Pleading

POV: General Aurelian

"But Emperor, please reconsider—"

"Silence."

Zhang's voice was enhanced with his nexus energy, of which is in no comparison to my own of course, how silly of me to even think about that.

"The decision is final, and the competition will bear fruit. This is in hopes to improve our mentality in these dire times," The Emperor spoke, shooting up from his chair which created a slightly rumble in the room.

"But Emperor, we already serve you. What mentality says otherwise?" I asked.

He didn't answer.

"If there's a traitor, I'll be sure to—"

While not answering once more, the force he gave off was clear enough. He wanted me to shut my mouth, of which I did.

"It's not about loyalty, Aurelian. It's much more than that."

My confusion seemed to have shown quite clearly, as my helmet had been taken off. My green hair glistened from the blood moon shining through the windows, which was evident from the mirrors on both sides.

Zhang stood beneath the shadows, the only signal of his presence being his tremendous energy that was constantly being released.

"Tensions are high, and everybody is trying to make that last push for the throne. Even our own occupied land that has been ours for decades is being threatened," he spoke calmly, a direct contrast to the situation that he's describing.

"T-Then we will show them," I stuttered. "That they cannot play games with us."

Zhang lifted himself up, standing proud.

"This is why you are my general, Aurelian. I need you out in the field. Show them, show them all. Show them who will be their true ruler," he finished.

I gave him a proud salute, signaling my understanding before turning away.

Grabbing my helmet, I make it back to the door and slowly creak it open, giving one last look back to Zhang, who was now no longer there.

He was truly a frightening warrior himself, and that's why I served him.

***

POV: Recruit 79

I stood before the mirror once more, just as before. We had walked back in silence, not daring to utter a word.

For no true reason, but it felt right.

The silence was comforting after all, which was needed at times.

I look up, giving a closer inspection of myself in the mirror. My eyes were a dry brown, signaling the lack of power. Combined with my dirt messy black hair that seemingly dripped with seat from the treacherously hot armor, I was a total mess.

Giving another look over at my armor, I let out a sigh. It was a massive disappointment. I bore no weapons or cloak of any kind, just a shabby basic recruit armor with standard issue gauntlets, the bare minimum these days.

Even with the few I had, I was still proud to be where I was. All I've known was here, and that was all I needed to know.

Thinking back to 24's questions, I was slightly irritated still at the afterthought.

Why would he ask such stupid questions?

I brush off some of the accumulated dirt that stuck to my shirt before taking a seat down on my wooden bed, which was just as hard as ever of course.

Looking around my body, I continued tending to different areas, especially some of the lower limbs of which got brutally beat by the fellow recruits earlier. Because of how frequent these became, my general physique became unfavorable.

I was on the verge of malnourishment, as I wasn't exactly beneficial enough to the future Emperor to deserve a good meal.

Combined with my lack of physical strength, I couldn't defend myself.

It was okay though.

The sounds of jumbled footsteps mauled my ears, shifting my focus back to the present, and what's around me.

I quickly rushed to throw on my armor, not caring about the little details that made it more presentable to others. The sharp pains that I endured while putting it on was belittled by my sense of urgency.

Rushing to my door and swinging it open, I was able to catch one of the recruits going by. I didn't recognize his tag by his armor or anything, but it didn't matter.

"What's going on around here? Is there an emergency summons?" I asked.

The recruit shook himself, attempting to rid free of my uselessly tight grip on his shoulder.

He took a step forward, but looked back over at me. "No. Apparently a traitor was found within our own base. He met his miserable end swiftly, of course, but his body is hanging out in the yard. Everybody's trying to see who it is."

"Do you know?" I asked.

"Where do you think I'm going?" He snapped, annoyed.

How silly of me to ask. Before I could apologize, he bolted off with the rest. I was a bit interested as to who, but I'm not sure if I want to go out and see another dead body today.

'Ah, fuck it,' I thought to myself.

Racing out with the end of the crowd, I followed them through the halls and into the yard in a matter of just a few seconds, thankful to have my quarters so close.

I could see the giant totem of which the body rested, however I couldn't get a good perspective on who it was just yet, I needed to get closer.

My curiosity got the better of me waiting for the situation to die down, so I began trying to shuffle my way through the tight crowds of people that continued to hoard around the totem, almost as if they wouldn't stop coming.

There were easily thousands at just this base alone, and it seems like they've all come out of hiding just to see.

"Hey watch it!"

"—the hell was that for?"

A few stragglers got irritated by my pushing, but we were all going to see it anyway, I just couldn't be patient for any longer than a few minutes.

Finally, I made it to the totem. It was still a bit unclear as a few taller people stood before me though.

However, they began to clear up, and my jaw dropped inside my mask at the sight of who this 'traitor' actually was.

The man's skin was pale, almost just pure white. His clothes where shabby, which clearly indicated he was a recruit before I even saw his face, dressed just like me. Pieces of his armor was hanging down on the floor just beneath, some pieces missing. They were probably taken for scrap by a few of the others around here.

But as I saw the face, I knew who it was immediately.

It was recruit 24.

But why was he hanging here?

He had been serving for a lot longer than me, and was even the one who taught me more about the basic etiquette and how to properly show my loyalty to Zhang.

While I found him annoying most times, I had considered him my friend.

I gave a quick shove with my shoulder to the guy next to me, making him aware of my presence here. "Hey, do you know what this guy did?"

"No idea," he replied.

A guy next to me overheard our conversation and spoke up.

"I heard he tried to assassinate the general!"

"That's not true," a third voice cut in from behind. "Nothing's been confirmed, and he was probably just spouting blasphemy."

That much was probably true. Usually for the more serious offenders, they'd torture them for a while before having a public audience for their execution. Rushed kills like this usually meant they didn't do enough to give them the time of day.

Still though, it confused me as to why he would do such a thing at all.

"What a pity," I mumbled.

I began taking a few steps back, letting others overtake my previous spot as chatter continue to light up the yard around us.

'I guess you really never know a guy,' I told myself.

The whole situation definitely made me sick a bit. Not so much the blood, as I was used to that. Shedding blood of those who don't see the future was apart of who I was, and my mission. Recruits usually don't get sent to battles. It was moreover the idea of a traitor. I could never understand their reasoning.

Everybody has their own beliefs, even if they just aren't right. I get that much. But why go out of your way to express such interests if you know the fate that follows those decisions?

Walking back to my quarters, I decided to stop thinking about it that much.

"I guess I won't be getting drinks with him anymore," I spoke to myself, but not in my head this time. I was trapping too much of myself within.