Lord of the realm

Chapter 226: You should leave this forest

If Jaenor’s return concerned her, she showed no sign of it.

"Interesting," Kaelthrys said, her voice carrying clearly despite the distance.

"You’ve transcended death. Integrated Chaos Origin. Achieved something unprecedented."

Jaenor’s gaze shifted from Suyajna to Kaelthrys, and for a moment, the two beings simply studied each other.

Power met authority.

Transcendence met dominion.

Neither yielding nor backing down.

Then Jaenor’s attention moved.

Away from the gods. Away from Suyajna and Morgana and the assembled Sins. His eyes swept across the battlefield until they fixed on a point in the forest, perhaps half a mile distant.

Where his friends were hiding.

Reality folded, and he was gone. He simply disappeared from the place he was standing and manifested in another, moving through space in ways that made even Aethormor’s spatial manipulation look crude by comparison.

*

Deep in what remained of the forest, trees shattered and burning, ground torn apart by shockwaves, Jaenor’s companions had taken shelter behind the only protection available.

Baren, in his full dragon form, had positioned his massive body as a living shield. His scorched dragon scales were burnt even further and cracked from absorbing the peripheral effects of divine combat, but he maintained his position.

Behind him, pressed against his bulk, were the others.

Rena clutched her crossbow with a white-knuckled grip, though she knew it would be useless against forces this tremendous.

Taeryn’s spear was similarly pointless, but he held it anyway, needing the psychological comfort of being armed.

Darian’s black armor was dented and scorched, his sword planted in the ground as he leaned against it for support.

Raelana had collapsed from pure exhaustion, unconscious but breathing. The effort of maintaining barriers during their escape from the demon general, combined with the overwhelming presence of so many divine beings, had finally broken her.

They’d watched the battle from a distance, watched Suyajna slaughter gods, watched the Sovereign Queen arrive, and watched the sky darken with something that made every other threat seem trivial.

And then they’d seen him.

Jaenor.

Their friend.

The boy they’d followed into impossible situations, who they’d believed was dead, was consumed completely by the daemon goddess.

Returned.

Radiating power that made the gods themselves pause.

"That’s really him," Rena whispered, tears already streaming down her face.

"That’s Jaenor. He’s alive. He came back."

"He’s different," Taeryn said quietly.

"Look at him."

"Does it matter?" Rena asked, her voice cracking.

"He’s here. He’s real. He’s—"

Reality folded, and suddenly Jaenor stood before them.

He appeared perhaps ten feet away; he touched down on scorched ground. His form had changed—taller, more imposing, with that subtle luminescence to his skin that suggested power barely contained. But his face was still recognizable. Still, Jaenor, despite everything else that had changed.

For a heartbeat, no one moved. They just stared at each other—the transformed warrior and his shocked companions.

Then Rena broke.

She dropped her crossbow and ran toward him, not caring about dignity or danger or the fact that he was radiating enough power to level cities. She crashed into him with the full force of her small body, her arms wrapping around him in a desperate embrace.

"You’re alive," she sobbed into his chest.

"You’re alive, you’re alive, you’re alive—"

Her words dissolved into incoherent crying. She held him as she’d never let go, as if she released him, he might disappear again.

Jaenor’s arms came up slowly and carefully and wrapped around her. His touch was gentle despite the power he now commanded, mindful of how fragile she was compared to what he’d become.

"I’m here," he said quietly, and his voice was layered, not quite the multiple harmonics from before, but carrying depths that suggested he existed partially in multiple realities.

"I’m real. I’m not going anywhere."

Taeryn and Darian approached more cautiously, but their relief was no less genuine. Taeryn’s usual cocky demeanor was completely absent, replaced by raw emotion he didn’t try to hide.

"We thought you were gone," he said, his voice rough.

"Watched them consume you. Watched you... die. How are you even here?"

"Magdalyna," Jaenor said simply.

"She saved me. Sacrificed herself to give me a chance to return. Her and Ba’narussa both."

Pain flickered across his transformed features.

"They’re gone. Completely. Integrated into what I’ve become. I carry them inside me now, but they’re not... they’re not alive anymore. Not as individuals."

"I’m sorry," Darian said, and despite his usual stoic nature, genuine sympathy showed in his voice.

"They were good allies. Loyal. They deserved better."

Baren had reverted to human form now that Jaenor was present, trusting that his friend could protect them better than his dragon form could. He approached and simply placed a hand on Jaenor’s shoulder.

"Glad you’re back. Thought we’d lost you for good."

Jaenor looked at all of them, at the friends who’d stood beside him through everything, and felt something twist in his chest.

Gratitude and Love.

"You need to leave," he said firmly.

"All of you. Go back to Frostvale, or anywhere far from here. What’s coming, the confrontation with Suyajna, with the Sovereigns, with everyone involved in this, is going to be catastrophic. I can’t protect you and fight at the same time."

"We’re not leaving you," Rena said immediately, her arms still wrapped around him.

"Not again. Not after just getting you back."

"Rena—"

"No," she insisted, pulling back just enough to look up at him.

"We’re your companions. We stand with you. That’s what it means to be family."

"And I’m asking you to stand with me by surviving," Jaenor said gently.

"By being safe. By giving me one less thing to worry about while I’m dealing with people who can destroy everything with a snap."

He looked at each of them in turn.

"Please. I need to know you’re safe. Need to focus completely on what comes next without fear that a stray attack might kill you. Can you give me that?"

The plea in his voice, genuine concern rather than dismissal, made them hesitate.

Taeryn spoke first.

"You promise you’ll come back? That we’ll see you again?"

"I promise," Jaenor said.

"However long it takes, whatever I have to do, I’ll find you again."

"Then we’ll go," Taeryn said, though the words clearly cost him.

"But you’d better keep that promise. Don’t make us hunt you down."

Baren transformed back into dragon form, lowering himself so the others could climb onto his back. Taeryn helped the unconscious Raelana up first, securing her carefully. Darian followed, his heavy armor making the climb awkward but manageable.

Rena was last.

She stood before Jaenor, looking up at him with tears still streaming down her face.

"I love you," she said quietly.

"I’ve loved you since we were children, since before either of us understood what that meant. And I need you to know that before you go fight gods and demons and whatever else. I need you to know someone loves you for who you are, not for what you can do or what power you have."

She stood on her toes and pulled him down into a fierce kiss.

It was desperate, passionate, and filled with all the emotions she’d never properly expressed. For several heartbeats, they existed in that moment, just two young people who cared about each other, before the weight of cosmic conflicts reasserted itself.

When they separated, Rena was crying harder, but she smiled through the tears.

"Come back to me, Jaenor Arkwright. Because if you don’t, I’ll find a way into whatever afterlife you’ve gone to and drag you back myself."

"I will," Jaenor promised.

"I swear it."

She climbed onto Baren’s back, settling behind the others, and the dragon launched skyward. His powerful wings beat steadily, carrying them away from the battlefield, away from the gathering storm of divine powers and demonic forces.

Jaenor watched until they were distant specks, until his enhanced vision confirmed they were safely away from the immediate danger zone.

Only then did he turn his attention back to what waited.

The reckoning.

The moment when everyone who’d used him, manipulated him, or tried to consume him would face consequences for their actions.

The space folded again, and he vanished from the forest.

*

Jaenor reappeared on the battlefield, but not where he’d been before.

This time, he manifested directly behind Morgana.

His hand shot out with speed that transcended normal movement, and his fingers closed around her throat.

Not crushing—not yet—but holding. Lifting her off the ground with casual strength that suggested he could snap her neck with a thought.

Morgana gasped, her hands coming up instinctively to claw at his grip. Her origin energy flared, trying to manifest defensive techniques, trying to break free.

But Jaenor’s power simply overwhelmed hers. The energy she’d been suppressing for years, the true strength she’d hidden, meant nothing against what he’d become. He absorbed her techniques as easily as breathing, his Chaos Origin-infused nature making him functionally immune to conventional origin energy attacks.

"Jaenor—" she choked out, struggling to speak past his grip.

"Why?" he asked, and his voice was cold. Absolutely cold. Colder than she’d ever heard it.