Sins of the Past Book 1, Chapter 10
More Romance
By Citadel
Sixty-seven years to the birth of Kefka, three months after the burning...
Cid had been rather glum after losing his room to the mysterious blaze, but instead of scaring him, as Derrik had intended it to do, it had actually given him a reason to move in with Celes. Something that pleased him a lot, but this only infuriated Derrik all the more.
When Cid had received all the blueprints he was beyond astounded. He was totally taken aback at the ingenious, and complete simplicity of flying. And the other ones excited him all the more. He noticed that his calculations hadn't been very far off on very many of his things. In fact, he had been close to perfecting flying himself, and already and some things on the proverbial drawing board.
He'd created something called a skyfortress, an amazing machine that could carry cannons, rockets, and two to three men. Fleets of them could be used to defend cities, or take some if need be. The battery storage idea was so simple it had been overlooked by many scholars, even Cid. He immediately saw hundreds of applications for it nonmilitary, but Gestahl wouldn't hear of it. Gestahl gave him an idea though, the ability to store electricity in one of these 'batteries' that would give him something similar to bolt magic written about in the scrolls. Since lightning was the purest form of electricity you could make things that shot out lightning.
When Cid told Celes of these she asked where Gestahl had gotten them. He then realized that he had no clue how Gestahl had gotten them, and moreover he knew that Gestahl wasn't smart enough to make them. So this raised a very interesting question, who else was making these? These technologies were far beyond anything that humans had ever been capable of.
He had asked Gestahl where he had gotten the plans, all he received was a shady and cryptic answer that didn't answer his question. When he tried to press the matter farther he was given a glare that told him to back off. He didn't ask Gestahl to his face anymore, but he did ask questions around the castle. It seemed that no one in the castle knew of where he had gotten the plans, or of anything smart enough to figure that stuff out. It really puzzled Cid, and he liked puzzles.
Also in the past three months Derrik had been getting more and more angry with Cid and Celes. She was spending too much time with him, she hardly even noticed him, and the plan to burn his room to scare him had backfired. He had been receiving no peace from the whores he usually had, and was tiring of everything, especially Devin's new zeal in trying to take some cities for some pipe dreams of an empire that will never be. Although he slightly was uneasy about Madhi and the coming of thirty-thousand to eradicate all human life, he felt the reassurance that he would be spared and had good faith in that. So he had little to worry about.
But, he still had to perform his duties as a general. He was beginning to find being a master battle tactician a pain, but he had to do it or he would be out of the castle, and further from Celes than he was now.
He'd drawn some plans for taking Tzen. They involved not only sieging it from the front, but flanking from the sides, surrounding it. To make sure that no one would be able to escape via boat he was already readying his fleet of twenty warships to sail north of Tzen to aid in the battle. With it completely surrounded they could take it easily. He had gone over the plans carefully, trying his best to decide which armies to send to where to minimize the amount lost in battle; not that he really cared, but it was force of old habit to do his best at no matter what he did. Gestahl planned to take the city in a month.
***
Jamie Geller walked down the avenue in front of the constantly under construction castle. She had been doing this ever since she had been strolling down this street with her friends two weeks ago and actually saw Devin. She was fourteen years old, one year older than he, but he could've passed for fifteen. As a king, Gestahl was forced to train daily in the armory and in the dojo so he could learn self defense if he should ever need it. By doing so many exercises a day he had developed a well chiseled body and a very distinguished look o his face the girls didn't soon forget. Jamie had seen this face only once, when he was walking out of the castle, and had developed a deep crush on him.
Ever since that one moment she had tried to walk by the front of the castle the same time each day in order to get look at him. Gestahl had also noticed her when he first saw her. She was a little shorter than he, though much older. As he was walking out of the castle his cold, dead heart suddenly fluttered for the first time in years. She made him feel like a schoolboy again just thinking about her. He liked that; he liked it a lot.
Devin walked out of the castle at that same time, he knew she would be there, maybe this time they could talk some. They never had really talked; they'd only seen eachother a few times and Devin hadn't had the courage to ask her anything. He had been preparing some lame excuse to talk to her, but if that didn't work he'd fall back on how cool it was to be a king.
He ambled out the front gates ungracefully and saw her long blond hair whipping in the wind, storm clouds were brewing and lightning flashed in the distance. Even Devin was having some troubles keeping his feet.
"Hello?" he asked. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," she replied, "you're the king right?"
"Yes," Devin answered, only to have most of it drowned out by a clap of thunder. "Come inside, you'll catch the death of cold."
***
Once inside Devin regained his usual confidence and was able to talk to her like a normal man again. He asked her name, where she lived, how old she was. He was surprised to find out she was a year older than he, he was expecting much more than that. He thought she had to be two maybe three years his senior.
"So, what were you doing outside of my gates?" Devin asked.
"Well, I--" she stammered. No! She hadn't thought of anything to say to him if they ever talked. She thought quickly and said, "I was admiring the new castle. I've never seen anything like it before."
"Really?" he asked with fake surprise. He had been hearing that ever since he'd started construction on it, "I hope you do like it. It isn't nearly as drafty as castles of old."
"I noticed, it's quite comfortable in here," she agreed. They sat in a smoking room of sorts, plush, expensive chairs sat in the room, a comfy couch, and they all surrounded a large coffee table. Outward were other tables, chairs, and hardwood floor. On the wall hung paintings of fame even the Jidoor auction house rarely ever saw.
Jamie, on the couch next to Devin, snuggled up closer to him. Surprised, Devin put his arm around her and smiled.
.