Chapter 57- Mhia Atlas

Chapter 57

 

Mhia Atlas

 

           

            Lana finished adjusting Mhia’s dress. For the first time ever, Mhia was dressed the way a Queen of Cruor should look like. She was wearing a black tubular dress, bathed in gold trinkets. Her neck, arms, and legs were also showered with jewelry and gold braces. Sitting at the top of her head was a crown of gold in the shape of fire with rubies embedded all around it. It was everything a Cruorian woman dreamed of, and here Mhia was, already counting down the days before she could end this farce.

            “There,” said Lana. “I knew it’d fit you perfect.”

            “I look disgusting,” complained Mhia.

            “No you don’t. You’re every man’s fantasy right now.”

            “Maybe after I die you’ll get to be every man’s fantasy.”

            “Don’t talk like that! Besides, even if you did, God forbid, the crown would pass on to Calam. Not I.”

            “With our family’s fortune, it’ll land on your head soon enough.”

            “Must you always be so pessimistic?”

            “Must you always be so naïve?”

            Lana sighed and took a seat on Mhia’s bed. “Can you at least try to pretend to be happy?”

            Mhia couldn’t fathom what went on inside of Lana’s head sometimes. “Pretend to be happy about what? The fact we’re up here sitting pretty while Charles Veritas is right outside killing all our allies? Or maybe I should celebrate the fact that the one choice I had, the only choice, was stripped right from me. They can dress me up however they want, at the end of the day I’m no better than a farm animal being sold to a…” Just thinking about it boiled Mhia’s blood. “To a f*****g Judician!”

            Lana should’ve understood Mhia’s shame but she simply didn’t. “Maximillian holds a lot of power within Caelum Infinitum and is highly praised for his devotion to God. Rumor has it that he’s also quite handsome. I don’t see what’s so bad. We’re all on the same side.”

            “Maybe you forgot, Lana. It was the Judicians who took our home and raped and killed our family.”

            “And if you don’t marry him we will all be dead and everything we’ve done up to this point would have been for nothing.”

            “Don’t you find that odd?” argued Mhia. “If we’re all truly on the same side, why would I need to marry him for his aid?”

            Lana shrugged. “I wasn’t the one who met with Gia. From my point of view, it seems perfectly reasonable.”

When Prophet Anima had informed Mhia of a visitor with a proposition, the last person Mhia had expected to see was Gia. Gia had abandoned them two years ago after their disastrous plot to avoid punishment. To see her again inside Yggdrasil, under the leash of a Judician no less, was twice the surprise. Worse, she only came with plenty of bad news for which to resent her more.

            Maximillian had dispatched Gia with a message for the sake of avoiding the risk of enemy interception. Apparently he had discovered a new energy source other than crystallite, one not as powerful but more abundant. However, he didn’t want to reveal his invention until the day he made his rebellion against the Fuhrer public, which according to him would be the day it was truly necessary. Rescuing the Archangels, Messiah, and Queen of Cruor from Eden did qualify, but only if in return Mhia married him. Gia had showered his words with compliments and excuses of necessity but his true motive was clear. Power. And despite that, the only person that spoke against it was Cardinal Daimios. The rest, including the Messiah, were more than willing to sell her off like a lamb.

            Mhia gave up trying to talk sense into Lana. “What does it matter…? It’s already been arranged. They send out the letter before Gia even left.”

            The room went silent for a while until Lana broke the silence. “Who would you have picked? If you still had your choice, I mean. I still don’t know who your other options were other than Esmere.

“I only had three choices. The last was Saix Atlas.”

            Lana’s jaw dropped. “And you were contemplating?”

            “Me and Saix haven’t been close for two years…”

            “Was it because of what he did to that Judician girl during our trip from Elysium to Eden? Because if so, in his defense, she was his prisoner for him to do with as he pleased. Besides, while he did as he pleased with the girl you were busy torturing the boy in your own way.”

            “Can we not talk about it…?”

            Mhia was not proud of the things she did to Venir Veritas. She knew why she did it, and would probably do it all again, but it would never be something she was proud of. On a personal level, her need to hurt Charles was something she owed to herself. That’s why she could accept all the pain she had inflicted on Venir and his family despite their innocence. Because years ago that was her. And Venir deserved to know how she felt. But from a moral standpoint, becoming exactly like Charles was something she would never enjoy. That’s where she and Saix differed. Where once she believed Saix to fight for vengeance like herself, she now saw he did it purely for pleasure.

            “I just don’t understand,” said Lana.

            “And you never will,” assured Mhia. “Now let’s drop it. Come help me take off this wedding outfit. I can’t bare to look at it another minute.”

            Lana helped Mhia undress and back into a more comfortable outfit. A cloth top, short skirt, and leather strapped sandals. As they were finishing up, there was a loud noise down below, followed by a lot of commotion and yelling.

            “What was that?” asked Lana.

            “Wait here,” ordered Mhia.

Mhia stepped out to investigate. As soon as she did, her bodyguard, Callatz Markibia, stepped in front of her. “You should stay in your room, your Highness,”

            Mhia ignored him. “Any idea what that was just now?” Callatz didn’t say a word. Mhia rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll find out myself.”

            Mhia walked passed him and approached a crowd of nuns with Callatz at her heel. She recognized Tyna and asked her. “Tyna, what’s all the commotion about?”

            Fear was written in every corner of the nun’s face. “I think Yggdrasil is being attacked. Word has already reached us that Charles is burning every church outside.”

            Mhia’s blood rose. “What the f**k are we still doing here? We should be outside stopping him.”

            “The Prophet was clear on his orders. Everyone stays inside.”

            “F**k that!” Mhia sprinted back to her room and picked up her jian. Lana tried to ask her what was going on but Mhia didn’t have the time to explain. As she was about to step back outside, Callatz blocked her path again. “Get out of my way!”

            Callatz stomped his halberd to the floor. “No one leaves Yggdrasil. Prophet’s orders.”

            “Stop me!” Mhia swung her jian like she would at an enemy. Callatz parried it effortlessly and slipped his weapon between her legs and tripped her. The bodyguard then proceeded to step on her wrist, forcing her to drop her sword, and kicked it away from her reach.

            Callatz aimed the axe of his halberd at Mhia. “You stay.”

            Mhia glared at him. “You can’t kill me.”

            Callatz didn’t budge.

            “Those are your people dying out there!”

            Callatz stood his ground.

            There was a screech that sounded like someone dying outside, followed by numerous screams. Mhia looked at the door and then back at Callatz who had yet to budge. “There’s something going on out there!” Callatz remained adamant. “Goddamn it! I won’t leave, just go find out what’s going on outside.”

            “Leave, and I’ll break your legs,” warned Callatz.

            “Just go!”

            Callatz got off her and left the room to check outside. Mhia waited patiently inside until she heard the sound of clashing metal. Instinctively, she grabbed her sword again and ran outside before Lana could stop her.

            Mhia froze at the sight of what looked like Callatz fending off a nun and two priests. Near them were the corpses of four nuns, Tyna amongst them. Mhia looked back at her bodyguard struggling and shouted at the servants of the Church, “What are you doing? We’re on the same side!”

            One of the priests noticed Mhia and stopped fighting with Callatz and ran straight for her. As Mhia noticed the dirk in the priest’s hand and scarred face, she quickly realized that these weren’t clergymen at all. F*****g Shadows.

            The Shadow came fiercely swinging at Mhia. She dodged easily enough and started to retaliate. She used her range to an advantage and quickly overwhelmed the Shadow, staying one step out of his reach and tearing him up slice by slice. Eventually she disarmed him and kicked him to the floor. Mhia raised her sword to kill him but stopped herself.

            “You…piece of s**t!” Mhia ran away, leaving Callatz to finish them off. Much as she wanted to send another Judician to the next life, she would not condemn her soul for it. If she wanted to fight, she would have to leave Yggdrasil.

            Mhia took the stairs down some flights and saw more knights of the Holy Army combating Shadows dressed as clergymen. “F**k!” Mhia hated the feeling of only being able to watch. A fate she had grown far too accustomed to in her lifetime.

            A nun came running at Mhia in panic. Not knowing what to expect, Mhia hit her with the flat side of her sword and pointed it at her throat.

            “Please don’t kill me!” begged the nun.

            “You’re going to burn in hell for this,” said Mhia.

            “I-I’m not a Loyalist!”

            “I don’t believe you…”

            “It’s the truth, I swear. I’m a True Believer, the same as you.”

            The nun did not have the look of a killer but fooling people was what Judicium’s Shadow specialized in. Mhia would not let her guard down and fall victim to some petty surprise attack.

With no better solution, Mhia knocked her out with the butt of her jian. As she turned around, she saw an angry priest charging at her fully armed with no intention of hiding his true allegiance. Mhia tried to step back but tripped over the nun’s body and fell on her bottom. She looked up in horror as the Shadow raised his knife. Suddenly, there was a bolt in his eye and the Shadow was dead.

            Cardinal Daimios came running to Mhia’s aid and stood her up. “What in God’s name are you doing down here?”

            “They’re everywhere. They even reached my room, I had no choice but to run,” she explained. “How did you allow them to get inside?”

            “It wasn’t my fault, I assure you. We were keeping all the fleeing clergymen in one room for the exact chance that something like this may happen. Apparently they dropped some new bomb and used the commotion and confusion to spread out.” Daimios pulled her in close. “They’ve taken your brother to the altar of truth beneath, join him. When you get there, press in the eye of the angel statue and a secret cellar will open. Hide there until help arrives.”

            “I want to fight.”

            “I don’t care what you want to do, you need to live. You’re the bargaining price and right now that’s all we have.”

            Mhia couldn’t believer her ears. “You were the only one against this…”

             “That was before all this happened.” Shame washed over the Archangel’s face. “Three foreign airships have already been seen in the sky over the white ring. All you need to do is survive and soon you will have your people and Kingdom at your side.”

            “With a Judician King by my side.”

            “Technically he’s Illumian. Regardless, none of that matters now. Our choices have already been made for us. Now go!”

            Mhia started running until she realized the Cardinal was not following her. “Aren’t you coming?”

            Daimios shook his head. “There’s someone I need to look for…”

            Mhia knew exactly who. “His son.”

            “No. Malus is my son. And I won’t let him fall under Charles’s Godless hands again.”

            Mhia didn’t fight it. “You’ll regret it one day. There’s something else, Lana is still in my room. You need to rescue her.”

            “I’ll take care of it.”

            Mhia trusted him and left the Archangel where he was and started heading towards the altar of truth. Staying away from danger wasn’t that hard. The hard part was watching innocent victim after innocent victim dead on the floor. It took all her will just to keep her sword down.

            As Mhia was about to enter another room, a huge explosion sent her flying back. When she opened her eyes there was blue mist everywhere, along with an unwelcome high. The walls started closing in on her, the smell of blood driving up her nostrils, and she could feel every drop of sweat on her skin dripping down slowly. She couldn’t bear to keep her eyes open any longer and started reaching for something to grab on to. After a couple seconds of searching, her hands grasped something. But it wasn’t a wall or pillar. It was a person’s leg.

            Mhia opened her eyes to behold a foot twice the size of her head. She looked up and quickly realized that this was no clergymen or even a Shadow pretending to be one. This Loyalist was in plain sight, dressed in a black frock coat, red cravat, and dark brown thigh-high leather boots. Then she saw it. Ice cold eyes hiding behind blonde locks of hair with a scar stretching from the corner of his eye all the way to his collarbone.

            Mhia rolled back and assumed a fighting stance. Her eyes, though still jaded, directly linked with that of her nemesis.

Years of searching. Years of running. Years of fighting. It was all about to come down to this moment right here, right now. Forgive me God. I’ve waited too long for this day.

            Mhia ushered his name darkly under her breath, “Charles Veritas…”

            Charles raised his massive sword. “Are you her daughter?”

            Mhia glared at him. “She has a name.”

            “The dead need no names. Soon, neither will you.”

Author's Note

From this point on I'll ask less questions and just let you tell me pretty much your thought process going through each chapter >:]

There's only a few chapters left and I have most of them written. Next chapter will be Malus again.

Reviews

[Dark Rider]

Okay, I feel kind of bad for Mhia about the whole being married off without a choice thing. Her character is kind of growing on me, but I wouldn't consider her a favorite yet. And you killed the wrong nun! XD Those were innocent, or at least some were. And I loved the cliffhanger. I honestly was not expecting to see Charles there, but I'm glad he was.
This was a great chapter and I'm going to read the next one as soon as I can! :)

[Cynical_Art]

Lol well I don't want to comment too much on anything since I have the coming chapters written and I'm just revising. Look forward to them though. I'm curious how you'll feel about the main characters by the end.

[Dark Rider]

I'm sure my opinion of Malus won't change, and I want to say the same for Caius, but I'm not entirely sure of that. XD Either way, I'll still love what happens. Unless you kill Malus. Then you shall face the wrath of a teenage girl. Lol XD