Whispers of a Dead Empire

"Alright, Nyx, I will take you home, then I need to go out and run some errands, okay?" I had my hand on her shoulder as we walked around the stronghold and watched as everyone scurried about.

A wide yawn split her lips, and she nodded her head. "Okay, mother. I am rather tired." I gestured for my map to appear and quickly teleported to her bedroom.

"First, let's get you a bath before you go to bed, okay?" I landed on the floor, glided over to her wardrobe, and grabbed her some night clothing and a few towels. Perhaps I would let her choose her own clothing in the future, but for now, I at least want her to match and look nice. One day, we would have to go over what colors match and clothing types.

I grabbed a nice pair of pajamas and spun around, eager to get this over with, so I could get to my stuff. Instead, I saw that she had already passed on in a heap on her bed. Well, damn, I wanted her to take a bath, but this was okay, too. I walked over to her and adjusted her slightly before tucking her into bed. She must have had a long day if she passed out this quickly.

I sat next to her, ran my fingers through her hair, and stared at her sleeping form. I didn't want to be a mother for the longest time, but now I'm pretty content with it. The feeling of it being so right overrode anything else that I felt. I gave her one last pat on the head and a kiss on the forehead before I stood up. I needed to get one of the palatines and station them nearby. So that if she wakes up and I'm not there, she has someone to keep her company.

"Mistress." Kharon gave me a slight bow as I walked into his temporary office spacing, near the back of what currently functions as a classroom.

"Greetings Kharon." I flashed him a smile as I sat down across from him.

"You are back much sooner than I expected you would be." He tucked away his hood, revealing his bleached white bones and burning eyes.

"Yeah, I figured I would be gone for longer, but I feel surprisingly refreshed." I stretched out a bit in the chair, trying to adjust my cloak.

"So I can tell." His words, as monotonous as usual, conveyed a sense of amusement, though I wasn't sure with what, but I would not pry into it.

"So how did the meeting with the dignitaries go afterward?'

"Redrick has nothing new for us right now. Everything coming from us, he is content with. However, the Corinthian dignitary asks that he meet you directly at some point." The skeleton pulled open his desk and pulled out a stack of papers.

Honestly, I didn't want to deal with any of the dignitaries personally. Dealing with such intense scrutiny wasn't really my thing, nor was dealing with diplomacy. "I would much rather not if it could be avoided." What I was most scared of, however, was someone piercing the veil of my deceit.

"Eventually, you will have to meet them. You can't keep pushing that back forever. "He grabbed a small manila folder from his desk and slid it over to me.

"I know, but for now, I want to. At least until I'm secured in my position. There is too much at stake, and I don't want to risk losing it all." I took the folder and flipped it open to read the contents.

"That is also wise of you. We can revisit this in the future. However, I have also compiled a list of the other delegates and what they desire." As he spoke, I looked through the carefully worded documents.

Let's see here, the Thelians, which were first, were the beast kin, according to my documents. They seek to expand their borders and wish to establish an enclave within my domain for a few purposes, which were thankfully listed here for me. The first was asylum, since they were constantly under attack, followed by research and domain diving. I was perfectly fine with an enclave being formed within my domain. Especially considering that if I did this, I could gain more influence, not to mention a constant source of resources and essence. "I will allow an enclave. However, I expect them to pay taxes. Preferably in material goods, research papers, and whatnot, and respect whatever laws I may come up with." I pulled the paper from the folder and quickly scribbled down my demands on it.

"The taxes can be paid every month, and if they can not come up with material goods, I will happily take payments in coins. However, I will leave it up to you for the amount to be paid." I signed off my name on the bottom of the paper and slid it back to him.

"Hmm, I will pass this information onto the delegate then. If anything changes, I will let you know." He picked the paper up and began to read it over while I went on the next page.

Next up was the Tezcacoatl dynasty, and what they asked for was simple. Though, in a way, it was vexing. They wanted to establish an enclave much like the Thelians, but for an entirely different reason. "Kharon, what do the Tezcacoatls mean by veneration?"

"Well, they see you have a dragon soul and a pureblood dragon daughter. and to them, that makes you one of their great ancestors." His bones rattled like he was releasing a pent-up sigh as he spoke, and I didn't blame him.

"So they see me as a distant family then? I guess I could do something with that." I murmured as I looked over the sheet and read through more of what they requested. Outside of the enclave, they really wanted little from me.

"You could, yes. After all, you are a godling, so worship can help boost your power levels immensely. So it is something that I recommend you do if you want the boost, of course."

As the words left his mouth, I froze. The chance to be worshiped as a god? It was something that I never really thought about, especially since my meeting with Midir. In fact, the thought made me slightly uncomfortable. "How much power would it give me?"

"Gods gain power from two sources. The first is collective faith, and the second is progression. Collective faith tends to be the most powerful but is also the biggest weakness. Progression is the slowest but also the most stable. I highly recommend a blend between the two if you want to get stronger." He set the paper down on the desk and glanced back at me.

The idea of being worshiped as a god felt so wrong, yet the claim to power also felt so tantalizing. I wanted to be strong, not just for me but also for everyone else in my domain. They needed me to be strong. As I thought about it, I leaned more towards taking that path. It wasn't for my own desires but for my undead. They needed a leader, and I would take it. "Is there anything else about them I need to know?"

"Well, they offered to send you a large army for the crusade, but I turned that down. If we take a full army, then we would look weak. But they wouldn't drop it, so at most, I allowed for a small detachment that would be labeled as mercenaries."

I glanced down at the paper and weighed everything once more before making my choice. I signed the paper at the bottom and slid it over to him with a hollow feeling. These were such tough choices, and some of them I didn't quite feel ready for. But if this is what it takes, then it must be done. I slid the paper back to him with trepidation and felt somewhat guilty. "What else is there? I asked as I went through the surprisingly small stack of papers at my disposal.

"One of the most vocal of the bunch was a delegate from a neighboring principality. He mostly spewed rhetoric about man's superiority and how they would reward you handsomely if you cut all relations with all the nonhuman factions." Even though he was a skeleton, the exasperation was heavy in words.

"Dealing with that would be too much of a hassle. The benefits would not outweigh the risks I would take with that. Tell them that I will not have any diplomatic and economic dealings with them." I jotted my response and passed the paper back over to him. I knew what dealing with people like that would entail, and I neither had the time, nor the patience with such things.

"The rest just look like minor trade deals and establishing ties," I murmured as I looked through the last few bits of paper. I have addressed the most prominent delegates, so everything would come as secondary.

"For the most part, yes. The domain is expanding in ways that I didn't quite expect, though not that it's a bad thing. Just rather unique." He reached forward, took the paper from the desk, and looked it over.

"It wasn't something that I expected. But all is well." I placed the folder down and thought about all the stuff that would have to be made. I would have to get creative soon if I wanted to keep up with demands. There was even a chance that I would need to cut back on my sleep a bit to make sure things were moving smoothly. "So Kharon, with all of this stuff finished, we can now look at the next portion of our plans." I grabbed my bag and quickly drew my notebook and the map of the following domain expansion. "Now, we prepare for the crusade."