Chapter 14: Epilogue

…Manor of Neia Baraja…The Day of Ainz's Turning…

Skana was waiting at home when Neia came through the door. She was about to speak when she saw that her beloved's face was red and still wet from tears. She stood immediately from where she'd been seated, set aside her book, and walked over to Neia as fast as her feet could carry her. Neia fell into her arms and embraced her tightly. Given her incredible strength even in her thirties, it was only a reflection of her lover and her wife as a peer, that kept the bones of Skana the Bold from cracking under the force.

"My love, Neia, what's wrong?" Skana asked softly.

"Lots of things, nothing, everything. I went to see father, he's… very much himself. The things he said, it wasn't bad, but it was beautiful enough that it made me sad too. I didn't want it to end." She leaned back from her embrace and held the green eyed woman's shoulders. "Now I'm home, holding you, and I don't want this to end either."

Skana laughed and slipped in closer, she kissed Neia's forehead comfortingly, "You're a very greedy woman."

"Maybe just a little. But times like that, and times like this, make me glad we live in such a beautiful world." Neia whispered into her wife's ear.

"We'll I'm glad that you're glad, but don't get too comfortable, because we have to leave again tomorrow, we're going to visit the Beastmen Kingdom, and make the world even better." Skana said with a bright smile.

…Imperial School for the Arts…Two weeks Later…

Shalltear sat in the academy's art studio surrounded by various students. 'Surrounded' was indeed the appropriate word, as they had given her a very wide berth, putting several feet of empty space around her so that she was near the center of a circle while she sat at her canvas. At the front of the class on a small platform, lying down on a couch was a naked vampire bride. She'd 'volunteered' the female as a model, and the instructor could find no good reason… or no courage, to refuse her.

Ironically given the distance they'd given to her, eyes from around the class that should have been focused on their own work, were instead focused upon her, she worked carefully with her brush, paying no mind to those she deemed lesser beings. The vampire bride remained perfectly still as her mistress had bade her, it was far from the worst command she'd ever been given.

As she worked, the Lady Shalltear could not help but find the entirety of the activity to be… thoroughly erotic, the heedlessness of the model who lay bare for use yet remained untouched by anything but the eyes of the students, the gentle touch of brush to canvas that created life, or its likeness, where only emptiness had existed before. 'I wonder if this is how the supreme ones felt when they created us…' She thought to herself, only to have her thoughts interrupted when the instructor leaned over behind her.

"Remarkable work, Lady Shalltear, you show real promise at the art." He said. Two weeks earlier he'd feared he might have to levy false praise to keep himself safe, yet to his surprise as well as his relief, she'd proven to be an apt pupil and was continuing to make rapid progress. 'What will she produce in another hundred years?' He wondered to himself, regretting that he would not live to see it.

…Palace of Arwintar…

Jircniv's short few weeks with Ainz as a human left their mark on him, the lord he served seemed no less powerful, and save for the more emotive behavior in general, as if every sensation of touch or taste or smell were entirely new, which they might very well have been as far as what he knew of the Sorcerer King… what he found was that when the lord spoke, he kept the power, force, and wisdom that seemed to embody him. Whether they were talking of idle things as they rode on horseback while hunting, or whether they were simply trying out some new dish a chef had prepared, the only thing to truly change in how he saw the Sorcerer King was the race itself. When he spoke of ideas, they were often good ones, when he critiqued policy, his critique was as sound as when he'd been undead. 'Whatever the power of his magic, the power of his mind is where he finds his greatest triumphs.' The emperor reflected.

The way the Sorcerer King spoke of the warrior pope had been eye opening, even shocking in a manner of speaking, but nothing about it had so shocked him as the realization that he'd had the day after the Sorcerer King had left his palace for his own home.

"He'll bury us all. His daughter, her wife, their children… to be our king forever, he must lose forever…" He whispered to the empty office, and for his bloody rival, his ruler, his friend, Jircniv did what Ainz would never be able to truly do for himself, he wept.

AN: I hope you enjoyed this story, I know it is somewhat bittersweet, and I hope you drew out all the richness of the emotional experience that I tried to imbue into it. Life is one great big story, and should be lived in such a way that it is one worth telling, this doesn't only mean grand adventures, it means the richness of what people share with one another, how we grow, learn, and come to understand one another. I wanted to show that here, if on a relatively small scale compared to my largest work, and I think I've done that. If you agree, or disagree, I'd love to hear from you. Again, thank you to my patron for commissioning this work, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to write it for you.