Even though it was in a glass room in the middle of the chamber full of people, she needed less than a second to take it. It had a door, and that’s all she needed. She repeated what she did in Titan’s chamber. She rotated her arm clockwise and she was inside the glass chamber. She picked up the sword cum spear weapon and put it in her belt. Then before anyone could notice, she jumped back to near the chamber door, happy with her prize, all ready to fight some guards.
But no one came in. She tried to slide the door open, and it just slid open. There was no one in Titan’s chamber. This was surprising, given the alarm. The entire corridor seemed to be deserted. She moved around, cautiously at first, then rather rapidly, searching for people. There was no one. A place usually bustling with various elite units, Final 100 members and occasionally someone from the Order of Seven, was empty.
She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she was curious. Was all this because of one intruder? She was skeptical. There wasn’t any individual who could take on so many strong opponents at once. She then proceeded towards the path to the central chambers, where the Valantian Imperium sat. She created the air lenses around her, just in case. She then saw the intruder.
He was an exceptionally handsome man. Tall, dark, with breath taking eyes. He dressed in a dated manner, clothes she thought hadn’t been worn in centuries. She didn’t care about that. She felt immediately drawn to him. There was something in his eyes, a wisdom beyond his years that commanded respect.
He was casually walking ahead. He had taken on so many opponents. There were bodies strewn around, including some warriors from the Final 100. Some more people charged at him, but he merely touched their foreheads and they collapsed. He then stopped, turned to look in her direction. She froze with fear. She was sure he couldn’t see her as she had moved her lenses to make herself invisible. But she was still afraid. He looked, smiled and gestured with his right hand, as if to say calm down. He then gave thumbs up in the same direction, and moved on. Had he seen her? There was no other explanation for his actions, but there was no explanation for his ability to see what was invisible.
She was even more curious. She wanted to follow him, but then she saw multiple strong warriors run up to him as he entered the central chambers. She suddenly felt despondent as she was sure he couldn’t defeat all of them at once. He was probably going to die in there. But she still waited, to see what happened. In the meanwhile, the hallway had many elite assassin and spy units come in and hide within various secret compartments. Clearly, they didn’t think the intruder would die inside.
And sure enough, he strode out, as nonchalantly as he entered. She was happy for him, but realized that he would be followed. She wanted to save him. She couldn’t let him die. She couldn’t explain to herself why she felt that way for a stranger. She knew it was going to be near impossible with over 15 spies there, but she had to try. She didn’t know why, but she had to, irrespective of the risk such an action posed to her own wellbeing. She rushed right beside him and covered both of them with her air lenses.
“You don’t know me…” she began. But before she could complete her whisper, he put a finger on her lips and gestured with his other hand to watch him. She was not sure what he wanted to do, but she had to cover them with the lenses. They would stop functioning any second. She never had used the lenses with two people inside. He moved his hands gracefully towards her swords, held them and slowly rotated them. Something happened. All her lenses merged into two concentric spherical lens which surrounded them. No one could see them. There were surprised reactions from all the spies in the room, as if the man had disappeared. Kazena was stunned. She couldn’t understand how this man could master her swords as soon as he touched them.
He pointed towards the chamber of philosophy. They walked towards it. Once they had put some distance between themselves and the spies, he literally dissipated the lenses with a wave of his hand. As she stood in awe of this man, he said, “Well done Kazena. Thank you for your help. I suggest you leave the High Seat and Capitol Hills as soon as possible. Given what you have started.” He pointed to the spear like sword.
“It will no longer be safe here, even for you. I have only one advice for you before you leave. Follow your heart.”
Saying that, he separated from her, and walked away, as nonchalantly as the first moment she saw him. He was soon gone.
Chapter 27: Fate of a broken warrior
After the encounter with the enigmatic man, Kazena’s journey continues, along a path she had never envisioned…
I was spellbound by the encounter I had just had. The man was so enchanting to look at, he was so charming, yet seemed so wise. His touch seemed to have awakened some knowledge within me about my own swords. I just moved them in the same circular fashion as he had, and voila, I had created the spherical, self-adjusting lenses. I was thrilled. I could now move much faster among multiple people without detection.
I walked rapidly towards the central chambers. I saw several physicians and elite units entering, and then exiting with the bodies of various warriors. Everyone seemed to be in a similar comatose state. Even Titan hadn’t been spared. It took seven people to carry him out. I was amazed at the intruder’s strength.
They were all being carried to the infirmary, but for Titan. My guess was that no bed besides his own could fit him. I was right. He was placed in his room, where a physician examined him. Then he was left alone, as they tried to figure out what to do with him.
It was exhilarating to be able to observe all this without any need to adjust my lenses. I was completely invisible to all. This euphoria made me want to see everything that was going on. But it was time to go. As I turned to leave, I saw an assassin unit enter. It seemed an odd unit for treating Titan. It was followed by two more. I figured out what the treatment was going to be. A permanent solution to the Imperium’s Titan problem, allowing Draconair to ascend to the Order of Seven, with everyone’s hands being clean. The intruder would be blamed.
I felt sorry for the warrior. After all he had done to protect and serve the Valantian Imperium, they were just going to kill him in cold blood. I wondered if there was something I could do for the man. I remembered the intruder’s advice. “Listen to your heart!” I decided to see if I could help the warrior. I had no plan, so I improvised.
I approached Titan and the assassin unit. They moved towards him. All of them had masks on, to prevent their identities from being revealed. One of them took out a couple of small balls and crushed it right under his nose. I realized what they were doing. The weapon of choice for assassination was always poison, especially ones that are not easily recognizable post the death.
Given that Titan was asleep, they couldn’t risk giving him poison orally. Given his massive frame, it was possible he would choke on the poison and wake up before they could finish the job. They had to kill him with minimum damage. So they had to use a poison delivered either through the skin, or through the nose. They had gone with a poison that had to be inhaled. It was just lucky for me. I had a semblance of a plan.
I walked up to Titan’s head. I used my left sword to create a small air prison for the poisonous gas to be trapped in. This was an ability that I had seldom used, but I was sure I could use it well today. Titan had inhaled a small amount. But I was sure a man of that size could take a bit of poison. The leader of the squad said, “He is still breathing. Given his size, let’s keep giving it to him till his breath stops.”
I was trying to wake up the giant without alerting the monsters who were trying to kill him. I whispered to him to get up, but obviously the intruder had done a good job. Then I figured where words fail, swords prevail. I poked him with the new spear like weapon I had and he jerked. I whispered urgently to him. “Do not open your eyes. Elite assassins are trying to kill you, on orders from the Valantian Imperium. Move your right little finger slightly if you can hear me.” The assassins were perturbed by the movement, but the subsequent lack of it calmed them down.
&nb
sp; He moved it, slowly. He was awake. “I am just a bystander, who can’t see someone who has given so much, dying at the hands of the people whom he has given to.”
He moved his little finger again. “I am trying to get you out of here. So please slowly reduce your breath rate. You would have to stop it at some point, and hold your breath for a few minutes before they are satisfied that you are dead. Move your little finger if you can, middle finger if you can’t,” he moved his little finger. Great.
I continued to redirect the poisonous gas away, as he slowly reduced his breath. He then stopped breathing completely. The assassins seemed satisfied. They then checked for his heart beat, to be doubly sure. My heart stopped. But they somehow seemed satisfied. They left a guard outside his door, which they thankfully closed. I guess they didn’t want anyone to see what they had done.
I dispersed my cover, and touched Titan on his shoulder. “Wake up, Titan. We need to plan your escape. Careful not to make any sound, there are guards outside.”
Titan opened his eyes. They were red with fury. “How could they do this!” he muttered under his breath, which sounded like giant stones rolling down a rocky hill. “Thank you,” he said, holding my tiny hand in his gigantic paws. “How are the other warriors? What happened to the intruder?” he asked.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I saw that all of them were in the same state as you. Asleep. But you need to worry about how we can get you out.”
The man showed some quick thinking on his feet. He wasn’t just muscle. “Well, seeing that they wanted me dead, this was the perfect opportunity. But they would want everyone to think it was natural causes. For that, they would have to move my body quickly into a coffin. Then have my cremation at first light. That way no one can ever find out that I was murdered with a poison.”
“Why not blame your death on the intruder?” I was curious.
“Because they wouldn’t want to acknowledge that there is a super strong person outside the Imperium’s control who can kill a member of the Order of Seven.”
That made sense. “So what do we do? We need to make sure that they believe you are in the coffin, right?”
“Yes. And I have to be in it. Until they lower me onto the pyre. I can only escape once they are sure they have kept my body on the pyre.”
That seemed counter intuitive. “So that you can burn to death instead of being burnt after death?” I asked sarcastically.
The sarcasm didn’t seem to register. But my point did. “Someone will put my body into the coffin. I need to get out and replace it with something that is similar to my weight, but also burns, so that there isn’t, say a large rock left after the pyre burns down.”
Then I had a random idea. “Can we… fill it up with loads of meat?”
He brightened up. “That should work. Can you become invisible again and smuggle some in?”
I nodded.
“Thank you, dear lady, for what you are doing for me.”
“The name is Kazena.” I smiled while he got up.
“Hide now.” He swung his fist into the door. The door, which was locked by an internal weight mechanism, slowly slid open, as he went and lay down again.
The guards outside seemed confused. Then they saw that the door was broken, so they went back to their place. I knew where the kitchen was. I had been in Imperium Chambers countless times, eating loads and loads of fine cooked food whenever I felt like. It was the one thing that triggered a pleasant childhood memory for me, of a place far away from this country.
I found the meat section and picked up as much meat as possible and returned to where Titan lay. I continued to ferry meat across, hiding it behind Titan, till he felt I had carried enough. I, then hid the meat in my lens bubble, and waited. Soon, they brought his coffin in, and lay him in it.
There were just five members of the assassin squad who did that. They must have wanted to ensure no one else saw his body before cremation. I had to distract them before they could carry the coffin. I had saved up the poisonous air in small balls, waiting to release them later into the open air outside. But this was a better use. I released a bit of the poison. They seemed to notice its smell. They panicked and ran out. That bought Titan some time. He immediately got out of the crate and we filled it up with the meat and resealed it.
It was time to make our escape. And this was the difficult part. For me. I had to increase my spherical lens to include the massive Titan. We hurried out of the Imperium Chambers. Titan was clear of the direction that he wanted to take.
“This is one of the tunnels that the Order of Seven can take to travel into and out of the city in secret. Only the seven of us know of it. Not even the Valantian Imperium knows.”
It was a seemingly normal floor slab in the corner of the armory. Titan stood at the corner of it and pressed an apparently random pattern on it, it started to move down slowly. Titan thanked me again. “You are the reason I am alive. I am forever in your debt.”
“I am just glad that you are alive. One more person who is against the Imperium, is one more reason for me to be happy. What will you do now?”
Titan was thoughtful. “I have no idea. Perhaps I will visit the place of my origin. Who knows… there are so many possibilities!”
Well, I was glad that he was to travel. But there was one important thing that he might have missed. “Happy to know. One piece of advice—you are colossal. Please do not move around in public. You are bound to be noticed.”
He looked at me and laughed. It was like rolling thunder at a distance. “I don’t hear that often said to my face. It is fair advice.”
As he descended down, he saw what I had stolen. He seemed surprised. “How did you… never mind. I am glad you are taking that away as well. They don’t deserve it. Now I realize how you were able to prick me.”
The slab rose and closed. And then, he was gone. It was as if he was never there. I felt good about saving such an important life. It was all thanks to the advice I got from the intruder. Now it was time for me to return home with my prize.
I spun around again, completed five rotations, to commence my return to Capitol Hills.
Chapter 28: Home away from home
How Kazena came to be who she was…
There was nothing that indicated anyone lived there. It was what was commonly referred to as a ghost house. It was created by some wealthy, corrupt businessman living somewhere else, to hide his excess money. Building a house in Capitol Hill needed high-level clearances, which implied that any house built there was “clean.” This provision was used typically by Morgenian businessmen from Solaria, one of the financial capitals of Valantia. They used it to make any dirty money they made clean. And these businessmen would never leave their beloved city, so the houses remained empty. Everyone knew it. But this one wasn’t empty. Kazena had lived here for years. Almost since her arrival into Capitol Hills.
After her success and subsequent adventure in the High Seat, she was glad that she was back to the only place she could call home. She relaxed in “her” palatial 12-bedroom house, as she undressed, put on her sleepwear and went to sleep for hours. When she woke up, she moved to the two-story kitchen, stocked with enough grain and spices for a year, to explore what she wanted to make.
After creating the right mix for her meal, she popped by her local butcher for a few seconds to pick up some venison and then to her regular grocer for some vegetables. Not that either of them could ever pick her from a line up, for they had never seen her. They only knew that every month some amount of their stock disappeared, and an equivalent amount of money appeared in their counters at the end of the month. They had long stopped questioning this phenomenon.
She cooked herself a meal and ate it in silence, wondering about the things she had seen and experienced. She then took the spear like weapon that she had stolen, and wondered why Titan seemed to think it was the only thing that could easily prick him.
It was an intricately designed weapon. The spear head had helical groo
ves along its complete length. The body of the spear had multiple designs in the metal, patterns difficult for her to understand, but easy to appreciate. It was just slightly smaller than the head in its circumference. It was almost two and a half times as long as the spear head. Its edges tapered and sharpened, but not in a way that could cut easily. Then came the hilt.
It had a large black jewel embedded in it, just below the spear body. The hilt had the same circumference as the body. In fact, the only way the hilt was different from the body was the jewel, a circular protrusion around it, and small indentations below this protrusion for gripping the weapon. It was a spear which could be used to block attacks and stab but wasn’t effective for slashing. The helical grooves probably made it easier to stab through a target if twisted while stabbing, but not much else.
She tried to see how effective it was because of the grooves. She took it to a marble pillar in the kitchen that had a nice statue of a centaur on it. It was a nice hard target. She thrust the spear into the marble pillar. The spear hit the pillar, broke the surface, and in a split second, broke through the entire foot wide pillar. She was stunned. She hadn’t even put that much power in the thrust. When she hit the marble pillar, she felt a pull generating from the spear, which stopped the instant it went clean through the pillar. This was the second time a weapon had exceeded her expectations.
The first was over 15 years ago, when she was just a young girl in the city of Vian in Vanualon. The place that she first called her home. Her parents were among the wealthy in Vanualon. They owned a fair piece of land, almost a hundredth of the island city. Their wealth insulated her from the suffering of others. It also isolated her. She had no friends, no one who could say that they were close to her.
Age of Azmoq: The Valantian Imperium Page 31