Where The Dead Ones Go Book 3 -Emirate-

Chapter 11

"I've been standing behind you for almost half an hour now, and you didn't even notice..."

I looked behind and saw my "accidental" husband standing every stalwartly a few steps away from me and smiling as if I am the very reason why he exists.

"I thought you are with Syden and double-checking the things you will do at your stag party?"

He chuckled and shook his head, "I was, but he and Clite can handle the details. You may call it a stag party, but in reality, it is just us boys pigging out on junk food all night."

"Not different from Estelle's bachelorette party for me. It's more like a pajama party in anything but name," I answered as I remembered the daughter of Aphrodite barging in my room early this morning to announce hers and Eonia's plans for the send-off that consists of late-night eating and gossiping, "By the way, have you seen Hyro?"

He nodded and pointed above the reddish skies where I saw a black-winged teenager flying in circles above the palace joined by tamed stymphalian birds while carrying a child, "Morris is keeping him busy and entertained so we can iron out all the details for our marriage in peace."

"Indeed. However, after we are formally wed, I want to spend as much time as I can with him," I said quietly as we both watched the two flit about high above us, "Typhon can attack any moment, and who knows what will happen?"

"You don't sound too confident, Vivet."

I shook my head and looked at the spawn of the god of time in the truest sense of the word, "Oh, believe me, I am confident enough that this time, he will be defeated for good. But what I am worried about is the future. Not ours, but of our son. The Golden Age will not truly start until a member of the Imperial Family ascended once more to the throne."

"You don't plan on leading the reincarnated empire?"

"No, Kairos. My time has already ended the moment The Fall happened. The Vieta's Dynasty's reign will finally come to a close the moment that monster is defeated," I said with finality that made him blink at me curiously, "Unless you want to be the Emperor?"

He laughed and shook his head quickly, "No, thank you. If you said that I will be an Emperor Consort, I will steel myself and do my duty. But if you don't plan to sit on your throne once more, then you can count me out."

"I know you will say that, Kairos. But it's a different story for our child. As the son of the Empress and Emperor Consort, not to mention the goddess of the stars, it is his destiny to fulfill his role as the Scythian who will usher in the new age of prosperity for Gearth. Vieta's Dynasty will give way to the rise of the new dynasty to lead the empire's future."

The creation of Khronos nodded as he looked up again at our child who is now flying on his own with his godfather's guidance and trailing behind him is a beautiful tail made of celestial light the same as what can be seen from the comets in the skies.

"The Faulken Dynasty..."

"Yes. The Faulken Dynasty will lead the Empire of Plurinational Alliance Xenocracy to the next Golden Age. From his blood will rise several royal families and esteemed descendants that will lead the separate nations of Gearth in the distant future."

He looked at me, curiously, "You are saying that as if you know that his empire will not last forever."

"Nothing lasts forever, Kairos. Immortals may last longer than their mortal counterparts, but all is the same in the end," I said matter of factly before looking directly at the setting sun, "Like the neverending cycle of the sun, an empire may rise in the morning before reaching its zenith at noon. However, sooner or later, it will start to wane, and the dusk will surely come by the time its life will ebb..."

My husband nodded and looked at the sun himself before smiling a little, "And the best we can hope for our son is that his descendants will take on the mantle of whatever will happen to the Empire of Plurinational Alliance Xenocracy."

"Exactly," I said with finality as Morris and Hyro began descending towards our waiting friends in the palace garden, "Listen, Kairos, because I will only say this to you once and only once. You have to make sure that in ten years, our son will ascend to the throne no matter what happens."

"You are talking like you will not be there, Vivet."

I chuckled and smiled a little, "Of course I will be there. But we are talking about an exact timeframe, and you hold sway on time itself. That is your job, Kairos."

"Yes, it is. But how can we even afford to proclaim a new empire when we don't have any empire at all?"

As if to answer his question, a flash of lightning strikes hit the ground next to where we are standing, and there appeared the King of the Immortals. Zeus, the Heavenly King, Lord of Lightning.

"I still remembered as if it was yesterday when I made a pact with your ancestor to create a united empire that will encompass the entirety of Tiera and Gearth as a whole..."

Kairos and I knelt simultaneously as Zenith's father began walking towards us with a confident smile on his face.

"I normally would not make any decisions of an absolute importance like this, but time is a luxury, even the King of Immortals can't even afford," he said quietly as he motioned us to stand up, "I have read the missive you have sent to Zenith to bring in my office at Olympus just now and decided to give you my reply as quick as possible, Viera of the Vieta Imperial Dynasty."

I bowed respectfully again before replying, "I do hope against all odds that your divine reply will be favorable to our cause, Your Olympian Majesty."

"It is Viera. Forgetting the fact that Khronos himself made a fool, not only me but also the rest of other deities to hide your very existence to us all. I have come to the conclusion that you are, in fact, right on all accounts. We have to think of what will happen beyond Typhon. On what will happen not just to mortals but to immortals. This seemingly endless stupor that even us deities are in together with mankind must end. As the King of the Gods and Goddesses, I give you my ascent that after your marriage, we will formally acknowledge the end of the Vieta Imperial Dynasty and the rise of Faulken in its stead."

I can't help but shed a tear of joy as Kairos himself grinned in relief when we heard the king's reply, "I am speechless in gratitude, Your Olympian Majesty."

"As am I, Your Olympian Majesty," my husband followed thankfully, which made Zeus nod in agreement.

"The only thing that I, no, that we immortals ask of you Viera is that you make sure that your son will truly usher a brand new glorious Golden Age so magnificent, the mortals will reach what lies beyond Asteria herself."

I touched my heart and made a vow, "I swear on the name of my mother Elpis, the goddess of hope herself, that it will come to pass, Your Olympian Majesty. Because it is after all normal for a parent to expect nothing but the best for their child, is it not?"

"But of course," he replied fatherly as he glanced at his son that is now seriously practicing his priestly duties while the twins of his wife are coaching him earnestly a few steps away from where we are, "Well, that's the only thing I wanted to talk about with you two today. I wanted to get this out of our way before the wedding day."

He was about to leave, but my husband respectfully stopped him abruptly, "Forgive me, Your Olympian Majesty, but have you perhaps told Lord Hermes about our request?"

"Nothing to worry about, spawn of time," the king answered regally as his body began to cackle in electricity, "He already included in the invitation about your request that any gifts bound to the two of you will instead be given to your child in ten years."

And with that, he turned into pure electrical current, and in a flash of blinding brilliance, he disappeared in a loud boom, leaving Kairos and me looking up at the skies above us.

-0-

"Aren't you busy today, eh, cousin?"

I looked up and saw the son of the god of death looking down on me as I smiled at him.

"You're one to talk," we glanced at my son, who is now being collected by Kairos after falling asleep from playing practically all day, "What it did took from you just to tire him out?"

Morris chuckled and sat next to me on the sofa as I stopped reading the checklist that Estelle provided to me to look at and tell her if there is something my friends are missing from the preparations.

"Everything, Vivet. That boy is very playful and full of energy. If I didn't see him fall asleep, I would've thought he is inexhaustible when it comes to playing."

I nodded and looked at the twinkling stars above and smiled a little, "Basically, like the very stars themselves, eh? Always shining, twinkling and shimmering, well, until it's dawn, that is."

"Indeed. Anyways, let me congratulate you on being able to convince Zenith's father with your plan of passing the throne to Hyro."

"Thank you, Morris."

"But is it really necessary, Vivet?"

I looked at him and blinked, "Why did you ask?"

"Well, it's not like you will be gone before he reached the legal age," he answered as he stares at my eyes directly, "Wouldn't you want your son to have a normal childhood before pushing a responsibility, which let's be honest, he never asked for?"

I understand what he is saying, I really do. But we've come this far in the war, I must secure all the loopholes, and as the daughter of Athena always repeatedly told me, it is better to plan for something that will never happen than have no plan at all when the unexpected indeed happened.

"Morris, I want you to explain what I, no, what we have left behind to him when the time comes, all right?"

He gasped and looked at me, incredulously, "Some parents you are, passing your responsibilities to me!"

"No, this is just if the worst-case scenario happened, Morris," I said seriously as I touched his face to force him to look at me, "Don't avert your eyes, cousin. You know as much as I do that nothing is certain in the future. We have to make plans for things that we never wished to come to pass but plan we must. We will not leave our son without someone to take care of him in our stead if, for some reason, we are not there for him, and you are the only one we trust with the most important person for us. Do you understand?"

He bit his lip and didn't answer, so I raised my voice and gaze at him imperiously.

"Do you understand, Morris?"

"Yes! Yes, I do! You are forcing me to consider things I never would've imagined. Why do you do this to me?!"

"Because as a parent, I must make sure that my son will survive even if the world does not! Even if Kairos and I ceased to be, he will, no, he must carry on, and so does my cousin, my sibling..."

My cousin burst into tears as I cried out in misery as it finally hit me that I am really and obviously planning for something that is close to reality and is afraid of what there is to come for us all.

"Vivet..."

"Please, Morris. Promise me that you will love Hyro as much as we will. I want to hear your word before we face our final battle so that I can fight with all that I have when the time comes."

He steeled himself and nodded quickly, "I promise, Vivet. He is as much as mine as they are yours. I am his godfather, for goodness sake, the demiurge of death himself. I wouldn't let anything happen to him."

"Thank you, Morris..."

We both looked up at the same time and saw the creation of Khronos beaming down on us with a smile on his lips and tears in his eyes as he put his right hand on my cousin's shoulder and squeezed it a little.

"When I heard you said that, it meant a lot to me. I don't know why, but it affects me more than I thought it will. Like three times, the emotions I have felt. You have been so good to me, while all I did is look up to you for guidance and friendship. You really did a lot for someone as insignificant as me. Thank you."

Morris tried to grin at him as tears are also falling from his eyes, "No worries, my man. You are technically family now that you have signed that contract."

"That and I am your champion," my cousin followed in our heads that made my heart melt, "You have guided me to where I am now. It is the least I can do to pay you back, Khronos."