by Troy Dukart
“We need to destroy this Shard, it looks weakened,” Zon pointed out.
We all ran back toward the obelisk. No Slates were coming out of it anymore.
“We all need to give it our best shot! Let’s go!” Roya said.
Rousseau pulled out his sword and began firing laser shots into the blackened area, Zon jumped toward up with his teleport ability and sliced all around it. I jumped on Brutus so I could reach the weakened area and laid the strongest strikes I could. Roya powered on her aura and made her sword gigantic. She then took a swing straight through the middle of it, and after a few seconds, the top portion came crashing to the floor and shattered into little pieces. The Shard had been destroyed.
“Get off my damn field!” Rousseau yelled at the Shard.
Once the dust had settled, we got back together and Zon walked toward Rousseau.
“You’ve been hiding something, a deep secret, from all of us. I know who you really are,” Zon said coldly.
“Huh? I-I-I don’t know what you’re talking about mate,” Rousseau stuttered.
“How could you endanger our lives like this without telling us! This selfishness is only possible from a Yuwherian!” Zon replied.
“What’s going on!? We need to help these people out!” I exclaimed.
Before we could blink, a smoke bomb was shot in-between all of us and we were blinded. All I remember was being surrounded by the Royal Guard and their Commander. Rousseau had been knocked down and someone was standing above him. I could tell there was something off about that person. After he tied Rousseau up, he picked him up with one hand and turned the other hand into a Gatling gun. An android?
He had long flowing black hair. He had an eye patch over his right eye, but his left one I noticed had a red retina. Dressed in black camouflaged clothing, he pulled down his scarf and with a smile asked Rousseau, “Who are your friends traitor?”
“TRAITOR!?!? Are those the lies you are spreading Marcio? You sonnuva bit. . .” Rousseau said before the man smacked him in the back of the head, which sent him to the floor.
The Commander of the group walked in front of us. I couldn’t tell who they were because of their armor. They had metal wings, which looked sharp as razors and glistened in multi-colored shades from the suns light.
“In the name of the King, I, Argenta Vero, Commander of the Royal Guard, am on orders to apprehend and detain all of you on multiple counts of illegal activity. Failure to comply will result in your death. Now, surrender your weapons and get down on your stomachs,” Commander Vero ordered.
“Strafe, are you able to power yourself?” Zon whispered to me.
“Are you crazy?! They could kill one of us if we try to resist!” I whispered back.
“There is something sinister going on here and we cannot let them take us. I’ve already tried but I cannot teleport,” Zon explained to me.
“Get down now,” Commander Vero ordered.
“Strafe, she means business,” Brutus noted.
“Damnit. I’ll try but I’m not going to escape!” I whispered back. Strangely, my aura wouldn’t activate. “I got nothing!”
“I’d listen to her boys, hehehehe, she’s good,” Marcio snickered.
“They are using a Siopi Stone, that which silences our powers. They must know about us,” Roya concluded.
“I said DOWN!!!” Commander Vero yelled.
She flapped her wings at us and a powerful gust of wind knocked us all down, to which her officers were quick to get us in hand-cuffs. Brutus had a shock collar and muzzle put on him.
“Don’t hurt him! He won’t attack you!” I yelled at the officers dealing with Brutus.
They took all the weapons except the God Blade. No matter how hard they tried it, nobody could pick it up.
“Oh-ho-ho-oh! They think they’re special!?” Marcio chuckled as his hair turned dark green. As he walked over to the God blade, I saw the same tattoos we had form on his arm. He picked up the God Blade and smirked as he walked back to Rousseau. What the hell? He’s has Guardian Power?
“Take them to the cells. We will soon be sending them to court for sentencing. Watch the Whitecloud. If he tries anything, put him down,” Commander Vero ordered her men, she then turned around to lead us out of the stadium.
“Hey! Can’t you see what we did here!? We just saved all of your asses!” my words were ignored.
Marcio picked up Rousseau, who was knocked unconscious, and whispered in his ear as we walked by, “Welcome back, my fallen Prince.”
Chapter 30/
Exodus
Strafe
Rousseau?! The Prince of Yuwheria?
It took me completely by surprise. Although my time in the prison cell they put me in was short, I had time to contemplate what this had all meant. Did Rousseau murder his father? Why were we being arrested for saving the city? How did the Slates infiltrate so deeply? And who was this Marcio and how did he pick up the God Blade, when no one else had the ability to do so? More questions had been created than resolved from the attack, and I was afraid the blame would be placed on our shoulders.
They’d undressed us and put us in all white buttoned up shirts and pants, with white shoes, which didn’t look bad except for the word “fygas,” which meant fugitive, on the front right side. Brutus was put in a cell across from me, but it was too small for him. I could tell he was suffering.
We stayed in the prison cells underneath Castle Bell, each one of us except Rousseau. I had humongous, heavy hand-cuffs on with a Siopi Stone engrained in it; they must’ve known about our abilities. I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before we were recognized.
My cell was simple; a bed, four walls of dark red brick, metal bars and a crack in the ceiling that was dripping water. Oh, and the toilet too. I felt like every second in here was another second my brother and Yessa had to suffer, and that’s what bothered me the most.
I had to stay for only three nights before I was summoned in to stand trial. One of the guards passed his baton across the prison bars as he made his way over to my cell. He stood there for a few seconds before motioning to his left, and more guards came.
“Rocknus, Strafe,” the guard addressed me, “You are to be tried in court. We are authorized to get you there by any means necessary. There is to be no strife, do you understand?”
“Yes. Yes, I do. Anything to get outta this dump,” I shook my head.
They unlocked the gate and I walked out of the cell, to which two guards stood behind me while one led the way. I didn’t get to walk two feet before one of the guards behind me jabbed me in the back with his weapon and sent me to my knees. The wound on my back was still tender and I let out a grunt. Brutus growled through his muzzle.
“It’s okay Brutus, be good,” I told him.
“I think you ought to be a little more respectful ya terrorist bloke,” the guard whispered in my ear.
After they picked me up we walked for what seemed like forever past cells and cells of inmates. Living conditions down here weren’t terrible, but with no sunshine, no freedom, it might as well have been hell.
After walking up a ridiculous amount of stairs, we made it outside to a Mag-truck, on its way to up the hill to Castle Bell. As I stepped in, I was pushed to the floor of the vehicle. They put a black bag over my head and began to kick me in the ribs repeatedly until I couldn’t breathe. I laid there feeling completely defeated. Whatever rights I was supposed to have were obviously thrown out the window. This was so bullshit. We were public enemy number one.
The guards took off the bag and dragged me by my arms into the Castle. I wished I hadn’t been so groggy from the beating to fully appreciate the gorgeous hallways decorated in gold.
We made it over to a courthouse inside the Castle. The place was already filled with an audience, jury, witnesses and even the King himself perched up at the back of the room. This courthouse had marble floors with the flag of Yuwheria draped behind where the King was sitting. To the King’s left stood Comm
ander Vero with a few of her guards as well as the slime ball Marcio, who was eating an apple. I noticed on one of his arms, written on the bicep read, “Zenith”.
In front of the King was a round area for where the defendants stood trial, to the right a wooden balcony for the jury, to the left an area for the witnesses. There was an aisle I was instructed to walk up toward the round area, and on each side of me were the audience of the trial. I could hear people whispering until one person walked out in front of me and spit in my face and the whole crowd cheered. One person even said, “Serves ya right, damn terrorist!”
I brushed off the spit on my shoulder and made it to the “Judgment Circle” as it was called to find Zon and Roya sitting in holding cells off next to me, with a guard holding a door open. The heavy cuffs were getting hard to hold, but I didn’t let them see me struggle. In the center of the circle, with his arms and legs chained, was Rousseau, standing with his head to the floor.
“We’ll make it out of this,” I said to him as I passed by him, to which he nodded slightly.
After I sat down, the door was locked and the trial began. The crowd, jury and witnesses all stood up as a flag was presented by one of the guards. Commander Vero spoke, “Today, we are here to pursue justice in the name of the King, country of Yuwheria and her people. Those on trial stand before you today for being involved in the terrorist plot at the arena and will be each given a chance to convince the jury and our Highness of their innocence. We begin today with the former Prince, Aeileo Marmahere. Next will be Yoichi Zon from Shinjo, then the alien Strafe Rocknus and lastly a nomad known only as Roya. Let the proceedings begin.”
Everyone except Rousseau sat down in their chairs. He kept his eyes closed and head to the floor.
“Aeileo Marmahere, as a citizen of Yuwheria, do you swear on the flag and holy crown to tell us the absolute truth of your actions so help you God?” King Othen asked.
Rousseau stayed silent. He had a look of distain and disinterest.
“Answer the King Aeileo!” Commander Vero ordered.
Rousseau smiled for a moment before lifting his head to face the King above him, with a look of disgust on his face. There was a big black bruise on his left eye, “Where is my mother?”
“If you do not swear the oath of honesty, we will have to postpone your day in court until the King sees fit, which could be quite a while with all this talk of war in the world, little cousin, hehe,” Marcio remarked.
“Where is my mother!?” Rousseau shook his chains to emphasize.
“She lies in the deepest of jail cells for assisting in the late King’s death, like you soon will if you do not swear your oath!!!” Marcio said as he slammed down his apple.
“People of Yuwheria, let me tell you a story,” Rousseau said as he turned around, “Before you stands the King of Yuwheria, the symbol of probity, who through incursion, stole away what was not rightfully his. This King laid aside any potential detriment he could have cause to the country by killing my father, Urais Kenward Marmahere and placing my mother, Queen Bethany in bondage. They then set me up with the blasphemy and hoaxed his way into to the crown.” Rousseau then turned around and looked the King in the eye, “You both stand with grand turpitude!”
Everyone was floored in their seats. It felt like a hurricane wind hit me in the face. Is he saying King Othen ordered the slaying of the old king?
“How dare you talk with such heresy and guile! You see this my friends?! This treason he spits out of his mouth is the same one he kisses that lover boy of his with! How can we trust him?” Marcio shouted back.
Rousseau turned to face the jury and audience with a look of desperation, “My fellow Yuwherians, you have been fooled! I am no traitor, deserter or coward! I saw the King murdered with my own eyes as I stood with him and my mother in the King’s Garden to confess my. . .” he hesitated and held back some tears, “To, to, to confess my sexual orientation as homosexual.”
Gasps filled the room alongside chatter and whispers. The King stood up with his judge’s hammer and began to beat it, “Enough is enough! Clearly the former prince is suffering from post-traumatic stress and he is not thinking right. For he knows that homosexuality is BANNED in this country!”
Rousseau continued on a little longer, “My father had always told me he would love me, no matter what the circumstances, just like he loved you all. He had not been in favor of homosexuality, but I feel the love for his son outweighed the misbelieve that it is to be feared because it is not ‘normal.’ My mother and father promised to change how we view this as a country so that all could live free and handed me the ‘White Violet of the House of Marmahere’ as proof to their word.”
Rousseau pulled out a crystal white violet and pinned it to his shirt, “It was at this moment that my father was killed; by whom I don’t know yet. It was a coup for the Kingdom. PLEASE, I AM BEGGING YOU TO CALL FOR AN INVESTIGATION! This is not what my father envisioned for us.”
Some Royal Guards dragged Rousseau off the Judgment Circle and put him in a cell. I caught a look at Commander Vero, whose jaw was almost to the floor. She looked to be in complete disbelief and shock. She put her face down to the floor and had a blemished face. She then looked toward the King. I could sense the anger she was holding back.
Shouting from the audience ensued and the jury conversed, but the King quickly quieted the crowd when he broke his hammer from slamming it.
“WE ARE DONE WITH THIS. He has spoken treason in the holy Castle of our ancestors. Were he not a Royal, his execution would have been today,” King Othen said as he looked through the crowd and then back at Rousseau, “The former prince will be guaranteed a decent stay in prison, so long as he is to acquiesce his white violet for instead to wear ‘Blue Violet of the House of Othen’ on his person at all times,”
Before entering his cell, Rousseau turned around and looked at him with disgust. He then turned to his white violet and said, “This is the only house I claim allegiance to, the White Violet of the House of Marmahere, the TRUE House of Yuwheria!”
“So be it partisan, but you had your chance! Royal blood or not, you will face equal reprimand to those you align yourself with. YOU have started this War of Violets,” King Othen calmly announced.
Hustle and bustle filled the court room but was quickly silenced by the King slamming another hammer on his desk. A feather could’ve hit the floor and anyone could’ve heard it; that’s how quiet the room got. Rousseau was thrown into a cell, next to me, and they summoned Zon out for his trial. Zon didn’t have huge shackles on, but rather what looked like to be a metal collar on his neck. He walked to the circle with both arms in his shirt’s sleeve, cross-armed. From there he looked toward the King. After he agreed to the oath of honesty, his trial began.
“Yoichi Zon, you are to be charged with the aid of terrorism toward the state of Yuwheria, how do you plead?” Commander Vero asked.
“My plead is not guilty, for I am under the suspicion that it is you who should be standing here, not me,” Zon replied to Commander Vero directly.
“Are you accusing my highest officer of the same crimes that you have committed? That she falsified her documents to get close enough to the King before setting off your Slates that killed over 1,000 Yuwherian citizens?” Marcio asked.
“I am accusing her of leading the destruction of my village back in Shinjo. It was Yuwherian troops who marched in and waged war against us, and she was there at the front lines. Not to mention the fact that you ordered my clan to help assassinate the old King, to which I am ashamed we were a part of,” Zon answered coldly.
Chatter began to fill the room, but this time the semblance on their faces was of confusion. King Othen leaned forward and said, “There were no such orders given and you are mistaken. Commander Vero has been stationed in Yuwherian for over a year now and has not left. And as for your second accusation, it is without merit, for you have no proof. This attack you claim was not ordered by this Crown’s administration.”
&nbs
p; “You are WRONG!” Zon said with temerity, “I was there! The soldiers bared your armor! You used the fact that we helped to kill your King to destroy my village. That way no lose ends. . .” Zon looked as though he reached an epiphany; he closed his eyes and his hands began to shake in anger.
“Whatever you believed to have happened in your country, you have failed to produce any convincing evidence of so and of any argument towards your innocence. My recommendation to the jury is a jail sentence of no shorter time than fifteen years. After this case is over, you will face your judgment. Dismissed,” King Othen scribed to Zon.
Shaking his head, he walked back to his cell and sat down quietly. What’d he realized? He gave up rather easily and that’s not his thing.
Next up was my trial. The soldiers unlocked the door and walked me in front of the King. I looked at my shackles and tried to move around but it was of no good. Besides being reinforced steel, I could tell see the bulwark of Siopi Stones all over the place. Someone obviously did their homework on us. I swore the oath and my trial began.
“Strafe Rocknus, you are being charged with terrorism against the state of Yuwheria for unleashing the Slates on her people, how do you plead?” Commander Vero asked me.
I looked up and with a smirk on my face I said,
“You people must be crazy, because the last time I checked, we were the ones who blew that thing to kingdom-come and saved everyone’s asses… Oh, so not guilty.”
Roya shook her head; she looked embarrassed. The audience began to grow louder until the King slammed his hammer down to silence them, and then looked down at me, “Mr. Rocknus, here on Eternia, in this holy courtroom, you will not use that cacophony again! Do you understand?”
“Yes, I do.” I replied with a shrug.
“Now, how did you become involved with this group of vigilantes? And how did you come into this world? What is your aim?” Commander Vero questioned.
“I was forced to, out of necessity. I am here to find my brother and my friends who were taken here. I found the God Blade in my world and was deceived by a man named Tiras Strand. I believe he is partially responsible for starting the war between Soria and Sentium. He is working for a corporation called The Federation of Worldwide Ancient Societies. Their aim is to steal cultural artifacts to further their agendas. I am on a mission to find Tiras and bring justice against the ones responsible for this,” I explained, I knelt down on one knee, “I am begging you to go to the World Nations and urge them to investigate why the Senti have begun waging war and find Tiras Strand. He is the most dangerous person on Eternia.”
