Legend of Mautau: Angelorum Lux

Ch 14: The Audentia

Alexander rushed to heal Richter’s wound. Gathering EDE, he placed a hand over where Grey had stabbed him, Grey’s blades having evaporated into thin air, and Richter briefly cried out in pain as Alexander’s hand glowed with blue light.

Concentrating, Alexander said to him, “Try to relax Colonel. It seems I might actually be able to heal this. Still, I don’t suggest you exert yourself for a while.”

Richter didn’t look at him, and as he slowly sat up he said, “I’ll be fine… Thank you.”

Alexander could see a look of defeat on Richter’s face as the Colonel finally looked at him and said, “Why help me? Or didn’t you know it was your great and powerful leader who did this to me?”

Alexander stood and turned to leave, saying, “I did it because I have no desire to see you die, and…”

He looked back at Richter as he added, “Because I know Grey wouldn’t want to have anyone else die here today because of him.”

Clenching his fists, Richter angrily said. “Still defending him after everything that’s happened here?! Are you so blinded by loyalty that you can’t see what he is even now?! He’s a monster!”

Alexander walked away from Richter towards the hangar door, and as he reached it he stopped and looked back one last time as he said, “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t told him, Colonel. However slim, the chance that his parents were alive gave Grey hope. I know it wasn’t intentional, but when you took that away from him, it pushed him over the edge. I don’t know everything Altera Veritas did to his mind, but I do know that now that he’s lost control again, he may never return to his former self…”

As Alexander walked through the hangar door, Richter struggled to get up, shouting, “Come back here! You’re still criminals, and I will not just let you walk out of here!”

Entering the hangar, Alexander joined the others and said, “So what now? It’s urgent we find him quickly, but I can only wonder where he would have gone…”

Still staring off in the direction Grey had gone, Amy said, “I still don’t understand. Why?”

Shaking his head, with a look of shame Alexander said, “I’m more to blame than anyone. The trauma of his past had already scarred him so deeply, but maybe I should still have sat down and talked with him about his parents. Jonathan and Samantha took him in and raised him as their own. There was a deep bond between them that transcended his amnesia and lack of memories. Combine such a traumatic loss with all the time he spent alone with it in solitary confinement, and this may be the worst case scenario…”

Schmitt turned and pointed at a large airship docked in the hangar as he said, “Not that I don’t feel for him, but seein as we’re in the middle of escaping still, we should really worry bout the kid later. Let’s grab a ship an’ go! We can take that one, she’s called the Audentia! I happen to know how to fly her!”

The group moved through the hangar and up onto the catwalk that led to the door of the ship.

Looking at the enormous yet sleekly designed craft, its red paint shining in the light of the brightly lit hangar, Amy said, “Ohhhh, this is a really nice airship! Can one person really fly it by themselves?”

In wonder, Scott said, “What model is this? I’ve never seen one of these…”

Scott had always had an interest in airships, and he was certain this was one of the most advanced he’d ever seen.

Grinning ear from ear, Schmitt said, “This here’s the latest command ship model! The prototype of the Animus series, still in the final stages of testing. Well, actually the testing just ended a lil while ago. They shipped her out here to perform the final tests on the new EDE cannons she’s equipped with, out in the mountains where it was safer to be doin weapon testing. Passed with flyin colors!”