High Artificer, Ch 39: Asenya

After killing the Vos’Rekan and distributing the rewards of battle, including the promised visits to the World Core, Sam dismissed all of those who had gathered, sending them back to their homes.

Soon, only Asenya, Keros, and Winter were left, as well as his Silver Nagas, who all gathered in the hall of Silverguard. A feast of roasted meats and mead was laid out before them all, and the conversation was joyous.

In this battle, unlike the last time they’d fought a Vos’Rekan, no one had died, and that was cause for celebration. 

There had been close calls, but Sam always stepped in at the last moment, blocking a blow that would have killed one of them.

“All Hail the Silver Lord!” Sleset’s toast rang out, hissing in delight. “Sovereign of Silver Chaos, Lord of the Silver Truth! Lord of the Silver Nagas!”

The nagas roared in approval and goblets rose, were drained, and then crashed as they were slammed back onto the table.

They knew what Sam had become as a Sovereign, but it changed nothing. They had always believed he was the greatest Lord possible and the strongest being in the galaxy. 

Now, they just accepted that his title proved it, as it should.

They were waiting for the future when all of the Silver Nagas were known as his right hands, the Heralds of Silver Chaos.

Then they could travel through the galaxy as his messengers, see all bow before them, and kill anyone who tried to oppose him, not that they could imagine why someone would want to do that.

If things went as Sam predicted, that Herald class would be an option they could take at the Sixth Evolution. Their faith in him would forge the Truth of the Silver Herald.

He was looking forward to it almost as much as they were. He would just have to give them stern rules on how to use their authority.

“To your bravery and faith.” He raised his goblet of mead to them. “You have always held my trust.”

The nagas roared again as they saluted with their own goblets. Another round of mead disappeared in a crash, but the cups were quickly refilled by Wind elementals that floated through the hall.

Sam looked out the window of the hall, to where a new Vos’Rekan head crowned one of the highest towers of Silverguard. 

The nagas had insisted on putting it there, once he helped them reconstruct it from what was left of the beast’s skull.

The first one they had was still on their ship, the Ice Drake that Sam had given them. Sleset was carrying it around in a spatial artifact, but they’d wanted to put this one on the fortress for a while, the same as they’d done with the last one after they killed it.

It was absurdly large compared to the tower, and with the size difference it looked like it had been impaled on a spike, but the nagas wouldn’t have it any other way. 

He supposed they could keep it there for a while, and then he’d find a mountain to stick it on instead, perhaps on Aster Fall. 

They were pleased with themselves and the dinner was filled with boasting about how each of them had done more to kill it than anyone else, except for their Silver Lord, of course.

They were the same as they had always been, which was good to see. It was a familiar touchstone in the feast hall.

The other guests just laughed in agreement with them, since it was difficult to be angry with the nagas. 

Their energy was endless and, with the boost from Sam’s aura, there was no denying that their attacks had been almost as powerful as the Sixth Evolution members of the High Council.

If the Silver Army was taken on the whole, they probably had contributed the most of any ally. They had held the formations together and their joint defensive abilities had shielded everyone.

The time that had passed on Aster Fall wasn’t long compared to the time Sam had spent on Council, so to the nagas it had only been a day or two since he and his family had left on their trip. 

They had spent most of that time hunting in the Fallen Abyss, which helped them to advance, and then they’d gained a handful more levels from the Vos’Rekan.

Now, most of them were in the low-400s, while Sleset and a few others were around Level 450.

It would take a while before they reached the Sixth Evolution, but they would get there. Their faith in Sam gave them a smooth path, one that was easier to achieve than if they’d tried to do it all on their own.

Their belief in him was their Truth, and so they had no need to find another.

Once he updated the Path of Stars, he would look into ways to accelerate their power, so that their domains would be strong enough to reach the Seventh Evolution. 

Then they would be true guards for the galaxy.

After two days of celebration, the feast eventually wound down and the last guests dispersed as Sam opened portals for them to return.

The nagas returned to their endless war in the Fallen Abyss, which they had no desire to miss. It was basically a paradise for them with its unlimited enemies of increasingly greater strength.

Keros bowed to Sam and then went back to the academy to work on his new duties as headmaster, which it looked like suited him well. 

He had always been a thoughtful advisor for Aster Fall, and now he had a chance to help shape the most talented members of the younger generations in the galaxy. Sam was looking forward to what the academy would become with him at its head. 

With Sam as part of the faculty, there was no longer any concern that the board or politics would cause trouble. They didn’t have the ability to disrupt things any longer.

For the first time in its history, the academy would be truly beyond politics.

As for Winter, she smiled at Sam and said how delighted she was that a Titan was around again, and then she returned to her home near Council, where she was going to keep a closer eye on things for a while, assisting the High Council more than she had in millennia.

After that, only Asenya was left in the hall. Her injuries were still apparent to his eyes, but she’d hid them from casual view behind an illusion. 

To most people, she looked like a young Wild Spirit, one not so different in age from Alora, but her eyes were more ancient.

“Even Caerlon would have struggled against that beast,” she said with a quiet smile as she studied Sam, “but you are even stronger than I thought.

“I worried when you said you wished to face it, and so I insisted on coming, but it seems that you didn’t need me after all. I could tell that you were holding back. You gave so many opportunities to everyone else to contribute before you finally killed it, all as a way of bringing everyone together for a great battle that they would remember.”

She smiled and her laugh was bright, with almost the same playful tone as the memory of her that he’d met during his First Evolution.

“You wanted to force them to assist you in forging this new era you mentioned, I think,” she said. “The galaxy lacks unity, so you decided to create some. It was a good plan. I think they will remember it.”

She looked around the hall, her eyes thoughtful. She’d spent quite a while studying its construction over the past few days, especially the dimensional energy he’d woven into it.

“You have truly come into your own.”

She was silent for a few moments until she spoke again, and this time her words were gentle.

“Perhaps it is not my place, but I still have some worry for you, even with all your strength. After you forge this new path, what will you do? You are the last Titan in this galaxy. Will you follow the others and try to find them, or will you stay here for untold years, defending it as you defended Aster Fall?”

“I could ask you the same question,” Sam said as he smiled back at her. “You are also one of us, with the same choice before you. Once you are healed and the last repairs are done for Aster Fall and the World Core, your duty can be considered fulfilled. What will you do then?”

“There are still my people on Verdant,” Asenya said as she looked off into the distance, “and both Aster Fall and the World Core could use my continued presence, but you are right. Perhaps I am asking you because the thought is on my mind. 

“It was different when the galaxy was full of Titans and Voidborn, each of them like a world pulling everything toward it. It feels strange to be one of the few left, and one of the oldest. That was something I could never claim before.”

“For every era that ends, a new one begins,” Sam said as he followed her gaze out into the stars. “We will find a place in it. Isolation comes from losing friends and family. In order to prevent it, we need to hold fast to the bonds around us.”

A slight smile tugged at his lips.

“You could be the Goddess of Aster Fall, if you wished. Or you could walk the galaxy and create new dimensions, ones full of treasures and inheritances...or go through the Nexus and see what is on the other side.”

Then his tone turned more serious.

“Or think of yourself as young again and walk through the cities and the worlds, take up a new life, a new job, a new horizon. Embroil yourself in the lives around you and become part of them. Living separately and thinking of yourself as old isn’t good for your health. Take a new identity if it helps.” 

“You are too young to be so wise,” Asenya said with a new laugh, this one brighter than before. “But I think you’re right. Perhaps I will take a look at some new worlds to explore...places to live and settle down for a bit, once I’ve taken care of Aster Fall.”

She glanced at him.

“Perhaps in this new human domain that you’re building?”

A flicker of starlight coalesced on Sam’s palm, where it turned into a golden star on a silver chain. It was ethereal, an aura imprint instead of a real piece of jewelry.

“I’ve already given you access to every world there, but let me offer it in person,” he said as he handed it to her. “The Titan Gate can take you. I built one just recently in the heart of the area. Or let me know when you want to go and I will take you there anytime.”

When Asenya touched the necklace, it fused into her aura and disappeared.

“Perhaps I will take you up on that,” she said with a smile. “You know, I’ve never lived a regular life before, even when I was young. I was always an experiment as far as the Voidborn were concerned, and the ward of Caerlon to the other Titans. It might be fun to try again and see what it’s like.”

When she stood up, her smile was brighter, as if a weight was gone from her shoulders. She inclined her head to Sam, who stood up and returned it.

“I’ll see you there in a few years,” she said, “once things are stable here. I’d like to see what you’re building.” 

With that, she waved and faded away, disappearing in a sheen of rainbow-hued light.

Sam raised his hand in farewell and then he teleported up to the top of Silverguard, where he stood on the highest tower.

There was an enormous quantity of Vos’Rekan stone fused to the base of the main fortress and the other ones now. Silverguard’s island was over five hundred miles across and the other ones were three hundred miles across, as wide as the main one had been before the battle.

He held out his hand and thirty Fragments of the Primal Void appeared in front of him, each of them now a silvery-black color with flecks of starlight and blazing points of energy contained inside, like they were fragments of the galaxy frozen in crystal.

He had given away all of the other treasures of the Vos’Rekan except for its body and these fragments, but these still had a greater value. 

He called an avatar over and gave it some orders to take Silverguard and the other fortresses back to Aster Fall, as well as to continue work on integrating the new stone.

Then he stepped into the Void, walking through the stars as his form faded away.

It was time to begin.