Above the law

Weeks had passed since the global event dubbed 'The Black Cataclysm'. Ethan tried to recover the damage by creating alliances with the duchies and counties in the region so that they could help each other.

The day of the world conference had arrived. The day when all the members of the High Court would unite to judge the main culprit of all that chaos...

Alexander Cosmogen and Christopher Zivot, two of the five greatest geniuses of the Great Five Orders...

"So you just decided to put the heads of these two as the reason for the chaos?" Ethan asked incredulously.

In the Romerian capital, the city of Athenian, in the northern state of Zethian, the most influential people in the world have come together... The Titans. The most select group that all nations could have; strength, power, influence in all realms...

They were practically the gods who dictated the rules. Men above the law itself...

"Not us, the government. The World Order decided that..." said Lincoln Durham, the current leader of the Titans. Being the most robust and oldest of the Titans, however, he showed his silver eyes confused and hopeless.

"And since when does the government have power over you? Use force."

"Don't be angry, Grand Master..." begged Javier, a young man with silky hair.

"What do you mean? Lincoln, what happened to we are the power above justice?"

Lincoln swallowed... With a simple gesture of looking away, he had given away that he was as confused as the legal decision.

Disgusted and unable to believe Lincoln's reaction, the Duke rose from his chair and commented:

"You've become a pacifist... The greatest warrior in history... Becoming a pacifist."

"Oops, calm down. You abandoned the Titans to live the life of a mayor," Sergei Ivanov retorted.

A fervent look escaped Ethan's pupil, along with absolute judgment. Sergei was analyzed from head to toe in a second.

"I didn't know you were hiring court jesters for this job..."

Compared to everyone else in the room, Sergei hardly had an aura.

"Ethan..." said Lincoln, "Do you know anything? Your rebellion isn't like you."

"Luanne," Ethan called out, looking at a woman at the corner of the table.

Quickly, a tall woman with black hair and eyes stood up carrying a box covered with a cloth.

With her hands protected by specific gloves, she removed the white cloth and revealed a reinforced glass box; so thick that it was cloudy. However, what was inside the box was identifiable: an energy core with a black hue.

However, there was no black energy core...

"This is a corrupted core," said Luanne Darkmoon. "We took it from one of Loureto's machines. The black substance, this mist that conjures up small discharges of energy... We think it's the reason for the mechanical failures."

"And why is that?" Sergei asked. "Is it so difficult to admit that there was a fault in the programming of the machines?"

"A hundred percent chance of failure?" Remember, it wasn't a few\... It was all the machines. We were evolving technologically; cars, harvesting and planting machines, communications equipment... Everything that used some part of the core resulted in this catastrophe."

Shrugging and without further argument, Sergei just wanted to counter.

"Maybe you haven't mastered the cores as well as you thought."

Again, Ethan gave him a sharp look.

"Lincoln, you know what to do with this information," said Ethan, turning his back on the other Titans.

"Are you going?"

As Ethan and Luanne left the room, they stopped and looked at Lincoln with friendly eyes.

"Yes. We need to sort something out in Loureto."

The automatic door closed, isolating the Titans from the rest of the world. Joshua Betzen, known as the Titan of Knowledge, stood up, distressed by Sergei's attitude.

"Are you crazy? Treating Ethan Caesar like that?!" said Joshua.

"What about it?" Sergei replied.

"Are you ready to die?" Caleb Van Vouir asked. "Do you want to declare war on him?"

Sergei laughed.

"I'm not afraid of a single man."

Avoiding embarrassing the new Titan, all the Titans held back their laughter. They couldn't diminish any member, but Sergei's lack of sense was conflicting with the group's ideals.

"He was the strongest Titan," said Lincoln.

"And why did he leave?"

"Ethan doesn't depend on us... Being as strong as any of us, even more so, having the support of the Romerian Emperor and Colonel Leon, he doesn't depend on us for anything."

"Remember, you've just slapped the Emperor's favorite nephew in the face. Also, the son of Colonel Leon, Emperor Caesar's brother and right-hand man. Are you ready for this?"

"Are you ready to die and be denied even hell?" because that's exactly what it means to pick a fight with that family.

☽✪☾

Leaving the Eternal Palace, where the Governor of Zethian lives, Ethan descended the stairs alongside Luanne. Leaving the majestic corridors, Darkmoon couldn't help asking about Theo.

After all, Luanne was Theo's godmother.

"He's fine," replied Ethan, "traumatized... but fine. He was recently discharged, and he's talking normally, but he's a bit down, you know? He has a few broken bones, but Camille is trying to take care of him."

"I still don't understand how that man can react so calmly to all this..." a confused voice said in Luanne's mind.

"He's... traumatized, too," Luanne replied.

"Well... then, it's time for the godmother to see you!" Luanne said, folding her hands behind her back and taking clumsy steps up the stairs.

"Eh..." Ethan looked at her with a puzzled face. "You decided this at the last minute?"

"No. I'd wanted to see him for a long time. But the work in the Cult of Alunne wasn't letting me breathe... Besides, the annual championships of the Five Great Orders were taking everything out of me."

"Are they still spending money on these events?"

"Yes. Isn't Edward going to take part?"

Ethan nodded no, shaking his face with a certain fear.

"Ed is a human, not a deviant. He won't be able to join the ranks any time soon..."

"Uh-huh... But since when have you been in Athenian?"

"Um... A couple of weeks ago. Theo had to be transferred here, and so did I... We stayed at Elijah's."

"Why didn't you tell me? I'd come quickly, you know that. You wouldn't have to submit to your obnoxious brother..."

He sighed and held out his arms.

"Yeah, but it was good. Sthefanny taught Theo math and languages, and he was helping Chloe, Elijah's daughter, understand physics and chemistry."

"Good at physics and chemistry, but bad at math?" Luanne joked.

"I'm surprised that a five-year-old child can understand these two areas of science so well."

Luanne agreed in absolute silence. They walked completely down the path, without another word being spoken. They both kept their thoughts to themselves, although they were completely similar: they cared deeply about Theo.

When they reached the sidewalk, they were approached by a soldier who was a card-carrying fan of Ethan...

"Sir Ethan!" shouted Moris Ziziel.

Startled by a scream, but pulled out of his suffocating thoughts, Ethan smiled at the sight of the young man.

"Moris!"

"The demon boy?" Luanne joked, although she was genuinely calling him that.

Eight years ago, when Ethan was still nineteen and just a candidate for Grand Master of Vagus, Moris Ziziel appeared; a boy with no fighting spirit, no desire to hurt anyone...

But with a talent so raw and latent that he was compared to the youngest of the Titans: Javier.

'No wonder...' The voice spoke to Luanne again. 'Your presence itself is overwhelming... Like the true sin of Wrath.'

'Yes...'

"Are you staying a few more days in Athenian?" The sparkle in Moris' eyes looked like stars when he spoke to Ethan.

"No..." I said, afraid of hurting Moris "I have to go back to Loureto with Theo. But I'll be back soon."

"In how many years?" Moris said in a hesitant voice. Last time, you didn't talk to your idol for seven years...

"Hmm... Six months, who knows?"

"Promise!" Moris woke up happily. Six months was better than a year (equivalent to fifteen months in this world).

Ethan held out his hand.

"I promise, because of my bond with the Phoenix."

Moris shook the Duke's hand.

"I have faith. Embrace the Young Master for me!"

"See you later, Moris!" Ethan said goodbye with his back turned.

"Are we going to pick up Theo?" Luanne asked, hiding her arms in the long, wide pockets of her white coat.

Ethan nodded yes, but they wouldn't be leaving for Loureto until the next morning. It was already dusk, so Ethan didn't want to risk crossing a continent at night.

Before the moon could bathe that day, a white owl tore through eternity, accompanying Luanne from the top of creation.