Kismet’s Tale

     Robert was left alone with the young master. The young master stayed in front of the Vulcans with such eagerness.

“It’s time. I never thought of seeing this day.”

“Is that so?”

Robert said without emotion. The young master nodded without pretense or mask. Robert was one of the few who he had let himself in.

To be the sword he must know what was in his mind. To be his wrath he must know what made that wrath manifest.

Robert was far older than him. He had grown old enough to want love and saw everything that he wanted. Compared to the young man before him.

He was stuck in some sort of pit. He hated the liar in front of him.

“That Lady...you seem bothered by her?”

Mavin looked at him. “She’s strange. Robert, she’s the person who holds the Imperator’s Crest.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Yeah, she should have been the deadliest opponent and yet she would let me win. She had let me take away her powers without a fight. Those who have power usually don’t go down so easily. If she had the Imperator’s Crest. She would have crushed me like a bug. I am confident that I can resist her if I don’t make a mistake. One person isn’t enough to take her down.”

“You’re...afraid of her?”

Mavin laughed bitterly. He shivered in front of Robert. His eyes dilated at the cowering sight of this young master who he had not seen fear anyone.

He really is afraid of that woman, Robert thought.

“Call me a fool, but among the many people that I had prepared...she’s among the last that I should be worried about.”

“More than this?”

“Yes, compared to what you two are going for...she was supposed to be my final test...the last enemy that I faced. And yet she’s now living with me for some reason. I don’t understand her. I cannot understand her and I don’t think I will. She seems to be fond of tormenting me. Robert, what kind of person stays with the person who had cut her hand?”

“She must hate you so much that she wants to keep you close.”

“Maybe...but she keeps reminding me again and again that she would never hate me. She’s trying to get into my head. I know that she is, but I really did destroy her crest. And when I saw the contract written in the palace, I know that there was no more spark to be found. She should not have the power and yet she continues to be around me.”

“Of all things that you are afraid…”

“Robert...I’ve never seen a person who would look at me as if I was already dead. I was non-living to her and yet she seems to play around. Am I afraid of her? She is destined to be the Imperator and even without the Crest she’s still the most dangerous woman there is to exist.”

“Have you tried to kill her?”

Mavin’s expression was bloodthirsty. And yet his face suddenly fell into this deep depression. He tried lifting his hand and yet he couldn’t even clench it.

“There was a price for taking in all the boons. Everything has a price in this world, Robert. Even if I cannot cheat the price that needs to be done it would take a lot of effort to do so. I don’t have the heart to do it.”

“I could do it for you.”

“Would you?” he answered deeply. The look on Mavin’s face was genuine. Robert had confidence in taking on anyone, but seeing the hesitance and fear of the ‘fearless’ young master made him think twice.

He was about to get his revenge on the demifiends. What was he thinking trying to waste his life in the affairs of the young master? That was his problem and not his. He hadn’t made himself like a puppet just to die because of someone with a rifle.

“I cannot.”

“You won’t have a chance. She’s good at what she does even without an a proper arm. How do you think she was able to survive in a war with only her wits and aim? She’s not a fluke like us who relied on boons to make it. I barely defeated her and I think now I understand why I almost lost my life that day.”

“You...admire her.”

“I do,” Mavin said truthfully. He sat on the podium, watching the rest of the Storm Vanguards get ready.

Robert bottled the hatred in him. He sat on Mavin’s side and leaned forward. “You have gone through two engagements and yet you married the worst one for you.”

“Rose...she was someone I needed to use to gain control of the ebony market. Our engagement didn’t last for a month. The Princess...I was betrothed to her since I was a child. I annulled the engagement because I didn’t want to be married to her in her state. She doesn’t need a bastard like me.”

“And yet you are now married, Mavin. To the ‘worst’ person you could imagine. The person you are most afraid of.”

“I know. Of course I didn’t marry her because I love her. But because the Emperor needed her blood as a justification to gain control of the land of Wilde. She’s a pawn and lets herself be a pawn without doing anything. A dangerous person not doing anything is terrifying to me.”

“All these things you are telling me...is this the same as what you saw on that hill?”

Mavin nodded. Robert was the only person who knew that the young master had seen something that day. That all his actions are because of what he saw. A vision that guided him to this path.

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“Yes, she would end this continent. She shouldn’t even be in this Imperial Capital...but then again the things that I saw that day is merely what would have happened. We had gone to a different path because we had done something about it. I wouldn’t be able to do it without the resources and the know-hows. She was supposed to be the obstacle that would determine the fate of the world. Nonetheless, there is something wrong, and I don’t know what to think about.”

He stayed still as he said that. Robert joined his fingers and opened it, watching the callouses that had thickened throughout the years.

“I see. So she’s that one thing you are so wary about. Have you thought about that maybe this is what you deserve?”

“Maybe?” he chuckled bitterly. “But don’t mistake it, Robert. She’s not the same as what I saw.  She’s different from the evil that I saw...and even then it was not that she had lost her conscience. How easy it would be to label those who grieve for their loved ones as ‘evil’ when in their head it is merely just their way of venting about the injustice. I had told the Emperor that he needs to prevent any of that tragedy from happening, but people are volatile, they are not easy to control or change their mind. You can influence them and let them think about what they need. Honestly, even if I label her as ‘evil’ right now it wouldn’t be fair. She had the power, yes, but had she done anything about that power that warrants me personally cutting her hand? It’s not fair to her.”

Robert laughed as if he could not believe his words. “It’s embarrassing that you think of fairness. But what about the people that you had me killed? Did they deserve no fairness?”

“Yes, but I cannot think of fairness when it comes to them. I don’t have time to think of whether they are good or not. I do understand that they are a treat to my plans so I had you rid of them. I passed on the burden of crime on your hands. I abandoned the rule of my people to my Cousin because I know what I am. They shouldn’t let a fool sit on a throne that carries the lives of the people of Lazon. I may be a bastard who has ordered you to take the lives of other people. I may have ordered you that...but...heh...isn’t it amusing to you that filth like me had the face to say this?” He mocked himself. “Robert, hate me, I trust you will, but you are one of the few who knows and understands me. It’s because you understand me that you can stand my loathsome self.”

“I know. I am asking you because you seem to loathe her, " Robert said to Mavin. “I’m glad that such person is near you.”

Mavin started. “Can I really not go?”

“That was the deal, Mavin,” Robert said firmly. “I’ll atone for what I did in this womb of evil. You carry the rest of my sins and make sure that you’ll solve it. I trust you despite how I am disgusted by what you made me do to others. Listening to you so bothered about a person puts a smile on my face.”

“I see. That’s good.”

“It won’t be long until you go down that place. I had asked you too many times, but it seems that you are firm to go, Robert.”

“Don’t you dare take this from me.”

“I won’t. I would gladly go, but it seems that you people want me to stay alive.”

Robert stayed his gaze on Mavin, “Mavin Tomas, don’t think too much of what you had done to put us into this path. I do not like you. I hate you and perhaps I loathe you, but I understand why you had to do what you do. When you pulled me out of that hell, offering salvation, vengeance, and told me what you saw that day. I was saved. I had spent long enough time in this world. These people that I am going with have been long prepared to do what must be done. You...you are still young. Do not put these weights on you. There will be a time that you will pay for what you have done. But it is not today and it might never come as well. This is our curse on you, Mavin Tomas. This is the price of our lives and you can never repay them. We will drop the sun and summon the green winds to that island. You don’t have to worry about anything other than what you need to do after we show you our work.”

“I understand.”

Mavin Tomas stood. He placed that invisible mask back on. He started to walk and then stopped, turning his back. “Die well, Robert, give me what I want. Rid me of the pests that took the lives of those we cherish. Purge them not in the name of the Emperor. Not in the name of this Empire, but in the name of those who had died and for me.”

The young master said nothing. Robert thought to himself if he should have at least tried to give him a punch before leaving. The moment they go into that nest. No one would know what would  happen. All they would know was that there was something that had glowed brightly south of the Capital of the Empire.

They didn’t have communications. They would do nothing other than throw them into this nest and do whatever it takes to reach the deepest part and destroy it all.

“Mount up,” their leader said.

Robert walked in front of the metal coffin of his. The straps would make sure that he would be in place. The exoframe that they control would be attached to the Vulcan. It would trap them alongside the bomb located in the chest chassis of their Vulcan.

Robert wore his power frame, walked inside the Vulcan and let go of every thought and regret that he had in his mind. His mind hardened like steel and when the engineers finished their work.

Robert took the first step towards the back of the plane that would take them to the nest.