Setting Up The Pieces
Neither enemy faces, nor the mothers that love them, come to mind when one is thinking of nothing but endeavouring to survive.
~ Linda Berdoll
Seated behind an oak desk, Sage Procyon scanned the pages of the latest report from cont Pasture. Fighters were enlisting into her cause at a rate he could only dream about while her support was growing larger each day. This however, was not a surprise to the Sage. Capella had been the spiritual leader of cont Pasture; it was only natural that the people would support her. But while she had been tremendously successful on cont Pasture, most of cont Midreth now answered to him.
Of the three continents, cont Huan proved to be the most difficult for either of the sages; mostly due to the ever-present authority of the Judin Knightage. Under the command of Sir Luaan, the Knightage had made use of the chaos brought about by the fall of the Sage Tower and took command of most of the mainland. How Luaan had survived while all of the other guild masters had been cut down was beyond Procyon. Perhaps he knew just as they did and had taken measures to ensure his survival. Whatever the case may be, the Knightage was a problem. While he had prepared to deal with Capella, Luaan was an anomaly.
Flipping over to the next page, Procyon arched an eyebrow as he scanned through the contents. It seemed Capella was on the move. According to the report, scouting parties had been sent into the areas surrounding the Spine Mountains in addition to troops being dispatched into every major city. The streets were being watched, incoming ships were boarded and searched, and the gate guards had been doubled. Whatever it is she's up to, she didn't want anyone getting in her way.
Stroking his beard, Procyon considered his option. Capella was obviously looking for something and had effectively blocked all entrances into cont Pasture. He had already lost an informant in one of her searches and entrance through the sea would require nothing less than a full blown invasion. Procyon may have had some of the best fighters in Nevareth -thanks to the many tournaments he had organized for the sole purpose of recruiting skilled fighters- but Capella had number the numbers and for all the skilled fighters he had, they could only cut down so many enemies before they would be overwhelmed.
No, Procyon could not risk a war of attrition but neither could he allow Capella to find…what was she searching for anyway? Scanning the page once more Procyon frowned as he found no information regarding the target of her search. Sighing in frustration, Procyon rose from his seat as he paced about the room. Procyon knew Capella better than any other Sage; after all, they had conspired together but as to why she would go to such lengths to ensure her search was undeterred in anyway was beyond him. What could hold so much value to garner her attention so?
Glancing out a window, Procyon stared out into the snowy landscape. Past the high walls surrounding his fortress, all he could see were the distant peaks of the Vahour Mountains. Here, at the center of cont Midreth and a few miles north from the banks of the Rastear River stood Tempesta Rosa, his haven in a harsh and unforgiving world. From behind these walls would he wage his war against Capella and her so-called 'fair world'.
The isolation of Tempesta Rosa from the outside world bothered him not. Even before the collapse of the Tower of Sages, Procyon had 'acquired' all data pertaining to the use and construction of warp gates. Ironically, he had Sage Capella to thank for that. Without her constant need to pioneer all and every aspect of technology -be it from the honorable age or not- the secrets behind the warp portals an subsequently tha ability to construct and operate them would have remained a mystery.
In just a few weeks time, the portals would be up and ready. No doubt Capella would have done the same by now but none of this mattered. With the portals, he could by pass any barrier Capella had made to ensure he could not enter Cont Pasture. If only he could see the look on her face when his troops came pouring into the very heart of her empire. Now, all he needed to deliver his opening move was the warp coordinates to be delivered by his informants.
0o0o0o
The halls echoed with her footsteps as Luminous Captain Serafina Deluca hastily made her way to the great hall. Clad in the Capellan martial set and two shadow titanium katana strapped to her back; one would almost forget to notice her beautiful green eyes or the braid she would painstakingly weave her silken hair into every morning. With the ability to stop a man dead in his tracks with a mere look and the skill to cut him down in less than a second, Captain Deluca was both feared and admired. But at the moment, said captain was late for an important briefing.
Forgoing protocol, seeing as she was already late, Serafina waved off the guards stationed outside the entrance and proceeded to burst open the doors herself. Most of the crowds glanced her way as the heavy doors parted, allowing entrance. Through the stares and soft murmurs of the crowd Serafina could make out Luminous General Damien Gray standing before a map of Cont Pasture. The General may have been in his late fifties but he was still built like an ox; his muscular frame coupled with the heavy armor set made him an imposing sight.
Even through his thick graying beard, Serafina could still make out a frown on his features. Gritting her teeth and swallowing her pride, Serafina made her way through the crowd, past the aggravated general and took a seat behind him with four other Captains. The room stilled with an uncomfortable silence before the General cleared his throat and continued on.
After nearly two hours of sitting through the briefing, Serafina was glad that it was finally over. A second longer and she would have strangled the old General for over elaborating and stressing the importance of the mission. It didn't help matters that every negative point seemed to be directed at her. Whether the General was being oversensitive or she was just being paranoid, she couldn't say. What was certain however, was the fact that Capella was pouring all her resources into this endeavor.
She had made it out of the great hall and past a courtyard when she felt a familiar presence behind her. Slowing her pace, she waited for him to pass her, but instead he merely fell in step beside her. Sparing him a glance, Serafina couldn't help but scoff as she spotted the martial helm –though it was more of a mask- shielding his features. After all this time, the fool would never take it off. Not one person in the entire confederation knew what Captain Alphonse Grey looked like.
For a moment they walked in silence. She could feel his eyes on her. Like a predator eyeing its prey. She could never guess the inner workings of his twisted mind and in all honesty, she was glad she didn't. Growing tired of the silence, Serafina stopped dead in her tracks just as they rounded a corner. Alphonse stumbled in his steps as he hastily turned to regard her. Serafina couldn't help but smirk as she cocked an eyebrow at his display. His mask however, managed to dissipate most of the humor that she might have felt. In a single moment, Serafina felt a chill run down her spine as hard, cold eyes seemed to bore into her very being.
"What are you playing at Grey!" The moment those words left her mouth she mentally chided herself for sounding vulnerable. She was a fighter damn it and she wasn't going to let some creep in a mask -who probably had less upper body strength than her- get under her skin.
"Something isn't right here Deluca." Alphonse drawled in his usual monotone that somehow came off more as an insult to her intelligence than a simple statement of fact.
"Gee, you think. Personally I'd recommend professional help, but you're too much of a nutcase for any psychiatrist to handle." Serafina snapped. The combination of that mask and his ever present detached personality was grinding on her nerves.
"While I appreciate your concern, I was referring to this mission. Something's not right. " Alphonse continued as though Serafina had not just insulted his state of mind. If one paid attention, they could make out a vain popping on her forehead as she suppressed her impulse to simply strike down the annoying wizard standing before her.
Swallowing her rage under years of discipline –and the mental image of a certain captain dead at her feet- Serafina went through the main objective of their mission. "We're just mapping out some poorly explored areas of the continent, what could be simpler than that?"
"Exactly. Think Deluca, why would they send four combat companies just for an exploration or how about the fact that General Gray is standing by with ten thousand men just in case we come across anything 'interesting'." Alphonse reasoned, his voice slowly becoming more erratic the more he spoke. If she didn't know any better, he almost seemed scared.
Fixing him with a steely glare, she regarded the captain who had slain ten men with a single spell and cleared out a small town infested with demons single handedly. A chill ran down her spine as she came to the realization that he was genuinely spooked. She was not sure if it was the look in his eyes or the minute shiver of his arms she almost missed, but the conclusion was the same.
"What aren't you telling me Grey?" Her glare never faltered as he met her gaze only to break it once more as he turned on his heels.
"Answer me damn you!" Her voice reverberated across the empty halls. Alphonse could hear the crisp sound of twin blades being drawn from their scabbards but he paid them no mind. It was an empty threat. Not only was he needed for this mission but killing him would deny her all her answers. Truth be told, he didn't even know the full extent of what was going on. The parts he did know however was enough to unnerve him.
"I've heard rumor of a ship coming in tomorrow from Polis Vedas carrying unusual cargo, a man to be precise-" Alphonse paused for a moment as he felt a blade press against the side of his neck before continuing at a much faster pace, much to Serafina's delight, "-a force handler with an exceptional bounty on his head." he managed before drawing a folded up piece of parchment from his pouch he mainly reserved for various spell scrolls and tossed it to his rather violent companion.
He could hear the rustling of paper as she unfolded it followed by a gasp, no doubt brought about by the large bounty printed below the likeness of the unknown man. For a moment he waited in uncomfortable silence before a second blade was pressed uncomfortably on the opposite side of his neck.
"Is this a joke, what does this have to do with anything?" Serafina hissed at his back, resisting the urge to simply slice his head off right there and then.
"That man," Alphonse continues with mild irritation, "is said to be connected with the fall of the Tower of Sages. There is a chance he could be connected to what's happening now as well." A moment passed before Alphonse let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding as the blades were returned to their scabbards. Sparing her a quick glance over his shoulder, Alphonse continued down the hall, intent on putting as much distance between him and Serafina.
Serafina watched him leave before turning her attention back on the likeness of the man said to have the answers she sought. She also noticed there was nothing remarkable or astonishing about his features. His was a face that could easily blend into a crowd, completely unnoticed and forgotten even if he had bumped into you. For the first time, Serafina stared into the visage of a man who carried the bounty of three hundred million and was totally unimpressed.
While the rest of the day passed without incident -save for when a pantherhorn somehow made it onto the grounds of Spada Brillante- come the next morning, Serafina had assembled all one hundred and twenty of her troops outside the warp centre. After passing out copies of the wanted posters minus the bounty, she had informed them of the importance of his capture as he held vital information regarding their confederation. That is to say, she told them he was a Procyon spy.
She then divided her company into three groups, one for each Polis -since Grey had no clue as to which port he would be coming in from- comprising of forty per group before sending them off through the portals. They had three days to catch this man before they had to pull back for their exploration assignment four days from now. Sparing one last glance at the grounds of Spada Brillante before advancing to one of the portals; took a steadying breath and shimmered out of existence.
Hours later, the sun had almost set and Serafina had not had a single sighting of her target. While every ship, boat and even raft had been searched and every port closed off, they had turned up nothing. To say she was frustrated would have been an understatement. Perhaps he wasn't coming in through Industria. This entire day had been a waste of time. She was about to 'request' the governor to issue an order that the gates to be closed for the remainder of the day when she heard a small beep from one of her pouches.
Opening up a small pouch from her belt, she retrieved a thin rectangular device roughly the size of her palm. On the left side of the device was a screen that occupied a third of the space with a number pad occupying the rest of the right side. It was a relic from the honorable age used for communication purposes discovered some three hundred years ago. Researchers from the Sage Tower had reversed engineered the device to the point where it could be mass produced, although it could only sent text messages and sometimes took hours to reach their target, it was still faster than any conventional message delivery system.
Pressing a button, the screen lit up and displayed a written message. Her eyes narrowed as she read the report. Placing the device back into its compartment, she quickly ordered three of her men to round up the rest of the troops and regroup by the warp centers. In under half an hour, Serafina and eighty of her troops stepped through the warp portals of Polis Libers. As they combed the streets for their elusive prey, she vowed he would not slip through her fingers. Her first order of business was a visit to the Governors' office for a little 'request'.
A few hours later, Azkal collapsed into a bed. The cramp room and lumpy mattress cost him 5alz for the night but he was content. At this point, he would have paid triple that amount for any bed. Heck he would've traded places with Patren if it meant he would have a bed in that dimension he voluntarily trapped himself in. After a day of running around the city –and jumping from rooftops- evading Capellan fighters and tracking down the thieves' guild, he would have been content with crawling up in a cave for some rest. Just when he taught he had found peace, sleep could not come to him. This was just typical. He finally had a –somewhat- comfy bed to sleep on and the universe decides to bestow upon him insomnia.
Rising up from his bed, Azkal opened up his bag and pulled out what was once a sword hilt. The guard which was triangular in shape, bearing a design at its center which held a striking similarity to a skull was shattered at the tip where the blade once was. A crack had formed from the guard down to the grip just before reaching the pommel. The green of osmium shone in the darkness, casting a sickly green glow about the room. In the past, Azkal had always found comfort basking in its unnatural glow and observing how different everything looked tinted in green. He would sometimes imagine that this was how the monsters he battled saw the world; the sight of demons and predators. But now, the glow brought only grief as the shadowed images of his slain comrades flashed into his mind.
Azkal regarded the broken weapon with a mixture of pride and grief. Proud that it had served him well and grief for like everything in his life, it was snatched away from him. The osmium blade had been a gift from Sal for their graduation from the academy. Although he had favored and trained with the katana, he had quickly grown accustomed to the weight of the blade. It was his last link he had to his past. It was a past filled with memories when everything made sense. It was a past he had foolishly squandered with the belief that his peaceful existence would last forever. It was a past he had longed to return to but knowing that it would never be.
A sad smile formed on his lips as he fingered a small inscription scratched onto the surface of the pommel which read 'il mio cuore batte soltanto per te'. Azkal placed a soft kiss on those words from the woman he would never hear nor touch ever again before resting his forehead upon it. For the first time since their deaths, Azkal wept.
A.N: Finally chapter 3 and the introduction of Procyon and Capellan forces with more focus on Capella right now but hopefully more Procyon in the future. I have a rough idea of where this story is going but I'm not exactly sure how to get there...so if anyone wants to share their ideas please feel free to do so. Criticism is appreciated, I'm sure I have a more than a few mistakes floating around up there, so feel free to let me know about them.