Emperor Awakened Extra - Epilogue

Bit of a random thing, but I'm including an extra epilogue in the audio version of Emperor Awakened. It will be added to the ebook, but as I don't expect most people to reread that I'm posting it here (as I know not everyone will listen to the audio). This means this post has a pretty small audience: people who have read Empire Reforged, but who won't listen to the audio version.

This takes place after Emperor Awakened and has a bunch of spoilers for it. It was based off the original draft of Emperor Defiant I wrote early last year that I scrapped,  and is modified to be a little more to the point. I will say that writing in first person after so long was bloody hard. I suspect the writing style is some unholy blend of my current style and the Emperor stuff as well, not sure how I'll handle that with the full Book 3.

Epilogue

A blizzard raged around us, thick and fast. Our party of three pushed onward despite the inclement weather. We wrapped our cloaks around us—or our tails, in the case of Yae—and endured.

If I could see through the dense blur of white that smothered my vision, I’d be greeted with the snow-capped mountaintops of the Nahaum Mountains. Behind me lay a long descent and the plains around Talepolis. Before me was our destination, which couldn’t be far.

“I’m fucking freezing to death here,” Hish snapped from where she slogged behind me. “You said we’d make it by lunchtime.”

“I didn’t reckon on a blizzard,” I called out. “Be thankful for my magic. Or else you would truly be freezing to death.”

While the three of us were dressed for frigid weather, a blizzard was beyond anything one could prepare for with mere clothing. Fortunately, I had more than that. I gripped a large disk in one hand and it glowed with a fiery rune. Those nearby would find their body temperature kept stable.

At least, until the rune ran dry. There was a reason we wore thick clothing, as the less work the rune did, the less energy it burned. The early winter weather had been unexpectantly fierce as we climbed the western peaks toward our destination. I worried how we might get back down.

In ordinary circumstances, Yae could teleport away, but the collar around her neck ensured she could do little more than run very fast. She’d share our fate.

“I can sense the ancient magicks of the Bastion nearby,” Yae said, her voice cutting through the weather with practiced ease. “So stop with your bitching. You can warm up the traditional way tonight.”

“And let you watch us fuck? Fat fucking chance,” Hish scoffed.

I let out a long-suffering sigh. Why I’d chosen to bring Hish along with Yae was beyond me, and I’d made the decision. The two got along like houses on fire—which was to say they kept trying to burn each other down. They were both crude and expressive, but of very different classes.

And Yae lacked Hish’s self-esteem issues. That much was apparent from how much she pushed against my rejections of her.

After a few minutes, I was spared further arguing. Yae’s words proved true. A great shadow loomed through the blizzard.

Then we broke through the weather, as if we had stepped through an invisible weather shield. Probably because we had.

“We’re here. Talab Bastion,” I said, looking up at the ancient fortress that dated back to the era of Archangel Myrael. “And it seems we’re alone.”

“I told you that my intelligence was accurate,” Yae said as she unwrapped her tails from around her body. “You should trust me more.”

I grunted. Instead of a real response, I switched off the temperature rune and loosened up my weather gear.

“It’s hot!” Hish yelped, scratching at her cloak and thick furs. “Fuck’s sake, I’m fucking sweating and we’ve been here for seconds.”

“The fortress is protected by a series of wards, and one of them perfectly maintains the climate,” I explained. “Snow and rain can’t penetrate. I think even the light levels are controlled, as it shouldn’t be this bright in such a blizzard.”

The fortress might be an expansive network of towers, turrets, and walls, but it was dull. None of its protective runes were lit up, and no braziers blazed along the battlements. The heavy snowfall should obscure the sun, but I looked around as easily as I would in a sunny field on a clear day.

Hish didn’t appear to care for my explanation. She tossed off her heaviest clothing and then panted exaggeratedly. Yae and I remained much more in control.

“I assume we still have business here, even if it’s as unoccupied as it looks?” Yae gave me a sidelong look.

“Of course. Talab Bastion is part of the defensive network that protects the Empire from demonic invasions through the badlands. If the Imperial Army and the lesser forces under the provinces have withdrawn then that means we’re open to a demonic assault.”

“That’s bad,” Hish said.

“Duh,” Yae said, rolling her eyes.

Looking around, I took in the fortress.

Talab Bastion was the most ancient place in the Rogistran Empire. It was genuinely prehistoric, as no records knew when it had been constructed. The fortress consisted of two concentric layers of sandstone walls that stood over a hundred feet high. Turrets dotted the walls, while a spindly tower rose toward the heavens at each of the cardinal directions.

And, in the center, a single keep dominated. Strange curves stretched along the ivory mass that loomed over us. Despite the apparent age of the building, its paint and render never faded. As if it existed outside of space and time.

“Looks expensive,” Hish said as she stared up at it. “We gonna strip all that gold off and sell it? Reckon it would go for a lot.”

“If you somehow managed it, that would be a great way to ensure that Mykah’s plans end extremely painfully. We’d unite the entire Empire against us in a grand crusade,” Yae said drily. “Fortunately, you can’t.”

“Wanna bet?” Hish’s single horn began to glow ominously.

“Hish,” I growled.

Her horn stopped glowing and she looked away bashfully.

“And even if you did try that, it wouldn’t work,” I added. “Every race has tried before. Dragons, vampires, demons, mages, dwarves, elves. Even foxes.” I shot Yae a meaningful look.

“Even a certain type of fox,” she added darkly.

Ignoring her, I continued, “Talab Bastion holds the power of the Archangel Myrael himself. Archangel Tower might get all the attention, but it was built by the Empire as a symbol. This was always Myrael’s true home. There’s been a lot of suspicion that the only reason the badlands never went any further west was because it couldn’t get past this.”

“Uh, I thought it was because the Empire killed the demons whenever they tried?” Hish asked, confused.

“If killing demons was all we needed to do to stop the badlands from expanding, the oni would never have been driven from their home.”

Her eyes widened, and she nodded. After all, she’d definitely fought demons before and knew how easily the oni dealt with them. Until I’d made a deal with the oni recently, they’d been caught between the Empire and the demon-infested badlands.

“Anyway, we need to check the place for traps first,” I said, hefting my pack from where I’d dropped it. “There’s no telling what the soldiers left behind for any intruders.”

“I told you, that wasn’t what they planned,” Yae said, but followed him anyway.

Hish puttered after them.

“And what did they plan?”

“From what I’ve gathered, the other Magister Generals withdrew in anticipation of a violent Stump Assembly. They didn’t lay traps here because they expected to eventually return to their posts before any demons arrived.”

I frowned. That matched the behavior I’d witnessed during my engagements with the loyalists of Aghram under the vampires. While Aladria, Darian, and Otwin had been able to amass significant forces under the province, the Imperial Army had been nowhere to be seen. Unless one counted my forces.

“In other words, the other Magister Generals got outplayed,” I said. “They expected outright civil war. Instead, this Regency Council was created in a bloodless coup to replace the Emperor, and I’m the only one crazy enough to start burning everything down.”

“Well, you’re doing a good job of not burning things down, actually,” Yae said. “There’s no honor among thieves, given the elves are happy to work with you.”

“And Lyria seems hellbent on destroying me.” I grunted as we strode through the first open gate. “We’re still checking for traps.”

She sighed, then flitted off. Theoretically, this was a great chance for her to disappear.

Hish said as much, “Foxy bitch could run off and we won’t notice.”

“I can track her through the choker. Plus, I disabled the anti-teleportation rune on it when we dealt with Aladria, and she stuck with us. That was the perfect time to betray us, and she didn’t.” I refused to say I trusted Yae, but she hadn’t done anything to make me distrust her.

But I’d learned my lessons in life. She was an old, wise fox who was undoubtedly no stranger to playing the long game. If I let my guard down, she’d be selling my secrets after pillow talk in no time. Or trying to break my neck while I slept. Hard to say which.

“Now shoo,” I said. “You need to check for traps as well. We can’t rest until we’re sure it’s safe. Tomorrow, we’re heading down the mountainside to check for demonic activity. I’d rather do that after a good night’s sleep.”

“Slave driver,” she whined, before slinking off.

As expected, we found nothing in the endless halls except the echoes of our own voices. Abandoned supplies littered pockets of the fortress, some useful, others less so. Very little of it could be taken by us in our hiking packs.

I’d come here looking for something specific, after all. The soldiers here that stayed here wouldn’t have had the first clue how to find it. But I supposed there might be something else of note.

It just wasn’t in the kitchen full of spoiled food or the armory packed floor to ceiling with enchanted ballistae bolts and weapons. The troops stationed here must have left in a hurry to leave behind so much food.

Not a single corpse or sign of conflict could be found. Skeptical, I even used magic to check for signs of scrubbing or magical battle. Nothing. Not that I would find anything given the length of time this place had been abandoned. Dust layered every surface. The barriers kept the place nice and toasty, despite the wintery appearance, but air still needed to pass through.

Eventually, we reconvened in the grand hall of the central keep. Like the rest of the fortress, it was absurdly spacious. A small army could fit inside, dragon included.

What it lacked was decoration. The religious sepulchers, towers, churches and the like that littered the Empire abounded with ostentatious statues of the Archangel. He’d been around for a while, so there was no shortage of references. Many famous artists had painted him and there was even a hall in the royal court full of them, many with the then Emperor beside the Archangel.

Yet this fortress remained bare of the figure who loomed large in its history. Many didn’t even realize Talab Bastion was linked to Myrael. I’d guarantee few of the soldiers who had been posted here for the past few decades to fend off demons knew. It was mage knowledge, and mages loved lording their knowledge over others.

“This place looks so rich, but it’s bland,” Hish said as she walked around the empty hall, arms crossed behind her head. “Stone, more stone, and look…” She paused and gestured at the raised dais at the far end of the hall. “Even more stone!”

“You realize this fortress existed when oni and humans barely knew how to bang rocks together to make fire, right?” Yae said. “Imagine if a magical being appeared from nowhere and built a flying fortress made out of some shiny material that was literally indestructible and the size of an island. What would you think?”

“Uh…” Hish looked at me. “I have a new boss?”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s Yae’s point, Hish. You don’t really need to dress up a place that is already impressive. Especially as size and scale have a quality all its own.”

While I’d seen many fortresses, and even built and designed more than a few, Talab Bastion still remained in a league of its own. The magic imbued into it remained active without any maintenance centuries after Myrael’s disappearance. The Empire needed magical stockpiles to keep theirs running more than a few months.

“So are we each claiming a bedroom, or…” Hish trailed off with a lewd grin.

“No,” I said. “We’ll camp out here.”

She stared at me.

“The fortress might be safe, but the area isn’t. Demons could breach overnight. Or we might be followed. Or…” I didn’t voice any more possibilities.

In large part because Yae threw me a mocking look. My biggest unspoken reason was that I didn’t trust her. While I doubted she could truly assassinate me in my sleep, I didn’t doubt that she might have allies trailing us who might help her.

I could handle a rough-riding fox. Maybe even two. But three might be beyond my limit.

We pitched camp in the hall as I directed. Given the food was all spoiled, we continued eating the rations we’d brought in our packs.

“I really wanted a bed,” Hish whined while roasting her venison ration over the fire. “I can live with the food, as it’s way better than the shit we march with, but I miss the beds at the palace. And the sex.”

“You can still do that,” Yae said with a smirk.

“Without being watched.”

“What makes you think I don’t watch in the palace?”

The demi-oni glowered at Yae, who merely laughed.

“You’re becoming spoiled,” I said. “How often did you get to sleep in beds until recently?”

“I mean, we still had beds. They just sucked,” Hish said. “And isn’t the whole point of joining you to move forward? Why look back?”

“Indeed. We should all forget about the past. Let bygones be bygones,” Yae said.

Hish and I pointedly stared at the fox. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

“It was worth a shot,” she muttered.

“Anyway, what the hell are we doing here?” Hish asked, deciding she was already bored with whining. “There’s nothing here we can take back. The dwarf in Talepolis makes better weapons for us, there aren’t any real supplies here, and it’s empty as a grave. And don’t give me that crap about checking for demons. A scouting party could have done that job.”

I winced. If my cover story had been seen through by Hish, it sure as hell hadn’t survived Yae’s scrutiny. How long ago had the fox seen through it?

Yae merely grinned at me. Not a reassuring answer.

“Winter will be a brief reprieve,” I said. “Once it ends, we’ll face pressure on all fronts. The vampires in Aghram still won’t give up. We need to retake the capital in order to announce a Stump Assembly if we want a new Emperor. And now Lyria has supposedly made a secret deal with the oni.”

“And your answer to those problems is to go east, instead of west?” Yae asked. “You’re a man of mystery, Mykah, but I don’t see them unraveling here.”

Well, at least she didn’t know that much about me.

I pressed on, “Talab Bastion holds powerful magic that we can use. Magical catalysts, runic artifacts, tomes, and other secrets that I found here. If I’m potentially going up against the mystic foxes that control the central province of Regelhein, I’ll need every advantage I can get.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Yae said cautiously. “But more to the point, you really think this place holds such secrets? Mages stripped it clean long before the army used it as a staging post.”

“Uh… I don’t follow.” Hish scratched the back of her head. “Like, at all.”

I sighed. “I have history here. In order to become a true mage, I had to do a thesis. I did mine here, studying the rune-work and magic that held the fortress together.”

Yae’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.

“While here, I found things that mages overlooked out of arrogance,” I continued. “Besides that, the soldiers definitely left behind a lot of catalysts and artifacts. The Imperial Army has its fair share of mages.”

“So is this the source of your secrets?” Yae purred. “I’ve wondered about your mysteries. Been entranced by them, even. I’m surprised they’re so banal. And you’re even going to share them with little ol’ me and my tails?”

I remained silent. Despite bringing her along, I had little intention of sharing much with her.

In truth, Yae’s presence here was mostly because I didn’t dare leave her alone with the rest of my group for such an extended period. Given my ultimate objective to seize the capital, Kriesden, she had every reason to act against me.

“Oh, don’t be that way. I know your history, Arium,” she said. “A loyal servant of the Empire, who was burned by politics and used like so many others. Has your loyalty ever amounted to anything? Did serving an Emperor who rose to power over the corpse of your mother aid you?”

“Enough,” I snapped.

“You’re a man who burns with a fire that should have consumed the Empire decades ago,” she continued. “I find the contradictions in you fascinating. You want to uphold a nation so rotten that it practically collapsed and its own people don’t even care.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I asked, but inwardly knew the answer.

It had been ever-present during my conquest of Aghram, after all.

“The Emperor and princes were assassinated and replaced by a new system of provinces, controlled by non-humans and select mages. Yet the nobles didn’t rise up in righteous civil war over their loss of power, and the peasants didn’t care. You wage war, and what do they do as you come? Complain about the damage you do and ask for reparations.” Yae shot him a twisted grin. “Every new boss is the same as the old boss. Just as useless and dangerous. The Empire is so rotten that your civil war is just another Tuesday.”

“I don’t think anybody is taking things that casually,” I said flatly.

“Then it’s a bad harvest year. A misfortune the people know they need to shoulder, but that they’re powerless to do anything about. What does it say about the ‘glorious Rogistran Empire’ if that’s how the populace thinks of it?” She sneered.

“And what do you think? The mystic foxes were given the crown jewel of the Empire: Regelhein, and the capital of Kriesden,” I asked, intentionally dodging her point.

She snorted. “A bribe. An attempt to keep us onside, and to eliminate dangerous nobles there. But this is meaningless to us. The Empire isn’t ours. You conquered us. The other non-humans think we’re like them, but to us, they’re the same as you humans. They don’t want things to change. They just want to be the boot now, instead of the ones being crushed beneath it.”

“Strong words for a race that conducts some pretty nasty atrocities over havoc foxes.”

Her fists clenched and she looked away.

Seconds passed in uncomfortable silence. My words had been poorly chosen out of anger. It was too late for regret, however.

Mulling over her words, I had to admit they were true.

When I conquered Talepolis, the armies who defended it had fought as if the vampires were rightful rulers. Then after I won, they flipped sides just as easily. This was a civil war, but the people on the ground had no real loyalty. Most of the soldiers didn’t care about the Empire.

Rather, they cared about those at the top and what they had been promised. The demi-oni wanted freedom and a nation of their own. My soldiers believed in me and wanted a future under me—possibly as Emperor. Most of the peasants likely just fought for their homes, or because they couldn’t afford not to. Money was good as a soldier.

“Then why help me?” I asked her after nearly a minute.

She sighed. “Because you genuinely believe in something better. You’ve had the chance to take your armies and topple the Emperor before, enacting some self-righteous vengeance. Now you’re acting on pure passion and fire.”

“I’m still rather self-righteous,” I said.

“Yes, but one could argue it’s become genuinely righteous. At least, it might.” Then she grinned again. “At the very least, you’re more interesting than a vampire who groomed a boy into her favorite lover and lusted after him for 50 years, and a dragon with anger issues.”

I grunted. Yae’s words were the sort of thing I wanted to hear, but I didn’t want to trust them.

“You might support me, but that means nothing when it comes to the rest of the mystic foxes,” I said.

“Maybe. But don’t give up on negotiations too quickly. Unlike your obsessive vampire, we specialize in intelligence. That means talking is on the table. We did make a treaty with the Empire to end our war, after all.”

Yet a war was still necessary.

We turned in after the heavy words. The trek up the mountain had been tiring and there was a long day ahead of us.

After breakfast and a quick morning patrol to confirm that nothing had changed, the three of us set out of the fortress. With the blizzard gone, we saw thick snowfall atop the mountain. The descent to the badlands lay before us.

Ordinarily, going down in a single day was impossible. But we had magic on our side and weren’t going down the entire distance. The Empire had constructed observation wards all along the eastern stretch of the Nahaum Mountains, and I planned to use those to monitor for demonic activity.

Getting back by nightfall would be a hard task, however. The descent was far easier than the ascent.

“If we’re not really here to check for demons, do we really need to slog through all this snow?” Hish asked while wrapped up in her furs. “Where are we even going, anyway? We left our packs in the fort. No way we’re getting to the base in a day, unless we ride this fox down the slope.”

Yae didn’t deign Hish’s suggestion with an answer, but her glare made her feelings clear.

“I’d feel better if I confirmed that the demons aren’t massing to invade. It’s unusual that they’re so inactive,” I said. “There should be an observation ward only a few hours’ trek downhill.”

“Why not put them in the fortress?” Yae asked.

“The entire mountain is layered with magical wards. The observation wards need to be as far from the defensive ones as possible to limit interference. That means they tend to get knocked out by demons first.” I shrugged. “It’s not the best system, but we no longer talk about demonic onslaughts thanks to the mountains.”

A few hours passed before we finally found one of the observation wards. My navigation spell made finding the rough location easy, but we had to dig in the snow to find the actual cylinder of stone embedded into the mountainside.

“Uh… what?” Hish asked, staring at the slab of carved rock in front of them.

“Give me a minute or three. I’ll check the badlands,” I said.

Then I placed a hand against the ward and activated it.

Instantly, my vision teleported to the bottom of the mountain. The barren, desertified badlands stretched out before me, bereft of life. With practiced ease, I whipped my field of view around across the range of the observation ward. Terrain blurred as I shot across the unendingly similar landscape.

Then I returned to the mountainside, which was a refreshing sight.

Hish and Yae both grabbed my shoulders to steady me. Apparently, I’d been more shaken than I thought.

“I’ll be fine,” I grunted out, shaking them off.

“What did you see?” Yae asked, refusing to give up a chance to rub herself against me.

“Not much. The lack of demons is almost eerie. One might think they’ve gotten bored and gone somewhere else.” I frowned at the idea.

While it was true that the demonic assaults had become less vicious, most had attributed that to the vastly stronger defenses in place since the first onslaughts. The possibility that the demons had enough intelligence to go elsewhere bothered me. Individual demons might be smart, but they’d always been collectively animalistic.

Then again, even water sought out the path of least resistance. Maybe the Empire had been foolish to think that the mountains would hold off the demons forever. The question remained where the demons had gone.

“Something to worry about in the future,” I said. “What I do know is that there isn’t an impending invasion around the corner. We can safely focus on our own problems.”

“What if it changes?” Hish asked.

“Like you said, we can send scouts up here. I’ll have Miya post a team up here to keep watch.”

She scowled at the reminder that this trip was largely a diversion from his true task.

Even so, we trekked back up the mountainside. On the way back, Hish seemed keen to make conversation to distract herself from the cold.

“You said you read books here, right?” she said.

“I wrote my thesis here while defending the Empire,” I corrected. “That’s a lot more than reading books.”

“Same difference. So did you see lots of cool demons? Anything more interesting than the losers we destroy up north? We rarely get anything more than the small ones, plus a few bigger ones with some fancy tricks.”

I frowned. “You mean lesser and greater demons. And yes, we did. I refined many of my combat techniques and runes against the more powerful demons. Noble demons frequently led major assaults. A single one of them could slay numerous elite knights, and a pack of them was a match for anything less than the Empire’s best.”

“Or a dragon,” Yae said.

“Well, yes,” I admitted. “But there were noble demons that could threaten them. The stories that demons are all the same couldn’t be further from the truth. They have a devastatingly broad variety. Some are mere brutes. Others are nigh-unkillable. And some hold a speed and strength that lets them cut down dragons with terrifying ease. The gap between the demon princes that led the onslaughts and some noble demons was narrow at times.”

“Oooh, a prince. I’ve heard Miya tell stories about them. They’re like demon generals, right?” Hish asked, excited.

I shrugged. “Kind of. Supposedly there are even demon lords, according to Myrael’s writings, but we’ve never seen any. A demon prince is essentially a demon equivalent to me or Miya. They have intelligence, are immensely strong and skilled, and command legions of demons in the badlands. It’s been decades since I fought one, and I’d be happy for decades more to pass.”

As we returned to the fortress, I continued to entertain Hish with stories of my time defending the Empire. Yae remained silent. Night threatened to trap us on the mountain, but we made it back in time.

Once again, we enjoyed our simple food around the fire. But as the women retired to their rest, I slipped away without a sound. Some simple magic aided my escape and ensured my sleeping bag looked occupied. Hish mumbled in her sleep as I left the hall.

With nightfall, the corridors fell dark. I used magic to see without illuminating them. The fortress remained unchanged since I had last been here, making it easy to find my way back to the room I had come here to ransack. It was a large chamber at the very top of the keep.

Getting there required me to ascend more staircases than I care to recall. I managed it.

The door remained sealed by both runes and a special lock that could only be opened by a special seal that archmages kept on them. Fortunately, I had such a thing. My old sorcery mentor, Archmage Tryvin, had been rather lax about security. Convincing Terra to “lend” me the seal all those decades ago had been trivial. If he’d ever noticed it missing, she’d done a great job covering it up.

I undid both sets of locks. The chamber opened.

Inside stood… little of importance. A large skylight dominated the ceiling, but otherwise the room looked as bland and unimportant as the rest of the fortress. A strange object stood beneath the skylight, consisting of multiple wheels and gears that spun freely around it, and each was encrusted with angelic runes.

Otherwise, the room stood empty.

“What, this is the secret you were hiding?” Yae said from behind me.

I froze, biting back a curse. It took me a moment to regain my composure. “Too boring for your tastes?”

“It looks like a broken piece of machinery.” She strode inside and around the strange object. “I can’t fathom what this might do. But these runes… Well, that explains a lot about what you know.”

“Does it?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes. “You understand magical theory and concepts that are usually the secrets of those with astral knowledge. This is a room of an astral being. This device is one built from astral power. You can’t use these runes, but just from looking at their density and the power still emanating from this block of stone, I know that an inquisitive soul could learn a lot.”

“I’m not the first mage to see this,” I said.

“No, but you might be the first with the runic knowledge to actually decipher what any of these runes can do.”

I remained silent. Yae knew too damn much for her own good. It had been a mistake to bring her here.

The two of us traded looks for close to a minute. Mine was a glare, while hers was smug.

“You can trust me,” she said quietly. “The secrets I’ll whisper in your ear while your cock is in me will be yours to keep.”

“There’ll be plenty of time to prove that,” I said. “Starting right now. I have a dragon to fight, and your brethren might work against me. If you’re what you claim to be, then maybe I’ll be able to take that choker off you.”

Yae inclined her head before trooping out of the chamber. I let her go without a second glance.

Only after I was absolutely certain that she was gone—including several scans with both magic and my eyes—did I approach the device. I checked once more for prying eyes and even scrying spells.

Then I placed my hand against the pedestal and activated an obscured rune there. A small compartment popped out. Inside it was a box roughly the size of my forearm. I tucked it under my coat, resealed the compartment, then returned to our camp.

Yae was right that I was a man of mystery. But if I wanted to change the Empire, fell a great dragon, and overcome my enemies, then it might be time to shed those mysteries.

At the very least, I couldn’t afford to hold back any longer. It was time to use every last asset I had at my disposal to bring the Empire back from the brink.