God-Kings of Lotus: Heroes of the Unconquered Sun

[Ellas Aramond]

The Night's Apprentice

A young girl walked in the twilight, the cool air smelling sweet. She looked from side to side and opened the large doors of an old, run down mansion, creaking as their rusted hinges move for the first time in years. Up stairways and old ladders, all the way her eyes stayed open and alert. The girl stopped in a dark hallway. The only illumination coming from the grey light from a broken window. Looking up she re-adjusts the belts holding the sword loosely to her back. Her moves were quiet as she stalked up a hidden ladder, becoming aware of voices the higher she got.

"Forya, this is not working." A familiar, gravelly voice comes from beyond the open trap door. "We have scanned more then half the city, and still no sign of this cult. We are doing something wrong, I just don't know what."

"My lord, the only thing we know is that they see killing the Mighty as an act of glory." A much richer voice responds. "For all we know, more of these Infernals are pulling the strings and keeping them from our sight."

All falls quiet as the girl ascends the last of the rungs. climbing through looks around a very large room, most of the space on the wall covered in maps, lists, and other related notes. Before she could get a better look around however, her reflection showed up in her vision. Turning quickly only revealed Watcher's masked form standing next to her.

"Konoko," He greets her. "I take it your mother told you where I spend my time."

"Wuh-!" Is all the girl could say, the nightbringer's startling appearance almost sending her back down the laddder. "Uh, heh. Yeah." She squeaked, regaining her balance and stepping away from the trapdoor.

"Forya, we will need to go over this later. Go tell Derecha to look through District Nine, if you would." Watcher sighed, making his way to a large desk as cluttered with papers as the walls. But that sound in his voice, was that...amusement? After the masked woman leaves, Watcher turned back to the girl, interested in just what was going through her mind "So, I can only assume you had a reason for coming all the way over here."

Konoko, noting that she wasn't being turned away and even catching the bit of mirth in Watcher's voice, walked closer to the desk. "Yes, well." She takes a deep breath and tries to look as adult and powerful as she can, "Watcher, I wanna join you."

"You want to...what?" It took quite a bit to surprise the Nightbringer, and he had almost forgotten that it didn't take wonders of the First Age and people trying to kill him to catch him unawares.

"I want to part of your Exodus Syndicate!" She blurted out immediately after he was finished. "My... mom's treating me like a kid, but I'm a Mighty! I can do more than she thinks I can, even after my new dad said I made him proud!"

The image of Yomiko coming after him with her warstrider's swords raised high was quickly banished from Watcher's mind. There were a few all too capable Mighty who had found out about his Syndicate, who would never show any interest. Yet here Konoko was, practically still a child, wanting to join him? Yes, her mother would kill him if she ever found out, but this was a chance he could not pass up. "You know what the Syndicate does, right?" He replies dryly.

"I know they do what you tell them to, right? And I know you just want to spread justice to Lotus. Afterall, justice is what's gonna protect Lotus." She leaned on one leg and said very matter-of-factly. "And I've only seen a masked person that wasn't you once out my window, so I know they're not supposed to be seen."

"You are right, but there are a few things that you do not understand." He holds back the surprise that she had actually seen one of his people. "Yes, they have a large hand in the safety of the city; but the watchmen do the same thing, and they don't hide themselves. No, my people, they are willing to do whatever it takes to keep Lotus. Even kill."

"Not to mention I trained them all personally. He goes on. "That makes them more then police, more then warriors. It makes them assassins."

She only blinks at the last statements, but she was not to be deterred. "I've helped you guys fight before, and it's not like killing is so hard. I mean, my mom has killed lots of people, even she doesn't like to, she still does." She pauses for a moment as if in thought, "...Kill who?"

"Anyone who would threaten Lotus. Do you remember Iulus' wedding?" He asks, twirling one of his boomerangs. "That cultist would have been attacked by at least three of us if Izunagi had had not gotten to him first."

She put a finger on her lip and looked to the side, "...I liked Mr. Iulus. He said I was a strong and beautiful girl." She looked back at Watcher with determination in her eyes, and for the first time when Night Caste looked Konoko's eyes, he saw the strength and power of her mother. He couldn't have been sure, but now it's clear she certainly is no mere child. "I can kill anyone that deserves it. I can do whatever it takes to protect Lotus."

"I have no doubt that you can, but it is the will that I am concerned about. It is one thing to hold the firewand. It is another thing entirely to pull the trigger." With a casual toss of his weapon he opened another trapdoor, this time in the ceiling. "Meet me back here in exactly one hour, there's something I want to try." With that he leaped through the hole, vanishing from both sight and sound.

--------------------------------------------------------

One hour later, Konoko sat at Watcher's desk looking at the papers atop it; partly out of curiosity, partly out of boredom. "They're listing all the different groups in the city." She muttered.

After a few minutes, a figure cloaked in black and silver swooped down through the opening in the roof, but obviously not Watcher. "The masked one is a few floors down. He sent me to get you."

She looked up at the newcomer and got out of her seat. Nodding, she trekked down until seeing the glint of light off Watcher's mask.

"Konoko, I see you brought your weapon." Without another word, Watcher stepped aside to reveal a young woman, bound and unconscious lying on the wooden floor.

Looking at her, Konoko felt her mother's great compassion already beginning to well up in her heart. She held the hilt of her weapon in her hand again, looking from the bound girl to Watcher. "...I-I have. What do you want me to do?"

"You said that you would kill to protect the city, well, this woman is a threat." Watcher speaks, all emotion gone from his voice. "Like I said before, it is quite another thing to pull the trigger."

Her wide eyes lay upon the woman, eventually looking back and forth from the victim to Watcher repeatedly. She paused and took her weapon from her back, aproaching slowly. She spoke softly, but loud enough for the Nightbringer to hear, "What did she do?"

"Does it matter?" Watcher replied angrily. "You said yourself that the Syndicate does exactly what I say. If I bring you into this, I have to know that you will do the same."

She began to shake. What had she gotten herself into? She approached the girl with fear in her eyes, holding the blade up as if to attack. But Orichalcum clattered to the ground, her hands balled into fists. "NO!" Her voice echoes throughout the ancient mansion. "I can't just kill her! I don't know what she did! She might be completely innocent!" She turned to Watcher again, shaking slightly, either because of fear or rage. "I won't!"

"Calm yourself, Konoko." Watcher said after spending a moment to observer her, all traces of anger gone. He put his hand on her shoulder, remembering his time before donning the mask that he actually had a reason to be caring. "Droite, I believe that she has alleved my concerns." The woman opened her eyes and stood up all too easily. The ropes falling off her making it obvious that it has only looked like she was helpless.

Konoko blinked and the all-too-real tears in her eyes quickly rolled down her cheeks, but she looked utterly surprised. "But..." she wasn't even sure what to say. She could only stand there dumbfounded for a moment before turning her gaze to Watcher for another frantic time.

"You need time to settle down," Watcher says, walking out of the room. "Come back tomorrow if you can still stand me, you have a lot ahead of you."

Turning to the girl, Droite went to comfort her, leading her to one of the many couches that lay about the manor. "He says that we're his eyes around Lotus." she said, sympathy in her voice. "But thats not everything we do."

Seeing Konoko's silent look, she continued. "We keep him grounded. He's said more then once, that if we weren't around, he would have made some very bad decisions; killed people that weren't deserving. We ask questions, we do what he doesn't think of, and most importantly, we watch his back."

Konoko paused for a while, her eyes still wet. She then smiled at Watcher's associate and looked over at where the Night Caste left. She let out a relieved sigh and put the Jade of her armor to her moist forehead. "...I think I can do that, too."