So, its been slightly more than a year since i published my first chapter. I have had a bit of traffic, nothing compared to other stories I have wrote under different aliases, however still a heartwarming amount, I have received more than the one review I requested, however i did not realize this until very recently... The second I did I got onto my laptop and posted this chapter, as there are 7 prewritten, awaiting the day I checked on this story again.. I vehemently apologies to those of you who have waited so long for this story, we unfortunately live in a nearly dead fandom, and it is our job as content creators to make sure that it doesn't truly die... So with tht, enjoy chapter 2 of Kings never die, give me a response in the reviews and I will post the next 7 slowly but surely. (To answer my most recent comment, yes, Siris and Isa appear very soon.)
Hours later Raidriar was awoken by a particularly horrid nightmare. One of sheer illogical terror, the type that made you cower. His battle with the worker had taught him a great many things, but it had also deeply shaken him and disturbed him in ways he dared not acknowledge. Shaking off the pestering emotion he stood, deciding to forgo any coverings, not like he would run into anyone at Three A.M anyway. He walked through his private hall towards the rec room, not entirely sure of his purpose. He passed the wieghtlifting equipment and went to the left, straight to the pool room, which contained an "Olympic pool" as if that term had any relevancy anymore, a hot tub, a sauna, a cold shallow, and Ironically- as requested by Ryth, a pool table. Raidriar slank through the room, already hearing the breathing, he quietly snuck around a pillar only to run straight into a, rather fortunately, swimsuit clad Lelindre. She glared at him spitefully, quickly tracing her eyes over him. "You lack clothing."
"An astute observation." Raidriar quipped sarcastically. "I did not figure I would have run into anyone at this hour." Lelindre's glare did not subside.
"I enjoy swimming at night." Raidriar did admit, it was quite the sight. LED's inside the pool were bathing the pitch black room with a rare shade of blue, almost like the old neon's. "Get into the hot-tub."
Raidriar looked at Lelindre aghast, did a lesser deathless just order him around? "And why would I do that Rose?" Lelindre looked devious, Uh-oh.
"Because, if you do not, in two seconds I will literally have you by the balls."
"Oh bother." Raidriar would rather not take his chances. He took step into the hot water and immediatly sat on the marble bench. Lelindre joined him to the opposite, crossing her legs and resting her arms on the sides. Raidriar practically could taste the unresolved tension in the air. "So..." Lelindre had fixed a soul piercing stare on him, enough to make a High Deathless like himself shiver.
"So?" She was not making this easy.
"What do you expect? An apology? We both know that could perhaps last hours. Or may-"
"It's good to see you again Jori." She began "I must say that I resent myself for not hating you, but God its good to see you again... hear you speak." Raidriar felt somewhat awkward, having people enjoy his presence wasn't something incredibly common. He was ruthless, and he was competitive. He considered rivals friends, for they knew you best, how else could they hope to defeat you?
"It is good to see you as well Rose" Raidriar sighed, "It has been a while. Many a year have gone by since we've spoken on friendly terms, or thinking about it, at all."
"Forty-Three years Jori. I'm not surprised that you don't remember. The Koroth land dispute." Jori tilted his head back, summoning that particular memory.
"Ah yes, were you built that disgusting stain. The 'Metropolis' as you called it."
Lelindre groaned. "It wasn't a huge deal. All you did was kill Ausar!"
"It was a cementation of my great empire, a sealing of the power vaccum that ailed us for centuries." Lelindre didn't respond, looking as if she were troubled. Her look suddenly changed and she looked down, her lips corners turning. Raidriar scrutinized her expression, trying to determine her body language. The latter of which was hard to determine with her body former was easy though- Nostalgia.
"Jori, do you remember when we first met? Indeed he did, one of his few pristine biological memories.
"A fond memory, one of the few regarding you." Raidriar couldn't keep the wry grin off of his face, try as he might.
"Do be quiet Jori, if I remember correctly you followed me around like a lost puppy before." She grinned, "Not as if that changed in the following century."
Raidriar scowled, "Ashimar told me to protect you, to watch you. Though knowing the old man as well as I do now, I doubt those were his true intentions-"
"Likely a social experiment by him to monitor how a budding deathless relationship would form in this new world." Lelindre finished for him. "Stuck it to him didn't we?"
"I really do wish people would stop doing that." Raidriar cut in, "The worker did that to me you know? He would predict the exact words I would choose. It makes me wonder just how old he is." Lelindre's face paled, as if coming to a realization.
"Jori, come with me now." She stood and left the water in a hurry, moving through the room deftly. "Hurry." Raidrar grudgingly complied, this one had gotten to ordering him around too much.
After a relatively quick sprint through the complex the couple were in Lelindre's room, Raidriar now fully clothed thanks to a stop on the way. When Raidriar passed through the door, Lelindre shut it and switched on the lock. Interestingly she had destroyed her laptop as well as one of the lamps in the room, the giant screen was covered by a sheet.
"Those were all things I found them to be monitoring me with, they won't be replaced until next week." Lelindre began, "Regardless though, I brought you here for a reason. That reason, is Galath." Raidriar was genuinely confused.
"What about him? There are a few pieces of information I've put together, things I've ascertained, yet I still know so little about him." Lelindre shook her head, "What do you think you know?" Raidriar nodded, pulling up what he knew.
"He lost- Ausar beat him in the end, did he not?" Lelindre nodded. "Also, he is much older than any of us." And that's where Lelindre stopped him.
"I think your'e wrong about that Jori." Wait, what? Raidriar was confused, a pesky emotion that had plagued him more often than he was willing to admit recently. "I think we may be older than we know. My proof is this, think about the old Egyptian gods. Your name? It is Raidriar, the first two letters? Are Ra. Thats the Egyptian god of the sun, what do you consistently name your armor sets?"
"Helio."
"Exactly, Helios, greek god of the sun, What does Ausar call himself now? Siris. Osiris was another Egyptian god, and his followers often refereed to him as Ausar, the god of resurrection." Raidriar dove into his vast memory, everything that she had said was true.
"You expect me to believe that Galath enslaved us? Robbed us of our memories?"
Lelindre traced a hand along his chin "We're slaves now, are we not? He robbed Ausar of his memories, didn't he?" It killed Raidriar, but it made sense, he was already putting together a likely series of events. Galath created the world, as a true god. He creates similar life-forms to help him rule, they were too independent though, so he enslaved and cast them down, discarding their memories,and after watching them for millenia, he deemed them ready to rule under him.
"Bah, it matters little." Raidrair wasn't keen on that scenario being true.
"I agree, I needed to tell somebody though."
Raidriar sighed and ran his hand through his hair, plopping down on the bed. "What we need to do is orchestrate our escape plan." Lelindre sat next to him.
"I know. But now? I'm tired and going to bed." Lelindre fell backwards and slipped underneath her sheets. Raidriar soon joined her. These fragile surrogate bodies could oly take so much
The next morning Raidriar couldn't help but notice that Lelindre kept her room Freezing. It was like being out in the winter. Hell, his breath fogged up! However regardless of the cold, he could feel heat on him. He looked down, and despite the fact that they fell asleep on opposite sides of the bed, she was curled around him, head resting on his shoulder. 'Seems some things never change.' Raidriar thought. He shook Lelindre awake, letting their eyes meet momentarily and left without a word.
After breakfast the deathless dragged him into a room he had never noticed, they called it the Fissure. Once Raidriar was inside, he was taken aback, it was a giant duel arena. on the left wall there were seven pods and a digital chalkboard. On the right a weapon rack full of every type weapon Raidriar had ever known. The others pulled him toward the "chalkboard", which was actually just a digital representation. delighted to show him the rankings from last week.
Interesting, but not ultimately surprising. Raidriar was informed that he would have to battle his way up, starting with Saydhi. He then noticed something that surprised him, the pods contained each deathlesses signature armor and weapon. He went to the last one, which wasat least double the size of the others and locked with a hand print scanner. Raidriar hesitated, then gave into curiosity. the doors slid open to reveal both of his armor sets and shields, in the middle of it all lied a pristine infinity blade, none of the carbon fibre nonsense, pure ivory and ceramic. The weapon of a god. Ashimar came up behind him and whistled.
"Hey everyone, come look at this!" Soon all the deathless were crowded around his pod, like children they examined the blade. Raidriar soon made an observation.
"It lacks a Q.I.P destabilization ring." The collective breath the others had been holding was released. While they found that destabilization may not permaantly kill them, it was not pleasant. Raidriar looked at his old armor and his new, 'Things started going wrong the day I put on that armor.' Raidriar thought, looking at the new armor. It was more practical than the old, yet the old set had a special quality, it was like a work of art, making a decision, he tapped the display on his old armor. He had a struggle remembering were the release clasp was, but he soon found it and shifted the suit into open position. He jumped into the exosuit and let it envelop him like a second skin. The second the mask covered his face, he again became Raidriar, the ancient and immortal god. He proceeded put on The Ring of Ice and Fire and clicked his fingers to his palm. The sword and shield appeared in a flash of blue light. Lelindre, who had been scrutinizing his suit-up, clapped, managing a wolf whistle even with her helmet on. The others turned and the present members of the pantheon kneeled. Raidriar sighed and simply held the Infinity Blade up, feeling the familiar weight in his hands reassured himself of his identity in a strange way. Ryth hefted his Solarblade.
"Let the games begin!"
