Chapter 23: 23. Nightfall

I struggled awake the next morning, rudely woken by someone shouting "SKYTECH!". I pulled myself from the bed, feeling groggy and made my way down the stairs cautiously as I wobbled with each step, gaining sight of more Honour Guards standing in the living area near the sofa.

Me: "My name, is Alex, I'd be appreciative if you didn't refer to me by that previous term."

Guard: "Let's go, SKYTECH, your presence is required." He gestured me out of the room, I grumbled slightly at his complete ignorance of my request. I stepped out of the room, passing the two guards and into a crowd of Honour Guards, seriously... Twelve of them... stood in formation, six either side of the door all looking to the right.

"Into the center of our group, outsider." One the group asked, but with all their armour, I couldn't tell which. I made my way into the group, noticing Sora step beside me.

Sora: "Wow... You look like shit."

Me: "I feel like it... How long has it been? Since we arrived?" Sora looked at her bracelet and grimaced before replying,

Sora: "Erm... Nearly 18 hours."

Guard: "Start moving." I was nudged in the back, forced to follow the group in front.

Me: "18 hours?! How?! How have I been asleep for so long? Why have I been left waiting for so long as well?!"

Sor: "Day length here is 26 hours long, we arrived at about 18:00 yesterday, meaning that it was already end of the day... politicians and council members here... They're lazy, takes them a long while to get going in the morning, annoyingly."

Me: "*Sigh* I need my armour back, I feel so weak."

Guard: "NO! Proceed on! Princess Sora, please follow behind the formation." She did as she was asked, I looked over my shoulder between the guards to see Sora fall in behind the group, giving me a curt little nod before I was nudged in my back again by the Honour Guard behind me.

I was marched onward, following the six guards in front, through this hall and that, all looking similar to the last, a combination of stone and marble, decorated whith some very interesting green coloured crystallic rock. Topped with very high, equally decorative ceilings, the overall feel was reminding me very much of a church... a very large church. I could feel myself sway as my feet dragged along the floor with each step, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn't pick them up. We went up a long flight of stairs, I was almost at the top and was out of breath when I tripped over my own feet on the last step, falling on my face.

Me: "Oww..." I managed to pant out

Sora: "Alex? Are you-" She started calling from the back of the group.

Honour Guard: "Get up SkyTech!" One of them cut her off and nudged me with the base of their staff. I wheezed slightly, as I weakly pulled myself up, shaking as I did. I chose to stick to walking on all fours after that, probably would be safer for me for now, less distance to fall. Again I was marched on, every step becoming more painful than the last as I forced my body on. But finally, we came to a stop out side a pair of double doors on my right, I almost walked into the back of the guard I was following due to looking down my feet, trying to concentrate on staying upright.

Guard: "They're expecting you. Proceed when ready." One of the four guards by the door stated while they were opened. I was shoved inside, stumbling over myself and nearly falling down again.

Unknown male: "Her majesty and the council call upon the SkyTech to take to the podium." Someone called from a 'V' shaped table on the far side of the room, I grumbled again as I haphazardly made my way further into the very large but dimly lit room, towards what I presumed was the podium that was mentioned, a slightly raised platform in the center of the room, facing the inside of the 'V' shaped table and nestled between two stands of stadium style sitting, full of unknown Draconian figures looking down upon me. I took my place and partially collapsed into a sitting position.

Female voice: "SUCH DISRESPECT! You dare casually sit before the council and her majesty?!" She spat. I weakly looked up to the table. Eight council members sat, four lining each side of the 'V', partialy Illuminated by a single down light for each of them and at the end of the table sat another figure, but I was unable to make them out, due to them being shrouded in darkness.

Me: "Either I sit or collapse, your choice." I stated with more a noticeable grate to my voice now. The female that spoke before shot to a standing position. Another councillor stood on the opposite side.

"Come now..." The male's voice stated, "...let's not get irrational over something insignificant." After a few seconds the female slowly took her seat again and the male continued as he sat back down himself, "...So tell us SkyTech, from the information that Princess Sora has passed to us, we understand that you have defected and now wish to lay waste to those that created you. Is that correct?"

Me: "Yes. But please, I have a name... Alex."

Male: "But we are merely going by your word here, how can we be sure that what you say is true?" He replied, completely unresponsive to my request.

Me: "Seriously? Maybe you should ask one of your own? Skylen? He did try to..." I took a long wheezy breath, now it was getting hard for me to speak too it seemed, "... kill me."

Female: "The former Vanguard known as Skylen is marked as Absent With Out Leave and has not been heard from for some time and so is presumed dead."

Me: "Why deny it after what I just told you?"

Male: "Careful..." He warned after hearing my slightly snappy tone.

Me: "If you don't believe me why not ask Wrex then? He also has seen him recently." The council remained quiet for a few moments before a different male now spoke,

"Former Vanguard Wrex is also marked as AWOL and is also presumed dead."

Me: "Again, really? Your information is *pant* well out of date. In fact, I met... *pant* him yesterday, *pant pant* He told me he fought Skylen *pant* in World War Two, in Germany on Earth."

Female: "I am familiar with Earth's history, and to my understanding, that was approximately eight decades ago? Hardly recent enough."

I felt like I was about to fall asleep on the spot, my arms were starting to shake to keep me upright.

Sora: "I believe her! and she has witnessed Skylen reclaiming the Shard!" There was a couple of gasps caused by Sora's sudden outburst from the stands to either side of me, I didn't even see that she was stood there, in some sort of witness box I suppose, off to my left side. The figure in the shadows at the top of the table stood now,

"Daughter... Why only reveal this now rather than when we last spoke?!"

Sora: "Because I was waiting for the right moment to get the point across, there's a coming storm... war is imminent and we need to make a stand."

Male: "What we need to do, is to gather as much intelligence as we can, ascertain the credibility of such a claim before we can even consider to draw up plans and strategies before we charge aimlessly into the dark unknown. It has been the way of the Vanguard for tens of thousands of years and the fact that we are still here is testament to that way of thinking. There are procedures to adhere to. Which is why we are hoping this SkyTech here-"

Me: "Alex!" I wanted to shout it so that it echoed around the chamber, but I barely managed level slightly louder than that of normal talking, followed by coughing and wheezing.

Male: "...As I was saying, this SkyTech could provide us with the much required intel we need."

Me: "Look, I've come here because you... *pant* wanted me here, now *pant, wheeze* ...now I need your help to-"

Female: "We do not help your kind! filthy half blooded creatures you are!" the initial rowdy councilor cut me off, there were a few cheers of agreement coming from the stands. My ears started ringing, the only definite sounds I could make out was my own loud short wheezy breaths emitting from my throat that didn't have any sort of consistent pattern to them.

Another male continued off of her ramble,

"And if they're all as weak as this one appears, we have nothing to fear anyway it seems!", others spoke after but my hearing now started to become muffled to the point I couldn't understand them.

"SKYTECH!" I just about heard that muffled scream, my vision tried to focus on who from the table had shouted at me but I couldn't, I felt numb all over... this was it, I knew it.

I looked over to where Sora was standing to find her already looking at me with worry over her face.

Me: "*Wheeze* Told you so..." She went out of focus as she started running towards me but my strength holding me sitting upright failed and I fell forward off the front of the podium, landing hard on the floor...

__________

I fell in and out of consciousness after that, next thing I remembered was being carried along at speed by my shoulders, bare scaly skin carrying me on one side and cold metal armour on the other.

Sora: "COME ON! COME ON! WHICH WAY?..." I heard her scream.

_________

Sora: "Alex? ALEX?! STAY WITH ME ALEX!" She called to me again, her voice echoing away, lights dancing through the gaps between my eyelids...

_________

Sora: "Grab the case!, Come on open it!"

_________

Sora: "Alex?! ALEX!..." I received several hard taps to my face, "...COME ON I NEED YOUR HELP HERE! HOW DO I OPEN YOUR INTERFACE THING ON YOUR BACK?" I willed it open, putting in all the effort I could muster. Within seconds a weight was dropped on to my back and I felt the familiar *snick* resonate through me as it connected.

Me: "Gaahh! Nnnhhh!" Straight away the back piece came online along with the built in regulator and I was finally able to draw a long, albeit it wheezy, breath, thrashing slightly as well for a few seconds after suddenly regaining some motor control again. Enough to make Sora sit back slightly in fear while defensively holding my chest piece.

Sora: "Are you ok?..." I gave a small nod while breathing heavily, "...you really weren't joking, were you?"

Me: "Of course I wasn't bloody joking!" I wheezed again after, I spoke too much too soon.

Sora: "Sorry... How much more do you need on?"

Me: "All of it *pant* the more I have on *pant* the more of me is monitored and restored." I don't know how much of that was true, but I certainly wasn't going to take any chances.

We had two Guards watching over us, in this room, that I guess was some sort of armoury judging by the weaponry and armour in the stands. One of the guards left the room though while Sora helped me connect up each piece of armour. I did what I could but there was some bits I couldn't reach in my weak state, so I gave Sora verbal directions and she followed them without fault. The Guard returned to the room again just as we were slipping on one of my gloves.

Guard: "The queen wishes to see both you in her private study."

Sora: "No, no more meetings, we're leaving."

Guard: "Her majesty demands it." Sora sighed while looking at me, offering me the other glove,

Sora: "I've already gone against her wishes by giving you your armour back. Can you do this one last thing for me? Please? Then we'll leave I promise. If you're well enough to get up that is." I sighed as I put the other glove on.

Me: "Fine." I reached for my helmet but Sora quickly took and held on to it.

Sora: "Do you mind if I hold this for a bit? You're not meant to be armoured and I'm going to be in enough trouble as it is with my mother, even more if I allow you to walk in fully armoured."

Me: "Ok, fine." I replied begrudgingly, she did save my life after all.

Sora: "Thank you. How are you feeling now?"

Me: "Alive. Certainly nowhere near as bad as I was 10 or 15 minutes ago."

Crystal: "I estimate 6-7 days before full recovery." She stated over loudspeaker, making all us in the room jump slightly.

Me: "Whoa, didn't realise you could talk aloud without the helmet?"

Crystal: "You never asked."

You are reading story Alex – Heart Of The Vanguard at novel35.com

Sora: "Come on, I don't want to keep my mother waiting." We stepped out of the armoury and again into another large group of Honour Guards, 18 of them now.

Me: "You lot really don't trust me eh?" 

I was marched on again in the center of the group. I was glad to have the armour back, but I still felt very weak. I could actually feel the servos pushing me on, every move I made was supported and assisted, on the outside, I probably looked as though I was walking relatively normally. They certainly loved their corridors, I lost track of how many we passed through again. We went up a long flight of stairs, rounded a corner before going down yet another long hall toward a large double door at the end which was stood guard by yet another six Honour Guards. We stopped a dozen feet away and the Honour Guard that was front and center of the formation of the nine in front of me, stepped forward a couple of paces. I was surprised when I heard a female's voice emanate from this guard,

"The outsider and Princess Sora for her Majesty as requested." One of the six by the door turned to face it, touched a holographic panel and entered, closing the door behind them. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sora silently rounding the pack, stepping up front and next to the female Guard that previously spoke. Sora whispered something to her, but the Guard only answered with a subtle shake of her head. The double doors opened and the Guard reappeared.

"You may proceed inside." Again I was marched forwards and into the room. The room was also relatively large, formed by two circular rooms, divided in middle by a small set of five steps, creating a second level to the overall room which housed an empty desk in the center. Both areas of room was surrounded by shelves of delicate looking models, precious stones and crystals, even some very old looking books. From the top of the shelves to the center of each circular area were a combination of red and purple drapes. "Halt..." The guard in front of me stopped and span on the spot, I was so engrossed in looking around the room I almost walked into him. "...You will remain stationary unless otherwise directed." The Guards that had escorted me then filed around the edge of the lower room that I was stood in the center of, all except for two that is, one to stand either side of me. All of them though, once positioned, stood at attention, tapping their staffs on the floor and Sora stood a few paces forwards from me on one side of the steps in the divide between the two areas.

A Dragoness entered the higher room into view from the left hand side of the desk and towards the top center of the steps, her robes a matching red and purple to the ceiling drapes and the Honour Guard's armour. 

Guard: "Her majesty, Queen Arisu!" A nearby Guard announced and all the Guards performed some sort of a salute, a simple closed fist bump on their left chest plates with their palm and a bow of the head.

Sora: "Mother." She flatly greeted. Feeling like it was the right thing to do I gave a small bow to her.

Arisu: "Hmph... at least it shows a tad more respect than you do, daughter of mine..." I raised my head back up. "...it certainly looks more alive than earlier too... Tell me Sora, what does your definition of 'Stay away from it' mean to you? Clearly something different to what I envisioned."

Sora: "Mother... this is Alex, she's not dangerous."

Arisu: "Oh please... Sora, it's a SkyTech, they're all the same, a Human creation and as a result, a rabid animal. They're all dangerous, I'm amazed it hasn't tried to kill anyone already. There's not an ounce of her that is true Draconian, no sense of nobility, untrustworthy, and from what I've seen this morning, completely incapable of surviving without a second skin!"

Me: "I'm right here you know..." The guards either side of me snapped their staffs in front of my view, the blades sliding off of each other with a *Shing* sound, clearly a warning.

Arisu: "Oh... and there goes the respect... tell me SkyTech, what are you real intentions here? Why are you befriending my daughter? A feeble attempt to get to me? To assassinate me? Hmm?"

Me: "I came here to ask for help, Skylen has the Shard, he intends to build an army against us, what more do you need to know?" I said peering around the blades. Arisu gave a subtle wave of her hand and the two guards returned to their previous stance.

Arisu: "I want to know, how come The Shard was in your possession and where Skylen is located now."

Me: "I never had possession of it, my Human friend did, and as for his location, I don't know, which is why I am here, asking for help to find him."

Arisu: "Let's not get finicky, why was it in your friend's possession then?"

Me: "I don't know, I didn't even know she had it."

Arisu: "Well, rest assured SkyTech, we are quite well equipped for any little army you and your friends rustle up..." I cut her off, actually starting to get annoyed with her now constantly talking to me like I was dirt on the bottom of her shoe...if she wore shoes...

Me: "My NAME is ALEX! I am not SkyTech any more than anyone else in this room!" There were a few growls of presumably insulted Honour Guards.

Arisu: "How dare you! Referring us to the likes of your kind!" She spat at me, Sora stepped between us,

Sora: "Enough! This isn't getting us anywhere!..." She said looking between us. "...Alex just, chill, please?..." She said looking at me, I took a deep breath, exhaled and nodded. "...And you..." she turned back to her mother, "...She's not from around here and she has been through a lot recently, probably more than either of us can imagine, so please be nice to her."

Arisu: "You have no right to try and order me around! Look at you! , swanning off to Earth when I have forbidden it! Bringing back an outsider when I told you to stay out of it! Going against my wishes of staying away from it and even giving it's armour back! You've got too much of my sister in you! Reckless! Arrogant! Disobedient! She never listened to me or my mother either!"

Sora: "I think I can see why!" I saw the rage fill the queen's face she pointed her finger inches from Sora's face, who simply stood her ground and stared her mother down.

Arisu: "Daughter, you will be the end of me I swear..." She turned her attention to me, "...You are free to roam about the palace under the watchful eye of my Honour Guards, Sora will accompany you, only because I know she would ignore me anyway... If you so much as growl in the wrong direction, my Vanguard will have every right to kill you where you stand."

Me: "I can't stay, I need a way to find Skylen, I need to stop him, let me stop him for you."

Arisu: "You forget your place! and it's not here, the Draconians help themselves. And baring that in mind, WE will investigate Skylen's supposed activities. After which we shall draw up our conclusions before making plans and acting on them." She turned and strode away.

Me: "We don't have time for that crap! We have to find him and we have to act now! So help me or I'll do it alone!" She clicked her fingers and spun on the spot, all the Guards in the room drew their blades, including the two either side of me who stepped aside to face me, blades also pointed at me. Sora slowly stepped down the steps into sight from behind her mother, positioning my helmet in her hands, looking as though she was getting ready to throw it to me. Arisu strode down the steps to me, two guards quickly fell in either side of her, one of them speaking as they marched.

"Your majesty I would advise against-"

Arisu: "SHHH!" She hissed at him until she was inches from my face.

Arisu: "Now you listen here, 'Alex', You are corrupting her mind with this attitude of yours, threatening to ruin the peace of this world, I will not have it! She is my daughter!, and they, the people on this planet?, are my Draconians!, their lives matter to me, yours does not!" she sneered at me,

Me: "Well that makes two of us then." I sneered back, she pulled her head back and her face changed to one of being slightly shocked, clearly not expecting that answer and gave an almost respectful huff back. She turned away and walked up the steps back to past Sora and the guards all relaxed their weapons.

Arisu: "Don't disappoint me!..." She pointed her finger at Sora again as she strode past her "...Now get out of my sight, both of you!" Sora just smiled and tossed me my helmet but I kept hold of it in my hands until we left the room, the Honour Guards opening the doors for us allowing us exit.

Many of the guards that escorted me in earlier, filed out at the same time, we waited just outside the doors as they passed, most eye balling me as they went. Once they were a way ahead down the corridor, giving them a head start, we proceeded off ourselves.

Sora: "Nice." she said smiling, once we were out of earshot of the Honour Guards that were stationed at the doors of the queens study, I turned to look at her confused.

Me: "What is?" As I clipped my helmet on and opened the faceplates.

Sora: "No one but me has ever stood up to her, until you did just now... and she hates it."

Me: "Oh, I see." I smiled.

Crystal: "I hate her." she announced aloud.

Me: "Crystal, I thought being an AI you don't have emotions, like for example, 'Hate'?"

Crystal: "That is correct."

Me: "But yet, you just used it?"

Crystal: "No I didn't." I stopped, looking into space, getting rather confused, Sora looking equally confused at me.

Me: "Crystal, you just said the words, 'I hate her'... Are you alright?"

Crystal: "I have no record of that in my transcript. As previously stated, I am operating at 100% capacity. However some of my protocols and memory files are corrupted."

Me: "Can you repair them?"

Crystal: "I can try, but it may require outside attention from someone that knows my systems."

Me: "Let me guess... Sarah?"

Crystal: "Correct."

Sora: "If she survived..."

Me: "Exactly... Crystal, do what you can ok. Sora, what's next?" I asked, as we continued on and rounded a corner, pretty much straight into a waiting Honour Guard.

Guard: "Come with me." The female said.

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We had followed the Honour Guard through many more halls. I was getting to the point that I wasn't sure if I had passed through any of them before or not, this place was a maze and I was starting to wonder if it was intentional to confuse any potential enemies. I kept looking to Sora, hoping she would say something, explain who this was or where we were going, but she never did, just remained quiet. We went down several flights of stairs before arriving in a corridor that wasn't as decorative as the others, had a pretty much normal height ceiling and contained many more doors. One of which the Guard walked up to, placed her right gauntlet on the door. It clicked opened and she stepped aside, gesturing us in. Sora stepped in without hesitation so I promptly followed before the Honour Guard stepped inside herself, closing the door behind her. I scanned around the living area of what appeared to be another living quarters, an apartment essentially, but a very nice one at that. Sora had already made herself comfy on the sofa and the Honour Guard stepped past me, removing her helmet as she went. She was pretty, you know, by Draconian standards anyway, hard to imagine someone that pretty under all that extravagant yet threatening and concealing armour. She walked off down a corridor out of sight without saying a word. I turned to Sora, who was swiping through something on a hologram created by her bracelet.

Me: "Do you normally just make yourself comfy in some stranger's home when they invite you in?"

Sora: "What? Oh, that's no stranger, she's a good friend of mine. She was regularly posted near my room when I was younger, she use to come in and tell me all her old war stories."

Me: "And 'She' is...?"

Sora: "Oh sorry, her name's Star Light." She stated, still engrossed in her hologram. My eyes widened in fear,

Me: "THAT'S STAR...!.." I Had to hush myself, I tried again in a strained whisper, "... That's Star Light? THEE Star Light?!" Sora turned to me, her eyes widened in realisation as to why I was panicked.

Sora: "Oh yeah! Yeah... Erm, that same one! Oh by the gods, this will be so awkward for you!"

Me: "Not a fucking word!" I sneered at her.

Sora: "What's in it for me?..." She smiled menacingly, my mouth dropped, unable to think of something to tempt her with, "... don't worry, my lips are sealed, but you owe me." She winked and fell back to concentrating on her holographic display, smiling away. Star Light reentered the room, armour now removed, before I could say another word to Sora.

Star Light: "Hey sis."

Sora: "Hey sister from another mister."

Star Light: "Err... What?"

Sora: "It's a current Earth phrase, do you get it?"

Star Light: "Yeah I get it, just not heard of it before. So... you going to properly introduce us?" She gestured towards me.

Sora: "Oh yeah, Start Light - Alex, Alex - Star Light." She gesturererd lazily with her left hand as she carried on reading. Star Light turned to me made the same salute I saw the guards make earlier, a closed fist with her right hand and bumped the palm on the left side of her chest with a curt little nod. I returned the gesture, Star Light gave the slightest look of approval before sitting next to Sora on the Sofa.

Me: "Soo... You don't dislike me then?"

Star Light: "I only dislike people who try to kill me, and as you have yet to try then I have no need to dislike you... Sit down already, you're making the place look untidy." She gestured to the sofa opposite her.

(-Martin O'Donnell)

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