5
1012 Words
“How are you all doing? Feeling okay? Do we need Jecker to look you over again before you go?”
Mother Virgil looked so concerned that Alexi’s heart twisted, but she put on her best smile and shook her head. Pain meant nothing when compared to the weight Mother Virgil shouldered.
Seeing they were okay, she continued. “We are sending a number of other youths into Minkalla with you. You don’t need to protect them, as your mission is more important. Reach the core of Minkalla and reap the best rewards.”
Her face hardened, and Alexi grew angry that someone had upset Mother Virgil. “As much as I don’t want to encourage you to violence, you will all need to do your best to kill the Empire scum and their doggish allies, the Guilders, to bring them to justice for their evil ways. If you see any of them, remove them.”
Alexi and the others all cried out that they would, and Mother Virgil smiled back at them. “Violence is never the best option, but sometimes it’s the only option. Look at us. We, the Federation, have two allies because we are kind and don’t commit acts of evil. The Sects and Republic are our friends and allies, while the other Evil Places are content to inflict suffering on us for the slightest provocation.”
Brett, leader of the Bravo team, cried out, “We must kill the filthy beasts and half-bloods as well, Mother Virgil! They can’t be allowed to exist after how they treated our kindness. Please, let us put them down as well.”
Mother Virgil smiled sadly and sighed. It felt like a weight landed on her shoulder as she let out that breath. “Very true. The beasts who think they are as good as us humans are scum. Right now, they are still wounded and obviously weaker than us. Eventually, they will be put back in their place, but not now. There is no need for you to sully your hands with their unworthy blood at this time. No, we need to bring the Empire to its knees, and cut its head off. Killing their demonic youths who go to Minkalla is just the first step. Everything in its due time, children.”
Alexi wished she could help Mother Virgil more directly, but knew they needed to do their own small part.
For the third time since they started training for Minkalla, Mother Virgil asked, “Are you sure that you want to go to Minkalla? It’s very dangerous. I can’t be sure that you will all come back if you go, and it would break my heart if that happens. They used different types of runes on each of you. Jecker hasn’t figured out how to turn them off, but he has deduced that they are activating at different rates, and at different power levels, making it hard to know what will happen next. It will be dangerous for all of you.”
Alexi felt an overwhelming drive wash over her to go to Minkalla. It had been explained that Minkalla was the place to reforge the body and mind.
The Evil Empire had already stolen their past, and the ninety of them had collectively agreed to become strong enough to take their futures away from the Empire.
But to do that, they needed power. The best place for them to get stronger right now was Minkalla. That made the decision easy. Mother Virgil wanted them to be safe, but they needed to be strong to protect her and the glorious Federation.
Mother Virgil spent a few minutes going amongst each of them and speaking a few words and giving each of them a small touch.
Alexi earned herself a cheek caress, and she promised herself not to wash that check for the next month at least. A touch from Mother Virgil was too precious to wash away.
To their dismay, they had to leave on a ship to Minkalla, but the squads knew that Mother Virgil was waving them away, sad to see them go.
Minkalla was where they would make Mother Virgil proud.
And they would do it with their enemy’s blood.Virgil watched the first batch of rune soldiers leave for Minkalla and wondered if half of them would return.
Probably not.
The first iteration of runed soldiers were good, but there were too many instabilities with the massive power they had given the kids. It was too early to see if they were truly Slayer quality this early into the testing.
The brainwashing had worked wonders, however, and when combined with her Talent, the kids were unshakably loyal. Now was a good time to test how the kids reacted while away from her Talent.
Would any of them start to have their own independent, pesky thoughts? That data would be helpful for later batches. Lester and Jecker had already created another few iterations of the runes to make a second batch of kids. A more stable batch, which could see a more widespread usage in the special forces. She was quite happy with her decision to not kill Jecker, after all. Lester had been quite right when he decided to save the man. He was more than happy to slice open kids and do horrible things to them in the name of science.
And she had more than enough bodies to throw at the tests. Ninety pre-awakened kids were easy to source after all.
She went back to her office and hoped at least one of the teams would get their power under control in Minkalla, so they might be useful.
An expanded version of the rune soldier program had its uses for special elite troops in the army, but she needed someone to counter Duke Waters. Her gut told her that the answer wasn’t in stable troops, but strong ones.
The bright candle burned the fastest. And she only needed the candle to burn down one house.
Whoever expected the candle to survive the inferno?
- Writer
