He’d had the entire chest brought up to his study, where he’d been poring over them every night. The first few journals contained little but mundane accountings of ruling and the same problems that plagued kings even millennia ago. But eventually, his interest snagged on a passage about when something changed in The Aurora.

The sky is dark again tonight. By my count, it’s been nearly three weeks since the northern lights last appeared. Even worse, reports from the mines grow increasingly alarming. Tomorrow, I will journey with my advisors into the tunnels, though I fear what we will find. Without our jewels, The Aurora is lost.

Rion felt the king’s despair and understood it. He couldn’t imagine what force would cause the jewels to disappear and hoped he’d never live to see it. Without its jewels, The Aurora would have nothing to trade, and he’d lose his position of power. While that passage had been interesting enough, it was everything that came later that truly held his attention.

Herric had been present at the beginning of the Second Age. And while the old stories held that an Artefact had been bestowed upon each ruler then, they left out some key details.

Like the existence of gods named the Empyrium and the fact that Herric had volunteered for Zerra’s role and been turned down. But the history books credited King Elias as the first king of the Second Age, so what had happened to Herric during those early years?

Tonight, Rion entered his study and poured himself a drink before he settled on one of the soft velvet divans facing the window. The lights danced across the sky in ribbons of red and blue and green. The sight always moved him when so little else did.

Rion grabbed the next journal from the chest, flipping to the front. Herric was certainly verbose, and while normally Rion would roll his eyes at this level of self-indulgence, he found himself appreciating just how much this ancient king had revealed.

Recently, he’d finished a journal about Herric’s trips to the Evanescence, where he’d whored himself out for information while searching for Zerra’s weaknesses. He’d had every intention of finding a way to replace her.

Rion scanned the pages, searching for something interesting, skimming through Herric’s self-loathing over using his body to achieve his ends. Rion shook his head at the dramatics. He would never hesitate to do the same if it meant he could become a god. What was sex anyway? Only one person in his existence had made it mean anything.

When the current volume produced nothing, he picked up another, landing on a passage about a dark substance Herric had discovered in the mines that could channel magic.

This was something new.

Rion sat up and leaned forward as he devoured every word.