Space Odyssey: Spectre

The Prince was finishing his speech at the balcony that looked over the massive amount of soldiers he had gathered. He had started it and was having it broadcast not just around the planet but to other planets in the Vexical Empire. There was even a good chance that other countries' rulers or ruling factions were watching the broadcast as well.

Prince Cassius Vexical, the first prince of the Vexical Empire, was declaring his intentions to commit a coup to replace his inept father. He was also already declaring the deaths of his siblings at the hands of assassins when he had yet to be notified that the attempted assassinations had failed. It was just like him to completely jump the gun like this. Fortunately they did not pick the prince because of his intelligence but rather because of his lack of intelligence.

Oberon did a slight turn as he looked at the throne room they were inside of. There were bodies strewn about. It seemed like the Emperor had anticipated something and evacuated all non-combatants from the building. So it was not a surprise when they had marched in here and subdued the guards, but it was a surprise that the Emperor's armor was not here. And it was starting to bother Oberon.

Most of the soldiers and guards they had killed were not as good as imperial guards should have been. So it made him even more suspicious. But as he looked at the Emperor calmly sitting on his knees restrained he felt his heart calm a little.

The soldiers they had brought were all in imperial infantry armor. It was a mix of soldiers loyal to Oberon and soldiers loyal to the prince. As much as a moron the prince was, it seemed he recognized the possibility of betrayal by his subordinates.

Oberon crouched by the Emperor, "Archduke Beltrum wanted me to inform you that you are a failure of an Emperor." The Emperor turned his head and looked at Oberon. "You failed to protect your wife and child. Then you failed to rein in your own son. Lastly you will fail to leave any lasting legacy."

"Are you done Oberon? Because I see no need to listen to your nonsense." The Emperor turned to look past Oberon.

Oberon stood and turned to look at the prince as he approached. "Bring him, we are going to the royal archives. There is something I need to take a look at." Prince Cassius declared as he began moving toward a set of doors.

They followed him and soon arrived at the library that was located in the palace. As they entered he sucked in his breath as he saw soldiers grabbing all of the books that were on shelves and putting them in massive carts. "I am grabbing all of the historical documents I can. But I still need access to the restricted section. Unfortunately it is behind a restricted vault that only you have access to." Oberon was aware that they would be going to the restricted vault in the library, since they needed something from there as well.

They walked through the library and soon arrived at a mirror. The mirror had a gold frame and the mirror itself was jaggedly shaped, less like a square door and more with jagged sides and irregular shape. It was large enough to fit people walking in two at a time.

"Open the passageway, or my half brother and my sister will die." Prince Cassius ordered. Oberon could not tell if the prince was aware of their spies' failures or was outright bluffing.

"You said they were dead." Emperor Natius growled out.

"I lied, now open the passageway."

Emperor Natius stepped forward out of the hands of guards who had picked him up and were forcing him to walk along. He bit his thumb and made a strange shape in blood on the mirror. It then began rippling as the blood disappeared.

"Is it safe?" One of the soldiers asked.

Prince Cassius walked over and pushed a soldier into the ripple. Then a moment later the soldier pushed his head back through. "It is safe." He then went back through.

Then Prince Cassius led the way with the others following behind. Quickly entering the mirror, once the last of them were clear and they were inside of another area that looked like a massive library the mirror stopped rippling. This side of the mirror was less extravagant. While the room itself looked like a giant cave that was buried deep underground. There were many stalactites and stalagmites around the open cavern.

They began making their way down the stairs and at the bottom the prince looked around for a moment before walking in a specific direction and they followed. They passed a number of books that looked unmarked at first. But when Oberon got close enough it looked like the words on the book's spines were not in a language he recognized.

"This is the bulk of the Requiem's heritage passed down to us. This was found at the same time as the machine that first spread the nanomachines." The emperor began explaining, "the machine itself was removed a long time ago but the Vexical family was entrusted with these records since we had close ties with the Hex family."

"Father, we do not care about those." Prince Cassius growled as they soon arrived in a more open and extravagant area. Sitting as the centerpiece of the room were two older leather-bound books. With clear human writing on the covers of both. "These are what we care about. Are there any security systems?"

"No." Emperor Natius answered.

Prince Cassius stepped forward and opened the glass case. At the same time Operon stepped forward and grabbed one of the books as Prince Cassius grabbed the other. "What do you think you are doing?" Prince Cassius asked with narrowed eyes full of suspicion.

"Archduke Beltrum asked me to retrieve the Hex Family records as well." Oberon informed the prince as he shuffled the book into a specific pocket he had set up for this.

"Haa… enough of this. Kill Oberon and his-"

BOOM!

Prince Cassius was cut off as an explosion rocked the chamber and they could see a massive stalactite fall from the roof. "What is going on?"

"Just the trap I had set up in case that was ever opened." Emperor Natius began roaring with laughter.

Prince Cassius grinned and stepped forward pulling the book out of the pocket Oberon had put it in. "I figured this might happen. Good thing I had a backup plan." He then pressed something as he put the book away.

The prince's form collapsed in on itself and turned into a whitish pink light before completely vanishing.

"How?" Oberon was stunned as he looked at the spot that the prince disappeared from.

"A teleportation device, how clever." The emperor pointed out before continuing to laugh, "but it looks like he was right!"

"What?" Oberon looked over to the emperor just as the soldiers were panicking and running away, hoping to safely get away.

"Ah I apologize," The emperor slightly bowed his head as he pressed something on his neck and the voice disappeared along with the mask that was his face and Oberon stood stunned. "What's wrong Oberon? It is only natural I would try to get you back for your betrayal." Imperial Guard Lenny Max was once in charge of the imperial family's protection but left years ago in shame due to the queen's death. Now he had returned at the request of the emperor to avenge the queen on the emperor's behalf. "If it makes you feel better, you all played right into our great Emperor's plans." He then looked up as a shadow fell over them. "Looks like our death has come."

The last thing that went through Oberon's head was not that he should not have died here. It was a regret that he thought had long ago disappeared. A regret that he started having after killing the innocent Queen and her son. A regret that he should never have sided with Archduke Beltrum for life long employment as a spy and assassin.