Three hours later, Armada Commodore Argentius Septimus found himself marching toward the docks of Cadiz, wearing a slightly thicker variation of his uniform and a sword strapped to his waist.
Even now, he still could not shake off the questions that ran through his head that had persisted from before -
Why?
It was all but impossible to tell the reason for the Supreme Commander's actions, why he was so confused about his own allegiance. These questions ran through his processor at a speed that even Argentius himself could not even comprehend.
The Armada Commodore forced these thoughts back, stepping on board the Armada frigate that was to take him to the partially frozen world of Grizzleheim.
Each of the clockworks onboard immediately snapped into the Armada salute at his presence, to which Argentius replied with a slight nod of his head. It was strange to be the commander of a force, instead of being a follower and listening to orders, although he could not say it was unpleasant.
Power... is nice, to say the very least, it is no wonder now why so many go absolutely mad in their search for it.
"Your orders, Commodore?"
The speaker was a marine captain by the name of Custos Viridus, the leader of the single squadron of clockworks that would accompany him on this journey. Sometimes, Argentius did find it hard to accept the fact he was one of the few out of the entire Valencian Armada that actually understood and could feel the full spectrum of human emotions.
"Set the coordinates for the world of Grizzleheim."
Their destination was a world that the Armada had just barely started exploring, although an outpost had been built there, and was in the process of construction, as more and more is learned of the world, Argentius could recall so much from reading the records from the archives he had basically buried himself in for the last few days.
The marine, Viridus, nodded in wordless understanding, pivoting and snapping off commands to the crew -
Argentius found himself standing at the starboard side of the ship as the single Armada frigate gained speed, rushing toward the stormgate leading towards their destination.
Wind rushed through the folds of his coat as the ship pushed through the stormgate, entering the purple Spiral thread. If his calculations were all on point, then they would be reaching their destination in about eight hours in total.
Leaving his crew to do their duties, the Armada Commodore closed the door behind himself as he entered his cabin. Like all other Armada ships, the cabin was equipped with a large desk with many drawers and one high backed chair behind it, capable of spinning on its pedestal which was riveted down into the planks of steel making up the body of the ship itself.
The chair gave a just barely audible squeak underneath the weight of Argentius' form as he sat down into it.
Why can't I remember anything before that event?
He could remember being locked in chains in the Armada dungeon, he could remember how the Supreme Commander had stepped into his cell with his golden artifact, that strange item he had not yet seen since his release. Argentius could also remember beyond that, how he had leapt at the Lord of Valencia with his own sword before he was swiftly defeated and stunned into submission by the elite sniper with the red gem in his forehead.
What was beyond these memories escaped him.
The Armada Commodore winced, bringing one of his hands up to rub at the side of his head as if it would help him remember.
The images beyond him being on the ship bound for Valencia was foggy, simply two figures upon a background of what he could only describe as fog. Something had to be hiding those memories from him, it had to be, there was no other reason for this: while this loss of memory could be explained if he was a human, there was no other way it could have possibly transpired given that he was a clockwork.
Then there was also Mercilus, his previous commander. Vividly, Argentius could recall his name, his face and his voice, yet no exact memories of him.
Argentius drummed his long fingers on the wood of his desk.
Creator, he had remembered the Supreme Commander calling him, your creator.
The one that brought me into existence, Atticus Mercilus.
It may have answered one of the many questions currently drifting through his processor, although it did little to prevent more of them from surging back -
The pain that shot through his head was excruciating. It seared his innermost workings, the delicate wires within his processor to a point that Argentius almost feared it would shut him down completely. However, in the haze of the pain, the Armada Commodore remembered something.
It was more of a brief flash than a full memory.
A darkened chamber, lit by only torches. He could see the cracks between the stones that had built the chamber, see the ancient mortar used to seal them together like the pieces of a puzzle. Something cool and hard was underneath him, a table, yes.
With a single hand, he had pushed himself up -
The memory flickered to nothingness.
Nothing made sense from this. It served nothing to explain the near hostility the Supreme Commander had displayed, why he hated Atticus so much and expected Argentius to do so as well, save for perhaps the old grudge between the Templars and the Assassins (which likely would not even apply, for while the Assassins are loyal to the Supreme Commander, it did not mean he was with the Assassin cause).
Argentius pushed himself up from his seat, pacing the length of his cabin.
Why?
Why?
Why?
So many questions, so many unknown factors, more than there were known factors in this mess. It was difficult, it was useless to attempt to calculate the answers to all of these questions. Argentius could just not bring himself to give up, though. He had to find out the answers to all of this, to sort out this mess.
It was not just that he wanted to bridge the gap between the known and unknown factors within his mind, it was also to sort out the jumbled mess within his own processor, all the why questions floating through it and haunting his every moment.
Argentius' thoughts were cut short by the light, but still noticeable beep coming from the comm link clipped to his uniform collar; switching it on with one hand.
"Commodore Septimus, standing by and listening."
"Commodore, we are approaching Grizzleheim, and will be landing in an hour and two minutes."
"Acknowledged."
Argentius turned the comm link off after he spoke. This would be a good time to turn off all of his trips down to the depths of his processor, yes, for he was still a soldier of the Supreme Commander, was he not? He was bound to follow each and every one of his commands, to carry out his will and ensure each and every one of his assignments given to him was completed to the very best of himself.
The Commodore's hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword.
They would be landing in the world soon enough, and likely diving right into a battle, and there was no such thing as being too prepared.
Stepping out of the door of his cabin, Argentius brought a hand up to hold his capello down as the winds whistled by. Grizzleheim wasn't as harsh as the lands of Polaris by the terms of climate, however, though it certainly was still cold enough for snow to land and solidify upon the lands, as the Armada frigate the Vengeance followed along the very fringes of the land, concealed by a thin layer of fog.
It was not long before a jolt went through the deck underfoot, announcing their arrival to the only fully constructed Armada outpost in the world.
"Commodore."
The one greeting them was a marine, a sergeant Commander by the appearance of his armor. He snappeds into the Armada salute as the crew of the Vegeance disembarked onto the docks.
Returning his salute, words fell from Argentius' lips smoother than he had ever expected.
"Here by the orders of the Supreme Commander to retrieve the El Dorado map piece."
"Acknowledged, Sergeant Commander Presidos Limus reporting for duty and at your command."
The other soldiers of the outpost had formed an isle for him to proceed through, Argentius marching through with Viridus' soldiers trailing him -
For not the first time that day, the comm link on his collar had beeped again, the Commodore clicking it on without taking his eyes off the path before him leading to the headquarters of the clockworks here in Grizzleheim.
"Commodore."
The one word was enough to send a shiver down his back.
"Supreme Commander."
"Upon your arrival at the world, be expecting a visit from one of my Assassins, he will point the way to the map piece, but it won't be without some resistance against you. Show me what you have, what you know, prove to me that you are worthy of this uniform you wear."
"As how you command, Supreme Commander."
Argentius could not say that he had not expected there to be some sort of force guarding the piece of El Dorado map. After all, that was well known throughout the Spiral as the objective of the entire Valencian Armada: it was obvious to anyone with even half of a clockwork's processing power that the enemies of the Armada would fight to keep those pieces out of the hands of the clockworks.
It was nearly laughable, as how humans would have put it, how those fools believed that they could keep the Armada away from their objective even temporarily.
More Argentius and his adventure in Grizzleheim! He certainly is not one to mess with, am I right? Consider the fact he was still made to be a Templar clockwork, and the Knights Templar aren't exactly a group to take mercy on anyone.
Also, heads up to anyone around here who reads Percy Jackson series or plays the game Dishonored (which, by the way, is one of the best games ever), be on the look out, since I may just be uploading some fanfic(s) about either one of those sometimes soon in the future, and very likely a one shot collection called "Interludes" which will fill in the gaps in VL/VE chapters. But before all of that, it is certain that I will be writing the requests I have been given (which is friends only, sorry, and one must be allied with the Armada) and the prequel to Ulysses' three part saga.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and reviews are much appreciated! :D
-Hades