Epilogue

Valtoris ran his hands along the wings of the phoenix and dark fire trailed along behind his fingers, flaring off into the night sky. “There are times when I feel as though you are the only one in this vast cosmos who understands me.”

The bird was a predator, one of the fiercest in all of the cosmos, travelling between the stars, hunting other creatures of great arcane power. It would strike them with force to knock the strength from them, bear them down to solid ground and then tear out the choicest morsels, abandoning the rest to scavengers. It was small wonder the emperor felt such kinship with her.

She let out a cry, shrill and clean. Powerful enough that it would have knocked the air from the lungs of a lesser man. Not that a lesser man would have ever dared to stand so close. She brought in her wings, wrapping them protectively around him.

He chuckled, and pushed the massive wings down so that his subordinate could at least see that he was still there. “What news do you have to share with me, so dire that you interrupt our time together.”

This was one of the newer ascendants to the higher realms of the empire, one that they were testing out to be sure of his trustworthiness. One of the reasons that he liked to have them visit him here, in the open air of the palace, was that it gave any potential assassins who had managed to make their ascent a shot at him, clear of any guards. Not that they’d ever get a chance with the phoenix there. 

The phoenix was the other reason to meet them here. As good a judge as he was, she was better. One look at a traitor was all it took to send her into a killing rage. Saved a lot of money on fodder for the spirit beast.

“I come bearing ill tidings, Emperor.” The poor woman was quaking with fear in the presence of the phoenix, or him. But she had come all the same, because duty compelled her. He considered that to be admirable, even if it would have been more admirable if she could have controlled her terror. “The Truthseekers have failed in their mission on Strife. The eidolon that you have coveted for so long has slipped through their fingers.”

“I assume that the Ardent intervened, given their claim to the world.” That was irritating.

“There was a single Ardent instructor and a number of cadets.”

That drew his attention back from stroking the phoenix’s feather to the tale once more. “Would one of those cadets happen to be the one that I have a special interest in?”

She stared at the slate in her hands for a moment before nodding, nervously. “I believe so.”

It was right that she was nervous, right that she was afraid. The emperor was known by all to be the most powerful mage in the universe. The shadow phoenix was known to be one of the most fearsome predators to stalk the cosmos. But none of those things brought as much fear to her as the smile spreading across his face. “No longer in shadow, the shadow in thee.”

“I beg your pardon, my lord?”

“If we have lost the eidolon of Strife, then it is lost. There is no purpose in shedding tears over it. There are other eidolons of war, and the vault this one could open was thought to be a minor one at best.” He smile deepened as he considered his own words. “One that I now feel certain would have contained nothing of great import, given that those who made them had foreknowledge of this particular eidolon’s fate.”

“I… don’t understand, my lord.” She backed away as the phoenix spread her wings wide, flames racing out to illuminate her full span against the endless night stretched out behind Valtoris.

“It is not for you to understand.” He told her. “Only to obey.”

Then the phoenix collapsed in on itself in black flame, washing over the emperor’s body. Returning to its nest within the core of his being. For one final moment the vast beast hung as a shadow over him, then that too was consumed.

With a wave, he dismissed his new, and apparently loyal councilor. “Worry not, however. For everything is going according to plan.”