Saluting the Supreme Commander in the fashion that was expected of any soldier of the Valencian Armada, Argentius bowed his head in a gesture of respect.
"How may I serve you, Commander?"
"A new El Dorado map piece have been located in the world of Grizzleheim, Commodore."
A map piece...?
If he recalled correctly, recovering the seven pieces of the map of El Dorado had always been the primary objective of the Armada, as it was said a power of immeasurable strength laid at the heart of this so called Island of Gold. Enough power that if it were to fall into the hands of the Armada, dominating the entire Spiral would be nothing more than just a few battles away.
"I want you to head the squadron to Grizzleheim and recover the map piece, at any cost."
I will not disappoint you, Commander.
"Understood, Supreme Commander, are there any other orders that I must know of?"
The silence that hung in the air between them was unnerving, and Argentius was almost tempted to speak up first, maybe even fabricate some inquiry -
"Who are you loyal to, Argentius?"
The question caught him off guard, both because it was so sudden and so obvious. He was the Supreme Commander's soldier, of course, a loyal officer of the Armada until the very end, and he truly could not understand why the Commander would inquire of this.
"My loyalty lies with you, Commander."
Was that his voice that sounded so uncertain?
I serve the Armada, I am a soldier to my Supreme Commander.
The thought within his mind wavered, almost as though he was not exactly certain of this statement himself. It should have been certain, it should have been; and something stirred within the very back of his processor, a jumble of blurred memories Argentius could not differentiate from each other, save for a single image.
It was the image of a man, with a face decorated with scars attained from battles long ago, with a mane of hair and neatly arranged beard. His hard black eyes could only be described as beetle - like, those little insects that would often fly through the skies with their transparent little wings.
Atticus Mercilus.
Argentius had recalled the name only a single second after seeing his face, of course, such is to be expected, as he was a clockwork, with a flawless memory. Yet there was something that truly confused the clockwork:
He is your enemy.
Is he? I do not feel as though he is a hostile presence.
It felt as though there were two forces within him, tearing at him, two different sets of factors, each yielding different results. While normally, this would have made calculation easier, this only served to confuse him further: it brought the question of which of these forces he should adhere to.
Argentius found himself yanked out of his internal thoughts and calculations when the breath was knocked right out of him -
The Supreme Commander's masked face was less than a foot away from his, close enough for him to feel the masked man's steady breathing on his throat. The void - like eyes set within the mask, with the delicate golden corona around it was beautiful, yes, but in this very second, those "eyes…"
In that very second, Argentius was certain if he had a heart within his chest, his heartrate would have skyrocketed. The fear was creeping right back into him, the clockwork could feel its cold grasp writhing within him, around him, its coils wrapping so tight around his body that it became nearly impossible to breathe for that single second.
DANGER.
The signal flashed in panic before his eyes, even more so when the Supreme Commander had brought up his other hand to hold him down; the tip of the dangerously sharp blade extending from his sleeve shining wickedly before his eyes. Argentius had no doubt that it could pierce through his throat without much effort from the commander, a thought that caused his fear to curl its grip around him even tighter, his breathing rate threatening to become audible.
"You are wavering, Commodore."
Wavering? But I am loyal to you -
Are you? What about Mercilus? Do you not remember him?
Mercilus, yes, he was his previous commander, his creator and the one who had sent him into Cadiz, with the intention of assassinating the Supreme Commander who he served now. He was supposed to be his enemy, Argentius remembered, he was supposed to hate him because the Supreme Commander detested him with all of his heart.
"I-I assure you, Commander, I am loyal to you and you alone."
In that very second, Argentius could see why the Supreme Commander said he was wavering.
He involuntarily winced when the cool metal of the blade ran along his throat, shrinking away from its touch: gasping as the arm on his throat pressed down just enough to nearly deprive him of the much needed air.
"You remember him, don't you?"
Argentius met his eyes, and immediately wished that he had not. Even with the mask on over his real face, it was possible to feel his eyes staring right back into his, those scarlet, piercing eyes that had haunted him ever since he first witnessed the Supreme Commander removing his mask. Just the way those crimson orbs seemed to light up with what was almost worship at the sight of him, and this one other emotion he was yet to put a finger on.
"I... Do not know who you are speaking of, Supreme Commander."
It was a lie, an obvious one which clearly did not please the supreme leader of Valencia.
Argentius winced, the sensation of his own warm blood tricking down the flesh of his throat alerting him to the blade that was now piercing his skin.
"Do not lie to me, Argentius."
His face was less than a few inches away from Argentius' own by now, and out of what one could say to be instinct, he tried to flinch away.
"Commander, please, I swear I am loyal to you and you alone!"
"You will be, Argentius, because you are mine and mine alone."
The possessive edge in the words of Kane the Second was enough to send a shiver down the Armada Commodore's back. It doesn't take anyone too intelligent to figure out what the Supreme Commander meant by his words: he belonged to him, in every way there could possibly be -
"And you will not be going back to that bastard, the one you so call commander and creator."
Argentius immediately could feel his entire frame tense up, almost unable to suppress the tremors running through him, tremors of fear.
How-how did he know? How did he know what I was thinking of? Impossible-!
"Look at me when I am talking to you, Commodore."
Two slender fingers pinched his chin, forcefully turning his head to face the Supreme Commander. Argentius had not even realized he had turned away until then.
His attempts to speak only died as strangled sounds within his throat. Argentius had only remembered the Supreme Commander removing his mask once before, the time when he was captured and locked within the dungeons of Cadiz, just shortly before he was released.
The superior Armada officer's true face seemed to have deteriorated even more since the last time. Dark circles of shadow had formed under his bloodshot, crimson eyes, and his pupils had shrunk to pinpoints, his breathing ragged and uneven.
"Remember the fact that you are my soldier, Commodore, and not his."
Tsing.
The blade extending from the Supreme Commander's sleeve pressed into his skin, just above one of his main veins and just short of truly piercing the skin.
"I am... loyal to you and you alone, Commander."
It was alien, it was strange to force those words out of his own mouth. They didn't seem to be right, yet it also did feel like something he was supposed to say, and it definitely was not the stress of the current situation forcing those words out of him.
Who do I truly belong with?
The blade was lifted from his throat, and Argentius found himself nearly collapsing onto one knee as he gasped for air, one of his hands flying up to his throat to feel for any more cuts or abrasions there. His gaze was focused on the Supreme Commander, who had set the mask back over his face so instead of scarlet, human eyes, he was met with the void - like gaze of the mask with its golden corona and gold painted lips.
"Report to the docks after three hours, your squadron will meet you there for the retrieval mission."
"As-as how you command, Supreme Commander."
The Armada Commodore stood back up, his legs wobbling slightly as he offered the Lord of the Armada a slight bow of his head before backing out of the office of the Supreme Commander; turning down the halls to his own office and closing the door behind him.
Why would he be acting in this fashion...? I am his soldier, I am his officer, an officer of the Armada.
Even his own voice within his mind sounded uncertain, unsure.
If he truly was loyal to the Lord of the Armada, why was he so uncertain of it? It should have been the obvious, the certain -
Perhaps it was because of his previous Commander, his creator, the Supreme Commander had called him.
For the first time since he was released from the Armada dungeon, Argentius Domitius Septimus allowed himself to remember. He traced back his memories, literally replaying all of them before his eyes. Yes, he could see it all now, and he remembered, he remembered how he stood at the prow of the ship bound for Valencia, dressed in the dark, hooded robe that would serve to conceal his identity.
Atticus Mercilus.
His previous Commander's name, the name he should be hating with all of his being. But why should he hate him, he wondered? Why did he feel so connected to this name, to the face he had only remembered as though someone had downloaded a photograph of him into his processor? And most importantly -
How is this possible? I cannot seem to remember anything else beyond that. Nothing beyond when I first set off for Valencia.
Nothing alarmed Argentius more. He was supposed to have a flawless memory, being a clockwork and not a human, unlike the current Supreme Commander of the Armada that he now served. Again, he tried to recall the memories beyond it, only to receive heavily fogged images, as if he was peering through a dense fog at a scene playing out before him.
He was supposed to remember, some part of him screeched, he was supposed to remember those memories. They were far more important than his current task -
No, he served the Supreme Commander of the Valencian Armada, he was the soldier of Kane the Second and an officer of the Armada. Argentius literally had to snap at himself, to internally speak those words to stop the thoughts in his mind: for as a soldier of the Supreme Lord of Valencia, Kane the Second's will and wish came before anything else.
Bearing this thought in mind, Argentius forced himself to walk away from the door, to his desk, where his belt and his sword laid (its blade secured within a sheath of leather and brass) laid, fastening it around his waist.
There was no doubt that the map piece would not be left unguarded, based on what he had remembered of the Armada archives' records about the acquiring of the previous pieces of the El Dorado map: the undead pirate James Blood held onto one, before it was retrieved by the then Armada Commodore Ulysses Septimus.
Armada Commodore Ulysses Septimus, strange how he and I share the very same surname and the very same title. What had happened to him? His name had not been mentioned in the records after the end of the Marleybone - Valencia war. Had he died? Disappeared off the surface of the Spiral?
Those were only but a few of the questions plaguing his mind, something he pondered over for just a few seconds before the questions from a few minutes ago returned to him.
The why, the reasons behind the strange behavior of the Supreme Commander. Never before had Argentius ever encountered these kinds of emotions, or actions of this nature, and none of it matched any information he had known before.
It was strange, it was unfamiliar, and it was horrifying.
Identity crisis much right here? Though I do pity poor Argentius, I put him through so much XD first getting captured and tossed into the dungeons of Cadiz, now he's being stalked by his own Commander and leader who is obsessed with him in more than one way, all while facing a super confused mind about who am I loyal to gah what should I do. If the rules of VL/VE universe doesn't hate him I don't know what to say XD.
Reviews are much appreciated! :D
Until next time!
-Hades