The Venerate Order

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Taleri

Mission accomplished...Since we attacked Dhenfen'Ce last month, our strategic goals have been easy to achieve. We punched the enemy in the mouth, and they were still hurting from it. I always loved that taste, when the corner of your lip gets bloodied, and you have to lick it off with your tongue. Unfortunately, whenever someone was able to hit me, they would've died shortly after.

Ever since my father commanded us to embark on this mission of gathering the Guardian Keys, our nation flourished. We were united in the quest to unlock the heavens and bring order to this world of separation. Soria had been the strongest nation on the planet for decades, now they were putting the broken statues of their former leaders back together while we continued on. We weren't stupid though and knew they were preparing for war.

This holy mission to save humanity couldn't be stopped in my father's eyes, but even as a ruthless warrior, I questioned our methods at times. Taking people, using them for experiments and imperialism; these are things I'd never imagined being part of the right way to save humanity. I was fighting for my family's and nation's honor, but whenever I looked back at the people we had defeated and dying, I felt our legacy as a nation would be tarnished forever.

It'd been a while since I'd seen that man from Earth, Strafe. He looked stronger but still innocent. He hadn't killed yet, I knew the look it made on a person. It seemed he was traveling with others who possessed Guardian power, but he was the only alien. A weakling of a Prince, a homeless girl, a renegade assassin, a giant mutt, and a boy from another planet; what a crowd.

I could've killed ALL of them in the courthouse, but there was something in my heart that told me not to do it. Something told me to let them live. Something, when I looked into Strafe's eyes, made me want to be by his side. He was no warrior, but his passion was intoxicating. Whenever he was around, it made me feel warm with compassion.

Ever since that day he "kidnapped" me, I knew what we were doing was wrong. It wasn't right to lie, cheat and steal from another, no matter how great the calling. We weren't doing God's work. Fate, as it seemed, had picked people from around the world to determine humanity's destiny by instilling Guardian power among all of us. I was excited to see who would win, us or them.

It'd been a few days since the court hearing and Yuwheria was a mess. Hendrick had planned for the Slates to appear in the stadium, a plan my father had blessed. My father, our Supreme Commander, had become aware of the Guardian power from a while back when he found it in me. My mother was a part of a lineage who'd inherited the gift, and when she died in childbirth, she passed it down to me. At times, he would get furious at the fact she had given it to me instead of him, but as I grew up and trained into our military, he saw the uses. He became very close to me through battle; all I wanted was for him to accept me and be proud of me.

Once he knew I could sense "others" with power, he sent our intelligence agencies to investigate. We had the entire list of those who carried the power and were monitoring them closely. Sometimes I could feel the cameras keeping a close eye on even myself. It seemed we were extremely valuable.

One of the reasons we teamed up with the Yuwherians was to keep tabs on Zenith and Prince Aeileo. Our plans were to take them over once we had retrieved their Guardian Key. Their country occupied an extremely strategic position on the map. I was cleaning the blood off my gun in their weapons workshop underneath the castle when that slimeball Marcio walked up to me.

"Hey baby, need any help with that?" he said as he tossed his new mechanical eye on the table. Machines all around him started to disassemble his eye and replace it with the new one; it was disgusting.