Over fifteen hundred miles southwest from the Colorado portal sat the Empire’s capital city, ‘The Summer Wind Falling on a Spear of Blood and Might’. Housing more than twenty-three million people, the city sprawled across the landscape, circumnavigated by an enormous red and white wall. It was a radial city with every road leading to the enormous castle in the center.

  The castle was a marvel of engineering and magic. Steel and glass stretched high into the sky, a squat finger poking up to the firmament. Thousands of rooms housed the Empire’s best administrators and civil servants. The higher the room, the more power and prestige it housed. At the top of that castle sat the Triumvirate's court. Tiled with the bones of titans, the stark white room was open to the skies. Inclement weather never touched the court, powerful magics dampened the wind and turned aside the rain.

  Usually filled with dozens of royals and city leaders, now it held three elves. Each one had a mithril class, the highest grade class the System of the World granted. It was the minimum requirement for the Triumvirate, the leaders of the empire were titans even among the favored of the system.

  The tallest of the three was also the oldest. Bamawo Dieya had lived over a thousand years, well beyond even the elf’s naturally long lifespan. He knew his next decade would be his last. He had left his mark on the Grand Empire hundreds of times over his long rule and was determined to add one last victory to his legacy.

  Sitting across from him was his sometimes friend, Uyiro Ibieuwairo. He had left his own mark on the Empire over the last century of his rule, but looked forward to the day he could steer the Triumvirate towards his own goals.

  The youngest of the three, Ivie Ituah, had risen to her position only twenty years prior. The other two might have looked down on her for her inexperience ruling, but neither dared insult the strongest chosen they had ever seen.

  “The rebellion on Talamh was put down this morning, which I have to admit was vaguely disappointing,” Uyiro said.

  “What part of victory is disappointing to you?” Ivie asked with an arched eyebrow. “Were you hoping that the battle with the insurgent orcs would drag on long enough for you to get personally involved?”

  “No, I have no need for personal glory,” Uyiro lied. “What bothers me is that we let the insurgents have a victory in hopes that we could root out more rebels when they joined the cause. None did. The once proud orcs are timid now. When we wiped out the insurgents, we killed the last brave orcs on Talamh.”

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  “Do not be disappointed that our subjugation work was successful,” Bamawo said with a shaky voice. “Need I remind you what happened with the naga?”

  “Bah, they were never going to be a good vassal world. Too unpious. Their disaster was no great loss for us.”

  “Perhaps. I must admit I am much more optimistic about Earth. Trade with them is already very valuable. I can only imagine the bounty of goods flowing through their portals after we make them our vassals,” Bamawo said with a greedy smile.

  Ivie cleared her throat and said, “Speaking of Earth, I wish to discuss our plans. I understand why we have financed the collaborator movement on the human planet. It will make things easier for us to have native agents already working for us there. However, why are we bothering with diplomacy on Earth? The reports came in last month, we have all the bulletproof vests we need for our invasion plans, correct?”

  Bamawo wiggled his hands in assent. “The report mentioned we met our minimum goals to equip our army. General Iken is ready to attack once more, but I ordered him to wait until we had a sizable reserve as well.”

  Uyiro sighed and said, “What Bamawo failed to say is that we are delaying on purpose. An Indomitable will kill the Chinese president shortly and then we will judge Earth’s response. We suspect that they will bluster for some time and then do nothing. We’ll send some gifts to smooth things over. Then, later when we begin the invasion, we can start with demands for concessions. If they believe we can be negotiated with, even after some killings, their response to us will be slow. We must have our second invasion go well, we cannot afford to have a repeat of the first.”

  Ivie picked at her ceremonial robe. It was made of mithril and adamantium, treated with dozens of skills to make it comfortable to wear. She still didn’t like it and preferred cloth. “It still seems overly cautious. The first invasion failed because of the pitifully small invasion force. Our armies are triple that size already. We have counters for all their weapons and not just the bullets. They think their fission bombs are unassailable, but we have enough miracles saved up to counter anything they throw at us. I say we attack now.”

  Bamawo slashed his hands down. “We cannot afford to fail once more. Kolerego and Doloro, honored be their names, have each sent me a vision that they hunger for more adherents. The spread of their worship is growing too slowly on Earth. The divine war with the Outsiders isn’t going well. If they don’t gain an influx of power soon, the Empire will be lost. Not just our world, but all the ones we connect to. We will have one chance at an invasion, we must succeed.”

  Ivie and Uyiro shivered at the mention of the gods of Rage and Pain, but their mouths dropped open when they heard how the war with the Outsiders was going.

  Ivie said, “I understand. We must take the time to get this right. I will pray to ?ojo and Timo and ask them to intercede on our behalf.”

  “I guess that leaves Mal?ojo and Amo for me,” Uyiro said. “I will begin preparing the sacrifices.”

  Bamawo said, “Good. Earth will be our most valuable vassal world yet. We will invade soon, but only after our victory is assured.”

  The End

  Author note: Today’s chapter title comes from Citizen Kane (1941)

  That’s it for book one. There will be a one week break and then we’ll jump right into book two on November 17th. Patreon already has a few weeks of chapters up if you want to see what’s next.