Ch 45: A warning.

The Phoenix Cradle – Backwater Palace

BZZZ. BZZZ. BZZZ.

“What’s happening?” Hellia paced back and forth, her heels clinking and her red dress dragging across the polished carpet.

“Ah, your majesty.” The responding voice on the call was deep and resolute.

“I’ve been struggling to get a hold of you. What’s happening? I’ve lost contact with Oden’s team as well. I’ve told Shell and Snow to retreat.” The usually elegant voice was impatient.

The Queen of Flames and her usually elegant voice was now filled with urgency. Finally able to get through, she stopped pacing and sat back on her throne. The servants held their breath as Hellia’s fingers tightened on the golden armrests. It was their first time seeing the queen in such a state.

“My apologies, something came up and-“

“Who are you?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll ask again.” Hellia stood back up, continuing her pacing. “Who are you?”

“I’m not sure what you mean, your majesty.”

“Drop the act.” Her hands tightened around the phone. “You’re not Dr Hemlok, are you?”

The phone burst into crazed laughter.

“I must say, you’re smarter than I thought.”

 The servants in the throne room flinched as Hellia raised her voice to a shout.

“Who are you?!”

“You can call me…the Commissioner.”

Dr Hemlok did have slight changes in his behaviour in the last six months. I didn’t think anything of it. No one did. How long has this imposter been in our walls? How didn’t anyone notice him?

“Tell me. What happened to the mission?”

“Does the name ‘Handsworth’ ring a bell?”

Even through the phone, Hellia could tell the words were said with a mischievous smile.

“Doesn’t everyone? He did the impossible. Creating an artificial deity.”

Akranos, the machine who overpowered the brutal power struggle in the Lawless City. Forcefully uniting all sides under one banner. The Nexus Legion.

“Do you know what happened to him?”

Is this guy playing around? What point is he trying to make? Handsworth is long dead by now.

“Yeah, he killed himself. The machine spiralled out of control, killing his entire family. He couldn’t bear the responsibility and guilt for his own creation.”

“What family did he have?”

He's beating around the bush on purpose. Get to the point already.

“A wife, a daughter, and a son.”

“INCORRECT!” Like the announcer of a game show, the voice was full of enthusiasm.

This guy’s really just messing with me. I can’t believe what I’m hearing, and I can’t believe I’m enduring it.

The servants cowered as Hellia’s paces became stomps.

“Ah, but you see, Handsworth had a wife, a daughter, and two sons. And the youngest son survived.”

Survived?

The Commissioner erupted into cackled laughter once more.

Hellia’s eyes widened. Putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

“There is no cure, is there? You were after the machine from the start, weren’t you? You, Hiro, and Ace.”

“Not the star-crossed.”

Hellia stopped mid-stride. Recognising it as one of the cryptic terms the Priests of Celestia used. The mystery she couldn’t unravel.

“What does it mean?” Her elegant voice was rushed and desperate. “Tell me. What’s the significance?!”

Then, the line was cut.

To be manipulated in such a way. Who are these people? Were we playing into his plan this whole time?

Clenching her fists, flames spewed from her hands.

The Commissioner, huh? I’ll remember the name.

“Your majesty, you are going to burn the carpets!”

“Oh, my apologies!” 

                                                                                 ***

While gathering flowers in the royal gardens of the Backwater Palace, a young boy faced grief for the first time.

But he didn’t cry. His fabrics swayed in the wind as he looked up to the grey sky. He wasn’t praying. He wasn’t pleading. He wasn’t hoping.

He was warning. Warning the cruel world of the fate he was gonna weave into existence.

“I’ll kill him. Even if it’s the last thing I do.”