“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
I’d taken to camping with the men, even watching the skulking Verdantians on the other side of the border. One of the latest rifles in hand, some binoculars and a can of pringles.And I’d done so all against the wishes of Luciano and Matthias who’d heard about it from Luciano the moment I abruptly decided to stay in the rough with the men instead of flying back to the capitol.I’d let myself go. And it felt good. I gave no explanation to Luciano for my unwarranted skills in fighting because I didn’t care to and he could go on without knowing. For much of the time I’d been at the border I’d looked upon everyone with many feelings.Guilt, pride, joy, it was so much at once and I truly didn’t know how I felt at all. A reoccurring thought as I fought many of the strongarm men in spars and challenges was ‘What would I do if these men realize just like me that nothing really mattered. Least of all Schelar?’The answers I provided to the question sent chills down my spine. The Verdantians wo
At the declaration of war, the intel-ii chose the moment to reveal a particularly helpful feature.Its sudden ping blinded me with a whole lot of tabs as it usually did whenever I activated it and a sturdy, brown and spiked tab then floated in the middle of my vision.~Wars~I tried putting it aside to focus on the rest of Luciano’s report as it was the least translucent tab I’d come across but it wouldn’t budge. I had no choice but address the blaring red screen.The tab was split into different sections and like most things with the intel-ii it had information that seemed to go on forever, I felt I’d be looking very distracted throughout the meeting but with a skim of the tab it looked like it would serve me more to pay it my undivided attention rather than pretend to listen to Luciano explain how we’d been caught by surprise.“Luciano, I’ll get back to you on this soon. My orders are the same as ever. Defend.”I didn’t need to see his face to know he looked grim. As it was it would
“Are you okay?”The question was all I could muster up as I blankly and quite awkwardly stared at the ceiling on my bedroom. I’d delayed my flight to the lines for a few hours to attend to Miss Leriva as it seemed she would give way to a break down at any given moment and more than likely follow up with a spree of rather ill-thought decisions.In the end it seemed instead that I was the one to make the ill-thought decisions. For whatever reason, I’d taken her to my bed room instead of my office.“Are YOU okay?” she asked, I could feel her gaze on me from the other side of the bed, I could sense the worry in her voice so I looked to her.Her eyes now stood out and seemed to be all I saw whenever I gazed upon her. Her face though was twisted with concern; I could easily make a few guesses about what she was concerned with.This wasn’t supposed to happen.“I’m sorry.”“For what!” she gasped out, shuffling under the sheathes before sitting upright.I do the same, grabbing a pillow and pro