Leon and his people departed from Evergold quickly. Leon had gone to the headquarters of Evergold’s Heaven’s Eye enclave, but word of Narses being attacked hadn’t been shared with them. Despite this, he was still deeply concerned about the political situation back in the city, and whether or not the Chief of Security had actually been attacked by vampires as Anastasios claimed, Leon still wanted to settle matters back there as soon as possible.

To that end, with barely even a goodbye to anyone in the city, he and his family and retinue boarded their ship and set sail down the Neilos, the only regret he left behind that of a proper send-off with Cassandra. He felt like they’d see each other again, though, so he could only hope she wouldn’t be so offended that he couldn’t explain when that next meeting inevitably came.

And so, he turned away from Evergold, content at least that they were willing to harbor him and his family if worse came to worst, and focused instead on the problem of Heaven’s Eye…

—

Occulara was much the same as when Leon left a few months ago. The city itself was old, so he wasn’t exactly expecting it to radically change as soon as he left, but it still felt rather strange. It wasn’t quite like a homecoming, emphasized by the party of Heaven’s Eye officials waiting for him as his yacht pulled into the docks. They were looking quite serious, though he was at least encouraged to see that none of them were stronger than the seventh-tier.

So, feeling like he had some time, he took a few minutes to get his last few affairs in order.

He met first with Anshu. The Indradian’s role within his retinue was to change, and as soon as they left his yacht, he was going to assume a far more autonomous role. He’d be able to take care of some of his own personal business in that role, but only if he acted as a go-between for Leon and the Saltwater Road smuggling rings. Leon, now more than ever, needed actionable intelligence on vampire whereabouts, and smugglers were more likely than just about anyone else to have that intelligence.

After confirming with Anshu one last time as to what he was to do, Leon went to Elise, Helen, and Tikos. Those three were in charge of the Hesperidic Apples and the thunder wood. Elise had had some of their household continue to look for land for the apples, while the thunder wood was going to be taken directly to Helen’s workshop, where she and Tikos would begin their experiments with it immediately. Leon simply had to remind them that until he and the Director got onto the same page, they had to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

To add to their security, Leon had the rest of his retinue ready themselves to return to his home. He would meet with the delegation waiting at the dock, and then make his way to the Hexagon accompanied only by Anzu.

With all that taken care of, Leon walked out onto the deck of his yacht, made something of a show of looking directly at the delegation, acknowledging without a shadow of a doubt that he knew they were there. He took a quick measure of their response–rather tepid, in his opinion, though tinged with some impatience—and leisurely walked over, only speeding up a bit when crossing the gangplank.

“Leon Raime!” the seventh-tier mage in charge called out in greeting.

Leon recognized the man, though only vaguely. He worked directly for the Director as an executive assistant as far he knew, so while he’d had some reason to speak with him before, they’d never interacted enough for the man to have made much of an impression.

“That’s my name,” Leon flippantly acknowledged.

“The Director requests your immediate presence,” the assistant declared. “We’re to escort you there without delay.”

“Do I look in need of an escort?” Leon asked challengingly, taking their measure again.

Impatience flashed through the assistant and those behind him again, but with a few hints of fear and surprise in those who were weaker and less in control of their expressions. As far as Leon could tell, they weren’t sent here to take him into custody, otherwise they would’ve better prepared for his resistance. In fact, aside from the assistant, they all seemed rather surprised by his attitude.

“If that is your preference,” the assistant said through clenched teeth. “We will not stand in your way. But please, we have much business to go over, and—”

“We can handle that later,” Leon said, annoyed as he was at the assistant’s presence. He pushed his way through the delegation, with the group hurrying to get out of his and Anzu’s way, and then hovered a few feet in the air. “I’ll speak with the Director first, so don’t worry about that. I’ll move faster unencumbered, anyway.”

Without a backwards look, Leon turned and began flying in the Hexagon’s direction, Anzu running along at his side.

After being so long in the Sacred Golden Empire’s rural regions, he felt rather constrained at having to remain so close to the ground, but he enjoyed the flight anyway—at least, until he started getting into the congested traffic a few streets deeper in the city. Despite this, he still made good time, reaching the Hexagon about a quarter hour after leaving the docks.

He kept his magic senses trained on his people, their route, and his home almost the entire time, ensuring that if anything at all happened while he was gone, he’d know and could return at a moment’s notice. Fortunately, it seemed that everything was fine.

The reason why everything was fine became at least somewhat apparent when Leon was brought by the floating lift up into the Hexagon. There wasn’t another delegation waiting for him, but walking toward the lift was Narses the White himself, the Chief of Security and the man Anastasios claimed had been attacked by vampires. He was surrounded by a larger entourage than he’d brought to Leon’s party, though he had no sign of any injury that Leon could see.

“Leon Raime!” Narses boomed as Leon and Anzu stepped out of the lift.

“Narses,” Leon replied with similar, though more subdued enthusiasm. “It’s good to see you, I’d heard you had some excitement while I was away…”

Narses’ eyes widened for a moment, then with a pointed smile, he said, “Nothing could be further from the truth! Just the usual problems we’ve been dealing with, nothing at all that we couldn’t handle. So don’t worry, the Security branch isn’t in need of the Director’s intervention…”

As he spoke, his eyes told a completely different story. Narses stared hard at Leon, and with such intensity that Leon could only surmise that he was telling Leon to shut up or change the subject. Leon complied and chatted with Narses for another couple of minutes before the Chief of Security begged his leave, promising to invite Leon to a party of his own in the near future. Leon took that ‘near’ to mean ‘within the next couple of days’, and ‘party’ to be ‘meeting to discuss what happened’, so he readily accepted the invitation before Narses and his entourage exited the Hexagon, though not before he and Narses shared one last deadly serious look filled with deadly meaning.

Somewhat relaxed now that he’d seen Narses alive, if acting a little secretive, Leon hurried on to the Director’s office.

He was waved in as soon as he showed himself, and it was only then that he had Anzu stay behind. He would meet with the Director alone.

Or so was his intention; when he walked in, he found that Penelope was there with her father, waiting for him.

“You took your time getting here,” the Director growled, though from the way his shadowed face bent, Leon could tell he was smiling.

“I would’ve been here later if I allowed myself to be escorted by those you sent to the docks.”

“You’re still here later than I’d like,” the Director replied.

“Leon,” Penelope said in polite greeting, interrupting Leon before he could respond.

“Penelope,” Leon replied with equal politeness. “I heard that Occulara’s been an exciting place to be in the time I’ve been gone.”

“Have you?” the Director asked. “Funny, I thought I was giving off a completely business-like aura here. No excitement for anyone to talk about. I assume Anastasios told you about Narses, then?”

Leon smirked and shrugged noncommittally.

“I’m sure it was the Lord Protector,” the Director continued. “Always sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong and flapping his lips to those who don’t care… Anyway, Leon, I’ve made my decision.”

Leon blinked in surprise. “So quickly? I thought I was going to have pull some teeth when I got back here.” That it was brought up so casually had him reeling slightly, but he decided to roll with it.

“No teeth need be pulled,” the Director said.

“Not ours, at least,” Penelope cut in. She stared at Leon with an expression of the utmost seriousness. “Leon, those vampires my father was working with overstepped their bounds. They forced his hand.”

“My hand was not forced,” the Director insisted. “I simply made a decision.”

“They forced his hand,” Penelope repeated venomously. “I’m sure they knew of the ultimatum you gave to my father, and then they saw you with Narses… I don’t think they thought they had much of a choice in the matter, and attacked Narses with the intent to kill. They wanted him out of your camp as quickly as possible. Or maybe they attacked him for some other reason, I can’t really say. Obviously, they failed, and in failing, they’ve become a liability and have to be cut loose.”

Leon smiled quite thinly and glared at the Director. “So what you’re saying is that you didn’t make a choice between me or them, they simply became too dangerous to remain attached to? That hardly gives me confidence in our future relationship—assuming I even want that relationship to continue.”

“No,” the Director replied. “I made my decision not long after you left. I think the reason why these vampires attacked my old friend was because they already knew what I was going to do. Leon, I’d rather have you with me than them. Makes my life much less dangerous, and it potentially secures my future more than they possibly can.”

“You speak of me like I’m no more than a tool to be used.”

“Everyone’s a tool to be used by everyone else. If you think otherwise, I suggest you think a little harder on the nature of human relationships. They’re all transactional. In your case, you benefit me more than the vampires.”

“And if that should ever change? You seem quite willing to abandon them now, is that how I should expect to be treated in the future? You made a whole damned show out of not choosing me to begin with, and I can’t help but find this entire thing unpleasant.”

“Would you rather I choose the vampires?”

“I’d rather you explained to me what the vampires were providing you with in no uncertain terms, and what you expect to get out of me.”

“Arks,” Penelope interjected.

Leon cocked an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“We have several arks from your Clan. They’re quite big and could be quite powerful, if we were able to activate them. The arks require a bearer of the Thunderbird’s power to be properly powered up, but the vampires were able to use their mastery of blood magic to give us a degree of access to these arks even without Thunderbird blood.”

“What did you provide them in return?” Leon slowly asked as he did his damnedest to control his surprise and greed at hearing about surviving arks of his Clan. He could even feel Nestor suddenly paying much more attention to this conversation than he had just a moment ago.

“Security,” Penelope said. “A certain degree of freedom under the aegis of Heaven’s Eye. This whole thing with Narses was quite explicitly off-limits, though.”

Leon took a deep breath, then bitterly smiled again. “If you want to convince me that you’re really choosing me over them and not just being forced to by political circumstance, you’re doing a terrible job.”

“I’m trying to be honest,” Penelope replied. She glanced at the Director and added, “I want us all to be honest. There’s some bad blood here between us, and I want to mend that.”

“Show me the arks,” Leon demanded.

“What?” the Director growled.

“Show me the arks,” Leon repeated. “If you want my cooperation, you’d have to show them to me anyway, wouldn’t you? I want to see them. I want to assess for myself whether or not you’re lying to me again.”

Silence followed his demand, and after a few seconds to think, Leon calmed his racing heart down. He had to batter away his greed, anger, and pride, but he was able to regain some element of humility and respect.

“Look,” he said, “I agree that we have some bad blood. Enough that I’m not going to just walk back into my position as a Hand after all of this. If you want my help with these arks—and we’re going to have to have a long discussion about them later—then we’re in this as partners. Not as a master and subordinate. In either direction.”

The Director leaned forward, the shadows hiding his chiseled, yet aged face falling away. “I can work with that.”

“Then tell me what it is that you want,” Leon said. “The arks are just a means to an end, aren’t they? If all you wanted was arks, then you would’ve built them, wouldn’t you? But these are arks of my Clan, and they have to represent certain capability that you don’t have right now…”

The Director scowled, but after a chastising look from Penelope, he explained, “I resent this Empire. I resent this status quo. I resent this whole plane. I became the Director of Heaven’s Eye because there are no higher positions to attain on this plane without being born into the right family or throwing yourself to the zealots in the east. This is it. I reached the pinnacle of power on this plane and have languished here for centuries. I want more. Not power, but just more life. I want to see new things, have new experiences, reach new heights in the magical arts, and leave this plane behind. That’s why I’ve kept and maintained these arks as best as I could. And that’s what I want in the end: to leave this plane and continue my magical journey.”

“If that’s what you want, why don’t you try for Apotheosis?” Leon asked. “For a man in your position… well, I won’t say it would be easy, but relatively speaking, it would be easier for you than just about anyone else, wouldn’t it? Why not go for it?”

“There’s a whole tier of magic between me and Apotheosis,” the Director explained. “If I were to try, the Empires would take notice and likely make moves against me. The chances that they’d actually allow me—and, by extension, Heaven’s Eye—to surpass them in power, is next to none. They simply won’t allow me to ascend safely. If I were to try, I’d be inviting the destruction of all Heaven’s Eye. And I can’t do that.”

Leon’s eyes narrowed and his smile turned almost mocking. “Strange thing to hear, coming from a man who just professed such lofty goals.”

“I’m not a monster, Leon Raime. Or at least, I try not to be. My ambition might blind me on occasion, but I don’t want to leave a smoking crater behind me when I… if I ever achieve Apotheosis. This place is my home, and I love Heaven’s Eye. I won’t destroy either for the sake of my ambition.”

“Admirable, if true,” Leon said, emphasizing his distrust of the Director. “But I still want to see those arks.”

“They are my one piece of leverage,” the Director bluntly stated. “I’ll not reveal them so easily.”

Penelope quickly cut in as Leon scowled. “But there are still some things we can do, Leon, that I hope will bridge at least some of the gap between us…”

“Oh? Such as?”

“When the vampires attacked Narses, they came in fairly large numbers. Most of them were killed, and those that weren’t were either captured or driven off. As a result, we have quite a few corpses to identify and investigate, as well as several prisoners to question. Are you interested in seeing them for yourself? We managed to capture one who seems quite important… eighth-tier and all that…”

“You captured an eighth-tier vampire?” Leon asked incredulously. “In my experience, whenever a vampire loses a fight that catastrophically, the contracted demon kills the vampire. How did you manage this?”

“A great deal of luck and, I assume, an indifferent patron,” Penelope explained.

Leon wasn’t convinced, but after a few moments of thought, he gave Penelope an affirmative answer. At the very least, he might be able to suss out a few answers if he were to speak with the captured vampires, and with some input from Xaphan, he might even be able to figure out just why Amon—if Amon was even their patron—wouldn’t kill them as he had all the other vampires that Leon had killed.

He felt like there as something else going on here, but for now, it seemed that the Director wanted some measure of peace between them.

“I think we’ll need to have a more in-depth conversation about our relationship going forward,” Leon eventually stated, “but for now, I can accept this as the peace offering it’s supposed to be.”

“Good,” Penelope said. “Speak with Narses at your convenience. He’ll direct you to where the vampires are being held.”

Leon nodded, then turned to leave without another word. However, Penelope stopped him before he could walk out of the door.

“And Leon? Thank you for being at least a little understanding…”

Leon glanced back at her. “I don’t think I’m being all that understanding, really. But I’d rather us be friends than enemies.” His gaze drifted in the Director’s direction, who stared at him from behind his desk like a King watching a retainer leave his throne room. “So long as we all operate under that philosophy, I think we’ll accomplish great things together. But if that were to change…”

He let that statement hang in the air for a moment, then left the Director’s office without giving voice to the silent threat.

For now, at least, it seemed the Director was on his side. But this was hardly an alliance he could trust, and he knew that he still needed friends in Heaven’s Eye and elsewhere. On top of that, the whole ‘captured’ vampires thing fiercely stank to him. On the surface, it seemed like everything was fine, but as he walked away from the Hexagon with Anzu, he couldn’t help but feel like his position wasn’t that different compared to before his expedition to the research facility.

He needed more power, and he needed it as soon as possible.