Notary

THE gasp his mouth almost produced when he found the Marshal in front of him and the simultaneous backhand that felt like he had been hit by a sledgehammer almost caused him to lose consciousness. If he however did that, he knew for a fact he would be fed to the Wendigos as a meal. He crawled himself up, his back aching and so was his jaw. He spat out blood and three pieces of teeth came undone with it.

"You have the gall to ask me a question?" The woman was crouching by his side now in the blink of an eye. Helios caught the mid riff of her chest as the gown she wore did no job in covering her up. If this was a normal day, he would have taken liberty to enjoy the sights but currently his heart was racing faster than the wind.

If Helios knew anything about the woman, it was the simple fact that she hated weakness and people who gave up. She was a conqueror by physiology and by birthright. She was born from one of the four families that had a person in the council of the God King himself. Even Helios' royal blood wasn't as pure as hers and it was signified by the whiteness of her hair.

"I only wanted to ask what happened to my crew," he managed to say at last, coughing up blood as he wheezed.

The woman took hold of him by his neck, lifting him up with sheer strength and then smiled as he trashed against the suffocating choke of her grip. "I am not your servant, Helios? Nor am I your friend, I am your superior and with each statement you make from this very minute, you put the necessary honorifics in front or I swear on the seven sigils I will choke the life out of you," she threatened with a voice that would have been lovely to the ears if Helios wasn't about to be dead right now.

She released him, and he dropped on the ground like a mass of flesh. "Yes, high lady!" He answered immediately. "I thank you for gracing this rare opportunity to speak with you," he said, gritting his teeth and folding a fist. Not once in his seven years of service has he ever faced such disgrace. He was more than a future prospect amongst his peers but it was always obvious that if Marshal ever got promoted, he would be the one to take over.

"Now tell me," the woman said, and she was back on her chair getting caressed again. "How did you manage to destroy the Silent Sorrows and wipe out every single human being on your ship and multiple Cryptids? Only four of you were alive when we arrived," she said, seating up.

Helios sighed, opening his mouth to speak but she stopped him. "Before you say a word. I want you to think about it very well,", she warned and then ushered a glance at the boys that were servicing her and she didn't need to tell them twice before they all disappeared from sight. "It better be good, Helios. It better be really good. I have been receiving telegraphs from multiple governors and those greedy bastards all day, telling me how to do my fuckin' job!" She nodded at him. "They suggested I get rid of you, you know! Bury you down in the waters of the Eldertide along with the rest of your crew. So when you want to speak, I beg you, give me an explanation that will satisfy me."

"I want you to explain how a Narvach loses his ship and entire crew in the span of a day!" She said with a piercing gaze. Multiple cutleries started to float around her in the room, all of them glowing a purple hue. Helios glanced around the entire gray themed room and could ascertain now without any doubt that if he said three wrong words, he was out.

However, not even the Marshal would be ready to hear his answer. "It was Godblast!" He said and all the cutleries dropped simultaneously and the woman got up.

"Who?" She replied in the tiniest of her voices.

"Godblast. First captain of the Irontides!" Helios replied.

"Tell me everything," she said, her face frowning. "Notary!" She yelled and two robotlike people walked into the room. "Record every single thing he says," the woman said.

The Notaries were an important part of the Marines and it was due to the genius of the god king that they ever found use for them. Notaries, before they were what they are now were children born out of a brain defect from the overdose of Cryptological potions. Although they lacked very little social thinking capacities, they were perfect at calculations, writing and even painting. It was like a part of their brain locked up and significantly improved the others. A

The worst of Notaries could calculate time up to a millisecond and at their best they can calculate things at a rate that no one can ever process.

He began to narrate every single thing that happened and when he was done the Notaries stopped. "Give that to Hevah to edit and tell him to put it on my desk in two hours," she said.

"Yes lady Irene," the Notaries answered together and simply headed out. They were the only ones permitted to say the Marshal's name. Even though Helios knew it in full, as they'd grown up together as kids, he dared not speak it.

"So you had a man under your nose with four Cryptids for an entire year and you didn't know he was important?" The Marshal groaned. "Guards," she called. "Lock him up in a cell," she shook her head. "When I am done I will get back to him. Make sure he is fed and clothed, I need to clear my head," she sighed.

As they dragged Helios away, he heard her begin to mutter. "I just had to deal with an entire army of Shades and now I am supposed to babysit an annoying bastard. Godblast! Fuck!" She groaned, kicking something so hard it broke. Helio followed the guards silently as he heard a whisper in his head.

"Hello, Charlemagne, oh mighty and powerful," the voice said behind him, snakelike and ancient. He knew he'd heard the voice before but he couldn't necessarily figure out where. "Going to spend the night in a cell are we? Oh such a pity." The voice mocked clicking its tongue.

Helios didn't reply, he knew no one else could hear the voice apart from him and he wasn't going to look like a crazy person by replying to it.