A rather awkward silence prevailed, amplified by hands and eyes looking for everything except one thing to lock on to and interact with.Despite my usual self, I’d yet again found myself feeling uncomfortable in silence. A state I thrived in. The last time I’d felt this way was with Luciano right after I’d pretty much flipped off President Nawab of Zephyria .Then I felt uncomfortable and tense because I sensed I was about to be told things I didn’t want to hear. Things that didn’t sit well at all with me. Things I didn’t want to realize.However, this time was different yet just the same in the amount of discomfort it gave me. I can’t remember how many times I’d thought of walking right out of the room but I imagined quite vividly how much more awkward that would make things when I inevitably met again with this person.With my eyes trying and failing to read the contents of a magazine I’d forced into my face, I gulped as I finally amassed enough courage to take a peek at the woman s
“I wore your favourite.”I could see that and I couldn’t deny it made me feel attracted to her even more with the colour staining her appearance.Aina had stolen my attention and time away from Niaina and Vao the moment Bernador left the premises. I had much to talk to the two about but she’d confidently dismissed the two ministers. How troublesome.She stresses, reaching to the back of her packed up brown hair and takes off the purple hairclip letting her hair fall at its length. It’d grown longer from the short bob it was a month ago when I first met her at the funeral. I find my young body reacting enthusiastically to the new look. Over a century and my tastes hadn’t changed.“You look good,” I understate.“You look like you don’t want to see me.”I barely keep myself from wincing at her accusations. “I don’t have any reason to feel that way, Aina. Don’t you think you’re reading too much into things?”She shook her head, letting the hair fall equally onto both sides of her shoulder
I’d received a reception almost as grand as the one I’d gotten when I landed in Aridoria. Matthias and Luciano stood out front, ready to receive me while off in the distance many people spectated and cheered my arrival.It felt good being praised like this. I waved to the crowd with a true grin slapped onto my face. Though, the cynical side of my mind ask the other about the possibility that the crowds were merely cheering to receive some form of immediate relief like the LGA in Sofia, after all, these were mere commoners, they had little to no knowledge about the success and growth I’ve been orchestrating for their sakes.I shook off the doubts as I got into the car waiting for me, even if it were the case, it only meant that my image as the youthful, caring leader was shining through into the hearts of Schelarians everywhere.I was more inclined to be optimistic about it though. If they crowds weren’t arranged and a notice of my arrival was simply given, it really needs no explanati
“I beg your pardon?”“Well you better, my mercy is all that’s keeping you from a spending the rest of your life in jail.”The shocked look on Masud’s face was one I welcomed. He’d come here to tell me that the KUneeded to force a government on my nation before they could allow us back into the organization.It angered me. And though I knew for a fact that these were the words he would spew once we met, living the reality was a lot more provocative.“Mister President let us not deceive ourselves. You’re doing a very bad job of being a dictator and I can either help you stabilize the region, or I could help you get into a cell.” I regained my composure after breathing deeply, I spoke with a rather calm and condescending voice, he needed to be put in his place.Still his mouth hung open in shock but at my words he shook his head fervently, “I am no such thing. Unlike you Mister Fatah, my countrymen voted me in on basis of trust.”“Ah, yes, they voted you in but now you’ve refused to leav
It would see that my intel-ii ability only proved to be useful in informing me of basic information about individuals and my surroundings as well as objects. But with precision and skill as well as actually knowing what to look for, it would take a few tabs to get to the in-depth secrets of a person or an item.Just like the time with the Volstovian Ambassador, it took me from the second I laid eyes on him to the moment I began placing pressure to ask all the right questions of the intel-ii.The problem with the intel-ii was, you couldn’t simply ask it ‘Is this person a criminal?’ you’d have to actively search and compile the information it provides about the person and reach your own conclusion. I’d found out the Ambassador was scum simply by asking the intel-ii where the Ambassador had been and as the intel-ii provided a week of information on the subject’s whereabouts, I was provided with and extensive and detailed list of the Ambassadors last visited places.Strangely and quite an
If I’d known today would fill me with fear and paranoia to this extent, I would have gotten more sleep the night before.It was night time now; I’d spent daylight discussing various means to get out of the terrible predicament we now found ourselves in. According to Luciano, the men were well trained and only needed the proper equipment to not be utterly massacred in the obviously upcoming war.Though, Matthias naively held faith that much of the tensions at the border could be resolved with diplomacy, even offering to go speak with President Leopold of Verdantis. I knew for a fact that Verdantis would not let up on their offensive. I don’t quite know what they were waiting for yet, but I hoped they’d wait a bit longer and give me the chance to prepare a cushion for their attacks.As it stood, there was no bail-out for Schelar if Verdantis went ahead and pulled the trigger. I’d immediately spoken to the Volstovian Ambassador about the current developing events and our dire need for su
The journey to the border was long and arduous. Not because I was driving, no, I hadn’t driven in years. Last time I drove; I was a playboy millionaire with no care in the world as I cruised all around the beauties of the Maldives.No it was long because my thoughts were restless and arduous because as much as I wanted to press pause and consult the wicked game master for a retry, I couldn’t.My own self-deprecating thoughts extended time by a mile. I didn’t know if all I was doing by visiting the men was just me hanging around a game I’d a hundred per cent completed with nothing to do but gaze at the aesthetics. Except this is a game that auto-completes the moment all is lost.And all was lost.This was my tenth life. Even if I managed to get out of the country before the Verdantians got their hands on me, I’d have absolutely no means of expansion. I was barely twenty. If I got asylum in a different country for about fifteen years, I’d be eligible to enter politics and began running
I was surprised.Not at my cousin’s audacity, no, not at the quiet yet eerily resonating support he received from the others who cowardly stood behind him, using him as a stick to beat out their frustrations about me or as a shield to guard them from my fiery wrath that had just descended upon Loup himself.No. I was surprised at myself.As words left my lips I was being as violent as I possibly would allow myself to be with family, distant as they were. Luciano hung by my side and the veteran generals hung by his, whispering things that were meant to reach me but didn’t.All I could hear was a piercing white noise, like a mosquito’s song but on stereo. Annoying. I felt like shaking him off me and rebuking his touch but yet…I was still. Still staring firmly at Loup whilst my thoughts scattered, bouncing off the insides of my skull. He looked prepared, like he’d made his peace with this being the worst thing that would happen to him, in fact, as I spoke the words he actually looked rel
As usual, the Hospital was crowded and there were people waiting for one thing or the other in all corners. It was a good thing then that Alban had brought along his friends from the government then, with a flash of their badge and a silent glower, doors were opened and people made way.Marina’s room was set in the far end of the Hospital, completely closed off from the others. Alban wasn’t entirely sure why this was done but he didn’t complain.Entering the room, the first thing he observed was that it was a single man bedroom, Marina didn’t have anyone she was sharing the room with, perhaps that would have been different if he’d been injured as well.The second thing was marina herself, she had her hands wrapped up in sloppy bandages and had almost fallen over reaching for the pistol she now pointed at him. The dogs Alban had brought along shamelessly backed out of the room, choosing to stand outside rather than help diffuse whatever situation might be occurring.“Hello Marina.”“Al
Alban wasn’t sure how many days had passed since he’d been in audience with the President. But he was aware that he’d spent quite a few number of days under some observation of sort.His memory was sufficiently distorted that he didn’t care much about what had happened during that period, all he knew was that he was soon released to do as he pleased after they had stared at him day after day.Luckily, his memory wasn’t so distorted to forget the events that had transpired and once he’d been released he was intent to find his only surviving teammate, Marina.Before he could do so, however, he’d been quickly beset by more ‘Government Dogs’ as he’d begun to think of them. They’d been waiting for him the moment he’d been released from what he could only describe as a detention centre.The two dogs wore polished black suits and wore matching black sunshades, if Alban was the man he was a month ago he’d think the two just had a bad fashion day, but now vividly aware of the rot that called i
As soon as I’d given authorization the operation began in full force, my men knowing their responsibilities trooped out of my office to begin the operation in earnest, communicate to the troops and get them into offensive positions.From that moment to whatever moment I found myself either at the end of a gun or handing over terms of surrender to Leopold Marofo, began the most stressful days of my life.We’d given the order to begin the operation to the troops and all priority one regiments; Helgen, Peridot and Upsilon were set.Helgen had been given the order to move in with the rest of our men on ground and begin placing pressure on the enemy at one point in the theather, a point we’d marked as a soft spot.But the soft spot wasn’t as soft as the name implied, it was simply the least defended front with less close air support and rather non-existent bombers flying through as our squads advanced over their lines. That still left the men, their tanks, heavy artillery and often anti-ta
The vassalization of Verdantis was a thought that had only come into mind a few times. I think a majority of my Government, myself included was going on with the war with the thought that we’d be annexing the hell out of the bane of our existence thus far.But Niaina put up several good points as to why vassalization was much better than annexation.Firstly, it would be several times more efficient for the Government to administer the region through a puppet state than to attempt coring the entirety of the states with military rule and fear.“The Schelarian military would and should be put to better use than quashing rebellions.” She’d said. “The cost of maintenance of those armies would be the same as the current cost during this war. It is just not profitable to do so, especially seeing as it would take months if not year to effectively begin the taxation of the newly conquered regions. The deficit would kill the country and the Niluthiaians would break away.”Secondly, it would be
Discovering that I could control the emotions of people to whatever extent really suited my needs, but it made it a bit difficult to handle when all my test subjects either viciously began trying to attack me, fell asleep, or tried killing themselves.Yes, I’d finally tested out Pain-Infliction on with mental illnesses. It was the most difficult to control, it was like trying to fill up a shot glass with a giant jug held by only one hand. I felt a bit bad that some actually succeeded in killing themselves right before my eyes and even worse that they used my security as a means to do so.I’d learnt my lesson though and I arranged for an observation chamber, like an interrogation room but with less concrete and more fluff. For the tests I had to fly out to Sava, one of the few provinces we held onto after the first war with Verdantis. This meant the generals were on by themselves at the frontlines, but it was only for three days, Nizar had said it would take quite a bit of time to mass
It’d been a long day. Not unlike any of my previous days, I’d always be subjected to long hours, the position came with it. But today had an extra slap of stress set onto it.I’d spent an uncomfortable amount of time on the phone with Matthias, assuring him that everything was fine here and Luciano was completely safe. I’d beefed up his security several times and only authorized myself and a few doctors after running a background on them with the intel-ii.I’d taken to the idea that perhaps Luciano was in fact the target of an assassination. The explosion seemed too convenient for it to simply be an accident. The Verdantians may have found a way to get behind our lines, a spy of their own, an inside man, a traitor within the ranks even. Anything was plausible at this point.I then spent over twelve hours testing the War tab on its ability to coordinate my forces. It was a delicate mission and the simple part was rendering everyone blind.Nizar had long developed a bomb that not only d
They’d flown fast and high, everyone with two working eyes kept a look out for the Jeep Alban had mentioned. Meanwhile he only pretended to do search, his mind was clouded with so many conflicting thoughts. Thoughts of the state of his last surviving companion, Marina.Despite the both of them receiving the best first-aid treatment the troops could provide, she hadn’t woken up all the while thy flew, and it’d been a minute. He was also worried for his saviours; they’d spent some time searching for the vehicle behind enemy lines, he didn’t know how they could afford such at all, so he asked.“How are we still behind enemy lines? The Verdantians will surely be on our tail by now.” He questioned the Captain.The man shrugged, taking a moment to give Alban a look before answering, “It’s all on the President’s orders apparently. Some minister had us drop some large device at the frontlines before we left. It rendered all sensors and communication devices dark, except for these archaic Noki
Alban woke up with a splitting headache, if the red in his eyes and the ringing in his ears was anything to go about, his head had been injured. He also found through trial that his hands were bound.He looked down as he felt something heavy on his legs. It was Marina, they’d bound her broken arms together and thrown her into the vehicle they were in right now. Seems they went for capturing them alive anyway.He could hear them speak to each other, obviously pissed about all it took to capture them. Alban couldn’t help but feel a bit good about himself, they’d managed to fend off five military vehicles for over two hours in a rapid chase to the border.Suddenly, he noticed something was off. He didn’t see Daniel anywhere. He looked out the window and sure enough there were the other beaten up cars driving beside them. He couldn’t see into them from the left side of the backseat, so he went on and asked his captors.“What happened to my other teammate? Where is he?”His captors in the
He’d never felt the sun so hot against his skin. He was soaked in his own sweat and the dunes of sand he drove on slapped against his wet skin. He felt rather uncomfortable with the whole thing. But there were these moments where he didn’t feel like he was speeding across a desert, racing away from a horde of armed men and vehicles that sought to capture he and his companions. Companions that screamed at the top of their lungs as they continuously chucked grenades at their pursuers and fired their rifles blindly.He was in one of those blissful moments now. His mind was clear, without fear, and completely at ease and at peace with his predicament. He didn’t know how long the calming feeling would last before he went on to screaming his lungs out with his companions, so he was sure to appreciate it while it did.Whoosh. BOOOM.And that was a rocket launcher.“They’re firing rockets, ALBAN!! I told you we should have taken one!” Marina spat out.“They aren’t looking like they’re taking