Chapter 5 – Headquarters

The wind in Elysi flew strong and fast and it constantly tried to fight Eric's coat. He was walking on a wide and long pathway called Kings road along with Alex and Kate.

Kings road was the largest walkway on the south side of the city centre and bordered the King's canal, one of Elysi's four great canals of Elysi. It was formed from grey stone tiles and a white marble railing's and travelled to the centre of the city where it connected with all the other great roads, Queen's, Prince, and Princess.

They travelled over King's bridge as they entered the inner section of the city the Anterius. They walked past buildings of white and grey, over bridges to traverse the canals that ran through the city like a spider web and eventually after around 30 minutes they reached the centre.

The centre of the city was home to the royal palace, the headquarters of the Military and Crown's Intelligence, which was also known as the CI. The centre was guarded by a great white wall, that stood over eight metres, the stone was engraved with protection runes and had two large gates to enter at the north and south end, with guards in black uniforms standing on guard. The west and east sides of the walls where integrated with the Military and Crown Intelligence HQ's which were so large they extended out from both sides of the wall, due to this they also offered passage in and out of the centre. Kings road came to an end as it became a huge bridge that led to smaller street, about half its width. The pathway like most streets and roads in the city was formed from grey stone tiles, it formed ring around the entire wall.

"I'll see you later" Kate waved. She then turned left and passed some guards patrolling as she headed towards the Crown's intelligence headquarters. After returning her wave they headed right, towards the Military Headquarters. The building made up almost the entire east side of the wall and the entrance peaked out onto the street. Like the Crown's intelligence Headquarters, the building travelled deep into the centre layer and was six stories tall towering over most of the buildings in the city. It was cube like in shape and built from grey and white stone and large one-way windows covered its walls. The entrance extended out from the first floor of the building and was made from almost completely glass, the glass doors slid open as they approached. Passing the two guards stationed outside they entered into the main lobby, which was packed with people like always.

The room was vast, taking up a majority of the first floor, and extremely tall, most of the ceiling from formed from a huge skylight. It had dark wood floors and grey stone walls. Many black couches were placed by the walls and there were three reception desks that matched the floor, two where at the sides of the lobby and the larger main reception was at the back, with six people working behind it. To the side of the main reception where two sets of the stone stairs lined with red carpet that curved up and eventually intertwined into a larger staircase leading to the third floor. Once you reached the top there were two other smaller spiral stairs in hallways to the side travelling up the entire building.

Alex strode across the middle of the room which was always left clear, and Eric quickly followed behind him. They approached the left side of the reception and waited in front of a young women with long curly red hair and hazel eyes hidden beneath her glasses. After a moment she glanced up and her mouth quickly curved into a smile.

"General Jager's office" she informed them.

"Thanks Kathlyn" Alex said while repaying her smile. She then went back to work as they began walking up the stairs to her left. They turned right once they reached the third floor and then continued up a grey spiral staircase, exiting at the fifth floor.

They entered a large square room that looked like a smaller version of the main lobby. Windows were spaced between the far walls, revealing the white city, and desks were lined along the centre of the room where many people were working. They walked along one of the pathways, made to the side of the room, towards the back where a large double door sat with a golden plaque 'General M Jager' above it. Beside the door was a woman with straight black hair and brown eyes sitting behind a desk, that was larger and noticeably a lot nicer compared to the others Eric had seen in the building. She continued working on her documents even as they approached only speaking up when they went to open the large door.

"They're in that room Alex" she stated gesturing over to the door on her left, her eyes remaining on the document.

"We're in the big room" Alex sighed "get ready for a long one". Eric let out a grumble of his own before following Alex into the meeting room.

Inside the room was a large, rectangular dark wood table with six people sitting around it, they quickly took the seats closest to the door. At the very end of the table sat a mountain of a man General Mark Jager, his large build visible even through his uniform, he had short black hair, with a black beard and piercing blue eyes. To General's side sat his daughters, Major Serena Jager and Emily Jager. Similarly to their father they had black hair however much longer and piercing blue eyes. Across from Eric sat the other two generals currently in Elysi, General Andrew Gravitas a man with a strong build, black hair and brown eyes and General Kurt Zeit, a man with an athletic build, blonde hair combed over neatly to the side and glowing green eyes. Eric had expected them all to be here however, the person to his and Alex's right took him by surprise. She had her usual long black wavy hair, bright amber eyes, a muscular build, but her usually porcelain skin was completely tanned. Eric hadn't seen her in months and didn't think was returning until next week but here she was beside him. Korra turned to face them flashing a smile.

"How did Eri like her gift?" she asked.

"Eri loved it, Becka not so much" Alex said, causing her to stifle a laugh. After a few moments the meeting began and General Jager spoke, his gruff voice escaping his mouth.

"As you know the Atlas games is in a two weeks' time, so I wanted to have one last meeting to confirm everyone's roles" he stated while grabbing some papers from the table "The only generals who'll be attending the event are myself and General Zeit. General Gravitas will remain here in Elysi and General Alexander will remain where he is at the training centre. General Zeit please leave a list of what Crown's intelligence officers you are bringing on my desk by tomorrow" he told the general while sparring a glance "As for the military we will be bringing major Jager and captain Uryx as well as 10 officers".

"Quite a lot of officers for something like the Atlas games" Korra stated, "Are you expecting something to go wrong?".

"We've been asked to help in the protection of our royal family so I'm giving them 5 officers on top of what they already have" The general explained.

He continued to assign people their roles during the event for the next fifteen minutes mostly speaking to General Zeit. He then went on to inform General Gravitas on what he should do in Elysi while they were all absent. He then finally turned to Eric and Emily.

"You two and the others will be leaving for the Thalassi three days earlier than the rest of us with General Zeit, Korra and Serena who'll help you train in the facilities they provide. Until then continue preparing for the event." The general informed them. He then went on to explain what event's everyone is participating in that they'll obtain the time schedule at a later date. Then the topic switched to the newly introduced special event.

"We pretty much know nothing on what the event will be apart from it involves combat and the royal's. For Elysia it will of course be princess Sera" he said while reading a document.

"She has been asked to pick a partner, this person can be anyone the princess wants with certain exceptions, that she'd been made aware of".

"Any idea on how the princess will decide her partner? Or will she just pick her brother?" General Zeit asked.

"She has told me she has already decided on someone who falls in the requirements, however, she still needs to ask the person" General Jager informed them.

"Who has she picked?" General Gravitas spoke up.

"She's not telling anyone, apparently wanting to keep it a surprise" the General stated sounding amused by the princess's decision. Confused faces formed around the room as Eric assumed they were trying to figure out who she would pick, but Eric was pretty certain he knew and by the looks of Alex and Korra's faces they did too.

"Well that concludes all talks on the Atlas games for now. Emily and Eric you two are dismissed" General Jager stated breaking the silence.

Relief spread through Eric as he got up and began leaving the room, Eric flashed Alex a smile before turning away.

"Lucky bastard" he heard Alex mumble, as he left the meeting room behind him. As he headed towards the stairs he could hear Emily's quicken her pace in attempt to catch him, so he decided to slow down.

"Any idea on who the princess is going to pick?" she asked.

"Yeah" he replied, "But before you ask I'm not telling you anything. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise now would i".

"Are you coming to train with the rest of us?" she asked quickly changing the topic and her eyes now looking forward, to ignore his grin.

"Yeah I'll be there soon I've just got to do something first" he stated. She gave him a confused glance however, quickly shrugged it off and rushed off ahead of him.

He watched her leave before slowly following in her direction. By the time he exited the building she was nowhere to be seen, she'd probably headed straight to the training facility. Eventually he would head there as well, but first he had a man to find.

An hour after Eric and Emily left, the meeting finally came to an end and Alex exhaled in relief, he'd finally escaped the Military, financial and political talks.

Everyone got up and began leaving the room, he watched General Jager go into his office with Serena. Ahead of him was Kurt and Andrew, they were heading towards the stairs, he went to follow them, but felt something on his arm. He turned to see Korra stood behind him, her hand grasping him.

"Can we talk for a bit" she asked softly, but he could tell it wasn't a request. He gave her a nod and they quickly headed up the spiral staircase. They exited on the white roof top of the Military HQ.

It was vast and empty with glass railings bordering the entire roof. They walked over the skylight revealing the lobby below to the railing and stared out into the city. It was a skyline of white buildings of all shapes and sizes with canals and grey pathways in between, the grand cathedral towered over everything, claiming its title of largest building in the country. It was immense structure of towers, and spires. Even though it was forged mostly from white stone it glistened like a gem constantly through both day and night. All its windows were forged from stained glass depicting a long-lost history of the world, now believed to be myth and legend but Alex wasn't too sure. The cathedral hadn't been in use in centuries and now it had become a landmark of the world. It had been enchanted by ancient mages making it near damn indestructible, during the entire history of the country it was the only building to never have fallen. The only building to attempt possibly even to rival it was the Royal palace that sat behind them at the centre of the entire city, they were the two oldest buildings in the country.

It sat in the middle of a crystal lake surrounded by the lush royal garden. Like the rest of city it was a complexion of pristine white and grey that gleamed like a diamond with roof tiles that glistened like platinum and white walls that shone like the moon.

"So what have you been up to in Eneasia these three months" Alex asked with a smile as he leaned on the railing.

"We can catch up later" she stated bluntly, drawing his eyes to her "there are more important things I need to tell you first". Her eyes were dark and grave. Instantly his smile vanished, and his demeanour matched hers.

"Go on".