*drum roll*
And we are back in business! Sorry for the absolutely colossal wait between these chapters but, ya know, “priorities”
I’ll try and keep this brief as I’m sure you’d rather have a story then a waffle but I will say that (if you cast your minds back to a month ago) you shouldn’t expect the next chapter to be out quite so soon so don’t wait up for it. As I’ve said before; because I don’t plan stuff I can’t be sure of chapter lengths etc. and so the chapter that I have already pre-written will now be the chapter after next rather than the next one.
Anyway, the good news is that to make up for the long wait you’ve now got a big, juicy 4.7k word chapter to dig into rather than the usual approx. 3.5k.
Happy reading!
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Chapter 12 – The Magical Paradigm
The Navy’s valiant defence of our Island had been dragging on for two and a half years by this point. The soldiers and sailors were exhausted; the captains and admirals without hope and us in the Triumvirate seriously considering a full scale evacuation of the Isles down to the last fighting man. As you can imagine, this met with some “hostility” from others in high command positions. Keiser and myself were absolutely sure that flight was our only option: our plan was to abandon all defensive preparations and instead build the thousands upon thousands of transport ships that would be required for an operation of this magnitude. The Navy would then try and hold back the humans just long enough for the transports to escape south to the distant land that we knew was there but that few people had ever visited let alone settled in. The idea was to completely remove ourselves from the human’s view, travel so far away that it would not be worth the effort in terms of lives and money that it would require to follow us. We would in a sense go back to the way things were before: cut off and isolated from the rest of the world, relying on nobody but ourselves and saying to hell with the rest. Let the humans have it; let it burn for all we could care.
In this regard we were extremely lucky to have Seethe on our side. As I have said, he had been the late General Alabaster’s deputy before his promotion and so we were nervous if he would see reason and take our side or go the way his forbearer would have and sided with those who wanted to fight the humans to the bloody end. Fortunately it seemed that Alabaster’s lust for power had not affected him as much as we thought it had. Indeed, it was Seethe who held the fort against those who sought to abolish our power as supreme rulers in this emergency while me and Keiser were out of the city, seeing to the enormous amount preparations being carried out all over the Isles.
However, as time drew on it became increasingly obvious that heading south would be an extremely dangerous option in itself. The only explorers who had ever set foot there were all humans and so all their maps and charts were locked away in the human Capitol; far out of our reach. All we had were a few scraps of information that Keiser had managed to salvage from his dealings with the Templar along with a single, solitary map that had been stolen by an unknown Keidran informant in the year before the Wolf Tribe fell. So all in all we had absolutely nothing of note to go on whatsoever. For all we knew, the lands to the south might be totally uninhabitable or impossible to reach for a large ship or any number of other possibilities which would make our plan unfeasible. The situation looked grim for us indeed. If we could not run then we would have no option but to fight to the death against an enemy that was far stronger and more numerous then we were. If we could not run then it looked like we were entering the final few months of the Basitin’s existence on Mekkan.
But just as our last hope seemed to fade away, an angel came once again to our salvation. Once again, that angel was none other than General Keiser.
He called me up to his rooms in the palace late one night; said he had something important to show me and that it couldn’t wait till dawn. I have to admit I was intrigued and perhaps a little nervous of what he might want so urgently that it could not wait till morning and the Triumvirate’s weekly briefing with our captains and sub-generals. It had been so long since our last bit of good news that I thought he was going to tell me it was all over and that there was no hope left. Yet instead, he offered us one final chance, one final bid for freedom in the face of overwhelming odds. It turned out he had managed to enlist help from a most unlikely source.
I entered his chambers at one o’clock, the pale moon throwing leaping shadows against the marble walls like dancing marionettes and observed him sat in his chair by the great window, staring out at a bleak world. As I entered he turned away from his private reflection and faced me, the moon behind throwing his form into sharp relief.
“We have only one hope left,” I remember him saying, the words chilling me to my core.
“More reports come back from the south lands every day and each one is nothing but snowfields and uninhabitable wasteland. Even if we could get there, there would be no chance of settling even for a few months let alone the rest of our lives. So… with no other option, I’ve been forced to consider a path that I had never dreamed we would use. I’m sorry to jump this upon you but I had to wait until it was the last resort. Lest my actions be considered… treasonous.”
My mind was awash at this point, a thousand possibilities of what he might have done racing through like a stampede of horses. What escape route could be so dangerous that he had to keep it to himself? What could be so hazardous as to require keeping Seethe and myself in the dark? Treason… I dreaded what was coming next.
He continued with a slight hesitation, “I’ve made a deal with an… old associate from my time in exile. He’s the only person with the kind of expertise that we need right now and his only condition was that he would come along with us when everything was completed.”
I looked at Keiser hard, trying to read his expression in the gloom. What was he hiding?
Keith hesitated again before speaking, “There is only one slight… issue.”
“Or you could call it a stroke of good fortune.”
I whirled around to face the voice that had emanated out from a darkened corner of the room. There, sat in a comfy chair and with a cowl pulled over his eyes, was a man. He stood up and took several paces forward so that he was now partially illuminated in the light streaming in through the window from the baleful stare of the moon above. Shrugging his shoulders, the man drew back the hood that was hiding his features and revealed his face in the slight of the pale moon. I was shocked. Stunned.
Keiser had brought a human into the palace! I could do nothing but stare despite every instinct screaming at me to draw my sword and summon the Du’hadrin Guard to my defence and kill our hated enemy. But something held me back. Instead I turned to Keiser, “What the hell have you done brother! This IS treason! How could you have thought otherwise?!” I was trying to keep my voice low but I could feel the pure rage and hatred seeping out in my words. I could only hope that no one came to investigate. Keith held up his hand,
“Marcus, believe me I know what this looks like but you have to understand that I had no choice! You know our situation here: we are running out of both options and time and I could think of nothing else that would allow us to escape what would be inevitable if we did not flee,” he hissed out his words like a viper. “I met Mercer a long time ago and I completely trust in him and his skills. You will have to as well if we have any chance of surviving the next few years.”
My anger was starting to ebb away as the truth of his words hit home. He was right, we had no options left to us save for defending our homeland and dying to the last man and woman. Whatever “skills” this Mercer character had, it was better than the thought of watching my people be put to the sword without mercy or dignity. I took a deep breath, “Ok. What is it you’ve planned with him, Keiser?”
Keith looked to the man still half hidden in the shadows.
“I used to be one of the Templar, back before Trace Legacy took over and turned the organisation from a school of magic and learning into an occult army bent on domination. I studied a particular field of the arcane arts that was primarily concerned with the movement of matter over distances. It’s called “Telekinetics”, perhaps you’ve heard of it?”
I shook my head; magical theory had never been my strong point. That was Seethe’s job.
Mercer continued with a wave of his hand, “No matter; all you need to know is that when used properly it has the power to transport objects… even people… across continents if so desired. It all depends on the power of the wielder. Within that field I specialised to specifically study an area concerned with what we called “Trans-dimensional Telekinetics” or “portals” as you probably know it”.
My ears pricked up as I started to realise what Mercer was implying. Could it be possible? Could he really transport us away from the Templar? Somewhere safe and out of even their extensive reach? I dared not hope.
Mercer had obviously noticed my joyful expression, “I’m afraid not. At least, not in the way you want. The Templars reach is far greater then I think any of you realise. I still have friends in high places within the organisation and they report that the High Council is hell-bent on seeing you eradicated off the face of Mekkan, no matter what the cost to themselves. Even if there was a place in the world you could run to, they would find you and they would follow. There is no escape from this new Templar; it is as if something beyond merely the remnants of Trace’s rule is driving them on their warpath. I sense the Masks’ hands in this…”
He sighed, exhaling a drawn out breath that told of weariness and dejection and running a hand through a head of short, blond hair. Clearly us Basitins were not the only ones feeling the effects of the Templar’s drawn out campaign for conquest.
“There is only one route I can see that will allow you to escape them forever.” He stopped talking at that point, clearly his next words weighed heavily on his mind.
“You will have to go further than anyone has ever gone before. You will have to leave the world of Mekkan entirely.”
I was astounded at this; surely he couldn’t mean that we would go “out there”, to the heavens above us? At that time, other planets were just phenomena observed by astronomers out of their own curiosity. Nobody had ever even considered that they could be habitable to life. Or even reached…
And yet here was a man, a human Templar at that, suggesting that that was exactly where we were to go. The very thought was overwhelming.
Mercer walked forward until he was but a few paces from me, locking a pair of deep blue eyes onto mine.
“You have to believe me. Not only that it is indeed possible but that it is your only chance for survival. Keith would not have asked me here if he did not believe this as well. All I require is your trust and faith that this will work. That and breathing room… something like this has never been attempted before and it will need a great deal of both power and time in order to make it happen. You’ll need to convince the people as well; I don’t expect a warm welcome but any interference could be catastrophic, especially near its completion.”
He stepped past me and stood before Keiser at his desk.
“I cannot do this alone either. My two apprentices will need somewhere to stay near our worksite as well as myself and we will also require a large amount of reagents. No three people can contain the sort of power we are dealing with here without help so we will need something that we can store it in. I’ll give you a full list of what I need when you have convinced your subordinates of the plan. After we have everything, our task should be done before the year is out. And then… it is all down to you.”
I distinctly remember closing my eyes at this point, the craziness of it all swamping my mind in a rushing torrent. What Mercer was suggesting was not even possible… and yet it was our last role of the dice. I laughed; our very existence hinged on a plan so insane that even the Templar had not contemplated attempting it. But it was all we had.
I opened my eyes again, a new surge of determination coursing through me. It was decided then: the Basitins would escape not by land or sea, not by might or luck but instead by magic. A human mage and his apprentices would create a portal not to another part of Mekkan as I had first thought but to another planet, another WORLD, entirely.
Ludicrous and yet brilliant at the same time. I think you can guess where we finally ended up.
–From the autobiography of Arms General Marcus Kain, first published in 1975
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“First, tell… tell me how the hell you’re still alive. It’s been 92 years and yet you look no older then when you disappeared.”
Keith looked at him coolly; if the boy’s mind wasn’t blown already it would be after this.
“You remember how, throughout our history, we have always had one great disadvantage compared to the other races. That of magic. It was our lack of any magical ability that allowed the Templar to drive us away, allowed the Templar to kill without fear for themselves. Well, the simple truth of the matter is that we have been lied to. For countless generations we have been told that magic is the dominion of the humans and Keidran and that who needs magic when you have Basitin might. The truth is, however, that Basitins can and always have been able to use magic since the days of old. It’s just a matter of knowing how.”
With a quick glance at the rocky floor, Keith closed his eyes for a brief moment, lips moving in a silent incantation. From out of nowhere, a loud scraping sound echoed its way around the tunnel as hundreds of rocks and stones that littered the ground rose up into the air in perfect harmony, stopping at head height and gently revolving around their own axis. Keiser looked at the astonished Basitin in front of him, his demeanour showing not even a hint exertion.
“This is the power that a Basitin or any mind can wield. All it requires is the proper instruction and a bit of natural flair.”
The rocks gently descended again to their original resting places, “Nothing is set in stone for us, Hawk. Any rule can be re-written if you have the right ink.”
James was dumbfounded, his very notions of what was true and what was false shattered like glass. Their greatest disability, the one that had cost them their home and their pride, was nothing more than an illusion of ignorance.
“But… I thought that our minds couldn’t handle magic power. That it destroyed us if used to much! Like with General Alaric!”
Keith leaned back against the wall, a distant expression on his face, “You’re right, it was and it does. Too much power corrupts the soul. You know that applies to any situation you can think of and it also applies to the teaching of magic. Many races have a certain affinity of the arcane; they can lean it and use it with greater ease than others; the Templar being a fine example. Those people can handle much more power much sooner than others. But just because you don’t have an affinity with magic doesn’t mean you can’t still be taught.”
Keith rubbed his temples as if conjuring up a painful memory.
“Alaric… was foolish. He believed that the Templar could teach us what we had long ago believed to be impossible. But he tried too much too soon and it almost destroyed him. Our minds cannot handle that much power at the start, we need to start slow and build up to what other races would consider to be the most basic of spells.”
A few sparks of light played across his hand, “But we can learn.”
Hawk’s face was unreadable, a mask that betrayed no hint of his true thoughts or emotions. But Keiser knew what he would be feeling; it would be the same things that he had when he first learned the truth, all those years ago in a different lifetime. Suddenly Hawk’s eyes flashed and he looked Keith straight in the face,
“What of that cavern?” he said, the fire burning again, “What was the place, that… thing in the centre? Orland said it was a fusion generator… but that’s impossible right? That kind of technology doesn’t even exist.”
The former General Keiser looked at him with a demure expression, “Not using Earth technology, no. But as you might have guessed, we are dealing with something far more than that.”
He sat down on the rocky floor and studied his hands, trying to formulate what he knew in a way the younger Basitin would understand. Finally he looked back up.
“What you saw there was a project that fused both human technology from Earth and magical technology used by the Templars. A fusion generator is impossible for Earth humans because they cannot stabilise it enough to produce constant power because so much energy is required to heat up the reaction chamber. However, if another source of power could be found, one which they could convert and use for their own ends… then fusion is perfectly possible.” Kesier sighed and cast his eyes downwards again; clearly he didn’t like what he had to say as much as his subordinate didn’t like to hear it.
“That column of light you saw in the centre was that power. Magical power. Raw and simple, unrefined and extremely dangerous. But if it can be properly harnessed and converted, its potential is almost unlimited. This kind of power is what the Templars drew from the ground; it gave them their strength and their abilities, all their lust for conquest to.”
Hawk straightened up, “But if magic exists on Earth, how come the humans here cannot use it? Why is magic only limited to Mekkan?”
“It’s not.” It was Crow who answered this time. He ruffled his wings gently and then continued, “Magic exists everywhere. It’s a fundamental part of life and is found wherever life exists. These humans have just forgotten how to use it and now they believe it to be just a fairy-tale and so none of them try to regain what they lost thousands of years ago. But just because they can’t use it doesn’t mean that the magic disappears. Raw power tends to cluster together in streams and rivers under the surface called Ley Lines. It’s from these that the most power can be drawn…”
“…And is what Orland was manipulating beneath Sangin,” Keith finished.
Hawk’s brain was hurting by this point and he rubbed his eyes vigorously, trying to clear his mind and formulate his thoughts.
“But why would he do such a thing? How could he do it? There’s no way something that big could just be built overnight with no one noticing; even in Afghanistan.”
A dark look crossed Keiser’s face when he said that,
“Vezax. It must be.”
Crow however did not look convinced, “How big are we talking here? If I’m hearing this right then this sounds like way too big a job for one man to orchestrate. Sounds to me like your Vezax has friends to high places. Very high places.”
Crow placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “I know you want revenge but… this may be too big a target, even for you. You’re not ‘General’ Keiser anymore old friend; maybe you should just be thankful you’re alive.”
Keith stood up from the rocky floor, “You know I can’t just let this slide Crow! That traitor killed my brothers in there! I let this happen once before… and I’ll be damned by the Masks if I ever let it happen again. I don’t care who is in league with Vezax or what they’re trying to accomplish. I will see them all dead for this.”
He flexed his fingers and raw power began to crackle between them. He looked over to Hawk who had been sitting mute throughout, barely hearing, his mind in turmoil.
“Are you with me?” he said, “they were your brothers to; your friends. I… we were betrayed once before, Hawk. Help me make sure it never happens again.”
For a long time James did nothing, he simply stared into the blackness of the cave wall, his face a blank sheet. After a while though he turned towards his leader, his general, his hero and gave a single, solitary nod.
“Of course,” he said, “my best friend was in that chamber with me.”
He clenched a fist and blood started to fleck the ground.
“I’ll kill the [censored] with my bare hands if I have to.”
Crow shifted his position slightly, flexing his wings and sitting up straighter against the jagged wall.
“I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into kid. A few sparks can go a long way but by the sound of it you’re dealing with much more than some petty traitor here. An organisation that can create a magical-technology fusion is not something to be trifled with. Even on Solaris we don’t have that kind knowledge.”
He turned to Keith, “I wouldn’t expect the kid to know any better but you know as well as I do that this won’t be as easy as just killing someone.” He turned back to Hawk, “Do you actually know what you’re letting yourself in for? Do you have even an inkling of the sort of power we’re talking about here?”
The drake sighed, “I’m sorry, I don’t presume to tell you your business but Keith talks like you’re one of Us when you’re just a normal person. You’ve never even experience magic before and yet you want to rush headlong into something like this like it’s a flesh and blood enemy that can be shot and killed. If you’re committed to going along with this, you should at least a vague sort of idea about the powers we’re dealing with.”
Crow stood up from where he had been sitting cross-legged on the floor but as he did so his face gave a peculiar twitch and suddenly the serious expression was replaced by a sort of half-smile. As he started speaking again, James noticed that his voice seemed slightly different to: lighter were before it had been deep.
“For example,” he said, “that little levitation and spark trick may be simple but the kind of magic keeping young Keiser here from his grave is another ball-park entirely. Tell me something James; what do you know about the ‘soul‘?”
Hawk was a little nonplussed by this sudden change of tack.
“Err… it’s the spiritual manifestation of a person’s being… or something. Religious studies was never my strong suit.”
Crow chuckled slightly, “Close enough. Now tell me another thing: why do people age?”
Hawk tried to strain his mind back to various biology lessons of yesteryear, the memory of education bringing physical pain.
“It’s the deterioration of DNA isn’t it? The code becoming permanently damaged and unable to repair itself properly.”
Crow laughed again, “Well I don’t know whatever reason those human scientists have come up with but I’ll tell you the real reason. It’s not us that age; it’s our souls.”
Hawk’s face was becoming increasingly perplexed by this point as he tried to put two and two together and kept ending up with five.
“Therefore,” Crow continued, “if you want to look as good as Keiser when you hit your first century…” he placed a finger on his forehead and closed his eyes, “you draw it out.” So saying, he retracted the digit and a silvery trail followed behind it, bathing the room in an unnatural glow.
“Soul siphoning,” murmured Keith, “used to be practised by some Earth shaman a few thousand years ago. As your soul gets older, you draw part of it away which prevents the ageing process from affecting you physically.”
“Isn’t that, like, incredibly dangerous?” Hawk whispered with a look of awe written across his countenance.
Crow smirked, “Yup, why’d ’ya think the practice died out on Earth? The few shaman who mastered it eventually got sloppy and ended up killing themselves, the practise dying with them. Even if you’re careful, you can’t keep doing it forever. Your soul’s finite after all and despite what some people might think, you can’t live without one. Usually you can buy ya ’self a couple of hundred years give or take.”
“Most of the time,” interjected Keith.
“Yeah, most of the time...” Crow’s voice drifted off and the two old friends exchanged looks.
James decided not to pursue the matter, “So how did you learn it then? If it died out on Earth and obviously wasn’t known on Mekkan or the Templar would have tried it, who taught it to you?”
Keith grimaced, “You ever read Kain’s autobiography?”
“Yeah of course,” it had all but become a school textbook.
“Then you remember Mercer, the mage who helped build the portal to Earth? To put it bluntly, he was not from Mekkan at all. He was born on Earth a long time before I ever met him. 82 AD to be precise. His original name was Titus Brutus Vorenus and he served as a centurion in the occupying Roman legions in Thrace. I don’t know the whole story but the long and short of it is that he found one of the few remaining shaman there and somehow managed to learn the art from him before he died. Since then he’s been roaming around Earth until, Masks know how, he ended up in Mekkan a few hundred years ago. The rest is history, so to speak”
Crow was giggling into a hand, “Well revelations are interesting and all but don’t you think we should go somewhere a bit more comfortable and a little less dangerous? What with the volcanic eruptions and stuff...”
Two heads cranked round to stare at Crow like mannequins in a horror movie.
“What,” they both echoed, fixating on him with murder in their eyes.
Crow held up his hands, “Hey don’t look at me! I wasn’t the one who chose to attack me in a cave system that serves as an overflow pipe for an entire volcano!”
This got the two Basitin onto their feet quick as lightening, “Where’s safe then?” asked Keith, a hint of urgency entering into his voice.
The giant smirked again, “Relax will ya? This thing only blows its top once a week or so. Last eruption was only a few days ago, we’ve got plenty of time. Just thought I’d move proceedings along a little bit. After all,” he checked a watch that seemed to have magically appeared on his wrist, “we’ve been down here for almost two hours now. Don’t you want to have your catch-up somewhere a little more comfortable? I got a nice little place not far from here, a lot nicer than a cave floor I can tell you. So long as those bloody hyena things haven’t gotten into it again somehow…” his voice trailed away as a look of annoyance crossed his face which he quickly shook off.
“Anyway, quickest way there is to follow these tunnels until they reach the base. Be about twenty minutes I reckon. Here,” a glowing light bathed the passageway in light despite the fact that Hawk could see no discernable source. “Follow me.”
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“Sir, ‘our source‘ is in the conference room and wants to speak with you.”
General Sturnn sighed, “Yes I suppose he is. Cancel all my afternoon appointments, Loki. This may take all day.”
“Yes sir.”
Sturnn stood up from his comfortable arm chair and strode over to a nondescript wooden door where he placed his hand on a panel of wood that looked identical to every other. A soft beep sounded and the locks disengaged, the door relinquishing its hold on the frame and swinging open obligingly to the General’s firm touch. Going beyond the door was like stepping into another world. Gone were the wood furnishings and the comfortable hunting-lodge-style trimmings to be replaced with cold, hard steel and pipework that seemed to run on for miles down a long corridor.
After about 50 feet, the corridor suddenly opened out on the right hand side to reveal a door not unlike one you would expect to find on a submarine: rounded corners and a giant wheel on the front for locking and unlocking it. However nothing so primitive as physical effort needed to be put in to open this one. Like most of the others in this facility, it opened with a barely audible hiss on greased hinges the moment Sturnn placed his hand on a nearby scanning pad.
As soon as he entered, the hunting lodge was back with the steel replaced by pine wood and the pipes by stuffed animal heads of varying descriptions. The room itself had a relatively high ceiling and a roaring fireplace along one wall but was entirely dominated by an enormous, ornately carved rosewood table that stretched from end to end. Dominating the table was a man.
“Colonel Vezax, so good to see you again. I trust that all is well?”
The powerful Basitin dressed in a summer suit rose from where he had been sitting in an equally ornate rosewood chair.
“I have been better, considering the PR disaster of losing most of a platoon in one day as well as the fact that morale is almost totally crushed due to the loss of most of my Wolfpack. But yes, apart from that, I’m doing fine.”
General Sturnn laughed politely, “Only one platoon? Well that’s much better then you predicted. You should be pleased!”
Vezax smiled, “Oh but I am. After all, with that tied up, you can go ahead with your Grand Plan of Word Domination. Just don’t forget my cut when you’re new emperor of the universe.”
Basitins. What strange creatures they were. For all their supposed loyalty and dedication, they didn’t seem to mind murder and deception if it got them what they wanted. How very… human.
The General finished his musings and the two of them sat down at the table. Not too close.
“You don’t have to worry about that, I am a man of my word and never let it be said otherwise. Now, why did you want to see me in person?”
Vezax scratched behind his ear, “Well firstly because this way I get an all-expenses paid trip to America on your tab. Second, I have some details of the mission which I did not want to risk talking about over the phone; no matter how good you believe your scrambling software to be.”
Sturnn did not rise to the goad, “Well you’re here now and the CIA doesn’t even know this place exists. Speak away.”
Vezax eased himself into a more comfortable position in the chair.
“Well firstly you were right about how far this ‘Orland‘ character had gotten. That little generator he had under Sangin was almost powerful enough to physically tear a hole into the Void itself. We stopped him at the right time it would seem. Whatever the case, that loose end of yours has been tied up neatly and all witnesses have been disintegrated. As far as the portal is concerned, you’re off scot free.”
Sturnn nodded his head in approval, “Well done Colonel. It seems my trust in you was not misplaced after all. Anything else?”
“Yes. I’m afraid this is the real reason I wanted to see you in person. I believe you have a traitor in your ranks.”
The General slowly steepled his fingers and looked at the Basitin with an appraising eye.
“Oh? Who?”
“You’re not going to like this. It’s your Second. The man you call ‘Loki‘.”
The General visibly twitched at the mention of the name.
“Loki?! Why? What evidence do you have of him conspiring against me? How do you know that he is a traitor?!”
Vezax looked at the ageing man in front of him with a sad smile.
“Like you I have my sources in this world. As for how I know it’s him who is the traitor…”
The Colonel raised his right hand which had been lounging lazily under the table and depressed the trigger of the silenced pistol it contained three times. The shots were barely audible over the crackling of the fireplace but their significance tolled out across the world like a death knell. Things would now be very different.
Two in the chest, one between the eyes. The Colonel never missed.
General Sturnn’s face had not even had time to register surprise at what had just happened, everything had been too quick. He slumped to the floor, leaving a good deal of himself on the chair and the wall behind; a lasting testament to his existence.
Vezax stowed away the pistol in a shoulder holster under his jacket.
“…Because I’m a traitor with him of course.”
He stood up and walked carefully passed the crumpled body, careful not to get any blood on his crisp summer suit. Padding quietly over to the door that Sturnn had first entered from, Vezax pressed a button on a small control panel set into the wall.
“Artimus. Are you in control?”
Loki’s voice echoed around the room from an invisible speaker, a feint chuckle entering his usual measured tone.
“My dear Lieutenant Alabaster; I have
always been in control.”
). Choices, choices...
