The Lords of Flayard

Chapter 1 - Cassandra

They still do not know who I am or what I have done. But lately, I have been toying with the utterly foolish idea of telling them. 

On Thursday, Leader Jack McCanett called a meeting for all the generals. I arrived a few moments late because Matthew Crater, who is possibly the most irksome person I have had the misfortune to meet, held me up in the hall. I took my seat between Eleanor Pallas and Aleksander Kowalski at the back of the room, attempting to remain quiet enough to avoid attention. 

The three leaders of FDF stood at the front, staring at the twelve generals seated in front of them. Leader Albert Rousseau was in the middle of talking about the recent expedition a group of explorers had gone on to the north-eastern cities of Flayard - or rather, what remained of them. To his right, Leader Charlotte Gretova was glaring at me. To her, arriving a few minutes late seemed to be the equivalent of being tardy by over an hour. Leader Gretova disliked most everyone though, so I was not the only FDF member under constant disapproval from her.

"As we expected to hear," Leader Rousseau continued, "The cities were mostly abandoned. However, one of our explorers, Saskia Karu, has found some rather intriguing reports of experiments performed on Kasardra Mandrë, a thief who was mostly active during the years 1887 through 1889, and was caught one year prior to the destruction of the capital city of Flayard, Roszalla. It is unknown what happened to her after her capture, but it is commonly assumed that she died sometime during the attack."

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and looked down at the floor, attempting to avoid eye contact as I usually did when someone mentioned Kasardra Mandrë. 

Eleanor glanced at me, appearing somewhat concerned. "Are you alright? You look..."

"I am fine," I replied quickly, still staring at the floor. "I'm just tired."

Eleanor continued looking at me for a few moments before she finally turned back to the leaders. Leader McCanett was speaking to us now.

"Our historians have been given a collection of documents found in one of the buildings in the city of Toriinalla. They are still looking over them, but they have provided me with a summary of one they found particularly interesting. The document in question is a scientific report of the final recorded experiment performed on Mandrë. The report is from 1889. The experiment was initiated by An'nkarri Anyita Tanarn, the last queen of Flayard, with the purpose of making someone immortal."

He paused here, seemingly for dramatic effect. Leader McCanett seemed to do that quite often when speaking. If he had not chosen to lead a secret defense force on another world, he might have made a formidable politician on Earth. 

Leader McCanett sighed, looking around at the group of generals, all of whom but me were listening earnestly. Most often, the meetings the leaders called were only about the latest developments in the movements of the Dark Lords. This was different and exciting, at least to all the other generals. I, on the other hand, found it incredibly nerve racking.

"The report states that the An'nkarri requested Mandrë specifically for the process, stating that "she deserved nothing less than to have eternal torment for her sins." So, as per the queen's orders, Flayard's scientists performed the procedure on Mandrë. Unfortunately, it is uncertain whether the experiment succeeded or not because of the Dark Lords' interference. That is all the information we have for now, but the historians are doing their best to find more, possibly any indication of Mandrë surviving or of the experiment's results. Are there any questions?"

In the row in front of me, Surya Hiayat, the general in charge of Unit L, stood up. "Are you suggesting the possibility that Mandrë somehow survived the Dark Lords' attack on Roszalla and that this experiment somehow worked? Because it doesn't seem likely that an experiment of this magnitude could have succeeded, especially given the time period where it took place. Even nowadays this would never succeed!" he stated.