In a room whose location he had guarded zealously for most of his life, the Head was assessing the damage done due to the recent raid that had taken place before the events in the Fortress of Solitude.

Ever since her husband had died, that woman had always been known as someone who could down an entire river of wine if she was given access to it, and he saw the proof of this in all of the crates that were missing.

The temperature in the chamber varied according to the era from which the wine he had obtained was stored. As a connoisseur in this art, he knew exactly how to allow a fine wine to mature to its fullest potential, but now, many which had been so close to reaching that point had been nipped in the bud by these people who probably didn’t appreciate their rarity, or taste.

If it were a year ago, before he met that kid, the Head might have become furious and gone out to seek recompense, but now... All he did was smile wistfully and look forward to rebuilding his collection.

His life had changed so much due to him, and the same could be said about his personality. Or perhaps... Dealing with those who did not share his passion for the continent had made him put on a version of himself that was fake, and with the arrival of the king, that had been eroded away to reveal the true person underneath.

Still...the truth was that there were very few bottles left, and they had to be cherished.

After their meeting, he knew that the King would be going about his plan, and he was excited to find out what it was. Since then, though, it had been a day, and as there were no new developments, the Head had deemed that he had a little bit of free time, which he had decided to spend here.

There were multiple chambers in this secret(at least, he had thought that it was so) stash, and he was almost done going through half of them. They were all ransacked, but just as he was about to leave this one, a ray of sunlight which was coming from a teleportation window which showed a beautiful scene from the other side of the continent of rolling fields fell on certain spot underneath a large crate whose top side had been broken into so that it could be emptied, and from there, the sunlight bounced off with a red hue, indicating that a treasure that he had not seen before had been revealed.

"Come."

Speaking a word of power, he made the World respond and bring him the object that was hiding there, and as the large bottle that was peculiarly shaped like a woman appeared, tears almost came to his eyes.

This was a very special kind of wine, made by a long lost people who had regarded women as deities.

Sighing, he carried it to the window and sat down on the table in front of which he had worried before, for far too many times, regarding whether the continent would survive the ultimate foe from that faraway land that was gunning for them with no intention of stopping before they were vanquished.

As he did so now, he marveled at how much more confidence he had when compared to before. This made him get a genuine smile, and once again, he felt that everything had been worth it.

Making a glass float over, he poured the pearly liquid and swirled it before taking a sip, but just as he did so...

"PEOPLE OF ANGARIA! WAR IS HERE! IT IS..."

The announcement of the King blasted into his ears, and with shock, he got up.

It looked like there would be a repeat performance of the same thing that had happened twice already, but with superhuman effort, the Head controlled himself.

The wine that he had come close to spitting out just managed to stay in his mouth, but right as he was about to swallow it and then contact the King...

"Head! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING O-"

A man wreathed in darkness appeared in front of him, and it was obvious that he was agitated, as he brought a gust of wind with him.

That gust just so happened to be in the direction of the bottle that he had placed on the table, and as he saw it slip and then start to fall to the ground... The Head once again had to spit the wine out and scream "STOP!"

His Path kicked into action, and as the World stopped the bottle from falling, he breathed a sigh of relief, but as for the wine that he had just been about to swallow... It lay on the ground and on Rayen’s cloak, wasted.

Raising his Head, he glared at the Hero who began to scratch his Head knowing about his love for rare wines, but what we didn’t know was that the anger was more due you the fact that in some way or the other, the king had succeeded for a third time in making the Head spit out a mouthful of mine that he had just been about to enjoy.

But the matter that had just been raised was too important, so putting the anger aside, the Head said, "I have no idea. Let’s go find out."

Just as they were about to teleport away, though, the Head paused, as he had suddenly started to receive a litany of messages.

"Head, is there something we don’t know?"

"What the hell does he mean, war?! I just checked all of our scanners, and there are no foes!"

"Head, he really needs to be reeled in! He’s clearly fear-mongering with some personal goal! There’s nothing to fight! Or is there something that has been kept from us?"

"I demand an answer! We are the top Heroes in Angaria, dammit, not some peasants who need news to be delivered to them!"

Getting a headache instantly, the Head sat down and could not help but massage his eyebrows.

Sometimes, he slightly regretted that moment when he had taken on this mantle, but every time he did so, he would remember what the previous person who had held it had done.

historical

It was his responsibility to make sure that nothing like that would ever happen for as long as he was alive, so shelving all of these feelings, he said, "I shall enquire with my confidant and inform all of you Heroes as soon as possible. Please be patient. I assure you that there is no threat-I have checked the scanners myself, too, as it is a part of my duties as the Overseer, and if there was anything, you would have been the first to know. As for his actions... I believe that there must be a good reason for them. Now, excuse me, as I close communications for a bit until I have some answers."

Since that event, even the name ’Overseer’ had become a taboo word that not many used, but on this occasion, he had no option but to allude to it to remind them of the power he held.

True, he couldn’t defeat them in hand-to-hand combat, but they had all still sworn themselves to the Order, and those were oaths that could certainly not be broken, perhaps even with the help of otherworldly forces.

Just as expected, he managed to shut up most of them, and even though he knew that some must be grumbling, he ignored them.

As he nodded at Rayen, both of them departed together, and soon, they were above the kingdom which had given birth to the single most influential and powerful individual in the entire continent.

Whether anyone wanted to admit to it or not, that was how things stood even though he had not achieved the same with his own power, but the Head had a suspicion that even that would happen soon.

Shuddering at the thought of what kind of surprises this man would bring when that came to be, the two of them descended, and soon, they were in the large balcony adjoining the chambers of the King which looked over the entire kingdom.

The moment he walked through the doors of the balcony, both of them started to speak together.

"What were you talking about? What’s going on?!"

"Have you detected something that the Order failed to see? What is it? Where’s the war?"

Seeing that they were talking over each other, they controlled themselves, but just as they were about to repeat their questions, the king raised his hands.

Staying silent, they saw that he had a pleasant smile on his face, and somehow, seeing it, itself, managed to calm them down by a large extent.

After all, if he was not panicking, then it must be nothing that serious, right?

That was how much they trusted him, but as he began to speak... They could not help but stare at him, as if they didn’t know him at all.

"What war, you ask? In a way, it is a war that has been going on since the beginning of modern civilization - here, by ’modern’, I am referring to what has formed after the Apocalypse. Both of you already know that my goal is to build something even greater than what was present before it, and to elevate myself to a position of that of a God. But recently, through some circumstances... I realized that I had been going about it the wrong way. First, there is something much more important to fix, and if I succeed, I think that I will have gone a long way in accomplishing my other goals, too. After all, in many cases, a God is simply someone who might have been so extremely influential that they started to become revered, and then began to be prayed to as they had taken a permanent spot in the hearts of many. Ah, let’s set this aside for now, though- you came to me to ask about the war, and my answer to you is this: prepare, for there is going to be one. The foe is already here, and it will be unveiled at the correct time. But meanwhile... We have a gang of unruly children to attend to. Call for a meeting in the Order of all the prominent Heroes who. Let’s go."

A minute later, the Hall of Beginning was once again filled with Heroes.

There was a lot of grumbling and pointing at the air where Daneel and the Head stood, and even though the latter stepped forward to speak, it didn’t stop.

"King Daneel Anivron is here to address you. King, please take the stage."

Daneel stepped forward confidently, and as he spoke...with each word, the faces of the Heroes got uglier and uglier, until finally, the Hall really did look like a classroom of teenagers who had been told that summer break had been canceled.

"My dear, dear Heroes. I’ve heard of all of your complaints, and here’s my answer: F*ck you. Most of you have never given two sh*ts about the Central Continent even though you were a part of it once, and now, I bet you’re only interested ’cos I’m involved. So shut the f*ck up, and just watch. The Order has always remained secret, and it will continue to be so: my every action is allowed according to all of the ancient rules, so don’t even try to stonewall me in that manner. The sooner you understand that you’re stuck with me for good, the better it’ll be for all of us. Now, I have an offer: I’ve seen that all of you have been languishing at your current power level for a bit too long, so here’s what I’ve decided- a portion of my Heroes will be present here in a sparring ring, where you can go all out and test the limits of any attack you dream of. Don’t worry about them- even if you hack ’em to bits, they’ll put themselves back together. I’ve also spoken to the Head to make a scenario where the Paths which are meant to counter yours will be used, in a way, by my Heroes during the sparring, so use the opportunity well. That’s...only if you stop behaving like busybodies, and stop asking the Head questions about things that don’t relate to you. Now, then, everyone, I have a show to conduct, so I’m off...happy sparring! Oh, and if my Heroes beat you up, I apologize in advance, because they seem to have developed a severe aversion to crybabies which just isn’t going away..."