"Keraunos…" A somber Soren repeated the word. "Avatars when they evolve, but always a noise promising the return of the New Gods until their las gasp. Hidden?"
"Very well. First, we didn't have enough keys for a null field to kill the one we found. But after a visit to Boris, we got enough keys and killed it just as it evolved." Lucian added.
"Fifteen years ago we killed one too, but we didn't need to generate a large null field to kill it. Six keys were enough. Nine meter diameter." The king's voice echoed in the grandeur of the royal dining room. High, vaulted ceilings, a fusion of Roman arches, Greek columns, and the elegant lines of Gothic design, framed the long, polished table where they sat.
"You complicated things, Lucian" Soren continued with a hint of amusement.
"How so?" Elle intervened. "That thing was invincible without your null fields and it was large."
"They are, indeed. But Keraunos were created to exist in our plane, to interact, to destroy, and to fulfill such a purpose..." He looked at a Lucian.
"They were made of our world's atmosphere. They have to obey physics." Lucian continued.
"Exactly. Very dangerous, annoying, and evil. But like all animals, they have several weaknesses to exploit," Soren added.
"Sound, abrupt temperature changes… I know," Elle continued.
"A null field to render it powerless, then the focalized frequency to disrupt its biology. They get very noisy when they die this way. I prefer the easiest way, which is to find the core, isolate it inside a null field," Soren explained. "And once inside it's going to burn like bacteria in the sunlight!"
Soren's enthusiasm filled the room, reaching the guards in full plate Praetorian-inspired armor, who were standing still at the doors, protecting their master and unable to grasp the meaning of his words. They matched the decoration, another addition to make the walls, inlaid with polished obsidian and subtle veins of shimmering crystal look even more exquisite.
"It hides its core very well," Lucian added.
"You need to observe how the clouds move. They have a pattern of movement. All that lightning that they show is like their blood, pulsing from the core to those parts of the body that need the energy." Soren continued, a hint of impatience creeping into his voice. Anya rolled her eyes, while the two princes were paying close attention to every single word of their father. "The core orbits around the center of the vortex to make things complicated. But if you see the direction of how everything is spinning, you could see it, if you pay close attention. It's colorless, all light and radiation goes through it, but on its edge, its horizon generates an almost invisible anomaly, a tiny line that separates it from our reality and laws. It's so small that it's as if with immense effort it was trying to conceal its presence. That's the core."
"Hmm..." Elle recalled the fight, the vision of the beast approaching, the electricity crackling, trying to take her and Lucian down, always coming from the center. She then had seen it, for an instant, the subtle distortion quickly covered by clouds. Lucian saw it too, surely.
"Don't tell me you didn't see it because if you didn't then there's something wrong with your sight," Soren added, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Elle, has he shown problems with his sight or hints, anything?"
Elle looked at Lucian, then back at Soren, a playful smirk forming on her lips. "Well, he does tend to stare a lot," she said, smirking, before adding: "But no. Nothing that would suggest a problem with his vision. He performed excellently when we killed that Kera… thing."
Lucian chuckled.
"I don't blame him. You are beautiful." Anya added, with a playful tone.
"She indeed is… and she knows, your highness," Lucian agreed.
Elle gave Lucian a small, reassuring smile: "So… Predict the trajectory of the body, calculate where the core will be, set the null field up, and then kill it?"
"Exactly, Elle!" Soren exclaimed looking at Lucian. "Your same original plan, but smaller, more precise, less keys spent and you wouldn't have needlessly risked your woman."
"I spent more keys, but I avoided the need to predict the core's precise location. How did you manage the null field?" Lucian said.
"I did it myself. Blinked in holding the keys with a magnetic field for just a split second, enough to catch the core. Then the beast just died." Soren ended.
Lucian chuckled. "That easy, Overseer?"
Soren grinned, he knew that what for him was easy, for most wasn't. But he also knew Lucian, and Lucian had a way of thinking about fighting that he always had found overwhelming. Soren studied the younger Praetorian. Now you are simulating the fight in your head, aren't you?
"How would you have killed Kah in my place, Soren?" Lucian asked, thoughtful, taking Soren by surprise. Soren's expression grew bittersweet. Why are you asking this? Guilt?
Elle tried to find Lucian's gaze, but he was lost in his silence.
"You did what you must. Our brave brothers knew it, and they followed your commands as they should have. You survived. Many of them didn't. But you made their sacrifice worth it by killing Kah and surviving," Soren answered. "In your place, I would have failed." Soren's voice was soft, sincere. "I am not you, Lucian."
"How would you have killed it?" Lucian insisted. Soren sighed.
"Your strategy, the timing and excursion. It was genius. You had merely instants to make decisions, and you made them. You moved with your army to set up the null field while distracting Kah, when things looked dire you were ready to make them work going yourself in, fighting him face to face, then you opened the portal through which the projectile came to end him as the null field got raised and at the same time you blinked out through that same portal escaping the grip of the New God and the explosion of the impact. It was beautiful. One instant earlier and he had blinked with you to safety, one instant later and you would have died with him in the explosion," Soren said. "My plan is more conservative. I would have held the ground spending thousands of keys while the fleet got rid of the Keraunos in the sky, then with their support we would have ended the New God with the railguns. The cost of lives would have been less, but we would have spent a lot of our keys on just one New God, and the possibility of him escaping was still there. If one null field failed, he would have escaped while in your scenario he stayed to crush you because you made it personal."
"In the long term my victory was a loss," Lucian said.
"Not really. Remember that simulated combat we had? We were given two armies and you won because I fought trying to keep my economy solid and to use my troops efficiently, keeping them alive as much as possible while you went all in, using each and every single one of your units to critically disassemble my army. Your losses were many, more units than I did, but the damage was unbearable and in the end it was you who was left standing."
"In a ruined world," Lucian added.
"The world heals. Life adapts or disappears. Your win was legitimate." Soren said.
Lucian sighed.
"Did he truly defeat you, father?" One of the princes finally spoke. He looked so much like his father, a younger version of him, a more innocent version. His name was Caesar.
"He did," Soren answered.
"I would like a match too, Lord Lucian," the other prince, Augustus, asked. "I've defeated my father many times."
Lucian's eyes widened. That wasn't an easy feat.
"I accept," Lucian replied. Elle released a deep sigh.
"He does not accept," Elle intervened, glaring at Lucian.
"It's just a game," Lucian said.
"You don't know that," Elle countered.
"She is right," Soren agreed. "Every time I lost he asked for something that got me in trouble."
"See? And you just accepted. You're too reckless, Lucian," Elle said, slightly irritated. "As usual."
"As usual?" Soren repeated. "Tell me more..."
"Well, this one time... Two times actually, he just casually let me stab him, just to win." She started.
Lucian smirked: "To win you. It was worth it," he added, recalling how he had found himself stabbed everywhere by Elle's summoned blades. I was dead… but your kiss was my greatest victory by that point, little minx. He thought.
"You would have died, idiot!" Elle protested. "And if you had died, I would have never known this happiness, or this pain... this wholesome feeling that makes me the happiest... you idiot!"
"Relationships are a challenge." Anya added, smiling gently. "They can feel like life or death."
Lucian's smirk faded away. She was right. If he had died, nothing between them would have happened and she would now be the wife of Alexander... The toy of a monster. The idea alone was enough to make his blood boil.
"Elle..." He let out. The words didn't come to his mouth, but his hand found hers, their fingers intertwined, and their grip tightened.
"And the second time... I get it. It was exhilarating to have shown his place to that disgusting gangster, but even then you let me stab you again! With your own knife!" Elle added. "Who does that?"
Soren chuckled. He had once defied all the legions because of Anya.
"Both times I didn't know you could use blades against me. So, it was you being a great Quantum user," Lucian admitted. "And when I found myself screwed I said ah well, let's go all in for the prize."
Elle blushed. "I'm sure you could have found another way."
"What is this about again? You are mad for something that has already passed and can't be changed?" Lucian, playfully, asked, raising her hand towards his lips to kiss her tenderly.
"She is mad because you are reckless and she doesn't want you to get hurt," Anya added. "The same reason why I'm against any deliberate violence. It's unreasonable and... idiotic. Things could be solved by talking and making arrangements."
Soren chuckled. Lucian and Elle dedicated a gentle smile to the queen. The Aethera were beings of goodness, they hated hurting other intelligent living beings, they were made to protect, to heal, to love and to be protected.
"Violence is competition. And everybody loves competition," Soren said. "Haven't you seen the people? They're cheering up for our kids and their district champions! This year the combats of the tournament will be even more exciting."
"I prefer the simulations instead," Anya replied. "Simulations are better. Less blood, more attempts, less danger."
"Less fun," Soren said.
"You're a brute!" Anya yelled, her voice filled with mock indignation.
"Hey! That's unfair! It's all good sports, the kids get it," Soren said, a playful smile on his face.
"If any of my kids gets hurt, Soren…" She warned, her tone leaving no room for argument. This while their servants, moving with practiced grace, began clearing the remnants of the meal, their movements as precise and efficient as a well-choreographed dance.
Meanwhile Lucian leaned against Elle. Both watching the royal family, their hearts warmed by the joyful atmosphere.
"Am I too reckless then?" He whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her skin.
"You are," she replied, a hint of fondness in her voice. He chuckled. "It's not funny, Lucian."
"It's not that I'm reckless… you are, absolutely, a force to be acknowledged, my little minx," he added with affection. "I'll be more careful though… for you."
"You better..." She said, her voice soft but firm. "If we are going to have a child, you better."
"I'd love a mini Elle around the ship, touching, learning, dismantling... Ada would go crazy." He could see it in his mind, a little version of her, loved and protected.
Lucian's whispered words hung in the air, and Elle laughed at the vision of a little version of herself and him going all over the ship, teasing the grumpy Deimos, driving the entitled Ada crazy.
Anya's face held a soft, genuine smile, as if the room itself were holding its breath, savoring the moment. "We have the technology to make it real when you two are ready, but don't rush it. Instead, you two should join us for the festival," she said. "We could talk more about incidents like those Keraunos as we enjoy the spectacle. Many people from all over the planet come, and from other planets as well. We always end up with a lot of guests, but none of them are like us. They are like babies that know nothing."
Soren smiled.
"We would love to," Elle said. She was young, very young compared to these three, but she could imagine how lonely eternity could be, it wasn't difficult because she had been alone behind her perfect princess role all her life, and now she wasn't alone anymore. "We can't say no." The image came to her mind, the lonely Praetorian sitting in front of the screen, replaying a battle he could never change. "We will join them, Lucian."
He smiled, and she wanted to wrap her arms around him, and squeeze him as hard as she could until he felt that she was here now, but that would be beneath her royal education. She tightened her grip on his instead.
"Marvelous! Then we could have an exhibition match!" Soren said. "You and me, Lucian."
"You two want to fight again, really?" Anya narrowed her eyes.
"We have never done something like that," Lucian tilted his head.
"Really?" She repeated it, bored. "Because I remember two fools repairing two ships over ten years after because of fighting."
"This will be like sparring, Anya. Completely different." Soren said.
"Say yes, Lord Lucian!" Caesar added, excited.
"Please! Honor us with a friendly match!" Augustus joined. "Mother will allow it."
"This time." Anya.
Lucian looked at Elle. "What are the conditions? What does the winner and the loser get?" Elle asked.
"We can talk about it later," Soren said. "Our meal time is over, unfortunately, and now we have to deal with the politics and all the beautiful things that managing a country involve."
"But don't worry, you are our guests, you can stay in the palace and enjoy the many wonders that we have built together. Please visit my garden later," Anya requested.
"Lord Samuel is at the door, your majesties," one of the guards announced.
Soren nodded.
"Please, enjoy yourself, Lucian, Elle," he said. "Caesar, Augustus, escort our guests to their chambers, and tell them a bit more of our lovely tournament."