The Ninja and the Princess

Disclaimer: One last time folks, I don't own Kim Possible!

Chapter Twenty Five: Carry on my Wayward Son

*please note all information scribed presented about regions, cities, and any other data should be considered a work in progress. New developments and new research can come to light or be presented at any time and archival staff may find it necessary to update relevant entries.

**all information regarding important events, figures, concepts, and locations is provided courtesy of the royal archives in Middleton

***please be aware that following the recent Royal Scientific Convention our archives are being updated with new information and records on general information may not be in proper alphabetical or numerical order for some time

-Excerpt from General Encyclopedia, Concepts Section, Volume III, subject Creation–

There are numerous faiths throughout the Three Kingdoms, each with their own beliefs on how the world came to be. Per the royal writ laying out its mission the Academy takes no stand on religion, this article will therefore only cover the two most widely believed stories of creation and offer no judgments on the veracity of anything herein.

The most widely believed story of creation is that of the Asharans. Asharans believe that a state of chaos persisted eternally backwards and at the beginning of our universe a small part of that chaos manifested into The Creator. As He grew The Creator began to comprehend that He was alone in the chaos and from that loneliness was born the universe as we know it. The Creator fashioned the chaos of eternity into the stars and the world, a process Asharans say took untold lifetimes. Once He had created a universe He found beautiful and a world that could shelter His creations Asharans believe The Creator then meditated many more lifetimes on the life to fill the world. Upon completing His meditations The Creator brought into being the first pairs of men and women into the world. For events occurring after creation in the Asharan mythos please consult the relevant entry. Additionally a copy of the Asharan Kojiki is kept on hand at all academy repositories.

The second most believed major story of creation stems from the Followers of Chronos. The Followers of Chronos are a polytheistic religion as opposed to the Asharans monotheism. The Followers of Chronos believe that the gods, led by Chronos, exist in a timeless and eternal heaven separate from our world. Chronos it is said created the first two humans on a whim, something the Followers of Chronos believe the gods are wont to do. Following the creation of man and woman the other gods became jealous for their worship. The pantheon of the Followers of Chronos is extensive to say the least and even a partial chronicling of the myriad gods who participated in the formation of the various parts of the universe and the world would be impractically lengthy. A copy of the Followers Holy Book is kept in every repository of the academy. Readers are cautioned that the Holy Book extends two million words over fifty volumes; the creation of the world is one of these volume occupying almost twenty thousand words. Avoiding specifics the gods designed the world and filled it with plants, animals, and natural beauty in an effort to win the worship of the first groups of humans. The Followers of Chronos typically pay homage to several gods at one time and may change their allegiance multiple times through their lives.

There are a number of other faiths throughout the Three Kingdoms, each with their own beliefs on how the universe and the world came to be. Copies of their scriptures are kept on hand at academy repositories. For all inquiries regarding religious topics seekers are encouraged to consult with the various members of each faith as academy librarians and scientists are not trained in theology.

-Rockwall Kingdom-

Tara had never heard all the bells in the capital ring at once. The last time they would have all tolled would have been for either the death of Bonnie's grandparents or when her parents were crowned, and even then it would have been a slow mournful tolling. In either event Tara hadn't even been born to hear the cacophony of bells as every bell ringer sought to outdo his counterparts. The unceremonious expulsion of the Drakanadians though was plenty to inspire celebration among the people and every bell in the city was ringing to mark that celebration. The Drakanadians hadn't been completely removed from the Rockwall Kingdom, they still were fighting plenty hard up around the forts that marked the border, but it was only a matter of time before every inch of the kingdom was scoured of the invaders.

Tara had never worn anything as fancy as the dress she had on at the moment either. Up until Connie and Lonnie had decided to make her life miserable she had never worn any particularly shoddy or roughspun clothes for that matter. As Bonnie's 'regent' though while the people believed she was off hunting her sisters Tara wasn't merely at the side of court functions she was in the middle of them and had to look the part. Frankly she cared little for all the frills and laces and poofery that went with court wear and understood much better why Bonnie always wanted to sneak out and get into less fancy clothes. The other castle servants seemed to take quite a bit of delight in needling Tara for her sudden rise in station but that had only come after their dumbfounded amazement at her survival. Connie and Lonnie had apparently decided not to admit to the fiasco that had been Tara's near execution and instead had told everyone that she was dead and the body had already been burned.

Not everyone in the city was celebrating though. Just as Tara had thought the many more people in the city meant far more collaborators. Following the attempt on her life by the Drakanadians and finding out that a collaborator had been the one to tell the Drakanadians where to find her Tara had far fewer problems sending them to the headsman or the deepest and darkest dungeons under the castle. Those were of course only the collaborators who lived long enough to fall into royal hands, the people in the city had been some of the first to be conquered by the Drakanadians and they were taking out the anger of a long occupation on those who had backed the wrong side. Smoke from several still burning fires meant Tara watched snow fall from the sky through a slight haze as she looked out over the city. The Drakanadians had been quite ready to turn the city and castle into a bloodbath but the allies had simply started going around the city. Judging that their enemies would be ruthless enough to starve the defenders out at the cost of the civilians, Tara didn't know if that was true or not and didn't want to find out, the Drakanadians had decided the soldiers in the city could be better used to the north and had pulled out. As had happened elsewhere a number of collaborators went with them leaving those who stayed to face the wrath of a suddenly vengeful populace. In the city though there had been enough collaborators that they didn't quietly take the judgment of their peers, that fighting had left a number of people dead and was responsible for most of the fires burning. The Drakanadians had tried to fire the city as they left but like so many other places when the Drakanadians had pulled out the local people had harassed them the whole way out, as much as the Drakanadians wanted to put the city to the torch they wanted more to live through the experience so they had lit only a few fires that had quickly been put out once they left.

With the Drakanadians finally all but gone from the Rockwall Kingdom its people had finally started to take stock of what the war had done to their land. Judging from what had happened to the land and people around his village Felix had guessed a full generation to recover from the war was far from the worst case scenario. Tara had dragged him along to help her run the kingdom in Bonnie's absence and the more they heard from around the kingdom the more she thought his offhand remark had been in fact quite prophetic.

"Hey," as if the thought of him had summoned him Felix came wheeling up to the balcony Tara was standing at looking out over the city, "glad to be home?"

"Yeah," Tara turned around to lean back against the railing, "being home isn't quite as nice as being home without Connie, Lonnie, or the Drakanadians to worry about. I guess we still have to worry about them as long as they have Bonnie but I don't think they'll try coming south again. I never thanked you for coming up here, I kind of dragged you along to have a familiar face with me at court. I know lots of people in the city but no one who can hobnob with the rich and powerful."

"I'm not exactly rich," Felix laughed, "and I don't think being on my village council makes me particularly powerful. But it's no problem, I haven't gotten out of my village much since the accident and I definitely have to admit I've never travelled in that much style."

The royal family would normally have its own carriages to travel in, of course with the invasion those had been stolen or burned so Tara and Felix had travelled by horseback. They had however travelled with a guard several hundred strong and rested in tents larger and fancier than many houses. A saddle maker had even been commissioned to make a saddle just for Felix. Tara had seen the finery of the royal family her whole life but had never experienced it like on that trip.

"Anyways," Felix ignored the cold and snow just as much as Tara, "your advisors have finished drawing up plans for Bonnie's coronation when she gets back from Drakanada. I think we're both okay with letting them keep thinking that's an absolute certainty. Less good news is I've got the latest estimates from around the kingdom of just how many people we've lost. As long as we're still fighting them up north it won't be a final estimate, for that matter I don't know if we'll ever have an exact figure from all this chaos. But we've finally had time to send people out to the more remote hamlets and farms. The Drakanadians definitely did their worst where there were lots of people and where it made sense for them to send soldiers but they hardly left the more remote areas of the kingdom alone. Like I said I don't think we'll ever have an exact figure but throwing all these numbers together I wouldn't be surprised if close to forty thousand of our people wound up dead by the time this is all over."

"Forty thousand?" Tara could feel herself grow pale at the number, "there aren't even two million people in the whole Rockwall Kingdom. Even if we can rebuild all the houses in a generation it's going to take decades to make up that kind of dent in our population. And if Bonnie doesn't come back it could get even worse, everyone is fine with me here as long as they think I'm just keeping the throne warm for Bonnie but I don't want to take over and I don't want to think about what would happen if it looked like I might."

"Bonnie will be back," Felix even managed to sound like he meant it, "she's gotten out from under the Drakanadians before and she can pull it off again. Now come on, you've got medals to pin on wounded soldiers. I'll tell you who they are and what they did on the way."

Tara followed Felix with a sigh. Like the whole kingdom those wounded soldiers were trying to put themselves back together after losing a large part of themselves. Tara didn't think she'd be handing out medals to soldiers on their deathbeds but even so wounds could weaken and kill long after they were given. Walking back into the castle Tara thought that she, the soldiers, and the whole kingdom would have to ignore all the 'what ifs' and soldier on.

-Drakanada-

"Hello Ron," Bonnie's voice sent shivers down Ron's spine, "you just missed a wonderful reunion with my sisters."

"Bonnie," Ron kept a distance between them more than long enough for him to do whatever he needed to with the Lotus Blade, it's previous owners already giving him suggestions how to disable Bonnie without killing or permanently injuring her, "I guess your sisters finally got what's been coming to them for awhile. Now let's get out of here before anyone else shows up."

"Why would I want to do that?" Bonnie seemed almost surprised that Ron wanted to escape, "After everything the Drakanadians have done for me I've sworn fealty to them for both myself and the Rockwall Kingdom."

"What are you talking about Bonnie?" Ron quietly slid his feet into a position that would let him jump any number of ways if it came to the worst, "the Drakanadians killed your parents, invaded and ravaged your country, and to top it off they kidnapped and tortured you. Why would you want to work with them?"

"Torture?" Bonnie laughed, "Oh I thought it was torture at first, I spat fire right back at them and tried to ride it out. But eventually I saw the truth, all that hate and pain I've been feeling aren't things I need to bottle up. Shego showed me how to use them to make myself stronger than I could have ever thought possible, my sisters thought I was still the little girl who just ran and cried from them, but one touch and I paid back all the years of torment. My parents weren't any better, I have power over life and death and they wanted me to use it to fix broken bones. They were weak and they took the Kingdom with them. With the Drakanadians help I'll take what should be mine."

"They're lying to you," years of training were the only thing that kept the Lotus Blade steady in Ron's hands, "the Drakanadians are just trying to use you as a pawn."

"Oh I went through all that too," Bonnie sighed as if trying to explain something complicated to a child, "and I can see you're not going to listen to reason. I've seen what you can do when you get over all those pesky limitations, you could be just as powerful as I am if you wanted. But you're going to use that power for all the wrong reasons so I'll just have to put a stop to you here and now."

Ron didn't know whether Bonnie needed skin to skin contact to drain his life or whatever dark powers she'd picked up, he did not however want to find out anything about those powers or how they worked. Jumping sideways he kept holding the Lotus Blade to keep at least that much distance between him and Bonnie at all times. Bonnie knew just how good he was with the Lotus Blade and she knew from the distance she was at she couldn't make it to Ron before he could hit her with the Lotus Blade. Ron would of course never kill Bonnie unless he had no other choice but the threat of harm of some sort was enough to keep her at bay while he thought of a plan B.

"Listen to me Bonnie," Ron groped for a plan B, really more plan C, he'd been on plan B since Brick died, "I've had my run in with all that dark magic stuff too. You said it yourself. And I got past it just fine, I know you're lots smarter than I am so there's no way you should be falling for this."

"Waste of time," Bonnie's eyes were plainly looking for an opening in Ron's defense, "I've seen how much more powerful the magic the Drakanadians use is. You might have beaten back the first wave but when I prove myself by killing you I'll be put at the head of the next invasion with an army of magic users behind me. You won't see it of course but we'll tear apart anything that stands in our way."

"That includes all your friends?" Ron spotted his opening even as he had to jump back to keep Bonnie from making one of her own, "Brick came up here for you, he swore to defend you and he came all this way to keep that oath. He even died to get me this far just so I can save you. You know what his last words were, it wasn't asking for his mother or wondering what's after death, he told me to get you out of here. You really want to tear that apart? Tara's down in the Rockwall Kingdom still fighting the Drakanadians, if she doesn't see your new 'reason' are you going to tear her apart too?"

"Brick would have made it this far if he was stronger," the lapse before Bonnie snapped back told Ron he'd hit a nerve, "even holding yourself back you're way out of his league. But you can't keep this up forever, you won't kill me and sooner or later you'll make a mistake. Once you're out of the way and I go back home Tara will see that I'm right. Even when they were about to hang her she didn't give up, she might hide it behind that nice polite attitude but deep down I know what Tara's like."

"You didn't answer my question," Ron stopped their deadly dance to fix Bonnie's gaze, "what if Tara doesn't want a keg of whatever you're drinking? What if she says her best friend never came back from up here and she doesn't want anything to do with you? Are you really going to suck the life out of her like you did your sisters?"

"Of… of course I would," Ron didn't think Bonnie sounded particularly convincing even to herself, "I'm going to be queen of the Rockwall Kingdom when I get back. And a queen has to look out for all her people, even if she's my best friend Tara has to obey me or suffer the consequences."

"I don't think so," Ron surprised even himself by lowering the Lotus Blade, "I think you were angry enough at your sisters to lash out with all that hate and pain you've been bottling up. But I don't think you can just throw away everyone who's important to you like that. So go on, I don't think you're really that evil but if you are then do it."

Ron thought he had made a terrible mistake when Bonnie rushed at him but instead of grabbing him and draining the life from him she pounded her fists on his chest and started screaming "fight me!"

"It's gonna be okay," Ron could only wrap one arm around Bonnie since she had pinned his arm with the Lotus Blade between the two of them.

"No it's not," Bonnie's screams turned to sobbing, "I couldn't keep my parents alive, I couldn't keep my people safe, I couldn't even get my best friend out of my own home without getting kidnapped. I just wanted to keep everyone safe and I was so angry and Shego was there telling me all this stuff. I didn't say yes until Connie and Lonnie showed up but then they did and I just wanted to hurt them so much. After I gave in to all the anger it was just so easy, I toyed with them for days until you showed up making them feel all the pain they'd put everyone else through."

"Is Shego still here?" Ron wanted nothing more than to take Bonnie and head south as fast as they could but the Drakanadians apparently weren't done with the war and he couldn't leave Shego to lead an army of magic users in yet another round of fighting. Not if he wanted this war to last less than the twenty five years the First Invasion had consumed.

"Yeah," Bonnie rubbed her eyes dry and looked around before pointing down a tunnel, "Shego and the emperor are here. We're almost at the coast and that tunnel leads to a sort of cave that looks out over the ocean. It was fancied up awhile ago by someone and they're waiting there to hear how the landings near Upperton went."

"Feel up to ending this war? I'm not saying you should use that scary life stealing thing but I had a tough time against Shego the last time we fought and I could use some backup."

"I can't," Bonnie shook her head, "if I'm in front of her and she tells me to give into all the anger again I don't think I would be able to resist. Not exactly the backup you were hoping for. Tell me where you and Brick left your horses and I'll go get them ready to go and wait for you there."

Ron told her and after making sure what tunnel he was supposed to be going down he picked up the torch he had left sputtering on the ground and headed off once more into the darkness for what he dearly hoped was the end of this war.

Ron smelled the salt and heard the waves before he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. As he neared the light Ron could see a large throne carved from stone with someone sitting on it and someone standing just to the side as if they were expecting him. So much for surprise Ron glumly thought.

"We've been expecting you," Ron had no trouble recognizing Shego's voice, "I didn't think Bonnie was ready to face off with you just yet but I don't think you killed her so I can always get her back and finish her training."

"Shego," the man on the rock throne who Ron could only take to be the Drakanadian emperor said, "you forget your manners. This young man has come a long way to see us." The blue skinned man stood up and walked over to one of several piles of barrels scattered about the plaza, "Conquering the world is a thankless and time consuming task but I do like to tinker with inventions in my spare time and I have something special in these barrels. It's a little something I like to call ever fire, a special little concoction that burns hot and sticky and can't be put out with water. Although I don't think your friends will enjoy it as much as I do."

"Come on Dr. D." Shego sauntered towards Ron lighting up a hand with an almost idle flick of her wrist, "He doesn't care about your side projects. The little moron isn't even going to be alive long enough to see you use it."

"Fine Shego, you always spoil my fun. Just do away with him quickly, we have a busy day ahead of us."

"Nowhere to run this time little man," Ron drew the Lotus Blade as Shego smiled menacingly and dropped into an attack position.

The last time they'd fought Ron had come off worse for the exchange, but then he'd been worried about getting Tara and Bonnie away safely. While that admittedly had not gone particularly well this time he didn't have that particular worry weighing him down and he could put everything into fighting Shego.

No matter how many times it happened Ron still felt a small surprise when Shego's glowing hands stopped the Lotus Blade instead of parting like flesh normally would when it met sharpened steel. From the glint of anger in Shego's eyes she was just as used to her hands melting or breaking her opponent's weapons. The heat coming off her hands was unpleasant enough as it was and Ron didn't want to think about what might happened if she caught him near one of those barrels of ever fire with that kind of heat at her disposal. The small plaza was just that, probably a natural cave that the Drakanadians had enlarged for whatever reason. Regardless of how it had gotten that way there wasn't that much space to fight in. That led to a fight that consisted of a great deal of lunging in at the other then jumping back to avoid the inevitable counterattack.

Ron was very much thankful that his fight with Bonnie had consisted mostly of words and he had been able to come into this fight fresh. Shego was fast with her hands and a very, very good fighter. The extra reach the Lotus Blade gave him was a very welcome advantage. None of its previous owners however had ever fought anyone quite like Shego either and that dearth of experience was rather unsettling. Quickly both combatants were sweating even in the winter cold and neither had escaped several small wounds. For the green skin and freaky glowing hands Ron noticed that Shego's blood was the same red as anyone else's, at the same time too much of Ron's own blood was showing its color for his taste.

Ron quickly discovered that Shego's two hands made fighting her like fighting someone with two swords. That meant Ron was deprived of using the extra leverage of his sword in any lengthy engagement lest Shego simply pull back with one hand and spill his guts across the floor. There were of course ways to fight people using two swords, even without the experiences of the Lotus Blade's previous owners guiding him Ron knew that. But he and they both knew that against someone who knew what they were doing there was simply an inherent disadvantage in having one weapon versus two.

"Shego!" The shout startled both combatants, "Today if you don't mind. Some of us have a world to bend to our will and we'd like to start with the bending already."

"If you think you can do any better why don't you come over here and show me!" Shego didn't look away from Ron while snarking back denying him an opportunity to sneak an attack in.

Ron would never associate the word desperation with Shego, and he thought it was far more aggravation that motivated her to start flinging bolts of black speckled green energy at him rather than stick to the precision of her hands. Ron didn't know if it was insanity or genius that moved him in front of the flammable barrels but either way it had the desired result. Shego growled, stopped shooting energy at him and charged.

Things began to move quickly after that. Ron rolled to the side, well out of the range where he could attack Shego but also well out of range for her to jump him while he was getting back to his feet. Ron and Shego both noticed the fire Shego's hands had left on the barrel she had run into and both were running as fast as they could. Ron couldn't see what the Drakanadian emperor was doing but Ron realized that had jumped far down on his priority list just in time for the world to explode.

"Ron, Ron! Wake up!" Ron came back to consciousness to Bonnie's not so gentle slapping his face in an effort to prod him to wakefulness.

A million things began going through his mind as Ron realized he was in fact not dead. What came out though was "I thought you were going to get the horses."

If Bonnie was at all disturbed by his nonsensical question she didn't show it, "I was going but then you blew up the mountain. The first explosion must have only been a few barrels or you wouldn't have made it. As it is if I hadn't still been close enough to drag you out into the mineshaft and heal you up you probably wouldn't have made it. Barrels have been going off for awhile now and you were already pretty beat up."

"Doesn't hurt, must've done a good job patching me up." Ron sat up and quickly discovered that yes he did hurt, "Okay now it hurts, I thought you said you healed me."

"I did," Bonnie glared at him, "you had a broken leg, a concussion, more than a little blood loss. You're lucky all those clothes to hold back the cold also held back the heat or you would have had some serious burns. Like I said, you were really beat up and I didn't have time to heal everything. Now come on, there's no way the Drakanadians missed your little fire show and we need to get out of here in a hurry."

"What about Shego and the emperor?" Ron struggled to his feet relieved to find Bonnie had thought to grab the Lotus Blade on her way out of the burning plaza, "we can't let them get away."

"I don't know," Bonnie started dragging him down the tunnels, "the explosions brought down a lot of rock on top of the well you know explosions. You were plenty lucky to live long enough for me to get to you and I can't imagine they did any better."

Bonnie dragged him towards the surface at a rather unpleasant speed for someone in Ron's shape but even so he still heard several thuds from the way they had come that could only be more barrels of ever fire going up. As they got closer to the surface Ron became ever more glad for the several layers of wool under his boiled leather armor, the temperature had only gone down since he and Brick had stepped into the abandoned mine looking for Bonnie. Still Ron wouldn't be at all sad to get back to his heavy coat back at his horse. They made only one stop on their way out, at the pile of rocks Ron had made to cover Brick's body. Bonnie knelt for a few seconds next to the impromptu tomb in silent prayer. Ron didn't know whether Bonnie was Asharan or a Follower of Chronos, religion had never particularly come up in the mad flight for their lives.

As they walked out from the mine into the lightly falling snow Ron thought that Bonnie might still shortly meet her God or gods, all around them were several hundred Drakanadian soldiers. At their head was an older man who wore an embroidered tunic with ruffles at the chin in place of armor.

"Greetings," the man called as he rode ahead of his soldiers, "I am Señor Senior Senior, I have the honor to be the head of the Drakanadian general staff. I have heard a great deal about you two over the last several months; many of us think you two quite the pair of troublemakers."

"Um, thanks?" If talking kept them alive a little longer Ron was all in favor of it.

"I can see how you would think that a compliment," Señor Senior Senior laughed as he dismounted in front of the two escapees, "am I to take from the fact that you two are out here alive that the emperor is dead?"

"I don't know," Bonnie stepped in, "the whole plaza was exploding when I got there. I pulled Ron out but I didn't really have time to go looking."

"I shall send men to investigate this," Señor Senior Senior motioned and several soldiers ran into the mine while several more started scaling the mountain above, "if it is true then the two of you are free to go."

"What?" Both Ron and Bonnie had clearly heard the same madness, "Did I hear you right Mr. Señor Senior Senior?" Bonnie furthered

"Please, call me Senior, I so abhor the needless formalities." Senior said, "I do not think your people will attack mine without cause but as long as you are up here they will stop at nothing to recover you. The emperor had no heirs, had someone distinguished themselves in winning this war he would have named them his son or daughter but he is dead now and the empire will decide its next leader through force of arms. My son does not wish to follow in my footsteps, he would rather make music. I am old and have no wish to rule, I will leave the empire to its devices and sit this out. If you are gone he may escape the madness, if your people come we will unite to fight you and he cannot escape war. For that reason I wish you gone."

"So we just get to walk out then?" Ron was making sure his hands went nowhere near his weapons, "I don't wanna sound ungrateful or anything but it's really that easy?"

Senior laughed once again, "If you were Drakanadian killing the emperor would give you a claim to rule the empire. I will keep the news of what has happened here to myself for several days and I will send members of my personal guard, the Knights of Rodigan, to escort you to our border with you. From there I imagine you will be able to gain entrance to your lands. Remember what I have told you however, the empire may splinter behind many claimants to the throne but if your people come north we will put aside all our rivalries and not rest until you are driven away."

"No offense," Bonnie said, "but if it's another five hundred years till our people meet again it will be too soon."

Ten days later Ron and Bonnie were riding south with three armored men from Señor Senior Senior's personal bodyguard for an escort. Like the old man had promised no one had bothered them with an armored escort and though they didn't stop except to make camp and sleep no one seemed to have heard about what had happened to the emperor yet. As they neared the Rockwall Mountains there began a steady stream of men going north, many with bandages but many were simply groups of men going north. One of their escorts stopped a group to ask what had happened, the response being that the southerners had retaken all the forts and the army was retreating to regroup. A few days later the grim wall of the first border fortress slid over the horizon up the narrowing path through the mountains. Ron and Bonnie's escorts gave them a large white flag in hopes they wouldn't be shot by nervous troops as well as repeating Señor Senior Senior's warnings against coming north again, then they wheeled their horses north and Ron and Bonnie were alone.

"Ready to go home?" Ron asked.

"Yeah," Bonnie smiled, "I'm ready for this to be over."

AN: There you have it, the conclusion to the Ninja and the Princess. I'll put up the epilogue with my final thoughts next week but for all intents and purposes this is it. Ironically I never felt comfortable designing a religion for this world until the very end. The Asharans are a mix of Hindu and Zoroastrian mythology and the Followers of Chronos are a mix of Roman Paganism and Japanese Shinto mythology. They are of course entirely fictional, any resemblance beyond what I mentioned is unintentional, etc… Ever fire is of course based on Greek fire from the Byzantine Empire, I'd had it in my head from the beginning that I wanted to hoist Drakken by his own petard and that provided the perfect mechanism to do so. I will hopefully bring everything to an enjoyable conclusion with the epilogue next week but thanks all for coming along on the long journey of this story.