Later that day, Aurelius stumbled down the basement steps. Solomon's demonstration lingered in his mind. He disheveled his hair as he went into the library where he'd left the gilded tome. It was time to finish the thing. After that, his mind would clear, and he would get back to training in earnest.

  The last two chapters loomed in his mind. His father had been dead for a long, long time. Aurelius chuckled, thinking that he'd never even known him. He had never even met the man whom his whole life revolved around.

  Aurelius slumped down at the foot of a bookshelf. Solomon had faith; he was an excellent comedian, but men made an awful crowd. He seemed to be right an awful lot. Aurelius was certainly a bad audience in and of himself.

  He tapped the back of his head on the bookshelf. A book fell on his head. Groaning, he scratched his head. When he went to pick the book up, he paused. It was the size of a hand with thin pages.

  'This again?' Aurelius asked himself. 'What's the Book of the Conqueror doing here?'

  Aurelius opened the book and proved himself correct. It was in the common tongue but different from the copy that he'd had. Shorter. Scrolling through the content, he discovered it was a different book. No. The same book. A different part.

  "It had a continuation?" he whispered under his breath.

  The Book of the Conqueror that Aurelius had read ended after the conquering of Solomonia. He'd wondered why the Zalfarian War had been left out. Either it was too young or too embarrassing a war to be chronicled. He'd hoped for the latter. Now it became obvious it was the former.

  He didn't want to read it. What Obelium the Oid had to say about his lineage surely wasn't anything nice. But he'd gained insight from the first part. It was the only reason he'd found Solomon. Without him, Aurelius wouldn't have gotten back his essence. Missing such an insight would cost him the war.

  Aurelius' curiosity compelled him to read.

  He had no idea about the extent of harm it could cause.

  ***

  After Solomonia came the eastern countries up north, Calipeidos among them. The first among them fought. Kendrick razed its impenetrable capital and burned piles of a thousand corpses. The rest surrendered. The armies did, that is, turning on their rulers who were going to die no matter what.

  Kendrick waited a year after conquering every country except for Zalfari on the continent. During that year, he unified and fortified, establishing a new military base in the center of Lundkirk, named Gash. Then he built the largest city in the world around that base, making it the capital of Lundkirk. It is called Holy Desdemona after his mother.

  That very city was the target of Operation Ultimus.

  When Autumn came, Kendrick announced the Zalfarian War had begun. Zalfari was not an easy target. It was as proud of a country as Solomonia, and its culture was more resilient. Furthermore, Alexander the 5th was a master rhetorician, comparable even to Kendrick himself. Above all, Zalfari has hope of their hero returning, while Solomonia's hero had abandoned them at the very beginning.

  Kendrick could not turn their soldiers to his side. However, he was making progress until Ares arrived. He proved to Kendrick just how much difficulty one man could cause, establishing an undefeated record. The soldiers of Zalfari were all enduring, but Ares was an animal. He knew nothing apart from his instincts.

  Time and again, Kendrick's foolproof plans went to waste as that blood-spewing, wretched thing prowled the battlefields; blue eyes turned black with enhancers. It soon became evident he was Zalfari's bail out from divine justice.

  Then came the Elite Troop. That little unit prolonged the war beyond Kendrick's imagination. As he was getting older and needed to unify the world before the gods claimed him, Kendrick contacted Ares in an attempt to negotiate. Alas, Ares proved too much of a monster to leave war.

  Kendrick foresaw the unavoidable and set the path into motion. He plunged the enemy into despair and led them into darkness, where he cut off its head as it reached blindly for the light.

  The last page read, "With that the Ninth Son vanquished the Zalfarian brute in time so as not to let his filthy genetics spread. In the same, the tyrant emperor choked to death, his face turning purple from the conqueror's poison. Those fools who challenge the Ninth Son and question his vision for the new world shall remember that he stands now not only upon the corpses of men of great wealth, prideful monarchs, cruel lords, and tyrannous emperors, but also as a God of War, and yet he remains unfazed because his world already exists, and time will reveal it to believers and disbelievers alike to one's elation and the other's anguish and despair."

  ***

  The door slammed open. Cade jolted in bed and turned. A tall, dark figure approached. "We're leaving," he seethed. "Now." He yanked her by the arm.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Cade rubbed her eyes. It wasn't a dream. That was Aurelius. "Rey?" Cade asked. "What are you—"

  Aurelius took her by the arm. Cade's mouth shot open in a silent scream. If she had reinforced any later, her arm would've been mush. It was just like back then. Her lips quivered. She pressed them together so that he wouldn't notice.

  "What the hell?!" she snapped. Only then did she focus on enhancing her sight. His eyes were bloodshot. "What happened to you?"

  Aurelius gnashed his teeth. "We're leaving for Zalfari. We can't trust Solomon anymore."

  "We can't do that. You haven't even gotten back into training."

  "I'll do it on my own. I refuse to learn from that useless piece of shit. I'll do what he couldn't. I'll kill him?"

  Cade shook herself from his grip. "Kill who?"

  "Kendrick," he hissed. "That genocidal maniac needs to die. I don't care what happens. I'm going to fucking end him and his revolution. Lundkirk will shatter."

  Cade scooched away, making herself smaller. Aurelius shot his intense gaze at the window. "The sun's going to rise soon. Let's go before he wakes up."

  "I'm not going with you," Cade muttered. He meant to assert himself but had never heard himself sound so feeble.

  Aurelius came at her, grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her down. Before she knew it, she was under him. She locked herself up, hands over her chest and one leg over the other. All she could do was watch, but she couldn't even do that. She averted his gaze, her jaw trembling.

  "Look at me. Look!" he seethed a whisper. She met his eyes. They were the same ethereal blue she knew, but somehow completely different. It was as if his irises were icicles. "Kendrick has killed millions. More than you and I multiplied together. Millions." He crept closer. So close. His hair tickled her forehead. Every day it was less black and more gold. "I need to kill him. If you hinder me, I can't be with you. Do you understand? We need to go."

  Cade's eyes welled up. She reached a hand up. Aurelius backed off a little, confused. She touched his hair. "I liked it... better when it was black," she whispered even as her voice choked up and trembled. A tear ran down her cheek. She wiped it quickly and sniffed.

  His grip eased, disappeared. He scooted back on the bed. His entire body shook. He started seven sentences, finished none, and ran a hand through his hair. Then there were tears in his eyes. "You—you don't understand. Kendrick slaughtered my father. He spread lies about my grandfather and poisoned him in his home. He would've killed me as a child. He'll kill my uncle, my cousins, everyone related to me. He'd done it before." Suddenly he was so small. "They held parades."

  Cade sat up at the opposite end of the bed. "Parades?"

  "When the father's troop was defeated. They retrieved the corpses and hung them in the capital. All of Lundkirk wants death to Zalfarian blood. It's too late for peace. The war has gone on too long. Kendrick has to die."

  "I don't know, Rey. I just..."

  She just wanted to be with him. She wanted separation from the filthy past. She wanted peace, safety, security, and love.

  "Tell me," Aurelius insisted.

  She wanted to tell him. She had feared being a mother but thought she could do it with him. With the man she loved. But the man in front of her was crazed and unstable. That wasn't the man she loved. And if she'd told him about the life she wanted, he'd use it as an excuse, saying the only way to get past it was through it.

  She wanted no more bloodshed. Hatred wore everyone out. It has worn out Aurelius before. Maybe he would've realized it if he'd been the one holding his hand, praying he'd live every time he pushed himself closer and closer to death.

  "It's nothing," Cade said at last. "You look like death. Go to sleep."

  ***

  Aurelius left Cade's room, holding his head, screaming in his head. He staggered down the hall. Hatred coursed through his body. Streaks of essence flickered in his hands. He couldn't control it.

  Power felt like a curse once more, far more than powerlessness ever had.

  He hated Kendrick. More than he hated Gadreel, whose laugh haunted him through the walls. He hated more than ever, more than anyone. Orpheus, Uzbec, and Izir—all of them were nothing. Kendrick, that pitiless man, that fake god. Aurelius needed just one opportunity. To get close enough for Kendrick to hear him. Then they would see who the real god was.

  But then what would happen to Lundkirk? Would his chaos follow, or could his uncle seize power? What if he was corrupted? Could Aurelius himself become king? No. The way Cade looked at him flashed in his mind. What if he was already corrupted?

  Aurelius ripped at his hair. He needed to decide. The gilded tome called to him, and he answered. He spiraled down the staircase, uncontrollable flickers of essence lighting the way.