Maxim crossed his sinewy hands over his muscled chest and leaned a hip on the massive desk hisDominisat behind.
‘Before we begin our entreaty, sell us on why we should trust you,’ Idan started.
A smirk ghosted over Zavier’s scarred face as he stroked his chin.
‘A cautious deity? I like it. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the reckless, narcissistic Sacran pricks I’ve had to deal with over the last few centuries.’
Zavier tilted his head, the diamonds embedded in his jaw catching the violet strobe from the club floor.
‘You need us because we are the only ones capable of beating you Sacrans at your own freakin’ game,’ the Paladian stated, his timbre dropping an octave. ‘We’ve warred with your kind for more years than I care to count, and pardon my candor, but you’re all absolute ruthless bastards. We learned the hard way how to play hardball against your specific brand of divinity.’
Suddenly, a cold, psionic incision slid into Idan’s cognition, a psychic breach that bypassed his Sacran protections.
His jaw locked, a flare of heat radiating from his skin.
Damn, Zavier was scrolling through his neural archives at such speed he’d no time to parse or stop it.
‘Get out of my head,’ Idan hissed, the threat as tangible as a kinetic round in a laser weapon chamber. ‘Rightfokkin’ now!’
Molan too cursed under his breath as Idan realized his brother’s mind had also been breached.
Zavier disengaged, though his gilded copper eyes remained fixed on Idan’s, ignoring his outburst, his expression softening somewhat.
‘My apologies, but I had to be sure of your intentions. I see you’ve had a turbulent past and that your father has not helped whatsoever. I’m quite familiar with the scorched-earth policy of power-drunk deities and the parasitic entities they drag behind them. I feel your pain.’
The Dragon-Shifter’s features shifted into a professional mask.
‘We’ll hear you out, then debate whether to help you. First, you need to grasp our purpose so you never say we didn’t tell you when you step out of line. What I’m about to share is hard-coded with a lethal hex. If you leak this to anyone outside this room apart from the Riders, I’llfokkin’rip you to pieces and scorch you to the atomic level. Savvy?’
Molan, Idan, and Sheba exchanged a brief, tight glance of shared understanding.
‘Got it,’ Idan growled.
Zavier’s eyes narrowed as he inclined back from his obsidian desk and deeper into his chair.
‘In public, we’re the Dryagan Corporation, just another conglomerate moving credits and influence. Off-grid, we are Pegasi’s unofficial guardians. We built the Starfall Shield, a celestial firewall that’s been blocking wraith-horde incursions for eons. Mykadzeand I aren’t the corporate elites the rumors speculate of us; we’re Daemons. We’re immortal custodians of sub-rosas potent enough to fracture a galaxy, and we’re stuck with an undying mission that might never end.’
A heavy, static-charged silence filled the office, broken only by the muffled, primal bass thumping from the dance floor below them.
Idan exhaled, the tension in his frame yielding to the sheer scale of the operation. ‘That’s a hell of a burden, Phanos.’
‘It’s a freakish nightmare. Now, your turn,’ Zavier commanded. ‘Who are you to each other? Kin, as I see it.’
Idan took a deep inhale. ‘We’re half brothers, sons of Sulfiqar.’
Zavier and Maxim exchanged surprised glances.
‘Thefokk? The fallen King of the Seven Heavens? Damn,’ Zavier murmured. ‘So what might I do for you, scions of the Dispossessed God Emperor?’
Molan mapped out Sulfiqar’s goal to retake Sivania and his ultimatum. He also detailed the plan to shackle their progenitor for good, to strip their father of his ability to wreck Pegasi if he didn’t get his way.
‘We’re asking you, with all due respect, for the coordinates to a hidden Sacran sepulcher. Where we believe we can secure theChains of the Immortal King Saitoni. These shackles hold himin an eternal, agonizing stasis, which he’s endured for epochs after Sulfiqar orchestrated a coup against Saitoni of the greatest magnitude. The only method to neutralize our father is to bind him with the same fetters.’
Zavier’s lips twisted. ‘How do you plan to do this?’
Idan leaned forward, eyes flashing with resolution. ‘Honestly, Lord Phanos, we’re making this shit up as we go. If you can help us with that insight, we’ll pay you generously.’
Molan nodded, taking an inhale. ‘We also have it on good authority that you are the only artisans to forge ghost-stealth diamond masks. We’ll need these to shield our signatures from our father’s all-seeing gaze on this quest.’
