CHAPTER 85: CHAPTER 85

The abandoned watchtower stood like a forgotten sentinel on the hillside, its weathered stones bearing witness to countless seasons of wind and rain. Once, it had served as an outpost for the Goldenvale family, a strategic point overlooking the trade routes that connected their territory to the wider continent.

Now it was little more than a relic, ignored by the new order that had swept away such antiquated concerns as territorial boundaries and family rivalries.

It was the perfect place for a conversation that should never happen.

Lysander arrived first, his footsteps echoing hollowly in the empty chamber as he climbed the spiral staircase to the tower’s highest room.

The space was small and circular, with narrow windows that offered views in every direction. He could see for miles from here—the rolling hills that had once been contested ground, the roads that now carried peaceful commerce under Ethan’s protection, the distant cities where order reigned supreme.

Everything looked so peaceful from this height. So perfectly controlled.

He didn’t have to wait long. The soft sound of footsteps on stone announced Kaelan’s arrival, and soon the other man appeared in the doorway, his expression as troubled as Lysander felt. They regarded each other in silence for a moment, both understanding the significance of this meeting.

"You came," Lysander said quietly.

"I almost didn’t," Kaelan admitted, moving to one of the windows and staring out at the landscape below. "Part of me wondered if this was a test—if Ethan had orchestrated this somehow, to see what we would do."

The thought had occurred to Lysander as well. Ethan’s intelligence network was vast, his awareness seemingly unlimited. Could two of his closest allies really meet in secret without his knowledge? Or was this conversation already known, already accounted for in whatever grand design their leader was pursuing?

"Does it matter?" Lysander asked. "If he knows, then at least we’ll have spoken our minds. If he doesn’t... well, perhaps it’s time we did anyway."

Kaelan turned from the window, his face grave. "The distance is growing, isn’t it? Between us and him. Every day, it feels like he moves further away, into realms we can’t follow."

Lysander nodded. It was a relief to hear someone else voice what he had been feeling. "I’ve served alongside great leaders before. I’ve seen men with vision and power reshape the world around them. But this... this is different. Ethan isn’t just powerful—he’s transcendent. And I’m not sure there’s a place for the rest of us in the world he’s creating."

"There’s a place," Kaelan said bitterly. "At the bottom. Following orders, executing plans we had no hand in making, watching as our own thoughts and desires become irrelevant."

The words hung in the air between them, dangerous and true. For months, both men had wrestled with these feelings in private, but speaking them aloud made them real in a way that was both liberating and terrifying.

"I remember when we used to debate strategy," Lysander said, his voice soft with memory. "When our opinions mattered, when Ethan would actually change course based on something we suggested. Now..."

"Now we’re briefed on decisions that have already been made," Kaelan finished. "Told our roles in plans we had no part in creating. Asked for our loyalty but not our thoughts."

Lysander moved to another window, looking out over the territory they had helped conquer. "The irony is that we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. The continent is unified, the corruption is broken, the people are safer and more prosperous than they’ve been in generations. We should be celebrating."

"Then why does it feel like failure?" Kaelan asked.

It was the question that had been haunting them both. They had achieved everything they had fought for, but the victory felt hollow. The price had been higher than either had anticipated—not just in blood or treasure, but in something more fundamental. Their agency, their relevance, their sense of purpose beyond simple obedience.

"Because we’ve become obsolete," Lysander said finally. "Ethan doesn’t need advisors anymore—he has the system. He doesn’t need strategists—his own mind surpasses anything we could offer. He doesn’t even need friends, not really. What could we possibly give him that he can’t provide for himself?"

Kaelan’s expression hardened. "Then why keep us around at all? Why maintain the pretense of friendship and partnership when we’re really just... what? Relics? Museum pieces from a simpler time?"

"Maybe because even transcendent beings need some connection to their humanity," Lysander suggested. "Or maybe because completely discarding us would be too final, too much of an admission of what he’s become."

They fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts. The wind whistled through the abandoned tower, a lonely sound that seemed to echo their isolation.

"So what do we do?" Kaelan asked eventually. "Continue as we are? Pretend that nothing has changed, that we’re still the team we once were?"

Lysander considered the question. It was one he had been avoiding for weeks, perhaps months. The easy answer was yes—continue serving, continue following orders, continue playing their diminished roles in Ethan’s grand design. It was safe, comfortable even. They would be well cared for, respected within the organization, remembered as the men who had helped build the new order.

But it would also be a lie.

"I don’t know if I can do that anymore," he admitted. "Every briefing, every mission, every time I nod and agree to execute someone else’s plan... it feels like I’m losing a piece of myself. Like I’m becoming less than I was."

Kaelan nodded grimly. "The alternative is confronting him directly. Telling him how we feel, demanding a real role in decision-making, insisting on the partnership we once had."

"And risk everything," Lysander added. "Our positions, our influence, whatever friendship might still exist between us."

"Risk it for what, though?" Kaelan pressed. "For the chance to matter again? For the possibility of influencing the direction of something we helped create? For our own self-respect?"

The questions were hard ones, with no easy answers. Both men had seen what happened to those who opposed Ethan, even indirectly. Not execution or exile—he was more subtle than that. But marginalization, irrelevance, a gradual fading into obscurity until they became footnotes in someone else’s story.

"There’s another option," Lysander said slowly. "One I’ve been considering."

Kaelan raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"

"We could leave."

The words fell between them like stones into still water, creating ripples of possibility and fear. Leaving meant abandoning everything they had built, walking away from the organization they had helped create, turning their backs on the empire they had fought to establish.

"Leave and go where?" Kaelan asked. "Ethan’s influence covers the entire continent now. There’s nowhere we could go that wouldn’t ultimately be under his control."

"Beyond the continent," Lysander said quietly. "There are other lands, other peoples, other possibilities. We could find somewhere new, start fresh, build something different."

Kaelan stared at him. "You’re serious."

"Deadly serious. I’ve been thinking about it for weeks. What if we took some of the others—people who feel the same way we do? What if we established something parallel to Ethan’s empire, but based on different principles? Collaborative rather than autocratic, flexible rather than rigid?"

"That would be betrayal," Kaelan said, but his voice lacked conviction.

"Would it? We wouldn’t be opposing him directly, wouldn’t be trying to undermine what he’s built. We’d simply be... exploring alternatives. Proving that there are other ways to organize society, other approaches to leadership and governance."

Kaelan was quiet for a long moment, considering the implications. "It’s a beautiful dream," he said finally. "But also incredibly dangerous. If Ethan saw it as a threat..."

"Then we’d make sure he didn’t," Lysander replied. "Keep it small at first, non-threatening. A settlement, maybe a trading company. Something that looks like simple business rather than political opposition."

"And if it grew? If it became successful enough to actually represent an alternative to his model?"

Lysander met his gaze steadily. "Then we’d cross that bridge when we came to it. But at least we’d be crossing it as ourselves, making our own choices, rather than simply executing someone else’s will."

The wind picked up outside, rattling the loose stones of the ancient tower. Both men stood in contemplative silence, weighing possibilities against risks, dreams against reality.

"There’s a third option," Kaelan said eventually.

"Which is?"

"We confront him directly. Not to demand anything, not to issue ultimatums, but to simply... talk. To tell him how we feel, to explain what we’ve lost, to see if there’s any way to bridge the gap that’s opened between us."

Lysander considered this. "And if he dismisses our concerns? If he tells us that our feelings are irrelevant compared to the greater good he’s pursuing?"

"Then at least we’ll know where we stand," Kaelan replied. "At least we’ll have tried to salvage something of what we once had."

"And if we don’t like his answer?"

Kaelan’s smile was grim. "Then we revisit your idea about leaving."

They stood facing each other in the dying light, two men who had helped reshape the world now questioning their place in the new reality they had created. The choices before them were stark: accept their diminished roles, risk everything on a confrontation, or walk away from everything they had built.

"We should decide tonight," Lysander said. "The longer we wait, the harder it becomes to act."

Kaelan nodded. "Together?"

"Together. Whatever we choose, we face the consequences as allies. We owe each other that much."

As the sun set behind the hills, casting long shadows across the abandoned watchtower, two friends prepared to make a decision that would either restore their partnership with Ethan Drake or end it forever. The weight of that choice pressed down on them like the gathering darkness, but neither man flinched from what lay ahead.

Tomorrow, they would learn whether friendship could survive the transformation of a man into something beyond human understanding. Tonight, they would decide how much of themselves they were willing to sacrifice for loyalty to someone who might no longer need their devotion.