The Ruler’s chamber looked dim and calm, lit by soft light from sowhere hidden. Raizen rembered the pictures, the lanterns, the Ruler’s warm, weak yet unwavering voice.
The chest was still open, its soft white inside visible. The sphere was gone.
Elin had taken it. Now she was on her dragon, riding the sky through a dark cloud that won’t let you see a thing.
Raizen’s mind tried to catch up with the day, but it kept slipping. The images didn’t really line up properly anymore. Beast. Sky domain. Dragon. Cave. Dead forest. Alan landing like a joke on a platform. Him falling uselessly. The dark cloud. The Ruler’s hands. The sphere. The darkness slamming away from him. The cold whisper in his head.
"Silence."
Raizen scratched his head. He still didn’t know what that ant. He didn’t know if he’d been spoken through, spoken at, or simply used as a doorway by sothing that didn’t care what he wanted.
He stared at his hands, then at the window, then back at the fog.
It was one of the craziest days of his life, and he’d had days that included collapsing mines and near-death fights.
And now he was on a random branch that almost got him killed because of a bug.
Waiting for red threads around a silvery knife.
Spying.
And kind of forced to tell a dying ruler to break a contract made with one of the most dangerous and vile creatures in this world.
Raizen sighed and forced his thoughts into order.
Focus.
He stayed still, letting the silence do its job.
After a minute, he heard footsteps outside the Ruler’s door. Slow, controlled. The door clicked.
A voice spoke, polite and careful, the kind of tone people used around the dying.
"My Liege."
Raizen’s eyes narrowed.
That voice... He’d heard it before.
The Ruler answered, equally calm. "Welco! Co in, co in."
More footsteps. The door closed again.
The man spoke with the smooth courtesy of soone who had practiced it until it beca armor. "How are you feeling? Are you in pain?"
"Oh, but I’m fine, don’t you worry about ."
"How has your health been these days? Did you allow the healers to do sothing"
The Ruler didn’t reply imdiately.
Then the Ruler said with a colder voice "Cut the politeness."
The softness vanished from the man’s voice so quickly it was almost frightening. The tone beca sharper, controlled, and underneath it, strained.
"As you wish" the man said.
Raizen’s recognition clicked into place.
It was the host.
The man who had welcod them when they first arrived in Ukai. The one with the practiced smile and the careful words. The one who had seed like a guide. He always liked his clothes, so Raizen tried to lean even lower to try get a glimpse. But no luck.
The man didn’t sound like a guide now.
He sounded like soone trying not to drown.
"I didn’t co to waste your ti" the host said. "I ca because Ukai is going to fall into chaos the mont you..."
He stopped, swallowed, and tried again. "... The mont you’re gone."
The Ruler’s voice stayed calm, but it carried steel. "You know you can speak freely, right?"
The host inhaled. "You never married."
Raizen heard the faintest sound from the bed, like the Ruler shifting. Then the Ruler answered imdiately, as if he’d already had this conversation a hundred tis in his own head.
"I never intended to curse a loving wife with my imminent death."
The host fell silent for a beat.
Then he continued, tone tightening. "You have no children."
The Ruler didn’t deny it.
"Indeed. I once planned to adopt a son... But then Alan left for studies, and ti flew by..."
"You have no one to leave Ukai to" the host said, and now the desperation leaked through, thin and sharp. "My Ruler, we can’t let it beco a vacuum. We can’t let ambitious hands reach for the throne. We can’t let old grudges resurface. We can’t let the city fracture because people don’t know who to obey."
"So you want to rule over Ukai"
Raizen’s fingers curled against the bark.
This was the real Ukai.
Not the bridges and leaves and beauty.
The fragile structure of obedience holding a giant city together.
The man gasped, and he continued with a really rushed tone: "Not at all! This was never my intention. I don’t even think I could even rule an entire city – I an I don’t think I would even be fit! I was just wanted to make sure everything was in order! No- not !"
"Calm down, I understand" the ruler made a sound that sounded like a strangled laugh.
After a really awkward silence, the man pressed on, words more carefully chosen now, political and precise even as panic climbed behind them.
"If you won’t na an heir, then at least form a council! A... A circle of trusted n, chosen by you. Let them rule together. Let them maintain stability."
The Ruler’s answer ca instantly.
"No."
The host’s breath cut. "My Ruler -"
"No" the Ruler repeated, and this ti it was colder. "Ukai cannot be ruled like that."
"A council prevents collapse" the host argued, voice rising slightly before he forced it back down. "Other nations do it. Other cities do it! Look around! Neoshima! Haldor! Kelperion!"
Raizen could almost feel the host’s mind racing. He wasn’t speaking only to convince the Ruler. He was speaking to convince himself that there was a system that could survive without only one man.
The Ruler replied, and Raizen felt the change in the room even from outside.
"The other nations" the Ruler said quietly, "have corrupt people in their circles. People who mistake power for responsibility. People who see people only as tools."
The host started, "Not all of them -"
"I’m sick of those kinds of humans" the Ruler cut in.
The words weren’t loud, but they were heavy, the way deep disappointnts were heavy.
For a mont there was silence, and Raizen could imagine the host standing stiffly, jaw tight, trying not to show frustration to a dying king.
The host tried again, careful. "Then who? In your wise eyes, who is worthy of ruling over Ukai? Who can even bear that responsibility alone!?"
The Ruler didn’t answer imdiately.
Raizen held his breath without aning to.
After another short silence, Ruler spoke slowly, like each word was a stone being placed.
"Only one person should rule Ukai" he said.
"Soone wise. Soone capable. Soone who has proven their worth. Soone who understands what the throne is."
The host’s voice finally returned, quieter now. "Then... After your death... Who will be Ukai’s Ruler?"
There was no politeness left in the question. No ceremony. No soft edges.
The Ruler answered after a very short hesitation.
"I want the next Ruler of Ukai to be..." His voice stayed steady. Final.
"Alan."
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