False Gods

Book II: Of Friends and Foes

Chapter XVII

     "So let me get this straight. You were never planning on taking us to prison?" I asked Gabriel as we walked through the bitter cold to Theoscaldia.

     "Nah, not really my style. My dad told me the Aegis had awakened and I made it my duty to give you a proper spar!" Gabriel explained.

     "He... knew I awoke? How?" Mythra asked.

     "Well, he has always been known to have the reaction speed of a thunderbolt, so who know?" Gabriel laughed.

     "I do have one question though," Kasandra asked me.

     "What's that?"

     "Why is your girlfri-" Kasandra caught Mythra's glare and corrected herself. "Why is Mythra wearing a bracelet with a core crystal attached to it?"

     We all stopped in our tracks and Mythra and I looked at the gem on it closely.

     "That's a normal core crystal?" I asked.

     "The way it's embedded in the bracelet, I didn't realize it was either!" Mythra exclaimed.

     "Come to think of it, Granny threw me a rock just like that one as we flew away. She said it 'belonged to me' or something," I pointed out.

     "Well why don't you resonate with this one then?" Mythra asked, holding up her bracelet.

     "I couldn't!" I answered. "The bracelet was given to us by Juliani. She may not have known the core crystal was here either! We have to make sure it's ok with her first."

     I reached into my pocket and pulled out the core crystal Granny had thrown me. "This one, on the other hand."

     "Resonation with that core crystal with no intent to have it registered is a grave violation of the Blade Control Corporation's terms and—" KOS-MOS began to argue before getting interrupted by Gabriel.

     "Tantal isn't controlled by the BCC, we are allies. Tantal has no such registration laws. As long as the blade never leaves the Tantalese, Urayan, Gormotti, or Leftherian boundaries there should be no issue," he argued.

     Acacia jumped in. "Stand down KOS-MOS, we have no jurisdiction here."

     KOS-MOS nodded and relaxed herself.

     I tapped the core crystal as it began to glow brightly. I then watched as a humanoid figure materialized from within the core crystal itself.

     Her hair was short and black, and we skin was black. Interestingly enough, her entire body seemed to be made out of what looked like plastic. She was held up by strings and danced around like a marionette doll. She spin around on her tip toes before bending over backwards in an unnatural fashion, looking at me upside down. Her eyes widened, one eye was purple, but the other just seemed like a broken socket.

     "I am known as... Azami," she said as she pulled out an enormous ether canon.

     She broke her own strings and swung it around, and her left eye, the one that was just a socket, began to glow with a bright purple light.

     "I am your captive. Keep me by your side... won't you?" she pleaded before giggling intensely.

     We were all immensely creeped out to say the least. Everything about her seemed so... unsettling. Well... that and I was already creeped out by dolls, especially ones of the "it can talk and move by itself" variety.

     Mythra nudged my side and I snapped out of it. "Hello Azami, I am Silas," I greeted simply.

     She immediately approached me very closely and scanned me very thoroughly. She stood a whole six inches taller than me, and it definitely didn't help with the intimidation factor.

     "My, my! I have such a cute driver! I cannot wait to see what fun we have in store!" she said excitedly.

     Acacia, who also wasn't sure how to comprehend what just happens, snapped out of it and began barking orders like usual. "Let's go, we're only about one hundred feet away from the main gate."

     "R-Right," Gabriel agreed as we all began walking.

     Soon we arrived at Theoscaldia. The entire city was made of a variety of stone bricks. Everything seemed kind of old-fashioned, except the occasional vess that would drive by, usually either leaving or coming in.
.

     "Not a lot of people can tolerate the extreme temperatures around this city, and we have to import all food and clothing. The only thing we export are brick, soil, and ice. So Tantal isn't nearly as inhabited as the other provinces," Gabriel explained as we walked towards a huge building.

     Acacia, KOS-MOS, and Poppi remained silent. Rafi kept running around and poking his head everywhere, he was definitely curious. I was quietly asking Mythra if she remembered anything about this place.

     "It hasn't changed a bit," she responded. "Although the city used to be called Theosoir, the palace name was Theoscaldia."

     "Right you are!" Gabriel explained. "My folks decided that he didn't want the palace to have a different name from the city. As far as he was concerned, he was equal to his people."

     "You're-?!" Acacia started before stopping herself and bowing. KOS-MOS did the same.

     "Hey Acacia," I asked in a bit of a sarcastic tone. "Whatcha doin?"

     Mythra, Poppi, and Rafi turned, facing the opposite direction of me and they all bowed as well.

     "Am I missing something?" I asked as I turned around to see a man, about as tall as I was, in a crown and robe with a two-handed claymore, obviously a blade-weapon, slung across his back.

     "Welcome home son!" he exclaimed.

     Kasandra giggled. "Hello Your Highness!"

     "Hey dad," Gabriel added.

     "Your Highness, Dad?" I asked in confusion.

     "Aye, you ain't the brightest one are ya?" the man laughed.

     "My name is Zeke von Genbu," the man said. "I am the ruler of the province of Tantal."

Word Count: 1,161
Character Count: 6,687