The Storm King Chapter 673: The Director

Occulara. They’d finally arrived. After almost half a year, they’d reached their destination.

They were hardly in a place where they could start getting settled in, but it was an enormous comfort to know that there weren’t going to be anymore cross-country carriage rides, or long trips up or down rivers. Leon, his family, and his retinue had finally reached a place where they could start building their new ho.

Things started off quite promisingly: their welco had always been splendid no matter where they found themselves, but the crowd that awaited them at the river docks in Occulara was sothing else. At least a thousand people were waiting at the bottom of the gangplank, while thousands more crowded the riverbanks, waving and cheering at their ship as it passed by. Leon was a little surprised, but Emilie explained to him that mbers of the Heaven’s Eye Board weren’t often replaced, and when they were, the Director and his predecessors had made it a tradition to declare the occasion a holiday in Occulara. The career of the outgoing Board mber was celebrated, as was the arrival of the new Board mber.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much they could do to enjoy that holiday atmosphere, as after they t up with their escort after disembarking, they were whisked into waiting carriages and taken directly to the guild’s headquarters. Once there, nearly their entire party was shuffled into one of the towers—the one that Leon assud Emilie would be taking over—and presumably shown to the apartnts they were to be spending their imdiate future in. Leon could only make a presumption, though, because he, Emilie, Damien, and Penelope were instead brought to the building directly beneath the floating Hexagon. Once inside, Leon found that the building was nearly identical to the tower that had brought them up to the Imperial Palace in Ilion, with little else filling the building save for the storage pad for a huge magical lift that traveled up and down the blue beam of magical light that connected the building to the Hexagon.

The lift moved quickly, and Leon reveled in the feeling of ascending into the sky. The interior of the Hexagon was surprisingly hollow. Leon had assud that there wouldn’t be much in the way of open space within, despite its size, but he was proven wrong when the lift ca to a halt within a massive hexagonal chamber in the center of the floating construct. It was tall enough that it clearly ran from the bottom of the Hexagon all the way to the top, with the ceiling proving to be completely transparent from this side, letting in enough natural light that the chamber was decorated like a park, with long stone paths and several small courtyards surrounded by vibrant gardens. A colonnade ran along the entire outer edge of the chamber, off of which branched dozens of doors. Six of these doors were clearly the primary entrances for the six different wings surrounding the chamber, being more than two stories tall and intricately carved with gorgeous floral patterns.

Leon wasn’t given much ti to admire the chamber, however, for the serious, all-business escort they’d been given hurried them along through one of the huge doors, through the lavish hall on the other side, and to another set of enormous double doors at the opposite end. These doors were heavily guarded by no less than a dozen sixth-tier mages, with another half dozen in the antechamber on the other side.

Once there, Emilie said to Leon, “You’ll have to wait here for the mont. I have to et with the rest of the Board, and then we’ll start getting our etings with the Director out of the way.”

Leon nodded. The antechamber was exactly as luxurious as he’d expect of the headquarters for Heaven’s Eye, and he found a suprely comfortable armchair to relax in while Emilie went through the next set of doors with Penelope and Damien. Three sixth-tier mages who were part of the escort detail took seats by the door, while the rest either followed Emilie into the room or left the way they’d co, and for the first ti since arriving the in the city, Leon was left essentially alone with his thoughts, with no one hurrying them along trying to get their business done as quickly as possible.

However, he wasn’t given even a full minute to relax his anxious mind, worried about how the next few hours were going to go or what kind of impression he was going to make on one of the most powerful n on the plane—especially after how the party with Anastasios had gone—before he heard Nestor whispering, [Disgusting. Apes. Can’t even build properly…]

With a heavy sigh, Leon asked, [What is it, Nestor? Sothing catch your eye?]

[Yes, boy. This whole place. It’s rather like being with those rampant golems back north, but at least the golems had respect for what they aped. They followed the old instructions I’d given them, building palaces in the mountains, and have held an appreciable respect for the Clan throughout these millennia. This place, however… makes sick. They have no idea what they’re trying to do here…]

[What is this place supposed to be, then? Don’t tell these towers used to the Clan’s arsenal…]

[Of course not, boy, this place isn’t nearly large enough for that! The arkyards alone were practically a city unto themselves. These towers and this thing floating between them are clearly designed after the defensive observatories that our Clan built upon arriving on this plane.]

[Observatories? What were you observing? And how?]

[We had to keep an eye on the sky, of course,] Nestor explained, his tone frustratingly condescending.

Leon had to stifle his instinct to scowl and start curling his fingers, knowing that the escort detail that was still with him was keeping an eye on what he was doing. So, with so struggle, he closed his eyes and pretended to ditate as he spoke with Nestor.

The dead man continued, [We ca here with great force, hundreds of arks and thousands of warriors. But we knew that even that grand armada wasn’t enough to deter our enemies. If we were ambushed by the forces of another Elental King, it could’ve proved disastrous for our mission and for the Clan as a whole. As a result, we had to maintain constant watch on the sky, and to do that, we built observatories all across this plane. In a properly built observatory, there were only three support towers, each only needing to be about half as tall as those here. However, the main body of the observatory was the structure that floated between the towers, which could ascend with magical support from their towers so high that they nearly left the plane entirely.

[These observatories were then used to watch the Void between planes for any incoming threats, as well as act as relay stations for arks that were used to patrol the entirety of the plane—the observatories can’t exactly keep an eye on the backside of the plane, after all. Keeping an eye open for extraplanar threats was a titanic undertaking involving serious investnt of resources. And it was necessary, as so many who’ve been slaughtered for failing to stay vigilant can attest, assuming they survived that mistake.]

Leon, feeling the urge to contort his face in confusion, just decided to admit defeat and not even bother pretending to ditate, instead casting his consciousness into his soul realm and into his magic body. He rose from his throne and went to continue this conversation with Nestor in person.

“And how, might I ask, do you know that this place can’t do that?” Leon asked.

“Judging from what I’ve been able to tell of the enchantnts holding this thing up,” Nestor replied. “The amount of magic flowing through this not-observatory is barely enough to keep it in the air, let alone rise higher.”

Leon wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t press the issue. Nestor was just being his usual judgntal self, and while Leon could see where he was coming from in so form, he was still more interested in hearing about the old Clan. For instance, he’d never heard of these observatories before, but if they were as grand as Nestor claid, then he figured they should’ve been famous landmarks. Instead, this was the first he was hearing of them, leading him to think that they were no longer intact after so long.

Summoning a map of the plane, Leon asked Nestor, “Can you show where these observatories were located?”

With Nestor’s direction, Leon marked down nine different points on the map, none of which corresponded to any of the points on the map from the Cradle. Those places were locations of great importance to the Clan, such as Nestor’s lab, the arsenal, and Teira. The observatories, however, were located in a rough circle around the edges of the plane, mostly deep in mountain ranges and far from any place that could sustain large populations.

“Observatories were mostly built on mountains,” Nestor explained. “Having them be a little higher from sea level ant less magic power to raise them to the edge of the Void.”

“Wouldn’t that also an that they were further from the centers of power?” Leon asked. “How would they communicate what they could see with the higher-ups in the Clan?”

“Comm stones,” Nestor replied. “It was a fairly low-level position to be assigned to an observatory, and below my purview, but I know at least that they were in constant contact with the rest of the Clan, with daily check-ins and frequent supply runs. The comm stones we had were quite useful, able to let two people on opposite sides of the plane communicate with each other like they were right next to each other, but rather less useful when trying to communicate between planes. That’s why they were used to relay ssages from arks that were sent out on patrols around this plane, for having these relays allowed our patrols to extend their coverage by many thousands of miles.”

“Mm,” Leon humd in thought as he appreciated the fairly simple ingenuity and practicality of the observatories. He didn’t think he’d think of sothing like that on his own—at least, not without having to be on the wrong end of so kind of ambush that these observatories might prevent, first.

There wasn’t much else to say about them, though, so he turned his attention to sothing else.

“What about the arsenal?” he asked. “Now that we’re here in Occulara, it’s sothing I ought to keep an eye out for, right? And I’ve tried, but I haven’t seen even a single broken pillar or ruined statue of our Clan anywhere in the city. Granted, I haven’t done an exhaustive search, but I haven’t seen anything that might lead to think the arsenal is still here…”

“I’m not surprised,” Nestor said. “If many of our vassals did evacuate this plane, then they likely didn’t leave much behind. Tell , if you were in their shoes, what would you do?”

Leon lightly smiled as he considered the question, having considered it many tis before. He placed himself in the situation of being in charge of an evacuation, with forr allies turning against him and his King who kept them all in line now dead.

“I’d take everything that wasn’t nailed down, and most of what was,” he said to Nestor. “If I couldn’t take sothing, and there was even the slightest chance that it could be used to follow , or to harm those who remained, then I think I would destroy it.”

“A wise answer,” Nestor replied. “That’s what I’m guessing happened here. The arsenal was probably destroyed when Koukouva evacuated whoever responded to his call. The arsenal was a vast complex even by Nexus standards, so there might still be sothing around, but expect the place to have been completely leveled, with nothing left.”

“Disappointing,” Leon whispered, though without surprise. He’d known without much doubt that this was what he would find upon reaching Occulara ever since he’d heard the ssage back in Ancon. “I suppose if anything was left behind, then it’s either so buried that I’d never find it, or has probably fallen into the hands of Heaven’s Eye.”

“That would make sense to ,” Nestor agreed.

For a while, Leon poured over a map of Occulara that he’d been given by Emilie, hoping that either he or Nestor might be able to see sothing there that could prove promising. Unfortunately, neither of them saw anything on the city map that indicated a remnant of the Clan, but Leon, not wanting to give up so easily, resolved to see if he could dig any deeper into the matter later. The map wasn’t that in-depth, after all, so it was easy to imagine there were things he was missing.

He couldn’t do much more than that, for he soon felt a light tap on his physical shoulder. In a matter of seconds, Leon was opening his eyes back in the physical world to see Emilie standing before him, a grin of satisfaction on her face.

“Welco back,” she said to him as his gaze landed upon her. “The eting was rcifully brief, and my position has been confird. You are now looking at the newest mber of the Heaven’s Eye Board.”

Leon smiled as he rose to his feet, his arms spreading as he invited Emilie in for a hug. His mother-in-law took the invitation, and he whispered, “Congratulations,” when they separated. “They couldn’t have made a better decision.”

“I’m sure there are others who might disagree,” Emilie replied. “The vote was unanimous, but with the Director in my corner, that was to be expected. Still, I think I may have a few hidden rivals here given so of the discussion in there… But I shouldn’t say any more about that.”

Leon nodded in understanding. “Penelope? Damien?” he asked.

“Still with the Director, but they should be out in only a few minutes,” she said. “Shouldn’t be too much longer now…”

Emilie, even though she was effectively done with her work in the Hexagon, took a seat with Leon, waiting with him until his eting with the Director was finished. She didn’t have to wait long, for only about fifteen minutes after Emilie walked out, Damien Makedon followed, with Penelope only about ten minutes later. Finally, it was Leon’s turn to et with the big man himself.

—

The Director’s office was both grand and simple, in a strangely overpowering way. The floors were beautiful, being so kind of almost impossibly glossy black stone, with the walls and ceiling made of similar material. The office itself was quite big, the back wall taking up an entire side of the Hexagon, showing it to be just like the roof in the central chamber: transparent from this side, while completely opaque from the other. The room was thus filled with harsh light from the afternoon sun, and lacked any other light sources that Leon could see. The Director’s desk was extrely large, too, looking almost like it had been carved from a single massive tree.

Other than that, the entire office was stark and empty. When Leon was shown in, his footsteps echoed loudly, adding to the anxiety he felt as he saw the dark figure sitting behind the desk, quietly reading through a stack of papers in front of him. Leon couldn’t see much of the man, the sun shining in and rendering the Director little more than a hazy black figure. What was even more intimidating was the fact that Leon’s magic senses were completely suppressed in the Director’s office, aning he could only rely on his physical eyes to see the man; and even then, the dark figure was all his eighth-tier eyes could see.

‘Probably so kind of enchantnts amplifying the effect,’ Leon thought as he took slow steps forward, his eyes only drifting from the Director after he’d made it halfway to the man’s desk. The thought helped him to keep calm and remain stoic, but he could practically feel the ninth-tier Director watching his every move.

As Leon drew closer, the Director finally spoke, his voice deep and resonant, the cavernous office giving it an echo that Leon found incredibly pleasing to the ear.

“Leon Rai,” the Director stated, his tone even. “Welco to the Heaven’s Eye. I’ve heard much about you and have been looking forward to this eting.”

Leon cocked an eyebrow, the Director’s monotone voice indicating less enthusiasm than he claid.

Not sure about the protocol, Leon decided to just respond without ceremony.

“I’ve been looking forward to this, too,” he said. “So far, I have to say that I haven’t been disappointed.”

The Director seed to hum in acknowledgnt and didn’t say anything as Leon continued to walk toward his desk slowly and deliberately, only stopping about two arm lengths from the thing. The Director didn’t once move, and neither did Leon sense anything strange about the flow of magic in the room, indicating that the ninth-tier mage’s aura was steady and not at all perturbed. However, even from such a short distance away, the Director was still shrouded in both light and darkness, with the sun backlighting his chair so harshly that Leon found himself starting to strain as he tried to focus on the man within the shadow.

“I’ve heard that you’re here to seek a position as one of my Hands,” the Director stated after several long monts.

“That would be swell,” Leon replied, his eyes narrowing as his heart began to beat faster in anticipation, excitent, and dread.

“Why?” the Director simply asked.

Leon, expecting the question, explained, “I’m not one to enjoy swearing myself to others. Employnt is one thing, because it can always be ended. Oaths of fealty are harder to escape from, especially since I don’t much like avoiding my responsibilities. I have so plans that need resources to accomplish, and I don’t think I can get those resources on my own. I need partners, but those partners can’t be any of the Empires. That’s why I’m here.”

“Partners?” the Director whispered. “We’re not in the business of taking on many partners…”

Leon shrugged. “I understand. Though, before I go further, I’m curious. Might I ask you a question?”

The Director paused a mont, leaning back in his chair. For the first ti, he looked at Leon, really looked at him, and Leon felt the man’s aura settle in around his shoulders. It wasn’t nearly as weighty as Anastasios’ had been, but it certainly him working a little harder to remain standing.

“I’ll permit you one question,” the Director said.

“Thank you,” Leon replied with as much respect as he could put into his voice. “I was curious how much you’ve heard about . You’ve clearly ‘heard much about ’…”

The Director didn’t answer imdiately, instead just staring at Leon for an uncomfortable amount of ti. But finally, he answered, “I was sent a report on you after you left the Bull Kingdom detailing your ti as a knight. Impressive for such a short tenure.”

“Those were impressive tis,” Leon humbly stated. “Everyone who lived through them has just as impressive resumés.”

“No they don’t,” the Director bluntly stated. He didn’t elaborate, though, and chose to just move on. “My daughter doesn’t like you.”

“Your daughter doesn’t know ,” Leon shot back a little testily. But after a mont, his attitude softened a bit and he added, “Though, to not like wouldn’t exactly make her unique. I think she thinks I’m trying to rely on Emilie to get into Heaven’s Eye.”

“Aren’t you?”

Leon shrugged again. “I’d be lying if I said that her being a new Board mber wasn’t a big reason why I’m here now, but I have a feeling that no matter what she said about , if you didn’t want here, I wouldn’t be.”

Leon let that statent hang in the air for a while, the Director likewise not saying anything. The Director looked fairly relaxed, but Leon could feel the tension in the air. It pressed in around him, demanding that he buckle under its pressure, that he cracks, and flee from the Director as fast as he could, his future plans be damned.

But Leon didn’t run away. He had faced a Primal God before; the Director was nerve-wracking, but only a man, and Leon could deal with n.

After that long mont, the Director asked him,