The Abyss of War, Book One

Family Matters

"Hello, father." 

I replied in a cold, dead tone as I glared across the room at him. Feelings of hatred that had been suppressed began to boil to the surface. I wasn't sure how long I could hold myself back. Although I did need to hear what he had to say. "I'll hear you out, but make it quick. I find every breath you take to be an insult to mother." 

He laughed.  I gritted my teeth as my hands clenched into fists. He composed himself before answering me, 

"First of all, learn to respect your betters you insolent brat. Secondly, your mother was weak. She deserved what she suffered for delivering me a disappointment like you. Thirdly, you are to be reassigned into a new branch of the military. You will be joining the Intelligence and Assassination division. This is not up for debate, I have the transfer papers signed and your discharges papers from the 912th approved by Commander Black. You start tomorrow early in the morning, so I suggest you get a good nights rest. You'll need it."

He turned to exit the room but before he pushed the doors open, he looked over his shoulder at me and said, 

"Oh, and you'll be coming back to the estate. I don't trust you enough so I'll be keeping a close eye on your activities to make sure you go to the IA division headquarters each day. Also, if you feel like running and deserting the army, please tell me so that I may administer the death sentence myself. It'll make your useless life somewhat pleasurable to me. That will be all, I expect you back at the estate within the hour. Do NOT be late, or there will be consequences." 

His voice seemed to get colder as he finished his sentence and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes, something swimming deep beneath the surface waiting to come out. I stood glaring at him until he disappeared through the door. Once the door clicked shut once more, I began shaking.

Seconds after the man I once called father walked out, the door slammed open making me jump slightly. Several armed men surrounded me, I recognized the symbol on their chest. Five red starts on a black and silver field. 

My family's sigil. They stayed silent, they swore an oath of my father to never speak until they either left his service, or he permitted them to. Wordlessly they roughly grabbed both of my arms and dragged me out of the Citadel. I was then thrown into the back of a civilian transport and locked in. Sitting on one of the seats I stared across at the dimly lit wall in front me me. Minutes felt like hours as I traveled back to the place I had been running from my entire life.

The craft dipped out of air traffic and landed on the private estate docking bay. The doors opened and I was blinded by the harsh lighting of the docking bay. Squinting my eyes to block out the bright fluorescent light I felt several hands grab me as I was roughly hauled out of the craft. 

The family soldiers continued to drag me until we came upon the room I once called mine. I was then shoved through the door, I landed on the rough carpet with a thud. Coughing and gasping as my ribs took the brunt of the impact I curled up into a ball and waited for the pain to pass. Somewhere in the background a door was closed and locked. After what felt like hours, I finally found the strength to sit up without being in complete agony.

Looking around, I walked over to the door and tried the knob. Locked as I thought, turning towards the opposite wall, my bed sat underneath my window, with my dresser being in the far corner. I walked the short distance across my room to the window. "Freedom and death are both the same thing after all." 

I thought bitterly as I reached for the window. Just as my hand touched the window sill, an arc of red electricity passed from the seemingly open window to my hand giving me a powerful and painful jolt. I yelped and jumped backwards a few feet before eyeing the window warily. If I looked at the window just right out of the corner of my eye, I could definitely make out a red glint where open sky should be. Of course, he activated the estate's electro shields. Damn him. Escape would be impossible if I didn't shut off the shield generator.

Most upscale houses and military installations had electro shields on at least some or all of the building. Most of the time it was in the event of a rival nation attacking the capitol, the more important buildings weren't destroyed. Although sometimes, in cases like mine, they could be used to keep people from leaving the confines of a building. Without the access codes or a way to shut down the generator. I wasn't going anywhere fast. 

Sighing in a melancholic fashion I sank onto my bed and drew my legs to my chest. Briefly wincing at the pain the posture caused to shoot through my rib cage. Hugging my knees to my chest, I waited for what was to come.

I wasn't disappointed as my door was unlocked, although instead of the regular family foot soldiers, these were the family elite guard. They wore deep black combat helmets and armor with the family insignia emblazoned on their chest plates. 

Each of them had a black steel long-sword belted to their waist, along with a fearsome spear that was capable of being charged with electricity. Each guardsmen carried a heavy duty imperial war pistol as well. Easily capable of tearing through phase one imperial soldier armor. When my father sent the elite guard, he meant business, and didn't intend to fail. 

I nodded and then stood up. Unlike the previous foot soldiers, the imperial guard didn't touch me in any way. They walked, and I was expected to follow. No questions asked.

--------Authors Note-------

Vote, Comment, Follow!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Where are the elite guard taking Dayne? And for what reasons?!

Thanks for reading! See ya next chapter!

*edited*