Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 415: Chapter 415: The Master

Chapter 415 – The Master

The space was exceedingly dark, so dark that it felt like a place light had never touched.

The Captain should have been used to this darkness by now, a darkness deeper than space itself, for there were not even stars to illuminate it. Yet every time he came here, he was proven wrong.

He stood within that darkness, feeling it grasp his whole body as though thousands of hands were wandering over him. And within those hands, he felt a strange coldness that made even his heart shiver.

Looking ahead, the Captain took in the sole source of light in that horrible place.

Though calling it light was not quite right.

There, about a hundred steps away, sat a man upon a throne of black stone, if one could even call him a man at this point.

Electrical wires came from every direction, spreading throughout the darkness like a spider’s web before converging upon his body and burrowing into him.

The man was completely bald, and the upper half of his skull was made of transparent glass, giving the Captain the unfortunate privilege of seeing the brain underneath.

A blue brain riddled with countless blinking components, flickering continuously in patterns whose purpose the Captain neither understood nor wanted to understand.

His eyes were as dark as the space surrounding him, distant, inhuman, and cold. They were looking directly at the Captain, yet somehow, the Captain had the disturbing impression that the man was not looking at him at all.

He wore a black robe that left his chest exposed.

That chest, too, was made of glass.

But unlike his skull, there was no flesh visible beneath it. No beating heart. No lungs expanding with breath. No organs at all.

There were only wires. Hundreds of them, intertwined where his organs should have been, pulsing and flickering as they performed the functions that once belonged to a human body.

’I will never get used to this sight.’ The captain whispered to himself, straightening his heart, before putting one knee down, lowering his head in total submission, "I have come from the mission, master."

His words were met with deadly silence. But it didn’t last long as the man, the Master, spoke, his metallic lips not moving, yet his voice echoing all around.

"You have failed." Master said, the voice like something inhuman desperately trying to sound human.

"We did." Captain replied, head still lowered, "The little boy was more than we had thought. The information given by White was fatally wrong, and thus we prepared a trap for the wrong person."

"You have failed three times in one mission." Master said, raising his hand which showed deep black nails and dozens of bangles, "Aeron came back, but his mind was destroyed by a god. I can heal him, but he will no longer be Aeron. You know what he will be. And that is your fault."

The captain trembled, suddenly remembering the horrible and inhuman constructs the master loved to create out of the flesh and bones of living beings. Those constructs were completely designed for one purpose: obey the master, with no free will.

He clenched his jaw, lowering his head further, not saying, or daring to say anything.

Aeron was dead. That, that was a fact. Whatever would appear again would not be his companion, but a monster wearing Aeron’s skin.

His stomach churned in disgust and fear, but he swallowed it down, listening to the Master.

"You have failed a second time with Sorrow." Master followed, his nails tapping the armchair, "She had failed to capture the boy, and was at the verge of death. She had fought against a Primal Queen."

"A Primal Queen?" The captain exclaimed in shock, raising his head upward.

And there, he saw it.

Behind the Master, a large hologram appeared, showing in perfect quality the images of a woman made of fire, who introduced herself as Scarlet.

A woman who had almost killed Sorrow.

His throat went dry. "The boy is a Spirit Contractor." The captain realized, "And his spirit is the Primal Queen of Fire, Scarlet Red."

The captain still couldn’t believe it. How come all of this was unknown to White?

"Yes." The Master said, "A Primal Queen as a Spirit, the left Eye holding the legacies of all the Red Dragons, the bloodline of Desdemona, and a concept. This boy, my son, is becoming more and more prominent for us, to us. But not only."

"Not...only?"

The image shifted, this time showing the scene of Joykiller killed by a woman. The captain’s mouth hung open, wondering just how much worse things could get at that point.

Even Joykiller was dead? How would Sorrow take this news?

"Do you recognize this woman, son?" Master asked, his blank dark eyes staring at him coldly.

"Yes." The captain replied slowly, throat dry, "She is Isolde Amaris, wife of Cassius Desdemona."

"Don’t you find it interesting?" Master continued, replaying over and over the video of Isolde killing Joykiller without mercy, "she went through all the barriers...all my barriers I created myself, as if they didn’t exist. Isn’t it interesting, son?"

If it was indeed what happened, then without doubt, "It is, master."

"What do we know about this little girl?"

"Nothing much besides things everyone knows. She is not important. At least, that was what we thought."

"I want both of them." Master whispered, and the electrical wires began to glow, his brain zipping with electrical signals, pulsing, strange liquid dripping from the visible blue brain, "and I will not accept another wave of failure, son. Next time, I want Swindler and Melinda to act. And I do not care if Melinda kills them. I want their corpses, even if that’s the only thing I can get from them."

The captain nodded mechanically, his body shaking at the sudden pressure falling upon him, "When, master?"

"When I am done with Aeron." Master replied, "and go take back the body of Joykiller before it’s too late."

And there, the captain saw it, and forced his soul to steady itself and not run away in fright.

The Master was smiling, and between the gap of his mouth, there was nothing except nothingness.

For the nth time, Captain wondered if the master had a soul. It didn’t look like it. But then again, how could someone live without a soul?

"Joykiller will want to have her little revenge on the betrayal, don’t you think?"

"Yes, master." That was all he could say.

"Last thing, how were the guns against him?"

"Good, but not enough to wound the boy."

"Did you manage to get a piece of his blood or flesh or organs?"

"Yes, master." The captain said, taking out a bunch of vials of blood and pieces of flesh and organs, "I recovered all this from the battlefield and on the body of Aeron himself. The boy didn’t escape unscathed."

"Perfect." Master said, smiling wider, looking deeply at the blood that was still glowing mysteriously, "With this, I can finally advance on my research on my boy, my dear comrade from Earth."

...

The night passed rapidly, the sun rising in the sky just like any other day. But that day was not like any other one.

After what happened yesterday, the people of the Kingdom woke with a tightness in their hearts they couldn’t quite explain.

But not Cassius.

The Last Born awoke through the tender caress of his grandmother, a caress that burned away the weird dream he just had about him fighting some strange being that was anything but human, yet still had some trace of humanity.

He had dreamt about Earth too. And what he saw didn’t please him.

What was happening?

That question didn’t linger too much inside his mind as he opened his eyes, and saw Morenna there, at his side, looking down on him with a soft smile:

"Rise and shine, angel." She whispered.

Cassius needed a couple more seconds before his brain caught up with what was happening. Then he nodded, smiling, "Good morning, grandma."

He blinked his eyes, rubbing them, before pushing himself up while yawning. He then sat beside Morenna, his back against the bed, still trying to fully wake his brain.

"How was your night?" The Queen asked.

"Pretty good. I slept well for the first time in a while." He said, "Maybe because of this room that reminds me of mother."

"Then maybe you should come live here." Morenna said, looking at him seriously, "You know you can, don’t you? We will be happy to welcome you."

"I am still in the Academy, grandma."

"Once you are done with the Academy, then. Which I believe will not take you five years."

"Let’s talk about it once I reach that stage," Cassius said with a wry smile. "For now, all I can think about is going back to the Academy and preparing for my wedding."

He grinned, unable to hide his happiness.

"You are invited, by the way."

"Wedding?" Morenna exclaimed in surprise. "An official wedding? Are you sure about this? That’s a contract for death, Cassius."

"I am sure," Cassius answered without hesitation. "I have known Isolde long enough. I have also lived with her long enough. And most importantly, I have lived far away from her long enough to know that even when she isn’t there, she is still the woman I want beside me."

Morenna stared at him for a moment before smiling faintly. "I don’t doubt many women will grieve when they hear about your official wedding."

"Well, what can I say or do?" Cassius shrugged lazily. "I have never shown ambiguous feelings toward any other woman around me, and I have always made it clear who I love. If they came to love me anyway, there is nothing I can do about that."

Morenna’s smile widened before she pulled Cassius into a tender hug.

"Beautiful, talented, compassionate, and faithful to one woman. My grandson is truly the best!"

"Right?" Cassius lifted his chin proudly. "If perfection existed, I would have claimed it already. But maybe this is my cue to create it."

"Don’t try, Angel," Morenna said as she reached into her spatial ring. "The perfect is uninteresting."

She pulled something out and held it toward him.

"And here is the gift I prepared for your admission to the Academy."

Cassius looked down at her hand and saw a beautiful earring shaped like the fang of a wolf.

"It is made of red jade and the hardened blood of a Tier Three monster of the Blood Path," she explained. "It is already far too late for an admission gift, I suppose. And now I need to prepare another one for the wedding. But well, as they say..."

Morenna smiled beautifully, and Cassius felt his heart warm.

"...better late than never, right, my Angel?"

—End of Chapter 415—