Chapter 44: Aftermath

STORM EAGLE MOUNTAINS.

When Kren finally opened his eyes, it wasn’t to a cloud-streaked blue sky, but the dull grey shade of a ceiling overhead. He registered the bed beneath him almost instantly — it was soft, perhaps a bit too soft, judging by the stiff groan that escaped him the moment he tried shifting onto his side.

"You’ll pull your stitches doing that, your majesty. Stay put." Kren scoffed and turned his eyes toward the entrance instead, where Aki sat cross-legged on the floor and Toa had dozed off slumped against the wall nearby. Ruhu and Fima were nowhere in sight.

"What happened?" Kren asked, ignoring Aki’s warning entirely as he pushed himself upright, his frame sinking a little deeper into the soft mattress. His voice alone was enough to stir Toa awake.

"Your Majesty!" Kren waved him off before he could scramble fully upright.

"Hello, Toa. Relax, get some more sleep. I’m fine." Aki let out a sharp scoff at that.

"Fine? You’ve got broken bones scattered through half your body and wounds deep enough to make a physician wince. It’s a small miracle you’re alive at all. Though the healer who looked you over found signs you’d already received some form of healing before we got you here. I’m guessing that wind spirit summon had something to do with you not being six feet under by now."

Kren shrugged. "Yeah. Rather insane experience, honestly, but it saved my life. That’s not what matters right now, though. Where are we?" He shifted again, finally taking proper stock of his own body — the bandages wound tight across nearly every inch of exposed skin.

"We’re in the village chief’s own house. Says he wanted to repay the debt properly, show some hospitality for slaying the Lyndwyrm. Though I’d wager it’s less about gratitude and more about keeping you somewhere he can watch closely. He genuinely didn’t expect you to survive. Turns out he sent people trailing after us the whole way up the mountain — unfortunately for him, Pina kept that tunnel to the plane wreck entirely to herself." Fima’s voice cut in as she slipped in through an open window, confirming she’d spent the whole time outside, likely perched on the roof keeping watch.

"You’re still technically under house arrest, for what it’s worth. The chief’s doing damage control as fast as he can manage." Aki added, not bothering to uncross his legs from the floor. Kren frowned at that.

"Damage control for what, exactly?"

"For the man who single-handedly saved the Storm Eagle tribe from extinction, and who’s about to become their king." Toa said, finally pushing himself off the wall. There was something new sitting behind his eyes — a far cry from the flat, hollow look he’d carried ever since the moment he’d swung that hooked greatsword and taken his own brother’s head.

It wasn’t loyalty, not yet, not fully. If Kren had to put a name to it, he’d call it respect. ’Guess that’s a decent place to start.’ Kren thought to himself. Nothing short of absolute loyalty would ever fully satisfy him — but if he could earn genuine respect from a Snake-kin, then perhaps the ambitions he’d carried quietly for years, revenge, rebellion, all of it, actually stood a real chance of coming into being. That was true even setting aside the fact that between the system and Elyvara’s decree, he was already locked firmly onto that path regardless.

"The Storm Eagles have been arriving in waves for the last thirty-six hours straight. Gifts, mostly. Others have been praying to the Great Storm Eagle for your recovery. Someone’s already started carving totems with your face on them, alongside black lions and storm eagles both. They don’t see you as just their savior, Your Majesty. They think you’re something closer to a sacred being.of some sort. Fima said, crossing the room to stand over him.

Kren blinked at her, thoroughly confused. "Sacred being?"

"Oh, it gets better. Things have gotten complicated fast since we carried you and the alpha’s corpse back into the village. You killed something they genuinely believed couldn’t be killed — a First Awakening beastman cutting down a fourth-realm alpha. They’ve started calling you some kind of reincarnated hero." Aki said, finally uncrossing his legs and rising to his feet properly.

"That’s absurd." Kren said, annoyance creeping into his voice. Toa’s calm response cut straight through it.

"Is it, though?" Kren turned to look at him properly.

"We need these people, don’t we? And honestly, they need you too, whether they realize it or not. We don’t have the luxury of time to slowly earn their loyalty through proper politics — that process takes years we don’t have. But if they already see you as something divine, something worth worshipping, then the smart move is to lean into it and bring them in line fast. It serves your goals either way, and you gain the devotion of an entire people who believe you’re touched by something greater. And there’s no telling when the bond was last meaningfully used — it’s been over ten years since anyone’s seen it in action, and even before that, your own father was considered the weakest N’kora in generations, for all his skill. These people see a path back to survival, back to real power, and they see it through you. It’s not blind devotion. They’re a sick, dying people, and right now, you might genuinely be the only cure they’ve got."

"....."

"....."

Silence settled over the whole room until Aki finally broke it. "That’s the most I think I’ve ever heard you say at once. You should talk more often — you actually sound sensible when you do."

Toa blinked, a faint flush of pink rising in his cheeks. Still, Kren found himself turning the words over seriously. He didn’t have the luxury of picking and choosing based on comfort or principle anymore. Every scrap of power that fell within reach, he intended to take.

Kren shrugged. He still needed a real plan for handling the chief, but he’d adapt as he went — he usually did. Killing the alpha had bought him real influence in this village already. Now he just needed to build on it properly.

"Where are Pina and Jomin?" he asked. Fima let out a short scoff.

"Your wife? She’s been out there accepting gifts and prayers on her soon-to-be husband’s behalf. That conniving little snake has wasted no time turning her people’s attention squarely onto herself. Since she’s set to marry their new idol, she’s become the bridge between you and them — well, her and Jomin both. And judging by her face, she’s not exactly thrilled about that particular arrangement." Fima explained, pouring a glass of water from a nearby jug and pressing it into his hands.

"Sounds like we’ve still got our work cut out for us." Kren said, draining half the glass in one go. "I don’t have time to waste playing games here. Give me three hours — I’ll be out of this bed by then. Find Ruhu, I need a full picture of what the Storm Eagles can actually offer us. Weapons, warriors, whatever innovations they’ve still got buried in their craft that could help us not just survive this war, but come out the other side stronger for it. And I need you to go tell Pina and the chief both to get ready. Tonight, we hold the bonding ceremony. Pina becomes part of my pride."

He set the empty glass down beside the bed, a slow smile settling across his face.

"And my wife."