The others left the hall, their footsteps sounding away into the distance. Atenyos remained behind as Kantara instructed. He remained standing, his eyes fixed as he gazed at Kantara, still attempting to understand why he alone was denied the rest offered the others before their mission.
"So what do you need, Kantara?" Atenyos growled, his voice teetering on the brink of rebellion, annoyance creeping into his voice. He had wanted to spend the last few hours before light to try and clear his head, not be here at his mentor's command.
Before he had even a moment to register what was happening, his body was already moving against his will. Cold twisting pain swept down his spine, the air distorting around him. Some incomprehensible power pressed against him, and he was knocked off balance, crashing into the ground with a jolt that rattled his bones.
Pain—shivering, artic pain— sprouted from his fingertips up through his entire arm. His rings sparked uncontrollably, lightning flashing from them in outrage, as if they were frantically trying to escape some thing outside of themselves. His scars, blazed into flame once more, searing as if freshly ripped open. Sweat streamed down his face. His gasps were ragged, his chest tightening under the destroying weight of Kantara's presence.
Atenyos felt fear for the very first time in his life—actual, suffocating fear.
This...this was what real power was like.
And then and only then he had known, Lutens had showed nothing to him. Nothing whatsoever.
Kantara towered before him, his expression a mask, his presence a contained tempest raging in the air. "Let me teach you a lesson, Atenyos, one which you will need in the days and weeks ahead."
Atenyos gritted his teeth, bracing his body tense upright in spite of the lingering shivers in his muscles. Kantara's gaze pinned him, cold and commanding.
"Let me ask you something. Do you think less of me, Atenyos? Because I care about you? Worry about you?" Kantara's tone was unnervingly level, but with an unmistakable harshness. "Knew you weren't the brightest of the lot, but you would do better—you're speaking to ME! Kantara. The unshaken and the fear-inspiring. An Emperor Candidate. I sit at your EMPEROR's side! rule at his side as his right hand."
The impact of those words fell on Atenyos, but he did not shatter. He did not turn away.
"You became proud once you defeated Lutens's team," Kantara continued. "You must understand—no, you must acknowledge—you never had any hope whatsoever against Lutens himself. Not even at full strength. The difference between a Ring Bearer and an Emperor is the difference between a cub and a lion, between mortal man and deity. You. Never. Had. A. Chance."
Atenyos clenched his fists, but not in revolt—this time, in resignation. The reality, though bitter, gripped him.
"In time, you will thank me for this." Kantara's tone softened, his authority lending his words greater weight.
The room was smothered under his weight. The air itself strained not to draw breath, weighed down by the presence of something so far beyond the confines of human comprehension. Atenyos could not help but stare, the world crashing down on him like a monolithic wall.
And then, as suddenly as it had come, pressure went away. Kantara withdrew his power, and Atenyos finally breathed—acrid, bitter, tortured. His body ached as if he had been underwater, and now he was finally allowed to rise.
But despite all of this, he smiled.
He rose to his feet, brushing dirt from his uniform, and met Kantara's eyes. His irises, for an instant, were drained of color and were pure white. His tone was even, calm. "And I shall bow to none, Mentor… but my respect is yours."
Kantara's expression did not shift, but his eyes did, for an instant. He looked at the young warrior who stood before him, and shook his head, then breathed heavily. "I am not ordering a bow," he growled, the threat falling from his voice. "This was a lesson. One which you will appreciate when facing an actual foe. To understand what you cannot do is as important as understanding what you can do."
He turned, walking towards his chair, his attitude relaxed. "You may leave, Atenyos. I will see you at dawn."
Atenyos tilted his head slightly in deference and proceeded to walk towards the door.
The moment he stepped out, he exhaled, releasing the air he had been holding in. His heart kept pounding inside him, his body still shaking a bit.
But none of it mattered.
He grinned to himself, his eyes burning with newfound determination. "So that's the full might of an Emperor Candidate… Fucking amazing."
Dawn was not coming fast enough.