Chapter 32

Wilhelm stood calmly as he watched the onslaught his army brought onto the Terraqouis. He watched as a cavalry on horseback tried to flank them. When that failed, he watched the Terraqouis try a full-on attack. That also failed, leaving the bodies of savages strewn across the desert like the trash they were.

He could feel the demon inside him writhing around his mind. He could feel its joy. He could feel its pleasure. It was a disgusting feeling, he noted, and one he didn’t think he was ever going to get used to. He tried to quell some of the enthusiasm the demon showed at all that death but he quickly found that he could neither control the demon’s emotions nor control it in general. It felt like it had wrapped itself around his mind, entwining its being with his own. He could no more control the damn thing than he could control his beating heart or his need to breathe.

He reached up with a hand and rubbed at his temple. An ache was forming there. The only thing he could feel, however, was the scarred tissue of his melted face. That only stoked the fires of his anger more.

“Destroy them,” he said.

Every Rook soldier seemed to respond to his command, even though he was several miles distant. They surged forward with renewed vigor, each one fighting and battling to get at the Terras and rip them apart. It was very…pleasurable…he decided, being able to control and manipulate the human mind. The power it afforded him was intoxicating.

A slight noise caused him to turn his head. The Terra boy, Niku he’d since learned, was standing there, his body rigid. Sweat beaded up on his forehead, but his eyes were glassy and blank. The fists at his side were clenched tight, the knuckles white, but that was the only sign of emotion out of the boy. Everything else was gone. The boy was gone too. He’d wiped everything away, erasing him as if he’d never been. The only thing that remained was a shell.

And the power buried inside him, Wilhelm thought. A power that he now controlled. That thought sent another signal of pleasure through his demon-infested mind. He smiled grotesquely.

His hood no longer cloaked him. The time for secrecy was past. He would bathe Purga in fire and he would do it wearing his new face. He liked the thought of that.

“Let me show them my power,” he said, his mechanical voice ringing oddly in the air. There was no one else around him. No guards. No other soldiers. No advisors. He’d sent them all down there, to battle. To die, if necessary.

He smiled again, his lipless mouth truly horrifying.

It is not time to show them our strength, the demon responded. Its voice inside his mind was oily. It left a stain that Wilhelm could physically feel.

Small price to pay, he thought privately.

Indeed, meat-thing, the demon returned, laughing hideously. Power in exchange for your servitude.

Why do we not destroy these pathetic fools here and now? We have the power to do so, Wilhelm asked.

We must bide our time. Everything must be ready or we will fail, the demon answered, getting angry now. Do not presume to think you are in control. I am in control.

Wilhelm didn’t answer. He seethed inwardly to himself instead.

A figure dropped from the sky, the thrusters to his old-model flight pack cutting out. He flipped in mid-air and landed on his feet beside Niku.

The boy didn’t respond. He didn’t even flinch. He just stood still with his glassy eyes and blank face.

Wilhelm turned to the figure. It was Lehan.

“What is it?” Wilhelm hissed.

“Sir,” he responded, saluting crisply. “Reports have come in. The Prince has entered the battle with the girl. The one that escaped from Roanoke.”

Lehan watched the General’s face, feeling slightly uneasy. The man had been a bit unstable as of late and he often caught him talking to himself. Lehan wasn’t a fool however. He knew it would almost be the same thing as a death sentence if he so much as brought that up. Instead, he stood firm, his body rigidly stiff and controlled. He didn’t let any of his fear invade his mind.

Wilhelm created a pair of high-tech binoculars and brought them up to his face. The images of the battle jumped out at him as he zoomed in for a closer look. At first, he couldn’t spot the two. Then, as he was swinging back to the right, he found them. Rone and the girl.

Keiara, he remembered.

The minute he saw her, it was like he was back in Rowan's suite again and he could feel the heat from the fires she’d created. He still vividly remembered the fear she’d invoked in him as he watched her turn into a rampaging monster like he’d never seen before.

She’d made a fool of him.

Worse yet, so had the Prince.

“I still cannot understand how he survived,” Wilhelm cursed, crushing the binoculars in one hand. It fizzed and popped and the nanos creating it fluttered and disappeared into the sand. “I shot him in the back. I shot him at point blank range!”

It had been, he’d thought at the time, one of the best moments of his life. He’d had all the power. He’d had all the control. A surprisingly heavy gun in one hand and a lighter in his other with the flame flickering. He’d been in control of both their fates.

And I’d decided they would die, he thought, grating what remained of his teeth together.

He’d pulled the trigger that should have ended Rone. The girl had surprised him. The power she’d had momentarily got the better of him but he always knew he would track her down sooner or later. He always knew he would eventually destroy her.

But Rone! Rone should be dead. He should be lying on the cement in front of the Citadel, cold and lifeless.

“Impossible!” he shouted.

Fool! I warned you, didn’t I? I warned you not to underestimate the boy. I told you before he was still alive, and worse, that he’s been awakened. Your arrogance will be your downfall, meat-thing, the demon hissed.

Shut up! Wilhelm shouted.

Pain flared up in his mind, sending him to one knee.

Niku kept staring straight ahead while Lehan ran to his General and helped him up.

“What’s wrong, Sir?” he asked. His instincts flared to sudden life. Against an ordinary opponent, they would’ve actually helped him. Against the General, however, they were laughably slow.

Wilhelm whirled on Lehan before the soldier’s reflexes could even twitch. He gripped him about the neck and squeezed.

Lehan gasped, his lips turning a disquieting shade of blue. His face turned from pale pink to a purplish red color and his eyes were wide and afraid. He wasn’t normally the type to give in to fear but in this situation, he made an exception. He knew, without a doubt, that he was about to die.

“Die,” Wilhelm spat, his voice a mechanical croak. He didn’t see Lehan standing there anymore. The demon inside him had colored his vision, making Wilhelm see things that weren’t real.

Lehan had suddenly morphed into Rone. He was the arrogant and self-absorbed boy that inspired so much hate.

Wilhelm could see Rone’s bright blue eyes. He could see the eyes that were the same color as the King’s eyes. The King that had betrayed him. The King that had left him to die.

“I’ll kill you!” He said with a loud screech and as it came out of his throat, the hand around Lehan’s neck tightened a little more. Then reality started to intrude. Rone’s features melted. In a few seconds, Lehan was back, rough gurgling sounds escaping his throat. Wilhelm’s hand sprang open suddenly and the soldier dropped to the ground, gasping for breath.

He stared at the General with a mixture of hate and fear. The soldier let out one final, gurgling breath and went still The next time you dare to speak to me like that, I won’t give you the option of stopping. I will make you murder your favorite soldier and then I will make your life nothing but an eternal well of pain and misery, the demon whispered, his voice an eerie purr.

Everything in his battered soul wanted to fight against that voice. For the first time since Blak had saved him, he realized he’d made a mistake. He realized he should’ve accepted his fate and just died under the trees of Ledun.

Wilhelm put a wall between those thoughts and Blak. If the creature heard them, then the pain would start again. He clenched his hands into fists and turned toward the battle again. Lehan was gone, presumably back to the battle.

He slammed a fist into his hand as he stared at Rone and Keiara. Without the binoculars, they were little more than specks, but he still knew it was them. They stood alone with his soldiers on one side and the Terraqouis on the other.

In perfect synchronicity, the two of them began their attack.