Chapter I. The contrive of Gramis
Ffamran hadn't even been surprised when he heard of the death of the Emperor's second son. It was only expected that after the passing of Gramis Gana Solidor's eldest son, his second would soon follow. Being a Judge meant upholding the law, but in his short year of service Ffamran learned that this was mere ceremony; there existed no unattached law system in Archades. If he were to denounce Gramis, lay bare his guilt and demand he was brought to justice as a Judge was supposed to, the other Judges would surely have his head. He could just vomit thinking of the corrupt bunch that was appointed to enforce law in their Empire. Every single Judge knew, or at least suspected, that it was Emperor Gramis himself who had given young lord Vayne order to kill both his older brothers because the Emperor feared they would revolt and seize control of his throne. Even so the judges did nothing about this iniquity and it was likely that the matter would be passed off as naught but a terrible tragedy amongst the people of Archades. None would even suspect the Emperor capable of such crimes, the Judges put tireless effort in assuring that his reputation and that of the whole of House Solidor remained unstained.
Ffamran stared at the heavy casque lying in his iron-clad hands and it occurred to him once more how deeply he had grown to hate his homeland. He found himself often wondering why he was even still here. Not for his father who, even if he had always been more interested in science and Magnicite than in his own son, had now arrived at a point were he had eye for nothing but Nethicite and wouldn't even bother talking to his son anymore. Ffamran couldn't say it hurt him, not in the way it had hurt him in his younger years, but it still smarted. He felt utterly alone and dispossessed. Not only was he failing as a Judge because he wasn't allowed to deal out justice, not without the loss of his life in any case, he also realised now that he lived for a cause he did not believe in. The only reason why he had become a Judge in the first place was to please his father and now he was under the command of men with war and violence on their minds.
Still, what other life was there for him if he abandoned his cause? His dreams of being a Sky Pirate were the inheritance of a child's troubled mind, infantile wishes of glory and freedom. Being the Leading Man in a story of dangerous adventure and heraldry were nothing but a desperate longing to be noticed and he knew that in his childhood years all he really wanted was his father's attention. To become a Sky Pirate now was only giving into this childish longing within him and he had decided years ago that he could do perfectly without the love of his father. Perhaps he could justify becoming a Sky Pirate by stating that he was doing this for himself and not for the desire of being noticed by his father, that he really wanted the fame and glory and treasures he would seek, but in his heart he knew that his intentions would not be so. If he really decided to make his childhood dream come true, he would also have to accept that he in some part still was that little boy who wanted his father's love. He didn't think he was ready to face that truth.
…
Fran was ill at ease. She could not really define it, but something stirred within her. A sense of foreboding. She'd experienced this feeling before but it seemed strangely significant, as if the actions she took now would decide the fate of many. Usually she got this feeling of foreboding when great changes were about to become apparent in her own life, like when she left her land all those years ago, or when she arrived in Archades and met Cid. This time however it seemed that the coming changes in her own life wouldn't just affect hers.
Her instinct dragged her from the chair she had been sitting in and she excused herself to the bent back of Doctor Cid looming over his notes and incoherently muttering to himself as he so often did lately. The man didn't even notice her so Fran left the laboratory and traversed down the several levels of Draklor Laboratory relying on her senses to guide her to wherever she needed to be. The halls were filled with Imperials clad in heavy armour, their faces hidden behind steel helmets. They paid no heed to her as she passed but she felt eyes lingering on her retreating back. It weren't nearly as many eyes as would usually follow her, there seemed other matters on the minds of the Imperials right now.
Fran sensed the doubt and anticipation thick within these halls: the death of Gramis' second son had been devastating news to all. The scent of their unease prickled her nose like cactoid needles. Many now felt the turmoil in the Empire she long had foreseen: change would come to these lands. She understood at once that Archades' unrest was intertwined with her feeling of foreboding. All of this somehow connected but she had not the skill to unravel the threads and see to what they would lead.
She paced out onto the streets of Tsenoble deaf to the bravura of Archades' city folk. She had a destination only known to her instinct and it carried her feet swiftly through the crowd. Before long she found herself standing before the Royal Guard of the Imperial Palace.
"What business have you in the palace, Viera?" One of them demanded, his voice dampened behind his grotesque headpiece.
"I wish to speak to Judge Ffamran Mied Bunansa." Fran spoke and finally her destination was revealed to her.
She agreed with her instinct. It was wise to speak with Ffamran of his father and his obsession with the Nethicite. Perhaps the young man could reason with Doctor Cid or maybe he knew what had taken hold of him. Sons often knew their fathers' motives better than they realised.
"Then you do well to arrange an audience with him elsewhere. The palace is off limits to peasants." The second guard stated haughtily.
"I am no peasant. I work for Cidolfus Demen Bunansa and he has sent me to the palace on an errand." Fran replied.
She carelessly showed the man her pass of Draklor Laboratory. Many Imperials and Judges knew her as Doctor Cid's assistant but the late frantic recruiting of the Imperial Army made it so that there were hordes of new soldiers every day. The two Imperials seemed to shrink where they stood and allowed her passage straight away with a sudden excessive humbleness and empty apologies. Yes, Doctor Cid was regarded highly by the Senate and House Solidor. Fran wasn't one to enjoy such status and fancied not to see men cower before her like this, but being Cid's assistant and the privileges bound to that job did come in handy from time to time.
Fran entered the majestic palace and even if she had no idea where Ffamran was at that moment, her instinct soon brought her on his doorstep. The young man was seated on the edge of a bed listlessly fingering a silver helmet in his hands. A vague sadness penetrated her keen senses coming from him and with that a smouldering anger and bitter feelings of uselessness. She cleared her throat to announce her presence.
Ffamran was pulled from his pondering and looked up to find the strange Viera. He knew her, she was his father's assistant with whom he'd never exchanged more than the usual formalities and he was therefore surprised to find her in the doorway of his room right now. She stood, high heeled, long stemmed and inhumely powerful build with her dangerously clawed hands on her hips apparently waiting for him to invite her in.
"To what do I owe this visit from my father's faithful assistant?" He so asked as he rose from the bed and gestured her in. He made an effort to swallow any sarcastic remarks on his father's deteriorating mental health. He had grown bitter indeed.
Her insanely high heels clicked delicately on the marble floor upon her light-footed entrance, her gait being graceful yet decisive. She took him in calculated as a ceourl, her odd luminous eyes weighing him carefully. This strange being was deadly, that much was plain.
"I have matters of which I wish to speak to you, Ffamran." Fran said.
The young man raised an inquisitive brow at her and the resemblance to his father struck her: his curiousity and eagerness for knowledge were very much like Cid's.
"Sounds serious." Ffamran sighed loosing his interest promptly. He was not in the mood to hear about bloody Nethicite and his father's progress on creating Manufactured Nethicite and surely that was why the Viera had come. His father never failed to keep him updated on his glorious career as the Emperor's pioneering scientist. It stung Ffamran that even this was now brought to his attention through others instead of his father himself coming to him boasting about his unparalleled ingenuity. Whatever bonds they might've had left to share were seemingly now cut as well. "This wouldn't happen to be about another one of the fantastic Doctor Cid's discoveries, would it? I have no ear for Nethicite."
Fran shook her head and not only to disagree with him. His bitterness pecked at her skin like thousands of miniscule redmaws. "I worry for your father. He seems very much absorbed by the Nethicite of late. I fear that his ambition has turned to folly. He speaks to himself, whispers of the Undying…"
"Venat." Ffamran interrupted her with a weary nod. "Yes, I have heard this too. He is a babbling old fool, my father. I don't understand how you can even stand being around him. He cares only for Nethicite. There's naught Hume left in him."
"He was an admirable man once, keen, ambitious and ever hungry for knowledge like myself, but after his journey to Giruvegan he is changed. I do not recognize him to be that same man. He feels…" Fran scratched her cheek with a pearly five inch nail searching for the right words. "…hollow. It is as if the very life has been stolen from him, though yet he stands. He will not speak to me of what happened in Giruvegan and his secretiveness troubles me."
Ffamran put the helmet down on the wooden desk in front of him. Her words didn't affect him, he already knew that his father had gone insane and he frankly couldn't afford it to care. He had been burdened by the complexity of their relationship for too long and there simply was no more will in him to give it thought. He had always tried to understand his father, telling himself that the man was just Hume and had his flaws like everyone, that he wasn't good at playing the role of father but that this didn't necessarily make him a bad person. At the same time all he wanted was the father he never had. It was hard to be understanding of someone who continued to hurt him so much. The strain this put on him had finally worn him out and he was spent. He would no longer make up excuses for the mad scientist that had never been a father to him.
Fran studied the young Judge in this long silence and she perceived how lost he was. He was in fact a child still but his eyes proclaimed he had matured faster than he should have. There was little innocence left in him, something she so admired in the children of the Hume race. This was no child, no matter what his age, there was no light in his eyes. He had the deep developed mind of a man, a heavily burdened man. She sensed something urgent in his being even if he stood completely still across her.
"You plan to leave." Fran now realised. This was the haste she sensed in him. He was planning to leave Archades.
He looked at her strange as if wondering how she could possibly know that was the case.
Ffamran started to hoist himself out of the bulky armour that symbolized his position as Judge. The Viera was right, he was leaving, although it hadn't felt like he made that decision until she brought it up just now. "I am."
Fran struggled not to gasp. She felt it again; the boiling of her blood, the tugging of her heart. Her calling. This was the reason why she had come to speak with Ffamran. They were supposed to leave together. "Will you take me with you?"
Ffamran was finished ridding himself of his armour and halted in the middle of pulling a simple leather body-piece over his white tunic. "Tired of being around the delusional doctor, are you? I have no idea where I am off to, but you are welcome to join me when I pirate one of the new fighters and take her out on a nightly test flight."
Fran was positively surprised by his boldness. "You would steal one of the army's ships?"
"How else do you suggest we get out of here? The Judges will never allow me my leave and when I'm fleeing I would prefer to do so with good transportation." Ffamran made a careless gesture with his hand. "Besides, with the ingenuity of my old man at their disposal it wouldn't be long before the army demands he comes up with a better model and before you know it those babies are hopelessly outmoded. Now will you come, or not?"
Fran had to admit that he had a nice way of justifying his planned theft and she was pleased knowing they were about to embark on one hell of an adventure. "When do we leave?"