I took a deep breath. "So, just we're clear, Weis is working with Veles now."

"Uh huh," Jon said, flying onto my shoulder. "Though he's probably doing some three-dimensional chess thing because the alternative is he's being a complete moron or traitor. Neither of which fits with my conception of the guy."

I wasn't sure about it either way because Weis had done a lot of shady things in our short association, up to and including bringing me to Mokosh in the first place. Unfortunately, events taught me that Weis was no different than most of the people in charge of the supernatural on this world. The gods were, in simple terms, shady as shit. The problem was that didn't necessarily make them wrong as even my attempts to be Captain Superman of PaladinlandTM (to quote Jon) hadn't always shielded me from having to do things I was disgusted with myself for,

Indeed, Veles and I had once had a conversation where he'd said that was the inevitable destiny of all so-called heroes in the Southern Kingdoms. The world was so toxic and full of

"We're working with the Witch Queen," I said, pointing out a fact I was already uncomfortable with before we got to the next bit.

"Yes, but we're going to betray her because nothing says heroics like stabbing your allies in the back," Jon said.

"Yes," I replied. "Even if I should feel okay about it because she's really, really bad."

"You are telling me that or are you telling yourself?" Jon asked.

"Yes," I replied.

I sighed and decided to use Fast Travel to transport myself and Jon back to Crossroad Keep. Unfortunately, I found myself blocked from using it. Worse, the entirety of the interface was flickering and static-y, which was confusing since it wasn't an electronic device but a magical approximation of one.

Perun, in our short time together, had stated that he'd made it so the Mark of the Champions functioned like a video game RPG because it was the easiest way he could communicate how he was strengthening me via his magic. The idea, at least as much as you could call it one was, that it'd be a waste of Perun's dwindling power to just give it all to someone that looked like they'd make a good hero only for them to switch sides like Valentin had.

Instead, the whole leveling-up thing was based on the idea that heroes had to earn their power ups. The more heroics they did, the more they would be rewarded with power. This would also have the side benefit of restoring at least some of Perun's power in the process. Him being the god of heroism and all that.

All in all, the whole thing had proven to be a terrible idea and I was now the last of the champions. Alek was still alive, but he'd surrendered his mark to me. Jon was alive-ish but he'd given up his humanity to become a dragon (assuming you counted going from being a raven/hawk/storm crow thing to a dragon as losing your humanity). Neither of them wanted the remaining marks back and were encouraging me to become a 'full' god.

Probably so they didn't have to.

"On that you are correct, my dear nephew," a voice that chilled my blood spoke nearby. It was a voice that had haunted my nightmares despite the brave front that I'd put up since I'd come to Fantasy PolandTM.

I looked up. "Veles."

Standing there in the Temple of the Gods was the Peter Stormare avatar of the evil god. He wasn't dressed as he was before with his thick beard and robes but, instead, was clean shaven with a finely tailored white business suit. He even had a Panama hat and looked like one of those drug lords Mel Gibson or Arnold would kill in the Eighties.

"Indeed," Veles said, adjusting himself. "I see you've managed to avoid getting burnt to a cinder."

"Yeah, well, I'm hoping I'm not thoroughly riddled with cancer either," I replied. "Are you responsible for the mark acting up?"

He smirked. "I imagined the copious doses of radiation are doing more to achieve that than anything else. Elemental forces are one of the few things that can mess with the power of the gods. You probably should have absorbed that divine energy earlier. Now who knows what might happen when you try."

"I'm in no rush to be a god," I said, staring at him. "I thought you were on Earth now."

"This is a mere fragment of a fragment," Veles replied. "Even a creator god can have difficulty projecting his consciousness across vast swaths of the cosmos. Still, I thought I'd provide you a goodbye."

"I'm coming after you," I said, coldly.

"How?" Veles asked, sounding as threatened by my promise as a mouse. "You don't really think the other gods are going to let you travel to Earth, do you?"

I stared at him. "I'm pretty sure they know you'll continue to be a threat to them, what with the whole desire to wipe out life on two worlds."

Veles smirked. "A thing you'll have to learn, Aaron, is that there's no such thing as a good billionaire and every god is fundamentally many times richer. My brother was the only one willing to die for this world and the others are too interested in covering their own ass to risk their powers. Now that I'm no longer on Mokosh, they'll do their best to keep you here until they can seal off any avenues back to your world. I know because they're already doing it."

I shook my head. "You'll forgive me if I call bullshit. You haven't exactly done much to convince me of your trustworthiness."

Jon's beady little eyes stared at him. "Yeah, you've kind of rage-quit the game, That's just poor sportsmanship, dude."

Veles chuckled. "In the end, the game was only as valuable as the promises I made to play fair. Once that meant a great deal to me, promises and fair play. However, something has eaten away at that feeling. The Modern Age is not one where a deal is a deal anymore. The dream of honoring one foes is dead. Instead, there is only victory."

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I shook my head. "It's the Twisted One's influence, Veles. You must see that. You tried to use their power against them and it's been rotting your mind just like the other Old Gods. We need to purge it so you can..."

"Oh Triglav Above," Veles said, shaking his head. "You're actually doing it."

"What?" I asked.

"Now I have to pay Larry a free resurrection," Veles said, snorting. “I suppose he’ll need it.”

"I don't understand," I said.

"He said you'd actually try to redeem me," Veles said, staring at me. "That you'd make some sort of half-hearted speech about there still being good in me and that I should return to the light side or whatnot."

"Is it working?" I asked.

"No," Veles said.

"Darn," I said, not really surprised. "Also, it's not half-hearted. It really is an appeal to end this now. If you can stop this whole thing, you should."

Veles stared at me. It was like having frozen lightning bolts shot through my chest. If that makes no sense as a metaphor, take note that having your soul gazed through by a god of evil wasn't easy to describe. "Aaron, did it ever occur to you that this isn't some mystical hogwash about brainwashing from even eviler gods? That I simply grew disgusted with humanity's constant never-ending idiocy and decided to try something new? Modern humanity has had a hundred thousand years to finally get itself in order and it has actually gotten worse. This plan to destroy the existing worlds I created with my brothers and stick them all in the realm of the dead where things will be properly ordered isn't a new one. It is the promise of most apocalyptic religions. It is also one I reached after careful deliberation."

"Humanity has potential it is only now reaching!" I said, staring. "We've gone--"

"No speeches, Aaron, please," Veles cut me off. "I am not Q and you are not Captain Picard."

I was silenced. "What are you doing to my world?"

"Fixing it," Veles said, amused. He pulled on the folds of his jacket. "I'm President of the United States now."

I stared at him. "Bullshit."

"Hail to the Chief," Veles said, sarcastically.

"You can't do that!" Jon said, pointing at Veles with one of his wings. "You weren't born in the United States!"

"I know!" Veles said, covering his mouth with his palm. "I lied. While you were distracted preparing for the big final battle with us that was never going to come, I decided to transfer my elite followers to your world. It doesn't take much to cause a crisis in your world. Humans, no matter what world they inhabit, are scared little monkeys who seek out the strongest among them to protect them whenever things go wrong. The return of magic was the perfect event to plunge your world into chaos."

My mind filled with images of monsters tearing through cities, creatures rising from the dead, and the appearance of powers among the public. It was a full Marvel Cinematic Universe of chaos that I'd been missing. There was a massive crater where the National Mall had previously been and big black banners hanging from the White House. If this was a lie pushed by Veles then he'd thought it out very clearly.

"Why?" I asked. "Why want to be President?"

"I mean, you'd be better than some in living memory but while I support your bring back magic policy, I don't support your kill everyone policy," Jon replied. "Also, is this meant to be political? Because if Larry C.C. Weis has decided to go political, I think he should avoid dating it. That whole Dragon Queen takes over a city and it's like the Iraq Occupation was the worst part of the last book. He should have kept the time skip."

I shook my head. "You're planning, what, to nuke the planet?"

"Nukes are far too 1950s," Veles said. "Even if I did help invent them in hopes that you were destroy yourselves. No, Aaron, I have something far more special planned."

"What?" I asked.

"Oh, like I'm going to tell you," Veles said, chuckling.

I narrowed my eyes. "So, what, this is whole Bond villain thing you're doing here is just to gloat?"

"Kind of, yeah," Veles said, shrugging. "You came farther than any of the other champions and actually put me on the backfoot for a bit. You deserve an 'attaboy' and a 'good dog' for that. However, I do want to let you know you won't be able to do a damn thing to stop this now."

"Screw you," I said, staring.

Veles pointed at me. "But there is one thing you should note. You do have an out."

"An out," I said.

"You have all the remaining marks of the champion," Veles said. "Absorb them, become a god and take some of the people you care about to Skyworld. Do the whole Biblical Rapture thing and sapre them their horriifc deaths. You'll be able to claim at least a partial victory and I'll let you be."

"This is just the Architect scene from the Matrix Reloaded," Jon said. "They never should have made any sequels."

"I'm not going to abandon the fight," I said, staring at him. "Which you know. So I wonder what you're really up to here."

Veles smirked. "My motivations are beyond your comprehension. However, if you need a reason then note that it amuses me. When I finally hold your broken, battered, and disillusioned body before me. When I have crushed your friends, shattered your dreams, and made you aware of just how utterly worthless it all was, I want you to know that you could have saved your beautiful harlots as well as minions from damnation. Instead, they will be imprisoned with the worst of oathbreakers and scum for all eternity."

I gave him a golf clap. "Very nice, very Rorschach."

Veles frowned. "You've grown more insolent over the past year."

"I know," I said. "However, I was pretty insolent already."

"Also, admitting you're an oathbreaker while you are punishing oathbreakers is pretty hypocritical," Jon said. "Are you sure you're not brainwashed? Because if you are, we can have you defeat Darth Malak and return to the Light Side."

"Darth Malak, really?" I asked. "Not Vader or even Kylo Ren?"

"I feel like the original trilogy is too obvious a reference and the sequels suck eggs," Jon said. "So, I decided to go with Knights of the Old Republic. Darth Revan gets Bastilla or Carth and lives happily ever after despite being Space Hitler."

"Goodbye, Aaron," Veles said. "Allow me to leave you a parting gift. One to let you know just how utterly doomed you are."

I made a 'yap, yap, yap' gesture with my fingers. Veles was on the run now and that was not something I was going to let him take away from me. He'd been mocking me and dismissing me since the beginning of our situation. The tables had turned, though, and I was confident we could cross the finish line with him.

That was when Veles dropped the glamour, and I saw the portly form of Larry C.C. Weis. However, the man had been subjected to horrific torture as blood covered every inch of his body. He'd been stabbed, burned, flayed, and maimed. His body fell to the ground in front of me, lifeless, and broken.

"Goodbye, Aaron," Veles said. his voice surrounding me from all sides. "The next time, this will be you."

With that, Veles' presence vanished.

"Larry," I said, going to his side.

I tried CURE, RAISE DEAD, and more. I even attempted to contact his soul by prayer, which wasn't a thing I could do without the proper spells but was worth a try.

Nothing worked.

"Huh," Jon said, looking down at the corpse of the Wise Man. "I guess we're never getting those books finished now. I wonder if we should ask Brandon Sanderson to finish them. He doesn't have any hesitation on that."

"Not right now, Jon," I said, looking at the man who had brought me to Ledziana. "He deserved better than this."

"Did he?" Jon asked. "I ended up pretty okay but what about the rest of his enslaved ravens? My friend, Becky? A lot of good people tried and died to save this place. His final act was also to help Veles move to the Earth. I'm going to say that was a dick move to go out on."

I checked his body, still wearing a vest and pants.

"Be careful, corpses crap themselves when they die," Jon said.

"I've seen enough to know that," I replied.

"Right." Jon said. "What are you looking for? It's not like the guy is going to be left with--"

I pulled out a letter that said, TO AARON IN THE CASE OF MY DEATH.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Jon said.

I opened it up to read.