Beginning astride, the game is now afoot.

With Schreißen briskly walking in front of me, my office quickly distances itself behind me. I am admittedly quite out of shape, so I have some trouble keeping up with his pace.

But it matters not.

This is all but mere pebbles in the road of glory, my glory. My chance to prove myself to our great Herrscher and claim my position in the elite, that I rightfully deserve. Who’s laughing now, you dirty dogs! Desk work is truly superior to uselessly dying in battle, with only fancy pieces of metal to look forward to. Those dogs of the Opera house will regret their decisions when they see their precious house crumble around them, their useless Lord unable to save it from irrelevance and poor management. All the while, I’ll be sitting in the lap of luxury!

The pinnacle of catharsis, indeed.

With the exit doors approaching us, towering goliaths of dark and lacquered wood, Schreißen turns around to look at me.

“We shall be taking the airship Vandenhelm towards the Herrscher’s office. We still have a bit of time, but we can’t be late so we will be unable to return to the Opera house until after the meeting. Are you sure you have all your things in order?” he asks. A fair point to make. Untying the red string of the envelope in my hands, I open it up. Leafing through the documents, I check all the page numbers to make sure everything is present. All seems to be in order, thankfully. Closing the envelope and retying the red string, I look up to face Schreißen.

“All is well sir Schreißen, thank you for your concern,” I reply. He nods.

“Then let us be off.”

The airship Vandenhelm. One of our Empire’s inventions, airships act as ferries of the skies, taking people to destinations all across Zürtzün. The Imperial capital of our nation, Graf Richter, acts as a centre for airships, a sort of terminal station. Although airships carry people around on a national scale, airship travel within large cities is also common. For a city as big as Graf Richter, travel by foot or by car is not always a viable option.

At first, only the elite was able to travel in airships, but as use of them became more commonplace, the cost decreased and the market opened up to the less financially stable. Now it seems like everyone and their mother travels in the airships.

But even among them, the Vandenhelm is a special case.

The Vandenhelm is the personal airship of the Adlerschrank, meant only to transport those they deem to be of importance to them. And since I am inside that very ship at this very moment, do you know what that means? Yes, yes, that is correct! I, Manfred Dietrich, am a person of importance! Already we’re off to an excellent start, it seems!

Sitting across from me, Schreißen stares out the window blankly, his head resting on his hand. In turn, I also begin to look outside the airship’s window. Down below, I see the streets of Graf Richter, people strolling down its stone brick roads, the small storefronts lining the streets. Indeed, it seems we have our Herrscher to thank for pulling the Imperial capital out of its slump so quickly, the once totalled city shows practically no signs of the damage wrought by the war. With that bastard of a King disposed of, there’s only one thing to do. To exact our righteous justice upon the ones who ravaged our once glorious Fatherland…

None shall be forgotten. None shall be forgiven. Only death awaits for the infidels who rolled across our Fatherland like a wave of carnage.

Perhaps that is why I feel anger towards that useless Lord, despite my indignity to the Opera house as a whole. How can he sit around and sap all the funds from a government branch, while our people’s cries for vengeance go unanswered? How can he sit around growing fatter and fatter with every passing day, knowing our enemies have yet to pay the dues of their crimes?

My purpose is mainly to liberate myself from the house, but even I would feel bad leaving that trash in charge of the house’s affairs. So this my last aid of sorts towards the members of the house. If there’s one thing that I can agree on with those dogs, it’s that the current Lord of the Opera house is nothing but a blight in its halls. So I will drag his name as much possible in front of our Herrscher, in order to dispose of him. I'm sure those dogs will support my claims on the current Lord if questioned.

Suddenly I’m dragged out of my thoughts by Schreißen’s light tapping on my knee. Turning my attention to him, I gave him a questioning look. Saying nothing, he simply points at the large observation window at the back of the airship. There seems to be some sort of commotion? Well, now I'm curious.

I start to get up and head towards the observation window, walking through the middle aisle of the passenger bay. As I get closer, I hear the joyful cries of a young boy,

“Mommy, mommy look! It’s him, it’s him! It’s the Silver Eagle, the Silver Eagle!” The Silver Eagle? The famous flying ace? Quickening my pace, I eventually find myself standing next to the boy and his mother, staring out the observation window with them. Zipping through the air, a sleek fighter plane flies behind the airship doing all sorts of stunts. Black with a single silver stripe running down the middle, with silver-tipped wings and tail.

“Hey, hey, hey, isn’t that kind of dangerous? Just one strike of that propellor could blow a hole in the airship, it’s essentially just a giant floating airbag you know?”

“Relax Mr Dietrich, the Silver Eagle is an expert flyer, there’s no way he’ll hit us.” I hear Schreißen say behind me.

“For an expert flyer, he’s awfully cocky with the way he flies so recklessly.” I retort. While I admittedly respect the Reichsmaschine’s ace flyer, for his many admirable deeds on the front lines and his impressive kill-count, no one in their right mind would do a flying show right next to an airship.

“Well on the bright side, if we really do die a fiery death, we’ll most likely be killed instantly,” says Schreißen a little too enthusiastically.

“Euch, don’t even joke about something like that.” He chuckles lightly.

“My apologies, then. However, may I ask you something?” he softly asks, slight trepidation painting his question. I scratch my chin, trying to probe the meaning of his question through his eyes.

“Go ahead.” His eyes drift to the armband on my right arm, bright red and printed with the symbol of the Imperial eagle. He goes quiet for a minute, seeming to contemplate what to say. Finally seeming to grasp the words, he begins to speak.

“I was wondering what your opinions on the Adlerschrank are. Specifically on their new policies with the assimilation of the lowland eastern countries into the Zürtzün Empire.”

“You mean the Wiedervereinigung?” I ask. He nods.

“I feel very strongly about the Adlerschrank as a whole” I begin, “However on the topic of the Wiedervereinigung, I feel more conflicted. I believe that the lowland countries would benefit from being assimilated into the empire, strengthening our economy, and thereby increasing their standard of living by being citizens of the Empire.”

“What of the countries that weren’t a part of the empire?” he asks. I consider him for a moment.

“The countries that broke apart from the Empire have every right to be forcefully assimilated in my opinion, but I feel more sympathetic towards the countries that weren’t a part of the Empire to begin with. I also feel, however, that our Herrscher and the Adlerschrank are doing it all in good faith. Once they are assimilated they will see the error of their ways and will learn that being part of the empire is more beneficial than being their own sovereign state.”

“You don’t believe that the lowland countries have a right to exist purely out of loyalty to their nation? And what about the military suppression of the general populace in the lowland countries by the Reichsmaschine?” he asks.

“They should be thinking in terms of what’s best for their country, not following some misguided attitude towards jingoists and nationalists. The Reichsmaschine has every right to suppress those who would cause unnecessary dissonance for the sake of their own poorly thought out ideas.” Good riddance. I truly can’t understand the thought process of those fevered nationalists. Where does that unhealthy obsession with their country come from?

Schreißen looks at me curiously.

“But where do you draw the line between quelling extremists and suppressing free thought and free will?”

“That’s…” Suddenly, I feel stumped. Why am I not able to answer? It should be a simple answer, after all, the Adlerschrank knows best. However, I find myself unable to come up with a suitable answer to Schreißen’s question.

Before he can see my mouth open and close like a fish anymore, I hear an announcement on the loudspeaker.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats as we are about to moor at the Ziegler tower. I repeat, we are about to moor at the Ziegler tower. Please show your hole-punched tickets to the ticket master on your way out.”

“We’re here, it seems,” notes Schreißen. He looks back at me. “Don’t worry too much about what I said earlier, it was more of an attempt to pick your brain. However, I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to give it some thought.” He then motions me to go in front of him. “After you.” Obeying, I start walking in front of him and making my way to the exit of the Vandenhelm.

Shortly after disembarking from the Vandenhelm and making our way down the Ziegler tower, Schreißen and I find ourselves directly in front of the Adlerschrank’s headquarters, the Red Queen’s parliament. Named after the famous “Red Queen” of the Zürtzün Empire, Ursula. With massive red banners hanging down emblazoned with the sign of the Imperial eagle, it is a building to behold. One of the biggest buildings in Graf Richter, if I recall correctly. I am about to enter its gates and change my entire life.

But what I don’t anticipate is how exactly it would change.