The Princess of Wrath

Chapter 14 - Part I: Mechanical Saint

17th Day of the 5th Month - 2 days after Asura's escape and 130 days before the destruction of the Maiden of Mercy

Night was falling in Entrana, with a sky clear of the raging storm that had visited it days ago. Rhyn and Vhyn were becoming the two heavenly queens of the firmament, displaying their magnificence to the Imperial citizens throughout the city.

One of them, a handsome man with long platinum hair, was looking at the two stars through the window of the carriage in which he was traveling. In the company of solitude, he was dressed in an elegant black robe with a golden stole around his neck, and both of his hands rested on the electromagnetic sphere at the top of his cane.

The carriage had just exited the elevator that connected the University Ward to the higher level of the mountain on which the Silent Keep was located. At this point of elevation, the view towards the confines of the Cosmos was more spectacular, perfect for basic astronomy activities.

Outside, the driver of the carriage was dealing with the Wraiths who were guarding the access to the fortress' grounds, having replaced the militiamen after the disastrous events that took place two days ago. The security of the city as a whole had increased to extraordinary levels, much to the collective confusion of its inhabitants.

The man paid no attention when a Wraith opened the door, poked his devilishly masked head and checked the veracity of the document the driver had given him.

"Welcome back, Lord Alchemist," the imperial assassin greeted him before closing the door and without waiting for a reply that he would never receive from the passenger.

No. Roland Casimir was busier calculating in his brilliant mind the complex elliptical trajectories of Rhyn and Vhyn for the next few days; that way, he could hold off the murderous rage that had been engulfing him from the very moment he had been told, while he was in Thorian along with the Imperial entourage, that Asura Ithryl had accomplished the impossible.

His hands clenched tightly on the gyroscopic device on his cane, but the glass fortunately did not yield to his anger.

Escaping from the Silent Keep... No, escaping from Entrana, the epicenter of the Empire... Absurd! How had a group of traitors managed to outsmart thousands of soldiers, Wraiths and legendary warriors carrying the banner of the Imperial Guard?

Royce Baldur and Amos Caius Loren; the two of them had been the masterminds, according to the first reports the Master Wraith had sent him. Roland could not understand the motives and the unpredictability of the champion of the Empire, which gave him a nasty headache, but as for Knight Baldur... Not arresting him had been a cataclysmic mistake.

Now that knight was dead. Frida Helmholtz and Chalrus Hennessy too. And the whereabouts of Amos Caius Loren, Stanislaus Belmont, and Emmett Hawkins were something that Roland needed to discuss with his associate; just by thinking about her, he could not control the anger that was coursing through his veins and made him punch the window.

"What in the Abyss have you done, Belmont?!" he roared in the privacy of his mind, with an angry desire to come face to face with her as soon as posible. "Damn useless whore..."

He could not wait to hear her explanation, and yet he was sure that even justifications or assurances were not going to be able to appease his fury.

He was not used to such a level of frustration... He was a man who perfectly achieved everything he set out to do; a man intolerable to failure. And mistakes, at such a critical time for the Empire, were something he could not afford.