.
Okay, Book 2. Picking up from where Chapter 2 left off…
The day following King Allan and Princess Diantha's argument, Theron is assigned to execution duty for the dishonored Sir Mayhorn. With the evidence procured from House Halcyon's investigation, House Shabboneau (The Noble House of Magistracy) has found Sir Mayhorn and his civilian accomplices guilty of treason against the state. Given that treason is a capitol offense, the King of Kalos has ruled in favor of swift and immediate public execution.
In an effort to dissuade revolutionaries, King Allan has authorized House Halcyon as the executioners of the state; meaning that the Crown is forgoing the standard beheading, and permitting for Distortion-Bound executions; the most terrifying of death sentences (if you believe the claims of Eidolon-Veneration, dying in the Distortion is a fast-pass to hell).
Theron, representing both the noble virtues of the Knightly Orders, and House Halcyon as an official Shadow, is conscripted into the execution; specifically,Theron will oversee Sir Mayhorn's decapitation on the event horizon of a Distortion rift.
It's at the execution that Theron meets with his other Halcyon Shadows, and identifies his father among the Shadows pulled for execution duty. Other than acknowledging his familial relationship to the aforementioned Shadow, Theron seems content with the lack of a paternal relationship; revealing that Theron and his father aren't even remotely close.
Theron carries out his assigned duty; demonstrating little tolerance or compassion for traitors, before he is recalled to House Halcyon to deliver his latest interrogation reports directly to the Duchess.
The social call serves to reinforce the cruel apathy of House Halcyon, as the Duchess of House Halcyon (Theron's older cousin) only met with Theron to review the states of his Heirlooms. Showing far more amiability towards Exodus, Demeter, and Thanatos than she does towards Theron, the Duchess expresses absolutely zero interest in Theron's well being; and when Theron petitions the Duchess for the right to plan out his marriage with Valerie, the request is ignored, and Theron is summarily redeployed to Parfum.
A bit of backstory as to Kalosian oligarchy and its history is explored on the return trip, and Theron is met by Lord Edwin Le-Faye, who expresses interests in Theron's plans to marry his ailing daughter.
Though somewhat perturbed by the thought of his daughter marrying a Halcyon, Lord Edwin respects Valerie's decision to honor the arrangement, and concludes that of all the Halcyons his daughter could be married to, Theron would have been his first pick too. This is the closest we get to a heartfelt moment; as Lord Edwin agrees to use his stately authority to pressure the Duchess of Halcyon into permitting for the nuptial ceremonies.
Theron returns to his duties at Parfum, but a growing interest in Parfum's latest political addition, the ACE defector Vice-Marshal Gerald Arnold, prompts Theron to initiate his own investigation into ACE's activities overseas.
With a bit of direction from Gerald Arnold, Theron locates a series of substantial investments that seem to be related to an ACE operation. Given the level of secrecy and the scale of these investments, Theron begins to chase the money trail to its many misleading ends, before he finally identifies an incriminating shipment of hardware and supplies destined to be delivered to the abandoned Helios Brink Observatory; a pre-Blackout Act international research installation that was used to monitor Brink activity; located in a dark zone that has been expressly forbidden any form of access to by the last International Summit of Governments.
A code that has been globally observed to the present day, and one that appears to have been violated by Indigo's Secret Service.
Taking his findings to both the Crown and House Halcyon sparks a degree of interest in both departments, but it is ultimately overshadowed by both the growing threat of a domestic revolution and the multinational situation developing in the Ellis archipelago; where Sinnoh has taken hostile counter action against Unova's incursion.
With the Crown pushing aside his ACE investigation in favor of addressing the more immediate concerns of the state; Theron continues his investigation independently, stumbling across a number of frustrating dead ends, before finally locating a correlation concrete enough to give his developing suspicions an agenda.
The leaked Mew-0 Project; a decommissioned black project headed by ACE almost thirty years ago.
Though the details regarding the Mew-0 project and its overlying goals are scarce, a scientific director of the project leaked information to the public that suggested the attempted resurrection of an extinct species of Lima-Two. More specifically, the resurrection of a theoretical transitional species that birthed the entire Para-Kingdom.
While the project itself was decommissioned, specific assets derived from the Mew-0 project appear to have been recycled and repurposed for an even more elusive ACE operation that predates the Mew-0 Project; an expansive ACE black project codenamed "Operation Wounded Hearts" that was authorized thirty years ago, and one that has never been officially recognized, decommissioned, or declassified by ACE.
...The same ACE operation that seems to be overseeing the recent shipments to the forbidden Helios Brink Observatory. Shipments that suggest ACE's technological interest in the Helios Brink Observatory's long lost and unofficial operations.
Convinced that he's nailed down a lead on a possible threat to not only Kalos, but the rest of the world as well, Theron takes his findings directly to the King himself. Unfortunately, Theron's obsession with Operation wounded Hearts and the compounded stress of his civil duties has resulted in the development of mania. Theron's report is received with skepticism, mostly due to Theron's mentally unstable presentation.
Both frustrated and terrified that the Crown refuses to take his report seriously, Theron, under growing pressure from managing his duties, his independent investigation, and the difficulties associated with arranging his marriage, ultimately snaps and attempts to coerce the information out of Gerald Arnold in a fruitless and desperate act of unauthorized inquisition, which is forestalled by the punitive intervention of his fellow Crownguard.
Having violated the codes of chivalry, and jeopardize the integrity of Kalos's King; Theron is brought to private trial to determine his guilt. Despite his breach of code, and his questionable mental state, Theron's record of civil service speaks highly for his integrity and intentions; and Princess Diantha herself testifies against the accusations in Theron's personal defense.
Finally able to convince her brother that both the stresses of Channeling and the Crownguard's over reliance on Theron's capabilities has taken its toll on the young Knight's state of mind, Princess Diantha successfully negotiates for Theron's leave from active duty; acquitting him of all charges and securing Theron the personal time required to plan and carry out his marriage to Lady Valerie Le-Faye.
Knowing full well that House Halcyon has no pity for their own personnel, and that leave from the Crownguard would abandon Theron to the services of House Halcyon, Princess Diantha recommends that Theron be compensated for his exceptional past service, affording him with private access to House Arturia's own northern villa, located near Shalour City.
All of which, Theron vehemently protests, demonstrating his mania with the expressed desire to remain on active duty, so as to better advance his investigation with the assets of the Crown.
A statement that ultimately convinces King Allan that he may have inadvertently abused his greatest security asset to the point of compromise, invoking a rare expression of pity and guilt from the otherwise selfish tyrant.
Theron reluctantly turns over his heraldry mail and the Crownguard's ceinture, before submitting to the Royalty's command. Dispatched to northern Kanto for some much needed R&R, Theron shows little interest in leisure, and continues his independent investigation into Operation: Wounded Hearts from the privacy of House Arturia's Shalour Villa.
Theron is convinced that the confirmation he seeks is accessassable from his only lead, Gerald Arnold, though ACE's capable security methodology has prevented the conventional extraction of that confirmation. In response to this hunch, Theron begins to develop a theory that may provide him with an unorthodox method of extracting that confirmation.
Enter plans for channeling Typhon; a Halcyon heirloom wraith so immensely powerful that it developed the means to revoke the oaths of channeling; an unprecedented and unreplicated capability that has made Typhon the single most dangerous wraith known to mankind.
Theron faces a number of hurdles in pursuing this avenue. Foremost is Typhon's ability to disobey its Channeler; a predictable behavior that condemned Typhon to imprisonment beneath Kalos's southern bay. The second hurdle is the cross dimensional limitation of channeling five wraiths while maintaining a stable Distortion seep, and Theron's lack of a confidant that would be willing to channel Typhon as a surrogate for Theron's purposes.
Not only must Theron devise a way to conquer Typhon, but Theron must also discover a means of mastering a fifth channel; a feat that though previously attempted, has always resulted in the collapse of a Channeler's Distortion seep, ultimately culminating in the Channeler's instant unification with the Distortion.
Theron determines that with proper application of Distortion hyperdynamics, he can bind Typhon to his service with a drawn out series of oaths. Similar principles can be used to stabilize the Channeler's Distortion seep, though ultimately, Theron pins his hopes for success on Typhon's compliance through the later stage of the altered channeling ritual, seeing as Typhon is the only known wraith to demonstrate the capability of "shepherding" the living through the blackened lands unscathed.
The problem with this approach is that, while Theron's channeled Ghosts are powerful enough to apply the theory; Typhon's ability to revoke the oaths of channeling isn't just restricted to Typhon's rites.
Typhon can use that same ability to assume control of Theron's ghosts, and use them against him in the channeling ritual.
Theron needs an alternative source of Distortion affinity; one substantial enough to contest the might of Typhon, and one potent enough to apply Theron's proposed hyperdynamic formula.
So begins the road of betrayal, as Theron identifies a specific species of Interloper as the only viable source of the required Distortion affinity.
Using his skills as a Halcyon Shadow, and his formidable repertoire of Ghosts, Theron elopes to House Shabboneau's Prime Magistracy, and steals their only Keystone.
An action that falls under the definition of treason; a civil offense made even more dire considering Theron's intentions regarding the appropriated Key Stone.
Contacting a tribe of Dragon Worshipers in Hoenn through a surrogate in the Marche Noir; Theron arranges an deal that the Draconids simply can't refuse.
In exchange for a coveted Kalosian Keystone, Theron is willing to take possession of the Draconid's greatest asset; one of only four known Hydreigons.
Eloping to Hoenn to oversee the exchange in person, Theron is introduced to the savage Draconids; a cult every bit as vicious and bloodthirsty as the monsters they worship. While Theron intends to cheat the Draconids by providing only the Keystone and none of the required mega-stones (nobody outside the Kalosian nobility actually understands how mega-evolution is achieved, so Theron can play on the Draconid's ignorance of the mega-stones' existence), the Draconids are no less crafty and dishonest in their end of the deal; forcing Theron to undergo a series of tribal rites designed to maim and eventually kill him (Everything from clutching a burning coal in his bare hand; to imbibing dangerous amounts of toxin; to wrestling his desired dragon in one on one combat).
Though the tribal rites are generally staged throughout a Draconid's lifetime to limit the damage they inflict to an individual; Theron undergoes all the rites at once and survives, proving that he is worthy to command the Dragons, and earning the title of Honorary Draconid.
While the Draconids are disappointed with Theron's survival, they ultimately uphold their end of the bargain, and turn over Grigori, their prized Hydreigon, in exchange for Theron's stolen Keystone.
Returning to Kalos with the desired asset (and a sweet Hydreigon scarification tattoo on his back), Theron begins the arduous task of rearing Grigori; who is considerably unhinged, even for a member of the Hydreigon species.
During this time frame, Theron also makes half hearted arrangements to marry Valerie, though the guilt of treason drives Theron to distance himself from Valerie. Valerie eventually discovers Grigori on a visit to the Shalour Villa, and though she doesn't question how or why Theron procured such a beast, Valerie identifies certain maternal behaviors of Grigori that pave the way for Theron's taming of her.
With his leave from active duty coming to an end, and plans for his future marriage set in stone, Theron returns to Parfum to resume his duties in the Crownguard. While the stolen Shabboneau Keystone has not gone unnoticed, Theron has completely eluded all suspicion, until Lord Gregory Wikstrom inquires as to the unusual nature of Theron's scarred hand, and Theron arrogantly responds:
"This is the price one pays for stealing fire from the Gods."
Upon discovering Theron's unusual scarification tattoo, Lord Wikstrom has Theron detained under suspicion of collusion, and an investigation into his private activities while on leave is authorized by the Crown.
Fast running out of time, and having exhausted his every political ally, Theron, in his desperation to discover the intentions of Operation: Wounded Hearts, retaliates against his Wardens, slaying many members of the Kalosian Royal Guard in his escape from Parfum, which as good as confirms Theron's guilt.
Racing to Kalos's western coast to carry out his plans of channeling Typhon, Theron commits another act of treason when he sacrifices a pursuing Halcyon Shadow during the ritual, and releases Typhon from his oceanic confinement.
Though the ritual nearly results in Theron's death, Grigori ultimately comes through for him, spurred on by a maternal desperation to protect Theron from Typhon's retaliation. Theron not only breaks Typhon to his will, but successfully masters the fifth channel; a historical event among Channelers.
But as with every channel prior, binding one's self to the Ghosts only brings the Channeler that much closer to the Distortion, and Theron's fifth Channel results in the irreversible mutilation of his ocular perception.
The Prophet's Eyes are opened, and Theron's cursed vision reveals the obtuse and ever changing avenues of causality, a hideous revelation that drives Theron further into madness, yet provides him with unparalleled guidance in exchange for his vexed sight.
Foreseeing his impending demise at the hands of the Crown, Theron realizes that he needs to overthrow the current regime if he's to have any chance of preventing Operation Wounded Hearts from imperiling the world. For that end, Theron needs to demonstrate his legitimacy and claim Kalos's sovereignty. But first, a former ACE Vice-Marshal requires one last interrogation to confirm and expand Theron's suspicions.
Utilizing Typhon's unique capabilities to return to Parfum undetected, Theron and Typhon drag Gerald Arnold into the Distortion, where they interrogate him well beyond the reach of any ACE employed psions.
Discerning the intention and goals of Operation Wounded Hearts from Gerald Arnold's final testament (Which ultimately results in Theron's Vision of the Kings), Theron abandons the former Vice-Marshal to the Distortion, and begins carrying out the next stage of his plans:
The summoning of an Aegislash, who possesses the cultural preeminence required to legitimize Theron's claim to the Kalosian Crown.
With both the Crownguard and Halcyon Shadows hot on his heels, Theron violates the sanctity of House Arturia's family sepulcher to procure the final component required for the summoning of an Aegislash: the burial shroud of a King.
Enacting the summoning ritual in the sepulcher's royal vaults, Theron offers his Doublade, Pariah, as the second component of the ritual. Casting both Pariah and the burial shroud into the Distortion, Theron completes the summoning ceremonies just in time for the pursuing Halcyon Shadows to catch up with him…
...Who announce their presence by slitting Theron's throat (Icing on the cake: it was Theron's father who did the slashing).
Expecting Theron to bleed out, which would've allocated the Shadows with enough time to escape the resulting death curse, the appearance of an Aegislash halts House Halcyon's retreat by slaying Theron's father, and in acknowledgement of Theron's sovereign right to rule, the Aegislash (bearing the standards of House Arturia on its heraldic arsenal no less) kneels before its dying King, and offers its sword to Theron in a vow of fealty.
Following Theron's acceptance of the Aegislash's fealty, Demeter and Pariah both attend to Theron's slashed throat with some none to gentle medical administrations. Though he can barely speak, or even stand for all the blood loss, Theron rises to his feet to discover that his audience of Halcyon Shadows have prostrated themselves before him, in clear recognition of his sovereignty.
House Halcyon escorts Theron back to Parfum's throne room, not as a criminal, but as a King. Addressing the spectating Royal Court's confusion personally, Theron states his demand to the gathered Noble Houses:
Allan Arturia will unconditionally step down as King, relinquishing all sovereign authority of Kalos to the rightful King, Theron Halcyon.
House Arturia denies Theron's claim to the Throne, though the presence of a channeled Aegislash has divided the Noble Lords over their recognition of the current King.
Both House Le-Faye and House Lysander immediately pledge their support to House Halcyon, while both House Shabboneau and House Wikstrom counter the claim by pledging their support to House Arturia.
A war of legitimacy almost kicks off right then and there, when Theron orders Pariah to deliver the Kalosian throne to him. Pariah's attempt to decapitate Allan Arturia is interrupted by a furious Princess Diantha, who has activated Victoria's mega stone in preparation to annihilate Theron along with the better half of Parfum.
Throwing down her own ultimatum, in which Theron retracts his demand for King Allan's head, Princess Diantha diffuses the volatile situation by reminding the Noble Houses what would happen to Kalos if they were to host a civil war now.
Calling off Pariah, Theron defers to Diantha's ultimatum and assessment of the situation, and agrees to resolve the contest through non hostile channels.
Having forsaken his friendship with Princess Diantha, Theron bears a new yoke of guilt for his treason.
From there, Theron makes his appeal known to Kalos through House Lysander's media outlets. Though the public is initially skeptical of accepting a Halcyon's claim to the Kalosian Throne, widespread dissatisfaction with the current regime and Theron's consistent efforts to empower the Kalosian peasantry begin to win the people over to his cause.
Thus begins the first set of assassination attempts against Theron, as organizations seemingly unaffiliated with the current Crown make covert efforts to silence Theron Halcyon's claim to the Kalosian Throne.
Between his assets in House Halcyon, and his own preeminence as a master Channeler, Theron is able elude or survive every direct attempt against his life; though the mounting failures of the assassins result in more desperate and more bold attempts.
This eventually culminates with Sinnoh's abduction of Lady Valerie Le-Faye, whom they acquired with assistance from international ACE personnel. Staging an assassination attempt on Theron in Lumiose City, Sinnoh distracted the Eidolon King while ACE carried out the abduction of Valerie.
Due to the limitations of the Prophet's Eyes, Theron failed to recognize ACE's intentions for Valerie until it was too late to deviate from his pre-planned countermeasure against Sinnoh's assassins. Forced to contend with the assassination attempt while ACE successfully kidnapped Valerie, Theron succumbs to fury; angry at himself for endangering his betrothed; fearful for the fate of Valerie.
Due to ACE's formidable security protocols and adequate anti-distortion countermeasures, Theron is left without a trace to follow; disproving his former claims of infallibility.
Intending to coerce Theron into political submission by threatening Valerie's well being, the ACE-Sinnoh joint operation is discontinued following an enraged Theron's retaliation. Instead of pursuing the agency responsible for Valerie's abduction, Theron instead targets and obliterates the same governmental facility that authorized the operation.
This is the point in the narrative where Sinnoh's Parliament bought the farm, and where Theron ultimately submits to his role in the coming war between Kings (I.E. Operation Wounded Hearts).
After demonstrating his ability to topple regimes single-handedly, the assassination attempts against Theron cease immediately, and House Arturia is forced to consider alternative methods of contesting House Halcyon. ACE meanwhile, returns Valerie to House Le-Faye in an appeal for a peaceful surrender, which Theron accepts, though somewhat belligerently (The vendetta against Vice-Marshal Looker begins…).
Having sacrificed the last of his morality in the Sinnoh Coup, Theron begins to distance himself from Valerie due to a volatile mix of self-disgust, growing apathy, and his desire to to protect the only person he has left from both his political opponents and himself. Realizing that his relationship to Valerie has made her a prime target for opposing agencies, Theron begins the painful process of disavowing his intended marriage to Valerie, and elects to name Lady Malva of House Lysander as his Queen to be.
In order to make the separation absolute, Theron never discusses the shift in nuptials with Valerie (Though he and Lord Edwin Le-Faye discuss his reasoning for political matters). When Valerie discovers Theron's change of heart and confronts him about it, Theron ultimately resorts to cruelty to better drive Valerie away from him.
Wounded by Theron's lashing words and his abandonment, Valerie painfully forsakes her own vows to a devil; devastating Theron far more than he lets on.
Knowing that he must sacrifice everything that is dear to him if he is to have any chance of fulfilling the desired portent that was revealed to him in the Vision of the Kings, Theron reluctantly accepts Valerie's disdain for him; alternatively mourning the loss and celebrating Valerie's safety.
Enter House Lysander, whose media conglomerate has identified a surefire way to simultaneously weaken House Arturia and popularize Theron Halcyon via utilizing Kalos's League Seasonal Finals. Should Theron challenge the League and successfully oust Princess Diantha from the Champion's seat, Theron will have deprived House Arturia of their hereditary civil station, while also providing the world with a display of Theron Halcyon's prowess.
Theron acknowledges House Lysander's proposition as ideal, and Theron struggles to balance his commitments by preparing for the League Seasonal Finals while adhering to the responsibilities of his contested office's sovereign duties.
Skip ahead to the beginning of Kalos's League Seasonal Finals; the publicly acknowledged battleground for determining ownership of the Crown of Kalos. At this point in the narrative, Theron has only just begun to edge out House Arturia in domestic support, and his unofficial regime has laid the groundworks for securing foreign recognition of his legitimacy as well.
House Arturia may be growing desperate with the public's dramatic shift in loyalty; but the League is their Noble House's prime holding; theirs is the civil vocation of athletes and competition. The Noble House of Arturia has ruled over the coliseums of Mount Olympus since Kalos's founding, and they remain adamant in their conviction that no other Noble House will ever wrest the claim of supremacy from them.
In Kalos, competition in the League is an exclusive privilege of the Noble caste; reserved solely for each Noble House's Gymnase Meister and family prodigies. In times past, the League was utilized to settle disputes among the Nobility without compromising the integrity of Kalos's governing hegemony; Critical Duels were held to determine everything from the allocation of property, to the right to marriage, to the guilt or innocence of the accused.
History has returned to the Kalosian League, as the Aegislash ordained Lord Theron Halcyon rekindles tradition in an age of widespread dissent and romanticism with his claim to the Kalosian Crown.
Victory will name him both King and Champion; loss will condemn him as a traitor and a fraud.
The stakes are high, the tension is palpable; yet the Valorous Lord Halcyon betrays not a shadow of doubt or a shred of weakness in his effortless ascent through the Victory Road Trial and the following Qualifying Round.
With Theron in the League competition proper, the true contest for the rule of Kalos begins. Arrayed against him are the allies of House Arturia, congregated and unified behind their goal of realizing Theron's defeat. Yet while Theron endeavors to approach the contest with the chivalry that has garnered the support of his nation, the same can not be said of his opposition.
The snakes have come forth from their nests, and every manner of hindrance such adders can muster is presented to Theron; from suicidal assassination attempts, to sabotage, slander, and inciting hysterics; the allies of House Arturia ply their dirtiest hands against House Halcyon and their allies in the hopes of seeing Theron fall.
With the aid of his new bride-to-be Malva, a member of the Elite Four, Theron is able to compromise the unity of the Elite Four. Following his defeat at hands of Lord Theron Halcyon, Marquis Griffith Siebold of Noble House Siebold endorses his support of the Halcyon's sovereign claim; and though such endorsement is insubstantial without the Lord of House Siebold's official pledge, the unofficial declaration of loyalty nevertheless spurns on the Halcyon's public favor, and weakens House Arturia's standing in the League.
The retired Ambassador of Sinnoh, and respected confidant of House Arturia, Consul Lacuda Drasna rejects Theron's claim to the Kalosian Throne with a statement reflecting her homeland's current political affiliation; but The Prophet's tides of change has already reached into the heartlands of Sinnoh, and all of Kalos has heard tell of Sinnoh's swiftly polarizing domestic perspective of King Theron Halcyon, The Emancipator of Sinnoh.
Lord Wikstrom publicly denounces Theron as both a charlatan and a traitor, but as with all prior members of the Elite Four, he too falls to Theron's wraiths, and the Iron Lord's accusations are discredited in the humiliation of his defeat. Leaving but one more obstacle between Theron and his right to Challenge the current Kalosian Champion.
Theron's fellow forth quota victor and similarly branded quad-flame finalist: Gymnaise Meister Lady Valerie Le-Faye of Noble House Le-Faye; who through the personalized and targeted influences of House Arturia, has come to regard her ex-fiance with scorn and revulsion.
Theron is forced to battle and defeat the only thing he truly loves, in what becomes his greatest struggle to date. Valerie shows him no quarter or mercy, and though he stays true the codes of chivalry throughout her slurs and insults, Theron is deeply wounded by the outcome of a battle he never wanted to win.
Passing on an opportunity to settle an old grudge against Empousa, Valerie's Mega-Evolved Mawile, lifelong companion, and childhood mutilator; Theron demonstrates his unwillingness to harm Valerie, forfeiting his grudge in favor of preserving his beloved's sole remaining comfort, showing Valerie but a brief hint of the man behind the devil's mask.
Though Valerie recognizes both Theron's mercy and his guilt, she cannot bring herself to forgive him for his rejection. Though her cruel words and resentment lessens, Valerie Le-Faye returns to Arturia's side after her defeat; diminished and uncertain; at conflict with the pangs and longings of her heart.
Yet even as old passions are stirred and crushed, Theron's bitter victory paves the way for the final battle with Princess Diantha of Royal House Arturia; Champion to the Kalosian League.
And so the war begins, with Theron in the Challenger's Corner, and Diantha in the Champion's seat.
Mad with grief, furious beyond any former resentment, Theron deliberately sacrifices his own assets in the battle that follows; as he does everything he can to inflict as much of his own loss and suffering on his bitter and lethal opponent.
Though the casualties that Theron accrues early on are dire, he succeeds in tormenting, desecrating, and murdering every monster that Diantha pits against him and his wraiths; whittling at Diantha's resolve and stabbing at her heart, one pitiful and inhumane execution at a time.
Reserving Exodus as his Trump Card, Theron relies heavily on both Typhon and Pariah to secure him victory in the penultimate stage of his battle with Diantha. By the time that Theron has reduced Diantha to her Trump Card, the Champion of Kalos can barely maintain her composure.
Having been forced to helplessly standby and watch the agonizing deaths of those closest to her, Diantha holds back her tears and decries Theron as a monster; before releasing Victoria from the limits of the Para-Kingdom's evolution; infusing the Valkyrie of Kalos with a power that only Gods were ever meant to know.
After losing both Typhon and Pariah to Victoria's brilliant retribution, Theron releases Exodus from a similar restraint, and the hoary God of Nightmares subjects the entire League compound to the sterile agony of his white shadow.
While Exodus challenges Victoria in the contested confines of an inverted Distortion Rift, Theron focuses his attentions on Diantha; torturing her with verbatim from the friendship they once shared, and reveling in the devilry that she and her brother brought out of him.
The battle ends in what seems to be a victory for Diantha; as a stalemate maintained over control of the inverted Distortion rift is broken, resulting in the apparent banishment of Exodus; but the brief illusion of Arturia's triumph is a ruse orchestrated by Theron; the punchline to a cruel joke that he's been playing against Diantha since the beginning of their final battle.
Victoria has been under Exodus's control from the very beginning of the match; the dramatic battle between them serving only as a distraction from the inevitable; inspiring Diantha with the hope of victory, before Theron invariably crushes that inspiration with a visceral finale.
Theron orders Victoria to kill herself, and Exodus tears the Gardevoir's heart from the babaylan's breast with her own bare hand, before a grinning and possessed Victoria presents the wraith's throbbing trophy to Princess Diantha, mere moments before Exodus releases Victoria from his control.
Dying in horror, Victoria is made numb to the comforting cradle of Diantha's loving arms, while a silent Theron merely watches as his final blow is dealt.
Grieving more so for the inhumane loss of her friends than for the costly loss of the battle, a sobbing Diantha takes no notice of Theron as he strides past the fallen Champion without so much as an expression on his face or a word offered in whisper, before the Eidolon King quietly assumes his rightful seat in the Kalosian League Throne Room.
Story cuts ahead a couple months. Theron has ironed out the finishing touches for his ascent to the Kalosian Throne, but abstains from acting out any notable civil duty. His marriage to Malva is put on indefinite hold, his public addresses have waned in frequency to the point of being posthumously labelled a prolonged silence, and Theron has invoked controversy with the leaders of his supporting Noble Houses by not taking advantage of the current situation, and declaring a coup on House Arturia with the public's overwhelming support backing him.
Theron, as a political figure, has reached his prime. As a King in everything but title, a single call to action is all that separates Theron from claiming the Kalosian Crown for himself.
But as a person, Theron has never been weaker. Second guessing his every prior decision, and grieving for the cost of his ascent to power, we see Theron as a wounded and weary King, well before the Crown has even adorned his haunted head.
Fearing for the fate of Kalos should he assume power, Theron works out a private deal with Arturia's disheveled heads of House; in an effort to stabilize as many loose ends as he can in his homeland, while limiting his own commitment to domestic affairs.
Theron agrees to abscond from Kalos entirely and uphold a secret truce, leaving the rule of the nation in dispute by splitting the sovereign powers of the nation between himself and Allan Arturia; Princess Diantha meanwhile, will be reinstated as the honorary Champion of Kalos in Theron's absence. Theron's only demand in the agreement is that House Arturia ensures the health and well being of Lady Valerie Le-Faye as long as her life permits, and extends to her all the doting comforts that a proper King would administer to his beloved and dying Queen.
The terms of the secret truce are agreed to, leaving only Theron, King Allen, and Princess Diantha any wiser to the unforeseen political development. In conclusion of the agreement, Theron commits himself exclusively to the agenda that has driven him to this end, and travels through the Distortion to attend an appointment with Indigo's High Justiciar Adamus Oscarin III; finally revealing the depth of his loss by conceding to his greatest fear, and acknowledging his existence as a living wraith.
Book II ends just days before Theron's first encounter with Zane in Viridian's Shuttle Terminal, and the epilogue leading to Book III is provided with the very first detailed narration of Theron's Vision of the Kings; alongside the revelation and acknowledgement of a Third King, their identity yet unknown to the audience or the cast.
...
Sorry it took so long to get this finished; production was interrupted by a much needed vacation. It was quite pleasing to see a bit more of the world through the US's National Parks. The wild country out west is absolutely beautiful, and I loved every second of it. From hiking through the desolate Badlands and Wind Caves of South Dakota, to backpacking along the jaw dropping geological formations of Utah's Arches and Canyonlands. Special shoutout to Colorado's National Monument Park; the area was gorgeous, the local history was rich with selfless passion and human triumph, the Park Rangers were some of the most good natured civil servants that I've ever met, and the campsite's immaculate bathroom was an unexpected luxury after four days of filling catholes in 100 plus degree weather.
All in all, it was a good trip through some much loved and long-missed country. Hope you guys make excellent use of your summers as well; I'll crack out Book III's plot summary when I'm able to.