The world morphed around Seph and he found himself inside of the art shop that he witnessed in a prior scene from Scorn’s story.

  Dante focused intently on his work. This was how he winded down after the constant battles.

  The ambassador walked in on him and made his presence known.

  “Greetings, honorable artist.”

  Dante looked around him, puzzled. He was sure he closed the door behind him. How did this man make it here?

  The man continued, when Dante said nothing, “I had a request, and I intend to pay lavishly.”

  Dante used his spiritual sense to inspect the man, but he wasn’t dangerous, just a normal human.

  This relaxed the easily scared Dante. After all, he was a cultivator. He could take on any human easily.

  But just to be sure, he expanded his spiritual sense further and found nothing untoward.

  Now that he was sure of his safety, he addressed the intruder. “How did you get in here? And how did you know of this workshop?”

  “Relax, I am just a servant. I mean no harm. I am an ambassador for formidable people, and I come here on official business to propose a deal for you. If you accept it. You will amass riches more than your wildest imagination,” said the ambassador, while trying to look as harmless as possible.

  “I don’t understand what you are talking about. Who are these people that you represent?” Dante said, his paranoid nature still in full effect. He knew the man couldn’t harm him, but he obviously had strong backing. Dante was scared because he was alone and away from Amoria. There was considerable distance between his workshop -where he went for some rest and relaxation- and Amoria.

  He thought, even if the man couldn’t harm him. He could still get ambushed on the way back.

  The ambassador picked up on Dante’s fear and was amused. To be feared by such a scary monster was something he never thought would happen.

  “Okay, I can see that this meeting could go very wrong if I don’t abandon the anonymity of who I represent. I come to you with an offer from the empire. We want you to opt out of Scorn’s upcoming war against the empire. And we will pay generously just to keep the empire safe from your power. And to keep you safe from ours.”

  Dante became even more worried, but not from the empire. If Scorn knew he even considered this, his wrath would be unmatched. “I refuse. Are you stupid to suggest such a thing? Do you know how powerful Scorn is? I wouldn’t trade the empire as an enemy for him unless I was crazy. Please, just leave, and don’t tell anyone we had this meeting. I hope none of our other friends are on the way here. If they snitch on me, I am done for.” Dante stopped for a second before he continued, not giving the ambassador time to talk. “Why would you do this to me? You might have just doomed me, you bloody idiot.”

  The ambassador cut his rambling. “You might be surprised which side your friends will take in this upcoming fight. I think it’s much safer to join them on the empire’s side.”

  The last thing the ambassador said shocked Dante that he couldn’t speak for a few minutes. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. In the end he said one word only, “Who?”

  “I can’t say who, but one of your strongest for sure, and we don’t intend to stop there. We intend to pull every single officer to our side. When we are done, our friend will be totally alone, or very dead. We don’t ask for much. If we don’t convince everyone, then you will only be expected to sit out this upcoming war. But if we pull them all to our side, then we have another plan that will guarantee the silence of our friend forever,” the ambassador said confidently.

  “I want everything you promised the other one. I am not less than any of them,” Dante said in an instant, his mind made up. Now he just didn’t want to be left out.

  “Granted, now I require you to tell me something that will help us in getting the rest to our side.” The ambassador asked as a sign of goodwill, but also because they lacked knowledge about the rest.

  “Be careful of the Skeleton Lord. There is some uncanny connection between him and Scorn. It could mean that he can’t betray his master. If you can bypass that, you will have all four of us on your side.”

  “Pleasure doing business with you, King Dante. Hopefully we meet again, on better grounds for both you and the empire.”

  The ambassador left, leaving Dante behind, basking in the glory of being addressed as king, ruling over his own land.

  He thought there was going to be nothing left to rule anyway if Scorn got his way. He didn’t feel too horrible about his decision. After all, someone else beat him to the punch.

  ***

  In front of the imperial palace. The Ghost Commander seemed to be on his off time, doing his favorite thing as well, and that’s looking into the imperial palace with envy and hatred. He wished he could walk right in there and kill all of them, but there was magical protection around the palace.

  Today was different though than all the other times he did this, because the emperor himself came out of the protective layer around the palace.

  His eyes had a weird blue hue to them, and he was walking straight toward the commander.

  “How are you doing, dear mentor?” The emperor said.

  The Ghost Commander was surprised, but he zapped fast towards the Emperor, intending to kill him, but then stopped at the last second and was about to zap away, thinking maybe this was a trap.

  “Don’t run away. I mean you no harm,” the emperor said before he lost him.

  “Run away? Me run away from you? I ought to kill you right now and end this war once and for all,” the commander said indignantly.

  “I agree with you, but I come to you unarmed, and I am sorry for what my son did to you. I am very sorry. But we don’t have to fight anymore. I am prepared to pay you any compensation you see fit to put all of this behind us.” The emperor looked really sorry while saying all this.

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  The Ghost Commander felt his old loyalties tearing at his heart. There was a part of him that was always ready to put his lot with the empire again, and that part wasn’t ready for the emperor himself to apologize to him.

  “He killed me! How do you expect me to forgive this?” The Ghost Commander said in seething anger. He was mad that he was even considering forgiving them.

  “I understand, but before that, me and my family have always treated you with kindness. You know how easily stimulated the youth are. The boy was just way too excited by his new toy. He is just a boy. I don’t ask you to forgive him, but I ask you to have mercy on this old man. Don’t harm my child and accept my apology and name any compensation you might want.” The Emperor stopped for a second and wiped the tears falling from his eyes with his long sleeve before saying, “I’ll give you your own kingdom, you won’t have to answer to me or Scorn anymore, I’ll give you riches to set you and your kingdom on the best start possible. I’ll give you your own army. All for a chance at reconciliation with you. What happened was very unfortunate, but it was never meant to happen. Give us the chance to make peace with you.”

  The Ghost Commander felt like all the fight had been sucked out of him. How could he refuse when the Emperor himself, the son of the goddess, was weeping in front of him.

  “What about Scorn?” The commander asked.

  “We won’t have to worry about him for long. He will face his death soon. All his officers are on the side of the empire now. It’s pretty much over for him. With your help, it will be the end of Scorn. I could have sent an ambassador to talk with you as well, but I felt the need to talk with you myself. To put behind us all grudges and move toward a bright future for all of us.”

  “You did?...” The commander was shocked that they had already reached all the other officers. “So be it. I guess Scorn’s war was always meant to die down without even attacking the capital. I accept, but I also want the gloves that your son used to turn me into a ghost.”

  “Anything you require is yours. All I ask is your forgiveness for the sins of my son, and your aid in ending Scorn.”

  “Just tell me what I need to do,” the commander said in resignation.

  “In a few days, my ambassador will meet with the Skeleton Lord. We are preparing a spell to free him from the blind loyalty he has for his maker, but we still would like to have all three of you close by, so that if he refuses, you all kill him, then it will be only Scorn that needs to be dealt with.”

  “My powers don’t work on the skeleton lord, but I agree my presence will embolden the others to do the empire’s bidding. I’ll be there, my liege,” the Ghost Commander said and bowed down deeply.

  The emperor made a light bow with his head before heading back inside. Once he was sure the Ghost Commander left. The ambassador showed up and said, “That was very brave of you, your highness.”

  “Of course, it’s a good thing I had that protective spell on me, though. The maniac almost attacked me. I can’t wait to end Scorn and put all this behind us. I have to guarantee the safety of my lineage after me.”

  “I’ll head to the Skeleton Lord post haste. We will see this done. Make sure the court magician reaches out to the other officers of Scorn’s army, so that they remain close by. We never know what these maniacs will react to our offers,” the ambassador said before leaving the emperor to his other attendees.

  ***

  The scene changed to nighttime. It was outside, specifically in a graveyard. Weirdly enough, the Skeleton Lord was sitting on one tombstone holding a flower and sniffing it.

  He had no nose to sniff with, but that didn’t stop his longing for feeling alive again.

  The ambassador was just about to reach him, when the Skeleton Lord became alarmed suddenly, and threw the flower away before he closed the gap between him and the ambassador in an instant, and killed him without even saying a word.

  The empire had a Plan B, though, because the other officers all came shortly after and surrounded the Skeleton Lord.

  “What is it you all want?” The Skeleton Lord said, his voice full of hostility.

  “We need to talk. We all reached a decision, and we want you to join us. It has to be all four of us together,” the Scarlet General said. He was standing flanked by Dante and the Ghost Commander.

  The Skeleton Lord just eyed them with his infernal eyes threateningly, saying nothing.

  “Do not be afraid. You will notice your inherent, magically induced loyalty is not working anymore. You don’t have to answer to Scorn from now on. There is no link between the both of you,” the Scarlet General assured him.

  “And what is that decision that you all reached and would like me to join you in?”

  “We are going to finish Scorn. The Empire made us all offers we couldn’t refuse. You were going to get the same offer, but you rushed and killed the ambassador. I have the authority to still guarantee you the same deal we all got. All that you need to do is accept the deal and kill Scorn with us. This war has to end. Scorn only wanted doom and destruction in the entire world for the fate of Amoria. I say enough of that. This all has to end now. Join us, my friend, in guaranteeing the continued survival of the humankind.” The General spoke rather passionately, like he really believed in his cause.

  “The continued survival of the humankind, or the continued survival of the empire? I couldn’t help but notice you said friend, wasn’t Scorn your friend? Scorn that you are all hellbent on betraying now, wasn’t he our friend?” The Skeleton Lord said, his voice full of disappointment.

  “He was, but his war not only threatens to put the entire world in a civil war, it threatens to kill us as well. We won’t come out the other side of the war with the empire unscathed, and you know it. They have made very generous offers to guarantee all of us our own kingdoms, riches beyond our imaginations, and most of all freedom from answering to the likes of Scorn or the empire ever again. If the empire is the real evil doer here, then they will get their time. It doesn’t have to be with our hands. This is not our war anymore.” The Scarlet General was rather animated at this point. The Skeleton Lord gave him no hope that he was going to accept.

  “And what if I refuse this offer?”

  The Scarlet general gave him a weak smile before saying, “Then we will have to put you down, my friend. We all have to agree on this, and we can’t let Scorn have your support or else he will end all of us easily.”

  The Skeleton Lord looked between all of them, then something happened they never saw before. The purple flame in his eye sockets went out.

  “So be it. I guess I have no choice. I’ll join you in your betrayal, but after this is done, I’ll never speak to any of you again, and don’t call me friend again. We are not friends. You would soon betray me like you betrayed Scorn if someone paid you the right price.”

  The Scarlet General looked at him with a challenging look. “We don’t have to be friends to see this through, and our kingdoms are far enough from each other that we never have to see each other again. The empire ensured to put us in four different locations so that we don’t gather when we are even stronger and be a threat to them.”

  The Skeleton Lord asked, “And what makes you think they won’t decimate each of us, after we’ve gotten rid of Scorn for them? We will be isolated and easy targets for them.”

  “They won’t put the empire in danger again, they know how close Scorn got to annihilating them, in an open fight a core creation cultivator can easily get away with his life, get stronger, and come back for revenge, they won’t risk having any of us as their enemies.”

  The Skeleton Lord was out of arguments and just looked at his three former friends, before turning his back on them, and sitting on the tombstone again.

  The three looked at each other before they each teleported away from the graveyard.

  ***

  Seph was back at the scene where Scorn got executed again. Scorn asked weakly, “What about my family?”

  The four officers looked at each other, and shook their heads saying no to the Scarlet General, before he said, “We can’t let your wife go, she is almost as strong as us, she would get stronger and come back to take revenge, but maybe I can convince the others to spare your daughter.”

  “So be it. You can proceed with your betrayal. I guess like Amoria got betrayed before me, it was inevitable I would get betrayed as well.”

  The group surrounded Scorn and carried him back to Amoria, where they would proceed with getting rid of him.