Roman let out an obvious moan, reluctant to learn any more about the different ways in which he might be killed.
Skye got up and knelt beside the young man, placing his arm around him. “I know,” he said quietly, acknowledging the stress of the situation. “I know it's hard, and I'm so sorry that you have to go through all of this. It can't be easy. But I give you my word that I won't let anything happen to you.” He placed a large tablet on the table in front of Roman. “And if you know your enemy, it might just save your life tonight.”
Twenty-one
“I don't know what to do,” Adam said as he walked nervously into the security control room of the villa with Karen behind him. They closed the door tightly, away from the prying ears of anyone else nearby. They were alone with Guard One.
“We're in the middle of something big,” Karen admitted. “That man, Nicholas Sweeney, is somehow controlling the president. He said that this is his villa, which explains why Archibald suddenly ordered us to relocate here during such a busy week.”
“And why didn't he have any eyes?” Adam asked himself, shuddering at the distressing memory of Nikolai.
“Sir and madam,” Guard One politely interrupted. “I want to show you this. It was recorded while you were out.” His deputy, Guard Two, had reported to him moments ago, informing him of the events at West Tower. One had known Adam for many years and, despite being told that there was now a new chief counsel, wasn't about to deny his own concerns regarding the president's safety. Above all else, his duty was to protect his leader.
He pressed several buttons on the screen and a series of pictures began to come to life on the wall in front of them. Adam and Karen stared at the footage, not sure what to make of it.
“This was taken a short time ago at the main entrance here,” One informed them. It showed the double-door entryway at the front of the villa, with four members of the Guard stationed around it.
“Who's that?” Karen asked, frowning with confusion, watching a tall man in a tuxedo and top hat stroll inside proudly, yet awkwardly. He had a staff pass around his neck; none of the Guard bothered to stop him as he walked between them. “That's the man from the parking garage of the tower,” she gasped.
“He wasn't wearing a staff pass earlier. Did he check in when he arrived?” Adam asked, equally as confused.
“He didn't, sir. There's more you might wish to see.”
Adam and Karen kept their gaze focussed on the projection, baffled by the number of unauthorised people that had somehow managed to infiltrate the government ranks in one day. In the distance, a mysterious figure lurched forward. It was filthy and moved at a very slow pace. Neither of them could make out its face.
“And who is that?” Karen asked.
“What is that,” One corrected. “Keep watching.”
The footage showed the Guard blocking the front door as they saw the undead creature with no staff pass creep forward. They held their guns at it. It hobbled forward a few more steps before they opened fire, causing it to collapse in a disgusting heap.
Adam and Karen both gasped. “The Guard killed it.”
“It's not over yet,” One said.
The footage continued, showing the four armed men and women walk over to the corpse and inspect it. Night suddenly emerged from inside the villa and ran over to them, shouting something inaudible at them. The Guard stared at the odd man briefly, then resumed their positions by the front door. Night bent over the deceased and placed his hands on its face. Adam let out a horrified gasp as he watched the body reanimate and stand up on its own.
Night then tried to negotiate with the four soldiers, but they stood firm by the door, not allowing the odd corpse to enter.
“He then goes inside and retrieves a pass for it,” One said as he sped up the footage. He pressed another button and the recording played at its original speed, showing Night emerge from the villa several minutes later with a pass. He placed it around the body's neck, and the pair then walked inside without any further hindrance.
Adam and Karen stared at each other, both lost for words. Neither of them could comprehend the strange events that were occurring before their very eyes.
“What's going on?” Karen muttered. She'd worked at Government House for many years but had never been subjected to such extraordinary and alarming events.
“The most recent footage shows the man in the tuxedo escorting the bogey to one of the storage rooms near the president's suite, only moments ago. There are no cameras in the room though, so I can't show you.”
Adam clasped his hands, trying to wrap his head around the situation. “Let's go to the storage room. I want to see what this thing is.” His eyes could see that it was a rotting carcass, but his mind refused to believe it.
“I can't authorise any of my staff to join you, sir,” One explained. “If anyone finds out that I've shown you this, I could be charged with treason.”
“I know. Thank you, One. I'll go alone. Which room is it?”
“309. Please be careful, sir. If you're seen ...”
Adam nodded, aware of the consequences he faced. He was temporarily allowed back into the villa to retrieve his possessions and had been ordered to then return to Government House. He only hoped he'd be able to uncover any information about the president's new entourage in the short time.
He thanked the head guard a final time and left the room in silence with Karen. They waited until they were out in the hallway alone before speaking.
“I'm coming with you,” Karen whispered.
“No, you should stay. You haven't been dismissed from your position yet.”
“I don't care,” she protested. “If anything happens to the president, then I've failed at my duties.”
She smiled and nodded as they passed another member of government personnel. Once they were out of range again, she continued. “I've taken an oath to serve the president, and I'm just as liable as you are for his well-being. Whether I come with you, or whether I stay here and take no action, I could be charged with treason too.”
Adam rubbed the stress and fatigue from his eyes. “Alright,” he agreed. “Let's go before we're seen. Sweeney might already be on his way back here.” They turned left and moved quickly down the hallway.
“What was that thing?” Karen whispered, thinking back to the disturbing footage.
“I don't know,” he admitted, both disgusted and afraid.
“What if it's a weapon?” she asked cautiously.
Adam took a deep breath, just as confused and frightened as his friend. “I don't know,” he said again.
Twenty-two
Skye placed his fingers on the tablet and navigated through a few different screens before stopping on the front page of a recent electronic newspaper. It showed Archibald raising his hands in front of a cheering crowd.
“Archibald Denning,” Skye's speech began. “The newly elected ninth president of the Athenian republic. He formerly worked with a man named Paul Winterton. Have you ever heard of him?”
Roman shook his head innocently.
“I didn't think so,” Skye said. “Few Athenians would ever know who he was. He and Archie were the two behind the riots last year, but I don't suppose you heard about those either?”
Roman sat thoughtfully. “I remember something happened. The people were acting very strange around that time.”
Skye scoffed. “Strange is an understatement. Well, that's all thanks to Paul and Archibald. It eventually culminated in a large riot in the city, in which a lot of people lost their lives. Of course, it didn't make the news. Officially, it never happened, but a lot of the citizens know. This country has never been the same since.”
“You think that maybe the media purposely didn't report it?”
“We don't think; we know,” Skye corrected. “It's not hard to do when there aren't any privately owned media outlets in Athenia.”
“That's right,” Roman said, agreeing with him. “We discussed that in my economics cl
ass. Athenia doesn't really have any anti-monopolisation laws like other countries do.”
“Correct, and the media here is state owned, which is a really great way to stop false information or rumours from being spread. But if corrupt people are in power—such as Archie—it can be a nightmare. The biggest problem Athenia faces is that this country is a democratic autocracy; the president alone can impose new laws without approval from any other chamber of government.”
“But why wouldn't Archie want the riots to make the news?”
Skye shrugged. “We assume that it was in his best interest to contain it. And perhaps in this instance I actually agree with it. It's for the best that the rest of the country, and the world, doesn't know what happened on that day. People sometimes have a tendency to get needlessly angry about issues they know nothing about, which causes them to take sides, and quite often just causes more problems. In this instance, the lack of media coverage gives us a chance to fix everything. Or at least attempt to.”
“But on the other hand,” Roman said, “the people have a right to know what's happening. Where do you draw the line?”
“Exactly,” Skye said with a smile. “It's a fine line. I agree with the laws, but I don't agree with having Archie in power. Even before he won the election he had a lot of power in Government House.”
“I'm starting to regret voting for him,” Roman admitted. He looked down at the photo of the cheerful old man. “You really think he's capable of causing those riots?”
“Absolutely,” Skye said without a single doubt. “To this day, I don't know what Archibald was trying to achieve. I don't know whether it was his or Paul's idea.”
Roman sat and took in the information. It began to make sense to him. He often wondered what had actually taken place in Shangwu the year before, but no one ever really knew. “What were the people rioting against?”
“The Federation ... Alexans ... I'll have to save that story for later. It's too long to explain right now, and even I don't know all of the details. You'd have to ask Archie.”
“The Federation?” Roman repeated, but didn't pry any further into the subject. “What about the other man though?” he asked. “Is he still out there too?”
“Paul Winterton? No, he's dead,” Skye said. “That's another interesting story.”
Roman opened his mouth to ask about the circumstances surrounding Paul's death, unable to contain his curiosity, but Skye had already waved his hand in front of the tablet, displaying a photo of a woman in the street.
“Tahlia Labelle,” Skye continued. “She's Rouvian, like Sierra. She joined Black Dawn and is Nikolai's lieutenant. You might have caught a glimpse of her earlier in Shangwu. Sierra absolutely despises her after what she did.”
Roman looked across to the office bedrooms but couldn't see the short woman.
“Probably out back training,” Skye said, noticing Roman's wandering gaze.
“What did Tahlia do to Sierra?”
Skye shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. Sierra never speaks about it. Stay away from Tahlia by any means necessary. She's by far the most skilled and dangerous member of Black Dawn, aside from Nikolai. She has a large range of abilities that make her an elite assassin. She's also an excellent tracker, and can locate any of us within a certain range.”
Roman gasped loudly, his eyes widening with fear. “She can locate us at any time?”
“Yep, she can find any shengxian within a few kilometres or so, and with incredible accuracy. You should be safe with us though,” Skye said without looking up. He moved his hand and revealed another image. This one was of a man in a tuxedo wearing a top hat and walking with the aid of a cane.
“Meet Timothy Basterfield. You saw him outside the cafe. He joined Black Dawn and Nikolai renamed him 'Night'. He has the ability to possess and take complete control of anyone he touches. Stay away from him too. In fact, stay away from all of them.”
“He can ... what?” Roman's eyes widened even further. He looked at the photographs intently, staring into the eyes of the incredibly dangerous warriors that had suddenly entered his once peaceful life. “Where did you get these photos? They look like they're from—”
“The surveillance system in the city? That's right. Ren hacked into it and downloaded the photos.” The next image was revealed, showing two more foreboding figures. “Sabina Friedrich and Aurelius Mancini. These two don't have any specific or unique traits as far as we're aware. They're certainly dangerous, but they're also arguably the weakest of the group.”
“No unique traits?” Roman asked. “So they're not telekinetic or telepathic?”
“Correct. Not everyone has a specialised ability. Tango and Echo are the same, for example. They're far stronger and faster than the average human, but don't possess any further abilities beyond that.”
Roman took control of the screen, going back and forth between the images and trying to memorise their faces for his own safety. “Are any of them Athenian?”
Skye shook his head. “No. Aside from Tahlia, they're all Alexan. Last year, Nikolai went on a recruiting campaign. He returned home to Reddingham and found Tahlia, and she helped him find the others. I went too, to try and stop him.” He reminisced back to when he and Sierra pursued Nikolai and Tahlia. His intentions in stopping the man were pure, but he couldn't help but feel a slight sense of excitement when it happened.
“Are you from Xiaguo?” Roman asked with intrigue. “You mentioned your name was Qiuyu. And your pronunciation is heavier than those from Haiguo.”
Skye smirked, impressed with the boy's perceptiveness. “Correct. I grew up in Xiaguo until I moved here four years ago.”
“And the others?” Roman asked, gesturing his head to the rest of the warehouse. “They sound Alexan.”
“Ren is originally from Shizudera. Everyone else here is Alexan.”
“Don't dwell too much on where anyone is from,” Ren called from her computer. “Nationalities are meaningless when it comes to one's ideologies. What's important is what we believe in and stand for as individuals. White Shadow is made up of different people from different parts of the world, and so is Black Dawn, and so is the Tianzu.”
Roman frowned. “Tianzu?”
Skye grabbed the tablet from Roman. “Let me explain. There are three more who are currently working with Black Dawn,” he said, returning to the topic at hand. He browsed through the files on the tablet until he found the one he was looking for, and handed it back to Roman.
Roman looked down at yet another surveillance photo. It depicted a tall man with short hair. Standing by his side was a woman wearing a red shirt.
“This is Kai, another Alexan,” Skye said, pointing to the photo. “And this is his Shizuno wife, Hana. We don't have much information on them at this stage.”
Once again, Roman scanned their faces in an attempt to memorise his growing list of enemies. “And the third person?”
Skye shook his head. “We don't have any photos of him. His name is Daye. He's originally from Kaipura, although he lives in my home city of Daixuan. He came to me five years ago when I first became a shengxian.” Skye took the tablet back from Roman. “We think that these three joined Black Dawn a few months ago, around the time when we first met Juliet. Shortly after, all hell broke loose.” He tried to shake off the painful memory.
“We're outnumbered,” Roman said, cringing. “How can you possibly take them all on?”
“Well, the situation gets a little more complicated. Those last three are also members of the Tianzu, the group that Ren just mentioned. They're a powerful faction operating across Dong Yue. I don't know why they're working with Black Dawn, but I assume that Nikolai is just using them for information. Well, I hope so anyway. If he's going to use them against White Shadow, it won't end well for us.”
Roman's eyes became even more fearful. “That's comforting,” he muttered.
“It makes no sense though,” Skye continued, half attempting to understand the situation himself. “
Nikolai hates the Tianzu, which is why he went out recruiting in the first place. From what Nikolai and I have seen, the members of the Tianzu are more powerful than most of us.”
The admission made Roman tense. “So you're saying that we're all going to be killed?”
“Hopefully not,” Skye responded with a smirk. “But the Tianzu are Nikolai's main focus, apart from Archie, which means that killing you is probably not a priority of his.”
The statement offered Roman little comfort. “Well, are the Tianzu actually your enemy?”
Skye paused; the answer to the question was one that had created a very serious rift in White Shadow. “Yes and no,” he began to explain. “They killed Foxtrot, one of our own, but Ren and I are reluctant to start a war with them. We're stuck in an endless cycle of not knowing whether to attack them or not. If we try to avenge Foxtrot's death, it would mean we'd be involved in a war that we're unable to handle, or possibly even survive, for that matter.”
Roman watched as Skye's eyes became grave and distant. “I tried to warn Nikolai not to pursue them,” he said. “As I said, I first met Daye five years ago. Earlier this year, Nikolai insisted on meeting them too. We went to Daixuan and met up with them, and he instantly became infatuated with the prospect of eliminating them, as they're his biggest threat. I did my best to keep the peace between them and us, but that all changed three months ago when they attacked.”
Roman sat mindfully, understanding the pressure this group must feel on a daily basis. He admired White Shadow's decision to not engage in a pointless conflict with the Tianzu, but could also see how not avenging their friend's death caused them so much anguish.
“Tianzu ... the Heaven Clan? Is that their name?” he asked curiously, translating the Xiayu word.
Skye nodded. Roman, an Athenian citizen, was unsurprisingly multilingual. Although, it was also quite common for the shengxian to master several languages if they chose to. Nikolai had no problem learning Xiayu, but he never became fluent in Shizugo or Lanesian, the other two Athenian languages.
Eternity's War (Books 1-3) (Eternity's War Boxsets) Page 12