The sun shone high above. Its rays bathed the emperor’s face gently as he looked upon the wheat fields around him.
All this knowledge. he thought, continuing onward with the gait of someone who no longer possessed the vigor of youth. Although he tried to hide it, he had long relied on his mage’s scepter to support himself against the ground and spare his legs, which grew weaker each day. So much learning through years and years of study. Will it be worth it?
Every plowed field stretching before him represented hours and hours of diligent study in his library. From a very young age his father, the late Emperor Kelner, had instilled in him a love of books, though Valtorius had received training in every discipline—from fencing to oratory—as befitted a future emperor.
“The knowledge, my son, is far more valuable than the development of any form of combat,” he had said to him, shortly after showing him that inner world in which he now walked with his scepter.
“But I want to use the sword, father. All the girls in the pyramid courtyard stare at my cousin Petric when he brings down the squires with precise slashes.”
His father had laughed. At that time, the astral garden through which he now walked consisted of fewer than a dozen half-plowed plots. Valtorius had never imagined how they could one day grow to this extent.
“My son, young girls will always be drawn to boys with a warrior’s bearing, but trust me, once a couple of years pass and they mature, their glances of interest will turn to the men who command those loyal soldiers.”
The emperor smiled to himself while he continued walking through the countless cultivated fields.
Thank you, father. he thought, remembering the old man’s face as he would always remember it since the day of his death.
Though muscular, athletic bodies were the obsession of any woman, the most beautiful ladies of Anen always ended up with noblemen and lords who were far from having such physiques, but who instead commanded entire troops to protect them. Of course… many of them likely had secret affairs, but that was not the norm.
The emperor walked until he reached the borders of his garden, where the cultivated fields gave way to a wide, untilled plain, fertile soil upon which nothing had yet grown. It seemed unbelievable that such an expanse could still exist, but after all, it was an astral terrain, a space that existed only in his mind, and that would ultimately vanish when death came to carry him into eternal darkness.
I hope that remains far away. he thought, continuing toward the plain.
When he was far enough from the wheat fields, he raised his scepter toward the gentle sun shining over his head. The crystal orb at the top glowed in several colors. Valtorius remained like that for several seconds, knowing that the being he awaited would soon appear.
He remembered the last time he had been there, with his niece Jontana. Somehow he had regretted their last conversation. Since then, the young lady he so adored had grown distant, more entangled in the senate’s affairs and spending less and less time with him.
He hated having involved her in his matters—in those matters—but he had had no choice. The comely young woman was one of the most well-connected ladies in the empire, and thanks to her deep understanding of the human soul, she maintained an espionage network throughout Anen and its subsidiary nations across the continent of Naxtul. Only she could contact the man he had needed at that moment: the mage Xhalo… whose work had been a complete success.
The dragon egg he had treasured so dearly since his youth had transformed, in barely a couple of nights, into a prominent red-scaled drake, a monster the size of half a pyramid, capable of devouring a sturdy bull in only a couple of bites.
“The beast will have to sleep for a few days, Your Excellency, while I implant the false memories of an upbringing imposed by His Imperial Majesty. Once I am done, it will be ready for you to mount personally, after receiving proper instruction from the riders.”
The emperor gazed in wonder at the dragon in the great main vault of his crypt.
It was so beautiful… but doubts plagued his mind. After all, that magnificent creature had cost nearly all the mana reserves his country possessed.
“Is there no risk it may die, mage? Remember that you will share its fate.”
The mage had smiled slyly—such a typical gesture of his.
“There is nothing to worry about, my lord. In just a couple of nights, this healthy and dangerous dragon will be at your disposal. It is the work of my life, Your Highness. The books will speak of what I have achieved… and of what Your Imperial Lordship will do once you bend the few stubborn ones who still dare oppose your designs one way or another.”
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The emperor had felt satisfied with the arcane man’s answer. But he still harbored doubts, and so he had gone to the resting chambers, where his body would enter the immersion state required to physically visit his astral gardens.
After a moment, a light began to shine. It was not the same light as the sun that illuminated that fictitious world, but it was an aura just as powerful.
Little by little it drew near, until it stood a few meters from the emperor. He knelt and placed his head on the ground, arms extended. No one had ever seen the emperor in that position… except his god.
The eagle god Merdu materialized before him, his robust and magnificent feathered humanoid body as imposing as ever, every muscle as well-formed as those of his mightiest soldiers.
His deity looked at him with deep yellow eyes, full of a father’s affection, but the emperor was not deceived: that ancient gaze revealed hundreds of centuries of knowledge and the duality between the kindness and vengeance of a benevolent… yet wrathful father.
He tried to decipher his expression, but it was ambiguous, like the still waters of a lagoon where one could not know what awaited beneath.
“Thank you for coming, father.”
“It is the least I can do for the most productive of my sons… though your recent actions are more than questionable,” he said with his stentorian voice, which could make even one of the most powerful men in the world tremble.
“Father, men will always consider their actions appropriate, even though the gods above us know whether they are truly correct or not, thanks to their privileged sight of the entire world and of time in its full expanse.”
The god sighed. He was at least two spans taller than the emperor, and Valtorius did not consider himself a short man—not among his people.
“Men are capricious like the currents of the winds that never cease to blow. Yet they carry a little of the divinity we bestowed upon them. In that way they must learn to fight chaos.”
“And am I doing it well, father?”
“A good question. Are you doing it well?”
The emperor sighed, unconsciously leaning more heavily on his scepter to keep his balance. Nerves always overtook him when he spoke with the highest deity of his pantheon.
“I believe I am, my lord. Many peoples are subjugated under my forces, and since I inherited the power of my mortal parents—and of you—I have increased it. There are few countries nearby that do not move to the rhythm of my commands… but that is about to change.”
The eagle god began walking toward the emperor’s cultivated fields.
“Follow me.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes. At last they reached a newly cultivated field, one of tall wheat stalks.
“Do you remember the concept you planted in your mind that made this particular hectare grow?” he asked, pointing to the tall crops.
“Of course, father. When two fighters face each other directly, both end up exhausted, no matter who wins. That is why it is always wiser to end your rivals through indirect means. I have it imprinted in my memory as if it were carved in blood.”
“Then why do you not apply it? How do you explain the excessive waste you have just squandered in mana—the result of years of effort by thousands of men, including your own parents?”
The emperor sighed. Only then did he realize how far he had gone. Even so, he had advanced too far to turn back—or so he believed.
“My lord, I now possess the most powerful weapon in the world. With it I will bend all peoples to my will. Soon I will recover what took my ancestors years to achieve.”
The feathered god, whose golden bow gleamed on his back along with a quiver full of arrows, looked at him as if he might draw one at any moment and pierce his chest.
Terror overtook him—for if he failed to awaken from his astral journey… someone else would ride his beautiful creature.
Fortunately, the feathered deity merely looked at him with those deep yellow eyes.
“Listen, my son. I know there is no turning back. I see in your eyes the determination of someone who has embarked on a one-way journey… regardless of the consequences. So then, I have something to tell you. Use your new toy wisely. A dragon is a weapon far too powerful to take lightly… the slightest carelessness and it may turn against you.”
“I will, father. I am sure that once my enemies see it… they will realize how unwise it is to oppose our designs.”
The feathered god did not seem very convinced.
“Your enemies are more powerful and cunning than you believe, my son. I would not trust them. My sister, the goddess Tlaloc, comes from the reptilian part of our Great Father… it is in her nature to appear weak when she is anything but.
“Father, across all the lands I have traveled, eagles always fall from the sky upon serpents, crushing their tiny heads with accurate talons. I do not think she is a match for me or for the empire… and in any case, I am fighting with her own weapons—after all, dragons are the apex of reptiles, compared in power to the gods themselves.”
“You speak from arrogance, my son. The most powerful rule in any conflict is to never underestimate the enemy. I know Tlaloc—we grew up together in the pantheon. She is a clever Lady. Her children will be as well, and I am certain the trouble the Ixtalites have caused you in recent months comes from her… and from one of her offspring. I can sense it.”
The emperor remained silent for a moment, looking at the wheat field cultivated with the idea of the importance of indirect combat.
“In that case, what do you advise me, father?”
“You have ruined your finances, but all is not lost. Employ an agro-military economy among your people, though it may reduce your central might somewhat. Avoid direct combat at all costs, and any frontal invasion. Strike where your enemies are weak, and flee where their main forces gather. If instead you force direct war, you will fall into trap after trap… and in the end, not even your beautiful dragon will save you from disaster. Good luck, Valtorius.”
After saying this, the feathered god shone with the strength of the sun above and vanished like a dream fading as its dreamer awakens abruptly, leaving the emperor alone in the middle of the field.
Should I do as he says? he thought. Or has even my divine father turned against me?
