Ianthe smiled and placed her arm about Sungui’s broad shoulders. “I see now, Venomous One. You would set yourself above all others as the God-King’s replacement. The Almighty Reborn, a whole new High Lord Celestial who will keep the Living Empire alive in your own name instead of Zyung’s. And do you expect the rest of your High Seraphim to follow you in this? To worship you as they worshipped Zyung?”
“No,” said Sungui. “My fellow Seraphim and I are equals. I would not subjugate them, nor would they accept my subjugation. I am simply a catalyst, an agent of change. Zyung knew this, as he knew so many things. I wonder now if he—”
“Enough!” said Ianthe. Her teeth were bared in a vicious grin, the incisors long and sharp as ivory barbs. “You wished for an end to Zyung’s reign, you worked toward this end with my aid, and now you abandon its rewards? Have I wasted my time in serving your cause? I might have taken Zyung’s power for myself!”
Sungui tilted his head. “That you could not have done without the aid of the High Seraphim and your own enemies, Lyrilan and Iardu chief among them. Zyung’s power was beyond your own. If it had been otherwise, you would not have hidden your subversion from him.”
Ianthe withdrew from Sungui. The Panther’s narrow eyes were bright with darkness. Gammir leaned against Ianthe from behind, grasping her arm as a child clings to his mother.
“Then all this was for naught?” said Ianthe. “The Living Empire will remain as it was, except ruled by a Council of God-Kings instead of a single one?”
“No,” said Sungui. “The Living Empire will remain, yes, but like we Seraphim it will change. Under Zyung it could not do this. Now it shall prosper with new virtues.”
“New virtues?”
“An Age of Illumination,” said Sungui, “built upon the pillars of compassion, free will, and independent thought, all tempered by the rule of order. The empire preserves the peace, yet it must also preserve the people. Even the lowest of them must be free to walk the path of their own choosing, to worship their own Gods, and sing their own songs. No more slaves. Zyung’s greatest mistake was his complete annihilation of freedom. Here in the Five Cities men are free to do as they will, yet their Kings and Emperors keep order and peace alive. The peoples of this land are content, full of joy, and blessed with personal liberty. Still they choose to honor their rulers and serve their kingdoms unto death. This is the true path to the Great Society that Zyung imagined but never perfected. The New Seraphim will not be self-appointed Gods. We shall be Kings and Sages and Healers.”
The minds of the New Seraphim gleamed as bright as Alua’s white flames across the armada. Sungui knew they all had heard and agreed with his words. This was a shared enlightenment. A transfiguration, and a bond like none other. The path to a glorious future.
“This foolishness was not Zyung’s vision,” Ianthe said. “He demanded worship and fealty. He ruled with cruelty and ruthless might as the Old Breed have always done.”
“Not all of them,” said Sungui. “The wisest ones have never done so.”
Ianthe simmered, her taloned fists clenching.
“Iardu…” She said the name as if it were a curse. “The Shaper has reshaped you fools! Now I understand his blood scattered upon the salt of Zyung. You are under his spell even now!”
“No.” Sungui stepped close to the Panther. She was beginning to vex him. Yet he had expected this. “Say rather that the long spell of Zyung has been broken by Iardu’s sacrifice. His salted heart has permeated our vision, awakened us like cold water poured in the face of a sleeper. He has given us wisdom, an understanding of his own Great Idea, his dream that carved these Five Cities and built this land of wonders. Inside of us the conflicting dreams of Zyung and Iardu have blended into one. The Living Empire will be reborn by this united wisdom, as we ourselves have been. Since you cannot understand this, Panther, bother me no more. You may leave the New Seraphim if you wish. With or without you we sail for home this night.”
Sungui turned his back to Ianthe and walked toward the middle deck. He must speak with the captain before the long journey home could begin.
The Panther struck without a sound. She pounced upon Sungui’s back and sank her talons into his neck. Gammir in wolf form snapped yellow fangs as Ianthe straddled Sungui and flipped him over to expose vulnerable belly and chest. Ianthe spat a word of power, and suddenly Sungui could neither move nor speak. His connection to the minds of the New Seraphim had been broken, cut from him as easily as sliced threads.