Speech = ``...´´
Thoughts = [... ]
ºº
``First order of business is that we need to start a speedy recruitment drive to recover our losses from this cataclysm that has shook the foundations of our faction. With the chaos on the streets and the amount of casualties in the civilian populace that came through it there must be a wide arrange of orphans ripe for the taking..´´
``With what money? With what resources? Have you thought for a moment to consider that most of what we had disintegrated into that hole carved into the city or was confiscated by that pesky knights..?´´
``We can always try to manage things ourselves, it would not be the firs time stolen goods slipped through the cracks of bureaucracy, we have done so with those who were captured from their cells...´´
``Pah! Your worries pale in comparison with the true threat at hand. Instead of talking about money we should try to tackle the source of our problem and slay the bastard who did this in the name of our fallen master..´´
``And join Fenrir to the grave alongside everyone else in a mushy puddle of grinded meat? I will pass...´´
``Traitor..!´´
``Idiot..!´´
``Are you hearing yourselves? Instead of chasing ghost we should aim at the king and kill the red haired bastard. Its clear that he has a hand in this...for what is it not that the castle was spared where we stationed but the rest of the capital was raised? Clearly because whoever attacked us was told not to.. ´´
``You exaggerate, its impossible that Klaus managed to find, let alone recruit such a powerful entity without us knowing. He thinks himself as a sly one...but he is nothing more than another boot-licker for the cult..´´
``Which is why it makes the most sense! The only one that could blindside us without us really knowing while also showing a pathetic..´´
``Nonsense..´´
``No! Think about it guys-..´´
``Enough of this..! No one is killing anyone, not yet anyway. ´´
``Spoil sort..´´
``We need to be quick and precise, so what have to do is contact the Thirteen blades and try to pull out a story that we have everything under control. With them we can make the other factions not try to swing by and take what smoldering remains are left of our holdings..´´
``And how are we going to do that? I have some friends in the nobility and let me tell you, those sleezos are scheming something-
Zenon fought the urge to laugh either in bitterness or sheer madness at the sight of near a dozen of his fellow cultists shouting and gesturing at one another across a ransacked table in a dark and secluded room that was not part of the schematics of the royal palace. A location that they had made for themselves long ago in order to hide away from prying eyes and share information between members in case such secrecy was needed from other members of their own faction.
And it had started so well…
His lips barely curled in the displeasure that he felt…., watching them fight and argue like children yet with far less class as threats and barks filled the air. Still, given the extraordinary circumstances that had happened during these last few weeks it was not unreasonable to believe his fellow members were…. a bit peeved about things.
Sure, they had tried to maintain a dignified appearance...but it was not long before everyone started to express their displeasure and scorn which had barely been bottled up until that very moment, the sound of their arguments growing louder and louder as the minutes went by.
How did the old say went..?
Stick and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
He had been mostly protected by Fenrir back when the bastard was alive, of course the modicum of "safety" depended mostly on how useful he proved to be, and it was a no brainier that he was able to deal with petty insults on his own.
With his master gone, such previous reassurances were all but gone….and by the looks of it he was not the only one suffering from such uneasy sentiment of vulnerability and aimlessness crawling behind their backs.
The rules of the game had changed...and they were afraid of that.
Fenrir was dead.. and that terrified them.
The thought that everyone else of their faction was gone in the spam of six hours was so alien that they had yet to digest such reality.
And yet, did any of that mattered now?
Perhaps it was it true that Klaus had managed to get the upper hand and swapped the rug underneath them by recruiting someone powerful enough to blast them like ants against a hurricane, perhaps the swords were about to grow out of their placid playground and try something foolish, perhaps they were lacking the resources and materials to buy their way out of the usual problems.
However the problem was that they lacked information, anything to understand what they were facing and what path they should walk towards to.
They were blind for the lack of a better word.
The blond noble leaned against his seat, the darkness of the room obscuring his features just enough to keep away from notice the distaste at such weakness, glancing around him, at each and every face now twisted mid snarl or under the hold of a look of disdained disbelief.
Seeing with living eyes how that very same fear that he could breath inside the room was now the motor of each and every of their decisions. And because they were all too fucking similar, a bunch of crooks who wanted to guard their own self interest they could not get on track on anything for more than five minutes.
Marious was nothing more but bloodthirsty little shit, he did not care about anything but having his pound of flesh.
Zetch was a lazy money grabbing schemer, playing too much the waiting game and politicking rather make any actual field work.
Elton was a conspiracy lunatic, seeing more shadows than anything else.
None had the gravitas to win over the rest of fence sitters who watched the entire ordeal with apathetic interest…...No, that was wrong. There was one…., the only one of them who like him was not reacting to these unfortunate chain of events like the rest were.
His eyes narrowly close into thin slits as they glared at Adder. The thin, serpentine faced like man sitting in eerily contemplation of the ruckus around him just like Zenon did, yet that did not meant that he was impassive about it. One soft downwards curl of his lips, a faint twitch of his eyes, the softest of creases forming on his forehead telling that the backstabbing bastard was thinking foul again.
However, when their eyes met, Adder could not help but break away from his self impose stoicism...and give solely to him a vipers smile that made his blood ran hot inside his veins. The petty smugness on those eyes telling him of one thing. That he knew...
A preposterous thought, but one that would not leave him be,
Perhaps born out of that nagging feeling that Adder was more like him than he would have liked, waiting the right moment to take control of this gallery of fools.
``And what about you…. Zenon?´´
The words slip through the serpents lips softly, almost a whisper...but no whisper had felt so vile to his ears, his teeth grinding against one another. Zenon could feel the piercing sensation of several pairs of eyes darting away from their poignant arguments while insults die midway as everyone stopped...to look at him.
Waiting
Expectant...
``You have been awfully silent, I hope you have a proposition for our precarious situation...´´
[So this is your play? Draw attention to me..? What are you, five?]
It was insulting to be honest.
To be underestimated in such a way...or perhaps that was the plan, he had lost count of the many different attempts the parrot who liked to hover over the King of Midgards shoulder like to employ just to rile him up.
To make him more tense
Aggressive.
His lips slowly curled upwards..., his body starting to lean forward, gloved hands grasping tightly the edges of his seat as he stood up among his fellows.
And yet, why should he reject an opportunity when it presented itself so readily..?
``Actually, I have….´´
º
º-...Kingdom of Midgard: Capital...-º
º
When he had first come to learn about the servant's secret tunnels underneath the state, he had to stop himself from smacking his own head or bit his lip in order to avoid snidely remarking the first thing that came to my mind about such blunder of secrecy.
Specifically at the utter nonsense of making public to dozens if not hundreds of different dregs whose alliances could be easily swayed with a promise or two of gold to what should otherwise be pathways meant to keep the bloodline of the family away from harm when the time came for it.
The underground maze went even beyond the schematics of the mansion of the Pendragon family, not just reaching towards utter buildings disconnected to the main building, but they even reached a town a few miles below the plateau where the state had been built over.
Perhaps meant to traverse from prying eyes from their competitors...or other less unsavory reasons like bringing harlots to their beds since it would be in poor taste to be seen with such company through the front door.
Thanks to such laxity in their zeal, now, such secrets were open books to any soul that entered service to the family. How they had not been killed off yet baffled him.
Back in his time the first chip on the armor was always followed by a stamped of rats that followed the stench like a cancer on a festering wound. The higher your position in the current echelons of power, the more brutal the ending that awaited you were you...to fail victim to your competitors.
A mask of pleasantries on the outside if only for the ignorant, powerless masses, a survival of the fittest policy behind close doors to those who played the game of thrones.
Did this mean that the people of Midgard were not that far gone?
No.
Not by a long shot, rats were rats no matter where or what guise they wore. They just had not grown bold enough to cause civil wars on whims.
But they would get there.
They would.
The present lack of violence towards the Pendragons could be explained through other means, like the patronage the Family had gotten from the cult. A relationship of convenience that had bear its fruits after decades..it not centuries of work behind the scenes.
However one that had turned now unreliable to depend on, now more than ever given the present circumstances he had left the capital in after his first "visit"
Adding to that, destroying and rebuilding the tunnels while also taking "hold" of the servant situation would be necessary if only to at least ease the phantom pain it brought to his intelligence the presence of such failure at security.
However, until that time came….that did not mean that he could not exploit such failures to his own benefit.
Case in point how he had reached Midgard with no one the wiser after replacing the driver who would go in a supply run to the heart of the nation.
It was closer than he thought it was.
He tilted his head to the side, glaring apathetic at the buildings of that rose around him from the ground. Their shapes and forms far better in shape that he thought they should be for people fighting with muskets and swords, denoting a better understanding of architecture than the usual "pile stones and glue them with magic" method of the Ashalam academy….though it wasn't like he had been paying much attention to it the first time he came around either.
Without that hunger to spill the blood of his preys his eyes could get a better glimpse of the nation of that red haired princess he had met that day.
Broad streets where people in their hundreds walked by under the gentle breeze of morning. Clean, paved roads where carriages carried within them at a slow pace either people or whatever items their owners thought fit.
And though the predominant source of construction through the entire landscape seemed dominated by the presence of rock and glass…., there was surprisingly a peculiar presence of green areas too, as if to provide a place outside the maze of identical streets and avenues.
For a nation that had just come out of the basket...it was not a bad design, not at all.
And yet...he he could not force himself to like it.
Not one bit.
No matter how much he tried he could not spot any crooked towers made of molten iron and ice that rose from the soil and reached up high to the heavens like the cold clutches of a petty god, product of the sheer arrogance and determination of man to emulate after their gods.
No sign of floating dark cathedrals built to last eons, their thick oxidian walls glimmering in their dark glory under the heavy weight of a sick day, bringing forth that gut wrenching feeling of hopelessness and sheer awe of the shadow they cast down below by miles around.
No tainted air with the sulfuric taste of tens of thousands of years of magic and memory's of its populace drenched into the very stones themselves they walked, until they too were pummeled to dust and joined the rest in the gentle breeze that blew through.
No streets voicing that song-less tune of melancholy of better times long past, where the heroic tales of heroes and gods were now nothing but a memory clung with fervor and pride born from stubborn men wanting to bring the taste of gold from said glories.
No mythical beasts could be overheard or seen wandering under the watchful eyes of their owners either in the streets or the skies above the capital, no tumultuous scenes of different species so different that defied comprehension stuck together, no sign of the mechanical hum of gears of golems and other artifacts working at large or the smallest stir of arcane machinery.
Not even the buildings escaped from his passive loathing, for they were void of any history and soul..., their shapes all uniformed instead of diverging into all sorts of forms and sizes through the myriad of cultures and philosophies of their occupants, noble or common, dammed or beloved. Like an esoteric canvas given life..instead they were all condemned into an ugly standardization.
He closed his eyes, his lips closing to a thins cowl..
Midgard just could not compare with the never ending golden plateaus of the former Reichk Empire capital were death was a faint memory and eternity was just as certain as the color of gold.
Or the Umbral shadowy bathed fields in ethereal arcane of the Land of Shadows, were the darkness that the very gods loathed and feared as the chains of fate had long ceased to exist under the watchful gaze of Iron...
No, Midgard could not begin to compare…. perhaps that was why he felt so cheated.
...
..
.
He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. perhaps it was not fair to compare this alien world to his own...but it just felt wrong to be here. Why..?
The answer should have been simple.
This city was young.
This kingdom was too fresh.
And so was the world the cult had come to know and later take control of if the memories of those he killed had anything to tell him.
And yet... such line of thought revealed an outrageous contradiction.
And that was Aurora.
His eyes furrowed as he thought about the purple haired menace that lived rent free in his mind if only to make him smile with her antics, about the Sanctuary...and the foul essence that still came from her soul.
Something that predated her...and yet was tied to this world all the same.
[What are you hiding from me…, you mischievous little one]
``Young Lord, is there something wrong..? ´´
Sashas shy voice brought him back from questioning further the source of it, something that he did albeit begrudgingly.
Slowly, tilting his head to the side, he met her gaze who turned timid once she realized the intensity behind the depths of his silvery eyes.
He doubted she would believe him if he told her that the reason why he was in a bad mood came from the thought that Midgard sucked as a city, let alone a capital.
``Nothing, it was nothing….Sasha´´
``Are you sure? You looked….troubled´´
``Just….surprised by the sights´´ [not in a good way though] ``And Please, I told you to refer to me as just Kol while we are here, we don't really want people to find out about this, right?´´
An improbable thing to be sure, however, he had learn well never to leave things to chance so foolishly either.
A little bit of caution never hurt anyway.
``Ah right- my apologies you-I..right, sorry..´´ Sasha tried to apologize, only to end up stumbling in her own words in the process, leading to a blushing mess of a girl that tried yet failed to met his gaze.
It was like watching a pet lower their head in shame after been caught chewing on something they shouldn't.
He sighed inwardly, especially at the brief reminder of a certain short, silver haired elf with a terrible tendency to apologize for everything.
Even..when they shouldn't.
``Just breath in and out...´´ He muttered more than said, tired enough for today of reminiscing about the past.
That somehow made it worse and better at the same time as she started to blush even harder. Strange...
``T-thanks., I will do my best Kol...´´ She sputtered out, the enthusiasm in her response was not necessarily needed, especially with the way she pumped the air with her fist.
But it was not unwelcome.
They made their way through the city and their crowded avenues, walking under the shade of the sun beaming down on them from afar as they passed by street after street.
The wind blew the aroma of certain perfumes on the air when they made their way through parks where men and women were trying to courtship one another.
His eyes studied the way carriages handle themselves through the bloated streets, watching them bring back and forth their occupants to their destinations. Their thoughts open for inspection, exposing such insultingly mundane lives...and some which were not nearly as much.
From gardens to towers to a coliseum, they passed by as his red haired guide tried to tell him what little she knew of the story of each and every place they went., though he was more interested on the way she spoke those things than the actual information that she was sharing.
There was a story there, behind those emerald eyes of hers. A certainty in her tone that would have made someone curious about how someone as timid as her could speak so passionate of things she knew just the basics about.
Sometimes Sasha tried to convince him to buy a few treats from whatever local vendors. He had tried to deter her from it...but, she had been strangely insistent on trying to lighten his mood up for some reason. He indulged her of course..., for better or for worse he already had practiced with stubborn women by now.
A certain trouble maker came to mind.
º
º…Pendragon family state...-º
º
Men and women of different ages and sizes worked without stop, their diligence alone been the organ that pumped the blood of order and stability inside the walls of the state just like any other day before it.
Though it was not something that mattered much to a certain light blue haired girl that rested comfy in an opulent couch while she ate a rather appealing looking cake baked just for her and the sweet aroma of recently brew tea to accompany it on the table.
And why would she..?
Servants worked while their betters enjoyed life at its fullest.
That was life as it should be. Anyone who said otherwise was just another fool to ignore, and it wasn't like Sarisha could not care less However, before she could get another spoon of her cake..she sneezed.
``Urgh, is someone talking about me..?´´
``Is there something wrong, young miss?´´
A blush flared on the young girls features at the momentary lack of focus.
``I-nothing….get me more cake, and bring me another cup of tea, this one is already getting cold!´´
``As you wish my lady... ´´
Droned the servant with a simple bow, picking up the stray in order to retrieve more as she watched him walk away towards the kitchen.
``Urgh, useless servants, why do I have to do everything for them?´´
Also...where was her brother?
She had not seem him since that atrocious breakfast with her mother…., urgh, you know what? She would rather not know.
º
….Back to the capital….
º
Still, that did not mean that he was not aware of what she was doing. Showing her the best parts of the city, yet keeping the broken and the ugly away from sight.
Perhaps fearing that he was too "young" for such...things
Oh, if only she knew.
However none of this meant that this travel was in vain, mapping the entire city and leaving his mark all over he went would suit his future endeavors well.
Though the hours passed and they continue to trail down the path laid down the street he could denote the way the buildings were changing, the colors less vibrant, the buildings looking slightly more older and the narrower.
Less people too.
And he could guess why...
His eyes narrowing as he took on the details that Sasha had not seem yet, their shapes fuzzy in his memory as he tried to recall...everything he had done that day.
The screams..
The bright stain of blood and guts caked into his boots.
And the taste of men dying in his lips.
The blood may had been cleaned up from the cobblestones, but the marks of claws and bullets were still engraved deep like scars on either stone and wood. Leaving behind an ugly memento for the days to come that not that long ago this place was a battleground.
The city could try pretend nothing had happened, but deep down they felt unsettled.
``We are on the south east part of the capital, if you go to the south north you will find the red district...but I would not recommend it Kol...´´
He titled his head. ``And why is that..?´´
Her cheeks turned glossy red, her eyes wavering away from his gaze.
``I-I mean...you are really strong and you could d-do whatever you want. I have seem you training on the arena many times to attest to that..´´
``Uhu….?´´
``B-but I think it would be better if you were to grow a little older before you try anything there..´´
``Wait…, what..?´´
``S-sorry...I-I just thought I would be your first..´´
If panic alarms were not ringing in his head before, they surely were now as he fully turned around to look at her.
``I-anyway, I don't think we should move farther than this place. I heard that up ahead the poor neighborhoods start and there is all sort of thugs and problems down the line...i-in fact there is a rumor of a serial killer on the loose! I could not in good conscious lead you there..´´
A bead of sweat slid behind his head.
[You couldn't have said that from the very beginning, couldn't you?]
He was not gonna question where she had come up with such…. idea. The teasing that he would get from Aurora was already bad enough.
..
..
..
Though..
Now that he thought about it.
She was been awfully silent right now.
He shook his head, pushing that thought away. Whatever reasons the ghost may have to keep quiet were not his problem. In fact, it was better this way.
Fewer chances for a headache...or some senseless question she was so prone to...
Soon, his eyes soon caught sight of something to his side, out of the main street, inside of what appeared to be a dimly lit, crooked alleyway, a faint, almost dried ichor of iron hovering in the air, and in that direction stood a group of caped individuals, surrounding something on the ground.
All uniformed.
Yet none reeked of Auroras stench...
His gaze shifted from them….onto the frail, oddly and too expensively dressed shape of a little girl, a noble of sorts if nothing else, trying….and failing remarkably to pry on the gruesome leftovers hidden from view by the guards. Neither the distance nor her long soft shaded hue of scarlet hair were able to hid away the ever growing frown in her face.
It was easy to hear what they were talking about.
``Sir, please... stand aside and let me in. I have to see this..´´
``With all due respect my lady….this is a crime scene, not and pardon my language somewhere to screw around..´´
``That is why I want to see it..a-and of course I would not tamper with the evidence. I would not want to disturb your work..´´
The man looked behind his back, grimacing on the spot at may lay on the ground before looking back at the girl.
``I don't really get why you are so thrilled about any of this, there is not even much left to see to be honest..´´
Light blue eyes flinched at the implication of the statement, yet she did not allow herself time to let her mind wander in that direction. Biting her lip, she straightening herself up as much as she could.
Trying to look more mature.
More sure of herself.
In control.
Oh, what one would give to be young again….
``It doesn't matter…, I-it will be enough´´
``What a weird ass girl..´´
``What was that..?´´
``Nothing, nothing at all.´´
``Right..´´ She muttered, eyes squinted in doubt.
[She really does not get the message through her head, does she...?]
With a weak shrug the man placed his hand on his hip, though that would be what one would think from his position when in truth he had placed his gloved fingers around the pommel of his sheathed blade.
``Anyway, I am not going to do that nor I would even if I wanted to..´´
``W-why?´´
``Why? Because its my job to do so, now... why are you even here? This is no place for a little girl...´´ The guard stated with a harsh tone, not hiding away what he really thought about her presence.
The girl, was not deterred by that though
``If this is another attack of the ghost...there could be a clue on the body of when it took place or what he may committed...´´
``Then that would be a matter for the knights to look into, not yours Christina..´´
The voice of a round, fat man that was even more ludicrously dressed than the girl came into view. Guards saluted yet took a step back, letting the red haired girl in the line of fire of a not very amused parent.
Auroras stench was faint in him.
Of course it was…
``F-father? What are you doing here?´´
``Called to deal with a… "situation"
The pig growled through his teeth, fat fingers clumsily brushing a hand against the top of his balding head, the twitch on his lips clearly denoting the anger barely contained.
His small eyes glaring at the knight to his side, a silent nod given in response before he turned to regard his daughter in full.
``The same cant be said for you, is it..?´´
``I-´´
``Enough of this, Christina. I have no time to indulge in your fantasies this time, leave the Knights to work and discuss things with me and go back to the carriage. Now..´´
``But father, I was just trying to-´´
The loud sound of a slap silenced her voice with a pained yelp.
``No buts, I told you to stay at home and you ignored me. I told you to stay in the carriage so why did you saw fit to wander into a crime scene of all places..? Where is your obsession about that killer going to end!? Don't you see how you are tarnishing the Hope name by wandering on your own like that…!?´´
Christina bit her lip, though whether it was by the sting of pain laid across her features or something else depended on the onlooker. Her small, little hand balling into fists while her eyes swayed from her father to the ground underneath her feet.
``I-I am sorry...´´
[Liar...]
Her father sighed, rolling his eyes before placing a hand on her shoulder. ``Just go back to the carriage, we will talk about this at home….´´
The red haired midget nodded her head, walking away from the scene...though not before glancing at his general direction. Their eyes meeting for a brief moment...before she continued on her way.
He knew her kind.
The stubborn one
``Kol...? Is something wrong?´´
``...´´
``You stopped all of a sudden...´´
``Who are those..´´ He asked feigning ignorance, pointing a thumb to the group of men that he had watched by a while by now.
``Who..?´´ Muttered the red haired girl until her gaze found what he was talking about ``Oh..! Those are Black knights…´´ Was the maids quaint, yet honest reply.
It was a rather useless answer to be honest, though he did not share that thought out loud.
``They don't look wearing anything Black to me…, a ritualistic name...?´´
``I suppose…?´´
He looked at Sasha with a raised eyebrow.
``I-I mean...I have never stopped to question the meaning of that. People here call them Black knights and I guess it stuck..?´´ She sputtered in a panic, fidgeting with her fingers.
He shook his head with an inward sigh. When he had asked for information he had not expected to just be given gossip that only a children could come up with.
Well, it did not matter much...
``I see.., still, a strange place for a congregation..´´
``I...don't think that is what they are doing..´´
[Of course they are not….] He thought to himself as he looked away from the whole ordeal, long strides pulling him and Sasha away from been noticed by prying eyes. There was no point to stand idle there any more.
The detective games were long over when one already knew the answer...
Besides, there were things that needed to be done and a place he wanted to be, and perhaps a ghost to avoid in the process, though he knew that last one was not a given.
His hand slid into the inner pocket of his fur jacket and pulled a slim, folded sheet of paper that had not been there previously.
``Sasha, I want you to do something for me..´´