Amaryllis motioned for us to follow what she did as she bowed. Both Agatha and Caesar did the same, but I did not.
"Um, miss Ava, w-what are you d-doing? Bow your head, n-now," stuttered Amaryllis. She had a pained expression on her face.
"Young miss Ava, do what she said," whispered Caesar as he still bowed.
"Why?"
I did not understand the importance of acting like that to the person I did not know. The person sitting in the chair was definitely an important person, but I thought it did not warrant me to reach so far as to bow.
I felt an intense glare directed towards me. The man, Gheele Folami, tapped his fingers onto the chair a few times.
I was frozen in place. 'What is this?' I thought. Darkness crept up mentally behind me, wrapping my body.
My brain immediately treated him as the most dangerous person that I have met in my entire life. I could not move an inch or even dared to blink my eyes at the man. He was frightening, my mind concluded. The fear of confronting Gheele held me tight and plunged me into an abyss so deep that the only light I saw was from the man's menacing brown eyes.
I felt the air trapped inside my throat.
I had never felt so terrified and scared. The unfamiliar sensation of pain slowly crept itself into my heart. Without me realizing what exactly happened to me at that time, my eyes were tearing up. It was a silent cry with no voice. I took a shaky breath. My brain signaled to warn me, begging me to run.
"Ava," called Agatha. He too felt the emotions that I emanate. It made her uncomfortable.
Gheele rested his head on his right hand and opened his mouth. "Your Aegis is weak right now. You've used it too much." His voice echoed throughout the room and my body shivered.
I was startled at his words. 'How did he knew?' I thought. Maybe he could sense my Aegis like Caesar. The crystals embracing the room were certainly Aegis crystals if I looked at it for some time.
"Amaryllis, bring me my water. And of course their food," he commanded.
"R-Right away, Master!" Amaryllis burst out of the room and left the terrifying Gheele Folami with the three of us.
"I'm sorry, Master. She's still--"
"No, it's fine. If I hadn't noticed that she's an Aegis User from her eyes, I would have added her to my collection already," interrupted Gheele. Caesar only nodded at him after he stood firm along with Agatha.
I did not even want to think what his collection was about.
"But it won't be like this the next time. I'm in a good mood now actually. The anticipation of when the Great Corporate United were crushed beneath my feet was just exhilarating."
I took a long, deep breath. "Um, M-Master. I'm very sorry for my behavior just now. Please forgive me." I bowed at Gheele.
"Raise your head, child."
I tried to keep a calm face in front of him, though I managed an expression I thought was normal and kept it that way.
"I ask that all of you wait for a while for your meals to arrive," said Gheele. He crossed his legs and stared at me.
I gulped.
It was not long before three small wooden tables were propped up in front of the three of us and we sat about twenty feet away from Gheele. Two other female servants other than Amaryllis distributed the food to each of us.
"Meat..." My mouth was drooling and I shook my head at that. It was not appropriate, especially when I was in the presence of Gheele.
"Can you explain your plan again, Caesar?" demanded Gheele.
"Yes, Master. In accordance with our objectives that overlap with yours, this plan is a great option to move all of us further towards them." Caesar continued, "First, your military force is to be divided into two smaller force of equal strength. One of the two forces, let's call it, Force One, is to attack Italy, Germany, France at the same time. Then, after the battle's victory is within your grasp and the path for any further reinforcements have been cleared, Force Two would initiate an attack towards Sweden. Force Two will move from Germany after it has been taken over."
Gheele narrowed his eyes. "But why don't we just attack Sweden, first? Their HQ is there and all. If that place falls down first, the rest would follow suit."
"I also thought of that before. But, the military bases in Germany, Italy, and France were power to be reckoned with. If we take down all of them, about fifty percent of the Great Corporate United's ENTIRE military force will be gone. And with that, our invasion of Sweden should run smoother," said Caesar.
"Hmm, I see. And it would be quite a hassle to attack Sweden since those regions you mentioned are basically acting as a shield. We take a route by sea and it will be too slow. The enemy would notice our movements. We use air bombing and our aircraft would just succumb to their anti-aircraft units," said Gheele.
"Precisely, Master," stated Caesar.
Hearing them talking about the plan and figuring out any flaws in it was mesmerizing. At the same time, I too was thinking and absorbing the information that both of them laid out.
My food was untouched.
"Amaryllis, Helena, Tabetha."
The three servants who were behind me responded to Gheele's call.
"Did you cook that meat properly? The child does not seem to be interested in it."
The girl with the brown hair, Tabetha, answered, "We made it the same way it was always been cooked, M-Master."
"Um, the meat's fine! I'm just spacing out," I said. My hands quickly grabbed a fork and a knife on my table and dined in. "I-It's good!"
I found myself ravaging and ravenously putting pieces of the sleek meat into my mouth. It was too delicious. I had never eaten meat before so I never knew how it was supposed to taste.
"So goood!"
From the corner of my eyes, I caught a glimpse of Gheele's thin smile. "I'm glad you enjoy it."
"When do you think we would execute this plan, Master?" asked Caesar.
"Perhaps... two weeks from now. If the preparation is going smoothly, it wouldn't be a stretch to have it all ready in just one week," answered Gheele.
Agatha was finished with her meal when I had eaten mine, while Caesar's was left unfinished. I wanted to ask them about the orange Aegis crystals in the enormous room but I bit my lips to prevent that. The obvious answer would be where Gheele was an Aegis User and he had done it himself. I doubt that he was a once a part of the Great Corporate United if he was involved in the invasion plan and ruled his own country.
It could be he was like me, experimented without the knowledge of it spreading to the Great Corporate United.
I settled on that answer and nodded to myself.
Gheele was staring at the golden door the whole time he sat on the ebony chair.
'What is he thinking?' I thought.
The golden door was forced open and Anuman entered in a hurry. He bowed, his face looked like he was about to deliver a bad news.
I wiped sweat coming from my forehead.
"Speak, Anuman... Is it them?" asked Gheele.
"Master! T-They're here!" Anuman caught his breath. "Several squadrons of enemy ships were sighted southwest of the Atlantic Ocean. At this rate, they're bound to enter our borders and land on Nigeria."
Caesar and Agatha looked at each other while I sat there dumbfounded.
The enemy had launched their attack first.
"How much longer?" asked Gheele.
"Master, in two hours they will cross our borders," said Anuman.
"Prepare for their attack. I'll set up an Aegis wall at the coast of Nigeria."
With that, Anuman was on his feet to the outside of the palace. The three servants; Amaryllis, Tabetha, and Helena were whispering to each other.
I questioned Gheele's statement in my mind about him setting up an Aegis wall while he was in Chad. Clearly, he was not even planning to move out.
Caesar stood up. "Perhaps we'll join them--"
The ground shook violently and I was thrown to the floor landing on my face. "What?"
A few more tremors followed and it stopped.
"Since when!" Gheele gritted his teeth. He knew what I was not able to comprehend at that time.
A few seconds passed and the room's ceiling shattered and collapsed. I managed to avoid them but a shadow caught my attention.
No, that was not it. Four silhouettes descended from the ceiling and landed at the center of the room. Caesar and Agatha took a few steps back away from them.
"It can't be..." I muttered.
I knew who the two people out of the four people that broke in the palace were.
"Alicia, and Bart." My red irises shone in pure rage when the people that I hated the most were just right there.
For me to kill.