"What in the nine hells is that?!" I asked, looking at Colossuses in fascinated disbelief.

"Siege golems, I believe, my Lord." Ragnar's helpful and quite merry voice sounded nearby.

"Siege golems?" I turned towards him and saw his beaming smile.

The siege golems were huge hulking behemoths that were easily fifteen metres tall, but at the same time, they were off. The mostly humanoid, though neckless, figures hauled their massive frames very slowly, moving their stumpy and inelegant legs as if they were afraid to topple. Their earthy, rock surface glowed with red lights, the same as burned in the places of their eyes.

"What subpar craftsmanship, my Lord," Ragnar sighed with disappointment. "But that's what you should expect of faulty and inferior summons."

"That's a summon?" I pointed at the closest golem, which was adorned with a large crack across its chest, a blazing inferno inside. I was too busy to be amazed that I forgot we were under siege. While I was admiring the golems and already thought about the possibilities that having even one would bring, I finally and properly registered Ragnar's presence. "Ragnar! What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to report, with pleasure and pride, that we almost finished our surprise!" Ragnar was more occupied with his news than approaching siege golems, but I couldn't blame him. They barely covered a few metres' distance since they had begun their advance towards the walls of Avalon, yet they had over a kilometre to go.

"Okay..." The return of my master crafters in the middle of the siege was quite fortunate, but I pointed at the four figures in the distance. "Should I be concerned with these golems?"

"Not really." Ragnar shrugged, and seeing my face, he quickly added. "They are possibly the weakest siege golems you can summon, Your Highness. Destroying them would be just time-consuming, but certainly not hard."

"Indeed." Zeus glanced at the golems and laughed grimly. "I would gladly see how it would fare against my own wrath."

"What about this whole 'we can't attack mortals thing'?" I eyed him, amused.

"Does it look like a mortal to you?" Zeus asked, equally amused.

"All right," I laughed. "Shame they are so weak. I thought we could use one."

"These specific golems are weak, my Lord. While they are indeed a summon, you have to prepare their frames. If I were to forge one of those frames myself, made of the steel of Avalon, trust me, it would be a force to be reckoned with, my King." Ragnar looked rather insulted at my remark that siege golems were weak.

"All right, all right!" I raised my hands in a theatrical gesture of surrender. "I am willing to acknowledge that siege golems are strong. So, we can take a look at your surprise now?"

"Ummm..." Ragnar raised a finger and turned red a bit.

"That will be all for the fact that your surprise is ready." I almost laughed and glanced at golems. "God... It is going to take them a few hours to reach the walls..."

"Hahahaha! Hours? Try days." Zeus yawned. "Anyway, we have plenty of time."

"Indeed." I briefly agreed and looked at Ragnar. "So, why are you here?"

"Well... Your Highness has a lake in the garden..." Ragnar started, uncertain how he should proceed with his question.

"That's true... It came out bigger than I thought, but I wanted to keep it big enough for some small boats and other recreational waterfront activities." The lake was more or less three hundred metres in irregular diameter, and truth be told, I couldn't wait for the summer.

"Bjorn wanted to start working on the harbour and maybe a small cabin..." Ragnar was actively not telling me something, and I just sighed.

"Ragnar... We are in the middle of a war."

"Oh? We haven't noticed..." Ragnar made a face, as if he only just now noticed the destroyed gatehouse and rows of trenches inside Zone One. "So... When can we start?"

"*sigh* Anytime, I guess..." I shrugged. Truth be told, I was not in dire need of their help, so I could leave them be.

•••

"How is she feeling?" I asked Luna who was sitting near Irene.

"She is fine. She woke up an hour and a half ago and even checked up on Hestia." Luna looked at me with a smile. "Before you ask, Amber is with Hestia, who is very weak but also seems fine."

"If everything is fine, why are you giving me this stare?" I asked, while taking a seat.

"Korkas fled. Hestia can't fight nor now or ever again. But you are so calm, as if everything went according to your plan." Luna looked at me and I sighed.

"You just pointed out two massive problems, indicating why almost nothing went according to my plans." I ruffled my hair.

"What do you plan to do now?" She asked me, laying down her ears, which indicated how stressed she was.

"I should probably break the encirclement and then follow Korkas to the capital and kill that bastard for what his subordinate did to Hestia." I shrugged. "But that might be the stupidest idea I could come up with."

"Killing him now..." Luna started, but I just raised my open palm.

"Might it be easy? That would not end well. He wants us to follow him. He wants ME to follow him." I saw my reflection in the mirror and the murderous glow in my eyes. "That is why I am NOT going to do that."

"I don't understand..." Luna tilted her head, wondering what I wanted to do.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"The Cridian Capital is relatively close to us. One day by using a carriage, two on foot. Well, one if you have a particularly skilled ranger." I looked at her and decided that it was time to drop the news brought some time by Ian and Arani. "Except, it is not."

"What?" She looked as if hit my head one time too much during the last fight.

"Arani discovered that between Avalon and Cridia City exists a path. I wonder if the Eternals knew about it all along."

"We knew. But we thought it wouldn't work anymore." Hestia and Amber entered the bedroom. "Please, I need to talk with you, Theon."

Irene woke up just in time to see us all and she felt a strange atmosphere in the room. To not make this more awkward, we moved to the living room, where we sat around a small tea table. The fire was crackling happily in the fireplace, radiating pleasant warmth. We drank tea for a moment already, but Hestia, as Zeus suspected, was acting awkward. But after another handful of moments, she was herself again. Maybe a little more blush and pale in turns, but she was able to speak.

"Allow me to start by thanking you for saving my life. I can't repay you for this as my powers are rapidly diminishing and I am afraid that I won't be of any more use to you..." Amber suddenly interrupted Hestia by hugging her.

"It's me who should thank you, Hestia, and beg for forgiveness," I replied with a voice full of sorrow. "Hestia, from now on and forever, Avalon is your home. Ask me anything, and as long as it's reasonable and within my reach, I will give it to you. I am in debt to you, Goddess Hestia, and as long as I live, you can live in Avalon like a Queen."

My wives nodded their heads in agreement during my brief speech, but Hestia's cheeks turned from light pink to glowing red when I finished. She nervously covered her face and mumbled something unrecognisable. After a few minutes, she calmed down and smiled at me with a smile so bright I held my breath. When she spoke, however, she was calm and collected.

"Thank you, Theon. I might..." She nodded with happy sparks in her eyes and a mysterious smile, after which she added, "Thank you for calling me Goddess in my state."

"Let's leave that talk for now." I smiled and saw her disappointment. "We need to unveil another secret of this world. The ancient roads system."

"Oh, yes..." Hestia cleared her throat, and I started wondering if she always was this cute and charming or if it was just something else that allowed me to see her like that. "Long before the Age of Heroes, Nilmerthis was ruled by the Mortal Rulers and us, Gods of this world. This world is vast, but how vast? I found in the books you brought the term 'super earth'. This is how vast this world is. Far more distance to cover, far more dangers on the roads. That was when the Gods of Creation and the wisest and most skilled Artisans joined their efforts and created a network of magic roads. Anyone who used it moved three, sometimes even six times faster than normal. As simple as it sounds, the magicraft behind it was so complicated that only those involved with it comprehended it. The road that connects Avalon and Cridia City must be a remnant of this once-world-wide road network."

"Hmmm... This is something we should remember. The roads that accelerate their users are quite nasty during war-time. We have to painstakingly mark each road like this and make sure that our maps are accurate." I nodded and ruffled my hair in frustration. "How come that no one noticed that the road they're using was magical?!"

"It must have been activated recently," Irene offered an explanation. "Maybe it activated after you came to this world?"

"Maybe... However, I am going to leave it be. Korkas wants us to follow him and deal with us on his terms." I saw their concerned looks. "I am going to show him what he wants to see."

"How so?" Luna blinked a few times, surprised. "You want to enter the trap?"

"Yes. But I am not going to use my legions." I summoned the map of the kingdom of Cridia. "We are here, more or less in the middle of the kingdom. Their capital is here, a little farther north-east from here. Korkas' trap is going to benefit me, as I will send Bob's goblins and some of my wolves to take the bait that our enemies left. In the meantime, I plan to use my field armies and conquer all lands in the south and west."

The four women looked at the map in silence, but I could almost see how their brilliant minds were already reaching conclusions.

"But that will leave Avalon vulnerable. You plan to bait Korkas to Avalon!" Luna's ears flattened in shock at the realisation of what I wanted to do. "That is extremely risky, my Darling..." she added with concern, making Hestia sigh mysteriously.

"But it's an excellent plan." Hestia agreed. "The Void Born would be boiling with anger if you succeed. Attacking Avalon, your seat of power, will be only natural."

"I count on that." I sighed.

"Shouldn't we discuss this with Ban and Drake as well?" Irene asked, slightly concerned.

"No. I already talked with them, as well as with Sigismund and Zeus, and they couldn't think of anything better. Besides... It's not a democracy. I will always listen to my advisors or anyone offering sound advice, but the burden of the decision is mine. I am the King and I will not shy away from my responsibilities."

They looked at each other with uncertainty but finally, Hestia laughed. "Theon, some of the Heroes tried to introduce democracy in this world, but it was usually a short-lived experiment."

I left that without comment. The rumble of a few dozen or even hundreds of representatives who just blubber for the art of yapping, without even remotely being qualified to speak on the matter, was the last thing I needed right now. Or ever, if I had to be fully honest with myself. I drummed my fingers over the map and glanced at the borders.

"There is so much unfinished business..." I sighed with a hint of exhaustion. "While golems are so slow, I think that Ban and Drake might encourage the Cridian Army to advance..."

"Theon, you sometimes frighten me..." Luna almost painfully sighed. She knew what orders I had given to those men.

"Wars are based on deception, my beloved Luna." I stood up and crossed my hands behind me, heading toward the doors to the corridor.

"Heroes shouldn't be like you..." Hestia looked at her trembling hands and I just knew she somehow knew about the orders I had issued to them as well. I couldn't shake the feeling that she was hiding something as well.

"That is the biggest deception that my enemies wish so hard to believe." I smiled warmly and opened the doors outside. "But I am not a Hero."

•••

Primal instincts ruled over the camps of the Mountain Dungeon. The monsters did not understand the waiting or other tactics of the Cridians until they had summoned the siege golems. Their slow movements were amusing, but the sheer power dwelling within them made all the monsters respect them. In the camp of Cridians, however, the older commanders were worried. They were supposed to contact Lady Luia, yet she was gone. Around them, insanely powerful monsters were preparing to attack this new dungeon, but...

"This is ridiculous. What are we supposed to do with such an enemy? It no longer hides in fog. Its aura has changed," an older man grumbled and smashed his hand over the crude drawing of the enemy fortress.

"Lord Blair, you shouldn't be worried. With all those monsters, we will easily gain victory." A much younger, blonde Half-Elf smirked. He was quite arrogant, but the crest he was born under made him very important.

"Young Lord Visten, we are already dead," Lord Blair laughed humorlessly. "We may still breathe, but I can assure you that we are already dead. The monsters you mentioned are trembling in fear every time they look upon those walls. It's not my first time fighting alongside them, and every time before, they just mindlessly attacked and trampled any upstart dungeon."

"Nonsense..." Lord Visten tried to laugh nervously, but other commanders seemed to share the older lord's opinion.

The sudden commotion outside angered the lords, and they decided to see for themselves what was going on. The runner approached them and dropped heavily to his knees just in front of the group.

"My Lords! The fog on the other side of the fortress finally cleared, and we spotted the standards of Crissna and Girsion! They seem to fight on the walls!"

"The Gods have blessed us! This means we can fight this dungeon!" Lord Blair smiled and finally breathed more calmly. "What flags do they wave?!"

"They are in dire need of reinforcements, Sir!"

"Sound to join the assault!" the older Lord ordered.