As the memory faded away, Daneel found himself seated right in front of the man who had just been called a child killer.
Their eyes met for the briefest of moments, and for the first time, he saw the Emperor… lower his gaze.
He had not seen wrongly before: what the man had felt then really had been shame, and now, with the memory returned to him, it looked like that emotion had come back along with it.
With a sigh, Daneel stepped down from the throne that stood above everything and came to the level of the Emperor before flicking his fingers and conjuring two comfortable chairs that faced each other.
A table also appeared that floated between them, and a moment later, two glasses arrived, filled to the brim with an amber wine that was the heaviest that was present in the entire continent.
Telling the system to keep refilling the glasses, he sat down.
The Emperor needed a few seconds to himself before he could take his seat, but when he did, he downed the large glass in one go.
He kept drinking, glass after glass, and with each gulp of the wine that went down his throat, his cheeks grew redder and redder until finally, he threw away the glass and bent forward with his hands in his hair.
Daneel had been drinking with more moderation, but still, there was a certain desolation within his mind that led him to keep swallowing the alcohol and letting it sweep away everything in his head.
They sat together like that, for a long time, until the sun went down and the stars appeared. Under their grand canopy, the two rulers continued to sit, drunk and silent, hoping that the thoughts within their minds would leave them alone.
Alas, it had always been the case that those who possessed power would find it difficult to let themselves be taken over by the power of any drink. Although the Emperor's body had been destroyed, he had been granted a new one by the Chamber of Golden Lightning that was not weaker, by any means, when compared to any Hero, so for both of them, there was only an hour or so of inebriation before they had to begin drinking again.
As if unwilling to let himself be defeated, the Emperor kept going back to the drink multiple times, but finally, a few hours into the night, he looked up and began to speak in a hollow tone.
\"I didn't know. I didn't know that she had swayed her son, too! I held that little boy in my arms when he was born! Why would I ever condone his death? Of course, a mother never remembers such things when she's buried in the sorrow of losing a child… Maybe I should have handled it better. Maybe I should have sat her down and explained that it wasn't my doing. But how could I, when in a way, I was the one behind it all? The entire continent was at risk of surrendering unless I ruled with an iron hand. I ordered all of my followers to strike with lethal force if any treasonous groups were found. We only got a hint of a very powerful one, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that it had been formed by her. They could estimate the power level of everyone gathered, so they took the decision to attack sneakily. They secretly made a formation that would engulf the entire gathering area in light and sound and confusion, and at that moment, everyone who resisted was directly attacked and killed. I even saw the attack myself, from the eyes of my son! Drakos was there to ensure that anyone who yielded would not be attacked. It was too late! The young boy was too scared, too desperate… And too weak. He died before I could do anything. The rest coughed up that it was his mother who had been planning the entire thing, and when we caught her, she didn't even resist. She just kept looking at me with all that disgust and all that blame. She was right; I was happy to get rid of these memories. But now they're back, and even now, she is looking at me. Oh, those eyes, those eyes…\"
If anyone saw the legendary Emperor of old in such a vulnerable state, they would not have believed, at all, that this was the same man who had united the entire continent under him.
But as he watched Fenoras, Daneel understood that his entire idea about rulers being perfect had always been wrong.
Even the best of men had weaknesses and regrets. There was no more proof required to understand this than what he was seeing in front of him, and as he kept looking at the Emperor who was being haunted by his ghosts, he felt loath to interrupt the man, but he needed to ask the question.
\"You asked me what changed. By using my secret, I know now that she wants to kill me. But why?\"
Fenoras froze as he heard this. He blinked for a few moments in confusion, but after that, a flash of realization appeared on his face, following which he met Daneel's eyes and said, \"The ancient Basilisks always had a saying that I never understood. 'Three were our heads, thrice did we die, threefold do we take.' I know her well, so I see what she wants to do. Right now, there are three sons of mine, and I'm proud of them all. The first is Angaria: the son that I sought to save by throwing it into chaos. The second is Drakos: the son that I did save. And the third… is you: the heir to my hopes and dreams, and the son that I am powerless to save. Angaria, she wishes to destroy. Drakos, she wishes to torture. And you… she wishes to kill, so that she can get the other two.\"
It all made sense now… But this only increased the crushing weight that he felt on his shoulders.
Getting up, Daneel said, \"At least we know, now, and she does not know that we do. Let us rest, for now, and talk again on the morrow.\"
The Emperor sadly nodded and made the glass that had fallen to the floor float up to him. As he began to drink again, Daneel disappeared, and in the air above the throne, for a moment, he was uncertain about where he wanted to go.
First and foremost, he needed rest. So, for the first time in a long time, he decided to go back to his bed and sleep.
Heroes and Champions typically did not require sleep, but right now, he hoped that it would help.
The moment he appeared in his bedchamber in the Kingdom of Lanthanor, he saw that he was not alone.
Eloise and Xuan where both seated on his bed, talking to each other in soft voices.
The moment they saw him, they gasped with surprise.
Like a dying man who had finally found refuge, Daneel saw that what he needed to do now was share his burden.
He had not realized this before, but with a single look at their two faces that he loved with all his heart, he knew that now was not the time to bear this burden alone, lest he wished to be crushed underneath it.
He fell to his knees and seeing this, the eyes of both the women widened as they rushed forward to catch him on either side and ask what was wrong.
Their words blurred within his ears, but when he spoke, they fell silent and listened.
He told it all. The memory, the Basilisk's bloodthirstiness, his fears, everything. By the time he was done, he was almost hoarse.
Eloise and Xuan continued to stare at him with eyes filled with emotions that he could not read, not in the state that he was, anyway. He raised his hands to both of their faces, and as he touched their smooth skin, he muttered under his breath, \"I cannot… lose you. I cannot fail. I cannot falter.\"
But then his hands fell, yet surprisingly, they did not hit the floor.
Eloise and Xuan had caught each of them, together, and as he looked up, he saw for the first time that they were dressed in naught but the thinnest of garments.
This detail seemed important, but for the life of him, Daneel could not see why. His mind was still filled with the dreary thoughts of the future, but when the women nodded to each other and bent forward to hug him tightly, the boon that he had searching for within all that alcohol was finally granted to him.
He could feel each and every detail of their slender bodies through the thin garments, and suddenly, the room felt very hot.
Eloise came to his lips first. Sweet and rich and filled with life they were, and as they made his breath stop, something deep, deep within him awoke.
Thus, when she bent back a moment later, gasping, he caught Xuan's face with both his hands and took her lips, too.
By the time Eloise bent back while breathing heavily, Eloise was done with ripping away his robes. He met their gazes then, and together, they said, \"Come.\"
That was all that needed to be said. Pulling his hands, they led him to the bed, and that night, Daneel found that he had been wrong all along.
Elementary and Dimensional magic were not the only two in existence. There was a third that he had set aside all these years, and as it bloomed within him, he knew that he would never be able to ignore it, ever again.