Legends of the Stars

Chapter 16: A Balance of Terror

Chapter 16

A Balance of Terror

July 19th, 2019 AE, 9:36 AM

Before Jaden even awoke, he felt a pounding headache emanating from the base of his skull, throbbing its way up to his temples. Forcing his eyes open, he blinked repeatedly as a bright light beat down on him mercilessly. He tried to shield them with his hand, but a metal cuff held his wrist back. He tried lifting his other arm. It, too, was bound to the chair he sat in. He strained to move his right leg. His left. They were bound as well. Clearing is mind from its sleep-induced haze, Jaden tried to orient himself by taking in his surroundings. Panning his head around, he could just make out a shape sitting in front of him, hidden from the light.

"Did you sleep well?" The mockingly, foreboding voice sounded like static filtered through an amplifier. Jaden knew only one person with a voice like that—Kaiser's.

"Where am I?" Jaden asked. "Where are my friends?"

"You'll be happy to hear that they're safe...for now."

Jaden tried to break out of his bonds, but he failed wrench himself free even a little. His body was so weak and drained of strength, Jaden was now only as strong as any regular human. Weighed down by fatigue, he felt like he was trapped beneath a mountain.

"I'm impressed you were able to elude us for all these years. I made sure to wipe out every last Ark Knight on this planet. Why is it that out of all of them, only you survived?"

"Believe me," Jaden said, looking tiredly into Kaiser's eyes. "I keep asking myself the same thing."

Hearing this, behind his mask of cold, black steel, the Dark Lord chuckled at Jaden's response.

"I expected you to be more like your father," Kaiser admitted. "But now, I see that you and I aren't so different."

"At least I'm not a monster hiding behind a mask."

Once he heard this retort, Kaiser pressed the buttons on each of his temples, causing his helmet to loosen its grip on his head. The Dark Lord rose up into the light and took off his mask, revealing the hollow shape underneath. Long, white hair flowed down from his head like snow, veiling a pale, ghoulish visage. His accursed, yellow eyes, shining like a solar corona, pierced through Jaden's soul with their icy stare.

Jaden felt as if he was looking at the ghost of a man long forgotten—the shadow of a knight who had fallen in the fires of war and was lost in ashes of time.

Seeing the astonishment in the boy's face, Kaiser he knew he had the upper hand. He placed his helmet on the arm of his chair and inched closer to his prisoner.

"I'm not the only one whose hiding. Like your father, we both chose to serve the gods and protect humanity in secret. We both fought their wars, and we both suffered dearly. The only difference is that I escaped that fate. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you fight, those people out there, they'll continue to destroy each other. Why bother?"

"Because," said Jaden, "it's the right thing to do."

"Oh, wake up!" Kaiser shouted, turning away from Jaden in anger. "Those morals that you follow, they're all an illusion. They were only made so humanity could survive, and they change to how people see fit. Even the Ark Knights chose to save themselves as they hid away on their little island."

"They did what they had to! They did it so they could keep protecting others!"

"Is that so? What about when my team and I were captured by the Empire? Do you know you what the other Knights did?"