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Part of him wanted to summon those old feelings again. There was something both freeing and invigorating in them. And they were still there, too. He could feel them in the back of his mind, daring him to indulge.

Seeing Ariah again, now of all times--what if it wasn’t a coincidence? What if it really was a herald of the gods? Now could be another turning point, a time to take bold action. Certainly, this little war of the idiots had set a rather tempting foundation.

He had of course sent many men to join in the fighting, in part because he knew what an obnoxious fuss they would make if he tried to forbid them. They would’ve whined incessantly or simply snuck off to join, anyway.

But no. Those feelings were wrong. The gods were wrong. Even if Ariah really was a herald of their will, it didn’t matter.

Only the Void’s will mattered.

He’d known that back then, too--or thought he did, at least--but it had been so easy to stray. To get distracted. To become obsessed with other avenues of power.

Illusions, all.

Finally, after all these years, he felt more certain of his conviction than ever. No more wavering. No more humoring of morons.

This war would fade, like any other. He had no reason to involve himself or any more of his resources in it.

Unless, perhaps, Morgunov fell low enough to come begging him for help. That would be something to see.

Regardless, here on the other side of the world, he already had plenty of things to keep him busy.

The Mendocava were not in this place without cause. It was not an accident that his men had stumbled upon them in the Gettira Plains, nor was it a coincidence that the fighting had been carried all the way into the Jaskadan Forest.

This forest was as ancient as they came. Some academics even argued that this location might’ve been the true cradle of life for humanity, the place where they had evolved from mere apes into the much more deadly creatures that eventually went on to conquer most of the planet.

He didn’t know if he believed that. The region of the Aruna River in central Ardora was the more traditionally recognized location for that theory, and Dozer was not like Morgunov. He did not buy into new academic ideas easily.