“YOUR GRACE???” Lero called out after entering Emperor Voltair’s Private Chamber within the confines of his Golden Palace.
Keeping his back turned on Magnus’s Keeper, Emperor Voltair stared into a lit fireplace that was made entirely out of cilivite… Along with everything else that was within the Royal Palace.
“LERO,” Emperor Voltair echoed as he continued to stare into the fireplace. “Grand evening.”
Unsure about why he was personally called by the Emperor himself to meet with him… in private, Lero replied, “Aye. Grand evening.”
With his hands interlocked behind his lower back within his long, golden cloak, Emperor Voltair asked, “I assume you are currently wondering why I have called you here to speak with me, yes???”
“Yes, Emperor,” Lero nodded. “Why did you call for me? Is there a disturbance?”
“Disturbance? Heh, heh, heh… Yes, Lero. You could say that.”
“What is it?”
“MAGNUS… Is the ‘disturbance’, my dear old friend.”
Eyes widened now, Lero did not speak… For he temporarily ‘lost his voice’... OUT OF FEAR.
“I know what happened on Crix,” the Emperor revealed after turning around to face the shocked Rannukan fully.
“You… You do?” Lero nervously stammered.
“That I do, Lero… THAT I DO INDEED.”
“How?”
“Why the Council, of course. They report to me after EVERY SINGLE meeting they have with MY Deciders.”
Acting as if he knew nothing, Lero asked, “Well, my Emperor… What did they tell you?”
“COME NOW, LERO… Do not play the ‘kroone’ with me. You know exactly what they told me. You know QUITE well that I do not take kindly to kroones… OR THRACKING LIARS.”
“Emperor, whatever you think… I can MORE than assure you that…”
“That what, Lero? THAT WHAT??? That Magnus shall not ‘break away’ from his emotional baseline again?”
“He did not ‘break away’ from his emotional baseline, Emperor. Magnus merely…”
“BROKE AWAY FROM HIS THRACKING EMOTIONAL BASELINE!!!”
Seeing the Emperor’s anger showing proudly on his god-like face now, the Rannukan Keeper held his tongue in fear again as Emperor Voltair stated, “You know, Lero, Magnus has always been my favorite… instrument. Heh, heh… Out of all the others, Magnus is the one who piqued my curiosity the most. Why else would I have made him their ‘Commanding-Leader’ if I did not have a fondness for him and his particularly EXTRAORDINARY ability?”
“Extraordinary?” Lero scoffed, angering the Emperor even more.
“Is that ‘sarcasm’ that I sense in your voice, Lero?” Emperor Voltair asked.
You call Magnus’s ‘world-breaking’ ability ‘extraordinary’?”
“Tis what I said… YES???”
“Tis NOT ‘extraordinary’. Tis… Terrible.”
“Terrible???”
“TERRIBLE. Ever since Magnus’s twentieth cycle he and the other nine have utterly decimated COUNTLESS life-forms and their worlds. All because of YOU and YOUR RAXX-WORD, Emperor.”
“Excuse me?” Emperor Voltair asked with an insulted look on his face. “What did you just say to me… YOU RANNUKAN SLIME?”
Realizing that he had just insulted the ‘holy word’ of the most powerful, praised, and feared life-form in the whole galactic sector, Lero stuck to his guns and continued, “You heard me. Your word is a load of fuming, festering raxx, Voltair. Tis always has been… And always shall be.”
Angry, but admiring the Keeper’s seemingly ‘unshakable’ defiance, Emperor Voltair sneered, “Heh, heh… Oh, Lero. Always so righteous, you must be. SO… THRACKING… RIGHTEOUS. You say that my word is raxx? If so… THEN YOU ARE IMPLYING that I must allow ‘Kren-Aligned Life-Forms and their planets’ survive all because you deem Magnus’s remarkable talent ‘terrible’???”
“Don’t give me that raxx,” Lero gritted as he locked into a fiery stare with the Grand Emperor.
“Heh, heh, heh… Heh, heh, heh… LERO,” Emperor Voltair snickered. “Brave, you are… QUITE BRAVE… But also rather kroonish. You know the ‘grand rule’. If any one of the Deciders break away from their emotional baselines… EVEN JUST SLIGHTLY then they must be eradicated… EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. For, they are far too dangerous to be left alive…”
“NO! NO, ALIXANDR,” Lero raged, causing the Grand Emperor’s eyes to widen.
“You dare to NOT refer to me by my ‘royal title’???” Voltair asked in a shocked tone whilst Lero fumed before him.
“Tis wrong… Tis wrong and you know it, Alixandr!”
“I honestly do not give a PILE OF RAXX what you think is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, you thracking scaler! Tis my ‘grand word’ and in this ‘Royal House’... In this ‘grand city’... AND ON MY ETERNALLY WONDROUS WORLD my word… IS LAW!!!!”
Wanting to lash out at the Emperor, but knowing that if he did so he would be eradicated as well, Lero just tightened his scaled-fists and clenched his jaw.
Running his hand back through his now slightly messed hair, Emperor Voltair said, “Though I am very disappointed in the way you are currently ‘acting’ towards me, Lero, I can understand your frustration… YOUR RAGE. You look at Magnus like a ‘son’… YOUR SON. You always have. Since he was only a childling, you have treated him as if he were your own… BUT HE NOR ANY OF THE OTHER ‘DECIDERS’ ARE NOT YOUR OWN. They… ARE MINE!”
“PLEASE. I beg you to please not do this. Reconsider your thoughts and potential actions. Magnus made a mistake. I understand it. He understands it as well… But to end his life-cycle for a mere ‘hesitation’ is…”
“What??? What is it, Lero?”
The Keeper sealed his scaled lips.
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“Out with it… OUT WITH IT, I SAY!!!” Emperor Voltair blared.
“Insanity,” Lero uttered, causing the Grand Emperor’s eyes to widen again. “To end Magnus’s life-cycle on account of a ‘feeble lapse in thought’... IS INSANITY.”
“Insanity… You say? In… SANITY. No. No, Lero. Taking Magnus’s life-cycle is NOT ‘insanity’. Not at all. No… No, no, NO. What would be ‘insanity’ is to allow him to keep on living… Existing… ROAMING FREELY WITHOUT SANCTION OR CONTROL. Magnus… Is now emotionally compromised. ... MEANING that he has become far more dangerous than either you or I could ever possibly begin to imagine.”
Turning his back on Lero again, Emperor Voltair glared into his still burning fireplace whilst he stated, “Magnus is the most powerful being in the whole thracking galaxy… SEVERAL GALAXIES. You know it to be true, Lero. I certainly do. I mean… HE DESTROYS WHOLE THRACKING PLANETS WITH A MERE THOUGHT!!! Ugh… Now, with all that being said, Lero, I simply cannot, in grand conscious, allow the now ‘emotionally compromised’ Breaker of Worlds to continue on with his existence knowing FULLY that if I do as such then there exists a DEFINITIVE possibility that he could destroy us all in the blink of a thracking eye!”
Looking back at the disgruntled Rannukan, Voltair seared, “Magnus MUST be eradicated… TONIGHT-CYCLE. Grand forgiveness, Lero, but it MUST be done… GUARDS!!!”
BURSTING INTO the Emperor’s Private Chamber a half-milli-cycle later were TEN TOTAL
Pulsar Saber and Auto-Rifle wielding Voltairan Knights.
Divided into two groups of five, the Knights flooded inside the Emperor’s Private Chamber with
heavy, thunderous footsteps..
“Wuh-What is this?” Lero asked in confusion while he looked over the dual squads of Voltairan Knights.
“The ‘cure’, Lero… FOR MAGNUS’S ‘DISEASE’,” Emperor Voltair sternly informed. “GENERAL TYZE! GENERAL ZAID!”
Stepping away from the dual squads were two white cloaked Voltairan Knights, which distinguished them from the other eight.
“GRAND GREETINGS, EMPEROR VOLTAIR.” the two white cloaked Voltairan Knights greeted in unison, who were now known as Generals Tyze and Zaid.
“Grand greetings to you both, Generals,” Emperor Voltair nodded. “I order you and your squadron to ‘kindly’ escort Keeper Lero out of MY Palace… AT ONCE!”
“AS YOU COMMAND, EMPEROR VOLTAIR!” General Zaid replied before bowing.
After he had bowed to the Emperor, General Zaid turned around and gave Lero a cold glare from behind the lenses of his golden battle helmet.
Looking to the four Knights that were in his squad, General Zaid ordered, “MEN, RESTRAIN KEEPER LERO!”
“Huh? What? Restra-- HEY! WHAT?! URGH… GET YOUR THRACKING HANDS OFF OF ME, YOU RAXX-EATING THRACKS!!!” Lero angrily commanded after two of the Knights took hold of his arms and wrists.
Turning him towards the exit out of the Emperor’s Private Chamber, General Zaid and his squad started to drag Lero away while Emperor Voltair sneered.
Setting his sights on General Tyze now, Emperor Voltair ordered, “And for you, General Tyze, I have a grand task for you and your squadron to complete for me..”
“Yes, my Emperor?” General Tyze asked in a dark and groggy sounding voice through his battle helmet’s voice modulator.
Glancing over at Lero, who was still trying to fight off General Zaid and his Knights, Emperor Voltair looked back at General Tyze and ordered, “I order you and your men to travel to the Grand Galactic Deciding Temple… And ERADICATE Decider Magnus.”
“Magnus???” General Tyze gasped in a terrified sounding voice. “Your Highness… You want my squad and I to… kill the ‘World-Breaker’?”
“YES, GENERAL. Tis EXACTLY what I want you and your squad to do for me,” Voltair nodded.
“But, Emperor… HOW??? He’s said to be ‘unkillable’. Like a god, he is.”
“GOD. You believe Decider Magnus to be a thracking god???”
“With all due respect, my Emperor…”
“HE IS NO GOD! I AM!!!” Emperor Voltair suddenly blared, shocking Tyze into silence. “I gave you and your skoggers an order, General! EXECUTE THE WORLD-BREAKER!!! I want him zeroed in no less than ONE HOUR-CYCLE! Is that understood?! IS IT?!?!”
“YES, MY EMPEROR!” General Tyze immediately replied, “COMMAND CONFIRMED!”
“Grand, General… NOW LEAVE MY THRACKING SIGHT!!!”
_
Come on, Lero, you old thrack… THINK!!!
What be that other General’s name?
Come on.
What was it???
Urgh… Starblazes!
You are running out of time, you old kroone!
MAGNUS IS RUNNING OUT OF TIME!
Relax.
JUST RELAX AND THI--
_
“KEEP MOVING, THRACKER!” General Zaid spurted at Lero before shoving him into one of the two separate golden elevators that ran through the heart of the Royal House Voltair.
Surrounded by heavily armed and incredibly lethal Voltairan Knights, and even a General, the old Rannukan Keeper of Magnus was caught between a rock and a hard place.
All that Lero had to rely on at the moment was his mind… Which was his grandest weapon.
_
Alright, Lero... THINK ABOUT THIS.
How many Knights are there in this elevator car?
Four… Along with their General.
Zaid, I believe Voltair said his name was.
No matter.
None of these golden boy skoggers know what shall come to them.
They excel in the art of BRUTE FORCE whereas I excel in something grander.
MUCH GRANDER… But alas, the punishment for assaulting a Knight of the Voltairan Empire is a fifty cycle sentence locked within the ISO-CHAMBERS… Or death by desresolution.
I’ve been locked up before, but that was long ago… When I was younger and far more kroonish.
I do not wish to die either, even though they do say that when you are deresoluted that you do not even feel it.
I cannot let Magnus die though… Not without telling him ‘The truth’ first.
_
“DO NOT MOVE!!!” General Zaid ordered Lero as he stood in the center of the slightly larger than average elevator car surrounded by the Voltairan Knights.
With the golden elevator doors beginning to slide shut, Lero kept his dark eyes locked on them as General Zaid continued, “If you move ONE SINGLE MUSCLE then my fellow Knights and I shall end your life-cycle! WITH PAIN!!!”
The doors were now over half way closed, which Lero made close note of.
As the doors completely closed, General Zaid sneered, “NOW, you old piece of Rannukan RAXX, do you understand what I have just told you??? CONFIRM COMMA--”
SLICE!
JILT!
In the blink of an eye, Lero drew out a small, but rather effective Pulsar Dagger that he kept hidden within right arm sleeve of his heavy, black-armor plated long-jacket and ‘gracefully’ slit the throat of one Knight and jammed the tip of its slightly glowing blade into the jugular of another.
“WHAT THE THRACK?!” General Zaid cried out after he had witnessed the Rannukan Keeper of the World-Breaker takedown two of his Knights with effortless ease.
With two Voltairan Knights remaining, along with a stunned General Zaid, Lero sneered whilst the blood of the other two knights that he just brutally murdered splattered on his scale-skinned face, “Grandest apologies… BUT I COULDN’T RESIST!”
