Where The Dead Ones Go Book 4 -Union-

Chapter 17

"As long as His Eminence is unharmed, that's all that matters."

I nodded at Councilor Andrade sadly who welcomed our arrival back at the Novus Zepyranth after our expedition to Pangea.

"Though his heart seems to be not unscathed."

"That is a matter that we shouldn't discuss. After all, you of all people, know what he is going through now, am I right, Your Highness?"

I remained silent rather than answer for what he just said is absolutely true and painful at the same time.

I can talk about duty, obligations, responsibilities, and tasks that I have to bear all I want to Kairos but at the end of the day, I am as pathetic as him.

Left behind by our better halves too soon for us to even show our love and devotion to them.

"I don't even know why you are following my orders. I mean, I am a leader of a nation that doesn't even exist anymore. A monarch without a crown on her head nor a present to call her own. Only a past she can mourn for and a future teetering on the verge of collapse."

The old man smiled kindly at him as he inclined his head slowly, "Her Majesty is the same in that regard. An Empress without an empire to lead. A present that is an ephemeral illusion at best, a past full of misery and regret and a future she can only dream of. Now I know why she and Kairos believe in you so much. They look up to you, just like any friends who trust their friend to lead them in their direst hours."

"No matter how much I wanted to be, I am not the perfect girl she believes I was," I confessed as we walked past several battalions of Novus Zepyranthian soldiers and remnants of the Alliance Forces combined marching past us on their way to the command center of the reservation.

The old man tried to suppress a smile as if he remembered something amusing, "You know, Your Highness, when we met Her Majesty again for the first time in eons, she is a little bit different than what we remembered her to be. No longer the indecisive girl wearing a glorious crown she can barely handle the weight of. No, she became more mature, confident, calculating, and becoming the leader capable of getting things done with little to no help from anyone. Getting to know you a little, I now believe that there is truth on the saying that, "Imitation is the best form of flattery"."

"Then she found the worse girl to imitate..."

But he shook his head respectfully, "I think I will have to disagree on that one, Your Highness. Old and decrepit as I am, I would not just hand over the command of the entire Novus Zepyranth to a foreign monarch just because my liege ordered me to do so."

"So the decree of the Empress is not absolute, Councilor Andrade?" I asked out of curiosity as we near the command center of the reservation getting filled with more and more soldiers and medical personnel as we speak.

"No, Emira g*****a. Unlike the authority that the Wilkins Dynasty enjoyed for many millennia, Her Majesty's word is not the be all end all kind of order that you have to follow to the letter even at the cost of your own life. As you already know, the Vietan Imperial Dynasty's powers has weakened considerably through the thousands of years of their rule. During my time, it is nothing more than a symbolic one. No, I followed her and her father before her out of my own free will. The same as the rest of the Province of Anoixi behind me. She also implored me to use my better, more experienced judgment and make adjustments here and there if I find her directives are not up to the task."

"I always see Vivet as a simple girl who just wants to live a normal, happy life as much as she can. I'm kind of sad that she never showed us this more formal and respectable side of her. Even in her capacity as the Empress, she always talks to us as if we are equals. Never looked down on us all for a single moment."

"While I cannot say that this is exactly what she was thinking back then, but I have firm grounds to believe that she is embarrassed about the way you and Lady Eonia carry yourselves when leading. Embarrassed that she will never have the same qualities and characteristics needed to be as effective as you two. The best she can do is to incorporate bits and pieces into her own way of leading and hope for the best."

I chuckled a little as I wipe away the tear that fell from my eye when I heard that, "Hope for the best, huh? Logically speaking, any leader who does that will be considered unreliable and unfit to rule a nation. But if it's her? Well, I guess that's the thing I am sure of wishing that I have. Eonia will likely say the same if she is here with us right now."

"And I think it's time that Your Highness incorporate some of the endearing qualities our Empress have in your way of leading," he said quietly as we near the door towards the war room guarded by two heavily armed soldiers who saluted upon our arrival, "For we may need all the hope we can possibly get if we are to open the gates of the brand new Golden Age finally."

I nodded dutifully at him before entering the room that looks almost identical to the Ares War Room of the Scythian Emirate.

Inside, countless Alliance and Novus Zepyranthian command and control specialists are manning the apparatus and gizmos showing information ranging from the wind direction, the number of our enemies, and the direct location of Typhon in real-time.

In the middle of the room is a large electronic strategy simulation equipment capable of showing us several outcomes of an engagement depending on the movements and actions of the participants.

Standing around it and looking rather grim are Asher, Zenith, Syden, Nox and several familiar faces I never thought I will ever see again in this mortal existence of mine.

"Erina?"

"Who else, Gala? It is me, the spawn of Iris reporting for duty," she answered in a sultry voice that made my heart a little lighter.

"Where are your other siblings? Mireus and Ramnus?"

I immediately regretted asking that question when I saw her confident expression was replaced with sadness and loss.

"With our beloved cousin, Gala," she said simply before shrugging and returning to her normal demeanor, "That's why I am here to work thrice as hard as I can for the three of us and I am sure that is the same for you, right? I can feel her very aura within you."

I nodded in agreement as I look at the boy standing beside him.

His boyish looks, beautiful as the pure snow skin and silver snow hair is a dead give away.

"Boris, son of Boreas, the wind god of the north..."

"It is, Gala. Though I have to apologize for the absence of my sisters. They are sitting this one out like Erina's cousins."

I bowed in the answer as I look around him searching for his cousin and best friend.

"Scratch the thrice, Gala. I will have to work four times for the rest of us. The girl just can't have a break, huh?"

Offering my condolences will be an insult to them all who appeared her to answer our calls for help despite their losses.

"Would you not acknowledge the presence of the girl standing beside your friends, Gala?" Boris asked pointedly that made me blink my eyes at him in confusion as he glanced at the youthful teenage girl standing between Zenith and Syden raising a familiarly high eyebrow in my direction.

"It can't be! Ms Peregrine?!"

"For a moment I thought she will not recognize me," she said in her trademark patronizing voice that made me bit my lip just to stop myself from crying, "But then again, she is the brightest among you all so I shouldn't be surprised. Long time no see, Ms Alchimea."

I took a step forward just to be sure that she is real, "Where have you been all this time, Ms Peregrine?!"

"Well, you're not the only one who can wander around aimlessly, Ms Alchimea. I am only alive because I begrudgingly followed Ms Vivier's requests to evacuate to Novus Zepyranth "again" before the Second Fall. She said that I have to be there to assist and guide you all when the time has come to finally end this aggravating lull before the next Golden Age. I also have taken the liberty to travel around Gearth and gather as many allies as I can. I came across Nox here a year earlier and thankfully, he is already with you. Saved me a lot of time getting lost in that creepy forest he shut himself into."

The son of Hades scratched the back of his head and looked at me meaningfully, "No wonder the Auxiliary Class is the best among the rest in the Hellenic Citadel. I mean, you have to deal with an adviser like her daily!"

"Are you saying something you will absolutely cry about like a little baby later, Mr Finis?"

He quickly shook his head and shut his mouth to let Zenith save his skin.

"Ms Peregrine here has brought most of the surviving Alliance Forces soldiers together with the equipment and weapons they have saved from the Second Fall," the High Priest said clearly that made our adviser flip her hair approvingly, "It's not that much but, hey! Three million more soldiers are better than nothing after all!"

Syden looked at Ms Peregrine with sheer amazement by what she has achieved, "You really are something, Maam!"

"But of course, Mr Villiers! I haven't survived two ends of the worlds for nothing. Though I must admit it has not been an easy task locating all the caves, stones, and the deep, creepy forest they have sealed themselves into."

I nodded and quickly pressed on the more important matters at hand that need addressing.

"Councilor Andrade here has reported to us that Novus Zephyranthians scouts cannot locate the Imperial Prince. Do you have any information regarding his whereabouts or status, Ms Peregrine."

She nodded sadly, "I do. Mr Mortheo used the last of his life force to hide his godson in a space between life and death to protect him from Typhon who is understandably rather keen to destroy the heir to the Imperial Throne. Vivet's cousin is already gone by the time I located his whereabouts two years after the fall and he communicated to me briefly using the power of his father to relay that fact. The Imperial Crown Prince will appear on the mortal world once again after his future is secured, he said."

"And we are all here to make sure that it will surely come to pass," I said with utmost conviction that made all the people who heard me nod in agreement, "Now, let's discuss our strategy against Typhon. This will be a lot harder than our first try but as my first always said, "nothing risked, nothing gained"."

-0-

"He "can" be destroyed. The Imperial Rod that the Novus Zephyranthians has equipped on the Elysian is the proof of that," I said with utmost surety as I showed them the footage of the weapon blowing an impressive gigantic hole at the center of Typhon, "If we can unleash several more of those at his real body, we can be sure that at least some heavy damage to him is guaranteed."

The son of Koalemos looked at the councilor expectantly, "You got more of them sticks, sir?"

"As much as I wanted to say yes, we don't," he replied dejectedly, "What we equipped Elysian was the single prototype left by the goddess of wisdom, god of war and god of the forge to be displayed at the Innovations Museum of the Province of Anoixi for tourism purposes."

Ms Peregrine raised an eyebrow at the old man, "Any idea where they moved the goods, Councilor Andrade?"

"All I know is that those weapons are commissioned by the late Emperor himself as a secret and absolute weapon against any aggressors the Imperial Guard and Imperial Armada Forces don't have any chance of defeating," he answered respectfully as he looked at the monitor rather proudly, "As you can see, a single Imperial Rod can blast a hole into the catastrophe incarnate so big, the whole Novus Zephyranth Imperial Air Force Armada detachment can easily fit in."

Erina nodded quickly but pointed out the glaring fact before us, "Yeah, yeah, I hear you its very, very destructive and you will "never" find me anywhere near it. But the reality is we don't have any more of them. The person who should have the knowledge on where the heck those Olympian immortals shove them all."

"One last question, Councillor Andrade before we move to our next options," Syden said after raising his hand the way he always did, "Just how many of that thing the empire has produced?"

The old man smiled despite himself as if he remembered something very funny, "The late Emperor has once confided to me what Lord Ares has boasted to him. Lord Hephaestus and his factories at the Province of Cretonia are "manufacturing them like hotdogs"."

We all gasped in shock when we heard what he said except for Ms Peregrine who shook her head disapprovingly.

"The Empire of Plurinational Alliance Xenocracy always have a certain fondness, or rather, propensity for excesses."

The High Priest looked at our adviser and the councilor, "So that's the real reason why the Empire of Pax lasted that long without falling into the ravages of war. They keep him placated with weapons development."

"Right you are Mr Mycenae. It always goes like this with the war god. He will suddenly burst out of his room one day with an insane, unrealistic, and remotely viable idea for a brand new weapon. He will nag the goddess of wisdom to help him make it a reality to which she will finally relent just to get her brother off her back. After she made blueprints of it, she will present it to the reigning Emperor or Empress of the time for final approval before sending it to the god of forge for mass production."

I nodded and sighed, "Well, as Erina said, the fact is we don't have any more of it that we can use."

"So time for Plan B, Gala?" Boris asked pointedly before he swiped the simulation of the Imperial Rod out of sight to move to the next option.