We arrived, this time not in the throne room but right outside. Only this time were no soldiers running about or citizens tending to their daily means. Nope, there was something off this time.
"He's here…" Jenma said in disgust.
Before I could muster up anything, Ravenian military soldiers poured out of the throne room to surround Jenma and me with spear-like weapons and enormous shields to block us from escaping. These soldiers were different than the ones I'd seen before; they had a raven-like head for their helmet and were armed to the teeth, each signifying a raven's feather on the crest of their helmet. They wore armor that looked light but mobile armor that seemed to be made of moonlight, yet their spears were far more advanced than any spear I'd ever seen. One of them trotted forward confidently with his guards with different arrangements of feathers on their helmets to signify their differences from those surrounding us.
"Madam Jenma, if you'll please." The soldier said as he welcomed her, and the soldiers opened a path for her. "The King insists he observes your injuries."
Jenma and I looked at each other, and then she lowered her head and slowly proceeded forward. She had a look as if she had upset her parents or someone who had authority over her. The soldiers closed the path and attempted to separate us as she proceeded.
"No," Jenma ordered. He's with me.
The soldiers then lowered their weapons but remained with shields in place as they trailed behind Jenma and me into the throne room. As we both entered the throne room this time, it was a completely different room filled with soldiers, officers, and advisors of high ranking from each side of the room. All of them are adorned with a diverse array of raven feathers on their helmets and such. The flag was switched from a raven to a new banner on the room's ceiling.
"Jenma?" I asked her, "Why is that banner different from your previous one? "
As we continued down the aisle with the carpet in the middle, Jenma explained, "You thought I had the bulk of the entire Ravenian military with me? (She scoffs at this point.) This… THIS idiot is the banner of the Imperial Royal Ravenian Army. Wherever they venture, they lay waste to any and everyone. They are the finest in any galaxy and have not lost any battles yet. Only one person can command them and earn their trust and loyalty."
Just then, all the soldiers and officials of high rank, all faced in the direction of the throne, all knelt on one knee and all in synchronized form, "LONG LIVE THE RAVEN FOR MANY, MANY YEARS, YOUR HIGHNESS!!"
Jenma continues as we get closer to the throne, "And that person…is my husband."
"All rise together." A voice commanded from the throne.
"THANK YOU, OUR KING!" All the soldiers and officials replied in unison as they stood up again.
The escorts then walked us until we could see who had been sitting on the throne. On the throne, seated in a majestic posture, was a figure. His head was shaped like a motorcycle helmet visor, with a plated dragon on his forehead, horns on both sides and a single horn coming out of his forehead like a triceratops. He had long hair, somewhat like a horse's mane, coming out of the rear of his helmet. He was clad entirely in scale-like armor that reflected the room's light with multiple mini scales.
His most striking feature was his four eyes, which made him look alien-like, mixed with any breed you'd imagine. One side had a huge scar that went through the entirety of the left side of his set of eyes. One of his arms seemed human, whereas his other was a set of dragon claws. It wasn't until closer observation that you noticed his iron-like scaled tail wrapped onto the throne's upper back part of the seat.
"Aitian…what brings you here?" Jenma asked.
"You, of all people, should know why I'm here, Jenma," Aitian replied in a dignified but rather angry tone. "Come, Jenma." Aitian gestured for her to come closer to him.
Jenma reluctantly obeyed as she was told and presented herself to him. Without any hesitation, Aitian's claw began glowing in greenish light, to which we all witnessed him repairing Jenma's tissue, skin, and even blood vessels that were damaged a little. Aitian then noticed the hand-made bandage that was used to hold the blood. However, he did not mind it as more things needed to be addressed.
"Bring forth Shinta," Aitian commanded.
The throne room's door entrances opened where we once entered, and two fully armed guards with their weapons pointed and active towards Shinta, who was now in chains and with a remorseful face, came. As she approached the throne, I could see that Shinta was not harmed, yet she was still chained to her hands and neck.
"Long live the Ravenian Empire…" Shinta said as she kneeled with her chains clattering and remained kneeling.
"Shinta…" Aitian asked, "What were the orders I left you with when I left for my Intergalactic campaign?"
Shinta raised her head triumphantly and answered without remorse or hesitation, "My lord Aitian had commanded me, Shinta, to protect and guard our queen, Lady Jenma, to the utmost of my capabilities. Should I fail to undertake and perform such a task, I would subject myself to Ravenian military law."
After explaining her duties and failing to comply, Shinta bowed her head low while still kneeling and accepting her fate, resigning that nothing she said or did could change it. As a soldier grabbed her by her hair, ready to execute her according to military law, someone spoke up on Shinta's behalf.
"Wait!" One of the generals spoke up.
His feathers were color-coded neon green, and the raven on his helmet looked as though it was made of stone. His armor looked light, with rigid leathers damaged from constant battles, proof of his courage and participation in numerous clashes. Unlike the other generals or officers, the feathers on his helmet had little on display. It also seemed this general was shorter than most, if not all those who were present.
"Wait?" Aitian questioned.
The general steps out of line and onto the grand carpet while kneeling and presenting himself in front of Aitian but lacking eye contact, "Your majesty, if I may insist, Shinta has been with the Ravenian Empire for many, if not a very long time and has years of services under acknowledgment from myself and the other officers and generals and ministers here."
There were murmurs around the throne room at this point. Aitian, as much as he needed and wanted to save Shinta, knows better than anyone that neither he nor anyone of any power can do anything. It was Ravenian law, after all. In Ravenian, no king or citizen is above the law. However, I stepped in here, seeing that Shinta had helped me save William once. Perhaps she could still help me save William once again.
"I second the general's opinion!" I said as I stepped up, not kneeling or bowing to Aitian.
Those who saw me gasped as I had foolishly trespassed a forbidden law. One of the soldiers ordered me to kneel before their king and began hitting my knees, trying to force me to kneel, causing other soldiers to join in as well. This, however, had gone too far, and Aitian silenced the throne room.
"Who the hell are you?" Aitian questioned me.
"He-he is with me…" Jenma explained. "I needed a person familiar with Eagles territory to head to a diplomatic relations meeting along with the smaller nations against Eagles. However, things didn't go according to plan."
"And I'm guessing that's how you got hurt?" Aitian deepened his voice.
"Ye-yes, but he protected me!" Jenma stuttered as she confidently added, "He had a drone that had protected me. His drone was the one who took the brunt of the attempt on my life. Had he or his drone not been present, I would not have been able to return here."
The throne room was in a confusing disarray of confusion and questions. If nobody was going to uphold the law, then who would now? If it's not implemented onto anyone, then why have a rule in the first place anyway? Then arguments and debates began going from a he said to a she said. Things were chaotic, so much so that eventually, to end the conversation and prevent things from getting worse, Aitian concluded.
Aitian stood up and grasped air with his dragon claws, and Shinta was thrown from where she was kneeling to him in an instant. Aitian chanted something, to which his final words were, "I'm sorry, Shinta." After which, Shinta suddenly dispersed. This left everyone in the throne room in shock. Tired of the arguments, Aitian demanded that things and order be restored and that the Imperial Ravenian Military rest. He then dismissed his advisors and military officers as they exited the throne room with their guards and soldiers.
I was then taken and thrown into the dungeon. Surprisingly, the cell reminded me of the first time Lena and I were thrown into that one prison area at the front-line base when I was still with the Eagles. As I was taken and thrown into the prison, I happened to be thrown into the one where Lena, Mai, and Shinta were in.
"Oh my god, there you are!" Lena exclaimed as they caught me, throwing me into the prison cell. "We thought that you were toast or something."
"Are you hurt or anything?" Mai asked.
"I'm fine, I'm alright," I replied as I stared at Shinta. "So that's your power…"
Shinta was kneeling in a corner far from the rest of the group, staring at the ground. "It's nothing of power. If anything, it's more of a curse."
Lena and Mai looked confused. Shinta's been sitting in that same cell with them since they've been interrogated and thrown into that cell. Shinta hasn't budged an inch since she's been thrown in there. How could anyone know anything? Until I explained to Lena and Mai.
"Uhh… do explain?" Lena and Mai questioned me.
"Her ability to clone herself is what she's capable of. It's how she gets around here very fast. She's been unto us the moment we've gotten here." I explained.
Shinta, herself amazed, stood up confidently, "Very observant, I must say…tell me, what else did you notice?"
"You're not the real one," I replied.
Shinta smiled a cocky smile. She then signaled something past me and toward the other prison cell. To our great surprise, there was another Shinta over there, but this time with my fiancé Julie. "Don't worry, she's perfectly safe. It was only necessary if you decided to do anything with Lady Jenma otherwise."
"Uhh, idiot? Why are there two of her?" Julie asked me.
"It's okay, Julie, she won't harm you. We're not a threat to her anyways." I replied. "Wait a second… How'd you get here, Julie!?"
"Oh." Julie looked for the words to describe what happened to her, "Let's see, I pressed the big red button on the device you gave me, and well, it ended up teleporting me to, I think, the throne room. Then they locked me up along with Lena and Mai until they threw Shinta in with me."
"Hang on, Julie, I'll get us out of here…" I said as I began looking for signs of openings or any tool to open the prison cell.
"Don't worry, idiot," Shinta said with a smile. "They're already on their way."
When Shinta was done talking, two guards came down the corridor, opened the cell to our prison cell, grabbed only Shinta and me, and locked the prison door again, leaving my friends in their own company. The guards had taken the both of us to a different-looking corridor that seemed to stretch on for quite some time before entering a segregated room. We entered the room, and the guards were immediately dismissed as they unchained Shinta and me.
Aitian was in the room along with Jenma. They both were busy conversing and in deep thought and conversation as Shinta walked towards them. I wondered what she would do until, without a second thought, I spotted a T-09 Shinta on the floor, her face pressed against the colossal lab tube. The Shinta clone was walking towards the T-09 and then absorbed into the one on the floor with her face pressed against the vast lab tube. The lab tube was big enough to fit a human inside. Finally, they stopped their conversation and spotted me.
"Ah, there he is." Aitian welcomed me. "First and foremost, I must thank you." Aitian bowed his head to show his respect towards me, "My wife here tells me that you've done quite a deed to bring her back here, as well as tending to her injuries along the way."
I had a puzzled look. Aitian then spoke up, realizing he must clarify things, seeing my puzzled face.
"If you're always wondering why Shinta's always all over the place, maybe you've already guessed it. But the real one is always here." Aitian said as he pointed to the one on the floor with her face pressed against the lab tube.
"I thought you killed her until I got into the prison cell, but what's she staring at anyways?" I asked.
"The law of the Ravenians must be enforced. To do so, I must sacrifice a clone, but feel free to look for yourself…" Aitian welcomed.
By now, I began observing the structure more carefully, and this wasn't a lab tube. This was a massive chunk of ice with something encased inside it. As I watched more carefully, I saw there was another drone inside. I then got closer to see it, as Jenma explained.
"His name is Thunder," Jenma told me.
"He has a name?" I asked.
"They all do. They were once alive and living just like the rest of us, were they not?" Jenma clarified.
"Why is he here and in…ice?" I asked again.
Jenma smiled, but a sad smile, replying to my question this time. "The most powerful drone of the earlier Titania models, Thunder, led the rebellion that we all know as the Great Runic Wars."
"The Great Runic Wars? I remember those tales as a kid." I spoke.
"Yes, as do I." Jenma's smile faded. "But to answer your question, he's here because Thunder…was one of the first drones to have landed on me, Aitian's homeland, and Shinta.
"Your homeland? I thought you were from this planet?" I asked, confused.
"No, silly." Jenma continued. "Thunder served my father and brothers during our war with the Duvhatian Empire."
"And sadly," Aitian added. "He will not be serving you."
Jenma continued after being interrupted, "As you can see, we're not the only ones on the planet that contain drones in our military. However, during the many war fronts to my succession, Thunder risked his life to protect mine, and he was forever tragically frozen and damaged."
"Oh Thunder…please come back…" Shinta cried, tears streaming down her face.
I stared at Shinta in disbelief. Man, she's beautiful, the real one anyway. I began wondering what the relationship between Thunder and Shinta was, so I asked Jenma.
"Shinta and Thunder are lovers who were indiscriminately made into drones. Though they're metallic and Titania modeled after their predecessors, they still somehow kept their humane emotions and found one another." Jenma said as she stared at Aitian, who paid no attention to Jenma.
"What model number is Thunder?" I then asked as I clutched the memory core of Williams' T-01 with the attachment in my cargo pocket.
This time, Shinta rose, looked at me with shiny eyes, and explained in her hopeful voice, "He's a T-33. Are you thinking of bringing back my Thunder? Back to me?"
"Poor Thunder…" Jenma said in disgust. "He was never made with any spare parts in mind because if memory serves me right, Thunder's model was too overpowered that no parts were ever made for him."
"We would not need any except for this," I said, taking out William's memory core.
Shinta's eyes lit up, "Where did you get that T-01's core? The T-01's core is universal to all other Titania models under 100."
"I didn't steal or acquire it; I made it with some help…" I replied.
Aitian and Jenma both smiled. Things were going to get interesting. Thunder, a drone that the Duvhatian Empire feared, was proclaimed dead and out of service. It seemed Thunder would serve Jenma, not just as Thunder himself but as William.
"Alright, Shinta, if you want Thunder to come back, I'm going to need a bit of hand with this ice here on his memory core frame if you can help me," I said as I started using an ice pick to dig out the frame.
Shinta nodded her head in response with tears of relief and joy, and out of nowhere, eight other Shinta's appeared and ferociously assisted me in digging out the memory core frame of Thunder.