A Week in Tokyo: Chapter 10

A Week In Tokyo


Chapter Ten: No Rest for the Wicked

An ocean of stars shone brilliantly over the kingdom of Fanelia twinkling softly in the evening sky. Two moons hung above the small houses and farmlands dotting the emerald valley. The moons were unusually large and were glowing brighter than usual. Everyone in the Fanelian countryside was tucked away in their beds, sound asleep. There was only one house that still had a chorus of artificial lights pouring out from its many windows onto the dark earth below. This was the manor of the ex-council member Vladimir Kent.

He sat at the desk of a large study, his dark blue eyes staring at an odd machine resting on the floor beside him. The machine rose up from the base of the floor to a few feet above his head. It started out as a cylindrical shape at the bottom and twisted into a spiral at the top. A giant brass handle reached down from the center of the device to the desk where he sat. Vladimir leaned his right hand against the lever of the odd machine and pulled it toward him. He grinned wickedly to himself as an image appeared on a screen in front of him. A row of gray teeth were visible from behind his pasty white lips.

He rubbed his old withering hands together causing his yellow fingernails to occasionally touch. He cackled as he watched the scene appear in the small screen located at his eye level in the brass instrument for the millionth time. The event came flickering back like an old movie reel. It showed the five council members attacking Van and the others and dying at their hands. He laughed wickedly as they buried the men by a shrine for the God Shuchen outside of the city.

He was temporarily distracted from his work when his son Charden came marching into the room. He grunted and attempted to watch the scene over again. Charden didn't like the fact that his presence was being ignored. He surprised his father by walking up to his desk and slamming both of his hands down on the space in front of him.

He looked intently at Vladimir with his piercing blue eyes and said, "You've been staring at that infernal device for hours! What do you hope to accomplish by watching that scene over and over?"

Vlad gave a small huff and ran his bony fingers through his white hair. He had to journey further down his scalp to accomplish this. His hair line started just above his ears and fell messily around the base of his shoulders. He momentarily took his eyes off of the machine and glared at Charden with a look of annoyance on his face.

"Everything rests on this moment. I knew that there was a power spot by the shrine. That is why I lured Van and the others there with the attack in the first place. Using this machine that I uncovered from Zaibach, I was able to send them to the Mystic Moon. I know that they will have a hard time getting back. We can use the time they are away to our advantage."

Charden raised himself up off of the desk and crossed his arms in front of him indignantly. He stamped his foot against the ground, clearly unsatisfied with his father's answer.

"That still doesn't explain why you are watching that scene in the Tarndulosk. Aren't you wasting precious time concerning yourself with such a stupid thing?"

Vlad returned his gaze to the familiar scene in front of him and gave a short laugh.

"The Tarndulosk shows the past but cannot project images of the future. I was hoping to find where the men ended up as the day progressed but I had no such luck. It was then that it occurred to me that the machine can only project past images of the world it is on. By watching this scene I have discovered that Van and the others are on a realm where not even I have the power to determine their fate. They have little hope of coming back without a power spot. If I can find a way to seal the entry place by the shrine it will take them longer to reach Fanelia if by some miracle of the Gods they are able to get back at all."

Charden snorted. He couldn't understand for the life of him why his father was so obsessed with watching history unfold before him in an outdated piece of Zaibach technology.

There was a frown on his face when he muttered, "Well then, what have you learned by staring at that stupid thing? I hope that it is worth killing off all of those men over. We could have used them as extra manpower in a violent takeover of the kingdom."

Vlad scoffed and pulled the lever toward him once more.

"Learn something from your father, Charden. Patience always pays off in the end. Those men were expendable. They were orphans from the war and had no family to speak of. They were expelled from the council so no one will go looking for them for a while. Their death was more useful than their insignificant lives. When Van and his companions went to the power spot I was able to send them off to the Mystic Moon with the help of his Atlantis Pendant and the Tarndulosk."

Charden was beginning to get flustered. He kicked the side of the machine angrily. It did not affect the image which kept playing before Vladimir's eyes.

His raised his voice a bit more than he intended to when he said, "You never answer my questions directly, old man. Just give me a bloody straight answer. How is this stupid machine going to help us at all? I thought that you wanted me to be the King of Fanelia. Isn't that why you made that proclamation that Van had to find a bride within a year before you were thrown off the council? Everyone knew that he would refuse. He doesn't love anyone but that stupid girl from the Mystic Moon."

Charden calmed down a bit when he saw the look on his father's face. He knew how his father got when he was angry. He didn't want to put the old man in a bad mood before he had a chance to reason with him.

He lowered his voice and continued cautiously, "Well, that is what you led me to believe anyway. I assumed at the end of the year when Van still did not have a bride that we could convince the people I was his cousin with no political hitches. I still have the false documents drawn up. I was under the impression that you wanted me to take the throne so we could rule Fanelia from the inside and eventually lead a war against the other kingdoms. Now that we have no chance of accomplishing our goals through trickery I think that we should just kill off all of the politicians. You always go about things the hard way. If you want a change in dynasty you have to take it through murder and the spilling of royal blood. Patience has nothing to do with it."

Vladimir continued staring at the device when he shook his head.

"That political move was made for no other reason than to stir things up. I wanted the politicians to believe that I had ulterior motives in government that could be remedied by expelling me from the council. The false sense of security that the council members have felt since forcing me to leave can be used to our advantage."

Charden felt a bit betrayed that his father hadn't told him that small detail before. His arms dropped to either side of his body in shock.

When he regained his composure he narrowed his eyes at his father and said, "Have you gone mad? I thought that you wanted revenge for what they did to us. I am beginning to doubt that you have any sense left in your head at all."

Vladimir pulled the brass lever to the right which shut off the machine. The screen went gray, reflecting only the light from the candles sitting around the room. Vladimir pulled open a side compartment of his desk and took out an Atlantis Pendant with a black stone. He placed the pendant in front of his face and smiled wickedly up at his son.

"I am sure you will change your mind when you hear what I have to say. Do you have any idea what the artifact I am holding in my hand is?"

Charden gave an incensed look at the stone and then his father.

"It looks like a stupid Atlantis Pendant. What does it got to do with us taking over the kingdom?"

Vlad's wicked grin got larger exposing more of his gray teeth.

"This, my son, is not an ordinary Atlantis Pendant. It was created by the sorcerers of Emperor Dornkirk during the Gaean War to seal off power spots. There was only ever one crafted during the war and it was never used due to complications the empire faced after the final battle. A regular Atlantis Pendant transports people to new locations through power spots and grants the owner the power of their wishes. These artifacts are difficult to find. Historians have guessed that there are only ten of the original pendants left on Gaea. Only three have been recovered."

Vlad paused momentarily to point toward three kingdoms drawn out on a map of Gaea in front of him with his other hand.

He looked back up at his son and said, "The first is owned by the current King of Fanelia, Van. The second is guarded by the royal house of Egzardia. The third is in the hands of a historian from the country of Basram. Van and the royal house of Egzardia have no idea of the power they posses in the Atlantis Pendants that they own. The sorry excuse of a Basram historian keeps it on display in a museum in his country. It is not a total loss. Their ignorance can be used to our advantage."

Vladimir noticed that Charden was starting to get upset again. He sighed and placed the pendant around his neck.

"Look, I have just made one threat disappear. What if I made all of the threats go away? Then I would have the only working Atlantis Pendant on Gaea. The special thing about my little trinket is that I can not only use it to seal power spots but also that I can make curses with its black energy. Wishes are made from the heart. That is why a real Atlantis Pendant would not work in the hands of a person like you or me. But this Atlantis Pendant...the Kebarean Pendant...will grant us the desires born of our greed. If we use it in conjunction with the Tarndulosk we will be an unstoppable force for both Fanelia...and the rest of Gaea."

This piqued Charden's interest. For the first time since he had entered the room a hint of excitement shone in his light blue eyes.

"If we have this power, what are we waiting for? We could start wreaking havoc on Gaea at this very moment."

Vlad knotted his old bony fingers together as he rose from his place at the desk.

"The first thing to do is seal off the power spots. There are many on Gaea. No one is quite sure of the number. The thing about them is that they all appear when one is active, even if they are not active themselves. By watching the image in the Tarndulosk I was able to record the other power spots that showed up during the transportation on this map. Using the Kebarean Pendant we can seal them off when I am able to line up all of the past transportation spots in the viewing area of the Tarndulosk. This is a difficult task. I have only been able to align seven out of the fifty I mapped out. Now you know what has kept me busy all day."

The realization of the power he had access to made Charden give his father a dark smile with his equally pasty lips.

"I like this idea very much, but what do we do about the kingdoms that have the Atlantis Stones? Couldn't they be a problem for us later?"

Vlad nodded gravely.

"You are right, Charden. This is where your unique skills can be useful. The way I see it, aligning the events in such a way that they will be useful will take at least half of a week's time. It is a delicate process and I have to do it in a way where it will not overload the machine. While I calibrate the machine you can gather a group of men together and find a way to steal the other two pendants from the kingdoms of Basram and Egzardia. With Van and the others wandering around on the Mystic Moon, our plan will be foolproof."

Charden ran his fingers through his golden hair.

"I will have no problem carrying out a task like that. I have an army of doppelgangers willing to help with any task you need. Those stupid creatures will do anything for an excuse to go to war. They have deep loyalties to our bloodline anyway, for taking in many of their clans after the war."

Vlad unclasped his hands and pulled open another drawer. He took out a feathered pen and placed it beside a map that was resting on his desk.

"That is true. We also have many other people throughout Gaea that owe our family favors. We can use their false sense of loyalty to our advantage later. For now, use the doppelgangers and get the Atlantis Pendants back in one piece. When they are here I will properly dispose of them."

Charden have a wicked smile and turned to leave the room. When he got to the door he paused and stared back at his father with one golden eyebrow raised.

"I have to ask father; why DID you spend so much time trying to marry Van for off all of those years when you have been working on this plan the entire time?"

Vlad walked toward his son and put his bony hand on his shoulder.

"That should be obvious, my son. While Van was away courting princesses in the other kingdoms it gave me time to look through secret documents kept locked up in the royal safe house. I was able to find old technical plans that had been confiscated from the kingdom of Zaibach after the war. The old documents told me where to find the Tarndulosk and Kebarean Pendant, which the other kingdoms failed to recover after the fall of Zaibach. This small, fatal detail will spell the end for all of them. Everything else in Zaibach was either burned or destroyed after the war. Fate has made it so that we have the two relevant artifacts necessary for bringing the world of Gaea to its knees."

Charden laughed wickedly as Vlad took his hand off of his shoulder and cackled darkly with him. When the dark laughter ceased Charden gave a small nod in his father's direction.

"Leave everything to me, father. I will make sure you get the pendants you desire. I know that you do not want me to cause trouble just yet so I will behave myself. It will be a simple retrieving mission, no more, no less."

Vlad gave his son an affectionate look.

"Good because I would hate to see what would happen if our plan was uncovered before either of the artifacts could be used to their full potential."

Charden nodded and gave his father a small bow before walking through the open doorway and disappearing down the dark hall of the manner. Vlad sighed and returned to the large chair placed in front of his desk. He sat down in it and continued to tinker with the odd machine beside him.

"Fanelia and all of Gaea will be sorry that they ever made an enemy of Vladimir Kent. I will see to it that all kingdoms meet an ill fate when the power of the necklace is realized," he muttered to himself as he worked to chart the rest of the locations on a large map spread out on his desk.