Only few moments later, Bloom was untied and was following her new "master" through the metal walls of… wherever they were.
"Now listen carefully, I will not repeat myself." He sure sounded confident, which made Bloom sure they were nowhere near other Nazis or their servants. That is… if that boy was talking truth about fighting against them. She had to stay sharp and never believe him or his subordinates.
"My name is Patroklos Sparx of Domino. Officially, you will be one of my maids tasked with nothing but to take care of my palace. Others will explain that job to you more thoroughly."
"And unofficially?"
"Most of my servants are like you." He smirked "They fight for me to punish evil. I do not know why you hate Nazis so much, nor do I care. All I want from you is to obey orders. You will get your revenge in process."
Now Bloom had clear picture of who she was dealing with. He was just a royal brat who wanted attention and people to obey him. Surely enough, he would be revealed sooner or later and he needed to make sure his mark is left on Earth as his servants help defeat entire empire with help of his own family. Young redhead only smirked.
This boy wants to be king. Her thought was right on spot. This prince only wanted to present his strength by defeating all forces of his family united with 3rd Reich. Clever, but still arrogant and selfish. One way or another, now she knew his true motives and could partially predict his thoughts and reactions. At least they had common goal, to defeat united forces of Domino and Germany before Earth falls.
"You will go against my family, so if you compromise our efforts, I will proclaim you traitor and will have to dispose of you, got it?" Bloom only nodded "Good. Besides me, there are 5 members of family, at least those you will mainly be dealing with.
First, there is my twin sister, Jara. You had pleasure to meet her twice now. She has only few servants that serve as her personal guard. She likes to go into the field and fight on her own. I'm pretty sure she will try to challenge you, don't let her drag you into fight.
Next would be my mother, Queen Marion Periga Sparx of Domino. You saw her hologram on the transport ship. You do know what I am talking about, right?"
Bloom shook her head "No idea. You were transporting us from Russia on a ship? Wouldn't a train be more efficient? And what's hologram?"
Patroklos laughed and facepalmed himself "Of course. Your world doesn't even know cold fusion reactors, how would you know what a spaceship is, let alone a hologram." His laugh made Bloom quite annoyed, but she had patience of a sniper. She just let him have it "Never mind, you will see it soon anyway.
Next is my father, King Oritel Hagen Ember Sparx of Domino. Stay away from him and his servants. If you meet them, just stand aside and bow deeply. They are way too powerful to be messing with, not to mention they are extremely loyal. Bad glimpse on my father and they will be watching you till end of your days."
Fanatics, huh? Wander where I saw that.Bloom thought remembering SS soldiers. Truly, she was still among Nazis.
"Then there is my big sister, royal princess Daphne." He smirked a little mentioning her name "She…" he sighed heavily and Bloom noticed his pace through the halls softened and got a bit slower "She won't be a problem."
Young redhead sensed hint of worry in his voice "What's with her?"
Patroklos gave her sad look "Let's just say there was a tragedy years back. I guess I should tell you. To put it simply, we were attacked. Germany helped us to repel enemies, but…" he sighed again and completely stopped. Bloom could tell he must've lost somebody precious "Let's just say I and Jara were from triplets. Daphne was protecting three of us almost giving her life for us, but… we were just babies and our sister was killed. Our enemies managed to get through Daphne and kidnap our sister. Her knight was chasing the kidnapper, but last time anyone has seen them, the knight was holding our sister in collapsing stables. They both burnt in fire. The only trace left was her necklace Daphne gave to her and knight's armor. Daphne has always been blaming herself for her death."
"It was not her fault." Bloom simply leaned against metal wall and crossed her arms "I know how she must feel. However, if you call that a loss, you have a lot to learn. A single family member? Don't make me laugh."
"You're right." He got to his confident mode again "Why should I seek understanding from someone like you? Who did you lose to talk like that?"
"Everyone." Patroklos backed away as she paid him very cold look. Her hatred was true and never-ending. Even though he expected her to hate him and his family, he never expected such fire in her eyes. Literally.
"I lost everyone to Germans. My family, my friends, my country. You say loss of a sister is a grave one… try witnessing your land fall to your enemy. Try watching as your little siblings are taken away and gassed to death. Watching your mother die from hunger while your dad kisses asses of soldiers. Unless you see that… do not expect any understanding from me."
"You've got some nerve girl!" he yelled back at her "You are my servant, I will not be yelled at by some lowly peasant. Especially since you tried to kill my sister. You should be grateful that I even give you this chance."
Bloom couldn't control herself at that point. Who does this boy think he is? Perhaps it's time to make him know his place. Without thinking, as soon as he finished a sentence, her right hand clenched into fist. She hit him great force and speed straight into his sleep bone. He was knocked out before he even hit the metal wall and ground.
Only then, Bloom realized what she's done "Oh crap. What will I do now? Oh well… guess so much for his offer."
She thought of only one sensible thing to do. Run. She was running faster than ever. There just had to be an end to these metal halls. There was nothing but metal, just plain silver metal all around. Bloom thought it must be some kind of dungeon, so she should try and go up.
So she stopped. If only way so up and these halls seemed endless, there was a faster way. She felt her powers rising. Heat all around her. Then… fire. Flames were spiraling all around, but as she clenched her right hand into fist, she punched right up. Like a drill flames began eating all the metal, everything they touched became gas and joined the flames.
Her power was great and was only growing. She felt as her feet left the ground and she was hovering upwards. Then… light, bright light almost blinded her as her magic reached surface. Outside, great pillar of fire was rising up to skies and maybe even beyond. And among them, young girl surfaced and ascended up before slowly touching the ground.
As Bloom touched the surface, she immediately looked around. He heart sank as she recognized the place. She wouldn't be able to call herself Czechoslovakian if she didn't. Karlstein. Grand white castle built on a hill. Bright white walls towering up all around her "Are you kidding me?" she almost yelled into the silence "They made their base underneath this castle? Oh now I am mad."
She was truly mad, but she had to get out of there. At least she knew where she was and that is better than going on blind. However, her position wasn't as clear as she through it'd be. As Bloom ran towards main gate, ready to burst right through any soldier, she learned something new.
Castle was in air.
It was very hard to comprehend. Whole castle… no… whole hill was hovering high above god knows where. Grand castle, standing on its peak, however peak was on some kind of metal semi-globe of silver high above ground.
"She went this way!" she heard voices behind her. Somebody was following her. No time to loose, she had to get away. Despite not being sure to what extent her powers could work right that moment, she jumped down.
She didn't understand physics that much, but knew that if she aims her flames behind herself she can make herself fly in huge speed. So as she was falling down head first, she aimed her palms forward and let magic flow through them. First there was nothing, then air began waving behind her palms and then, huge continuous burst of flames shot out. This slowed Bloom down and made her turn upright. Quickly not to lose too much of momentum, she turned her hands one way and spread her arms so not to set her clothes ablaze.
She began flying away from that place, but gave it one last glance. Seeing castle from her own country floating in mid-air was shocking enough, but knowing it was in hands of Nazis… that made her blood boil.
It didn't matter that moment, she had to get away as far as she could and return to her comrades in Soviet Union… but which way is Soviet Union?
Now that question made her uneasy. She flew, but had no idea where. Sun was high above her, so she couldn't truly use it to navigate. Not yet at least. But it didn't matter now. Castle behind her already disappeared from view, but she couldn't be sure of anything at this point. If Germans had such technology, or at least so advanced ally… she couldn't rely on normal instructions. She had to use her skills and wits to get back to front lines and cross them. That is… if there still was some front line to talk about.
She flew for hours in whatever direction this was and couldn't recognize much of the ground. She was looking for anything that would allow her to figure out where she was. But as she was flying, she was feeling really weak. She was pushing herself to the limit. But now she had to land, or fall down and get hurt. She was in luck. There seemed to be small village before her. Houses were clearly visible in setting sun.
Wait… setting sun. Of course. It was right behind her, houses were brightly lit by it. That means she was heading east all that time. So if she keeps this course she should end up in Russia. That is if Germans took her to Germany as she thought.
Bloom landed on road near the village as not to alarm locals. She could barely walk as she landed, but managed to move somewhat. She grabbed a thick branch lying nearby and used it as a cane. She was cold. All around was slight signs of snow and air was freezing. She still had her uniform from Stalingrad, which was made into cold weather, but this was different. Air was behaving strangely. Wind was getting strong and pressure was dropping. Sky was getting dark.
Thunderstorm was about to hit this calm place.
Bloom had to hurry. She was moving as fast as she could towards houses. However… as she entered the village… only horror welcomed her.
From distance it was just another village in the middle of nowhere, but once she stepped in… there was but one inhabitant. Death.
Houses were collapse, burnt to crisp, covered by slight white layer of snow. Some stone walls made it through the fire and were still standing, but roofs were down, burnt and destroyed.
That however, wasn't the end. Worst sight of war appeared right before her. Piles of burnt corpses, not even allowed to rot thanks to cold lied there, some with small holes in heads… those were the lucky ones. Clear and quick end… best way to go in hands of Nazis.
But then… as she continued further… scene turned even her stomach upside down. There, in semi-collapsed building lied a girl, way younger than Bloom herself. She was naked, clothes clearly torn straight out of her. Her eyes full of horror Bloom hasn't seen in any battle. On her neck, clear signs of strangling. This girl… met worst end possible. Too young to sin, too young to die… but here she lied, in cold, surrounded by corpses of those she loved.
When Bloom tried to divert her eyes from this scene, she saw another one, woman and girl, mother and daughter. They were both naked, lying on backs, shot in heads, holding hands.
Bloom had hard time keeping herself together. Her breath was shallow and fast. Her heart was racing like never before. She realized… this could have been her.
This was true face of war. She was a soldier, she fought Nazis on front lines, where it is kill or die. She never had to experience this kind of sight. But now it dawned on her. She was in Auschwitz, she saw many things, she saw face of war so many times, but refused to let go. Now she stood there, surrounded by true meaning of casualties.
As her breath became normal, she stopped feeling scared… she felt… sad. Soldiers are supposed to protect their people. They should give their lives for them and yet… here was true sign of their failure.
Slowly and steadily, her sadness turned into pure hatred. Nazis will pay for this "I will burn them. I will burn them all. They all will suffer and die, slowly and painfully."
Her eyes turned bloody red and flames were reflecting in them "I will avenge you all. Nazis will burn, all will burn in my flames! None shall survive!"
All right guys, I hope you enjoyed it. I might have gone a little over the board at the end, at least for T rating. Well it can always be changed to M rating, right? Anyway, see ya around, everyone.