Cain

I watch as Crux walks through the door alongside Yesenia, many among the council casting suspicious glances at him. It’s been about a week since Crux was released from the dungeon, and already he was back in the council room as if nothing had happened.

“Official guardian of princess Yesenia and Prince Hanafin, how did he manage to snag that title after what happened?” I ask Stronl whom I seated next to.

“Celestia. Mostly. ” Stronl responds simply. “And you, to an extent.”

“Me?”

“The balance here is beginning to shift. Yesenia first got Rainel under her belt, then she got you, then she got Celestia, the three strongest fighters in this room. We are no longer all equal to one another, that girl is beginning to gather some real influence.”

“Wait, Rainel is that strong?” I say in response. “He was certainly impressive when I fought him, but he wasn’t… you know… All that.”

“He was wearing those big metal gauntlets when he was hunting you down correct?” Stronl asks me.

“…Yea, I think thats what I was fighting him with.”

“Then you should see him with a sword, with six swords actually.”

“Attention!” Roxan yells. “There are some very urgent announcements we need to make in a couple minutes as everyone filters in, but first.” He looks at Crux. “I politely ask that you step out of this room.”

“No, he’s fine where he is.” Yesenia says smugly.

“With all due respect, he’s no longer a part of the council.”

“With all due respect, you don’t seem to be too concerned about leaked information when you’re out drinking in the city.” Yesenia shoots back.

Roxan closes his eyes; however, unexpectedly he keeps his cool. “I respected Crux, a lot, and I still do to an extent. So I don’t do this out of pettiness; however, he needs to face at least some consequences for what he did.” He then turns to me. “Tetsudo, what’s your opinion on the matter?” Even more unexpectedly he asks me.

I open my mouth but hesitate speaking.

“Go on, answer honestly, consider this an order.” Roxan says.

In all honesty I did find it a bit questionable I knew Yesenia was one to give a lot of second chances, but comparing my treatment to Crux’s… It was like he was thrown a much sturdier stick than I was.

The moment I open my mouth once more about to say this, Stronl stands up. “I would like to express my disagreement as well; I respect Crux, but he has no business being here after what he has done.” She says, interrupting me before I have a chance to speak.

“Thank you.” I whisper before sitting back down.

All of a sudden Celestia enters the room, making her the last person to be accounted for.

“What are the two of you there talking about?” She plops down right next to Yesenia’s seat, gesturing at both Roxan and Stronl.

She left the words unsaid but her demeanor conveyed her hostility very obviously.

“How did someone like you ever get tamed I wonder.” Stronl narrows her eyes.

“Hehe, thought I’d be a little bit more of an agreeable person. I don’t have many friends you know.” Celestia rests her arms on the back of the chair.

“That’s not what I think. I can’t imagine you doing anything out of the kindness of your heart.”

“Enough! the matter at hand today is incredibly urgent. We don’t have time for these games. For now Crux may stay.” Roxan shouts over everybody, extremely uncharacteristic of him as he was usually the one perpetuating the fights.

“Nah, nah, go on Stronl, we haven’t talked to each other very much I want to hear what she has to say about Crux.” Celestia stares down Stronl.

“I hold no ill will towards Crux, but there are rules, and he broke them. If there are no consequences for obstructive behavior then why bother having any sort of order in the first place? Following our emotions is how we collapse.”

“Wow, you must be a really boring person.” Celestia scoffs.

“I’ve been told that.” Stronl replies calmly.

“There is an entire damn army camping outside the southern capital right now! Could you two fucking focus?!” Roxan drops the news, immediately causing them to shut up.

“Thanks to the routes Crux provided them, they damn near got through the entire country without being seen. We have no time to send reinforcements.” Roxan brings his hands together and closes his eyes.

“What are their numbers?” A member of the council asks.

“We have no idea, the scout only managed to see a tiny portion of their army before she had to flee. However, she did see some of the black-armored, which means this won’t be any small scale attack.”

“Hold on, why would they attack the southern capital?” Stronl speaks up. “Crux did you send out the locations of Yesenia and Hanafin in those letter you leaked?”

“I did not. I made sure that I wouldn’t have to leak that part in our agreements.”

Stronl brings her thumb to her mouth in deliberation. “So they just guessed incorrectly?” She whispers to herself.

“In any case, we need to back them up somehow, In my opinion, Rainel, Grandy, Tyrin, Stronl, you four should lead a group of forty all equipped with blackmetal alongside our fastest horses, we can get there in two days.” Roxan says. “It might not make much of a difference, but I’ve seen all four of you perform miracles before.”

“What difference is forty people going to make? It’s a suicide mission!” One of the council members chime in.

“Then what? We just leave all of them to die?”

…

“Yes… We can’t afford to gamble away four councilmen, forty men, forty sets of black-metal, and forty horses. They lose and we kiss our chances of survival away.” The council member responds.

“Damn it! What choice do we have other than gambling right now?! We’re basically 10x down the size of Oliviand, how do you propose we safely win this war?!” Roxan shouts aggressively.

“I have an idea.” Yesenia interrupts the argument, causing both of them to turn to her.

“We send Cain and Celestia, alone.”

“What?! That’s an even bigger gamble. Hell, those two might turn sides!” Roxan replies incredulously.

“How fast do you reckon you could get to the southern capital.” Yesenia turns to me and asks.

“By tonight if I really gave it my all.” I respond simply.

“Cazer, couple seconds ago, you expressed your disagreement to backing the southern capital up. If I recall, you also voted against letting Cain stay and were firmly against the involvement of Celestia.” Yesenia turns to the man Roxan was arguing with.

“Yes, all of that is correct.”

“So? What do you think of this plan? If they die, they die right? No risk because you didn’t want them in the first place.”

“I mean… There’s still the risk of them turning against us.” Cazer says hesitantly.

“That’s true, then we need a babysitter… Hmm, how about Rainel, you go with them as well?” Yesenia says slyly. A small grin could be seen on Celestia’s face at this time.

Stronl narrows her eyes. “All three of your pawns?” She says. “You, what is your end goal here?”

Yesenia chuckles. “My end goal? I think you’re misunderstanding something. Let’s put away the masks and facades for a second. I do not need those three to get what I want.” She stands up, commanding an unexpected amount of attention with her voice. “If they have the highest chance of succeeding with the least risk. Then they should be the one going, and if you think you can take me down while they’re gone. I invite you to try.”

Stronl lies stunned as Yesenia sits back down. It was as if she had taken the aura of Celestia and had made it her own.

“My- my apologies princess.” Stronl gives one of her rare smiles and sits back down.

“Any objections?” Yesenia asks the room, to which nobody responds.

“Good. Now, pack your bags. You have thirty minutes to prepare.”

“Aye, aye! Although, I don’t really have any bags to pack.” Celestia swings off the chair and leaves the room.

“I will be ready as soon as possible.” Rainel nods and heads out as well.

I get up to leave as well, pausing as I pass Yesenia. “Stay safe. I’ll be back soon.” I hold my hand out for a fist bump. Yesenia raises her fist and bumps me back.

“I’ll prove to you my worth.” She says without any hint of anger. I wince, they were by far the most fitting words she could have said in that moment, it was as if she was able to read my mind.

I lower my arm and begin walking.

“Also… Be careful out there, you never know what might happen.” She says with a little delay.

I look back. “Mmh.” I grunt before walking out the door.

One week Ago

Yesenia

I walk into Celestia’s room stone-faced. She was sitting at her table watching the city outside through her window.

“You recovered awfully quickly. Was all that crying an act?” Celestia kicks her feet up on the table.

“I know you did something behind the scenes. You had to.” I say calmly, but in an accusatory tone.

“Now what in the world could you be talking about?” Celestia grins.

“I’m talking about those bloodstains I later found in the room we were in, you can influence behaviors via airborne droplets of your blood. Grandy told me.”

“Sure, say I can do that. Was I in the room when Crux confessed?”

“That’s the damn part I can’t figure out, I was hoping you’d tell me.”

Celestia turns around and looks at me.

“Well, I’m not a very good liar, so I’ll say that your feeling is correct. I did make him confess when he otherwise wouldn’t have, but I can’t tell you how I did it on principle. Sorry!” She says the last part lightheartedly

I exhale sharply, trying to control my emotions. “Alright, good to know, that’s all I needed to know.” I begin walking away.

“Uh? That’s it?” Celestia looks at me confused.

I don’t respond and exit her room.

I continue walking through the halls, wandering aimlessly, no direction or goal in mind.

“Alright, tell me what you want.” Celestia says as I round a corner.

“Huh? Interesting? Now you-“

“Don’t push your luck.” Celestia says irritably.

“Right, right.” I say in the most annoying and condescending tone I could make, I then let out a deep breath.

“I want you to talk to Crux, use whatever your juice is to convince him to support us.”

“To… Do what? He’s right where he belongs, he’s lucky he’s not dead right now.” Celestia raises an eyebrow and leans in closer. “Do you think I was wrong to do what I did? Just curious.”

I clench my fists. “No. I hate it, but what you did was necessary. Traitors need to be weeded out.” This was the conclusion I knew I had to accept before I could get anything done.

“I apologize for my actions beforehand, I shouldn’t have been so resistant.” I lower my head slightly and close my eyes.

However, Celestia instantly reaches out and pries my eyes open, raising my head back up.

“Wai- what are you?”

“You’re making me really really mad you know? Acting like you’re above it all, like you’ve found it in your heart to forgive me.” Celestia looks off distantly. “People should be afraid of me.” She frowns while nodding before suddenly gripping my shoulder extremely tightly. “Are you afraid of me?”

“What could you possibly take from me.” I notice a sudden surge of fear welling up inside me. Celestia had dug into her palms drawing blood.

It took all I had to not break from her eye contact. “See, you even need your little tricks to try to get me to submit. But I know… Right now…” I lean in close to her face and grin. “You don’t know what to do, you’re completely stuck.”

“You think I won’t hurt you right now?” Celestia clenches her teeth.

“No. You won’t. Because you won’t win the war that way. That’s how the strongest in the world loses, or do you want to take back your original promise to win the war, run away from your own words? Isn’t that right? You want to do things your way, but are frustrated this new set of rules suddenly imposed on you?”

“Who are you?” Celestia lets go of my shoulder and backs off.

“I’m just a desperate person. Now, how about you and I work together, I will bend the rules for you every once in a while. You support and do what I ask, we both can win, and if we have another conflict of interest… We’ll just see who wins in the end. What say you?”

“You’re… Gonna die one day if you play with as much fire as you do.” Celestia for the first time hesitates over her words.

“I know. One day, I won’t get lucky, and that’s alright.”

Celestia closes her eyes takes a deep breath. “Alright!” She smiles. “Then I’ll accept your agreement. After I do what you say, give me an opportunity to fight the Tetsudo, think you can do it?”

“To the death?”

“Mm, no, just for fun.”

“Then… Sure, I’ll see what I can do.” I say with great hesitation.

Back to the Present

Celestia

“Good luck on your mission.” The guard bows down as us three exit the city gates.

Cain was wearing a black-metal chain mail alongside a cushioning vest that would prevent injury from any sharp or blunt force attack, his hands were completely exposed to allow for full use of his Tetsu.

Rainel was wearing a light suit of blackmetal; however, what was interesting about him was the multi-scabbard of swords strung behind his back, carrying six of them in total, all the hilts poking out from behind his head.

I was wearing… A simple tunic with long pants. Or that’s what I would have liked to wear, but they insisted I at least have some protection. So I was wearing a slash-proof vest underneath my shirt, similar to Cain, but much more generic to a common soldier.

I look at Rainel, then Cain. “You two ready?” I could feel a tailwind on my back as Cain turns his Tetsu to air.

Cain nods simply and doesn’t say anything.

“Let’s get moving.” Rainel says.

The three of us burst forward like horses in a race. Surprisingly, Rainel was able to keep pace with me and Cain quite easily.

Now… I watch the sky as we tear through the path, leaves and dirt scattering in our wake.

This should be fun.