quote:

To tell the truth, there was always something about that kid that rubbed me the wrong way. He always seemed a little too angry about things, a little too direct and violent. You can understand, then, why I felt a tad worried when he accepted the throne of Silmaria, and why I skipped town just as soon as I was fit enough to travel. I may have owed him for giving me the kick in the rear I needed, but I hardly wanted to stick around for what I felt was coming next. And in the end, I was right.

Maybe it was some kind of bloodlust, maybe he was trying to keep up with his wife Nawar’s constant demands for luxury and opulence, or maybe he simply wanted to command an empire. Whatever the cause, though, Nike wasn’t in charge for a week before he started to raise the first army Silmaria had fielded in nearly a century, and built a fleet of triremes to send them through Hellena. He made a fairly good showing of himself, too, always at the head of his armies, always seeking out and killing all the enemy commanders. Perhaps his dreams of glory through war could have been realized, but he picked a bad place to pursue them. Hellena was practically the birthplace of heroes, and there are still plenty of them knocking about the islands. He managed to take a few with him, but in the end, there were too many and too powerful. Still, it seems like the sort of ending he wanted. I wonder what Silmaria will consider for the next Rites?

Ending: Rogue Protagonist