Paragon

Remnants of the Great War [7]

PARAGON

Remnants of the Great War Arc [7]

Chapter 16 : Platebearer

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AZ could feel their stares on him from behind. Anticipation and anxiety leaked from them like gas. They were beginning to disturb his reading. Books surrounded him in haphazard piles on the floor of the mansion. In front of him, a machine called a television displayed moving images of the ancient past, while a disembodied voice described what was happening.

"What is it?" AZ rumbled, flipping through another page without moving to turn around.

Lord Vandrick had been patient, eager as he must have been to finally meet his master after so long. He'd let AZ sleep undisturbed on the flying machine called a helicopter, and when they'd arrived at Vandrick's house, he explained everything.

AZ still had allies. After the Great War, many of his vassals and retainers were imprisoned, exiled, or executed, but not all of them. The survivors hid themselves, changed their names, and swore fealty to their enemies. But they never forgot who they truly served. They knew AZ was alive and knew he'd return one day. House Vandrick had been the most powerful of the remaining houses, and over the years, they had consolidated AZ's remaining forces. Through their leverage in business, finance, and government, House Vandrick never let control of Kalos fall into the hands of outsiders. Each new head of the family was raised from birth to understand their true purpose, and it just so happened that AZ returned to the world while Lord Brian Vandrick was head.

"Apologies, your Grace. The others were wondering when they might meet you. They want to see the man their families have dedicated their lives to for the past three thousand years."

AZ flipped through another page. His power could've siphoned all the knowledge in this book, all the knowledge in this room, straight into his head in an instant, but he hadn't read a book in three thousand years. It was another experience to savor, and he was in no hurry. "I am still learning," he said. "Tell them to wait."

"At once, your Grace."

He heard Vandrick walk away with his guards and servants. AZ couldn't have asked for a better lieutenant. Vandrick was courteous and wise, beyond his paltry thirty years. The man had immediately surrendered his own master bedroom to AZ, and had met any and every accommodation AZ requested. He did not speak out of turn, and offered his wisdom only when it was asked for. Most likely, he'd never answered to anyone but his parents in his entire life, yet the man knew his role and played it beautifully.

They were in a city called Anistar. It hadn't even existed three thousand years ago. Eastern Kalos was little more than farmland in AZ's day, but now, great towers of iron lined the smooth black paths of the city, and there wasn't a single acre of pumpkins or cabbage or winterpeas in sight.

Before it could fester, AZ dashed the nostalgia from his mind. He knew if he dwelled for too long on how much he'd missed, he'd really start to go insane. He was not so proud he thought himself infallible. He was still a human, albeit barely, with human emotions. And an emotion like nostalgia at a time like this was lethal.

AZ glanced up from his book, an atlas with maps of the entire world and all the states, or regions, that comprised it. The man on the television was talking about the history of Kanto. At least that was a name he recognized. Kanto and Kalos. The west and east, they'd been. Now, it seemed a land called Unova was the most powerful state in the world, and Kanto and Kalos were little more than accessories to greater powers.