Chapter 53: God’s eyes.

Chapter 53 - God’s eyes.The next month, apart from the physical training or sleeping, Lee spent most of his time with Zeus and Hera. The two beautiful, white steeds were Orpen's wedding gift to Victoria and Edward, and Prides had the honor of training them. Surprisingly he delegated the task to Lee, under his strict supervision, of course.

From the very beginning Lee was the one actually doing the training and feeding, he even named them. Never in his lives he imagined that raising horses could be so much fun both for him and the animals.

It was hard to believe, but even though the two were recently caught in the wild, they were saddled and ridden already before the New Year's celebration. While Lee had mixed feelings about the fact, Prides took all the credit for it without batting an eye.

As if sensing the inevitable separation, with each day both horses were more and more reluctant to let Lee go, especially Zeus – the first of the two he met. Lee couldn't explain the strange relationship, but it wasn't really a friendship – more like pure happiness being around each other.

At first he actually thought it was all due Prides teachings, but with time noticed that the more he focused on the blue mist in his abdomen while being around the horses, or even while riding them, the more they got closer to him.

And the sensation of the animals talking to him also turned out to not be an illusion, although it was hard to explain how exactly that worked.

Lee's best guess was that the blue mist, clearly the pure water element, was somehow sensed by the two animals. It seemed like it functioned as a medium and allowed the strange communication of thoughts, although he didn't think it could work with humans.

Since Prides had a similar ability, on one occasion Lee asked whether he had a spark within, to which Prides laughed and said that no animal would be willing to be around a person who had clearly slaughtered one of their kin, and carried a proof within. To own a spark was impossible for a stablehand like him – everything he did was due to the natural talents.

Lee wasn't the one to question a guy with almost fifty year experience on taming and training horses, but clearly there was more to it. But he wasn't going to argue – he had all the time in the world to explore the superhuman abilities that the sparks provided.



The time was running out until the New Year, though, and Lee had an idea how to use the event to advance his revenge plans. At first he had a thought of doing something with horses like Alan did back then, but from the moment he began to closely train them, everything that was going to harm the majestic animals was off the table.

But people hurting other people was fine. And Freeda's advice of using a borrowed knife gave Lee an idea. It was a long stretch and quite risky, but he decided to go with the plan anyway.

The celebration was supposed to go like any other – with a gift giving, feast and performances of the younger generation. The addition was the horse race planned as a part of entertainment, but Lee's eyes were set on the performances. He intended to use the rivalry between Hardwood and Foxson, and borrow knife or rather – their swords, to finish off one of the two young generals. He needed Logan's help though.

Compared to the time in Newman's mansion, it was a bit hard to get away from Orpen's estate, but Lee managed to persuade Prides to give him a free afternoon to visit his terminally ill grandfather. Of course, he was punished with twenty extra laps of running with weights, but after a month of torture Lee didn't find it to be that hard.

Logan was surprised to see Lee, but Lee's I need your help wasn't surprising at all.

"I see." The tailor said knowingly, quickly judging Lee's appearance, "You need a proper clothing. I have something here that'll fit you ..."

"No, wait!" Lee stopped him, "I need extremely potent poison. On such level that if it gets in a wound, the person would surely die."

"What are you up to now?" Logan furrowed his brows.

After the last time Lee visited his shop, two heirs of noble families died, and two ministers were relieved of their duties. While the general public was clueless, it wasn't that hard for Logan to connect the dots. It was hard to believe that he chaos was caused by a young boy, though.

"I think the organization would find it helpful if I managed to get rid of one of the generals." Lee said.

"Which one?" Logan instinctively asked, but seeing Lee had no reaction, thought for a bit, and said, "I have to ask Cai. Your request is not a simple one."

They agreed Lee would return three days later, and parted, but when Lee stepped out the Thousand Needles, the strangest sight met him.

Everywhere around him people stared at the evening sky that was colored red in the west by the setting sun. But from high up, from the very middle of the heavenly dome, two eyes looked down at the city. They were huge and black, maybe even slightly purple, and seemed extremely life-like.

It was strange, creepy and scary at the same time, but it took a while for people in Sunwell and its surroundings to realize what exactly they were seeing, and that what they were seeing was real. Lee, similar to the rest, felt like those eyes saw right through him, to the very depths of his soul, revealing his most guarded secrets.

Discarding the option of returning to Logan's place, he rushed back to Orpen's mansion, the place he kind of could call home for the time being. While people on the streets were panicking, begging God or the emperor for mercy, Lee kind of felt that the apocalypse wasn't coming. It could be some kind of mass delusion or more likely – a phenomenon he couldn't explain for now.

His theory was confirmed by dogs, cats and birds that behaved like they always did, except the dogs were extremely excited by suddenly energetic humans, running around the place. Back in stables the horses were also calm as always, and it was the last evidence Lee needed to prove there was no danger.

It was only logical that if some kind of natural disaster approached, all the animals would react first. Earthquakes and tsunamis were simplest example. But since only humans reacted, it looked like it was only their problem.

Of course, when the next afternoon the eyes appeared again, the mass hysteria was ignited anew. And this time the palace was in similar shock.

From the early morning the emperor gathered his trusted council to discuss the meaning and repercussions of the last night's phenomenon, but they never got anywhere. And after half a day of useless blabbing, the two things in the sky reappearing caused panic in the hall despite the strongest man in the world being present.

Disregarding the collective fear, the whole imperial council was glued to the hall windows, staring at the eyes, not knowing what to think. Fortunately one of the prime minister's aides rushed in and disturbed the grave atmosphere.



"Another report!" The aide shouted, returning everyone to reality.

"Khem ..." Alan also came to his senses, "Your Majesty, I don't think you should look at that ... just in case ..."

"Give me that!" The emperor called the aide, grabbed the piece of paper from his hands, and stomped over to his throne. He was as scared as the rest, but contrary to the others he was angry with himself for the helplessness he felt.

Glancing around the hall, observing the ministers and their scared-to-death heirs, along with the couple empty chairs, the emperor could only sigh. He missed the days when the world was in his palm.

Victoria similarly was observing everyone, but either because she was a sociopath or it was a mark of the common sense, she was one of the rare people in the capital who hadn't felt fear for a single moment. In the end she couldn't take it anymore.

"Father, may I say something?" She asked, and not waiting for an answer, continued, "I don't see a problem with what's happening! Why are you all acting this way? Simply issue an Imperial Edict that The Emperor has developed a new omnipotent skill that allows him to see the whole world. Call it God's eyes, or something."

"But Princess!" Prime Minister Bates objected, "The problem is that the people are turning to the Hand of God that suddenly dare to openly preach their beliefs!"

"So?" Victoria snorted, "Kill them! I want to see their God coming and saving them. Kill all who dare to question my father's rule! THAT IS THE CURRENT LAW! ENFORCE IT!"

With the last two sentences her palm lit up in fiery flames and she slammed the table, leaving a distinct burnt right on the sword mark she left some years ago. But while most people stared at her in disbelief, the emperor stood up while loudly laughing.

He missed the days when he considered the world to be his oyster. He never noticed how he got old, but having a daughter like Victoria warmed his heart.