Most children dream of becoming guildsmen. They dream of raw arcane power and respect that comes along with it. They dream about glorious service, high society life, and the immortalization of their names in history books yet unwritten. The few people privileged enough to be gifted the opportunity of apprenticeship to a guildsman, and fortuitous enough to survive training dream of one day becoming a guild leader. The Mages’ Guild has an ArchWarden, the Paladins’ Guild has their champion, and the Rangers’ Guild has its Veteran. Neither Athena ex Pilagius nor her deceased brother, Sulai Pilagius ever had the luxury of a dream. For them, there had never been an impossible precipice to climb for, because the world expected them to reach the greatest heights with ease. When Sulai succeeded Xanthe Charade as the ArchWarden of the Centrum continent, he did not feel the satisfaction of a destiny fulfilled. He felt only the need to further his achievements, and for that reason history will call him a villain.
The current Champion of the Paladin’s Guild, Kurtan Gonzaga, lay comatose in some laboratory deep beneath the earth. Athena had watched as he was stuck down, and she knew he would die soon. At the time of his death, she would succeed him and a conclave would be held for challengers to her title. The conclave would be nothing but a formality, for no one would dare challenge her. There existed only a few guildsmen with the thryrean merit to challenge her, and they did not desire the Champion’s responsibilities.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
When Sulai was killed and declared a traitor, Athena had presented the face of remorse. She had denounced her brother, and renounced the family fortune she had never been permitted to touch. She had promised the world that she would not succumb to ambition as her brother had. What the world did not know was that ambition had nothing to do with Sulai’s downfall. Children with the last name Pilagius were bred to dominate, and there had been nothing selfish about Sulai’s actions. Sulai had been a blameless apex predator, and Athena was the very same way.
Athena would have enjoyed hunting the perpetrator of this night’s honor killing, but such a hunt had never been her intention. In the shadow of Kurtan’s imminent death, Athena had never felt more observed. She had preparations to make, and when it was discovered that she had not returned to her quarters, the night guardsman would be asked about her whereabouts. Troy, believing she had embarked on an extralegal moral mission, would likely lie on her behalf. Even if he told the truth, the discipline she would receive was preferable to the interrogation awaiting her should her actual actions be discovered. ArchWarden Anastasia Delana would take any possible opportunity to pronounce Athena a traitor and prevent her ascendancy to the station of Champion. Sooner or later, the two would arrive at a confrontation, and Athena was far from ready.