Episode 2: Chapter 11: Trial

Chapter 11 of Episode 2 of Order of Seasons

As Brooklyn sat in her cell, she kept looking at the necklace she had found down in the gorge. The main locket in the center was sealed shut, so she couldn’t open it. She started looking around the cell for anything she could use as a lock pick, but couldn’t as the cell was very well kept. She then walked over to the cell door and looked at one of the guards.

            “Hey, you guys got anything that could help me open this?” she asked holding up the necklace.

            “Do we look like we were born yesterday?” One of the guards said pointing his spear at her through the door. “The instant we give you something to pick the locks with, you’ll use it on the door to try and get out.”

            “Look, I really don’t care about getting out of here when I clearly have a huge army in my way of escaping. Just do me this solid please?”

            “There is no way that we are just going to…” all of a sudden, there was a sound at the end of the hallway as the elevator doors opened. Brooklyn couldn’t see who it was, but whoever it was caused the guards to quake in their boots.

            “What…what does she want?”

            “I think she wants us to leave.”

            “Is that a good idea? I mean, we were given specific orders not to leave them unguarded.”

            “The last time somebody didn’t do as she commanded immediately, if I remember right, she just killed them on the spot without second thought.” The two guards stood there in silence for a moment.

            “Hey, isn’t that fight about to start right now?” one of the guards said nervously.

            “Yeah! Let’s go watch that!” The other guard said while immediately running towards the other elevator. As they both left, Brooklyn realized that the person who was walking towards them was the assassin wearing the mask. As she got closer to Brooklyn, she started taking her mask off, revealing long black hair with a darker skin tone; similar to the way she looked as Brooklyn noticed.

            “Who are you?” Brooklyn asked, but got no answer. “Guess I should have expected as much. I don’t suppose you could tell me who left this necklace sitting at the bottom of the gorge?” As she held it up, the assassin grabbed it from Brooklyn and walked over to the wall. “Hey, what’s the big idea?!” Brooklyn yelled. Then, the assassin turned back around and handed her the necklace, now opened up.

            “You really don’t remember, do you?” The assassin asked. Brooklyn was caught a bit off guard that she actually spoke.

            “What, are you assuming I forgot something?” The assassin sighed, and put her mask back on. “How did you get this?” Brooklyn asked. “This was something that belonged to my mother. It’s a family heirloom.”

            “You’re smart, figure it out.”

            “What do you mean figure it out? My mother has been gone for years, I have no other family other than my sister Jade, and my father who raised me to destroy people and monsters like you. And when I get out of here, you can bet that’s exactly what I’ll do!” Brooklyn yelled as she slammed her fist against the cell door. The assassin lowered her head and turned to leave.

            “His work is efficient, I’ll give him that.”

            “Who are you talking about? What work?”

            “My name is Angela. That’s all you need to know, since you don’t remember anything else.” As Angela started heading for the elevator, Brooklyn looked down at the now open necklace, and realized that encased inside was a picture of her as a young girl sitting in the lap of Angela. Brooklyn got even more steamed and slammed her fist on the cell door again.

            “Who are you?” she yelled down the hall. “Why can’t you just give me a straight answer like a normal person?!”

 

 

 

 

As Angela got off the elevator, she noticed Lord Memoriare was standing right by the elevator like he was waiting for her.

            “What did you do Angela?”

            “All I did was show her the picture in the necklace Vinculum. You don’t have to worry your pretty head about anything.  She still doesn’t remember.”

            “That’s not my biggest concern. First and foremost, how did they find us when not even Ironwood knows where we are? Second, by showing your daughter that picture, it has made my task of keeping her memories sealed much more difficult. The memory has recognized that she has seen something she doesn’t remember, and desires to reunite with her. Unless I remove that memory of the necklace from her soon, the memory I’m keeping within my being will soon escape and reunite with her, and she will learn everything you wanted to keep secret from her.”

            “I’m prepared for any consequences I may face Lord Memoriare. Leave me be. Don’t you have a match to determine your next council member to attend to?”

            “Honestly, I am extremely concerned if Lord Mortem is willing to take power over loyalty. This child of Dr. Strohl only joined us yesterday, and I still question his motivations. Also, while still holding some resentment towards the humans of this organization, Leo Odi is still loyal to this cause. He is somebody who is willing to fight. I fear that Lord Mortem is placing power over loyalty, which is exactly against what the High Council prides itself on.”

            “I am willing to be surprised. I think that the Strohl is loyal to his father, and in time that will turn into loyalty to Lord Mortem.”

            “I do not share your optimism. I should be going. Care to join me?”

            “Nothing else to do.”

 

 

 

 

As Jacob got ready for the match, he looked closer at his sword. It was something that was given to him by his father, having been passed down from generation to generation. Now he almost felt ashamed to wield it.

            “You know you don’t have to go through with this right?” Jacob looked up to see that the new voice belonged to his mother. He turned his head away from her and didn’t say anything. “Look, I’m sorry about your friends. If I had been in charge of bringing you here….”

            “Don’t try and make this a what if situation. Just let me get this over and done with.”

            “But why are you doing this? You just changed sides at the drop of a hat. Why?” Jacob fell silent for almost a full minute.

            “I didn’t listen to him for almost a whole year, and as a result, my teammates got killed. Imagine what would happen to the rest of my friends if I continued to ignore him.”

            “You think you’re protecting your friends? You’re going to be going to war with them in three years!”

            “Maybe I can warn them ahead of time and let them survive the carnage. I don’t know. I just need to make sure nobody else dies.”

            “People die all the time Jacob. It doesn’t mean you have to listen to your father when the actions of another harm others.”

            “Listening to him has kept us both alive so far.  It seems to be the path you’ve chosen as well.“  Aurora fell silent at Jacob’s remark, and didn’t say a word as he left for the arena.

 

 

 

 

Christy finally managed to sneak into the upper decks away from where most everybody was. As she looked down at the makeshift arena, she noticed that Jacob was already standing there in attack position, ready to battle with someone she recognized to be Leo Odi. She sat down and took her mask off as the two of them rushed towards each other. Jacob began with a horizontal slash, which Leo had to block with both his knives. Knocking Jacob back with a good push, the two of them started sparring and trading blows a bit more evenly. But Christy noticed something. Jacob’s attacks were much more violent and rushed than usual. He wasn’t thinking like he normally did. He was just sort of fighting similarly to the way Ty would, without looking back and without any regrets. It caused his defenses to be filled with holes that Leo exploited immediately. When Jacob lunged forward with his weapon, he simply sidestepped and landed a huge blow on his back, causing Jacob to fall down onto one knee in pain. Not stopping even for a second, Leo started launching several aura blade strikes at Jacob, knocking him back further and further until he was pinned up against a wall. Jacob struggled to get up, but right before Leo managed to land what would surely have been the final blow, he activated his time dilation ability and managed to get out of the way and started going crazy. There wasn’t any flow or coordination to his strikes, just pure absolute rage. There wasn’t any defense nor any aura reserves to save him. Leo was just simply overpowered to the point of defeat. As he lay there in a heap, Jacob walked over to him and raised his sword to his neck and looked up at Lord Mortem. Mortem laughed, and jumped down to the arena next to the two of them.

            “Well done young one. It would seem your father’s boasts were not vain grasps at power after all. Now then, I give you these two choices. Either kill him and let him die as the failure he is, or let him live as a sign of your weakness.” Jacob looked at Lord Mortem, then down to Leo Odi. He then raised his sword, and then struck it into the ground, glancing Leo’s shoulder. Lord Mortem frowned at this action.

            “Why show mercy when you now have position of choosing life or death?”

            “Dead, he is no longer of any service to you. But alive, and filled with fear, he will never stray from your path. An obedient slave.” Jacob then simply walked off the stage and into the dark hallways. Lord Mortem smiled and then walked over to the shriveled body of Leo.

            “You should be grateful young Master Odi. He is the first member of my High Council to show such mercy. But understand if such weakness is displayed before me again, nobody can spare your life.”

            “I understand my lord.”

 

 

 

 

Jacob walked back to his chambers and immediately slammed the door shut and locked it. He didn’t know what to feel or how to act. He was fighting for an all-powerful being who wanted to destroy the world, and he was also fighting for his father who wanted to overthrow said powerful being. And all because he failed to save his friends. And now he was going to be even further from them than he was before, and would be leading armies on their homes in a few short years. He collapsed on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, not sure what to think. He thought about his friends, and all the good times they used to have. He remembered every time he would get annoyed when Evan came over to be with Christy be it for studying or being lovey dovey. He remembered all the fights he had with Brooklyn, all the times he and Ty talked about battle tactics and strategies. He even remembered the little knock they had made for themselves. He remembered it so well he almost thought he heard it in real life. And then again. And then a third time. By the fourth time he was running towards the door, trying to figure out what was going on. When the knock came through a fifth time, he opened the door, grabbed the person responsible, and dragged them inside. Knocking the person into the wall, he grabbed his sword and put it at the stranger’s neck.

            “Talk while you still have a throat. How do you know that knock?”

            “Because you taught it to us dummy!” Jacob took a few steps back as he recognized the voice.

            “No…. they told me you were dead…”

            “Well to keep my cover I did have to pretend to be dead, but that was all part of Vergil’s plan.” Christy said taking her mask off. “By having him, Brooklyn and Ty being the decoys, I could slip in without the enemy knowing and take all the necessary steps in order to….” Before Christy could finish, Jacob had already run over and was hugging her like she was going to disappear again and he didn’t want to let go as tears streamed down his face. Christy wasn’t sure how to respond at first, but after a few seconds, she returned his hug.

 

 

 

 

            “So everybody survived the attack?”

            “Yeah. And then we found this secret base thanks to some coordinates left back in the gorge.”

            “Left by who?”

            “We aren’t sure yet. But it meant we had a plan. When those three barged in, they acted like I was dead, which meant they wouldn’t be looking for me if I was sneaking around their base. So not only have I secured the keys to getting everybody out of here, but I have also gotten in contact with the Atlas military. They’re going to be rolling in here sometime tonight to shut this whole thing down.”

            “All right then. I’m glad to see everything is going according to plan.”

            “Not quite. I still haven’t found the Winter Maiden. Plus, there’s one other thing. You see, one of my other tasks was to disable the weapons that would more than likely destroy whatever fleet Atlas sends here. The guard I decided to impersonate doesn’t have high enough security clearance to do that. But I guess with the fact that for the time being, you are pretty much one of the highest ranking members of this organization you could get it done.”

            “I don’t think I’m in the system yet. And my father or that Mortem guy might get a bit suspicious if their newest untested warrior is suddenly taking up interest in the weaponry of this base.”

            “Well then, any other ideas?”

            “I suggest a diversion.”

            “What kind of diversion?”

            “You said that Atlas will be arriving here tonight, correct?”

            “That’s what General Ironwood told me.”

            “I think I have a way to divert their attention away from the outside world for a few hours.”

Author's Note

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[Shep]

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