a way to cure his lordship’s wife."

A stir pulsed through the crowd at her words.

"How?!" Maximilian quickly asked, though scepticism still mired his every syllable.

The little green eyed girl rushed forward, and unfurled upon the desk an old and well worn scroll of yellowing parchment, as she began to quickly explain "The poison currently in her ladyship’s veins is a mere imitation of my ancestor’s masterpiece, mostly because it lacks the most vital ingredient that brought to it to the heights it did in history, the essence of a member of my house. Which not only means that it weaker substance in general, but we also believe that it is also not immune to divine influence."

"Very well, but what does that have to do with anything?" Maximillian asked slightly impatiently, having already been privy to the information of it’s incomplete form beforehand, as he has been thanking the gods a hundred times a day that it was incomplete ever since, but he remained confused as to why she was emphasizing the poison’s possible vulnerability to divine power.

Something I too shared with him at this moment, albeit partly, since it was slightly obscured by my own illation and sense of overwhelming relief, knowing that the incomplete venom could possibly be harmless, or at least slightly less effective against myself, Eve and the other demigods in my service.

Though I remained apprehensive of it’s ability to harm those who were not of divine lineage, which, unfortunately encompassed a great deal of people I both cared for and needed for the future.

But this possibility, if proven correct, could become something that elevates the divine lineages with healing abilities to new extremes, if the mastermind continues, and possibly even elevates his use of this dreadful substance.

’I wonder if I could convince Tianlan to hand me over the vassalage his lands currently hold over the Kusuri Kingdom and it’s royal descendants of the God of Medicine and Healing? But I can’t even begin to imagine how much I would need to spend to satisfy that Golden Glutton? Then again I could simply kidnap their head of house and bring him here. Though, if Seraphina grows up to meet my expectations, such efforts could prove to be utterly without worth, since who best to deal with poison that the heir to the Serpent God’s blood?’ I briefly thought, before I was yanked out of my momentary lapse of concentration.

"It means, Mercenary King, that Seraphina could have influence over the poison since it is not protected by the divine essence of another with greater power than she, which we believe is the primary reason why the poison was so impossible to cure in the olden times, during the horrid reign of King Achlys." It was Valdour’s booming voice that echoed out, covering for Seraphina when the young girl froze before the dragon’s hungering eyes.

I looked at the excited Seraphina and the clearly disgruntled and even anxious Valdour for a moment, then back at Maximillian who looked ready to carry the young girl this instant to his wife’s sickbed, as I spoke "But this is all in speculation, with nothing yet proven, correct? And if it were true, you are not yet a gates demigod, making utterly disconnected with your ancestor’s gifts, so we could not even act upon it.

Maximillian seemed to physically wither before my eyes, his earlier elation gone like smoke in the wind, as he slowly retook his seat.

Yet I noticed something else then, not in the War Dragon, but in Seraphina, who’s passive face, as usual did not reveal much of her inner thoughts, but which her then darting eyes and fidgeting fingers more than compensated for.

She had more to say.

And as though to prove my hunch correct, her darting eyes finally paused then, as they found the harbour they were looking for, which just so happened to be in Valdour’s direction, who then resignedly nodded, as though to say, ’You’ve come this far already, might as well finish’.

And with the second rare smile this day, she turned back to us and said "I think I can open my first gate."

"How?!" Maximillian jumped at the news, looking like he was ready to move heaven and earth to see it done.

Meanwhile I was struck dumb by her words, as my mind continued to slowly digest the words she just said.

My house can train our powers by ingesting and administering harmful substances into ourselves, so I believe if I could take some of the poison currently running in her ladyship’s veins, then I could do it." She explained.

I looked to her for a moment and then to Valdour, then back to her and again to Valdour in quick succession, with utter stupefaction upon my face, that all but dwarfed the wide range of reactions of everyone else, since only a demigod could understand the near impossibility of the task proposed at such a young age.

An age even younger than mine when I unlocked my first gate in this life, which was only possible because I was already so intimately familiar with the pain and processes of passing my ancestor’s sadistic trials.

"All of you out." I commanded, looking at my ministers, guards and Maximillian himself, with a tone that clearly conveyed that nothing but immediate obedience was accepted.

And though the dragon was clearly disgruntled he knew better than to meddle further in this moment.

"Valdour, what do you make of this?" I asked the second the doors closed, and we were left alone.

"Of course I am against it Alexander." He declared, shedding his mortal identity and beginning to talk to me with his true identity. "You know as much as I how dangerous unlocking the gates are. There is a reason why most demigods wait until their mid twenties to early thirties to begin unlocking their gates, let alone when they are still a child of thirteen, who’s training so far has barely progressed from drinking potions that barely give her an upset stomach, into ingesting substances that barely give her a headache along with a slight fever."

"Teacher, I can do it! I can! I know can!" Seraphina rushed to protest, her poison green eyes burning with a passionate fire she rarely ever had.

"I do trust you child." Valdour soothed. "I speak these words not in denial of your abilities or ambitions, but in worry." Seraphina’s cheeks became a faint shade of pink then, as Valdour again placed his enormous hand upon her shoulder, saying "You’ve hard, uncovering and aiding the Archpriest and Arch mage greatly in their efforts, and the plans you’ve come up with were again excellent, but you push yourself too hard, you always do, and this time you could harm yourself. Terribly so. So please little one, you must see reason, you must wait, at least a few years, just so you could better yourself prepare for this truly dangerous undertaking."

I was still in the throes of mulling over the idea in my mind, while looking at the touching scene before me, when a cold and proud voice echoed through the room, that made the other two jump in surprise.

"Let her try."

I looked back to my shadow with a half loving half expectant smile, and said "My love."

The shadows began to come alive, twisting upon themselves until they mimicked a flower’s closed bud just before blooming, as it then ruptured in haunting arcs of shadow, revealing her form, gliding calmly through the room as though she’d just entered through a door.

"We finally meet, I’ve heard much about you my lady." Said Valdour as he came to slight and gentlemanly bow. "Apologies, but formal introduction must come later. I am Valdour, son of the Forge, and she is Seraphina, daughter of the Serpent."

"Eve, daughter of the Night. And there is no need for apologies lord, I partly joined this conversation of yours to experience first hand this fresh and liberating dynamic of yours." She replied, her cane tapping rhythmically upon the cold floor, as shadows continued to dance in revelry around the hem of her dress, escorting her through the unfamiliar room, and to my side.

"Escaped my mother already love? You must have broken her heart." I teasingly said.

"Half the palace felt the killing intent bursting from this room. So I suspect she was quite relieved when she saw me gone from her side to watch over yours." She immediately shot back, as I chuckled in response.

"Returning to the matter at hand." Valdour loudly coughed into his hand.

"Ah, yes." I turned back to him and looked upon Seraphina, who was gazing back at me, and I sunk back into my earlier contemplations.

Eve wants her to try so that she may test the girl’s worth, like an enthusiastic collector wanting to verify the integrity of the newest candidate jewel to join their collection, while Valdour was allowing his fatherly instincts for the pitiful girl to take hold of him; but I was circling the decision in a more cold blooded manner, judging all the pros and cons of it all; and the way I saw it, there were five outcomes to this, each with it’s own advantages and disadvantages that I would have to decide in which way to steer us towards.

The first, and most disastrous possibility, is permitting her to embark upon her chosen path and die in the process, losing not only a very valuable piece, but undoubtedly earning me Valdour’s ire as well. A terrible future.

The second is I do allow her again to try her mad method, but this time she is able to handle the poison better, especially if I ensure she takes a diluted version of it, and then she is again ultimately unable to unlock her first gate, merely reaping some minor boons that would ultimately aid her in the future in her efforts to open the gate. A future where very little changes and yet little is achieved.

The third is forbidding her from trying all together, which would satisfy Valdour, but earn me the disappointment of Eve and the grievance of Seraphina, but most importantly, the hatred of Maximillian who will view this as me not trying my best to help his suffering wife. An extremely dangerous prospect, especially as he continues seeing his wife tormented day after day in my own home no less.

The fourth is once again allowing her to do as she wishes, but this times she is victorious and all her wishes come true, taking the poison and catapulting herself into the ranks of gates demigods, yet her theory of being able to control the poison is flawed or incorrect for whatever reason. In this way I gain Eve’s and Seraphina’s approval, and Valdour’s mild malcontent, while Maximillian is unable to find justification to do much, as he could clearly see we were still doing our best, and though his wife is not entirely cured, much of her suffering would be gone, since Seraphina would consumed much of it, at least until it multiplies in her veins again, which wouldn’t be a problem as Seraphina would be ready on hand to relieve her again, which would also then become an excellent training method for the young girl.

And finally the last, Seraphina manages the impossible and succeeds again, managing to unlock her first gate and with it, the ability to command poison in all it’s forms, to a certain extent at least, thus I would have satisfied everybody, gained a new powerful pawn much earlier than expected, and ensured a permanent method to heal any future possible assassination attempts by the mastermind against my people, while gifting me Maximillian’s gratitude for years to come. A perfect future with no downsides, but a very dangerous gamble that could lead me straight to the first option once again.

What should choose and what should I gamble? I wonder.

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