"It's impossible. How could you reach level 1000 when you are just in your fifties?" Shane blurted out loud, unable to believe that someone he had known from a young age, someone only a handful of years older than himself, had already reached or perhaps even surpassed level 1000. It was simply impossible. No one in recorded history had reached level 1000 before the age of sixty, and most who had managed the feat had only achieved it after seventy or eighty years of living.
"It's some form of skill, isn't it? A skill?" Shane began shaking his head in disbelief, unable to understand how someone who was only in his fifties could have achieved something so terrifying.
The emperor rose from his throne and began descending toward the ground, as though he were coming down from some higher plane into the mortal world. His black suit swirled around him, the gold chains and embroidery adorning it threatening to sway loose as the very air danced around him with a kind of reverent joy.
And then, suddenly, the black and white sky split apart at its center, revealing a massive black hole through which an enormous army of demons was made visible. From goblins to orcs to every manner of creature one would flee from in waking life, their builds varied wildly, yet each laughed monstrously with teeth bared wide, and each carried a weapon in hand, fighting amongst themselves as though practicing for some future battle that would decide the fate of everything they knew.
"Shane, a very massive army of demons are preparing to march at any moment." The emperor stopped some distance away from Shane, and he added, "Their numbers are multiplying by the second, and until now we have managed to deflect their attacks. But when all of those demons that are training march upon us with their full force, I would rather not imagine it, though I believe our empire will likely fall unless the prophesied one comes to rescue."
"Are they for real?" Shane blurted out in disbelief.
"Yes." The emperor placed his hand on Shane's shoulder, not with force, but with something closer to paternal warmth. "So I do not wish to see my daughter become entangled with someone who is stuck at level one, because I know she will protect him until the very end, even at the cost of her own life." He said it with unmistakable regret, then added, "If I had known that my rash decision would lead to this, I would have never arranged this marriage between them."
"I regret it because your son is not the prophesied one, and this time I have finally found someone who could at least keep her safe even if he turned out to be not the prophesied one." The emperor spoke with a note of disappointment directed squarely at his own past choices, and for the first time he pleaded outright. "So please, take your son away from my daughter's life. I do not want her to die. I have already lost my firstborn. I cannot lose another child to them."
Shane found his words stuck tightly in his throat. His earlier disbelief had given way to something deeper, a stunned and quiet shock at seeing the emperor, for the first time, show any emotion that bordered on sadness or paternal feeling. The emperor was just like him in this one way, a man who wanted nothing more than what was best for their child.
And if the image of the demon army training together was true, and it had to be, because such an image was not something that could be constructed out of thin air, then the borders were no longer safe. His own father, assigned to those very borders, was no longer safe either, because the army of demons patiently sharpening themselves could march at any moment. The number of demons the emperor had shown him was larger than anything Shane had ever witnessed, despite having been sent to the borders many times and having fought alongside his father Ragnar in defending them. The numbers he had seen in flesh over all those years felt like a tiny speck of dust compared to what the emperor had just revealed.
Shane understood the reason behind the emperor's need to dissolve the marriage agreement. But Alex and the princess had bonded so deeply over the years that he could not allow it. Not like this. His son would be broken by it. He would lose his only friend.
"But I cannot allow you to break this marriage like this, not after knowing how much they enjoy being with each other." Shane held his ground, unwilling to strip his son of his happiness. He had watched over the years how Alex would light up whenever the princess came to visit, and the two of them would spend hours together, wandering and playing as though the rest of the world had ceased to exist.
Shane had not forgotten how heartbroken his son always became whenever the time came for the princess to leave. He would not let her go easily and would linger at the entrance long after she had disappeared from sight.
"That is not something I can agree to." The emperor turned and walked back toward his throne, adding without looking back, "They are young and full of life. They would get over this quickly, and I believe I cannot delay this decision any further, not after seeing that Alex does not amount to much compared to his peers."
Shane felt his blood boil at the emperor's words, spoken so carelessly, without a single thought given to the fact that he was speaking ill of a boy in front of that boy's own father.
"If I delay this any longer their bond will only deepen." The emperor turned back toward Shane and held his gaze, those swirling black and white eyes meeting Shane's own dark ones.
Shane had already made his peace with the reality before him now, that the emperor had reached the quasi-demigod rank. No matter how much doubt had tried to root itself in his mind, this place was as real as flesh, and he was standing inside the emperor's soul manifestation, the inner world one could only acquire after reaching level 1000.
"But what about their choice? Their feelings?" Shane's voice rose.
"Feelings?" The emperor said dismissively. "Are feelings not flickering in nature? One moment a person cherishes someone, and in the very next breath begins to resent them." The emperor lifted his right hand and conjured a swirl of colorful light that shifted from red to orange to pink and then to white.
"They are like this, Shane. Feelings change. Humans change." The emperor spoke in a voice that carried the weight of something above the mortal, and he added, "Everything changes with time. Does it not?"
Shane clenched his fist tightly, his knuckles turning white. "Even if everything changes, sometimes things also grow stronger with time, like a seed that slowly begins to sprout, forming a sapling and then a tree. Even if everything changes, with good decisions and love and effort, things can become something beautiful if they are left in the hands of those who truly know love."
"But the marriage between your son and my daughter will be disastrous, and it is not the good decision you believe it to be, your son is a seed that will never sprout." The emperor replied with a slow nod. "She will be bound to someone who cannot level up, and for the bloodline of Evernight, we cannot tolerate weakness. The world does not have enough time left to allow this bond to bloom any further. I have seen enough of it."
Shane tightened his jaw. "So what? This decision may look bad right now. But look through the eyes of the princess and Alex . They do not hate this marriage. Yes, they may not fully understand the implications of what marriage truly means, or whether they want to spend the rest of their lives together. But they do not hate each other and they care for one another the way people care for someone they consider their better half." He drew a long breath and with a burning eyes continued, "I know you want what is best for your daughter, and I likewise want only the best for my son. Give them some time. Let them decide for themselves whether they want to be bound to each other for the rest of their lives, and then we can sit together and make a decision."
"No, I cannot give any more time. I have already given fourteen whole years, and look where that decision has led me." The emperor pressed his hand to his forehead and rubbed at the creased lines that had gathered there. "If I had known my decision would lead me to this point, I would have never done it. I regret it."
"Shane, I regret it." The emperor's voice carried a sharp edge directed entirely inward, and he added, "Those demons could march at any moment and bring this empire to ruin. Despite my rank, I am not fully confident in my ability to defend it alone."
"Give them at least a few yea..." Shane felt his lips seal shut as he was pushed back several steps, the very air around him trembling with a force that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
"No. I cannot allow even a second longer. This marriage agreement can't continue any longer." The emperor's voice growled loudly, and suddenly the space around Shane began to collapse inward, folding into itself and at last was swallowed entirely by darkness.
When Shane opened his eyes again, he found Alex and Ariana hugging him from behind and Sera leaping at him from the side.
The emperor stood before him, his eyes and hair returned to their ordinary state.
They had returned back to the drawing room.
***
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