The Heart of Gaia

==

It had been weeks after the operation at Everglow. I lay on my bed with bandages that wrapped around my hands.

*Creak...*

I rose from my bunk as I heard the sound of the door creaking open.

"So how are you doing?"

I turned towards that husky voice, it's lively but strong Corr residing within it's silhouette was from a long time companion.

"Doing fine Bardel." I answered.

"That's good."

I've been in bed rest since the day I woke up.

"How are your arms?" he added.

"Still healing..."

This was the result of my stupidity... I looked at it with remorse but without regret, as the actions I'd made I've deemed to be righteous.

"It's going to get better." I continued.

"I know it will..." He said encouragingly.

"The Alchemist says that it'll come with a few side effects. Thankfully I'm still alive."

Pip Thalwar, a medical specialist within our rankings had been apart of the previous operation. If not for him, I'd be dead. I'm grateful towards him.

"But that's not the reason why you're here now, is it?"

"Still sharp as ever." He chuckled.

He was a very practical man but a kind one, At the end of my sentence his very Corr had wavered that slightly hinted troublesome news.

With a quick motion of his hand, two more people came into the room. Bardel had sat down beside my bed while the two stood beside him.

"Madame!"

The two said in sync while saluting towards me.

"What are you two doing here?"

"A brief report..." Bardel intervened.

"Ah."

I nodded.

"Continue, please." I added politely.

"Well, Where do we start?" Yela said nervously.

"Our losses." Bardel said sternly.

"Alright..."

"At least sixty percent of our troops had been lost in the operation, some weren't retrievable due to disintegration." Yela reported.

Our losses were at an alarming size, the thought of courageous men lost due to an unprecedented situation was my mistake.

I bit my lip in frustration, if only we prepared much better then this wouldn't had happen. I need to fulfill a certain individual's promise.

I'll see to it that his family knows what happened.

"The remaining are either wounded or injured from the operation, they're now properly resting." She continued.

"We've regained some of the numbers back due to volunteers from the recently freed slaves." Added Bardel.

Losing some of our numbers were quite troublesome as recruiting more was unlikely, usually we accepted volunteers from the masses that increased our man-power. Never have we forced people to join since they lacked the mental strength and emotional motivation that volunteers had.

Each of them had experiences that kept them going and that's what we take advantage of.

"From the hundreds that came out of the Black Market, I could say maybe around seventy men had joined."

"Not that much but it's still well appreciated." Followed Hackmann.

"So what of the secondary objective? Has she been found?" I asked them.

"No-"

"Yes!"

Yela had been blocked off by Hackmann.

"What do you mean?!" Yela exclaimed.

"Exactly what I said."

"I found her by accident, while exploring the deep confines of that place."

"That place?" I answered with curiosity.

"The laboratory Cordelia, we found it." Bardel answered.

That dreadful place, hopefully they found answers within it.

"It's deep underground the City, Although we didn't had the luxury to excavate it more for answers." He continued.

"Who knew there were ruins below the City itself." Hackmann added.

There was some sort of third-party involved in the keeping of the princess, I wonder who they are. They even went to such lengths of hiding her in such a area.

"The whole place was crawling with unimaginable creatures."

"It was dangerous but thanks to a certain recruit we found her."

Only one recruit came into mind.

"Knoxx? I thought he had been returned to the Fortress?"

"Care to explain Hackmann?" Bardel motioned towards him.

*Sigh*

"He slipped our grasp during the process but thanks to his foolishness we found the Laboratory."

That hard-headed boy needs a lesson, he did idiotic decisions that could have costed his life.

"Is he safe at least?"

"Uhh..."

"Locked up Cordelia."

Bardel answered quite sternly.

"That new recruit of yours had committed insubordination and disruption of operation, not to mention destroyed almost all of the city!"

I could sense the disappointment and anger in his voice as he lashed out because of the scenario. As I tried to process on how Knoxx could do such a thing.

"I see..."

"Regarding to that situation you'll be talking to Commander Rhys."

"I'll be taking full responsibility."

"Care to explain who and what that child is?" He added.

"Yeah! he wrecked havoc throughout the city! Apparently from what Hackmann said, the recruit was that bright entity in the sky!" Yela exclaimed.

"You'll all know soon enough."

They mustn't know yet, it'll be a closely guarded secret between the authority from the organization. That would also explain the disintegration part from what she said earlier.

His powers must've manifested in some way, I'll find out more from Knoxx himself later. His powers is something of ancient history the moment I saw that light; It was overwhelming.

"Alright." Bardel remarked.

"Madame! I'll be taking my leave, someone has to handle the paperwork. I'm glad you're safe."

"Thank you Yela, you're excused."

As she left the room, we continued to discuss.

"Madame! with all due respect, thanks to your recruit Sir had lost an eye!"

"Don't blame the child and Cordelia, we work out in the field knowing fully well of the consequences that come with it."

"B-But sir?!"

"I'll hear none of it!" He ordered.

I could still hear his lightly murmurs of discontent.

"Ahem..."

"So, who would be strong enough to make you lose an eye Bardel?"

"A monster--"

"Thankfully we had captured it, thanks to Yela but we managed to let the Doctor behind the experiments escape."

Too bad they've let that damned man escape, we could've ended his reign of terror.

"If only I was there!" Exclaimed Hackmann.

An involved third-party was right but what is their motive? Could it be that the Cyneweard empire was directly involved?

"Have we sent scouts back to the Laboratory?"

"No, the chances of risking more men were high."

It's true, who knows what or who is lurking within that place. A dark place like the Black Market only brought more danger since that place was crawling with illegal operations. Who knows what could happen.

Hackmann was still present, his constant murmurs had long gone but I could sense that something was still bothering him.

"What's wrong Hackmann?" I questioned.

"There seems to be something in your mind, ever since we came back from the operation." Bardel followed.

"It's just there was someone odd while I was confronting Knoxx."

"Odd? How so?" I asked.

"There was this unbelievably strong man."

"Strong?!" Bardel was certainly stupefied.

"Stronger than you Sir, No disrespect but I think he was the strongest within the city."

Stronger than Bardel was hard to imagine, as he may be the most experienced man in terms of raw physicality. Although another person came to mind...

"He claimed to be known by many men inside our ranks, but mostly he said the Madame and you Sir! along with the Commander."

"Who was he?" We both questioned.

"Hector Abbot..."

"Who is he?" Bardel was completely dumbfounded.

"So, he was alive after all..."

Bardel stared at me with a face that screamed help.

"Leonovich Sokolov."

"WHAT!?"

His dumb expression had changed into a mixture of shock, awe and realization.

"An alias? When did he? where has he been all this years?! A-and how?! how did you know?!"

He continued to chatter on to himself as he couldn't believe that The Leonovich Sokolov himself was still alive.

"Can't believe the legend himself is still alive..."

"That might be an overstatement sir." Hackmann answered anxiously.

"Why? did something happened?"

"H-He died..."

The Titan himself had died? how? I couldn't imagine him dying, especially in a battle. Well, maybe his age had finally caught up to him, in his prime he would had defeated that Bailliff before single-handed at that with no sweat at all.

"How did it happen?" Bardel hastily asked.

"I helped him towards Knoxx, whom he claimed his son and right at the last moment..."

He developed an attachment towards that troublesome child, probably too much that Knoxx became intoxicatedly dependent. That would explain his unyielding inclination towards his father.

"And?!"

"I couldn't clearly see but a large beam of light pierced through him as Knoxx slowly lowered to the ground along with his father--"

"The Jewel of the City absorbed that dangerous beam like it was nothing, T-then it radiated brightly; after that I found them laying on the ground."

"Then his body should still be there?"

"No, When we retrieved knoxx his body wasn't there anymore."

That shouldn't be possible, no manner what form of magic was it. Maybe it was something else, unexplainable. Anyways we should inform Rhys about what happened. There could still be a possibility of him being alive but with wounds like that he's most probably dead.

I stared at Bardel, He nodded in response. It looks like we're in agreement.

"Mind telling your right-hand all about it?"

"Alright..."

"He was the champion of King Cyneweard at the time,."

"Known as the Titan of Cyneweard, also the strongest Knight in the region and was my Mentor." He continued.

"What?! T-then what about you Madame?" He said quite shocked.

"I was rising the ranks at the time, but I admired him, he was a fearless leader."

"S-So? Commander Rhys was from the Kingdom of Cyneweard too?!"

We we're silent, it's too early for him to know...

Bardel took a glance at me, he had this serious look on his face.

I shook my head, since it wasn't the time for them to know yet.

*Sigh*

He nodded in agreement but with a bit of restraint.

"I'll tell you all about it when the time comes Hackmann."

"Yes Sir!"

"Anymore questions?" Bardel questioned.

"No more Sir, I'll be taking my leave then."

As he excused himself out of my room we continued our conversation.

"Now, Back to the task at hand."

"Yes, where were we?"

"I was about to tell you about what had happened to me and my squadron."

"Continue." Bardel said.

"My squad was ambushed by one of the Bailliff's from the Kingdom."

"But why? and what did it look like?"

"I don't know why but it looks like she knew of our plan, She's a slender and beautiful woman with dark hair in black."

"A woman eh?"

"Yes, why? have you seen this woman before?"

"No, but Hackmann spoke of a similar woman from his report."

Intriguing, the bailiff could be involved with the Doctor or maybe even deeper. Whatever the reason was, we still needed to find a way to find that rat running around the Liberators.

With it on the lose, we couldn't exactly enact any plans at the moment. We'll only risk another failure that would end a lot of lives.

"I need to get more details from him later..."

"You're free to do so."

"Anyways, The South regional Liberators is turning into shambles because of what happened."

"That's why Rhys is coming, he wants to sort the situation happening here."

"I speculate that he'll be staying here then?"

"Most likely..."

*Sigh*

"Why what's wrong?"

"He's gonna be a real pain in the ass once he gets here."

"I know..."

Commander Rhys was the type to be mischievous and playful, it was really hard to read him.

"Anyways, We'll be speaking with the other members at a later date. We'll hold another meeting."

"Best it to be sooner, since we have to conclude our plans as fast as possible."

"B-But shouldn't it be held further? You're under strict orders to rest."

"I'm not that feeble Bardel, Don't worry too much."

As our conversation ended, he bid farewell as I was left to my own thoughts.