Chapter 9:

Guten Morgen

Convergence of the Three Empires


Four days had passed, the fires of war had died down, and the noise of rebuilding overpowered anything in the Reichsstadt. Beneath the town hall was a secretive network of tunnels that stretched for goodness knows how long. Held here were the only prisoners that the Reichsstadt accepted.

Room after room of political prisoners, some held for as long as two decades now. They live, some form or another, only because Julius allowed them to, only because Julius believes they might still be of use. And some of them are, just a few weeks ago he ransomed one of them out for three hundred million Caspian Francs.

But today? A new prisoner is set in. He still had his fresh set of morning clothes, a military attire of red-orange mix. Three stars, he was a Lieutenant General. With his beaten face, he was thrown to his cold, gray cell, ready to face his jailer in approximately four hours. Or until he finished breakfast, that is.

Julius sat in his kitchen, between the ruined state of his home and the blinding light of sunlight that directly casted onto him now, it all seemed normal. His workers repaired his home around the clock and he made sure to pay them good money for it. But they just couldn’t seem to perfect the ceilings of his wooden mansion, thus, a huge hole remained.

He ate eggs for breakfast, complete with complementary smoke and coffee. In his hands he held the Caspian Times, the number one News Source of the Caspian Empire to the outer colonies. The people who captured Dorsia found it in his lounge, and eventually, it just came upon Julius’ hands.

The papers still spoke about Caius’ parents, their murder and all that. But it’s all senseless theatrics by the media, they only wanted to capitalize on the death of House von Kaiser. It was, essentially. Theresa, her husband, and Caius were the only ones that remained active in the dynasty. But now, at least in the media’s eyes, Caius was missing, House von Kaiser was dead.

Julius had been exiled two decades prior, before Caius was even born, and by that point the House lived solely off the back of Theresa’s husband, the so-called, “Darling of the Caspian Airforce.”. Julius could only scoff. If he truly was their darling, maybe he and his family would’ve lived.

At the other end of the table was Caius. He spread peanut butter upon his sliced bread and brushed away the little sawdusts that seemed to find themselves within eyesight of his food. He had grown accustomed to life in the Reichsstadt.

Agrippa was in front of him, the metallic man ate… whatever he wanted to. For today it was a potato salad that he cooked himself. Though he was metallic, he made sure to keep his tongue intact, if not enhanced a bit. He was still a chef at heart, and he wanted it to stay that way. Even if it’s the last human thing about him.

“Whatcha readin’ there, uncle?” Caius bit into his peanut butter sandwich. It was delectable, Concursus may as well be known for having the best peanut butter in the entire galaxy.

“The Queen’s attending your father’s ceremonial funeral.” He sipped on his coffee as Caius kept on eating.

“The Queen? Ah.” Caius forgot for a moment the reputation that his father had in the Empire, “Hopefully there would be no problems then? You did take care of my parent’s assassins, yes?” Caius faced away from his uncle, into the Reichsstadt.

“Not all.”

“Not all?” Caius turned around and put down into the table the butter knife that he held, “What do you mean not all?"

"I meant. Not. All. Those who ordered the h--"

 "You mean my parent’s murderers still ran free while you’re here mulling about the family’s name!?” Caius stomped towards his uncle and grabbed him by the collar.

Julius calmly dropped his fork, pulled out his cigar, and blew smoke to Caius’ face, “Sit down, boy.” They stared one another down, Caius breathed hard, repeatedly. Inhale, exhale, the boy calmed and sat back down. “I’ve dealt with those who shot them, botched job. I couldn’t find out who sent them.”

“So they’re still out there…” Caius dreamt of gripping their neck tightly and feeling life slowly be snuffed out of their eyes… He had not seen Jupiter since the attack on the Reichsstadt.

“Dreaming of revenge, boy? That’s not a path I wish you to go through.” Julius glared at him and dropped the newspaper on the table.

“Is that not your entire thing, uncle? A path of revenge after they sullied your name?”

“It is, and look where that got me. Yes, I may be sitting upon a pile of gold, I may be the king of this world. I may as well be the most powerful man in this goddamned galaxy. But I am empty. Empty with a hole that could not be filled by riches, by jewelry, only by my desire to right what has been wronged. And I cannot bear to see the same thing with you.”

“But what of my parents, uncle? What of them!?”

“They are DEAD, boy!” On each other’s throats, they heard Agrippa as he silently munched upon his potato salad, they cooled off and Julius cleared his throat, “Do you want to do something about it?”

Caius nodded and Julius sighed. He knew the boy was capable yet he’s not confident still. Caius was like an unpolished marble statue, it was starting to take shape yet it wasn’t the perfect masterpiece it sought to be, no. It needed more… polishing. “Yes.” Answered the unpolished marble, “I want to do something about it.”

“Wonderful.” Julius clapped and threw a set of keys towards the boy, “Go with Agrippa and Jupiter. Check out the Amazonias for yourselves, three day trip,” He started to walk away, “Contact me in private channels if the carrier sank.”

“Carrier?” Caius stared at his uncle as he ignored his question and walked away, he stared back at Agrippa who just shrugged. Ah, at least he’d fly with Jupiter once more.

Cora
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