The Silver Seer

Chapter 31: Black Smoke

"Are you Ko- my captain?" Reko stops himself from saying the term he usually addresses Felix by, coming to the conclusion this person might not understand what the word means.

"No, not exactly." The figure takes a few steps towards Reko, and the boy tightens his grip on his chef's knife, still wary of them.

"Are you alive? Do you exist?" Reko asks two seemingly silly questions, but he's genuinely not sure if he's hallucinating or if this is real.

"To your first question, I suppose. To the second one, sure. I'm telling you the truth, which I see is something your beloved captain can't do, no matter how much he tries." Reko is frozen in place as Rodion approaches him.

He looks down, and just as he realizes what Rodion is holding in his left hand, his chef's knife is released from his own left hand, and he crashes to the ground.

It's the same device Kazimir used to render the boy inoperable during Forchheim so he'd be an easy target to kill. Kirsi made one, just in case he had to freeze a being's operation, yet it was lost during the war twelve years ago. But why does Rodion, a person who technically shouldn't be here, possess it?

"Whoops. I apologize; I suppose I got a little too ahead of myself. But now that you're in a much friendlier position, allow me to tell you the truth about your captain. I'll tell you everything he hasn't- and quite a bit more. Are you alright with that?" Rodion's tone is mocking, and Reko guesses he is well aware that the boy on the ground can't reply to him in away way- not even a nod or single sound, as both functions have been frozen.

Rodion just smiles and continues speaking. "Wonderful. Now, where shall I begin? Let's start with the day you were rescued in Finland, yes? Your captain was told to find survivors of the war and bring them into the military, where they could live a better life. He found you, and you were taught to be grateful. Yet you shouldn't have been. Your creator wished for you to live with the love and affection a child would receive from a family.

"The military is no place for any of those beliefs. And the soldiers in Switzerland knew that about you. You were nothing more than an orphan, a mechanical one, at that. They debated how long it would take until you dropped out, like most of the other children, men, and women saved from Finland. They didn't last, so what was so different with you?

"It was your captain. Your dear, beloved captain. He stopped those debates, lectured those who made jokes, and brought up any major threats towards your welfare and life with General Petra herself. You were so privileged, and you thought that was all due to your captain's kindness, yes? The reality is, it wasn't.

"You're a mechanical soldier to the military, and to everyone in it. You are made for nothing more than war. Your duty is to kill the enemy without fear and listen to orders without hesitation. Your captain told this to those who were making fun of you, and so they stopped. He made them see just how valuable you were for war and slaughter. Not a child who didn't deserve to be mocked and laughed at, as he told you countless times. That's the first lie.

"The second one is none other than Forchheim. Your captain got so very close to you, closer than he wanted to in the first place. I don't know why, and I don't want to know. I just know that was a mistake. He knew Kazimir was going to kill you. He never stopped him from talking to you. He never even argued against General Petra's decision to send all three of you to Forchheim.

"He let you wander from your post. He watched as you left, and then told Kazimir of your whereabouts. How else would he have found you so quickly? And then, to play the hero, he acted as though he saved you by killing Kazimir. What he really was doing was acting on information he received from his father at the last minute.