Chapter 51

Ajimal The Great: Forced Peace

  A golden halo first bound over Ajimal letting him know that his second in command, his sister, had first been bound in a binding oath before the gods. He had heard records of such events, all children’s stories of times before the rise of the Azani spoke of such moments. Yet to think he would feel the presence of such a weight on his body, mind, and very soul was too much.

  For a moment he felt as if he could see the battle. Even separated by hundreds of kilometers, Ajimal was certain he could see the entire events of the battle unfold. His sister was powerful, far more powerful than the boy she was fighting. Yet, he was far more skilled in combat. His sword forms and flight were top notch showing clear dedication to constant improvement that was hard to quantify. Additionally, he had Power, not only Power but he had old world knowledge. Knowledge on how to summon forth an eye of the gods.

  From the connection, it was clear that the gods truly preferred such ways of settling disputes. The eye made it seem clear that it would gladly come to all such battles to avoid needless bloodshed. When thinking about the why, it became readily apparent as many of Ajimal’s most fervent warriors dropped to their knees and began praying. While they didn’t pray to the gods directly, they did pray that Nayali would win.

  As soon as Ajimal saw this he thought it was almost a guarantee that Nayali would win, until he realized that the same was likely happening in Sidhertha. He realized that the people of Sidhertha were likely also praying reverently.

  “GAH!” A cry of pain. A voice of pain so pure and sharp that Ajimal felt like he was there, witnessing the assault on his sister. He focused and once again was able to connect with the vision of the fight. He saw waves of lightning being pulled out of his sister, only to be circled back and redirected at her. Anger filled his mind as he saw his sister being tortured. Worse, she was falling, plummeting quickly to the ground. In desperation she fired a dark bolt of energy. It was a new attack, one never seen before on this plane of existence. One that Ajimal himself had strictly forbid once his sister told him about the effects.

  At that moment Ajimal’s heart stopped for a moment. He had heard the different futures, and in the future where this man was killed each time his sister had used this very same forbidden attack.

  Ajimal watched as the dark bolt shot forward. The man of destiny, her opponent, slashed at the bolt but only managed to deflect half of the attack. Such a feat should be considered an exceptional accomplishment in and of itself, still that wasn’t enough. Not for such a high potency attack.

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  Nayali had been driven to the ends of madness by her own attacks being redoubled back on her, by the unknown method of the warrior. Then she fell and the connection to the match went dark. A few minutes later he got the message from the gods letting them know what had happened.

  Rejoice: The duel of the Heavens has ended. The champion of Sidhertha has won.

  As soon as these words began to appear in his mind, he also felt the restrictions coming into place at the same time as they were spoken for all to hear and instantly understood. The words of the gods were immutable and irrefutable, not only were the directions to be followed but the intent of the words was to be followed as well. Everyone understood not only the meaning of the words that came next, but what would happen by opposing the ruling of the gods. To deny the gods was to purposefully make an enemy of fate on the battlefield.

  Two years of peace between the nations.

  Nayali Northstar will be considered spoils of war to Lykan Vita.

  Any further actions between these two nations or acts of retaliation will be met with harsh punishments from the Gods. The war of the two nations is now over, enjoy your time of peace while you can.

  The words struck, and everyone dropped.

  Ajimal awoke to find that he had lurched forward into a kneeling position. His sister, and by extension everyone in his army had lost the battle. As such they all kneeled in supplication. This bowing and reverence wasn’t to Sidhertha, the victors, but to the gods for being merciful. For letting only one person suffer for the sake of their entire army.

  Once the vision was over, Ajimal and the others were allowed to rise.

  “My lord, what should we do now that Nayali has…” Khanion, Ajimal’s second in command began to ask but quickly stopped talking as the train of his thoughts soon became evident.

  “No need to worry. This is all part of the plan. We will continue forward. Going north.” Ajimal said, already going through the second set of plans he had come up with in case his sister lost. He would always have to avoid Sidhertha for a minimum of two years, but likely five if the revelations were to be believed. As such it had always been part of his plan to move on without going through Sidhertha.

  “Through the Belkins?”

  Shaking his head Ajimal explained. “No, we will sail around the Belkins with all of our forces.”

  “Where will we go?”

  “North.” Ajimal explained again.

  “Surely you don’t mean to the great forest?” Khanion asked a slight tone of fear in his words. It was clear that even now hundreds of years later there was a fear of going to the lands of the great forest spirit. To the lands that once housed the greatest enemy that the Azani had ever faced.

  “No. We will go to the lands North of the great forest, past the fiery plateau to the true north. With grandfather holding our homelands and us conquering the true north we will be even stronger for our chance to unite the continent under our banner.” Ajimal explained.

  Hearing these words Khanion could only bow in acceptance at the grand ambition of the royal family. Hearing the confidence with which his master spoke, and after seeing how his power had increased dramatically after his unification with the dark pillar, Khanion was certain of one thing. His master was unstoppable.

  “Should we send word to your sister?” Khanion asked.

  “No need. She will know what to do when the time is right.”

  With that the two began preparations for the next phase of their plans.