“First, my name is Andyla Felstbater,” the Order mage said. “I am one of the ranking archmages left in the Global Order of the Arcane, a Third Order archmage.”

  That was better than Bakir’s Fifth Order, but I’d never determined exactly how they structured their cabal or what qualifications were required to advance up the hierarchy, so that didn’t tell me anything beyond that Andyla was closer to the top than most, though not quite as high as the leader of Bakir’s group had been.

  I just stared silently at the whole group and watched them squirm for a second. The two younger ones especially were struggling not to fidget. It would have been amusing if not for how serious this was. Part of me had to admire the sheer gall they’d had in coming here, knowing they were risking their lives to do so.

  “I’m sure you’re aware that any organization that gets bigger than two people inevitably falls victim to politics,” Andyla said. “The Global Order is no exception. When you showed up and, ahem, restructured our leadership, you caused a shift in our politics.”

  “Killed off all the crusty old bastards who were trying to play both sides,” one of the other mages muttered. Andyla shot him a murderous glare, and he subsided with a sullen look.

  “The archmages who took over decided that the threat from a lich was too great to ignore, and called for volunteers to come assist anyone Ammun attacked. We all knew there was a risk of running afoul of you for breaking your ban on our presence here, but…”

  “But fuck that lich,” the other mage said again.

  “That will be quite enough out of you,” Andyla said, her voice cracking like a whip. She turned back to me and added, “But the threat was deemed great enough to risk incurring your anger.”

  On the one hand, they were right to want to stop Ammun, and they’d opposed him on fronts that were theoretically important to me, some more so than others. They’d done me an unasked-for favor by showing up to help. On the other hand, I’d told them to stay away, and letting them think they could ignore that on their own judgment was going to cause problems down the road.

  There was also the fact that I was now going to have to scour every place they’d gone to ensure they’d left nothing behind. Any spying divinations would need to be found. Any beacons of any kind would have to be broken. Any people they’d slipped in with instructions to blend in with the locals would have to be rooted out. I did not want them on this continent, not for another fifty years at minimum.

  Once Senica, and possibly Nailu, were old enough to fend for themselves, I’d consider rescinding that ban. Until then, the Order represented the most dangerous collection of mages on the planet that I was aware of, and I wanted them to stay far, far away.

  “I am not unaware of the service you’ve done for my allies,” I began after a few moments’ contemplation. “That does not excuse the fact that you’ve intruded where you were specifically commanded not to go.”

  The tension thickened among the mages standing in front of me. Perhaps I was a bit more intimidating than usual with my metal battle robes partially destroyed and covered in my own blood, or perhaps these mages were just smart enough to know what kind of person I was. That would certainly put them a step ahead of their predecessors, but then, these ones had the advantage of having watched me execute their ruling council.

  “Grandfather!” I said loudly.

  Grandfather appeared a moment later, projecting his human form to where we all stood—or levitated, in my case—near the teleportation platform. “I’m busy,” he said. His true form was up on their floating graveyard above the clouds, laying the fallen brakvaw to rest, but I knew he’d been keeping an eye on things down here.

  “I’ll try to keep it brief. These four mages are here on Eyrie Peak in defiance of my mandate that they remain off this continent. They claim they arrived to help fight back the lich’s undead forces. Can you corroborate this story?”

  “I can say with some certainty that we’d have many more dead brakvaw without them,” Grandfather said. “Whatever issues you’ve had with their group, they dealt honestly with us. I would not punish them for trying to redress whatever wrongs you believe their cabal committed against you.”

  This was all pageantry. A large part of me wanted to kill them all, to set an example to the rest of the Order that I was not to be crossed, that when I said not to do something, that was a complete statement without exceptions.

  But.

  We were past the crisis now. The threat was over, and all that was left was the cleanup. For the first time in what felt like years, I could afford to think about not just what I needed to do to fix Manoch’s broken world core, but what kind of relationships I’d have with the people I shared this planet with. And the truth of it was that I didn’t really want to be like Ammun.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  It wasn’t just a lack of desire to rule, though that was certainly part of it. Ammun had had a conqueror’s ambition and a tyrant’s disregard for anyone he’d killed in pursuit of his goals. There had been a lot of me in his personality.

  “Fine,” I said. “Just this once. Gather up the rest of your people, all of them, everywhere, and return to your homes on Jeshaem. Do not come back to Olpahun. In a month or two, once I’ve gotten everything moving in the right direction, I will pay the Order a visit, and we can discuss your cabal leadership’s new disposition.”

  “We could help—” Andyla started to say.

  “No. I don’t want your help. You’ve already helped more than enough. The people whose lives you saved are very grateful, but the threat is over. Do not test my mercy. I’ve killed better mages than you for less.”

  It probably said something about the impression I’d made on the Global Order of the Arcane that nobody rose to the bait. I was being deliberately antagonistic, even more so than I normally was, just to see if anyone would give me an excuse, but none of them did. Good – maybe this new version of the Order would be a little bit smarter than the old one.

  I followed their journey as they teleported from location to location, gathering up mages who’d stepped up to defend people they’d never met living in places they’d never seen. Grandfather’s projection stood nearby, a frown stamped on his features as he absently kept me company. I’d expected him to disappear once he’d said his piece, but it appeared there was more on his mind.

  “You’ve wronged them,” he said at last.

  “I know. They wronged me first, and I’m not sure I’ve completely excised those responsible from their organization. It’s not fair to them, but it’s also a risk. Just letting them live is a risk. It makes me appear weak, gives the impression that they can test my word to see how far it can be pushed before I break.”

  “I don’t think that mercy is a weakness.”

  “Then you’ve had a kinder life than I have,” I told him bluntly. “Some people are good. They’re rarely the ones who rise to power. It’s the evil, self-serving bastards like me who end up at the top, the ones who aren’t fit to rule.”

  “You always said you had no interest in ruling,” Grandfather pointed out.

  “I don’t, but the world doesn’t leave me alone just because I want nothing to do with it.”

  The old bird started laughing then, a strange avian cawing note to his voice even in his assumed human shape. “When have you ever wanted nothing to do with the world, Keiran? Since the day you were reborn, you’ve done nothing but meddle in things that were none of your business. You could have walked off into the desert and built yourself a home where none but the monsters would ever find you.”

  “I—”

  Well, he wasn’t wrong. I had meddled quite a bit, first to protect myself from the Wolf Pack, then to find answers in an attempt to fix the broken world, and finally to stop Ammun from fulfilling his mad dreams of conquest. It wasn’t like I’d set out to end up in the position I was in, though. That was just a natural consequence of power. There was no point in having it if I wasn’t going to use it for something.

  “Go see to what business remains, then rest and recover. We’ve all taken injuries this day, but the wounds will heal and the scars will fade,” Grandfather told me. “And our insectoid friends will come calling soon enough, demanding payment for all their services.”

  I grimaced at that. I owed the gestalt a lot of work for keeping so many eyes on so many things. But then, I had time to do that now. With the threat dealt with, I had all the time I could ever need. I could finish my alchemical experiments with biometal. I could craft as many relays as the gestalt wanted. I could help Senica with her ointment of aging treatments and be more hands-on with her training. Nailu would see a lot more of me, especially if he decided to focus on his magical talents.

  First, I needed to return to New Alkerist and ensure everything was as it should be, as well as pour some more mana into its defenses. I was expecting to find a few gaps where enchantments had bled out that would need to be repaired, but none of that was a big deal now that Ammun was gone. I was mostly stopping by to make sure the town was secured for my family to return to it.

  I chuckled and shook my head. “I don’t know how much rest I’ll be getting for the next few months. I’ve had a whole life I put on hold for years now. There’s a lot of catching up to do.”

  “But you have time,” Grandfather said.

  “I do.”

  “That’s good, because we still have a mountain to lift into the sky.”

  I groaned. “You’re still intent on doing that? You know how wasteful that is, right? I know you do. You’ve already got a floating island.”

  “Who better than us to pull it off, then? Our magic is as efficient as it gets!” Grandfather told me. “Though we wouldn’t say no to some consulting on a few technical aspects that escape us. It turns out scaling the magic up is… more difficult than we expected.”

  “Who would have guessed? Alright, no promises as to when, but I’ll add it to my list. It might be a year or two.”

  “We’re not in any hurry,” Grandfather assured me. “Although, if it’s not too much of a bother, before you leave…”

  He trailed off and gestured toward the portal wall, where only a handful of portals had been reactivated.

  “Not today,” I said. “Too much to do, but within a week or two, I’ll come back and get things moving again.”

  “More than fair,” Grandfather agreed.

  “What I really should do is take a brakvaw apprentice so that you don’t need me to keep doing all this for you.”

  Grandfather let out a soft grunt and scratched at his chin. “That’s not a bad idea, if you’re serious.”

  I shrugged. “I can’t promise I’d teach them directly. The whole point of disseminating this knowledge was so that it could spread without my personal effort, but there are plenty of people who know the basics of human magic. I would be willing to teach a class of brakvaw what they’d need to know to adapt your style of casting to it.”

  “An interesting suggestion, but one to be pursued in the future. For now, I believe it is time for you to go home and see to your own family’s well-being while I tend to mine.”

  “That sounds like a good idea.”