Book IV:

Of Princesses and Peons

Chapter XXX

We ended up following Juliani to her private club in Mor Ardain. She insisted on showing us and Poppi where she'd be staying and how she'd be living if she agreed to stay. However Mythra and Gabriel both agreed that Juliani wouldn't be taking no for an answer.

I took a good look around Alba Cavanich on the way there.

Acacia wasn't kidding, this place wasn't a beauty by any means, however it was interesting. Apparently Mor Ardain had moved it's capital up north a few hundred miles, and this was what was left behind. When the once proud empire of Mor Ardain acknowledged itself equal to all of the rest of Alrest and relinquished control of Gormott, the decision wasn't exactly unanimous. Alba Cavanich became flooded in protestors, and Emperor Niall was forced to flee the city. This was five hundred years ago.

Over time, the riots became more orderly, and gave birth to many gangs and criminal organizations specialized in the art of hate crimes, rape, extortion, and human trafficking. Originally, the hatred was targeted at the Gormotti, but it didn't take long for it to spread to whatever made money. However if you looked away from the pile of trash that was the city, you could see the desert that surrounded it, and the sun glimmering off the sand, as hot as it was, was simply a sight to behold.

Alba Cavanich of the present was a very packed city that was built upwards. Nobody owned any building or factories outside of the gangs there, and most buildings were large skyscrapers with no windows at all and heavy, metal doors that held residents. The inside of each door was no bigger than a tiny closet and didn't even have a air conditioning, bathrooms, or kitchens. Just a bed. There was one community washroom at the very bottom with about three toilets and showers, out in the open, and were the only way people could use the bathroom in a building of about a hundred people each. It was... disgusting. Large families would have to buy a separate "apartment" for each member, and they weren't cheap. The gangs also made sure each citizen made just enough to be too poor to ever leave and usually killed anyone who tried.

As anyone could imagine, the people weren't the friendliest, but with the constant threat of theft, rape, and death looming above their head who would be? From what I heard, the rape problem had gotten so bad that even men and the elderly were targeted as much as anyone else.

All too soon, we arrived at a large building, the walls were shaking and loud noises could be heard from the outside, despite the building being made of solid concrete and metal.

"Mate," Gabriel stopped me and whispered in my ear. "Don't look anyone in the eye when you get in there, get to your destination and don't stop, I'll stay out here with Kassy, she doesn't need to see what goes on in there."

I didn't get a chance to ask what he was talking about, he grabbed Kassandra's hand and was gone before we knew it.

"Oh pity, it seems he had something better to do," Juliani shrugged.

I felt a my stomach tie itself into a knot, as I now wondered what I was walking into.

"Where did Malos go?" Acacia asked.

We looked around to see that he was nowhere to be found either.

"It appears Malos has the ability to move through space and time, and triggered this ability earlier while you were distracted," KOS-MOS answered.

"He... what?" I questioned.

"He can teleport, no need to worry about him, let's just focus," Mythra concluded.

"Is Rafi ok?" Poppi asked.

I then looked back to see Rafi drenched in sweat and shaking, he looked absolutely terrified, even almost about to cry.

"Rafi just hot... is all! Not accustomed to desert," he quickly said in defense.

"Rafi, go with Gabe, I'll watch Poppi," I immediately said.

"What? No! Rafi will...," he began to say.

"It wasn't an option," Mythra backed me up.

Poppi stroked his hair. "Poppi will be fine Rafi, go see the city."

"R-Right...," he said, taking a step back, before turning and running after Gabriel, not looking back.

"If you are all done splitting up, are you ready?" Juliani asked impatiently as her blades remained silent.

It was just KOS-MOS, Acacia, Poppi, Mythra, Sheba, Azami, and I.

"The ugly doll is not permitted," Theory said simply.

"Acacia isn't that ugly!" Azami argued.

"Hey fuck you!" Acacia retorted. "They're talking to you!"

"What?!" Azami gasped, "Judging someone they've never met! That's so rude!"

"You're not ugly, Azami," I defended. "Please wait out here, we'll be fine."

She sighed and nodded. "I'll be watching you, don't get yourself into trouble!"

The door opened up and we were rushed inside before we could react.

It was very dark inside, the music that was playing was loud and had a loud bass drum. The crowd was full of women, all shrieking and acting like crazed lunatics, pushing and shoving each other. It would've looked more fun had they not been so... disorderly.

There were a couple men in the crowd, but they were only allowed to wear underwear, they seemed to be cooking and serving everyone, and were being kicked and pushed around like the small kid on a playground. I saw a couple of them start crying, which only made them get berated more intensely. It was sickening...

There was a stage, and I realized that there were no instruments on stage at all, just one girl. Her eyes were red and her hair was black, and pulled off to the side in a single pigtail. I realized she was a blade, as I saw a core crystal in the shape of a musical note on her upper chest. All of the music that was playing was coming out of her as she made noises, indistinguishable from instruments, into a microphone that had an ether dagger on the other end. Her dancing was entrancing and you could tell she was having a blast.

"All right you lovely ladies, that's my last one for tonight!" she said in a very cute, high pitched voice. ""Your lovely little singer Sonata will be here all night! You can adore but no touching, see you later!"

"That blade look familiar to you?" I asked Mythra quietly.

She shook her head. "Not at all."

Juliani continued to lead us into a back room, and I was hurrying behind her, but making sure I kept pace with my blades and Acacia. KOS-MOS seemed unfazed by everything going on around her, like usual.

I felt a hard poking on my back as I spun around to see Sonata looking up at me dead in the eyes. She had a simple black top with short sleeves and wraps around her arms that were designed like a piano. Her shirt was decorated with musical notes and she had in a fairly short skirt with a musical staff wrapping around the bottom hem. She stood about six inches shorter than me, and she actually looked pretty cute.

I didn't know what to say, so I decided to play it as cool as possible, which wasn't easy with all of the rowdy women in the background.

"Hi, I'm Silas, I liked your singing," I said.

"Juli you brought a cute one this time," she giggled before addressing me. "For your reference, my name is Sonata, I don't sing, that would make me Cantata. Brush up on your skills Silas."

"Sonata dear, why don't you go play with the other ladies?" Juliani recommended.

"They're all weird pervy lesbos," she scoffed. "You know I don't swing that way." She put her hand on my chest and pressed up against me. "I prefer the cute quiet types."

"We're here for business bimbo, back off!" Mythra said, putting herself in between us.

"My, my! What a tongue! I'd watch yourself if I were you slut," Sonata said in an aggressive manner. "The girls here love me with a passion, and unless you think you could all these women on your own, I suggest you shove your tough persona right back in your cute little shell like a good little tool."

I could tell Mythra was about to slam her into the ground, so I grabbed her wrist and immediately walked away. "Oh hey look, the door's this way! Let's go Mythra!"

She shot Sonata a fierce look before I pulled her away and continued following Juliani, who seemed somewhat entertained.

"Bye bye cutie! Call me!" she giggled.

I realized she had written some numbers on my arm, but I didn't even have a phone and wasn't really interested at the moment.

We were led into a lavishly-decorated room. The carpet was very expensive and it was fully furnished with the nicest of trinkets and furniture.

"Poppi would stay here?" Poppi questioned.

"Why yes! You'd be considered one of the highest members of the Argentum Gambling District, you'll be treated with the upmost respect and care, just as my ancestor Tora would have wanted," Juliani said.

Poppi nodded. "Poppi not want to be like other girls here..."

Juliani laughed. "Was Sonata like the other girls, dear? You can be whoever you'd like to be, I just want to make sure that you can be safe here, like your creator would want."

"And you're sure about that?" Acacia asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"I have spent generations trying to track down what was lost from us! Tora passed it on that a flesh eater disguised as a Gormotti had obtained her, but he never mentioned where we could find her!"

"Could Granny be a blade?" I thought to myself. It made sense, but for now I thought it better to focus on the problem in front of us.

"Tora wanted so badly for you to be put into a family of dedicated engineers and mechanics... HIS family. Wouldn't you agree with that, Poppi?"

Poppi looked kind of sad, but she nodded. "Poppi would like to stay here."

"What?!" Acacia, Mythra, and I all uttered in shock.

"Poppi lived every day for Masterpon, this no doubt what Masterpon wanted for Poppi, Poppi will stay," she defended.

Mythra spoke up first. "Poppi, have you truly thought this through? It doesn't seem like Juliani has your best interests in mind!"

"Poppi's mind is a computer, Poppi has thought this through."

"You heard her, please come with me. It's time to go," a voice said behind me, I turned to see a small girl who resembled Poppi, but not exactly. I could only assume that this was Lila.

"Poppi will be safe here, go help Mythra!" Poppi reassured.

Praxis, Theory, and Lila all began shoving us out, so we went with it.

As we were leaving the building, Mythra gave me a look.

"We're in danger, aren't we?" I sighed.

Mythra threw me her sword as I gripped it, but before I could do anything, Praxis slammed the side of her megalance into my skull, sending me to the ground.

Mythra was immediately covered in a yellow lightning as she let out a blood-curling scream, and she went out like a like. I realized the one to hit her was none other than Sheba herself.

KOS-MOS pulled her arm cannon at Sonata, who moved with extreme agility, and grabbed Acacia, using her as a shield.

KOS-MOS looked for another plan of attack, but Theory pulled her Katana and encased her in a block of pure ice.

Acacia pulled her sword only to get stabbed in the side by Sonata's dagger as she played a lullaby in the microphone, putting her to sleep.

"Yeah you're not getting passed first base,"

I quipped drowsily, the song was really effective

"Pity," she said before slamming her foot down into my face, knocking me out.

Readability Level: 11-12th Grade

Time Taken: 6 Hours