I tucked the radio back into my satchel, then lifted my eyes upon Shuijing. The first leg of my journey was done, all thanks to Darius. And now, the second part…
I drew my hood up over my head and went up to the entrance. As expected, the two androids stopped me.
"Your purpose?" the one on the left asked.
"I wish to enter the city," I replied.
"Where are you from?" the one on the right asked. "Do you have an invitation?"
"I'm from a place far away," I replied. "I am here to see friends."
"Is that so?"
"Please let me in," I said, adding a sense of urgency to my voice. "I am running out of oxygen."
Just then, the android on the right's wrist lit up, and he raised it up, a small hologram popping out. After a moment he closed the box and looked back at me.
"You are fortunate. The High Prince says that he personally invited you."
They let me into the city.
I could only look up in amazement. I had never seen such a sight before... The city was composed of several districts in the shape of rings. With each ring closer to the palace, the districts got better, cleaner. Here, the outskirts were composed of the poorer parts of the city, with low, broken-down houses and shacks, junkyards, android part salesmen, beggars and thieves. The next district consisted of shops, android production centers, and economy housing. Then came a brighter district filled with residential houses. And then the palace. The palace was the centerpiece of the city, lifted high up above the buildings around it, a shining crystal in the middle of grime.
As I passed through each district, human beings and androids alike peered out from behind doors and under roofs at me. I clearly stuck out, a dirty outsider from who-knows-where, carrying strange items on his back. But I ignored them, instead following the path, right to where I wanted to go.
Straight to the palace.
But no, I couldn't go right in. I would be caught. So I veered off to the side, hiding behind one of the pillars, trying to scout out the layout of the palace.
The only entrance appeared to be the gate.
I tried to go around the back, but…I bumped into someone. Someone from the palace. A young woman with long black hair and narrow eyes, dressed in fine robes. She stared at me, arching an eyebrow.
"Outsider?" was what she said. "Do you know what will happen to you?"
"Death?"
"Exactly." She lifted a communication device to her mouth: "Guards, come take this man away."
I was going to run, but apparently she received another message, because she called:
"Wait."
I stopped.
"Why didn't you say you had a personal invitation from the Prince?"
What?
"And as a guest, it is only polite to use the front door, no?"
No…I couldn't draw this out for too long… So ignoring her, I turned and walked back out front.
A set of stairs led up to a gate, with a pair of silver-haired androids standing guard. They started as I approached.
"State your purpose," ordered the one on the left. Neither of them seemed to have weapons, and the one on the right had a blind eye.
Up through the gates I could see the throne, and atop it sat a figure. I couldn't see him clearly, but in my heart I knew that it was [him].
"Let me in," I said, reaching into my bag for my pistol. No, don't draw it out too soon…
The one with two whole eyes gave my bag a scan and said, "He's got a weapon. Apprehend immediately."
Now that I had been found out, I pulled out the pistol and readied it, but the one with a blind eye's hand immediately morphed into the barrel of a gun, and he fired, hitting me in the right shoulder. I lost my balance, and my oxygen tank fell off, crashing down the stairs. I pressed a hand over my wound and tried to hold my pistol steady, aiming for a gap between the bars of the gate. If I could just hit him...
The one with two eyes held his wrist up to his mouth, speaking into it like a transmitter. "Intruder alert. Armed. We may require backup. Await for further instructions."
The one with a blind eye stopped firing for a moment to readjust, so I took the opportunity to try to eliminate him, but he dodged easily, and the bullet hit the gate, a loud ping ringing throughout the city. He brought his gun-arm up again, aiming straight for me.
"Bring him to me alive!" called the one on the throne above, and the gate swung forward. Now, now was my chance!
I charged forward, my satchel falling behind, dripping blood on the pristine white tiles, pushing aside both androids. Just up another flight of stairs…
The one with the blind eye knocked the pistol from my hand with a single bullet, and the weapon skittered down the steps, out of my reach. Both androids grabbed my, twisting my injured arms behind my back, pressing me down to the ground.
"My prince!" the one with two eyes called up to the throne. "We have apprehended the intruder!"
"Very good," the one on the throne replied. "Bring him to me."
The androids pressed me up the stairs, blood still flowing everywhere, and the one on the throne rose to greet me.
"Hello there, Rinthe."
I glared up at him, and saw [him] for the first time, and momentarily, I was taken aback.
He looked a lot younger than I had thought.
He was a boy of maybe fourteen years old, with long silver hair past his shoulders, held back with a simple, beautiful crown studded with an amethyst upon his head. His eyes were of the palest blue, but the left one had a scar running through it, rendering it blind. His robes looked light, like satin or silk. He came down the steps towards me, until his feet touched my blood, and met my eyes, smiling a smooth, cunning smile.
"You probably already know who I am."
I gritted my teeth and remained silent.
"Evian Grace, High Prince of the Land, ruler of Shuijing City."
"You—!"
"It's nice to finally meet you."
I spat, blood and spittle landing on the edge of his robe. "How dare you! You tyrant! Have you seen what you've done to this land? Let me go so I can properly strangle you with my two bare hands!"
"Such strong words, Rinthe, yet we have barely met." He tilted his head, eyes innocent. "My, you do seem angry. How about you calm down first, and then we can have a nice time together?"
"I am not here to spend time with you!" I coughed, more blood flying. "I am here for one reason only! So let me go!" I tried to wrench myself out of the androids' grasp, but both of my arms were injured, and they flared with pain when I attempted to do so.
"Ah. You're here to kill me, aren't you?" Somehow, his smile widened. "Of course. Lord Castro. Bring me that gun."
A dark-robed man came down from behind the throne, and gingerly picked up my fallen pistol with the edge of his sleeve, and brought it to the boy. "My prince."
The prince took the gun, looked at me, and smiled. He raised the pistol to the side of his head, and pulled the trigger.
The gun was no longer loaded. There was only an empty click.
The prince looked at it, then at me, and smiled. "Oh, my. I wasn't expecting that. I thought that you would have come ready, Rinthe. But here. You can have this back." He tossed the weapon down at me.
"It means nothing to me anymore."
He spoke like someone who had seen years beyond his age. And perhaps that was true.
I could only glare up at him, blood running down my chin and onto the polished stone, flowing in little streams down the many steps of the staircase. All of this, all of this had been for nothing…
"Lord Castro." The prince's voice was soft, and now more child-like. "What do you propose we do with this man?"
"That is up to you, my prince."
The prince bent down, hooked a finger under my chin, and smiled at me. His one blind eye seemed not blind, but looking at something else beyond this world.
Something so terrible, so beautiful…
"Guards," he said, still staring at me. "Take this man down to the deepest dungeons and lock him up until the end of the world."
The two androids forced me up to my feet, and I bit my tongue to force myself from crying out in pain because of my injured arms. As they led me down the steps, the prince called:
"And don't worry about your wounds, Rinthe. Lord Lenin will take great care of you."
"Curse you!" was all I could scream. "May someone else better suited than I one day come and take your head!"
"Oh, but Rinthe…" And once again, his voice seemed childlike.
"You were the last of them to come."