Initium novum [Completed - being edited/rewritten]

Chapter 21

Even though the bed itself was great neither I or Valeria slept much. That was because Valeria had a lot of nightmares and was crying from sleep, I was wake and always calmed her down.
After about an hour of sleep, we were woken by Claudius.
When I stood up, I looked out from the window and saw that there was still night.

"Wake up ma'am, we have to get to the radio station until the sun comes out. This is our best chance to get there unseen, " he said.

I dressed up and noticed that Valeria was still in the bed.
"Wake up, you have to hurry. We can't waste time." I said to her.

Her head was turned into a pillow and she was saying something, something to which I couldn't understand but then she woke up.

When we were both dressed up, we to wake Julius, but as we found out he was already awake and talking with Knights on the lower floor.

"As far as we know, the way to the radio station is clear, yet we should be careful and move fast. The station is about three kilometres from our current location. We will have to go through the main are of slams and then trough residential area, then we will get to the radio station." Said Cladius.

"From what I know from the captain, it shouldn't be hard to make it work again. It is an old technology, it isn't as complicated as modern systems. Our biggest problem is the possibility of Imperial soldiers guarding the radio as a strategic asset, " added Julius.

For me it all seemed ridiculous, I was shattered by hearing about the destruction of Armorica, but I did not understand to why captain and Council of Citadel were so paranoid and practically declared a state of emergency to all of its assets. I believed that it was rash and that it was not necessary.

"Why are you so paranoid captain? We are not at war, are we?"

"No ma'am, we are not yet but it is highly possible that we will be after what happened to the city of Armorica. We can't take any chances. We will spread the message to the entire Imperium and then we will leave this city, we will mobilise all Knights and then wait for next orders from the Citadel. That is what I was told to do."

I still had my doubts about the course of taken actions but what was true was that we needed to get into a radio station, so I had no objections.

We found some leather backpacks in the house, so we put in them something which considered important, such as some food, medicine and stuff which we wound in a medical kit, some clothes and also two flashlights. When we had everything important packed, we went outside. Even though that was still night the temperature wasn't bad, the street was quiet, there were no people, but we heard some birds making noise and dogs barking in the distance. Covered in the darkness of the night we were walking through the city. On the way came to the Cladius and was asking him questions, just because I was curious and wanted to get to know what of a person he was.

"Tell me, captain, you are from Arsoria?" I asked.

"No ma'am, I am from the city of Templarion. It is the biggest city in Unora. Its population is something about two hundred thousand people."

"Unora, you say. My stepfather used to tell me stories about it. I know some things about it. But I would love to hear about your city." I said.

"Well, there is not much to say about it, even though it is one of the biggest cities, it has very strict rules and laws. The city is the oldest of all on Unora and we, its citizens, are rightfully proud of that. As a classification, it is an imperial military city but the soldiers trained there are not any ordinary soldiers. Because of Templarion's long tradition of sword-making, chivalry and honour of the gods, it has been classified as a military city responsible for recruitment and training of the Black Knights, 'knights of the gods'. Sometimes the city is referred to as 'Fortress Monastery'. Templarion is, as far as I know, one of two cities which are protected from any sort of attack by a land-land missile of any type thanks to a t00hermonuclear shield, then only another such shield is covering Apollonia. The truth is that a scientist from Templarion, named Gaius Terran invented this shield, something about two hundred years ago. When the Unification took place the defences of the city have fallen after a nuclear and biological attack on the continent, the city survived the attack thanks to the shield but after the attack, the city defender surrendered and the technology for the creation of the shield was taken to Apollonia. When the Unification ended scientists of Templarion managed to activate the shield in Apollonia and now those two cities are only two places on the planet, which are protected from any kind of attack. Both Apollonia and Templarion are unbreakable fortresses which can withstand under heavy siege for even centuries."