Zacian and Zamazenta held their gaze on Lucien for a long moment. Eternatus. Dynamax. A threat building beneath the land they had protected for as long as either of them could remember.
Zacian stepped forward.
Galar is our homeland. If Eternatus threatens it, we will cooperate.
Lucien felt the tension in his shoulders ease. He smiled. "Good. I'm glad we understand each other."
The fog around them shifted, softening from something watchful into something almost gentle. Thin shafts of light came through the gaps in the canopy and fell across the four of them in the clearing.
"There is one more thing I'd like to propose," Lucien said. "I'd like to invite you both back to Slumbering Town with me. We have preparations to make, and I'd rather discuss them somewhere we can sit."
Zacian looked at him with an expression of mild surprise. A human city?
Zamazenta spoke. What preparations?
Lucien explained, keeping it straightforward. "You may have heard of Calyrex, the King of Abundance. From what I know, Calyrex is genuinely powerful and is the true king of this region in a sense that matters. I intend to find him and invite him to join us in what comes next."
"Beyond that, I'm looking for a Pokémon called Melmetal. The metal it produces, worked by human craftsmen and then blessed by Calyrex's power, could become two weapons made specifically for you. One sword, one shield." He paused. "We could call them the Hero's Sword and the Hero's Shield, for now."
Zacian and Zamazenta exchanged a look. They remembered Calyrex from a long time ago, moving across the land on its beloved horse. They had not interacted closely. But if this human could actually bring Calyrex to them, and if working together in one place meant they could face what Eternatus would eventually become, the arrangement made sense.
After a brief silence, both siblings nodded.
We will go with you to the human city.
"Then let me introduce myself properly," Lucien said. "I'm Lucien. It's genuinely good to meet you, Zacian, Zamazenta."
The two siblings looked at him. Dappled light came through the branches above and touched his face, making him look, for a moment, entirely ordinary. Something about the directness of his manner, the absence of ceremony or posturing, seemed to give them pause.
Neither of them said anything. But the moment settled into them.
Kyurem returned to its full form as they emerged from the forest.
Lucien invited Zacian and Zamazenta to ride, and once all three were secure, Kyurem spread its wings and lifted into the open air. The landscape below opened up: the mountain ridge dropping away, the plains stretching wide and green toward the coast, and Slumbering Town in the distance with its new rooftops and the neat lines of its recently laid streets.
They landed in the city to an audience.
Kyurem's descent drew stares and stopped conversations mid-sentence. By the time Lucien stepped down with Zacian and Zamazenta at his sides, a crowd had gathered at a respectful distance, and a squad of guards was already moving to keep order. But nobody ran.
The people looked at the two Legendary Pokémon, felt the particular quality of their presence, and the initial alarm transformed itself, almost visibly, into reverence.
"Come," Lucien said to his two new companions. "Let me show you around."
Zacian and Zamazenta moved through the streets of Slumbering Town with the careful attention of beings who had lived long enough to know that first impressions rarely tell the whole story.
They had walked through human cities before, over the course of their very long lives. In those places: nobles who did not look at common people, common people who did not look up, streets that were dirty and dense with the kind of misery that stops being noticeable only because it never changes.
This was not that.
The stone streets were clean and level. The wooden houses on either side were well-kept, small gardens growing in front of them.
The people who passed moved without hurry and without the particular tension of people who are always waiting for something to go wrong.
Children were chasing Scorbunny and Wooloo through a side street, laughing. Street vendors called out their wares with easy good humor: fresh rice cakes, wild fruit, steaming meat broth, all of it filling the air with layered, warm smells.
The townspeople noticed Kyurem first and went still. Then they recognized Lucien returning and relaxed. Then they looked at the two extraordinary Pokémon at his sides and went still again, but this time with something that looked like awe rather than fear. People stopped, bowed slightly, and made no noise.
Zacian's voice reached Lucien through telepathy, quiet and carrying a note of genuine surprise.
The humans here are different.
It could feel the whole city wrapped in something it had not encountered before in a human settlement. The air itself carried a kind of ease. Warmth without performance.
Zamazenta said nothing, but its pace had slowed without it seeming to notice. Its nose moved. Its eyes drifted toward the stalls along the roadside: golden rice cakes dusted with sesame, meat broth still steaming in the cool air, berry pudding with the deep, sweet smell of ripe fruit. Zamazenta's ears twitched. Its throat moved.
Lucien saw all of this and kept his expression tactfully neutral.
He did not explain the political complexities of the human kingdoms to them. He simply said, "Come, let's go to where I'm staying."
Chelsea was waiting at the lord's mansion and came forward quickly when she saw them approaching. Her eyes moved to Zacian and Zamazenta, and something passed across her face before she composed herself and dropped to one knee.
"Your Majesty. Welcome back."
"Rise. Have the kitchen prepare food and drink."
Zamazenta's ears moved.
The dining room was comfortable rather than grand. Soft cushions had been set out, and Zacian and Zamazenta settled onto them while Lucien asked about Calyrex.
From Zacian, he confirmed what he already suspected: Calyrex did not stay in any fixed place, but traveled continuously across the land with its horse. Finding it would require patience.
Then the food arrived.
The servants brought it out in a steady procession: fresh rice cakes still warm from baking, grilled meat fragrant with seasoning, berry pudding trembling gently in its dish, vegetable soup steaming in a broad bowl. Simple food, well made, filling the room immediately with everything it promised.
Zamazenta went entirely still for a moment as the smell reached it.
Its usually composed posture came undone, degree by degree, as its eyes moved from dish to dish. The golden mochi. The glistening pudding. Its throat worked silently.
In that moment, there was very little of the Legendary Pokémon in its expression, and quite a lot of something much more immediate and honest.
Lucien had seen the same thing in Dragonite, many times.
"Please, eat," he said warmly.
Zacian glanced at its younger sibling with an expression of resigned patience, then gave Lucien a small nod of acknowledgment.
"No need for ceremony," Lucien said. "Try the food. We still have Calyrex to discuss, and it's better to do it on a full stomach."
"Thank you," Zamazenta said, and before the words had fully left its mouth, it had already reached carefully toward the nearest rice cake. It bit into it.
The outside was crisp. The inside was soft and fragrant and sweet in a way that seemed to come from several directions at once.
Zamazenta's eyes lit up completely.
It tried another one immediately.
The berry pudding was sweet without being overwhelming, and it finished off whatever remaining composure Zamazenta had been maintaining. It ate with open enthusiasm, tail moving in slow, contented wags, completely absorbed.
Zacian, by contrast, was making a visible effort to eat with dignity. It worked through the grilled meat in front of it at a measured pace, glancing occasionally at its younger sibling with an expression of quiet resignation.
Lucien watched the two of them and allowed himself a small smile.
Even a being called a god was, in the end, simply a Pokémon.
He set down his utensils, dabbed the corner of his mouth, and asked casually where Calyrex had last been seen.
Zacian swallowed and answered through telepathy. Far to the east. There are fertile meadows and streams there, a place it favored for resting. But that was several decades ago.
Lucien considered that. For a Legendary Pokémon, several decades were barely a passing moment. For a human, it was a lifetime.
In this era, the landscape of Galar was considerably different from what it would be thousands of years into the future, and Calyrex was the kind of being that moved as it wished. There was no guarantee it was anywhere near where Zacian had last encountered it.
Zamazenta had finished the last piece of pudding. Its golden eyes shone with genuine happiness. "As long as we can find Calyrex, any method is fine. But this food is really wonderful. We should eat our fill first before setting out."
It reached immediately for another piece of honey-grilled meat and bit into it with great satisfaction.
Zacian looked at its younger sibling.
Lucien looked at Zamazenta.
Neither of them said anything.
"Since we can't simply go to where Calyrex was last seen, we'll have to try another approach," Lucien said.
What approach? Zacian asked.
"Calyrex is a being whose power grows directly with the knowledge and belief of the people around it. The more people who know of it, the stronger it becomes. We call this the Power of Faith.
If every person in this city knew Calyrex's name and held it in their thoughts, I believe Calyrex would be able to sense that pull. It might come to us."
Zacian was quiet for a moment, clearly surprised that this human understood Calyrex's nature with that kind of specificity.
And what do you plan to do with that?
"Spread the word throughout Slumbering Town. Let the people know Calyrex exists."
Zacian considered it. There was not much either of the siblings could contribute to that particular task.
Zamazenta, for its part, was not following the conversation closely. Its cheeks were puffed out with grilled meat, and it chewed thoughtfully for a moment before managing, around the food in its mouth: "Whatever you think is best, I have no objections."
Its tail wagged.
Zacian looked at it.
Lucien looked at it.
Is this creature truly the future Crowned Shield, destined to save the Galar Region?
He nodded, suppressing whatever expression had been forming, and turned to Chelsea waiting at the door.
"Pass the order. Beginning today, Slumbering Town is to spread word of Calyrex throughout the city. Tell the people it is the Guardian of Galar, the King of Abundance, the Pokémon whose blessing brings fertile harvests.
Every household may set up a simple place of prayer and offer their wishes daily. Have artists paint Calyrex's image and post the portraits at the city gates, in the markets, and throughout the streets. Every person and every Pokémon living in this city should know the name of the King of Abundance."
Chelsea accepted the order, then hesitated. "Your Majesty, your subordinate will see it done without fail. However... I have never seen Calyrex, and I would not know how to describe its appearance accurately."
"Leave that to me."
Chelsea brought paper and a writing brush. Lucien sat quietly for a moment, recalling the image with care: the large, distinctive head, the crown-like crest, the flowing cloak, the beloved horse. He drew it out steadily, then brought it to Zacian.
"Is this accurate?"
Zacian looked at it and nodded.
"Good." He handed the drawing to Chelsea.
Over the days that followed, Slumbering Town threw itself into the work with the energy that had come to characterize it. Craftsmen worked through the daylight hours and into the evening, producing large, careful portraits of Calyrex: its white form, its majestic crown, the image of it moving through open country on its horse.
These went up at the city gate, in the market squares, at street corners throughout the town. Chelsea and her staff moved through every street and alleyway, telling anyone who would listen about the King of Abundance and the harvests it blessed its followers with.
The people of Slumbering Town, who had grown to trust Lucien's governance entirely, received the image of this Pokémon deity with genuine warmth.
Every morning, people stopped before the portraits and bowed their heads in quiet prayer, asking for bountiful harvests and safety for their families.
Even the wild Pokémon living within the city would pause occasionally in front of the paintings, something in their manner thoughtful and still.
During all of this, Zamazenta had effectively become a permanent fixture at the lord's mansion.
Each day, after accompanying Lucien and Zacian to check on the progress of the faith-spreading work, Zamazenta would return to the dining hall and remain there for the rest of the afternoon, negotiating with the kitchen for additional rice cakes, berry pudding, and honey-grilled meat.
The kitchen staff had taken note of their distinguished guest's preferences and had begun preparing extra portions as a matter of course. Zacian could only sigh quietly each time it found its younger sibling absorbed in another meal, but it never intervened. It simply kept its silent watch nearby.
In another part of Galar, a large Pokémon with a crown-like head and deep, steady eyes opened them without warning.
The blue gaze settled on a particular direction.
From that direction, something was gathering, building steadily, a current of belief and recognition flowing from many small sources toward a single point. Calyrex felt it clearly.
And felt, unmistakably, that the power within its body was growing stronger.