The negotiations began over breakfast, not a feast like last night’s dinner but filling nonetheless. Ieros did not eat much except for foods that were new to the table, instead listening carefully as the ambassadors spoke with the Emperor on certain details of the treaty. There was mostly agreement although there were some disputes over trade, neither side wished to have foreigners trade directly in their lands and finally, to end the dispute, Ieros stepped in.
“I believe that I hold the solution to your problems,” Ieros suddenly interrupted, “I will create a neutral zone between the two nations in the middle of an ocean. It will be easily reachable by Auster’s sky turtles and will be a few day’s travel by Athera’s fastest ships.”
The two parties thought this over, the Emperor finally saying, “Who will be in control of this island? It could serve as a stepping stone for an invasion of Auster.”
Ieros nodded, “I have acknowledged this problem and I’ve come up with the perfect solution. I will be in control of this island but in order to ensure that I am neutral, I will cut all ties with Athera.”
This was met with great displeasure and shock from the Atheran ambassadors, it would be a devastating loss to Athera if they were to lose Ieros.
Ieros ignored all of their attempts to reason with him as he said, “Please understand that it is best this way. One with my power will always live a chaotic life among others, it is best that I live in isolation. Besides, my stone army will prove to be the perfect police force and make sure that any and all violent disputes are immediately taken care of.”
The two parties thought this over, it was a good idea but the Atherans did not wish to accept, they wanted to keep Ieros.
The Emperor noticed this and said, “This idea is fine and all but I doubt Athera will allow you to leave so easily.”
Ieros answered gravely, “They cannot stop me even if they wanted to.”
One of the ambassadors stood, pointing a finger at Ieros, “Traitor of the Empire, you will not go unpunished!”
Ieros then replied, “Ambassador, I highly doubt that Athera will be able to punish me. I also am not betraying Athera, rather I am helping it as I will preside over the trade between Athera and Auster. An exchange of goods is a benefit and a peaceful exchange is even better. What I do will increase the wealth of both nations.”
The ambassador ignored his arguments, saying, “But you are needed in Athera, you can’t just-”
Ieros shook his head, “I am not needed in Athera. It would be a great benefit to Athera if I were to remain loyal but it is not necessary for Athera’s survival for me to remain. I’m sure that it will be fully capable of surviving without me.”
He raised his hand, silencing the ambassadors from speaking further, saying, “I have decided on this course of action and nothing shall deviate me from it. It was about time that I cut ties from Athera anyways. Do not worry, I will provide aid if it is absolutely necessary but otherwise, you will be on your own.”
Another ambassador spoke, “But you can't just abandon your nation, you have a duty to your country.”
Ieros shook his head, “I am not some god that answers your every wish. I am human, and a human is quite fickle. I may be a powerful human but a human nonetheless. I too have goals of my own to complete and those goals will not be completed if I stay with Athera.”
There was silence at the table, the Austerians were unsure as to how to respond to this declaration of Ieros and the Atherans were still trying to understand that Ieros had just declared independence from Athera.
In this silence, Ieros assured, “Do not worry, I will complete the mission set before me by Emperor Teramon VII but once I have finished, I leave to create the neutral zone.”
Thus ended the negotiations as the issue about trade was the last problem to be dealt with. Next was simply a tour of Auster upon the insistence of the Emperor who would personally accompany them. He said it was for safety because the public would not dare harm free humans with their Emperor escorting them. Ieros just went to guard the ambassadors, he already knew most of Auster’s topography from his observers and he did not need to see it personally. However, he did take the time to study Austerians in their natural environment, monsters that would have been savage killers back in Athera were acting like humans, exchanging currency for goods and having cheerful conversations with one another.
But all was not good, there was also crime and violence as there will be in all civilized nations, gangs of predator-based beastkin prowling the streets, demanding money from defenseless civilians. They ran at the sight of the Emperor’s guard who he sent to capture them, mostly just to keep his reputation as a good emperor. While Ieros continued to stare off into the distance, the human ambassadors looked curiously at their surroundings, admiring the sights before them. Never before could they have imagined that monsters could create such things, although it has been known that some monsters were as intelligent as humans. But those were rare, so rare in fact that it would be easier to find yourself face to face with Light herself.
Only three such monsters have existed in the entire history of Athera and only one of them was still alive today. Of course, that isn’t really surprising considering that the creature is a dragon, they were nigh invincible creatures which were unstoppable forces of nature once they were angered. But they were not evil, they only moved once they have been angered, humans who could not resist the temptation of stealing from their hoard were often the main causes as a dragon will destroy everything until it recovers what has been stolen. It does not seek out the thief but rather the treasure.
Of course, this wasn’t the only way that they would be angered and why Ieros had left them alone for this long. But he would have to contact them soon, these dragons would most certainly be a part of End’s plan to destroy everything, she wouldn’t be able to resist with such wonderful toys. It would have to meet them in person, evolution will have certainly changed them from the dragons that Darkness created. But it would be better to first study the Saurians, they were the descendants of dragons and they would at least have some similar physical attributes. It was best to start off small, to bite off more than one could chew was not a wise course of action.
So Ieros decided to separate from the rest of them, leaving a clone in his place. Once again, no one noticed his disappearance as he performed the switch perfectly. He hadn’t dismissed his clone once he had commenced the switch, instead, he had it wait until the perfect time came to use it. So now, he stood where the clone had once stood, on the top of the mountain range which divided Ortus into two. Off in the distance was a dust cloud with countless black specks flying around. Ieros went to investigate, cloaking himself with magic so none would be able to sense him.
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He arrived over the scene of a great battle, a horde of wild Crimex flying around and attacking a group of four T-Rex class Saurians. One of the Saurians possessed the Toxin trait and was busy breathing poisonous gas at the Crimex, hundreds falling to the ground dead as soon as they breathed in the gas but it hardly put a dent in the swarm of tens of thousands. Two others were breathing flames of orange and red, burning any unfortunate Crimex to a crisp while the last one lay on the ground, its left leg having been severely wounded. Ieros briefly wondered on what to do, should he leave them alone or save them. They were doing alright now but at the rate they were killing the Crimex, they would run out of stamina and energy long before they could kill enough Crimex to force a retreat.
Ieros then decided to save them, it would be beneficial as it would help build relations with the Saurians more easily. So he cast off his illusion magic and raised a hand, a black sphere three meters in diameter appearing into existence above it. With a snap of his fingers, dark spikes shot out of the ball and like the Dark Tree, these spikes speared one Crimex and then split into two, those spikes repeating the same process until all of the Crimex were dead. It was a strange and terrible sight to behold, the bodies of Crimex hanging limply from perfectly straight lines darkness, their clear blood dripping down onto the ground. The sphere retracted its spears and their corpses fell to the ground, creating hills of flesh and exoskeleton. Meanwhile, the Saurians directed their attention to the source of the strange phenomena.
Ieros stood before them, asking in their language, “Are you the Children of Dragons?”
Surprised, one of the Saurians nodded, taking a few earth-shaking steps towards Ieros, saying, “We are the Children of Dragons, little one. How have you come to know our language? It is rare for one of your kind to speak it.”
Ieros replied enigmatically, “There are very few things that I do not know.”
The Saurians were not sure what to make of this, they were more simplistic compared to other races in terms of intelligence and they were just confused about this small creature.
Shrugging one said, “We should bring it to the Ancients, perhaps they’ll know what to do with it.”
The others nodded and Ieros just followed them as they trudged home, the wounded Saurian being propped up on one of the Saurians. To keep up, Ieros flew alongside them, this catching the attention of one of the Saurians,
“This one even flies! What can’t it do?”
Ieros answered his question as if the Saurian truly meant it, “I cannot bring back the dead.”
That was true for Ieros, the Surveyor could do it no problem but it was unable to do so through a mortal host, there were restrictions upon a mortal body and the ability to properly resurrect the dead was one of those limitations. This was simply bypassed by the Surveyor using a manifestation of itself but it never really had a reason to revive the dead so it never did. Anyways, what Ieros said was mostly the truth, it did not like to deviate from true events unless absolutely necessary as it found that telling the truth was usually the easiest way to settle things. Whether the result was good or bad was another matter entirely.
But such thoughts were not important, Ieros and the Saurians had just reached a valley where two Saurian guards questioned the four returning Saurians. Listening in on the conversation, Ieros learned that the four Saurians were hunters. But because of the Crimex horde, they had been unable to finish hunting. This appeared to be a great problem as an argument ensued between the guards and the hunters, the guards snorting down on the hunters,
“How pathetic, but what can you expect from a hunter? They never do anything right.”
The wounded Saurian hissed, “I’d like to see you fight a Crimex horde.”
The guards laughed, “We could fare much better than you, I bet you ran away with your tails facing the enemy.”
The wounded Saurian hissed, “The Crimex horde is dead, although it wasn’t us who killed them, it was this strange little one.”
The guards then noticed Ieros standing there, seemingly insignificant before the size of the guards, each large specimens of T-Rex.
One of them put its head closer to the ground so it could see him, finally puffing a gust of wind into Ieros’s face from its snout, “This tiny thing? Are you sure something’s not wrong with your eyes Videre? You, who is called ‘Sharp Eyes’ must have finally gone crazy.”
Videre growled but she remained still, she could do nothing with her wounded leg. Sensing that that this conflict will end if he were to display his abilities, Ieros did so, floating high into the air and snapping his fingers, In an instant, large black chains shot from the two guards’ shadows and immobilized them, chaining them to the ground. The chained Saurians roared and squirmed in futility underneath their chains, causing a big ruckus but nothing more than that. Then with a gesture of his other hand, dark spears burst forth from their shadows and impaled the two Saurians, giving them a slow death as these spears targeted their arteries, bleeding them to death.
Ieros levitated downwards, stopping just an inch off the ground. He didn’t deign to look at guards as they lay there, bleeding to death. He stood impassively as their writhing bodies began to squirm slower and slower until eventually, they were still. Soon, the thunderous charge of four more Saurian guards appeared, they had come to investigate the roars of the first guards. They arrived and stopped at the sight of Ieros who was obviously the source of the disturbance as it was hard not to connect the dark aura that surrounded him with the dark spears.
They prepared to fight but the hunters stepped in, Videre warning, “No! Don’t! You’ll just end up like them.”
She gestured at the corpses of the Saurians who had bled to death, still held down by dark chains. The situation was quickly explained and although the guards were skeptical, they were not brave or foolish enough to make sure that the hunters’ claims were true. They, like the hunters, agreed that it would be best to bring this strange being to the Ancients, they would know what to do. So Ieros was escorted by the Saurians to the Ancients, the oldest of Saurians who were living libraries. Since Saurians lacked the ability to write anything down, they depended on memory to keep their history and surprisingly, the memories of the Ancients and the history of the Saurians are nearly congruent. The Saurians were a simple race, one that did as they were told, no questions asked.
So when the apprentices of the Ancients were told to remember, they did their all to remember each word, each sentence, each story as exact as they could. These Ancients, aside from serving as walking libraries, also served as judges and rulers, deciding what was best for the clan in times of peace and crisis. And so it was that Ieros found himself before three ancient Saurians, their milky eyes, having dulled with the passage of Time, stared down on Ieros, struggling to discern his appearance.
After memorizing Ieros’s appearance, they sat back and asked in unison, “Who are you and why have you come?”