Sins of the Past Book 1, Chapter 3
Cid
By Citadel
Seventy Years prior to birth of Kefka. Ten months after the crash.
Devin told the whole city of what Madhi planned to do, or what he wanted them to know. He told them he stole the superball, it turned out to be quite powerful. He employed twelve scholars to study the thing. They figured out its mechanics, and they more. Soon Devin ordered it standard issue for his upper assassins. He also made them affordable enough to be bought in upper- class stores.
The whole city believed his story of Madhi, and he got them to hate all aliens. They were behind him on-hundred percent. He soon ordered the construction of a new castle. Everybody liked this idea, the way he wanted it built, though, nobody liked. He ordered the castle built of the strongest metals, and welded shut, not nailed with spikes. It formed more and more into a fortress. It had no towers, but rose high into the sky, and could be seen from miles away. He also began to expand into the city. Everywhere was reinforced with solid steel in the walls, the city became a fortress.
Some people began to hate this, and spoke openly about it, Devin ordered them to be hanged. He continued turning the city into a metallic machine, full of iron and gunpowder. He set up a factory on the West side of town and manufactured weapons by the thousands. Pollution was poured out into the atmosphere, he began slowly killing the environment too, although that was inadvertent. This all happened within ten months of him becoming king.
***
Rene Figaro heard news of Devin's rising to power. He was making foolish judgments as a king, in his view, but there was nothing he could do about it. His castle was nearly complete, he would laugh in the face of anybody who doubted him. It would be a complete success.
Rene was thinking of this when the chancellor burst in, "Your majesty, an ambassador from Vector wishes to talk with you."
"Oh really? Is he here?"
"No, he will be arriving via some new secret vehicle tomorrow morning."
"Why would they come all the way here? Must be really important."
"My liege," he called.
"What?"
"Something is seriously wrong over there, really wrong. I have this sinking feeling, you know, something just isn't quite right."
"I know, ever since the boy took over it has an aura of bad taste over in the South. I have gotten word of what he's doing to the city over there; he's turning it into a large black factory. Metal surrounds everything. He's turned the most beautiful city of the South into a hell hole. He has ulterior motives that he hasn't told his people yet."
"Quite true, plus, he's a little devil too."
"What do you mean?"
"There were some people who spoke out against all the refinery and such, but somehow they got hanged in the public's view. He claimed some vigilantes did it, and he'd try to get them too. So far the search has mysteriously turned up nothing."
"He ordered people dead? No way. He's only ten! He must have a whole slew of advisors who really run the country."
"Not so, he really does it by himself. He even ridded the old advisors of his father, they didn't live in the castle when the thing crashed."
"Yes, the thing. He's always been rather vague on that subject, no?"
"Yes, indeed, like I said, be careful around the empire. No telling what they might do to us."
***
Three months earlier.
Devin had met a man named Cid at a banquet he held for himself. It was a small one, no more than fifty people, but they all were scientists from around the world. He'd met with each one and told them how much he enjoyed them coming. His real purposes was to find somebody who could construct his greatest thought yet, the tunnelarmr. Cid proved himself to be quite smart, genius in fact. He had some ideas that would revolutionize science as everyone knew it. Devin wanted him immediately. He was offered an eight figure salary and a great room, he promptly accepted. Cid was only eighteen at the time, but he could've given Einstein a run for his money.
Cid worked on the tunnelarmr project for months, never once stopping. He began to enjoy and, and to an extent love it. He turned Devin's crude drawings into something more, a vehicle of death. It was made to be a fighter vehicle, but Gestahl was amazed at how many improvements were made on his original designs. It ran on oil and gasoline, and earlier invention of Cid. It had the world's first internal combustion engine. Gestahl immediately liked the final result and couldn't wait to show it off the most powerful nation on the planet.
Devin planned to show this thing off to Rene, strike fear into him, and develop an alliance. They would help him in wars, and they'd have free trade. When Devin no longer needed Figaro he'd easily take them over. Place his troops in his city, and own it.
Cid had no idea of Gestahl's true plans; he was busy working on his own new project: rocketry. He'd taken old schematics form previous scientists, and with the help of many other scholars they were designing a weapon that could fly into something and explode. The tunnelarmr would be a perfect carrier for such a weapon. The greatest vehicle with the greatest weapons, what a match!
The tunnelarmr was a flattish looking tank. It had to main 'arms' and they had claws on the end that could drill though solid rock. It ran on treads, and was extremely thick armored. Nothing could penetrate it. It had a third extension on the back, its 'tail, and it was used for backward defense. It was the most powerful thing in the world at that time.
.