Chapter 342: An Alliance

Arthur and Steve sat across from Kryx and Cyris inside a modest meeting hall tucked within one of the administrative buildings in the city, the four of them settled around a simple wooden table that felt almost deliberately unassuming given the sheer weight of power gathered around it. 

Sunlight filtered in through a high window, catching faint motes of dust drifting through the air, a strangely mundane backdrop for a conversation that would likely shape the coming months of the war. Kryx studied Arthur for a long moment, his eyes remained unreadable, before finally breaking the silence. "What is your take on the upcoming war?"

Arthur met his gaze evenly, unbothered by the scrutiny. "Does it really matter what I think about it?"

Kryx let out a short laugh, the sound echoing pleasantly off the hall's walls and momentarily easing the tension that had settled over the table since they'd first sat down. "Yes, it matters. Especially when the opinion in question belongs to the person who killed the nine ruling Godkings."

Arthur simply raised an eyebrow, making no move to deny the claim, nor was there any flicker of alarm or defensiveness crossing his expression. He had never seriously believed that particular piece of information would remain hidden forever, not with beings as perceptive and well-connected as Kryx clearly had ways to know what happened in that battle. 

Beside him, he noticed Steve shift almost imperceptibly, though the old man's expression gave nothing away. "You already know I'm not from this world," Arthur said instead, keeping his tone level. "I can leave whenever I choose, return to where I came from, and none of this would follow me. Why should I involve myself in this war at all?"

Kryx offered a flat, knowing smile in response, the kind that suggested he had anticipated exactly this line of reasoning. "Then why are you protecting the people affected by it? By your own logic, it shouldn't matter to you whether they live or die. And yet here you are, building a kingdom of your own to shield them."

"Do I really need a reason to save someone?" Arthur replied, a trace of mirth entering his tone despite the seriousness of the conversation, leaning back slightly in his seat. "No one said I couldn't."

Kryx shook his head slowly, the smile fading into something more thoughtful, almost contemplative. "You don't fully understand what that means, I think. By saving them, by choosing to protect even one life in this world, you've already accumulated karma with it, whether you intended to or not. That's simply how the balance works here, older than any of the rules the World Will has placed on top of it. Now, regardless of your own wishes, you're already tied to this world's survival on some fundamental level." 

He paused, letting that settle over the table before continuing, his voice softening slightly. "I'm not asking you to fight alongside the Godkings throughout this entire war, that would be far too much to ask of anyone, and I know full well you owe none of us anything. I only request that you lend a hand when the Demon Emperor eventually arrives at the battlefield."

Arthur's eyes narrowed slightly at that, the name carrying an unmistakable weight even in Kryx's carefully measured words. "What about this Demon Emperor?"

Kryx sighed, some of the earlier lightness draining from his expression entirely, replaced by something closer to genuine weariness. "He's the lord of the demon world itself, the one who commands every legion currently pressing against Thyrandel's borders. The demons are a warring race by nature, it has been for as long as any of us can remember, and they sustain themselves by feeding on the lifeforce of whatever world they manage to conquer. They consume entire worlds slowly hollowing them out until nothing remains worth taking." 

He met Arthur's eyes directly. "And I'll admit something to you plainly, something I wouldn't say in front of most of my peers. I'm not entirely confident I could face him, in fact it would be foolish of me to think I could face a being like him at all."

Arthur pretended to consider the request for a moment, letting the silence stretch just long enough, though inwardly he had already made up his mind well before Kryx finished speaking. "You can call me when he arrives," he said finally.

He held no real objection to joining the fight eventually. Driving the demons out of Thyrandel would only help secure a safer world for Selene and everyone else he cared about here, and he had never been the type to stand aside purely on principle when people he cared about stood to benefit. 

But he had no intention of letting anyone, Godkings included, grow comfortable simply assuming his help would always be available whenever convenient. He believed, reasonably enough given what he'd already witnessed, that the Godkings possessed more than sufficient strength to handle the present threat on their own for now. 

He would step in if they genuinely found themselves overwhelmed, certainly, but not a moment before that became necessary. And if he was being fully honest with himself, the mention of an even stronger demon lurking somewhere beyond the current battlefield had sparked something closer to anticipation than dread, a restless curiosity about just how strong this Demon Emperor truly was, and whether he might present a genuine challenge to him.

Kryx, hearing Arthur's affirmation, smiled broadly, visible relief loosening the tight set of his shoulders. "I knew you wouldn't back away from a fight like this." He reached into the folds of his robe and produced a simple, unassuming glass bottle, setting it down carefully on the table between them with a certain reverence in the gesture. "This is millennial wine, fermented for a thousand years by the elves, sealed away in cellars few outsiders have ever set foot in. Consider it a gift, for our first proper meeting."

Arthur retrieved four cups from a nearby cabinet, setting them out in a neat row, and Kryx poured the wine himself, the deep amber liquid filling each cup in turn, swirling faintly before settling. Arthur picked his up and took a cautious sip, half expecting something dry and earthy given how most aged wines he'd encountered tended to taste, expecting perhaps a slightly more refined version of something he'd already had before. 

Instead, he found himself genuinely surprised. The flavor was a careful balance of sweetness and sourness blended together with a smoothness that seemed almost impossible for something fermented so long ago, and beneath it all, he could feel a faint, calming energy threading through his body from the drink, settling comfortably into his chest like warmth spreading from the inside out. "This is good," he said, the compliment entirely sincere, already reaching for a second sip.

Kryx laughed heartily at the reaction, clearly pleased. "You won't find wine like this anywhere else in either world. If you'd like, I can give you a few more bottles, a standing gift between us."

Arthur thanked him in advance, seeing no reason whatsoever to turn down an offer that good, already mentally cataloguing where he'd store them. By the time the meeting concluded, pleasantries exchanged and terms quietly understood between them, he had pocketed several bottles for himself, though Steve had managed to claim roughly half of them before Arthur could object, tucking them away inside his robes with the satisfied grin of someone who considered that a fair personal victory, ignoring Arthur's pointed look entirely.

Arthur spent the remainder of that day exactly as he'd spent most of the past week, dividing his time between Selene and the steady, ongoing work of assembling more magitech bots for the coming conflict, the work turned his days into something almost peaceful despite the looming war. 

Three more days passed in that same comfortable way, he spent his mornings in the factory and evenings were spent with Selene, until the early hours of the fourth day, when Arthur found himself jolted awake while still lying beside her, a holographic screen flickering abruptly to life directly in front of the bed in response to a sudden, sharp spike in energy his monitoring systems had detected out over the open ocean.

He sat up immediately, his senses snapping to full alertness, watching the screen flicker into a live feed capturing a violent clash unfolding somewhere far beyond Avalon's shores. A demon, its form wreathed in miasma that seemed to corrode the air around it, leaving faint traces of decay in its wake, exchanged devastating blows with an elven Godking whose domain over wind cut through that same miasma in sharp, precise gusts, each strike carving visible lines through the toxic haze before it could fully reform. 

Their fight was nothing short of catastrophic, each exchange shaking the sea below with enough force to send massive waves rippling outward in every direction, waves that would almost certainly swell into tsunamis by the time they reached any nearby shoreline, threatening coastal villages that had no idea what was coming for them.

Selene stirred beside him, drawn from sleep by his sudden movement and the faint glow of the screen washing over the room, and pushed herself up as well, blinking blearily at the display while the blanket slipped down from her shoulders, momentarily forgotten. "What's happening?"

Arthur reluctantly pulled his gaze away from the unfolding battle, though it lingered a moment longer than necessary as it passed over her perfect figure before settling fully on her face. "The fight has finally started," he said quietly.

Catching the sudden intensity of his gaze, the way his attention shifted so completely and unmistakably toward her, Selene felt heat rush to her cheeks, and she quickly slid back down beneath the blanket, pulling it up to her chin due to embarrassment, though a small, pleased smile tugged at the corner of her mouth despite herself. 

Arthur watched her retreat with a faint, warm smile of his own tugging at the corner of his mouth, the distant battle on the screen fading into background noise for a moment, the war outside feeling suddenly very far away. "Let's leave it for now," he said softly, settling back down beside her and letting the holographic display dim.

***

Become a patreon member and read 35 Chapters ahead:

/New_Horizon1

You can join my discord channel to discuss my novel and find artwork of this novel!!

.gg/PmkQsrAdMY