VR WARS Volume II - Coalition Army

CAST OUT

A feast vibrated in the dorms where the UAT students were housed later that night, the fire that grew in their hearts after that one victory overshadowed all of their previous losses entirely. Each student celebrated throughout the night with such vigorous spirit that it kept the rest of the student population wakeful. Yet, lurking in a corner, outdone by all that cheerfulness, was the sole Azorean not in a celebratory mood. The food to him tasted blend and sour while the drinks stanched of donkey piss. And so, it was there, sitting in contempt and looking at his gloomy reflection through the back of his spoon that he reminisced on the pleasures of his past life brought about by that pathetic meal—a far cry from the comfortable lifestyle filled with gourmet dishes he so joyfully enjoyed in the past.

His life had, for all intents and purposes, ended in a most grueling manner. Now the existence of the man, formerly in charge of commanding the University to victory, was nothing but a pathetic husk of what he once was; that was how Valadão saw himself as he gazed at his half-eaten meal.

With Angelo’s prying sight gauging him carefully from a distance, weighing heavily on him, Valadão excused himself from the table with an expression filled with loneliness and regret.

Although his early absence was noticeable by some, no one paid any mind to it.

In fact, his ex-colleagues went so far as to pity the man who had lost it all. Albeit that fate had not come deprived of a valid reason.

Not only had he lost what little support he had left with his nemesis's victory at Teutoburg, but he had also lost his position as the leading prodigy of the institution. A fate that hurt him more than death and earned him the wrath of his family.

Valadão lost much more than his position. His inability to deal with the responsibilities assigned to him reached his relatives' ears, earning him their disapproval. Losing favor to one of his younger brothers and being disavowed didn’t mean his life was forfeit, not when his family was one of the wealthiest in the Azores. However, it did imply the ownership of the company they commanded; the family business was nothing but a mirage in a barren wasteland. Valadão’s dream of a comfortable life had crumbled altogether in a matter of weeks.

Everything he had worked hard for in the past three years had been snatched away by a first-year student of conspicuous background, an unknown who, if not for the emergence of VR and the crisis on hand, wouldn't ever be able to stand anywhere near his shine.

It’s not over…You haven’t heard the last of me, Angelo! It was with that conviction, that bloodlust for vengeance that made him leave the dorms in the middle of that weary night and seek out the members of the Prodigy circle within the other two institutions fighting in the VR Wars competition.

Cruising along the gravel-made road, the sound of his footsteps echoed strangely loud throughout the lonely and dark gardens. His mind retraced past events that had cast a shadow on what should’ve been a brighter future. “You brought shame to our family name, something not a single Valadão has done in the last two hundred years! You are not my son! You will never be part of this family again!” Deeply wounded by the man he had been raised to look upon, Valadão carried the last words his father had spoken to him to heart when he crossed the enormous UL campus grounds to make due on his vendetta. Desperation was his driving factor; he needed to know if the Supreme Commander would help him get rid of his burden caused not only by his actions but by the subterfuge activities of what he firmly believed was a threat to every prodigy in the country.

“Hold it right there,” a familiar voice caught him by surprise, just as he was about to reach the arranged place for the secret meeting. The starlight and moonlight revealed what Valadão already knew, the identity of the person barring his path, “Did you come to beat me up too, Marco?” His insecure nature contradicted the bare sarcasm he tried to radiate.

“I promised myself I would never follow orders such as those again.”

“Then why are you here?” Valadão’s voice had a hint of fear, even though Marco had said he wouldn't harm him.

“To give you one word of advice…”

Angelo must’ve sent him here to find out what my intentions are and dishearten me from doing anything that could undermine him! “Paah! The fearless Marco turned into an errand boy, now that’s a laugh, ha-ha-ha.” But even his talent for theatrics wasn’t enough to sway his previous right-hand man from seeing through his cynical and uneasy laugh.

“I’m not here on Angelo’s behalf. I’m here on my own,” he uttered with such intensity that it felt he was about to contradict his previous statement of a non-violent argument, but then his shadow of ill-intent died down, just as he began to talk, this time with sincerity. “The way you lost everything wasn’t right, and it must’ve hurt, but you aren’t suited to lead. Even though he acts rashly sometimes and has that complicated personality, Angelo is the right person to guide us. Perhaps you don’t know this, but many of the prodigies or Elites, as you liked to call us, have financial difficulties and don’t have the family prestige you do. So if the university shuts down, regular or elite, genius or ordinary, we will all sink under the same boat.”

Valadão spat at the futility of Marco’s argument because, for him, his boat had already sunk. There was nothing more anyone could do for him, so he had no reason to fall in line and help out. In truth, he acknowledged that the lifeline Marco wanted to throw at him could save him, but did he want to hold it at all anymore? “You talk as if we’re the same…we are not the same!”

Salvation holding on by a thread was nothing but condescending mercy, an insult to the status he held before, and the position he reigned over.

“…Thinking that you stand high and mighty is your biggest problem and your worst enemy. We are the same, you and me. But you know who isn’t, who stands above everyone here, our commander. Because he knows how to deal with incoming challenges, how to keep everyone motivated, how to gain and spread respect–”

“Are you kidding?!!” Valadão mercilessly cut Marco off, raising his voice so high it scared a flock of birds resting peacefully in a pine tree into a quick dispersion across the long night. “How blind can you people get?! That man shits all over us!! He is using you like he uses everyone else for his own agenda!”

Every bit of that spur-of-the-moment contradicted the calm and rational person that was Valadão. Not once had he been this irritated before in his life, and not one person had seen him about to snap or lashing out just as he was doing now, and certainly not Marco. The latter had to take a step back from the murdering aura surrounding his former colleague, not out of fear but caution, as an ex-soldier Marco had long ago been trained on handling anxiety under pressure. And unlike the feeling that he got from his commander, every time he got serious, what Valadão unwilled in him was nothing more than puny dying sparks without the slightest sensation of heat.

Obviously, that didn’t mean he would drop his guard.

“If only you unleashed this hidden hatred where we needed it, on the battlefield…” the captain of the Elite Phoenix Unit uttered in complete disappointment, finally flexing his stance and stepping away from a volatile Valadão. The echoes of his footsteps drowned out his final words before they could be sunk by the neverending darkness of the night and that of his former colleague’s heart.

You mean as Angelo does! f*****g pretentious mongrel! The more he thought about it, the more the words wanted to come out, but what good would it do? By the time he finished gathering his thoughts, Marco was long gone, and before him stood the lone and harsh path of vengeance.