I stand in the tower of my father, gazing at the horizon beyond the window. I am intoxicated by the sight of waves crashing against the shores of my Ireland, to the point that I almost forget the presence of Lochlann, my nephew and the former ruler of this land. Now he is but a puppet, my powerless marionette, and the entirety of Ireland’s power rests solely in my hands. As I look into his empty eyes, a peculiar question crosses my mind: how did such immense power end up in my hands, and where, indeed, does the limit of my capabilities lie?
I am Antoninus, son of Liam of the house of Briain, and the story that brought me to this place should begin precisely with my father. He was a great ruler, the sovereign of southern Ireland, whom no one ever dared to oppose. Not even the king of England, the terror of the Scots and Normans, ever dared challenge him (by the way, my father almost certainly had a hand in his premature demise).

In the corridors, a single word was sometimes uttered, always in a whisper: archmage. Back then, I didn’t know what it meant, but even I sensed that my father, Liam, wielded powers far beyond the imagination of ordinary folk. He surrounded himself with a small circle of trusted allies, with whom he ruled southern Ireland with an iron hand - though I suspect his actual influence extended much further.
My claim to the throne was not very strong. I might have been considered Liam’s favorite son, but I was not his firstborn. My brother Oengus was set to take over, and he already ruled in northern Ireland, thanks to a cunning marriage and several fortunate coincidences, which I also suspect involved my father’s machinations.

I didn’t care who would rule Ireland; from the beginning, I made peace with the idea that it would be one of my brothers. In childhood, I wanted to become a great knight, partake in adventures, battles, and tournaments. I didn’t think about power and had no such ambitions - though that was to change in the future.

My father personally oversaw my education. He quickly realized that I had no head for history or books, so he focused on matters that interested me at the time: military strategy, battlefield tactics, the art of leadership, and conducting sieges. However, he subtly intertwined his teachings with other, more exotic and mystical topics, though he did it so subtly that I didn’t even notice at first. Military affairs still took precedence.
At the age of sixteen, my father chose a wife for me. Serene Dogaressa Eugenia Togliatti, the ruler of Venice - at the time, it seemed to me like the end of the world. I never found out how my father forced the powerful dogaressa of Venice into this marriage, but thanks to it, our family began to be known throughout wider Europe. The wedding itself was conducted with great pomp; rulers from all corners of the world, both known and unknown, gathered, along with several mysterious figures who evoked universal unease.
Eugenia was a mysterious woman, but we initially took a liking to each other. It was with her, in Venice, that I spent the first two years of my carefree adulthood. I lived like an emperor, by the side of a beautiful woman, dedicating my time to revelry and merriment, staying far away from politics, which, incidentally, suited my rather despotic wife. Nonetheless, I realized that she had much to hide - and much in common with my father. She was also involved in sorcery, and it wasn’t just simple parlor tricks; in some respects, she must have equaled my father. I saw her use her powers to manipulate her subjects and intimidate dissenters. Perhaps it was because of this that I gained a certain respect for arcane forces. This certainly explained my father’s acquaintance with Eugenia, although the exact nature of their relationship was unknown to me. My wife brushed off my questions and didn’t enjoy discussing serious topics with me; I suppose she somewhat looked down on me. Her secrets didn’t help either, creating a distance between us that didn’t align with the ideas of male-female relationships I had formed based on the tales of wandering troubadours. Nonetheless, I remember those times fondly.

Everything changed with the news of my father’s sudden death. It was a shock. Liam always looked and behaved as if he were immortal, so strong and powerful - people even joked that death was afraid to come for him.
Although my brother took over the rule of Ireland, I also received something - a bit of property and my father’s belongings, whose value I initially completely underestimated. My father had also expressed his final wish regarding me: I was to set out into the world, to experience it. This aligned with my own dreams, so I gathered a few companions, and we decided to embark on a quest for adventures, to better understand the peoples and customs of the continent. But these travels ultimately took me much farther, far beyond…
Funds, however, ran out very quickly, and I had to improvise. My father had instilled in me as a child that military service for money was degrading, so I reluctantly dismissed the idea of working as a mercenary. Instead, it turned out that local rulers often needed help or favors from someone outside, not tied to local arrangements - and in return, they were willing to show considerable goodwill. My wife also proved to be a generous sponsor of my escapades, though I suspected that her support had some other, less obvious motives.
I saw the imperial court and the Roman Colosseum, visited Constantinople, whose magnificence outshone even Venice. I met many people and had many adventures, from which I didn’t always emerge unscathed. Somewhere in the land of the Hellenes, an inconspicuous event occurred that could significantly affect my further fate. One night, I caught a thief red-handed as he was rummaging through my belongings - he was clearly looking for something specific, and he preferred to fall on his sword rather than be captured. I deduced that he was after the items my father had left me, mysterious objects for practicing magic, as well as his journals. From that moment, I remained vigilant, and mystical matters began to interest me more. During quiet evenings, I pored over my father’s journals, often with great surprise as I read about his ideas and daring experiments.
Because of this, a certain passion awoke within me to collect various mysterious objects and rare books. This desire ultimately almost led to my doom and certainly contributed to the deaths of many of my companions. And it happened like this…
On the Balkans, I encountered a mystic who offered me a treasure map. At first, I thought he was a fraud and the map was fake, but this wandering thaumaturge spoke with such passion and conviction that I eventually bought the map from him and decided to follow it to the true ends of the earth.

I crossed the sands of the Sahara, a land of fire and heat, where horses and men perished from thirst, but that was only the beginning. I reached a cursed, godforsaken land known as Nubia. In Nubia, one could only encounter two types of people: bandits and those suffering from some very exotic and contagious diseases. Death accompanied us constantly; each morning, one of us would disappear or simply not wake up again.
It was a time of fear and desperation, a time of dying and doubt. Of course, there was no treasure, and if there ever had been, it had long since vanished. In these dark moments, I turned to my father’s journals and to sorcery. I noticed that even my companions began to fear me, but the results of my studies only encouraged me to further exercises and experiments. My spells worked! I had the power to save myself, but… only myself. When I once again saw the Roman Sea, none of my companions were still with me. With the last of my strength and perseverance - and with a touch of magic - I managed to reach Venice. Perhaps I would have spent more time there before embarking on another journey, but I didn’t feel like a welcome guest. Maybe it was the long separation between Eugenia and me, but I suspect it was something else. She said that my last expedition had changed me greatly. I knew she could sense my magic, just as I could sense her spells. I think I saw some disappointment in her eyes, or perhaps suspicion.

Eugenia provided me with enough people and resources to continue my travels - so I set off, though without the youthful excitement I once had. Yet the next expedition was also special, as I met an extraordinary man.
Duke Merlin ruled Lombardy as a sovereign lord. In fact, Lombardy was the only region not dependent on the German Emperor - who evidently feared Merlin, and rightly so, because this was THE Merlin, the hero of legends and ballads. I managed to meet him, and it quickly turned out that we had much in common. Above all, he knew my father, as well as my wife, Eugenia. I shouldn’t have been surprised, really; there were so few powerful sorcerers in the world that they all knew each other. As it turned out, they even attended special closed gatherings. Merlin decided to introduce me to this world, through which I met more mages. Merlin himself was an archmage - he had taken the title after my father. In a sense, he was the guardian and overseer of our small community, likely the most powerful of all living wizards.
Imagine the astonished look on my wife’s face when, at one of our secret meetings, she saw me by Merlin’s side. That was also the moment when she finally stopped pretending to harbor warm feelings toward me. By then, I knew that she had sensed my talent and hidden potential from the very beginning - she had seen me as a threat.

I was a regular guest at Merlin’s, but I did not abandon my travels. This time, my focus turned to the chaos-stricken Iberia. It was this expedition that would make me a lord, even if only briefly. How did it happen? Well, the King of Castile was fascinated by mysticism and sorcery. Upon discovering that I was acquainted with the legendary Merlin and was a practitioner in these matters, he offered me the position of court mage. However, he needed some justification for someone of my stature to appear at his court, so he also granted me a small fief to manage, the County of Valladolid.
The life of a feudal lord, even such a modest one, turned out to be quite comfortable, and the duties of a court mage were not too burdensome. I don’t think the king even had any particular expectations of me; he simply enjoyed having his own wizard. Unfortunately, the idyll didn’t last long - in the end, the titles and the fief were taken from me, probably under pressure from the bishop or perhaps even the Pope himself. The Church and mages have never gotten along, to put it mildly…

Still, this adventure awakened my ambitions - being a ruler, possessing land and servants was something I found appealing. From that time onward, I began fantasizing about returning to Ireland, and over time, those fantasies took on a clearer and more defined shape.
From Iberia, I slowly began moving north, though, of course, I made a stop in Lombardy. In France, I started recruiting a sizable group of people - those seeking fame and glory, or simply gold - but I only recruited experienced veterans. I had learned to use my father’s artifacts, which significantly enhanced my powers. I summoned demons and delved into necromancy. The further north I moved, the more my power and resources grew, and I practically traveled at the head of a small army. Local rulers treated me like an emperor, ready to fulfill my every whim, fearing my wrath. Many of them offered me their support, rightly believing it better to be my ally than my enemy.

Eventually, I reached Ireland. My brother had been dead for several years, and the power had passed to his son, Lochlann the Strong. However, he was not strong enough; his will was broken with a single spell of mine. He knelt before me and personally offered me the crown of Ireland, which amused me, for the crown had long been on my head - a crown woven from pure shadow, gifted to me by my father, one of his priceless artifacts.
Therefore, as I stood in his Tower, my gaze turned to the horizon, to distant lands that I perhaps ought to conquer, for it was precisely for such a role that my father had prepared me from the very beginning. Now I finally understood.
And soon, so would the entire world.