False Gods

Book III: Stolen Valor

THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF EVENTS NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL AUDIENCES. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU BE 16+ BEFORE READING. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Chapter XXI

     "Hey bro, there's a pretty blonde over there, you should get her number. Get your mind outta killing people for awhile," Zane urges Canaan through his headset as he approached Theoscaldia, in Tantal.

     The blonde was indeed very beautiful, but he wasn't interested. He preferred to be married to his work.

     "No thanks, I'll stick with what I have," Canaan replied.

     "You mean depression and your edgy outlook?" Zane teased. "Well it's alright, I did a quick search, that girl's the powerful blade that escaped with an unnamed driver from the testing lab. There's a pretty good reward for her, wanna engage?"

     "No," he said plainly.

     "Wait, what?! Why?!"

     "She's Adonis' problem, I'm not interested in doing him any favors. We're here to specifically kill King Zeke von Genbu, afterwards I will hunt down Queen Mòrag Ladair von Genbu in Uraya."

     "Right, right. You sure you wouldn't want to get a girlfriend eventually though?"

     Canaan stayed quiet before responding. "Positive, she'd only get in the way. Speaking of, how's Violet?"

      Canaan was referring to Zane's girlfriend, he'd met her at a bar and they kicked it off quick. She had beautiful, purple eyes. Canaan was honestly just surprised that Zane actually landed such a pretty girl.

     "She's doing fine. Although I'm not sure how long she's gonna believe I'm simply a computer tech developer for the BCC."

     "Just make some semi-advanced AIs, nothing compromising of course. That should help make your story more believable."

     "She wants to meet you, Canaan."

     Canaan sighed. He wished he could keep people as far away from him as possible, but he didn't want to limit his brother's options in his quest for solitude. His brother belonged in society, that much was clear, but he was still hesitant.

     "I-I'll think about it."

...................................

     "Azami, you ready to go?" I called to her through her room's door.

     "Of course my darling! Just a minute or two," she said happily.

     I walked over to Sheba, who was already ready to go, and floating around in her bathtub.

     "Do you have everything you need?" I asked her.

     "Anything I don't have you can provide later," she said in a stuck-up manner.

     "Nothing too expensive, Granny gave me a lot, but I'm not made of money," I cautioned. "And sorry I awoke you so abruptly, I promise we'll have a proper time to introduce on the way there."

     "Well then I guess we're already exceeding your usefulness then, huh peon?" she scoffed rudely.

     "Peon?" I thought to myself. Juliani and her blades had called me that. She seemed like a demanding blade, so I did my best to bite my tongue from that point on.

     I approached Acacia's room and was about to knock on her door when I heard arguing.

     "Will you stop that?!" Acacia yelled.