Far above the gathering storm of battle, Inadrys had fashioned himself a throne atop the highest cloud, its edges crackling with contained lightning. His brow was furrowed in concentration as he scanned the mortal realm below.
The armies of men appeared as tiny figurines from this height, but his divine sight could discern every detail—the glint of sunlight on armour, the determination in Count Hamen's eyes, the bloodlust radiating from Dagur's massive frame.
But it was not the impending clash that troubled the King of deities.
It was the sudden appearance of the green-coloured energy, and it had come and dragged Jolthar into the pillar. He very well knew that it was the tomb of the Beast King, sealed centuries ago.
"Was he thinking of taking him a vessel?" Inadrys' gaze was focused on the castle. Inadrys wondered about his suspicions of Jolthar. And this incident made him even more curious. After all these years, the beast king had reacted.
"But I can't sense his presence. No mortal can shield themselves from my sight so completely."
"Perhaps he was never merely mortal to begin with."
Inadrys turned at the sound of Ivyona's voice.
The Queen of Deities approached with measured steps across the cloud bank, her peacock-feather gown shimmering with every colour imaginable as it caught the supernal light. Her expression was placid, but Inadrys knew his wife well enough to detect the spark of satisfaction in her eyes—she enjoyed witnessing his rare moments of uncertainty.
"You've been watching this spectacle as well," Inadrys observed, making room beside him on the expansive throne.
Ivyona took her place beside him, her gaze falling to the battlefield below. "I find myself...intrigued by developments that escape even your understanding, husband."
There was no hiding the subtle barb in her words.
Inadrys chose to ignore the jab.
"The boy has vanished. Absorbed into the pillar within the castle. I cannot sense him anywhere."
"And that troubles you," Ivyona said, not a question but a statement.
"It represents an unknown factor. I dislike unknown factors."
At this point, no one was hiding what they wanted to do. Inadrys didn't reveal why he was interested in a mortal's whereabouts, and Ivyona wasn't probing for answers.
Ivyona's attention shifted to the figure in purple robes who rode beside the barbarian leader. "Speaking of unknown factors—a Nynthrall walks among the humans below. I thought your decree banned their interference in mortal affairs after the last... incident."
Inadrys's expression darkened at the mention of the Nynthralls..
"The Nynthralls are but shadows of what they once were," Inadrys replied dismissively.
"This one—Yilar—seeks relics of power beyond his comprehension. He believes the pillar that claimed Jolthar contains the essence of some forgotten beast deity."
"And does it?" Ivyona pressed.
Inadrys's silence was answer enough.
"You know what's contained within that pillar," Ivyona realized, her eyes narrowing.
"The pillar is a seal, and it can't be broken easily."
"Who sealed him in the pillar?"
"It is an old matter," Inadrys finally said, his voice uncharacteristically subdued.
"From before their time, before even the human lands came to prominence. Some things are best left buried in the past."
"Yet here it is, surfacing again," Ivyona observed. "Should we not intervene? If a Nynthrall is involved—"
"No," Inadrys cut her off with unexpected firmness.
"The humans will take care of it. They always do. Their conflicts are self-regulating—like fire burning itself out when it runs out of fuel."
"And if they don't?" Ivyona challenged.
"If the power of the beast king in that pillar awakens fully?" Follow current novels on novel·fıre·net
Inadrys's eyes flashed with lightning. "Then we will do what we must, as we have always done."
Ivyona studied her husband carefully. In their thousands of years together, she had rarely seen him genuinely concerned, let alone fearful.
Centuries ago, when men had just entered the food chain, the beast king reigned over the midlands; he was ruthless and rose to power with a ferocity that struck fear into the hearts of all who crossed his path. He even challenged Inadrys and killed a lot of his lovers at that time. He was even about to become a deity himself, which made Inadrys anxious.
Angered as he was, Inadrys helped the humans subdue him.
It was the ancestors of Hamen who did the deed. They couldn't completely kill him; they were unable to. So, they just sealed him half dead after taking his Vaemani. The stone contained his essence.
Yet there was something in Inadrys' demeanour now that suggested more than mere annoyance at an unexpected development.
Inadrys already saw Jolthar as an unexpected anomaly, and if such a mortal were to help the beast king release from his seal, then it would become chaotic.
"Very well," she said finally, settling back to watch the battle unfold below. "Let us see how these mortals handle forces beyond their understanding."
But as Hamen raised his arm, the Vaemani Stone glowing with emerald light, and as the beasts surged forward to meet the charging barbarians, Ivyona couldn't help but wonder what Jolthar would do.
She was revelling in the fact that a mortal was making her husband anxious.
They thought that beast king would take over his body and break the seal.
Back on the battlefield, the first clash of steel and claw began. The sounds of war rose toward the heavens, but they were unable to reach the ears of the deities, who were now absorbed in their own silent conflict of secrets and suspicions.
As the two armies collided on the meadow in a thunderous crash of steel and flesh, Dagur and Yilar broke through the front lines, driving straight toward Count Hamen.
Dagur's massive battle-axe cleaved through Godeylet soldiers like wheat before a scythe, while Yilar moved with unexpected agility, his hands weaving complex patterns that sent pulses of violet energy to disable the beasts that lunged at them.
Hamen directed his wyvern skyward, raining arrows down upon the attackers while commanding his beast army with the calculated gestures of the Vaemani Stone. The meadow transformed into chaos—blood soaking the once-green grass, the air filled with battle cries and the otherworldly sounds of supernatural creatures.
But deep beneath Castle Godeylet, a far more consequential battle was taking place.