It was always a hard thing to pry the Sunlit Emperor away from his women and his palace. For the most part, he allowed handpicked men to oversee matters of state. He participated enough to not be an absentee Emperor and to keep an eye on his appointees, but he largely allowed his chosen ministers...
2022-08-08 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe Jaguar stared out at the scene before him with utter disbelief. The fleets that had taken the Sword, sailing back into port at Raimondas. So many had returned despite the barbarians undoubtedly still reeling from their losses. Now was the time to press their advantage, not return to Kataigida...
2022-08-05 15:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe Director seethed, and for that, Leon felt a strange sense of glee. Sure, he was infuriated that the Keeper had attacked him and broke so much of his villa, but in the days since, he’d calmed down enough that seeing the Director so irate was far more fun than wallowing in anger against the S...
2022-08-03 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post“That all happened much sooner than I anticipated,” Anastasios murmured as he and Leon sat down in one of Leon’s private sitting rooms, the enchantments in the walls still robust despite the damage that Leon’s villa took during Keeper’s assault. “Leon, I humbly apologize, the Keeper n...
2022-08-01 15:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostClaudia, Marcus’ older sister, looked quite a bit like him: rather tall, though not overly so; sharp eyes that didn’t wander; dark brown hair cropped short; tanned skin that spoke of long days spent in the sun; and a body that had been obviously trained for combat. She matched Marcus in magic...
2022-07-29 15:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostLeon carefully sized up Alcander’s opponent. ‘Daniel’, as Narses had called him, was a rather handsome man, but generically so, in Leon’s uncharitable opinion. Classically handsome, but his eyes were just a little too close together, black hair that was just a little bit too long, and a l...
2022-07-27 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostLeon leaned back in his chair, enjoying the quiet ambience of his villa at noon. There were a few workers out in the adjacent field, but they were only doing their daily checks on the medicinal herbs that filled the field and removing any weeds that showed themselves. Anastasios was still around,...
2022-07-25 15:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostIndentured servitude to the Ilian Empire. If Leon were forced to, he’d have to admit that it wasn’t that bad of a prospect as his independent streak insisted it was—though, it wasn’t an onerous duty. He and Anastasios had come to an agreement as they were on their way back to Leon’s vil...
2022-07-22 15:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostWhen he returned home after his meeting with the Director, Leon went straight to a quiet meditation chamber where he could ruminate on the upcoming problems he had to deal with on his own. He didn’t regret his decision to face off alone against the Sky Devils, but the consequences of that decis...
2022-07-20 15:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostVictory. A fantastic word.
Honor. Glory. More great words, depending on the ideals specific to each person.
The Jaguar never put too much stock in vague notions of glory or honor, but victory was something he could measure and achieve. When he returned to Kataigida, victory, honor, an...
2022-07-18 15:01:08 +0000 UTC View PostLeon sighed as he sat back in his chair, the past few days of paperwork weighing as heavily on his mind and sanity as his recent visit to Argos.
He’d returned to Occulara almost a week ago and had been expecting to meet immediately with the Director. However, the Director had simply sent...
Turning down a monarch, let alone a tenth-tier Emperor, wasn’t an easy thing, but there was nothing Leon wanted to do more as he readied himself to head to Argos’ citadel. He’d be heading there alone, without Penelope or Red. In fact, Penelope had told him that there would likely be no wome...
2022-07-13 15:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostLeon breathed deeply as he walked away from the square, hardly believing that that had worked at all. He’d taken quite the risk in blasting the Blood Thunder Jaguar’s descendant with the Thunderbird’s lightning, hoping with little evidence at all that he would recognize it, or at least be a...
2022-07-11 15:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostLeon watched with much conflict as the Sky Devils rampaged through the impressive defenses of Argos. On the one hand, he wasn’t all that keen on seeing the Imperials slaughtered, but neither did he want any potential powerbase he could build in the Sky Devils to be ravaged—not until he’d me...
2022-07-08 15:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe Jaguar breathed deeply as his ship emerged on the other side of the sea gate, the huge troop transports of his fleet following close behind. The ship’s weapons were firing as fast as they could, providing withering cover for the transports. The Imperial Lances answered in kind, but their de...
2022-07-06 15:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostArgos was an old city. Not quite as ancient as some of the most venerable cities on the plane, like Occulara or Ilion, but it had a long history. The site the city had been built on had a fantastic natural port, opening right out on the Argonaut Sea while having a series of hilly islands further ...
2022-07-04 15:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostLeon and Red made good time as they flew north. Leon was in no mood at all to stop for rest, he just wanted to get back to Occulara as soon as he could.
It seemed that Red agreed with him—or at least, felt no need to argue against Leon’s tacit goal. That was, at least, until about two d...
2022-07-01 15:01:05 +0000 UTC View PostAs Leon stared down at the work he’d just finished, he was greatly impressed—and not with his small part in the enchantment. He’d needed to lend his expertise with lightning magic for his thunder wood research team’s work, and while he was proud of what he’d done, it was paltry compared...
2022-06-29 15:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostAs he left the Hexagon, Leon was practically buzzing with excitement. He couldn’t help it; he still didn’t trust the Director—the thought that the man might still be in bed with vampires that wanted Leon and Xaphan dead still flitting through his mind—but being placed in charge of Magical...
2022-06-27 15:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post“Rufus!” Narses shouted. “I’m placing you under arrest! Are you going to come quietly?”
Rufus smiled back and gave his response. “Fuck off!”
‘All right,’ Leon thought to himself as he took a few menacing steps forward, ‘I guess he’s choosing the be...
Leon tapped his foot impatiently on the bricks of the road, waiting for Narses’ people to show up.
Over the past few days, the Chief of Security had been running down Valentina’s leads and achieving some measure of progress. There weren’t many vampires that were caught, but many peop...
It was a beautiful day in Raikos. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the breeze was cool and pleasant. Raikos itself was the very picture of the idyllic village, with a number of small timber houses spread out in orderly, though not particular straight rows, punctuated by quaint br...
2022-06-20 15:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostWith his part in Valentina’s interrogation over, Leon made his way back to his villa while Narses took over following up on the leads she’d given them.
Along the way, Xaphan did not remain quiet, and he and Leno argued incessantly all along the way. The argument wasn’t over by the ti...
“All right, what is it?” Narses asked in annoyance as he and Leon re-entered the observation room.
Leon, before answering, glanced out through the enchanted glass and noted that Valentina at least didn’t look particularly bored anymore, but neither did she look anything other than re...
“You did well out there,” Narses commented as he thumbed through a few of the papers that Leon had just given him, his expression growing more and more foul the more he saw.
Leon could understand the man’s anger—those papers were the documents that he’d retrieved from Valentina’...
2022-06-13 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostLeon’s group, now invisible with their darkness shrouds covering them, watched from the windows as a dozen men came walking up to the front gate of Valentina’s manor. To Leon’s eyes, not one of them had reached the sixth-tier, meaning that his people were more than a match for them if it ca...
2022-06-10 15:01:05 +0000 UTC View Post“So, how does it look?” Elise asked.
Leon frowned, knowing that the question was rhetorical. He knew next to nothing about this, and even if he tried to catch up on knowledge, Elise would always blow him out of the water with her expertise.
They were now standing at the edge of a ...
2022-06-08 15:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostLeon 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 o...
2022-06-06 15:01:03 +0000 UTC View Post“… and he just straight-up asked you to join the Ilian Empire?” Elise asked incredulously.
“He did,” Leon confirmed.
He was with his family in his, Elise, and Maia’s bedroom in the guesthouse, going over the meeting he’d just had with Anastasios, and finishing up their c...
2022-06-03 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Leon walked back into the throne room with Cassandra, Valeria, Elise, and Maia, they found that Anastasios was already there, a handful of powerful guards in Ilian colors standing not too far away. He was busy enthusiastically greeting the Empress and the Grand Druid, both of whom had beaten...
2022-06-01 15:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post