Chapter 163

Lykan

Rectify

There was so much destruction, so many people were being forced to place their lives in danger and for what? Lykna had just wanted to talk, to see the mind of the king. Yet, the more he stayed here, the more apparent things became. For starters, it was apparent that the King valued his own health and wellbeing over his people.

Lykan’s control over the air had grown so much from this one interaction that he could almost let everything go. In fact, it was in Lykan’s nature to let this go, so long as King Philipon showed himself. Yet, the longer he waited, the more impatient he grew with the whole endeavor. The more he cut down men and women that he had once sworn an oath to protect, caused his very heart to ache.

He did his best not to severely injure anyone. Especially not his former classmates and servicemen. In fact Lykan was fairly certain that if he searched closely he might find people he worked with amongst the defeated masses.

Javison and Jema were but two examples, but the more he fought, the more he was aware the odds of him running into more soldiers that he worked with or for in passing would increase. Still, the soldiers came. Worse, he found himself respecting their fortitude and training, going forth to face an opponent that clearly outclassed them was not easy.

It was at this point that he remembered the forces that were deployed to Dunthir. The forces that were needlessly thrown to combat a nearly impossible being. A being that Lykan himself found near to be impossible to beat as well.

This only served to cause more pain and doubt to form in his mind, for what he had done. Had he been too rash? He believed the King to be a good man, one who would listen to the people. One who would avoid needless bloodshed.

Yet, despite his feelings, here he was. Seeing the waste of human resources and capital all at once.

“Lykan, please tell me why? Why do you do this? Why are you attacking us?” Javison asked, his voice pleading. His words would normally be lost upon the wind, but as Lykan was the wind, he heard and understood everything that the man was screaming defiantly into the the air.

“You think I am the one attacking? You think I have done anything other than defend myself?” Lykan asked, his voice low and cold. Each word carried upon a cold biting wind that flowed through everyone.

Hearing the words, anger filled Lykan as he turned his gaze to Javison and Jema both. He locked eyes, and then began lowering himself.

Even now, Lykan used the wind to cushion the fall of the blimps. Blimps that had tried to use his air to float in his sky, to attack him. Still despite their arrogance, he did everything in his power to disable the combat ships as easily as possible.

Whirring.

The wind began to pick up and blow harder as Lykan lowered himself to the ground.

There was the icy chill upon the wind, one that could often be felt just before a violent storm erupted. Yet, despite all the ominous warning of nature, the humans below seemed oblivious to the cause for the storm. They all seemed oblivious to the very cause for why the storm had appeared. They all seemed to be missing the one vital component. The component that didn’t want to be here.

Lykan himself hadn’t been idle. Despite his seeming nonchalance, he had been active. His knowledge of and understanding of air had grown that he now had many new things to consider. First and foremost, he now understood the different cracks that permeated the walls of the vast city of Sidhertha. He also found the cracks and crevices of the Castle and Academy both. After time, he even believed he found a way that he could force air through those cracks, cracks that sat at the very foundation of the capital and heart of the Sidherthan empire. Should he so choose, he felt moderately certain that he could break apart the support pillars of those vast structures and let them fall.

Unfortunately, that was not something he wished to do. Such an act would be the same thing as declaring an act of war against Sidhertha. While he was not at all worried about such an act in and of itself, he couldn’t help but feel this was all a waste.

Lykan stopped until he was floating just before Javison and Jema.

“You two can see those people. Your fellow countrymen, standing on the roads.” Lykan said, pointing to the crowd of onlookers who had been watching the festivities closely.

The two just stood there in confusion.

“You can see them, can you not?”

“Ye, yes.” Jema managed to stutter.

“They are your fellow countrymen. Do they not deserve to be allowed protection of your forces? To be provided with liberties you should be inclined to protect?” Lykan asked.

“Y, yes.” Javison answered.

“So then, why are they forced to live outside the city walls. Walls that clearly hold many of their now abandoned houses?” Lykan asked.

Hearing that questions, the two shifted their weight nervously between their feet.

Seeing their reaction Lykan nodded to himself, as if he had just come to a greater understanding.

“So you do not agree with these actions either, yet you went along with them anyways?”

Silence.

With that Lykan nodded to himself.

Rising until he was over ten stories high, a height that had him well above the maximum height of the outer gates. Lykan rose until he was able to clearly be seen by all.

“My name is Lykan Vov’Vita, and I summon you, King Philipon.” Lykan’s voice boomed out. His voice filled with power, as every word seemed to be carried to every corner of the Sidherthan Empire.

Silence.

After half a minute of silence, just when Javison and Jema both began to wonder what had happened, Lykan spoke again.

“My name is Lykan Vov’Vita, and I summon you twice King Philipon. Come and answer for actions conducted in your name.”

Whirring silence.

Only the gentle whipping sounds of wind blowing dared breach the deafening blanket of silence that covered Sidhertha. Everyone was quiet, a child from the refugees out back heard the words and the booming voice carried on the wind and began to cry. But even their cry was muted upon the silent night air.

Lykan looked back at the crying child, and felt a weight drop in his chest. Part of him realized that he was the cause for this child’s suffering. Once to give the king enough power to create such a situation, and once again to cause this moment where his own voice frightened the child.

He wanted to go down, to personally soothe the child. To talk to them, to let them know it would be all right. That Lykan would do everything within his power to make sure that regardless of what happened next, that child would be safe. But he also knew that such an act would be minor and fleeting.

To soothe the one child, would be too small of a gesture, too meaningless.

No, he needed to fix this at the source, if his words were to have any meaning whatsoever.

Finally, after a full minute had passed, where the only sound on the wind were the cries of children who had been displaced from their homes. Lykan spoke again.

“My name is Lykan Vov’Vita, and I summon you thrice King Philipon. Will you not come and answer for the alleged crimes that are being committed in your name?”

With this, many of the people below began murmur amongst themselves. They could tell something big was about to happen and that they were all standing there at ground zero, waiting for the final moment to come.

Lykan could feel him, the man who he wished to just speak to. Even now, he could feel the man wanting to stand up, to leave his own bedroom. While he couldn’t tell what he was saying or thinking, there were still signs that he was not doing well. That he was in a bad mental state. That it had been some time since the king had even left his very chambers.

While he felt bad for piling on to a person in such a state, this man was still the king. This man was meant to be a beacon of strength to his people and to the rest of the world. He was supposed to be an example of what could happen if the right man was left to be in charge. Yet, he was not that man. At least he was not that man currently, and while he was in such a distraught state, it was not fair to have him be held to such a high standard.

Lykan realized this, which is why he chose to do what he did next.

“King Philipon, thrice you have been summoned to answer for actions conducted within your kingdom and thrice you have rejected the summons.” Lykan spoke, his voice booming throughout the countryside.

Lykan paused as he let his words sink in.

“As the bearer of the third and most important of world laws, it is you and your actions that lead to the success of your nation. As you are truthful and benevolent, so too will your country be prosperous. It is clear that you are not in good health, that you have not been in good health for quite some time. The lands are barren, the lands that were once bountiful with wheat have shrunken and lost much of their luster. Your own people lay broken and discarded from their homes. The very homes you are charged with protecting.”

Whirring wind.

“You sit by and suffer, which in turn causes the land to suffer. I do not know what you are going through, had we had a chance to talk, perhaps we could have gotten to the root of the problem. But as it stands now, we can never have that dialog. As it stands, we can never fix the problems that plague this land and your people. For that I am truly sorry.”

Whipping wind.

The wind blew as Lykan paused. It was clear he was reluctant to do what would come next, that he did not particularly like the action he would next need to take. Still, he paused as he waited. He hoped that the king would stir, but he just remained still. For all his pain, he was just a prisoner to his emotions. Emotions that bound him to his throne to suffer, while the world went on without him. It was sad.

Lykan wanted to tell him to surround himself with better people. People who could help him work through the state he was currently in. Yet, despite all that, Lykan knew that he would need to fix this problem that he had created.

“I am left with but one choice.”

There was a chilling silence that swept through the area as even the slight mutterings that had been happening stopped. The children that had been crying a moment ago paused, as if they were trying to watch what would happen. There was a buildup of pressure, as Lykan focused his mind. Then he began to fix his mistake.

“My name is Lykan Vov’Vita, and I annul the binding of man and earth. I annul the binding of a king to his people.”

Thunderclap.

An electrical discharge was felt as an arcing bolt of lightning struck through the sky, directed straight at Lykan who wielded his mithril staff in the air. The arc of lightning was so intense that Lykan’s whole body glowed as the bolt of lightning channeled through him and directly into the ground.

The lightning did not hurt, perhaps to the far younger version of Lykan, the one who had first enacted the third old world law, it might have hurt. But Lykan had grown so far beyond that point that it was hard for him to imagine himself ever being so fragile.

The bolt of lightning did not stop at Lykan, and instead channeled through him, to the ground below. Yet the bolt of lightning did not stop there, the bolt of lightning was a breath of fresh air to the land. A land that had been slowly dying and withering with the deteriorating mental state of the king.

As the bolt of lightning continued to charge the land, those few who had the mark of the hydra on their arms began to feel a surge of energy.

“AAHH!” The bearers of the mark cried out, as they could feel their mana channels forcefully being opened. Each one dropped to the ground, as they were all met with the same message from the Gods.

Blessing Bestowed: Awakened Hydra Marking. Awakened Hydra Marking: You have managed to receive an awakened marking of the hydra. Magical ability awakened. All Attributes increased by 10. Choose an elemental affinity.

Then just like that, the Hydra that had been lying dormant, suddenly glowed with powers and universal knowledge of how the world worked. They now knew magic, at least one elemental affinity was placed in their minds. They also realized that this was but the start, more elemental affinities were possible, but they were granted complete knowledge and control of one.

To be honest, not much else happened. Not that much else was needed. The act had been done. The land and people were now free, and the Hydra had been released to take back what was their own.

Sighing to himself, Lykan lowered himself to be by Brenna’s side. They didn’t even watch as the two opposing forces of the guards and the refugees started to wage a war with each other.

Instead Lykan and Brenna just made their way to the heart of Sidhertha, looking for an entrance to the dungeon.

They had wasted enough time and caused enough devastation on their way here already.