For the first time in a long while, having gone to bed early after a tiresome day, Lucas had woken up early.
As she sat on the perch she had created on one of her plots of land, Liber appeared.
"Ah, good. I was waiting for you to wake up." - He said.
"Thanks for the wards, Liber." - Said Lucas.
"Yes... Speaking of wards..." - Said Liber.
Lucas nodded.
"Lilly. Yes, I can tell by now where this is headed. Lilly will likely be the one, or at least one of the first few to bring magic back into the world large scale... Magic that can be reproduced. That is, assuming I do my job right. And the Enemy now has a personal thing against Lilly on account of contamination by Julian. I should have killed that psychopath when I had a chance."
"Easy there." - Said Liber - "Unless you're talking about killing him for being a prick, there's no way you could have known."
"Julian saw MY power and went on to make a deal with the Enemy to get something like it." - Said Lucas.
"Before trying to argue that this is somehow your fault, please consider that Julian has free will." - Said Liber, shrugging - "He CHOSE to interpret what you showed him in a specific way that would oh-so-conveniently result in him getting the possibility to obtain more power. Regardless, the Enemy and Julian should both be a bit more focused on you now. I am pretty sure you obtained what you always wanted, Lucas."
"'What I always wanted'?" - Asked Lucas - "Liber, I've known about this whole deal for less than a week. Always should go through at least a few years..."
"Yet there is one thing you always did yearn for, Lucas..." - Said Liber - "Rubbing it in. The pleasure in knowing that those you despise have the exact same feelings for you, or much worse. Don't you think these wishes, these feelings also go through your sword?"
Lucas paused, a bit dazed.
It all came crashing down on her. The waving to the pastor (Smiling like Vir Cotto...) and the quote of Jack Sparrow (Ladies, will you, please, SHUT IT?) at him. The attempt to go to the media about her plans to change the face of international politics (Oh, the look on some people's faces...), the dictionary and the Polaroid pictures to the Enemy. The very fact that a huge part of her plan had involved taunting the Enemy and Julian (Boo-boo, bitch...). Her treatment of Julian. Of course, then there was the fact that she'd always been more or less like this. Her idea of a victory went through those she disliked going into fits of utter rage at their own powerlessness. She wanted to taunt people she disliked to the point of insanity, to see them lose any semblance of composture and control.
And she had gotten her wish.
Lucas looked at the dark moon from her plot of land. The menacing "satellite" she was planning to find a way to invade and deal with.
She didn't really know how to feel about the fact that she had drawn that attention to her. On one hand, if it got the Enemy to focus on her instead of on nine-year-olds, all the better. On the other hand, she knew she was now playing a very dangerous game...
The mind that was Julian and the Enemy was now focused on keeping orbit and on healing itself. Within that identity, anger seethed. Anger at the defeat, at how, despite being a god, for all intents and purposes, it was brought down so easily.
The enemy-part tried to analyze the events that generated this situation. For little avail. As much as Lucas's nature was not one of certainty, it was not uncertainty per se either. The Enemy had little to base its estimates off of, and noticed frustration. And anger.
Julian's self-reservation sighed inwardly. It was lucky it had not died.
I told you so. - It said to itself.
