text: You're not wasting any more time on Lenay and as much as you'd love to put a blade into Eldolith from your last encounter, she's not worth the time either. The Arat Confederacy is no longer a concern. Let the Xi have Lenay if they want to continue throwing bodies at it. The gnomes are the greater threat; they've already got ships that fly in the air and who knows what the hell they have planned. Maybe if you take Telis, you can also gain the knowledge of how to build such machines because so far the experiments by your inventors haven't had much success.
  
  The first thing you have to do is order a withdraw from the Lenay area. This confuses your officers, but other than General Ingrid who insists that the city can be taken, they all just follow your commands. (As does Ingrid after a bit of arguing)
  
  The next thing you do is have the major wounded transferred back to Velizza or Atnil. The Xi are still a major concern in the area and hopefully the wounded will get well before the Xi start advancing on those cities because they're going to need all the extra protection they can get.
  
  You also send a message to Sightmaster Crowley to send a full battalion of Eyes. You tell him to even take them away from security positions if he has to, because you anticipate that you're going to need the extra magic power.
  
  You also tell Crowley that if you fall in battle that he's officially the successor of the Empire. A bit of an abrupt way of passing this decision on, but there it is at last. If he decides to use this as an excuse to stage a coup later, you'll have to deal with it later, but again, you doubt if you've really got much time anymore for "later."
  
  The next step is making the long march to Telis. You know where it is, but even if you didn't you could just follow the occasional airship in the far distance. Unfortunately you have a feeling that if you're close enough to see them at all, the crews aboard such things can probably see your massive forces heading their way as well. There's nothing for it though, Arat has always been pretty open and there's no real way to hide a force as large as yours. You half hope some of those airships make a detour towards you, so you can call down a lightning storm on them the same way you did on that sea monstrosity years ago, but none of them do.
  
  The Xi however give you more than enough trouble on your journey. You continued to be impressed by the Xi's tenacity to completely abandon any sense of self-preservation. They exceed orcs even in that regard and that's something you thought you'd never see.
  
  If only there was a way you could've had them fighting for you instead, you wouldn't have had to waste so many years rebuilding the Empire in the first place. You could've just had it immediately.
  
  You watch in the distance as some of the kobolds take down a single Xi warrior. That's something you never thought you'd see either. Fighting along side kobolds of all creatures and them actually being some of your best soldiers within their limited capabilities. Funny that you should respect or find a certain affinity to such non-human races like orcs, kobolds or even the Xi than you do with humans. Then again maybe it's because you've never really truly been human. You're just masquerading as one.
  
  After a week of marching through Xi infested territory Telis is finally in sight. And from where you're standing, you see it being besieged by the Xi. Unlike Lenay however, Telis doesn't have the benefit of an impenetrable magic barrier defending it. It does however have several airships launching all manner of explosions and gunfire to the area around the city.
  
  It would seem the gnomes are reluctant to damage Telis itself (though some of that is probably unavoidable), but the reason isn't clear. Are the gnomes Telis' allies? From what you've heard Telis did have a human population, so it seems unusual that the gnomes would be helping them given their new outlook on life. Unless they're invaders as well and just don't want their potential prize destroyed.
  
  In any event you're somewhat glad that the Xi are involved. Gives the gnomes another target and divides the attention from you.
  
  Seeing as the gnomes are less willing to blow up Telis itself, you figure your best course of action is to get your army into the city right away. Actually getting in doesn't look like it will be a large problem thanks to the efforts of the Xi, the problem lies more with fighting your way through the Xi while avoid potential bombings from the gnomes.
  
  All available mages are ordered to put up shields and all soldiers are ordered to protect them while making the long march towards Telis or else nobody is going to make it to the city at all.
  
  It's not a long distance, but it feels like one. Explosion after explosion crashes down on the magical shields. Since your shields are simple ones the Xi simply dig under them and attack that way, but the soldiers do a good enough job of keeping them from killing your mages. You do your part by supporting the magical energy required for this feat. It's a great strain on you, but you try to block out the pain.
  
  You can see the Telis gate wide open and it reminds you of the day when the Felkan capital fell to your forces. What a glorious victory that was.
  
  "Advance! Kill everything! They can't stop us! Not the Xi and not the gnomes and their machines! We will be the last ones standing and remembered long after worms have eaten all their corpses! Long live the Empire! Long live the Emperor!" you shout.
  
  While it's a simple speech meant to encourage the surrounding troops, your last line was probably a little strange since you're the Emperor and it sounds odd. Of course you realize this soon after you said it because you temporary forgot what the hell time period you were in.
  
  "Shit, get focused..." you mumble.
  
  Memory lapses aside, your army continues to battle its way into the city. Some of your people have already reached the entryway and that's when a large rumbling noise is heard from the city and then the ground begins to shake. The shaking soon becomes more violent tremors to the point that the ground starts to crack and that's not from Xi digging...
  
  Many of your people have a hard time keeping their footing and during this time some of the mages lose their concentration. This is a fatal mistake, which soon results in entire companies being blown to bloody pieces by the airships continuing to dump bombs from above.
  
  The airships aren't the only things that are flying now though.
  
  The loud rumbling continues along with the earth shaking and you soon see what is going on. It's Telis. The city is rising off the ground. Whatever the hell the gnomes have been doing, this has to be part of it. They've created a flying city!
  
  The gnomes have already displayed a significant amount of power with their airships. With this city they could very well be unstoppable.
  
  Questions about how and when they did this will have to wait, what matters now is that you have to stop them. The city has only just started to rise and its taking a long enough time that you see several Xi and your own troops grabbing on to what they can before its completely out of reach.
  
  You're either going to have to destroy it or capture it.
  
  If you were younger you'd just unleash a firestorm or something similar without another thought, but that's a risky endeavor in your condition for several reasons.
  
  Capturing it is probably going to be even harder, especially since you're going to have to board the damn thing. You MIGHT reach it in time if you make a full dash towards it now, but that would mean no longer supporting the mages to defend the rest of your army.
  
  > capture the city
  Probably a fool's task, but if you survive this you're going to have to still deal with the Xi. A flying fortress would give a significant advantage.
  
  You stop using your own energy to support your mages and refocus on a creating a personal shield around yourself. You give the order for everyone to get out of your way or grab on to Telis if they can.
  
  It isn't too bad, most of your mages hold their own, and continue to protect a majority of the army, but its yourself that you're concerned about as you attempt to reach Telis which is slowly becoming completely airborn. You ride your horse as hard to the point where it probably isn't going to survive after you intend to make a leap forward off of it.
  
  You pass your soldiers, you pass the Xi fighting them, you pass over the torn up ground from the battle and bombs and you look up and see Telis escaping your reach.
  
  "No, I've come too far!" you say and you stand on top of your horse, nearly falling off in the process while still attempt to upkeep your shield...
  
  You make the jump towards the city and manage to grab ahold of one half of Telis' front gate doors which is currently hanging off its hinges. Your shield is down, your body hurts and you're practically deaf from all the explosions going on around you.
  
  You hang on for dear life as the ground gets further away and attempt to climb up, but your strength is failing you and even if it wasn't the door is slowly loosing its weak attachment to the rest of the city.
  
  "Shit! Shit! No! No! No! Not like this! Fuck! Hate this weakness!" you exclaim as you prepare to either lose your grip or for the door comes loose. And you doubt you'll be in any condition to "repair" yourself when you take this long fall.
  
  Fortunately it doesn't come to that.
  
  "Emperor! Take my hand!" a human soldier shouts and reaches over the side. You waste no time in accepting his help and soon a couple of other soldiers help him lift you up just in time for the door to fall to the ground.
  
  After catching your breath and assuring the soldiers that helped you that you're fine, you get a better assessment of your surroundings.
  
  "Okay first things first, what's your name so I know what to call you."
  "Lieutenant Renly, my Emperor and this what's left of my platoon." Renly says and waves his arm to six other soldiers. "We're not the only ones here, I believe there's a couple of orc platoons further in the city. They're probably fighting the Xi that managed to get in or combating the gnome clockwork golems. Hell even the teams of gnomes with their rapid repeaters isn't something you want to deal with and that's not even counting the ones probably trying to spot us from the nearby airships."
  "So wait, are there no humans or regular citizens in this place?" you ask.
  "Not from what anyone can tell. It's like the whole place is empty other than the Xi, the gnomes and us. Unless the Telis citizens are all hiding somewhere."
  "Or maybe the gnomes did something to them all. Well it doesn't matter we need to figure out where the hell the controls are for this thing. We get control and we can get rid of those airships with a lot more ease."
  "Not sure where something like that would be located Emperor."
  "That's easy, we keep moving towards the areas that have most of the little bastards and their damned contraptions. It's going to be the most heavily defended place because it's the most important thing in the world to them."
  "Well then I believe we should take a left down that street over here. Saw a gnome patrol accompanied by two clockworks not long ago."
  "Okay, but when possible we should probably stick to the back alleys. Don't need one of those airships floating by and spotting us. In fact our best chance is to do this as stealthily as possible. A rare tactic for us I know, but our main task is getting control of this thing."
  
  You, Renly and the rest of his platoon make your way towards where you hope some sort of master control is located. Along the way, you see the remnants of where small skirmishes have already taken place. Bodies riddled with bullets or in some cases chopped up. They're mostly bodies of the Xi, but some of your soldiers as well. You don't see any gnome casualties other than pieces of their golems.
  
  The sounds of battle can still be heard throughout the city, but it gets concerning when the sounds get less infrequent, since that means the gnomes are probably mopping up invaders to their city, which means less distraction for them.
  
  Your attempts at sneaking around are fairly successful. As you stealthily avoid these patrols, you finally see the gnomes and you can't get over how radically they've changed. With their dark red caps, goggles and stylish leather uniforms, they couldn't look anymore different than their pathetic ancestors that you helped round up centuries ago to have their souls utterly obliterated.
  
  Really though, after an event like that and who knows what else during the Cataclysm you suppose it shouldn't be surprising that the gnomes decided they wouldn't be victims and became hostile towards other races. Let alone rely on other societies to defend them any longer.
  
  They shaped their own destiny and you can certainly respect and even admire that; after all you never hated them. That was the Emperor. You were just following orders at the time.
  
  Eventually the gnome patrols are getting too thick and you can't really properly proceed without engaging the enemy. Just as well, you were getting sick of acting like a shadow.
  
  "Alright, everyone get ready, because it's going to be killing time from here on in. I'll take the lead on this." You say.
  "Emperor, shouldn't you stay behind us so we can better protect you?" Renly replies.
  "While I appreciate the sentiment, I've been doing this a lot longer than you have, if anything you all should try to stay behind me and in cover until I clear out most of the rabble. Don't worry, I may be old, but I'm not out of this yet. And if you all survive this, you'll all be getting promotions and whatever else I think might be an appropriate reward, so it behooves you all to listen to me if you want to reap the benefits of this situation."
  
  With this understanding, Renly and his platoon follow your lead. Still unseen, you take advantage of a group of gnomes tanding around with their clockwork creations.
  
  You unleash a flurry of fireballs, which not only has the desired effect of killing some of the gnomes outright, but also causing an explosion due to their hand thrown bombs they carry on them The explosion takes care of the golems.
  
  "That's one group down, but the rest aren't going to be as easy!" you say and advance with a shield up.
  
  Not easy is correct because the little bastards start coming out in full force. You just try not to get surrounded. The unrelenting repeater weapons are bad enough, but the gnomes also come out with weapons that emulate some of your spells! A single gnome who managed to sneak up on two of Renly's men blasts them with some sort of weapon that emits flames. Renly shoots the gnome in the head before turning his attention to grab one of the repeaters from a nearby dead gnome.
  
  "They're all coming out of that big red building, that's probably where we need to go! Come on!" you shout and take out another golem."
  
  During the carnage you think back to how you used to mainly use your sword during battles. During this one, you haven't even used it yet. In fact you haven't done so for so long, you wonder if you'd even be able to use it effectively anymore. Granted in this situation like this you've practically got no choice but to rely on your magic, still though you miss the good old days.
  
  The closer you get to the building, the waves of gnomes lessens, until you see one of them close the door just as the last few golems are shot to pieces. The sky above you grows darker and you notice an airship looming overhead. They don't throw bombs at you, but they certainly unleash a volley of gunfire, which manages to kill another one of Renley's platoon before he and the rest can get into cover.
  
  As for you, your shield is working just fine, but you need to get into that building which is probably locked and barricaded. You aren't going to be able to blast it open with that airship firing at you.
  
  > refocus the shield to repel the bullets back
  Normally you don't do this, because repelling projectiles actually takes more focus than flinging fireballs or putting up a shield in the first place, but if you can take out all the guns firing on you with their own bullets then you'll get the breather you need.
  
  You refocus the shield and sure enough the bullets are repelled back towards the guns that are firing on you. It isn't an exact hit, but enough of them hit their own guns (or in some cases the gunner) enough that it puts them out of commission, other bullets either go flying off wildly into the air or into other parts of the airship. In any case you hit something that causes problem since you see and hear minor explosions, which the gnomes are probably busily trying to contain. The airship shudders in the sky a bit, but it isn't falling out of sky, which it probably would have done if you'd lobbed hunks of fire at it.
  
  Taking advantage of the respite, your soldiers take what explosives they've found on the bodies of the gnomes, pile them up against the building's door and you hurl a ball of fire at it. Naturally it not only explodes spectacularly, but it also succeeds in destroying a couple of golems that were waiting to ambush you. You and the other run inside, before the airship above you manages to get its guns working again.
  
  When you get inside you see that the building consists of a lot of desks and generally laid out like a bureaucratic office. You briefly think that maybe this was all for nothing and your hunch was wrong, but sure enough when an automated repeated pops up out of the floor and puts several holes into one of Renly's platoon and more golems appear from other trapdoors in the floor you're fairly certain you're still on the right track.
  
  You and Renly's ever dwindling platoon take care of your assailants though at this point they're probably hoping there aren't too many more.
  
  "Glad this building doesn't have multiple floors." One soldier remarks.
  "It still might, those golems came out of the floor. There might be several basement levels." Renly points out.
  "It can't go too far down, the city is flying in the air now. It's not going to be a Derro complex." You say peering door one of the trapdoors.
  "Derro?" Renly asks.
  "Oh. Before your time I suppose. They were a subterranean race that were primarily hostile isolationists and had a knack for technology. Sort of like the current gnomes I suppose. I always wondered if they were related in some way to be honest." You answer.
  "And they were enemies?"
  "Allies actually. Well... such as they were. Anyway I imagine whatever is causing this city to fly would be located right under it, so we might as well start searching there especially since the rest of this building looks more like an oversized office rather than any example of engineering.
  
  You all descend down one of the trap doors and find yourself in some small narrow corridors. Not so small that you can't move around, but certainly small enough that you all have to crouch down. Even at the best of times your body aches, this bending and stooping routine just makes it worse for you. The corridors are also filled with a light steam with gears, pumps and other manner of machinery that you assume are keeping this city afloat. A noisy hum and the occasional jarring metal on metal screeches also surround you and you briefly wonder just how much solid stone floor is between you and the sky right now.
  
  "Guess the gnomes designed this part of the city." Renly says.
  "Never thought I'd say this, but I wish we were kobolds right about now." Another soldier remarks.
  "Alright let's focus. The good thing about this corridor is I can easily shield us from any attack from the front or the back but you're all going to have to fire upon on any enemy that attacks us. If I start throwing magic bolts or whatever around here I'm libel to damage something severely and send this thing crashing to the ground with us in it.
  
  You travel the corridors for what you believe to be an hour at least. It twists and turns, but you remain convinced that SOMEWHERE down here is a control room. In the meantime more gnomes attempt to stop you and while they have better maneuverability your shield continues to protect everyone and you fend off attacks.
  
  "At least they're just sticking with guns now." One of the soldiers says.
  "They don't really have choice, explosives or those flame weapons would damage all these gears that are involved in holding up the place." Renly remarks.
  
  While your followers make minor comments about the situation, you begin to notice a slight change in surroundings. The mist that fills the corridors is dissipating, the floors have become steel and now there are actual walls coving the previously exposed engineering. It suddenly occurs to you that the gnomes hadn't actually finished this place up yet and you are now seeing the areas that took priority.
  
  "We're near the control room." You say.
  "We are?" Renly says.
  "I'm sure of it."
  "Wouldn't there be more defenses?"
  "I said I think we're near it, we're not actually there yet. For all we know the actual control room has shit we've never seen before." You answer.
  
  "Oh it does, Eternal. It does. Come on in and see." You hear a voice say nearby. You and the others look around and at each other.
  
  "Just continue a little bit forward and turn the corner. Don't worry, you've killed all of my people, but then you always were an expert at such things weren't you?" the voice says.
  
  When you follow the voice you enter a room filled with a bunch of technical equipment and machines. You no idea what any of it does, but its certainly a technological feat that you've only seen matched by Marik when he was growing tank babies.
  
  Also in the room a single gnome sitting in a chair dressed in the traditional leather uniform you've seen others of his kind wearing. He also sports the same bushy facial hair and red cap they all seem to favor. The only main thing that causes him to stand out is that he's obviously older than the ones you've been fighting and he's wearing explosives around his waist with a wire attached to another device he's gripping tightly in his hand.
  
  The other thing that stands out is that he is completely unconcerned about you or your soldiers pointing their weapons at him.
  
  "You know, this really was one of our greatest works. (Sigh) It's going to be a shame to destroy it, but anything is better than letting it fall into your hands. Can't let a gnome killer like you have it can we?" the gnome remarks.
  "You speak as if you know me and I don't mean by my present reputation. You speak as if you know me from the past." You say.
  "Oh not personally, but my family's ancestors told me stories about you. Yeah, great ancestor Klemto made sure the story got passed down so that something like Gnome's Home could never happen again. One of the few gnomes you didn't manage to round up and have systematically slaughtered."
  "Well I see your mind is made up, no point in debating the issue." You answer.
  "Oh no, please I'd LOVE to hear your defense on the matter. I could use a good laugh before I blow us all up."
  
  At this point having one of your soldiers shoot him would be counter productive, he'd just release the switch when he died. Rushing the gnome would likely have the same result
  
  Your only option is to cast a freeze spell and encase his hand in a solid block of ice. The problem with that right now is you're exhausted. You'd have to stall for a little time so you could muster up the energy to do it right now.
  
  So you stall for time and engage the gnome in conversation.
  
  "I was just following orders." You say.
  "Really now? That's your defense?" the gnome asks.
  "It's not a defense because I don't think I have anything to defend against. The Emperor...Casimir hated your kind. Not I. Why he hated your people so intensely I cannot say because I never fully understood the depths of it. He gave reasons, but as I said I believe there was more to it. It doesn't matter though, since I merely acted on his orders."
  "So you were just a blindly loyal soldier just doing your duty eh?"
  "At the time yes. Look, if you want me to beg for my life, you'll not get it here. I didn't begin my life as an Eternal begging so I'm certainly not going to end my life begging."
  
  "I see...I suppose I should've known your arrogance and lack of emotions would prevent you from such actions..." the gnome remarks, but you cut him off.
  "Funny you should say that. Since I would think someone with the same arrogance and lack of emotions would understand." You say.
  "What?!"
  "THIS! This flying fortress! And all your airships! You really expect me to believe you designed them for peaceful purposes?"
  "We had to protect ourselves!"
  "Against the Xi, yes I can see that, but you've been bombing us as well and we didn't even declare war on you!"
  "Bah! You would have eventually! And your pathetic attempt at comparing us bombing your soldiers and you rounding up gnome civilians for slaughter is laughable."
  "I wasn't actually, I'd say that would be closer to what you did to the original citizens of this city. So what did you do with Telis' original citizens?"
  
  The gnome begins to get annoyed.
  
  "Nothing. This city was always ours!"
  "Bullshit. Maybe this place was wrapped in mystery, but not to such a degree that it wasn't known that humans lived here. Or at least they USED to live here. Just looking at the buildings and one can tell that this place was originally designed for humans rather than the smaller architecture that make up these corridors. So how did you go about it? I'm actually curious how you managed to wipe out an entire city without anyone getting a hint of what was going on. I know from your reputation that you don't associate with other races any longer so I can only assume that you had the citizens of this city done away with long before you actually moved in and started making this place into a flying city. Perhaps maybe like something similar that was done to the gnomes?"
  
  The gnome now actually gets off his chair and both of his hands are balled up in anger, which is good since you want him to grip that kill switch as tight as possible.
  
  "It was a completely different situation!" the gnome exclaims.
  "Was it? Your ancestor said we rounded gnomes up to be slaughtered, what he probably didn't know since he avoided capture is HOW we did it. We didn't just kill them. We completely obliterated their souls. It's what the Emperor wanted. Then again, you lot probably didn't go that far...no magical skill to speak of, I guess that's why you like your mechanical toys so much..."
  "You're going to pay for your crimes you evil bastard. When I release this switch my only regret is going to be that you won't suffer!"
  "No doubt. But it's a shame that the real culprit won't taste your justice after you blow us all up."
  "What're you talking about?"
  "I'm talking about the main executioner. Maybe I rounded some up and killed a few and the Emperor gave the orders, but there was one in particular who was enjoying the job around the clock. She's still alive too you know, or maybe you didn't. She isn't very mobile or social these days. All I'll say is she's a svelk and she's the mother of that bitch that currently runs Lenay, well assuming Lenay hasn't been overrun by the Xi..."
  "ENOUGH! This ends now!" the gnome yells getting ready to release the switch.
  
  "Truer words have never been spoken." You say and cast a blast of frost at the gnome's left hand and fortunately you encase his whole arm in ice before he can release his hand from the switch. You collapse on the floor just from that small feat of magic. You really need to rest.
  
  The gnome desperately tries to break the ice, but the remaining two soldiers from the platoon restrain and knock him out.
  
  "Take this little shit topside and throw him off the city. Renly and I will try to figure out the controls to this thing. And do it quickly, that arm won't stay frozen and there still might be some gnomes running around." You say and drag yourself to sit up against a nearby wall.
  
  "Emperor are you okay?!" Renly asks.
  "I'm fine. Just very very tired. And unfortunately my work isn't even done yet..." you answer.
  
  "But just maybe this thing will make it easier at least."
  
  > Continue
  Year 560
  
  "Emperor, the Xi have made their first incursions into Quala." David remarks.
  "(Sigh) It was only a matter of time I suppose. The damn bugs just can't seem to be wiped out. Even with this floating fortress and the new airships we created. Have we lost Arat completely?"
  "No, but the only city left is Regnik and its slowly in danger of becoming overrun. It probably won't last another week despite the carpet-bombing we've done around the area. Quala is having problems as well and last reports stated that Warlord Sprog fell in battle."
  
  You sometimes wonder if the Xi are some sort force of nature taking everything back from the others races that have caused so much turmoil and strife. Like the other races had their day in the sun at some point and now it is the time of the Xi to rise to power. Of course you've never been one for giving into fate or "destiny", so your main concern is how to deal with this seemingly unstoppable foe.
  
  Fortunately after you took Telis (Now called Apex) from the gnomes, you found some rather interesting notes on how it might be possible and your brightest and best have been attempting to decipher them.
  
  Technology wasn't the only thing the gnomes were working on; they were also working on a bunch of stuff to do with biology. Apparently they had plans to design and release some sort of germ that would kill all the Xi.
  
  Sounds like a blessing, but the problem is you have no idea how long that's going to take. You have your inventors and doctors and wise people, but honestly they're only going by a few found pieces of scraps and half thought out plans from a race of people now no longer around. Nobody has even had this sort of idea before; using unseen organism as weapons. But then nobody had the idea to create weapons that could destroy entire buildings or allow one unskilled peasant to murder an entire squad of swordsmen at one time either.
  
  In the meantime, you're still left with the same problem. You have to fend off the Xi from destroying the Empire. You're doing your best, but you have to admit, the outlook is grim. Just as you're about to give David your list of commands for the day and retire to your private abode, David tells you that you have an audience today.
  
  "Audience? With who? I'm the only ruler left in the land and I doubt very seriously the Xi are wanting to speak with me about peace negotiations." You say.
  "No, it's a regular citizen Emperor and know normally you don't hold such audiences, but I thought in her case you might. It's Jennifer." David replies.
  "Really? Well what does she want?"
  "She didn't say, other than wanting to see you. Should I tell her to reschedule?"
  "No, I suppose I can spare the time to see what she wants and I could use a diversion from this Xi situation anyway."
  
  David nods and fetches Jennifer from the next room. You haven't seen her in a while, but she still looks about the same, just a few extra gray hairs. You have to admit you're mildly glad to see her after dealing with the Xi day in day out. After a few pleasant greetings you both go back to your private chambers to speak.
  
  "So...it's been a long time." You say.
  "It's been about ten years since we were in the same room together." Jennifer answers.
  "Has it? Time really flies. As you probably know I've been a little busy. Apologies for not keeping in better contact."
  "No, it's fine. Seriously, you're the Emperor and keeping us all safe from hostile forces is a full time job. I always knew better than to expect that you'd be able to stay on constant contact."
  "Glad you understand. So where's your family?"
  "They are on the surface, my son really wanted to see the flying city, but his father...well let's just say he wasn't fond of the idea." Jennifer says with a bit of hesitancy. It's apparent that not everything is well with her marriage, but you don't want to pry.
  "I see...well tell your son that the Emperor has said he can see it any time its convenient. It isn't like the place is off limits, just difficult to get to I suppose."
  "Indeed. Tickets for an airship here are expensive and not many have that sort of money to throw around anymore. Anyway about why I'm here, I've been working on another book."
  "Another one? So what is this one about?"
  "About you actually. I need your input with it obviously considering you're the main subject."
  "A book about me huh? Any reason why you wanted to write such a book?"
  "Why wouldn't I? You're only one of the most important people in history. I mean there needs to be records of this for when...I mean so people don't forget your deeds. I mean sometimes I have to argue with idiots at the museum who don't know how good you've made things for them! At one time people used to view the Old Empire exhibit with wonder and questions. Now it seems all some of them want to do is criticize it and claim it's nothing more than a pile of falsehoods and lies! Some of these dissidents have even been claiming this flying city is just an example of how you believe you're so much better than they are!"
  "Hmm, haven't heard about too much dissident activity for quiet some time, but then the Eyes are stretched pretty thin these days."
  "Well some of these morons that enter the museum need to be rounded up! You're not better than them because of a flying city; you're better than them for a whole bunch of other reasons! Being a strong leader and making the tough decisions that in the long run are best for all of us! I intend for my book to reinforce the needed understanding of why the things you do are completely necessary. I've already managed to interview some people that have seen your greatness in action like Captain Renly and Admiral Len. Their testimony and others will make great additions, but the words from your own lips will be what's most important!"
  
  You've seen Jennifer get excited and fired up about things in the past, but you sort of figured such excitement would never be reserved for anything related to you ever again. You had thought that Jennifer had long since outgrown her "worship" of you when she got married and had a family, but either it never left and had been dormant or something has changed to cause it to revive such feelings again.
  
  And if you had to guess you imagine it might have something to do with her marriage.
  
  "Jennifer, while I've always appreciated your support, I doubt if any book is going to change a lot of minds. You even said not many people have disposable income these days to buy luxury items. You can't let every loudmouth with an opinion get you so upset. I mean I'm glad you told me, and I'll even get Crowley to have some Eyes look into matter and see if it's a potential larger problem, but I think you're really upset about something else."
  "Of course I am! I'm upset because I made the wrong choice! I followed some silly notion of wanting a normal life! I'm married to a man who has successfully sickened me with his criticism of the government and you to the point where I cannot even stand his touch anymore! I should've tried harder to serve you! I should've stayed with you! By your side! That's where I belonged! I was a Mol and a Mol has always served their ruler loyally in whatever capacity they can!" Jennifer exclaims
  
  You have no words. Even if you the whole story you probably still wouldn't have the words. How can you condemn someone who obviously thinks so highly of you?
  
  If you had more of an ego you'd just take advantage of the situation and let Jennifer write her book and fill it with propaganda and have the book be distributed for free, but you can't help being a little grounded in reality even if it means shooting yourself in the foot.
  
  While you don't scold Jennifer for her slightly misguided loyalty, you do feel she has the right to know the whole truth so you start by telling the thing you never told anyone before.
  
  "You know, Jacob Mol was loyal to the Empire, but not to the Emperor. Well at least not towards the end." You say.
  "What?" Jennifer asks.
  "He personally killed the Emperor Casimir. Shot him in the back actually."
  
  Jennifer is speechless.
  
  "Oh don't judge your ancestor too harshly, he was only helping me at the time since I was doing a miserable job of attempting to kill the Emperor. Me and the true late svelk ruler of Lenay, Semra. It was a group effort I suppose and to be fair, Casimir was planning to have me killed despite my lifetime of loyalty."
  
  Jennifer continues to remain speechless.
  
  "When we killed the Emperor, he unleashed a magic curse when he died which fucked up the rest of the land in various ways, regular folks know that event best as the Cataclysm."
  
  Jennifer is finally about to speak, but you put up your hand to let her know one more thing.
  
  "The kicker of all this? A few years before Semra died she even told me the Xi were living undisturbed deep underground and it was only because of all the violent earthquakes that they turned their attention to the surface. ALL of what's going on right now is my fault. Hell, even the fact that the gnomes were also planning to bomb us into oblivion is my fault. I can tell you more about that gruesomeness though and you could even get Renly to confirm it since he was there when one of those red capped bastards confronted me about it. I'm an usurper. A tyrant. A killer. And worse. And you know what? I'm perfectly fine with that."
  
  You move closer to Jennifer.
  
  "Now then...how do you THINK the citizens would REALLY feel about their strong leader if they knew the truth from my own lips?"
  
  Jennifer moves her own face closer to yours.
  
  "It doesn't matter, because I'm writing the damn thing how I want to." Jennifer remarks.
  "So true history doesn't matter to you despite being dedicated to it?"
  "History is written by those in power and the winners. Perhaps some of what you told me was a surprise, but do you think I didn't have my suspicions that you probably had something to do with the death of the old Emperor? Your continued vagueness of the topic even years later was a give away. I'm not stupid. I know what you think of me. You probably believe me to be a mindless fanatic at worst or a misguided loyalist at best, but you couldn't be more wrong. I am a true patriot. My family always has been. You even said it yourself my ancestor Jacob was loyal to the Empire, but he obviously saw its ruler as lacking to its greatness. He saw that greatness in YOU, otherwise he wouldn't have helped you overthrow the Republic or even warn Quintus that you were going to kill him."
  
  Jennifer grabs your hand.
  
  "I still see that greatness in you. I always have. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here. Let me be by your side again. Like I should've been. Don't send me back down to the surface. Let me stay and help."
  
  Jennifer looks at you hopefully and preying upon that small part of you that actually does have feelings. It's just too bad; you don't feel the same strong feelings as she does for you.
  
  > let Jennifer stay
  Again you think: How can you really punish such dedication? Casimir tried to kill you for similar loyalty and while you wouldn't kill Jennifer, sending her away would most certainly be the same thing to her.
  
  While you are lucky to have someone so dedicated and even though she explained herself somewhat, you don't really understand why. Then again, you never fully understood Semra's obsession for you either. Some motives only make sense to the mind that creates them.
  
  "Very well. I will find a place for you, but what of your son? Surely you want your son don't you?" you ask.
  "Yes! Yes of course I do. It's just if I left him he probably wouldn't care at this point, but he'd make things difficult and probably try to stop me if I tried to take our son Marcus with me. Then there's Marcus to think about, I can't reasonably whisk him away from his father. He still loves him. So um, can you arrange for something to happen to my husband?
  "Wait...you want me to kill him?" You ask.
  "Well...I mean...(Sigh) I dunno..."
  "You better make up your mind Jennifer, because once its done, its permanent you know."
  "I know! I know! Alright..." Jennifer says and starts mumbling to herself and staring upward as if she's weighing all the pros and cons. After a few seconds, she gives you her answer.
  
  "Okay, do it. Kill him."
  "Very well. He must've really pissed you off."
  "It's for the best in the long run. He poisons my son's mind with anti-Empire ideology at times. He's practically a dissident, he might as well die." Jennifer says with absolute certainty.
  
  Though you can tell in her eyes that while she's successfully convinced herself of that, there's still some tiny part of her that is sad her marriage has come to this.
  
  Strangely, you feel a little odd doing this too. You can't even begin to count how many deaths you've inflicted or ordered and yet this one feels weird to you. You've never even met the guy, but you're essentially you're going to be murdering him and "taking" his wife and son. On the scale of things its a far cry from orchestrated genocide of an entire race, and granted you aren't struggling with it like before you decided to kill Casimir, but its just something that makes you feel a little off.
  
  You have an Eye take care of the situation and to make it look like an accident for the boy's sake. It naturally all goes off fairly quickly and successfully. It's barely even noticed, after all what's one "accidental" death of an average citizen compared to the thousands dying on the front lines with the Xi every day?
  
  After a funeral (again, to keep up appearances for the boy) and a trip back to the surface, Jennifer returns to Apex with Marcus who is taking his father's death pretty well, though you imagine Jennifer has probably been trying to mold the boy to her liking.
  
  As for your other promise to Jennifer, you aren't really sure how to proceed, mainly because you don't really have much for her to do. You already have your official advisors and generals and the like. To be honest Jennifer was probably serving you well enough as a propaganda outlet with her museum constantly promoting Empire values, history and such.
  
  So you leave her to continue such work. She still owns the museum of course, but has someone else run it now. In the meantime she works on the thing that originally brought her back to you in the first place, her new book.
  
  Of course this involves several sessions of her asking you some questions and going over the book's content. And sure enough, you and Jennifer do experience a bit of rekindled closeness during such time.
  
  It's not the same as it was, and you'll never feel as strongly for her as you did for Alison, but you've learned to enjoy the moments again if only because the Xi problem dominates the most of your thoughts and blocking out the constant pain your body is in makes up the rest.
  
  In a couple weeks you receive word from one of your scientists that in order to work on the disease to kill the Xi, experiments are going to have to be done on captured Xi. Naturally you agree that a few forces can be set-aside for capture missions and think nothing more of it.
  
  When you briefly mention this to Jennifer she has another perspective on the situation.
  
  "Experiments on the Xi huh? Sure that's a good idea?" Jennifer asks.
  "Well I'd rather that our armies just focused on killing them, but if capturing a few of them is going to lead to something that will eventually kill all of them, then I'm all for it. Don't worry, every precaution is going to be in place for our scientists."
  "That's not what I mean. I mean are you sure they should just be experimenting on the Xi?"
  "Who else would they be experimenting on?"
  "Well, our own people for one. How do we know this germ or whatever is going to just affect the Xi? I've had an opportunity to read copies of some of those notes that the gnomes left while I've been up here in Apex and maybe your other people missed something, but I got the impression that the gnomes were planning to design something that wasn't going to just wipe out the Xi."
  
  It's odd, but that had completely slipped your mind. You figured the gnomes were just going to bomb you out of existence or something similar. Makes sense that if they planned biological warfare on a grand scale for the Xi, they'd do it to the Empire as well.
  
  "That's good thinking...so you believe we should what? Round up some folks for experimentation?" you ask.
  "Well it couldn't hurt. I mean we don't want to release something that's going to kill us all." Jennifer replies.
  "Okay, well I'll let them know immediately to start emptying out the prisons for this project. Pretty sure there's more than enough for a good diverse mix of our population."
  "You think?"
  "Well mostly humans, but thanks to their violent personalities, there's more than enough kobold and orc criminals in the prison system."
  "What about elves?"
  "Dunno. They don't tend to last long in prison from what I've heard. I guess we'll take our chances if we don't have a lot. I'm sure it'll be fine."
  
  You thank Jennifer who is very happy that you're pleased with her and begins discussing some parts of her book again.
  
  Year 564
  
  You look over your balcony and stare at the grand view of the surface below. The Xi have been starting to establish great hills of earth where a central hive is located. This is a good thing since it makes targeting key locations a lot easier.
  
  Small porcelain bombs of infection meant for the Xi are going to be dropped from Airships anywhere the Xi are greatly located. There are even kobold commandos that will be doing their best to deliver the disease more directly. (Turned out the little scalies were the most resistant to the disease in the first place)
  
  It all rides on this plan and you certainly hope it will work.
  
  Jennifer comes to see you and holds your hand. As gentle as she is you still feels a sharp ache going up your arm causing slight recoil of it.
  
  "Damn it. I used to be so young and strong once. Now I'm just this...old bag of broken bones." You remark.
  "You're the Emperor." Jennifer says.
  "Well for now anyway. Won't be long before that won't be the case. Just hope this plan works so I'll be remembered if only for a little while longer."
  "Of course it will work."
  
  You flash a smile at Jennifer who smiles back. In silence, the pair of you watches an airship in the distance drop its plague bombs onto a Xi hill before returning back inside.
  
  Weeks pass and you continue to receive steady reports of large numbers of dead Xi bodies being found and Xi attacks dropping off completely in places. The plague has worked.
  
  Better yet, you're not getting reports of mass sickness from your own people. Well there have been reports of your elven citizens suddenly getting sick, but you can't save everyone.
  
  It's still a long road ahead to rebuild the massive damage the Xi did, but this is a positive step in the right direction. Jennifer's book "Eternal Leader", which had been released shortly before the bug bombing suddenly sees an increase in popularity and sales.
  
  Celebrating good fortune all around, you officially make Jennifer your consort making her very happy. Which technically makes her son your heir. You don't have much time to teach him the ins and outs of rulership. In fact in your condition you can't even teach him the art of combat or magic, but Jennifer had him enrolled in a military school shortly after she made her home in Apex (You've barely even seen the boy), so you're guessing he'll be okay in that department. After all, it isn't like the old days now. Combat is becoming an increasingly non-personal affair. How you've defeated the Xi is proof of that.
  
  Plus Jennifer will probably do her best to guide him. She's already proven adept in the advisory role.
  
  You don't know how long you have left in this world, but you think you'll be taking it easy for a while.
  
  And why the hell not? You're the Emperor.
  
  > Epilogue
  Epilogue 10: Eternal Hero
  
  Year 566
  
  You lie on your bed struggling to remain conscious, but this is it. You aren't winning this battle and with as much as you hurt, it'll be a relief.
  
  Your bed is surrounded by those loyal to you like Sightmaster Crowley and Colonel Renly. You're sure David would be here too if he hadn't died a year ago.
  
  Those that love you like Jennifer are also here, but then after your victory over the Xi, everyone loves you.
  
  Even at this late stage, it still doesn't seem real sometimes. All your life you were mostly feared, hated, respected or admired, but loved only by a few. Now at the end of your life, you've got an entire nation that loves you. You're not just their ruler, you're a hero, a hero that saved them from certain extinction against several enemies not just the Xi.
  
  You turned a stagnant republic into a powerful nation. You expanded its territories. You fended off enemies from the sea, from under the earth and even in the sky. And you did this by taking the lead and never letting go of it. You just suddenly arrived like you were placed in this time for that exact reason. Nobody in the minds of most people could do the things that you did.
  
  Maybe they're right. Your life was one long struggle from beginning to end, but in general you persevered against all odds.
  
  You can hear the soft cries of Jennifer, you'd like to open your eyes just so she could look at them one last time, but you're slipping away fast. You will have no more last words.
  
  In your final moments a wave of peace washes over you and for a brief second your body ceases to feel pain. You also see a clear image of Alison in your mind looking just as she did when you first met her. She seems so real right now; that you almost think you can touch her...
  
  Everything goes black.
  
  Your body is kept entombed in a lavish mausoleum in Apex. Naturally lots of statues of your are located there, but statues of you are pretty much all over the Empire and thanks to Jennifer's book which reinforces your cult of personality even after your death, you're revered to the point of near godhood.
  
  As for the Empire itself. Marcus does not take the throne as Jennifer considers him still too young and needs more to learn. It is decided that he will take the throne at a more appropriate age; in the meantime Sightmaster Crowley takes over and more or less does a fine job, though his reign is short due to Marcus officially taking over in a few more years. To his credit, Crowley continues to be a loyal Eye and does not plot any sort of coup of any kind.
  
  Marcus with the guidance of his mother and others proves to be a competent leader, but he's not you and in the centuries that the Empire continues to exist nobody ever is.
  
  Leader, rulers, tyrants and visionaries all come and go, but there is only ever one true hero. And that fact lasts even after the Empire finally does collapse and becomes something new as all things eventually do.
  
  Long after others have been forgotten, long after the land has changed politically and geographically, you are still remembered and read about, if only for your heroic deeds rather than your ruthless ones. Stories get embellished, changed, and added on to even today. Making it seem like you were even nobler than you really were.
  
  History has remembered you in a positive light. A positive light that even you would not agree with, but as they say history is dominated by the victorious.
  
  One thing is certain; you were and always shall be ETERNAL.