"At least…" Evrin said. "At least now some of those who will shape what the Tingaran Empire will become have heard this story. Perhaps this was my fault. Perhaps I should have let the truth be known earlier. But who would have listened? Would you believe me, if you hadn't been here to witness what happened today?

"There are so many of you who revere the Evermen. If they ever return, you will not only face their incredible powers, unlike anything you have ever seen before… You will face your own people, those who will mindlessly follow their god wherever he leads."

There was silence except for the sound of the waves crashing against the Sentinel's island as they each digested Evrin's words.

"If that ever happens," Miro finally said. "You will fight by our side, as you once did?"

"I will," Evrin said, "although since my powers were taken from me, there is little I can do. I have my knowledge of the runes, but that is all."

"Your lover…" Amber said. "Did you ever have a child?"

All eyes were suddenly on the old man. Ella looked again at his piercing blue eyes and the flecks of ginger in his beard. When Evrin hung his head, and a look of infinite sadness crossed his visage, Ella felt the blood drain from her face.

"Yes," Evrin said. "I never knew for sure, but yes, I believe we did have a child. And I think my child might have had a child of their own, and that perhaps I have a descendant, living today.

"I think I might have just sent him to his death."

Epilogue

Epilogue

PRIMATE Melovar Aspen had one last surprise left in store for the world he had plunged into war and then departed with his death.

His veins had flowed with raj nilas, the substance he had called elixir. Never had so much of essence's opposite taken residence in a man's body. Never had the two liquids been brought together in such concentration.

When the Primate perished, the violent clash of raj nilas meeting raj ichor caused his body to disintegrate, a result not attributable to essence alone. His skin fell off in slabs, the limbs fell from his body, and his face came away from his skull.

Deep within the individual cells that joined to make up the rapidly dissolving tissues, the raj nilas bubbled and fizzed angrily. Each miniscule droplet struggled to retain its form, desperate to maintain a separate identity to the raj ichor around it. It was a fight with an inevitable outcome, as finally the two liquids met and combined.

The essence easily swallowed the elixir within its much greater volume, but nevertheless, the raj ichor was changed.

The Primate's burning blood was now part of the pool.