Chương 1143: 1173 - Blank Canvas

Tap. Tap. Tap. Waiting. Leon disliked waiting. Tap. Tap. Tap. His finger tapped a metronome on the arm of his chair, the only sign of his impatience. His companion, however, seemed barely able to restrain her excitement. She practically bounced in her seat, beaming with such luminance that the Origin Spark far above dimmed in defeat. Tap. Tap. Tap. In front of them sat a large comm slate with a full comm lotus contained within, rather than only a single petal.

It glowed like fire as runes leisurely scrolled across the surface of the slate. Tap. Tap. Tap. Around them, the walls were thickly covered in privacy enchantments and curtains of rich, heavy velvet. No sound would escape the chamber—not that Leon thought anyone would be listening with two dozen Tempest Knights stationed just outside. Tap. Tap. Tap. He shifted slightly, glancing at a spiraling clock on the walls.

Given his wife's jittery excitement, he refrained from mentioning how late the other side of their scheduled call was. Tap. Tap. Ta— The slate suddenly illuminated as the spiraling runes accelerated for a moment, then froze in a complex enchantment that connected the large slate with the particular slate trying to connect with it.

It took several more seconds for the robust security enchantments that the Ravens had developed to verify and secure the connection, and when that was done, the slate projected an image of the slightly-harried-looking Justin grinning despite his obvious exhaustion.

"Father!" Valeria exclaimed as she sprang to her feet. Leon almost thought she was going to try and hug the projection, but she stopped after only a single step forward. Beaming even more brightly, she added, "How are you? How's Mother? Is she doing all right? How are you? Do you need anything?"

"Whoa there, little one," Justin said, laughing.

"We… we can take this slowly." Seeing a downturn in his expression, Valeria's smile faded. She glanced at Leon, who remained seated, and took her seat again with no small amount of trepidation.

"King Leon," Justin said with a deep bow.

"It's heartening to see you in good health." Leon sighed quietly through his nose. He chewed his tongue for a second, his eyes drifting away from Justin as the many things he wanted to say died in his throat. With little outward evidence of his hesitance, however, he replied, "I would say the same to you, but you appear somewhat pressed. Have you been taking care of yourself?"

"As well as I can," Justin replied.

"My efforts, taxing as they may have been, have borne fruit. I am speaking to you now from the Horn of Kura, Lord Kamran's capital city in the Nexus. My presence remains… subtle enough that he has yet to notice me, but I have contacted many of my old friends. I have learned much in the past few months, and after verifying many of the claims made, I am ready to share my findings." Leon cocked an eyebrow and leaned forward in his chair.

Getting an update on Kamran's power was second only to news of the continent of Arushae and the mountain of Morgaun's Peak, which was where the Great Black Dragon Clan was based. Arushae was a great distance from the Storm Lands, being a minor continent off the coast of the Burning Lands proper. Though the Burning Lands were close to Artorion, Arushae, let alone Morgaun's Peak, was nearly one hundred million miles away—not out of Leon's reach, but certainly far enough that getting there would be a challenge.

The Horn of Kura, however, was closer, being 'only' twenty million miles, or slightly less, away from Artorion. Aeterna was much, much farther away than that, but it wasn't filled with strong mages vying for political and magical power.

"Let's hear it, then," Leon commanded. Justin's eyes momentarily flickered to Valeria.

"Let's start with… Ariana." Valeria's aura momentarily froze, and she sought out Leon's hand with her own, lacing their fingers together in search of comfort. Leon gave her a few tight squeezes, and she minutely relaxed.

"She hasn't been seen in public since… our debacle," Justin whispered.

"Despite this, I have been assured of her safety. Kamran is apparently waiting until the heat from our scandal dies down before seeking… another husband for her."

"NO!" Valeria declared as she shot to her feet. Leon was almost pulled up, too, since she also refused to release his hand.

"She can't!"

"Relax, little one, relax. What is a short time for some is an eternity for others. Kamran is likely to wait at least a millennium before beginning his search for a 'proper' husband for her. There's plenty of time to gather information and contact her." Leon listened quietly, noting that even as Valeria nodded and sat back down, momentarily mollified, Justin's tone had been strained, as if he were trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to comfort his daughter.

"She's being taken care of, at least materially," Justin stated.

"I've heard that she reached the eighth-tier only a few years ago. There's plenty of time. So…" His gaze sharpened and turned back to Leon.

"Kamran's biggest focus is Anax Halbast, his only real challenger for the throne vacated by Jason Keraunos. The situation in the east is… tense."

"How many Anakes are there?" Leon wondered.

"How is it that Kamran is only competing with a single one of them for my Ancestor's throne?"

"There are more than a hundred Anakes," Justin clarified.

"Of them, only nine are of the fifteenth-tier; the rest are only of the fourteenth. That includes Kamran and Halbast. Of the remaining seven, it's hard to verify completely, but it seems like Johan and Rhys are more concerned with expanding or defending their territories in the planes, while Salem, Celina, and Auset appear to see more benefit in supporting one of them. Beren and Anurak, as far I've been able to tell, are sitting the conflict out.

They are the furthest from the centers of power and so seem more preoccupied with defending their own territory in the Nexus than with competing with everyone else for the title of Storm King.

"Of these nine, all but Anurak were contemporaries of Jason Keraunos. They all remember him. Johan and Beren are even older than that, having been around since before even Jason Keraunos. Halbast and Kamran, however, are the oldest living Anakes in the Storm Lands, which makes it easier for me to understand why no one else is competing against them.

They are the strongest by far, and if I were a betting man I'd say that if you were to let this conflict play out without interference, Kamran would eventually win, though it would be close." Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"How strong are the memories of my Clan?" Leon asked.

"If I were to make a direct play—and I'm not saying I'm going to do so any time soon—how many might rally to my cause in memory of what my Clan once was? How many would actively resist me for the same reason?"

"That's… hard to say," Justin admitted.

"I'll say that I rarely had much contact with them even when I still worked directly for Lord Kamran. Those who are as old as Anakes typically are… can be strange and… unpredictable. I have no idea who may or may not support you. I doubt anyone could give you an accurate answer." Leon scowled. It was worth asking, anyway—he'd just have to adapt his long-term plans to try and take this unpredictability into account.

"I have confirmed that not only has Lord Kamran's power base grown, he has retained his influence in foreign lands, too." Leon frowned. He remembered well how Justin had told him back in Nestor's lab on Aeterna how some of Kamran's biggest supporters weren't even Lords in the Storm Lands.

"Antipatra, Aeschylus, and Triton," Leon stated.

"These were the three that you warned me about." Justin nodded.

"Antipatra, a Basilissa in the Burning Lands, remains the same tier as she was before I went to Aeterna. So is Triton—both are Basileis. Aeschylus, whom I believe I told you was a Despot, has ascended in the past century, and been awarded with the title of Basileus, too."

"He's the one with my family's vault," Leon stated.

"That remains in his possession," Justin said.

"As of yet, it doesn't appear that he's managed to crack into it. As a matter of fact… I believe that the biggest reason why the conflict between Kamran and Halbast hasn't yet been decisively concluded is because Kamran is waiting for that vault to finally be opened. It's only guesswork on my part, but the conflict is rather low-intensity compared to what might be imagined. Halbast is pressing slowly and Kamran is on the defense in more places than he isn't.

Despite this, more resources are being poured into cracking your Clan's vault than on almost anything else."

"Breaking into an Adamant vault without the proper bloodline is no easy thing," Leon stated.

"Especially when the vault owner was as powerful as my Clan was."

"Indeed. Though, I must caution against relying too heavily on the current status quo. It will not last, and Aeschylus will eventually get in. It's only a matter of time. Once he does, Kamran will be able to take whatever he's seeking from within, and then he'll declare himself Storm King, I guarantee it. At that point, everyone will have to choose a side or face his wrath."

"Keep an eye on it," Leon said.

"For the moment… there isn't much I can do about that except strengthen my position."

"You'll have to move quickly," Justin said.

"I'll monitor the strategic situation over here and start trying to build up some kind of local resistance to Kamran's reign. I also have to say, Leon, that word of your exploits has started to spread over here. The specifics are hazy, but talk of a successor to the Thunderbird who fought off a Diluvian invasion can be heard in the streets. It's being treated as mere rumor and hearsay, but it's something you should be aware of."

"Good," Leon said with a grin.

"My reputation will be one of my greatest weapons, even if it will also be something of a weakness." He sighed and paused a moment. Justin took the opportunity to continue giving him an overview of the situation in the Far East, though there wasn't much in the way of critical strategic information being conveyed. Leon was almost more concerned about Triton and Antipatra if he were to be honest, if not for their direct threat to him, which was considerable, than for what they represented.

Kamran had friends and supporters outside of the Storm Lands, and that kind of influence was hard to rip away. If he wanted to act directly against Kamran, then dealing with these foreign sources of his power might very well have to be his first step. How he was going to do that, however, he wasn't sure.

Khosrow's Law prohibited such mixing of loyalties—the Lords in every elemental region were supposed to be loyal to their respective Elemental King—but the realities of politics and strategy often overwrite Khosrow's restrictive Law. For his part, there wasn't much Leon could do for the moment except shore up his own power base. He needed magical power and he needed a larger Kingdom.

He could find the former in the Nexus easily enough now that he had a good foothold within it, but this part of his Kingdom still needed a lot of consolidation. A century of it or more, by his estimation. Beyond that, he couldn't risk launching further conquests in the Nexus without drawing the ire of mages stronger than him. If it hadn't been for Miuna, he could very easily have lost the war against Terris, and Terris, strong as he was, was hardly the strongest mage in his region's totem pole.

That left him with conquest out in the planes. The powers-that-be in the Nexus had already staked large claims out in the universe. Millions and millions and millions of planes had been claimed and were linked together by vast fleets of arks plying the Void—countless more were not yet under the sway of powers in the Nexus.

As many arks as Terris had used to attack Leon, Leon would believe it completely if he were told Terris had a hundred times as many out in the Void maintaining his hold on a vast Empire out in the Void. Leon himself thought that he was perhaps stronger than the average Strategos in the Nexus, but compared to the average Despot, he still had a long way to go. He needed fleets, he needed armies, he needed land, resources, manpower. All of that would only be found out in the planes.

But before he could launch any conquests out there, he needed to shore up his defenses so that he could not only hold what he might take but also not leave anything he already had vulnerable.

'Yet more reason to stay and consolidate,' he reluctantly thought. The people of the Far West would make for a good core of new blood to draw from, but the population of Kataigida alone was greater than the Far West, let alone all of Aeterna. If Aeterna was indicative of population density and power throughout the universe, then even a single extra plane he might conquer could give him tremendous resources to draw upon. But of course, his enemies had many times that already.

Kamran held dominion over more than a thousand planes. At his Clan's height, they had more than a million—though, admittedly, most of those were small, barely larger than asteroids that had tiny populations mining resources out in the Void. Kamran may have a similar number of 'small' planes that just weren't being counted given their size. He had a lot of catching up to do. When his update with Justin was completed, Leon and Valeria left the room with renewed determination.

Leon paused with Valeria at his side on the path back to the main courtyard of the portable villa. Though they were relatively few, thousands of men and women were already hard at work in the Artor Valley, and they could see almost all of them from where they stood. The settlement was almost completely repaired and expansion was beginning.

More arkpads were empty than should've been given the garrisons Leon had left in cities to the north—he'd sent a small fleet back to Aeterna to begin regularly ferrying colonists from Kataigida to the Nexus. He had the slack in his fleet, so he figured that he could take this risk. Every month or so, he could expect a new infusion of manpower from Aeterna, though they'd only number two thousand or so.

The next wave of colonists in less than a year, however, would bring another forty thousand, and the spare arks that would give him would allow that regular infusion to rise. The more resources he had, the more he'd be able to grow. Soon, Artorion would be a large city and the Far West would be better populated. The Ten Tribes would receive lands in the empty places in the Far West, of which there were many. His foundation would be stable, and he'd be able to turn his attention outward again.

To go along with that, he'd have a whole new home, too. Already, mages were scouring the south side of the nine-peaked mountain, evaluating the land for the new palace that would be constructed upon it. The mountain still floated in the air, however, which would complicate construction, but at least the simple wall around the edge would prevent people from accidentally entering the Aesii Lake below the mountain.

All-in-all, it was almost a completely blank canvas that Leon was working with, and what few parts had already been filled in promised great things. The possibilities for what his Kingdom would become were endless, and Leon's mind buzzed with plans both well-realized and half-baked. He imagined a city of great envy, powered by scaled-up versions of his wireframes—or 'Raime devices' as Mari was still insistent on calling them—and defended by legions of invincible arks.

It was easy to imagine but would take enormous effort to put into motion. Leon glanced at Valeria. Her sapphire eyes were scanning the Artor Valley, too, and he thought he could almost see his imaginings reflected there. He squeezed their still-intertwined fingers, drawing her attention.

"So…" he whispered.

"This might take a while. Why don't we get started?" Valeria smiled and nodded. Together, they practically ran back to the portable villa. A century, perhaps more. Leon wasn't sure how much more, but the sooner he began, the sooner he'd be ready for the next step. Nothing was going to stop him from reuniting with his mother, rescuing Valeria's mother, and killing Kamran. Nothing.