The relief that washed through Argentius upon re-entering the capital of the Valencian Empire could not be described by human words.
Wind rippled through his uniform coat, lightning flashing in the distance in a way not so unexpected of the world of Valencia, the home of eternal storms: moist wind puffing softly against his face.
Armada ships patrolled the skies of Valencia, overwatching each and every inch of this fair empire ever so vigilantly: each and every single one of these clockworks the loyal soldier of the Supreme Commander Kane II, silent and unwavering -
Who do you serve?
Argentius' fingers tightened into a fist at his side. As much as the journey back to Valencia had been smoother and shorter than their voyage to the world of Grizzleheim, it had done little to help him keep his mind off of the battle currently raging within him, and perhaps had only made it worse.
Seeing all these other soldiers of the Valencian Armada only brought the questions back within his processor, those questions of where he belonged, and who he truly served. Was he truly the soldier of the Supreme Commander Kane II, a loyal clockwork of the Armada the way his programming seemed to dictate -
Or was he Atticus' follower, as how those flashes of memory stated?
It was all too confusing, this jumble of memories.
There were far too many questions unanswered, stretching the gap between the known and the unknown factors to a degree far too large to be good.
To any outside observer that may have been watching them as the ship pulled into the docks of the clockwork fortress of Cadiz, the Commodore would have appeared as any clockwork of the Armada should - tall, straight, silent and emotionless - while he was all but that.
Each of his steps felt like weights had been strapped to his legs, dragging him down even more with each and every single step he had taken toward the Supreme Commander's office. After all, the Emperor of the Valencian Empire had given him a order, for him to report back to him first thing after his return to the empire's fair capital.
With this guiding him, Argentius passed the pair of Royal Guards posted by the entrance of the building that was the primary headquarters of the Armada, and the home of the Armada elites. By this point, it was simply a mechanical march toward the heavy double doors of the Supreme Commander's study.
Down the hallway, turn right.
There, the heavy oaken doors loomed before them, shut tightly - even though the Armada Commodore could sense the presence of the Supreme Commander behind it: his heartbeat ever so steady, the sound muffled by the double door.
Argentius found himself halting in his tracks, however, a moment later.
Somehow he had failed to pick it up as he made his way toward the doors, right about where he stood now, directly outside, but he could hear the sound of voices, each syllable and word as clear as day.
"How many more pieces are still out there?"
"After the Commodore returns, there will only be one piece out of our reach, Commander."
Silence, then a string of barely suppressed, high - pitched sounds that took Argentius several minutes to realize was the Supreme Commander's laughter. Even in his current state, it was nigh impossible to deny that his voice had a certain silken quality to it, with his Valencian accent thick with each word:
He isn't wearing his mask.
The realization came upon the Armada Commodore mere seconds after he had picked up on the sound of the Supreme Commander's voice. Argentius could only recall a small handful of times when the Emperor of the Valencian Empire had removed the flawless mask from his thin, gaunt face, one of those times being when he was captured and held prisoner within the dungeons of Cadiz.
Gloved hands curled into fists at the memory.
Why he was imprisoned in the dungeon, he recalled, was due to the fact he had attempted to assassinate the Supreme Commander. He had attempted to remove him from his throne, only to be subdued by the hands of the human now leading the clockwork forces of Valencia with a few quick strokes of his blade.
The force slamming into his stomach was inhumanly strong, throwing him back against one of the massive pillars in the throne room: only a little short of shattering his spinal column with the sheer force of it.
Argentius felt it, he felt the jolt of pain up his back, the phantom pain left behind from the incident. One of his hands reached behind him, tracing his fingertips along the area where his body had struck the column in the throne room. There were no wounds, no markings of any kind left on his skin from the impact.
Everything was falling into place like pieces of a puzzle, even the scattered memories that he had just barely preserved after they had flashed before his eyes. It made sense as to why he was so torn between them, between the Supreme Commander and the one that had created him, Atticus Mercilus -
"Commander, we must also not forget that El Dorado is not far away from becoming the property of the Armada, as how it supposed to have been since the very beginning."
El Dorado? Yes, after all, there is only one last piece remaining that is not yet in the hands of the Armada.
"Once Argentius brings it back, yes - "
Another barely stifled laugh, airy and without true emotions behind it. Only a madman would have been able to produce this kind of sound, and this particular madman was none other than the Supreme Commander of the Armada.
His stability is practically nonexistent by this point.
His stability - such had not existed when the Supreme Commander had altered his alliance, and such was even more so at this point in time. Despite his current location outside of the door of the Lord of Valencia's study, Argentius could hear it in his words, as clear as the storms that would oh so often rage over the fair capital of the Valencian Empire.
"Commander..."
Silence.
He will know that you are there.
The logical part of his processor was all but screaming at him to get away, to turn around and make his way back to his own office before the Supreme Commander exited from the chamber, before he could catch him here eavesdropping on the private conversation between him and the lieutenant commander Servius Decimus (as there was no other officer in Cadiz that had a voice like that, harsh yet surprisingly monotonic).
"You truly do worry me, Commander."
A pause.
"I fear what would happen to you..."
His voice trailed off there, and Argentius was certain he could hear the panicked sound of the elite sniper's breathing, accelerated and irregular, no matter how much he had attempted to control it (from what he could hear).
"Enough."
The single word sent a chill down Argentius' back. The Supreme Commander's voice had sounded so hollow, so emotionless, completely inhuman. It was unlike the voice of the clockworks, a organized monotone, his voice was empty, as if he was not completely there, as if he was focused on something else while he spoke.
"Didn't I order for you to drop this subject entirely, Servius?"
He never refers to any of the officers by their first name without a title before it.
In a way, this only served to underline the severity of this entire situation.
It would be a understatement to say that Argentius did not feel fear for the Supreme Commander. After all, he was his soldier, one under his command -
Argentius found himself jerked right back into reality: the double doors of the Supreme Commander's office had opened, the elite Armada sniper walking out with what appeared to be a weight in his steps after casting a single glance over his shoulder at the figure of the Lord of the Valencian Empire, and then upon the Armada Commodore himself. Some part of Argentius could almost swear that he had seen Servius Decimus' lower lip tremble before the sniper made a sharp turn down the hallway where his patrol was located.
"Commodore Argentius Septimus."
I am one of his soldiers, one of those under his command, and he would never harm one that serves him, would he? He would not, he certainly would not.
That thought was repeated over and over in his head like a mantra of some sort, as if it would protect him from the fear that had instinctively risen within him at the sight of the thin face that belonged to the Supreme Commander of the Armada. There was something about those burning, piercing scarlet eyes that seemed to search through every inch of his being every time he looked into them.
"How much did you hear?"
So simple those five words were, and yet Ulysses had spoken with a sense of quiet authority that had completely frozen Argentius in his position: wrapping around him with a suffocating hold.
"I have only just arrived, Supreme Commander."
What am I doing, lying to the one that I am supposed to serve?!
Every single part of his programming screamed at him, demanded him to speak the truth to his Supreme Commander: he was horrified at the fact such words could roll off of his tongue oh so easily, as if some part of him was still loyal to his creator Atticus Mercilus in his memories. And perhaps this was true in some aspects, with the battle that had raged on within his own processor ever since he had returned from Grizzleheim.
"Truly, Commodore...?"
He doesn't believe you.
"Your words do lack credibility."
That was all it took to send a shiver down Argentius' back.
Kane the Second simply jerked his head in the direction of his office, a silent beckon that the Commodore physically could not disobey, no matter how much the majority of him wished to turn around and flee as far away as one possibly could.
Despite these protests within the confines of his own processor, Argentius' frame complied with the unspoken command, carrying him into the Supreme Commander's study as his superior closed the double doors behind him, locking them with a single click.
"Remain still."
And he was forced to freeze, even though Ulysses was not physically restraining him in any way. Argentius could feel his breathing rate picking up, his system furiously cycling air in and out as he tried to counter the rising temperature of his frame. Just short of breathing down his neck, the Supreme Commander circled him like a mountain lion about to close in for their kill.
I do apologize for this late update ^^; all my fault, I had the alarm for updating this on and I forgot about it once I turned it off. Anyway, I know I'm evil for leaving it off on a cliffhanger ;) but anyhow, check back next chapter if you want to know what will happen to Argentius, tehehehe.
Reviews are much appreciated!
-Hades