Point of View: The Southern Border Guards (The Iron Gate)
Commander Valen gripped the battlement railing of the Southern Iron Gate so hard his
knuckles turned white. He had been watching the two rebel armies through his
spyglass for hours, waiting for them to exhaust each other so he could move in.
"Sir..." his scout whispered, his voice trembling. "The armies. They're... they're gone."
Valen looked again. The field was empty. Thousands of men had vanished in a
heartbeat. All that remained were five thousand suits of hollow armor and rusted
swords standing upright in the dirt like a graveyard of metal.
Then, he saw it.
A single, obsidian-black carriage was rolling calmly through the center of the
"Graveyard." It wasn't rushing. It wasn't fleeing. It was moving at the pace of a casual
Sunday stroll.
"Is that... a flag of Terragorn?" Valen's breath hitched. "Who is inside that thing? They
just walked through a hurricane and came out without a speck of dust on the wheels."
As the carriage passed the gate, Valen caught a glimpse through a partially open
curtain. He didn't see a conqueror. He saw a man with silver hair sprawled out,
snoring, while a tiny blue lizard on his head picked its teeth with a gold splinter.
The Commander didn't give the order to "Halt." He gave the order to kneel.
Point of View: Sora & Ryuki (The Carriage Roof)
Sora sat cross-legged on the roof, tossing a gold coin he'd "found" in the chaos. He
looked down at the Lizard, which was now bulging slightly at the sides from its
massive meal.
"You're getting fat, scale-buddy," Sora joked, leaning back against the luggage.
"Master's 'clink' was a bit overkill, wasn't it? He could have just let us handle it."
Ryuki didn't look up from sharpening his blade. "Master didn't do it to save us, Sora.
He did it because the screaming was vibrating his wine glass. He didn't kill an army;
he turned down the volume."
Sora laughed, looking out at the beautiful Southern horizon. "Well, whatever the
reason, it's a great day for a trip. No trafic, no noise, and the Master is in a good
mood. Let's hope the next village has a decent cellar."
Point of View: Empress Yui (The Interior)
Inside, Yui felt like she was trapped in a beautiful, terrifying dream. She looked at
Lupa, who was making funny faces at Shin, and then at Emiko, who was elegantlypouring a fresh cup of tea as if the deaths of five thousand men were just a footnote
in a long book.
They aren't even talking about it, Yui thought, her heart racing. They aren't celebrating
a victory. They aren't mourning the dead. To them, the 'Monster' just cleared a minor
inconvenience.
She looked at Jee-shahn. His chest rose and fell in a slow, deep rhythm. He looked so
human, so vulnerable in his sleep—until you remembered the "Clink."
"You're staring again, crying lady," Jee-shahn's voice rumbled, though his eyes
remained shut. "If you're looking for a 'Grand Strategy,' I'll save you the trouble. My
strategy is to find a place where the air smells like jasmine and the bed doesn't creak.
Anything that gets in the way of that... disappears."
Yui looked at Silver, her eagle, who had finally tucked its head under its wing and
fallen asleep. Even the bird had realized: as long as they were with the Monster, the
world could burn, but the carriage would always be at peace.