The Storm King

“All right, then let’s begin,” Trajan said, and August knelt in the center of the stone floor.

Leon watched in fascination, but so far, he was a little disappointed. It didn’t seem like the same kind of runic glyph that Artorias had used for Leon’s awakening was going to be used for August’s. Leon’s hopes for something spectacular were rekindled when Trajan reached into his soul realm and retrieved a few pouches of herbs and a glowing red potion in an index-finger sized clear glass vial.

If Leon’s previous experience in this regard could be applied, then he figured the potion was likely mostly some kind of mana from a powerful beast. He couldn’t do much more than guess, though, as he figured it would be rude to ask.

Fortunately, it seemed that August wasn’t quite up to speed on this process, so he didn’t have the same reticence to ask questions as Leon.

“What is all that?” the younger Prince inquired.

“Some herbs for you to smoke to prepare your body, and a potion to wake the sleeping bull within you,” Trajan responded. He reached into his soul realm again, this time retrieving a shallow bowl. The elder Prince conjured a table from the stone beneath his feet with earth magic and began to grind up the herbs and mix them into the bowl.

“What’s in the potion?” August asked with trepidation.

“The mana of a sixth-tier bull, plus a few other things to tame it a bit so you don’t explode as soon as you drink it,” Trajan said with a teasing smile, and August’s face went pale.

Listening to this, Leon couldn’t help but frown. He figured that August would’ve known all of this beforehand, but it seemed like the ceremony was a mystery to him. Leon, himself, didn’t know about his own awakening process until Artorias had him undergo it, so he could understand a bit; it was natural that families with this kind of inherited power would want to control it, to keep it from spreading outside the House, but that also meant that they ran the risk of one day forgetting the process.

In fact, Leon had been quietly concerned about that, himself. He knew the rough details of his own awakening, but he didn’t know the exact details, like the runes that Artorias painted on his body or the glyph that Artorias had carved into the mountain that Leon knelt in, and the books that Leon retrieved from his family’s library beneath Argent Palace hadn’t been nearly so helpful in figuring all of that out. He’d been worried that he would have to pay those archives another visit one day to truly have the details he wanted, but now that Leon could consult with the Thunderbird, he wasn’t too concerned about that matter anymore—not that Leon was forgoing his plans to return to his family’s archives, of course.

Still, Leon filed it away for later that he needed to speak with the Thunderbird about the awakening process. Better to learn it sooner rather than later, he never knew when he might need it. He was only nineteen, but he already had one river nymph trying to reproduce with him, and he had no idea when Elise might want kids, too.

“Everyone ready?” Trajan asked the room, though the question was mostly intended for August.

“I am,” the younger Prince replied.

Bronze and Leon both nodded.

“Leon, come here,” Trajan commanded, and Leon walked toward him, his face betraying none of the curiosity he felt. “Stand by August. You don’t need to keep ahold of him but be ready in case he collapses.”

Leon understood and went to stand just behind August’s shoulder. He guessed this was a symbolic thing, a Raime being there to hold the Royal whoever in case they fell during awakening. He didn’t appreciate it much, thinking that it symbolized House Raime being subservient to House Taurus as much as it was an expression of the friendship between their Houses and of House Raime’s privileges, but he did as Trajan asked anyway. His loyalty to Trajan was personal; he possessed none of House Raime’s traditional loyalty to House Taurus.

Trajan lay the bowl of crushed herbs at August’s knees, then pulled out a lighter, a thumb-sized metal rod with a rune of fire inscribed upon it, and set the herbs alight. Immediately a cloud of smoke rose from the bowl and straight into August’s face, and Trajan said to August, “Breathe deep!”

There was no time for August to hesitate. He took a deep breath, taking in as much of the herbal smoke as he could. His vision blurred, the color growing more and more vivid even as details bled into each other. He began to sway a bit, even in his kneeling position, and Leon placed his hand upon the thin Prince’s shoulder to steady him.

“Now, drink this,” Trajan said as he held out the vial.

August blinked a few times at him and made to take the vial, but with his blurred vision, he missed by several inches. He tried again, and again, missed, so Trajan simply took a step forward, held his breath to not inhale any of the smoke, and brought the vial to August’s lips. The shining red liquid slid down August’s throat in an instant, and Trajan stepped back.

A shudder went through August’s entire body as the potion settled in his stomach. A violent aura erupted from his body, and his upper body began to shake. Leon held the Prince tighter, keeping him upright.

There was still some time left before this ceremony was over, but Leon’s disappointment had returned. The aura coming from August’s body was chaotic and wild, but it paled in comparison to the storm that Leon’s awakening summoned. Lightning had shattered the peak of the mountain upon which Leon underwent his awakening, and even Artorias had been shocked at the strength and violence of the summoned storm. During the process, enough magic flowed through Leon that the serious injuries he sustained fighting the Snow Lion he killed were healed, he was knocked completely unconscious, and he was brought face-to-face with the Thunderbird.

None of that seemed to be happening to August. The Prince was awake, though not lucid, and while the magic that Leon could sense flowing through him was hardly something to scoff at, it wasn’t nearly as much as Leon expected from the bloodline that had subjugated his own.

As he thought about this, something occurred to Leon. His father had told him that awakening bloodlines had been discovered with a lot of trial and error after strong Ascended Beasts had been disappointed in their inability to pass their power on to their human children. That much was plausible enough, but what Leon wondered was how the Bull Kingdom had managed to figure out how to do it.

Thinking on it as he stared down at August with his hand grasped tightly upon the Prince’s shoulder, Leon found himself starting to be consumed by the thought of who might’ve taught the Bull Kingdom how to do this. It seemed to him like the First Bull King had his blood awakened before beginning his conquests, otherwise, he might have thought that his ancestor, the last Thunder King, might’ve had something to do with it after House Raime had been subjugated.

‘Maybe they learned how from some leftover materials from the Thunderbird Clan’s occupation of this plane?’ Leon thought to himself. ‘Or maybe the Sacred Bull just figured it out on its own…’

The latter was certainly possible, but his impression of what he knew about the history of bloodline awakening was that even beasts that had achieved divinity, such as the Thunderbird, struggled to figure this out, and if the Sacred Bull were so powerful and wise to have done so on its own, then Leon questioned why it took the Bull’s son to unify the region and not the Bull itself.

Leon couldn’t help but wonder how involved his own family had been in these matters, how much the Bull Kingdom had been built upon the legacy of the Thunderbird Clan, and how much that contributed to House Raime’s surrender to the First Bull King.

After several minutes, Leon sensed the aura emanating from August begin to die down, so he turned his thoughts away from the past. How a bunch of people thousands of years ago conducted themselves or found the information they had was hardly something that mattered much to him. What mattered now was finding out who knows what, not necessarily how they know.

Besides, it wasn’t like Leon was particularly broken up about how things turned out. He’d long ago learned from Artorias to accept life as it was and not to waste time mourning what could have been.

August gasped, his hazy eyes clearing. Were it not for Leon’s iron grip upon his shoulder, he would’ve collapsed, despite the entire experience lasting a scant few minutes.

Fortunately, his aura had changed quite a bit. August didn’t rise to the sixth-tier, but his aura was far denser and more stable than it had been. He was still pale and very thin, but his aura now radiated from his body with a strength and vigor that it hadn’t before. It seemed like the ceremony was a success, despite Leon’s own dashed hopes to see something more spectacular.

It took August a couple more minutes to really realize where he was and what he was doing, but once his mind cleared, he immediately stood up and Leon happily took his hand off August’s shoulder.

“How are you feeling?” Trajan asked the younger Prince.

August took a moment to answer, and he used that moment to stretch a bit, clench and unclench his hands a few times, and call upon some of his magic.

When he was ready to answer, August said, “I feel incredible! I feel like energy is just pouring out of me!”

“That’s good,” Trajan said with a wide smile. “You’ll probably find yourself so bursting with energy that you’ll be unable to sit still for a while, and you’re going to rapidly gain muscle, so don’t worry about that. Once your body gets used to your awakened blood, you’ll calm down. Shouldn’t take longer than a couple of weeks.”

“Thank you, Uncle,” August said, his eyes tearing up a bit. “And thank you, Sir Leon and Sir Titus! Thank you!!”

August was being completely sincere, but his earnestness was a bit embarrassing for Leon. He didn’t really do much, so the Prince’s gratitude was hardly something he felt he deserved. All they wanted was some small grant of legitimacy that his name could provide, and Leon greatly hoped that a time would never come when they would be forced to reveal that fact.

Of course, Leon could hardly blame the Prince for excitedly thanking him, Trajan, and Bronze so profusely—especially Bronze, since he made a rare exception and left the King’s side. This moment was an important step in legitimizing his claim to the throne, and more importantly, was something that his brother would no longer be able to hold over him. Until the ceremony began, Octavius could’ve—and frequently did when bringing nobles over to his faction—said that he was the only true heir of the Sacred Bull, even if August was still King Julius’ legitimate child.

“Please, August, that’s not necessary,” Trajan said.

“Agreed, Your Highness, this is nothing more than our duty,” Bronze added.

“If it was your duty, then you wouldn’t be here,” August replied. “You didn’t have to act as a witness, and for that, I will be eternally grateful.”

“Did you see the Sacred Bull?” Leon suddenly asked, bringing the rest of the congratulations, thanks, and humble denials to a merciful end.

The other three stared at him completely taken aback at the bluntness of his question, especially while the Prince was still thanking them for exerting the titanic, gargantuan effort to simply be present.

“I… uh… yes, yes I did,” August said, his expression turning significantly more morose and somber. “We spoke for quite a while…”

“How did you know about that?” Trajan asked, his eyes narrowing in concern and muted anger. He didn’t think anyone knew that the descendants of the Sacred Bull could speak with their ancestor, and it could represent a huge security breach if Leon had heard of it.

“My father told me of it,” Leon readily replied. “He said that he once asked His Majesty about this matter and that the King told him all about the vision he had when he awakened his blood.”

“I see…” Trajan said, relaxing somewhat but not quite calming down completely. King Julius could, of course, reveal all that he desired to whomever he wished, but these were private matters of House Taurus and Trajan was a bit disturbed thinking about how many other people his brother may have told.

“I’m surprised my Royal Father would speak of something so delicate and private with anyone, even with his best friend’s son,” August murmured.

Bronze, for his part, was completely confused, as he had no idea this was a thing that happened. However, he expertly played it off and asked no questions or let on about his confusion at all. Wearing a full face-concealing helmet definitely helped in that regard.

“Was it a worthwhile chat?” Leon asked, somewhat jealous that their ancestor spoke to them during this process, while he had to ascend to the sixth-tier to earn similar treatment.

“It… was, or at least, the parts that I can remember were… I think…” August rambled. “I think those herbs might’ve messed with my short-term memory a bit because a lot of it is jumbled and hazy, but I do remember seeing our Honored Ancestor and speaking with him for a long time.”

Trajan nodded, but he said nothing. He didn’t want to discuss something so private in front of Bronze or even Leon, so he decided to change the topic.

“We ought to return to work, now, Nephew,” he said with some stiffness to his voice.

“Right,” August agreed. They had plenty of work ahead of them, and while it would’ve been nice to get some rest and process what had just been done, August knew that rest was a luxury he couldn’t afford right now, especially with what he was planning.

“Let’s get to it,” Trajan said, leading the other three back outside. Once there, Bronze parted ways from them and began to walk back to the King’s private villa, while the other three made for the main palace complex.

There were Legions to assign and a military expedition to launch, both of which the two Princes expected to meet a great deal of resistance.