Chapter 3

Humans are no more whimsical than the wind; it is in our nature.

"Why are you doing this?" Erick gasped, dangling from a ledge he'd never seen before. Above him stood a boy his age, masked in a black and white swirl, looking down.

"Make your choice," the boy said. "Until you do, I'll keep killing you. And who knows, I might take over once you give up."

Erick's heart pounded like a drum. Before he could react, the masked boy lifted him by the neck and slowly tore out his heart. Erick felt every vein tear. He screamed and woke up, clutching his chest, his vision blurred. His sister was crying, hugging him, relieved he was awake.

Erick and Glory looked at each other, coming to terms with their family's fate. They both began to shed silent tears. They noticed they were in a massive hall, soldiers with weapons and armor similar to Marcela and Jathen stationed every few meters along the walls.

The air felt heavy, breathing was a chore. Suddenly, the doors burst open, and a tall, pale woman with a dagger at her waist strode in. The siblings were momentarily scared as she looked down at their tear-streaked faces. One of her assistants said, "Empress, please, the children just woke up. Let them gather themselves."

The empress was stunned by Glory, who was a spitting image of her mother, and by Erick, who stood protectively in front of his sister, his dead eyes staring back at her. For what felt like an eternity, everyone stood still, staring at each other. The woman moved closer and, in a blink, picked them up one by one and hugged them, causing everyone to cry again, except Erick. He dislodged himself from her embrace and walked toward the shattered doors. Everyone watched as he tried to find something sharp to cut his heart out. He mumbled an apology to his sister and aimed for the veins in his neck, but he was levitated and pulled back to the empress. A maid injected him with a sedative.

"My apologies, Your Highness. I was supposed to monitor him. We didn't want to put him in isolation and add to his shattered mental state."

The empress glared at the maid, but before she could speak, Glory interjected, "Where are his earrings? Mom got those specifically for him. They have music recorded by both of them. They help to center his emotions. He can't handle their deaths any more than I can, but he's already made up his mind to join them." She turned to the others, "Wake him up and leave us be."

Reluctantly, the empress ordered everyone to follow Glory's instructions. The room filled with a tense silence as the attendants moved to obey, each step deliberate and careful under the empress's watchful gaze. They retrieved the earrings and gently placed them back on Erick, hoping the familiar music would soothe his troubled mind.

When Erick awoke, his vision blurry, he barely had time to register his surroundings before Glory's fist connected with his face. The impact sent a shockwave through the onlookers, rendering them motionless with surprise. Erick didn't react, his body absorbing the blows without resistance.

"Wake up! Fight!" Glory's voice was a raw mixture of desperation and fury as she continued to strike him, her punches landing on his face, jaw, and ribs. Each hit was a physical manifestation of her pain, a desperate attempt to rouse him from his emotional abyss.

Erick, through the haze of pain and memories, saw the images of tortured bodies, the senseless violence that had torn their world apart. He feared the rage within him, the uncontrollable urge to lash out and the potential of leaving Glory alone in a world that preyed on the weak.

Slowly, deliberately, Erick raised his hands. Instead of defending himself, he reached out and wrapped his arms around his sister, pulling her into a tight embrace. The punches stopped, replaced by the shuddering sobs of two broken hearts. For the first time in their lives, they felt an unspoken connection, a bond forged in the crucible of shared grief and loss.

Amidst their sobbing, Glory's voice broke through. "Don't leave me alone in this world," she pleaded, her words muffled against his shoulder.

Erick held her tighter, the silent promise of his presence a small beacon of hope in their darkest hour. They clung to each other, the warmth of their embrace offering a momentary respite from the cold reality of their shattered lives.

As exhaustion took over, both siblings dozed off in each other's arms, soaked in blood. When the emperor and the medical staff arrived, what they found shocked them all.

Zilken territory there stood a ministry that is both feared and then some, the head quarters of war department, justice branch and military service command,it houses multitude of interesting characters whose words could start and end wars lies an office number 53.

"So tell me again why I decided to back you in front of the supreme commander, because of your plans that bastard emperor took his pound of flesh from everyone, we paid the highest and to top it all off your actions nearly exposed our most classified operation in danger, if it was anyone else you would have been shoot publicly to send a message."

Nicolas smiled at the old general and replied with some stern words"If Eleanor had remained silent, our preparations wouldn't be at risk. She was bent on diplomacy, but that time has passed. We need the velucite to assert dominance. Only one continent remains uninitiated. Zilken must rise and unify the continent. "Do what you want but the children are off limits for now, supreme's orders." Nicolas frowned a bit with his new orders but he accepted them for now, it's not even though he didn't know the price they payed to ease the wrath of emperor Julian.

Empress Tatiana sat down at a chair in the royal morgue staring at her first born the pride of celestia, seeing her cold body and that of her son in law invoked the side of her she thought was buried in the salty cliffs after the war with Myrthos, hatred overwhelming anger, the helplessness of not being able to control everything in her path, she could do nothing but cry for the first time since she was 6 years old. Two hands came from behind her and gently tilted her head to some thing she knows to be a safe place" even if it takes a hundred years I will find them and they will burn to ashes my love that's my promise."

A promise from emperor Julian is a rare thing, in all their long years together empress Tatiana heard him give his promise 5 times and all his promises are always kept however long they take. " let's go my love the doctors are ready, the boy is sedated but glory is coping somewhat okey she'll need some help."

What have you found doctor asked emperor Julian. " Well your highness it's complicated as you can see both of their physiological make up looks normal with in the parameters but if you look at their senses it's heightened 5 times at least of the normal being like you and myself with out enhancements, their neural networks are even a marvel to gaze at they can process and analyze every second of everyday, the memory centre of their brains are also on another level except there is one abnormality for all these gifts.

"What is it?"asked the empress with obvious worry in her voice, "as you can see your highness young Erick mind is cross wired for a lack of better words and so is the young miss, one is adept in pattern recognition combined with the high IQ she will be a difficult adversary to anyone who came up against her , she is more composed than anyone we've ever seen,disorder doesn't even bother her unlike most people on the spectrum. Her brother on the other hand is a unique person on his own he keeps having problems with giving up his music, you see it gives his brain a way to structure it's self, he's magnificent at memorizing from smell,touch,taste, auditory depth, but his empathetic personality is what makes him vulnerable or invincible, due to his sensitivity towards the outside he can tell emotions far more easily." Said the doctor with giddiness in her voice evident.

"All of these pale in comparison to my next words they are natural no fetal modification no nothing, you could only see genes like these in rare children born traditionally, what could come close are designed babies. I'm ashamed to say this but we aren't equipped to help them any form of alterations, modification will have unforeseen consequences."

"Also everything that is done is documented on a private server in this estate only, four have access to it me,dr.faust and both of your highnesses. What I would suggest is old fashioned conditioning and therapy."

Erick sat down on the freshly fallen snow at the balcony of his new room woundering what kind of fresh snowy hell has they arrived at,well let's see if I've this correct mumbled Erick as he started to put his thoughts together.

With footsteps coming his way,"how is your face?" Asked glory concerned.

"I'm good how about your hands."

" Hurts!!!" replied the sister.

"Do you think it's the guilds?".

"No they have to much to lose if they killed them, in the worst scenario they would have to cut ties with mom and dad, they brought them benefits made them strong on par with the warlords and ancient families." Said glory with clear confusion.

" I have an idea but what do you think…?" Asked Erick.

" I broke in to moms com unit project Scorched Sun was heavily encrypted, I've never seen it before. I'll Need better computer." Said glory with teary eyes.

"You know I haven't changed my mind about leaving after I made sure your taken care of."

" what about me brother dearest you're going to leave me behind to satisfy your vengeance, killing your self won't change anything, you'll only bring me pain and suffering." Said the sister looking down.

"Look I know I'm an idiot but my mind is already made up, practically speaking the old lady seems to adore you since you resemble mom but me lm not needed here. you have someone that can protect you."

"You selfish bastard" said glory...

"tell us child why are you so quick to judge us?"

"I didn't even sense you both how much have you heard, did Marcela and nethan made contact with you yet?" Asked Erick hurriedly.

"you seem composed now what happened?" Asked the grandmother.

"Mom used to say a fish has to always keep moving forward otherwise it will die, so I'll grieve on my own terms by finding who is to blame and nailing them to the wall so that's why I'm composed for now." Said Erick coldly at his grandparents.

"I need a favour." Said Erick standing up and looking at their eyes.

"And refusing me isn't going to fly here."Said Erick.

"What is it child?" Asked Empress Tatiana interested.

" I want training and schooling for what I'm about to do I'll need help now. I know my next word might come out as rude but that's one of two things, to care for her like your own, love her and care for her like our parents used to."

"We don't know each other, me requesting something like this is simply based on a fact that mom never said anything bad about you." Said Erick standing on the ledge of his balcony.

" I know why she was banished, she had us even when people said that we were nothing but a curse, she chose to give us life, love her husband. Yet you sent two of personal guards to protect her, gave her tech that helped her to face life with ease. Don't worry I read it from her journal." Said Erick smiling at the couple.

"We both don't like violence. I even go out of my way to avoid fights, she is beloved by everyone she meets,but they started this. If they had given them quick death I wouldn't have made my decision to go to war."

" What do you know about war boy, look…."exclaimed the empress."No tardiness,laziness,full concentration on everything I say….."

"Do you think they are ready?" Asked Julian to his wife while thinking deeply.

"Also no interruption both of you will learn manners befitting of your station in life. You both are royalty you'll act accordingly. Little lory look at me as well, are you the same mind as your brother?"

"No. I'll bring them to justice like they would have. But to the training and school staff yes I'm ready."

"Good. Even though you want to throw your life away her answer is satisfactory for me. But like I said you'll do things my way not my husbands, my way do we understand each other."

Julian laughed while looking at his wife taking control, as she did with all of their children and grandchildren.