Chapter Thirty Six

*** Bastion Cazador ***

*knock* *knock*

The noise woke me from the stupor of tedious paperwork. The knocking had been done by my son who had let himself in and was now sitting in front of me.

“You look different,” was my first thought. The out of place hollowed shell expression was gone from his face, he looked renewed and with more vigor.

“I would say that having lost my power was no big deal,” he said, a half hearted smile was all he managed. “But, then I would be lying. The loss, I can’t do anything about that, but i can do something about what I am going to do without it. For too long I have been stuck in my own little world doing nothing of great importance and have allowed much of my resources to go to waste.”

“What do you mean?” I asked truly curious as to what he was referring to.

“I want to make the Boraian Empire powerful,” he replied. “I helped push things along, but I could be doing so much more.”

“Yes,” I nodded. “The skyships were wonderful.”

“I want to be truly honest with you father,” he said drawing me in again. “Before I continue however, I must have a very serious promise from you, you must swear to never utter a word of what I will say to you.”

“I…,” he interrupted me before I continued.

“Take a moment,” he said. “If you honestly believe you cannot honor the following promise say so now and I will walk out of this room and pretend this conversation never happened. But if you do swear to me your silence, know that it will be a heavy secret, one that can have serious consequences if you reveal any part of what I tell you.”

I looked at him and pondered his words seriously. I was tempted to say no, but he has always displayed a level of intellect that could never be ignored. If he truly wants to help the country then I had to know.

“I swear to you my son that no words spoken here will ever be echoed by me to any other beyond you and I,” I replied.

“Good,” he nodded. “I have institutes all over Boraia constantly developing levels of technology and magic never before seen in this world. I cannot reveal to you all of the technology that I have at my disposal as I plan on only releasing some of it at a time. I had the backing of the nobles during my judgement for my transgressions in Bulbaria when I offered them flight technology, but they will be less likely to support me in using the country’s budget to fund some projects they won’t completely understand.”

“And what do you want from me?” I asked.

“I plan on crushing the chief’s from the surrounding islands,” he replied. “I wish to remove them all from the board and replace them with governors who support me. Then I will proceed to eliminate the families that have constantly hindered the progression of the empire. Go ahead, soak it in first.”

“...”

I couldn’t even think of what to say, if he did all that the country would be left in ruins, there would be civil unrest, maybe even civil war.

“Then on to the next bit,” he continued. “What I need from you is to somehow call for a meeting of all the higher ranking nobles and chiefs. I will take care of the rest. Then we can truly begin working on transforming the country.”

“What do you mean you will take care of the rest,” I asked confused. How could he possibly eliminate the nobles and chiefs? Some of them were able mages and warriors. Without his power how was he going to do this?

“I will simply need you to trust in the fact that I can deliver that which I speak of,” he replied.

“You are asking an awful lot my son,” I stated.

He lifted a hand showing me a gauntlet he wore, it was encrusted with gems and red lines crisscrossed the black leather it was made of.

“It is common knowledge that a non-mage even with artifacts cannot become a mage,” he looked at me. “Am I right?”

I nodded.

He pointed towards the tea mug on my desk.

“Frost Field,” he spoke.

A blue gem on the gauntlet momentarily glowed dimly as the liquid within my cup became a chunk of ice.

“As I said father,” he got up to leave, “I have at my disposal magic and technology the world has never seen. Will you do as I have asked?”

“...yes,” I nodded slowly. He extended his small hand for a shake, I took it with a little hesitation.

“Then let me know when you can manage it so that I may do as needed,” he said.

“But what about your grandfather?” I asked.

“I am going to Boraia to personally inform him,” he replied.

“Transport?” I asked knowing he would have an answer.

“It is already here,” he replied.

*** Illuminated Control ***

“Requesting pickup,” a voice came over the comms filling the control room, the center of all Illuminated military based operations. “Control do you copy?”

There were many quiet murmurs in the room as officers looked around confused, they were familiar with all the voices of the officers who could access the control room’s comms and this voice was completely new..

“This is control,” an officer at the station replied. “Identify yourself.”

“Leo Cazador,” the voice replied.

Everyone within the room stopped what they were doing and stared at the officer who was currently responding to the voice. This particular officer had developed a nervous tremble.

“R-roger,” the officer stuttered. “What sort of taxi are you calling for my lord?”

“I need something fast,” he replied. “By today.”

“As you command my lord,” the officer replied. “A transport can reach you in...two hours. Will this be a silent recovery?”

“No,” the voice replied. “Let the world know what I command.”

“Then if I may?” the officer got bolder comforted by the gentleness of the lord’s voice. “In one more hour I can have a dreadnaught descend on the academy port.”

“So be it,” and with that the voice cut the comms.

The officer looked around at her wide eyed peers.

“A dreadnaught?” the head officer exclaimed. “Are you insane? What have you just suggested?”

“I…,” the female officer was lost for words.

“Nevermind,” the head officer sighed. He closed his eyes and wondered what the High Council would do, after all there was no override for their control over the dreadnaughts, not even the lord was written into them as he was not yet informed of their existence.

“If the High Council learns of this…” he could not finish. He took a moment to breath in and out to collect his thoughts. When he finally resolved himself he looked at everyone as he spoke. “This is by the will of our lord, the High Council have no voice over his. Get the job done officer.”

“Thi...this is control to Dreadnaught Huracan,” the woman spoke into her comms after dialing the correct channel.

“This is Captain Olsen of the Huracan,” a voice replied. “What is is control?”

“I have a mobilization request,” the woman replied.

“You know that the dreadnaughts are stationary units,” the man pointed. “No member of the illuminated may mobilize a dreadnaught save for the unanimous command vote of the High Council.”

“It...it is a request from our lord,” the woman explained. “The great one wishes to demonstrate Illuminated power to the world.”

“By lord you mean…” the man over the comms was clearly baffled.

“We are the arms and legs,” the woman began steeling her nerves as she spoke words she wholeheartedly believed in. “The sword and shield. He, for whom we exist, desires for the world to catch a glimmer of his sword. You may honor him at the academy port within three hours time.”

“Three...aye,” the captain said. “Dreadnaught Huracan to move at maximum speed. For the glory of our Lux In Tenebris.”

“For the glory of our Lux In Tenebris,” the phrase was spoken in unison by the comms officer speaking with the captain and everyone else within the control room.

--- ---

Moments after that conversation ended a few curious individuals who would happen to look up once in awhile found that one of the stars strong enough to shine brightly during the day were beginning to move. It was strange for them to witness the mobility of an eternally stationary object, some saw this as a bad omen, some saw this as a sign of future good things to come, others simply saw and knew what the moving of the star meant.