I was sitting in the private room almost no one else had access to. It was deep beneath the central park in Sanctuary. Besides a portal only I knew about, the only other exit was from the small pool in the room. It was connected through a long underwater maze that only the merfolk caretakers knew.

The main feature of the room was the memory repository in the middle. It was a giant memory crystal that was connected to an embedded memory crystal I carried in a bracer. The giant crystal received everything I experienced and thought. The other feature was that the merfolk could review the memories and make it into a separate small memory crystal. Not because they had any special power, but it was something I managed to make with the help from the mysterious lady in my mind.

Honestly, it was mostly her guidance that enabled it. Of course, she put in a restriction that it would blank out anything that related to her. Or so she thought. It was true that the memory crystal in my bracer did not record anything related to her.

However, with an illusion spell crystal embedded in my body, I managed to make another memory crystal that was hidden from her, which was able to record everything with her. Without her knowledge. At least as far as I knew, because she had not mentioned it.

The most important part of the room for me was the small shrine I had made for Yathanae and our daughter. During the building of Sanctuary, we had stumbled upon a vein of silver. I had used most of the silver to make a metal statue of Yathanae holding a little elven girl with her features in her arms. All my good memories regarding her were collected in a few crystals that lay at the foot of the statue.

I knew it irritated my wives a little when I disappeared for an entire day every month. Not because they did not let me grieve the loss of Yathanae, but because I did not share it with them. Especially Emma and Shenerah. They had lost Yathanae too, yet I could not bring myself to grieve with them.

It was close to dawn, it was time to rejoin my family, instead of sitting alone, blaming myself for her death. I knew it was not entirely my fault, but I felt like it was my fault. That had never lessened.

I went over to the pool and submerged my head. With a mixture of water and air magic, it allowed me to breathe underwater. In the language of the merfolk, I called out, “I’m leaving now.”

A few minutes passed before I saw movement. It was Nia. A powerful water mage. Her hair was a mat blackish green, her eyes black as night. Her skin was scaled, mostly in a bluish colour. Like depicted in normal folklore, the upper body was human, if scaled like a fish, and the lower body that of a fish.

“Will you come and swim with us soon?” she asked coquettishly as she stopped in front of me. She was referring to herself and her seven siblings. I had bought them at an auction a cycle ago. One of the more unsavoury auctions. I had outbid a chef from a disgusting underground restaurant. They served non-humans, and apparently merfolk are quite the delicacy, normally served so fresh the merfolk were alive for most of the feast. Fucking psychos.

“Sorry, I can’t. We’re moving ahead with the next stage of our plan, we just dealt the first blow against the magic schools. We’ll have to strike against the nobility next,” I said.

She pouted a bit, but then surged forward and gave me a kiss. “I’ll miss you.”

I smiled at her. “Well, I’m sure you’ll relive the memory of our kiss just now again and again. Like you usually do.”

“Who told you?” she asked aghast. I was sure she would be blushing if she was capable of doing it. “Was it Brenna? Don’t listen to her, she’s just jealous I’ve gotten a kiss from you.”

“I’ll see you around Nia, stay safe.”

“You too, please return to me,” she said softly. I gave her a wink and got up from the pool. As soon as I was gone, they would raise the water level so the entire room was underwater. With a last look at the statue, I collected my thoughts and steeled my emotions. It was time to get back to my family.

They did not blame me for Yathanae’s death, but I felt the pang of guilt whenever I looked at Emma and Shenarah. I even felt a bit of regret and guilt whenever I looked at one of my children. However, I locked all those negative feelings away, purging them once a month.

I opened the portal and stepped through to our home. Every time I went into the garden or looked out there, I felt a flash of anger and guilt because of Yathanae dying. I had proposed we lived elsewhere, but the wives had insisted that we stay in the house. Instead, we had built a memorial where she fell. A copy of the one I built in my private room.

After exiting the secret room and going into my office. I felt something was off. Focusing for a split second on the links I had with small crystals embedded in every member of my family, I found out what was wrong. Maeve was hiding on the shelf, waiting to pounce me.

I feigned ignorance, knowing that without the link, the little kitten would have managed to successfully ambush me. Pretending nothing was wrong, I closed the secret entrance behind the bookshelf. Very cliché, but for everyone but me, what was behind the shelves was a stone wall. I used stone magic, metal magic, and wood magic to seal off the entrance.

As soon as I pushed the bookshelf back in its spot, Maeve launched herself at my face. I let out a feigned gasp of shock as my daughter thudded against my chest, before landing in my arms. She was in her kitten form, and still not old enough to make the jumps she planned every time.

She changed into her humanoid form. Her beautiful green eyes staring up at me. So much like her mother’s. She grinned at me, and purred happily, nuzzling against my neck when I brought her up to give her a hug.

“Hey, my fierce little huntress, you can’t go ambushing your old dad like that,” I said with a big grin, making her purr even more. After a minute of rubbing against me, she transformed back into a kitten and scurried out of my arms.

She started running across the room, getting halfway out before turning around to look at me. She gave a questioning meow. With a smile, I transformed into a house cat and after a quick struggle to get out of the clothes I left behind, I started chasing her. Though I could easily catch her, I let her keep a small lead, and I purposely missed a few attempts at pouncing on her.

From the office, she made her way down the corridor and into the kitchen. It was her favourite spot to hide. She usually ran there first, in our little merry go chase. So I let her have time to hide.

As I slid to a stop in the door opening. I already knew where she was. Sigrid was trying very hard to hide a grin as she stood at one of the prep tables. None of the vegetables she chopped went into the bowl next to her. The other cooks had ill-concealed smiles as well. Without a care in the world, I changed back into my human form, leaving me buck-naked.

In a grave and loud voice, I asked, “Has anyone seen a little wayward kitten? She’s been very naughty.”

“No, Milord,” they responded as usual. This was Maeve’s favourite game after all. We were all in on it.

Sigrid quickly asked, “Where shall I send the maid?”

“My office,” I replied in a low voice, before returning to the previous volume. “I guess she must have gone elsewhere.”

I made a big production out of leaving, before turning back into a cat, and snuck back into the kitchen. Stealthily I made my way up to the prep table Sigrid was standing at. After climbing up, I saw that Maeve was sticking her head up from the bowl, looking towards the door, away from me. She did a weird little shimmy that she usually did when she thought she had won.

Sneaking up behind her, I licked the back of her head, making her hiss in fright. She turned around with big eyes, a paw up and claws out. When she saw me, she looked a little sad for a moment, before licking my nose. She let out a cute little meow. I licked her nose back, but before she could scurry away, I caught her by the scruff of her neck in my teeth. She immediately went limp.

Acting fast, I put her down, and jumped off the table. While midair, I changed back into my human form and caught her before she could run away. “Sorry Maeve, I don’t have time to play anymore.”

She meowed pitifully. I shook my head. “No begging, sweetie. Let’s go find your siblings.”

I made my way through the house and up to the second floor where the family rooms were. Going into the main room, which doubled as the family gathering room and playroom, I found the rest of my family.

“I found this naughty little kitten downstairs in my office, I think we need a door at the stairs,” I said loudly, announcing my presence.

Lily, Shenerah, Nathalie, and Mina looked up with gentle smiles from where they were sitting. Mina was feeding our little boy Zac, the youngest of my children. Nathalie was cradling her stomach while Shenerah was helping Lily fold the cloths we used for diapers.

Until a year ago, Mina had been running Alister’s transport company’s main office, but she had managed to convince the other wives that she belonged with me. After all, she knew most of my secrets already. I had no objections because I was trying to fill the hole left behind by Yathanae, but it had not worked. Not with Shenerah, Nathalie, or Mina.

“We need no such things, if they tumble down the stairs, they’ll learn to be more careful,” Emma said ferociously from her spot on the floor where she was playing with our children and Garion. Garion loved his five beastkin siblings, he was always rubbing against one of them. He had even managed to connect with Emma so he could change to cat form too. He was having less trouble controlling his cat form than his human form. Most likely because until just three moons ago, he only had beastkin siblings.

“We can’t have them run around unsupervised, they might get hurt,” I said seriously.

“They’re kittens, not your soldiers, they need to be free to explore and learn about the world. That includes getting hurt, so they can learn the limits,” Emma countered. Bringing back the argument we had a lot since their birth. She kept calling me an overprotective worrywart. While I thought she was way too lax about the security of our children.

Before I could say anything, Maeve started meowing pitifully. Lily came over and grabbed her. With a fierce look at both of us, she said, “No discussion in front of the children. I know you’re busy, but you need to play with your other children too.”

She started tickling Maeve tummy, making the kitten purr. I sighed and turned back into a cat. As soon as I was in cat form, I was mobbed by my other kids, Maeve soon joined us. We played for the better part of an hour, which tired out the kittens and Garion. They made their way over to one of the many pillows and made a small kitten pile.

Emma joined them in cat form as well, lying protectively on the outside. She gave me a look that signalled the argument we had over and over again. I knew she was not being negligent with the security of our children. She cared for them. I also knew that one of the Wolf guards had been in the room, hidden by an illusion.

I was just so freaking worried that something would happen to one of them. However, I might be a bit too overprotective. Stifling their curiosity might not be doing them any favours. My eyes must have communicated some of my thoughts because Emma’s stare softened.

“I really wish you didn’t have to go,” Nathalie said. “It’s cutting it close.”

I turned back into my normal form and walked over to her. I kissed the top of her head and reached down caressing her stomach. “I know, but I promise I’ll be there for the birth, but I need to be out of the Hold.”

“We know, but we don’t have to like it,” Lily added.

Shenerah added, “We know you’d never miss the birth of one of your children. However, it’s time we pay them back for Yathanae and Tinesi.”

“I will make them pay a hundred times for them,” I said, voice heavy with hate and grief. Before her death, we had talked names. If our child had been a boy he would have been named Tanis, and if it had been a girl we would have named her after her dead aunt.

I felt a hand envelope mine. I saw Shenerah was the one holding my hand, while Lily was standing behind her. With a shy smile, she said, “Come, let’s enjoy some time together before you leave. All of us want some time with you.”

I followed them, eager to bury my grief in their love. At least for a moment. Until I was alone again. The hate was always present, but I was able to bury the grief, for a short while anyway.

Two weeks later I had made my way to the high hold of who-the-fuck-cares, in another Kingdom. I was definitely far enough away that I had a beyond solid alibi. I was there in the guise of selling some imported dwarven iron. This high hold was pretty far away from any mines, so iron would fetch a good price.

My real goal was, of course, the office of the transport company run by Alister. My unwitting agents in the rebellion. The people employed by Alister, Alister’s family, and Alister himself could pass any truth mages test. Because they knew nothing.

My people, which accounted for 95% of the company, who knew everything could pass as well. I had managed to make a spell crystal that mimicked my ability to change the result of the fideomancers received. I had still not been able to find a way to fool the giants’ priestly truth detecting ability.

Shortly after dark, I slipped out of the high lord’s manor and made my way to the transport office. There I made my way down into the secret basement room with the portal. There were plenty of mana crystals there, which would allow me to open a portal five times if needed. Once should hopefully be enough.

I slipped through the portal and arrived back in Wilbur’s high hold, in a room so similar to the one I left that if not for the person waiting for me. It was the fideomancer who had taken over running the office from Mina. If not for his obvious beastkin ancestry, he would probably have been freed from serfdom. However, his long floppy rabbit ears were not something polite society would accept.

“Milord,” the man said with a respectful bow.

“Bugs,” I greeted with a big smile. I loved the feature where it translated whatever I called people into their name. His name was something unpronounceable, so I just named him after everyone’s favourite rabbit.

“Milord, both targets are confirmed to be in the high lord’s manor,” Bugs informed me, but something in his tone told me something was wrong. Which was confirmed by his follow-up, “There’s a small snag, the Lord Erthal is in attendance at the manor as well.”

For just a brief moment, I considered calling it off. Lord Erthal had been a good neighbour, and I genuinely liked Theo. I felt a bit hesitant killing his father. After a moment of reflection, I shrugged. “Some sacrifices must be made. Everyone knows about the good relationship between Erthal and me. It’ll further remove suspicion from me.”

“Very well, Milord. A few disgruntled serfs delivering last week’s excess harvest has already spread the gossip that you are travelling to another country. Catting at the different whorehouses along the way.”

I grimaced at that. I did indeed visit whorehouses, but I did not sleep with anyone. With the application of illusions and memory magic, I made the whores believe we did do the deed. I paid them handsomely. Lily endured the public ridicule stoically when we visited the high hold, because of my public escapade.

During the last couple of years, there had been huge attention and spectacle around me. The Great Hero of the Bastion, as I was called. It made it nearly impossible for me to go anywhere without recognition. Surprisingly, the church had not followed up on the attack. So I cultivated an image of a drunken useless Lord. My appearance was generally dishevelled and reeking of booze. All fueled by illusion magic.

Of course, the attention was not all bad. It would serve just as well for creating alibis. That was why the work done by Alister was so important. Well, more precisely, Ethan. A network of almost a hundred portals allowed me to travel instantaneously, undetected, to almost anywhere in the Thirteen Kingdoms.

My first target had been just two days before, the success of the operation had been relayed by the hundreds of serfs who arrived through the portal in Sanctuary. They were in all ages from toddlers to old men and crones. Some of them would be uncooperative, and they would remain in a separate part of Sanctuary which was under guard. They would be treated well until the day the rebellion succeeded or failed.

The second operation would be carried out by myself, my target was ostensibly the High Lord Wilbur, at least that was what I told Chione and Anders. He was the perfect target for instability in a region. He had no one who could inherit, leaving a vacuum. One of the other Lords would then be elevated to high lord.

I had planned on supporting Erthal, but I could not leave him alive when I killed Wilbur and Terud, but my second choice would be Lord Linn, but I knew he would reject. His charcoal business was far too profitable. I would never be accepted, being an outworlder, and a known dunderhead. Neither would I accept, because that meant vacating Wolf Ridge Hold, which I was not interested in. Far too many secrets to be easily moved.

Who would inherit the position of the high lord would not really matter in the end. Because within a few years, the whole of the Thirteen Kingdoms would hopefully be in flames.

I turned to the truth mage. “Thanks, Bugs. I’ll be taking my leave now. See you in a couple of spans.”

“Be safe, Milord,” he whispered as I transformed into a cat and ran out the door. Making my way through the city to Wilbur’s manor. The only time it got a bit hairy was when a mangy dog thought it was going to chase me. After making sure no one was around, I ran into an alley and turned into a giant panther. The yipping of the dog as it ran away in fear woke up a few people. However, all they saw was just a black cat enjoying a midnight run.

The manor guards were easy to get around in my cat form. As lax as they were, I thought I might have been able to stroll in there in my human form, buck-naked. I found a side-door that was only guarded by one guard. I made an auditory illusion of someone knocking on the door. From the inside.

The guard opened the door with a confused look on his face, but when he saw no one there, he closed it again. I created the illusion again. The guard’s movements seemed more irate when he opened the door the second time. Still no one there.

I made the knocking start again. He swung the door open with a low shout, “Knock that shit out, it’s not funny, fucking shitbirds!”

As he was cursing out someone, I took the opportunity to slip into the manor. I quickly made my way around the manor. There were only thirteen guards on duty inside the manor. They were quickly incapacitated. Dragged into the main hall where I mounted them on stone spikes in a kneeling position facing the high table. Spell crystals would ensure they were kept alive. Another spell crystal would ensure that no sound would escape the room.

After ensuring that the doors could not be opened by anyone but me, I made my way to the bed chambers. I started with Wilbur. I knocked him out, making sure he would not wake up. I then got the new Cardinal, Lord Terud, and Erthal. The Cardinal was put in a set of collar and manacles I found in a room somewhere. It would prevent him from using mana.

I put them in the seats at the high table, modified them to ensure that they could not move, healed them and then woke them up with a shot of icy cold water to their face. They were mightily confused for a minute, before they completely woke up and saw me standing in front of them, with thirteen kneeling guards behind me, stone spikes penetrating their bodies.

“What’s the meaning of this. Karth?” Erthal demanded. While the other two panicky started screaming for help. The guards’ groans of pain added to the cacophony.

“Scream as loud as you want, no sound will go beyond the walls of the hall,” I said, before silencing the two with more water. “And for what’s going on, this is the start of a rebellion, and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry you’re here. I had intended for you to take over after I killed this toad.”

“You can’t speak to me like that! The Church will have you killed,” Wilbur blustered in a squeaky voice. The Cardinal backing up his claim.

“He doesn’t give a shit,” Erthal said.

“You’re right, I don’t give a shit. The Church has tried several times, but failed. Including your precious Cardinal. He’s fodder for some weed in the mountains somewhere,” I said. “Lord Erthal, as I said, I’m sorry you are here. Think about something I can do for you, in repayment of your life. For now, the show must go on. Everyone be quiet while I have a little talk with Terud.”

I froze everyone’s ability to open their mouths. Except for the Cardinal, none of them had an open mana barrier, meaning that it was easy for me to take control of their soul. However, since the manacles kept his magic ability suppressed, and I kept him drained, the Cardinal was unable to resist. Lord Terud looked scared shitless, squeaking out a low, “Me?”

“Yes, you. See, the Church’s last attempt at my life was led by the serf I sold you. An attack that killed one of my wives and our unborn child,” I growled.

“Who?” he asked confused.

“The Cardinal’s worthless son, Vernon.”

“I—” he stammered a few times before getting his shit together. “—I gave him to the old Cardinal right after the meeting.”

With the help of the giant’s magic, I knew he was telling the truth. “How disappointing, since both are dead, I guess that’s a dead end.”

I muted Terud and turned to Erthal. “Have you thought of something?”

“I knew you were bad news—” he started with a hateful glare.

I interrupted him, “Do skip over the whole badmouthing me. You’ve been a good neighbour, which is why I give you this opportunity, but don’t waste my time.”

“Fine,” he harrumphed. “Make sure that your rebellion doesn’t bring ruin to my Hold and family.”

“Easy,” I responded. I turned my attention to Wilbur. “I know I’ve been a bit of a dick, but so have you. This was inevitable. Tell your Gods that I’m coming from them.”

The eyes of the four widened as they felt the stone spikes entered their bodies. I made it slow for Wilbur and Terud, but for Erthal I did it quickly. The stone spikes erupted beneath their chairs and entered their bodies, continuing until their head was impaled. I then made the spikes rip their body into small pieces from the inside, except for their heads that were still mounted on the spikes.

Their bodies were turned into an explosion of blood and gore. Soaking the high table, and beyond in blood, intestines, and pieces of flesh and clothes. I kept the heads of the Cardinal, Terud, and Wilbur alive while I moved on to the next part.

I went to each guard and decapitated them, with healing magic I kept them alive and conscious. I placed their head in the crook of their arm, like knights kneeling with their helmet off. As I moved towards the door, I looked over the carnage I had wrought. This was satisfactory, but I still felt it was missing something.

A message. That was what was missing. I made my way back to the high table and dipped my hand in the blood pools. On the wall, I wrote an appropriate message “Let the Betrayer Gods tremble, the Godslayer is coming!”.

Satisfied, I made my way out of the dining hall, leaving the door open. I turned into a cat. As I left the hall, I cut my healing magic, letting the people in the hall finally die.