~20 YEARS AGO Before Cauchemar earned its name ~
A man frantically races through the halls of the Castle. He bursts through the royal doors and drops to his knees in front of a throne.
Catching his breath the man in distress yells out, "YOUR HIGHNESS! Another lieutenant has fallen! It was Bernard Sullivan again! Ever since he joined with Elias it's as if he's 3 steps ahead of us! It should be about 2 weeks until they get here! We need to act quickly and run! They've turned into an amazing unit of combat and strategy. We had no chance of defeating them!..."
The man is silent as he waits for the reply for the one intended to hear the message. His knees and face are to the ground, he catches his breathe as sweat drips from his forehead to the floor. He hears a feminine voice that commands him to his feet. The voice is sweet, almost sultry but very commanding and sure of what she wants. The man processes and listens to all of this with a few words. They were, "On your feet soldier."
Nervously he stands tall. Emerald colored green eyes stare at the panicked man with a fierce piercing glare. He is now face to face with the royal woman he intended to deliver the message to. She asks the messenger a question. It was, "Did Sullivan see you run to deliver this message to me?"
Shocked the messenger stammers over his words, "I um y..y..yes! They let me live to deliver this message."
The messenger sees the royal's eye twitch and a quick look of disgust is seen on her face. Then all of the sudden the messenger tries to speak but cannot properly form a sentence. His head has been hacked off with such speed and accuracy the messenger never felt it. The woman drew a blade with such quickness no one in the room saw it. His head plops to the floor.
She commands a guard who's in the room to, "clean this mess up."
The guard yells, "Yes Empress Adira!" the guard and surrounding soldiers gather to pick the deceased messenger up away from the empress's view. An elderly figure stands beside the empress and asks her, "Your majesty did you have to kill that man?" She replies, "Of course Master Sigmond. He showed cowardice toward my enemy and to my troops. There's no room for that here. Plus he's got sweat and blood all over my floor. The fool is not only a coward. He lacks manners as well."
Sigmond: Well one could say that is a legit reason to chop someone's head off. There's still the message he delivered. What do we do about Sullivan gaining on our trail?
Adira: Simple, we let him come Master Sigmond.
Sigmond lets a devilish grin out while empress Adira heads out to prepare for her inevitable meeting with Bernard Sullivan and his crew.
As the Empress walks away a small window is seen on the walls behind the throne. A pair of young eyes look on as the empress and her master walk away.
The eyes look away and are revealed to be Yafeu, the current day "Machine King."
"He was kept prisoner by the empress to train as not one of her future lieutenants but as her future secret weapon."
Bast is revealed to be telling the story of Yafeu and Cauchemar's past. We are now in the present.
The whole crew but Sarah and Richard are shackled in the throne room. This time a table is placed in the center with our crew sitting listening to Bast tell this tale.
Sarah looks to her brother's general and asks, "How'd this place end up like this? How'd my brother end up like this?"
Before Bast answers the throne room doors open and Yafeu walks in. He sits on the throne and says.
"You want to know how I became King? I'll tell you how this came to be as long as you tell me what you're doing here. Just one thing. Don't lie to me sister."
The machine King points his mechanical arm towards Supremeo and Maxwell who are both heavily shackled. His hand then changes to a cannon. The machine King ignites the cannon.
Supremeo stares down the potential blast fearlessly. While the King looks at him in his eyes.
Sarah: Yafeu stop! I'll tell you everything!
The machine King lowers his weapon.
Yafeu: well then sister, talk!
Sarah: We didn't come here for any trouble. We were looking for someone who killed a friend of ours.
Yafeu: Elias right?
Sarah: Yes. This person could potentially harm millions Yafeu. We have to find him!
Yafeu: Julius and Amaro have been providing the residents of this land with food, medicine, tech, and repairs. Why would I betray them to help the people that banished us here sister...
Sarah: Yafeu, you weren't banished. You were taken from us. I was looking for you! Victor took me in because of how talented I was at hand-to-hand combat and handling advanced weaponry. Our family's bloodline was important when it came to combat. He believed I could help in finding you to help give our family peace.
Yafeu stares at his sister with a cold look in his eyes. It's as if he already made up his mind to kill everyone at the table except for his sister.
However, with a few seconds of rational thinking, his scowl changed to a look of fondness when he remembers his sister wanting to be like him. A prodigy at sharpshooting, MMA, and an expert at wielding any blade.
Sarah would always follow her brother to every training session with their father. Once they returned Sarah would ask her brother about her technique and form. Yafeu would never help her. He would tell her, "Why do you wanna know this stuff? I do this so you don't have to." Sarah would reply, "I just think it's cool! Regular stuff kids do is pretty boring." Yafeu would always say back to her, "I'll teach you when you get older."
Now here she is in front of her brother pleading her case to him. The King's heart softens and swells with pride as he thinks what an exceptional person his sister must have grown into to make it into his throne room. But still, a King who is in charge of a whole nation must do what Kings do to benefit his people. He tells his sister, "We benefit too much from the help we get from Julius and Amaro. It would show a complete lack of character on my end if I betrayed Amaro's trust."
Frustrated, Sarah doesn't know what to say until Richard says, "I'll take care of everything."
Everyone in the room looks toward Richard. He continues to say, "Your Highness I know you have no reason to believe us, but as you know Julius was my father. You considered him a good friend. I'm sorry that you're about to find out about it this way but he's still alive. I love my father but this part of him I don't love. I was kept in the dark whenever the conversation became about his business. I know you feel like the people outside this land have banished you all to Cauchemar but respectfully, those same people who made those judgments are no longer in charge. You're about protecting who's innocent and I respect that. But we're trying to protect innocent citizens to. We value our people like how you value yours. We'd do anything to protect them. Even if that means lying to a King. As your sister and I have said before. We're sorry for the deception. But I'm sure if the roles were reversed you'd do the same in an instant."
Yafeu stands and answers Richard's words. He says, "You're right if blood will be spilled at least draw blood from the ones who deserve it. I'll accept your offer in you taking your father's place to aid our nation. I just have two requests though. Earlier you referred to this land as Cauchemar I want the people outside this land to call it by its true name. Living here is viewed as a "nightmare" only because of how you treated us.
Richard: Yes that's no problem! It's an understandable request. What's your other one?
The machine King raises his arm once again and points it at Supremeo. He says,
"To fight him."
"We were banished here, yet they still create us. I want to know if you guys made any progression in robotics since I left the outside world."
Richard begins to wave his hands in protest until Supremeo interrupts. Supremeo tells the machine King, "I accept, just as long as I know it will be for sport. No lives will be threatened on both sides if we agree to this duel."
The King looks Supremeo in his eyes. He walks towards his future opponent. He reaches for Supremeo's hand he shakes it in agreement and says, "Deal, we'll have our match tomorrow morning." Then with a snap of his fingers, the entire crew is released from their shackles.
He tells Supremeo, "Bast and my royal guards will show you to your rooms. Make sure to prepare yourself properly for tomorrow. I expect no excuses to be brought up from both sides when we find out the outcome of our match tomorrow.
With everyone in the room looking at Supremeo he replies, "Of course."
As everyone begins to leave the throne room Yafeu stops Bast to give her instructions after she shows the crew to their rooms.
Yafeu: I want you to follow up on where Amaro could be.
Bast: And when I do find him, your Highness?
Yafeu: Leave him for me. I'll be the one he answers to for his deception.
Bast: As you wish your highness...
A short time later our crew is being escorted to their rooms.
Zachary: This feels like we're being separated so we'd get weaker and they'll get the drop on us later tonight
Royal guard bot: You are free to room with your friends if you like. Our King has no qualms with you or your companions. He is quite happy to meet with his sister again and does not wish to harm anyone of you to not lose her trust.
Zachary: What? I didn't see him tell that to you? How did you know all that?
Royal guard bot: We are all linked to the King and his will. Born from the virus injected into him, we feel what he feels.
Confused and a little scared Zachary tells the robot, "I only understood about 70% of that. But okay I guess I can trust you guys for now."
He begins to think to himself saying, "Shoot even though the King insists on us trusting him. It still sounds like he has a grudge on his shoulders. In this fight with Supremeo, he promises to spill no blood. I think it would be foolish for any one of us to let our guard down for a second in this fight....Geez Sarah we'd always talk about finding your brother one day. Who'd have thought he would be the King of Cauchemar?..."
At the other end of the hallway, Bast is showing Sarah to her room. Standing at the doorway she looks at her King's only sister as she gets accustomed to her quarters. She was Yafeu's companion before he was crowned King of this land. This was the first time seeing a family member of her oldest friend. She looks at her with deep regard, knowing the machine King always thought of her and how lucky he is to see her after all these years. She is thinking deeply about this reunion because for her, her family is a blur. She can't seem to remember a single thing about them.
As Bast starts to leave Sarah's room. She's stopped by her and asked a question.
Sarah: Hey Bast, before you go. I wanted to ask you something....
Bast: Yes, what is it?
Sarah: Before my brother came in you were telling us how Yafeu became King. You didn't finish telling us. I know he said he'd answer anything after his fight with Supremeo, but I haven't seen brother in close to 20 years. Something like this will keep me up all night...Could you finish by telling me?
208Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSg8ZROmdz
A flash of Yafeu as a child hits Bast's memory when Sarah asks this. She realizes the King may not be her blood. But he is the closest thing to family she has. She leans against the wall smirks and says, "Yeah sure, I can fill in all the left over details. Now, where was I at?..."
ns 15.158.61.8da2
