343. The Most Evil Sorcerer Of All

All eyes aboard the vessel fell upon the new and much bigger plume of smoke now rising from the Grand Courtyard as Vikkar's ship pulled out of the dock. Everyone knew in their gut at that moment, they had committed the ultimate crime by boarding his ship, there was no return trip, they would never be welcome back, ever again.

         Nepheus gazed at his new friend with fond wonder as she stared in horror at the billowing smoke. Dena was beautiful even when she was in shock, her rebellious nature had proven to be tough, he couldn't wait to see her face when she saw her new life. Feeling inspired, he pulled his pipes out and blew a few notes.

         "Would you like me to play you a song?"

         High on adrenaline and stoned from the shock, adding desire to the cocktail made her feel weak. She blushed, caught off guard by his sentimental proposal, no one had ever played her a song before, she didn't know what to say.

         He blew a few bars of a melody on his pipes, in time with the lapping waves. Jasun leaned down and picked up his harp, joining in with a harmonic chord, in response to the bar Nepheus played, in time to the snapping sail. Feeling the groove, Akku pulled out his drums and joined in with the wind and the waves… Then, as if an invisible conductor was conducting, the Lemurians broke out in harmonious song as it sailed off home into the sunset.

         Doctor Seton was in the midst of a French kiss when he heard what sounded like Lunie music again. From the Secret Garden the view was obstructed by trees. He scanned the sky, the smoke from the courtyard was now clearly visible, however.

         "I think the torture is finally over" he whispered into Eden’s ear, nibbling tenderly. "Shall we perhaps make our way down to the Skin Club for a celebration libation?"

        

        

         Down in the safety of the Engine Chamber, oblivious to the mayhem above, Nolan and Dion were passing time, awaiting the next step in the plan. Dion picked up the dice and tried to focus on his next play, but the smell of smoke breezing in through the vent was distracting.

         "Do you smell smoke?"

         Nolan sniffed the air. "They are having the Grand Finale" he concluded.

         "Where's Torus?" Dion was growing concerned now. "He should be here by now."

         No sooner had the words left his lips, the door opened and Torus arrived with a smile.
         "Well done, gang!" He walked across the chamber to his desk in the alcove, opened up a flask and poured a round of BloodWine. The three gods held their goblets up in a victorious toast, all the plans were in place for the dawn of a really New Empire.

         "All the gold has been diverted to Ebar, now we can all buckle-up and enjoy the rest of the show!" Torus smiled. "To Ebar!" He pulled out his black box, opened a foil packet and filled the pipe.

         "What about Vikkar?" Nolan pried as the right opportunity arose.

         "I've decided to give Vikkar a chance" he replied. "I'm going to Kergal on the way to Fomora, when the time is right I'll pitch a plan to see if he'll join us. He'll need us."
         "What?" Nolan didn't like it, it was late in the game to be changing plans, it made no sense especially after today. Having never seen the sword's magical powers for himself, Nolan couldn't believe the myths to be true. He had spent hours in the shops trying to replicate the powers of the said sword, everyone had, no one had ever mastered the powers of the lightning, not without an external energy source. Surely if it was physically possible to create such a weapon, Orius would have discovered the secrets by now?

         "I thought he knew too much. Is it because of his ridiculous sword? You don’t actually believe it’s got supernatural powers, do you?"

         "Why do you even care?" Torus replied, passing the pipe to Dion. "Vikkar's not your problem, you're going to Ebar!"

         But Nolan cared now, he would be the new King of Ebar, after all. The sword wasn’t the only thing that bothered him. "What about the Lemurian Solution? Are you going to still administer that?"

         "Nope" Torus reached into his pocket and pulled out a small brown package, tossing it to him. "You are!"

         "What?" Nolan put the package down, pulse racing, the Oath rupturing his conscience like a skeleton rattling from the past. A chill ran down his spine, he knew what this was, he recognized Gora Lab packaging. "What are you talking about?" He glanced towards Dion, but the god of Beauty looked hardly surprised. Instead he gestured to the package.

         Nolan stared the package in dismay. "I have to cleanse Lemuria?"

         Dion exhaled a plume of smoke into his face and passed him the pipe.       "You'll be given the instructions by a third party, we don’t know anything more... If it's true."

         No more words were needed. Nolan slid the package into his pocket, reached for the pipe and sucked hard on the bowl, but the coal had gone out. He reached for his lighter when he was reminded of the fact that it was missing.

         "Hey Torus, can I have my lighter back?"

         The Final Feast was ready to be held at the Villa, but things weren't going exactly as planned. Atalon stepped outside to simmer on the balcony, and in spite of the smoke billowing into the sky, Lemuria still poisoned his view. Grumpy from starving themselves for the Final Feast, his sisters burst out onto the balcony to poison his world some more.

         "I don't understand HOW you could let them all go without taking a few samples!" Medena scolded, wagging her finger in his general direction. Atalon took a deep breath and another swig of wine, visualizing her words sliding off his shoulders like Vina had taught him. "Especially seeing as you're liquidating the entire island, you KNOW we could have used them in the Crystal program! Way to go big brother! JUST THROW ALL THAT DNA AWAY!!!"

         Atalon let her unload without letting too many of her words filter in. She had a point. Was he just going along with someone else’s agenda? He pondered her pitch in light of recent events, it was true, Halios could have at least captured a few musicians, hideous as they were.

         "First of all" he replied, calmed after giving it all some thought, "it was Halios who was supposed to herd some Breeders and secondly, you shouldn't have trashed their DNA in the first place!"

         "So you DID plan the Lunie Disaster?" Medena insinuated.

         "STOP TWISTING MY WORDS!" Alalon bellowed.
         Hedena bit her tongue, she wanted to know if the dogons had come from the Animal Sanctuary but didn't dare ask right now.

         "Why would I organize Lunies to take all my breeders away? So I could Lemurian Solution them all? How stupid is that?" He returned his gaze to the poisonous land mass in the sea. "You’re going to seed the New Empire with Unadulterated Serpents. Don't you DARE blow it this time!"

         "Yes, Your Honor!"

         "You mean NO, YOUR HONOR! I WILL NOT DARE BLOW IT THIS TIME!"