Regius

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* * * * Notes the end of a
scene

~~~~~~~~ Notes the start of
a flashback

Altors =
Guardian

Regius = Royal

Pallium = Veiled
one

The far off sound of
footsteps resonating through the long, brick filled alley had
Galax's heart racing, but even if this meant the Altor soldiers
were closing in on him, he had his fear under control. Cypress had
his men working twice as hard, which Galax couldn't fault him. Were
he in the District Leader's position, he too would be extra
cautious over his territory after a Regius attack.

Galax allowed an annoyed
growl to escape his throat when the alley turned out to be a
cul-de-sac. There were so many of those in Cobalt City, it
shouldn't have surprised him that he'd ended up trapped in one.
Either he climbed upwards and risked being spotted by other
soldiers, or he broke into the house in front of him. Gritting his
teeth, he grabbed the doorknob and could not silence the nagging
thought of having had to use his strength more often than usual as
he crushed the lock with only his hand. Flux would not be pleased
with how he was behaving at the moment.

Stepping into the small
house, Galax gently closed the door behind him all the while
scanning the room he found himself in. He noticed a small kitchen
in the right corner, a fireplace that served as stove to the left
and beside it was a round table where the owners of the house most
likely ate their dinner. It had a pile of laundry on it and he
noticed that the fire was toned down, nearly dying out.

He moved silently after
seeing the small bed on the opposite side of the room with the
child sleeping in it. Civilians. He could only count that as a good
thing.

Crouching before the
fireplace, he grabbed one of the coals that had rolled out of the
fireplace and rubbed it between his hands until they were
completely black. His blood didn't allow him to dye his hair
successfully, but he could dirty it up and disguise it for at least
a little while. Running his hands through his hair, he was glad to
see that they were darkening, but he didn't stop there, continuing
to smear some coal dust on his face in hope that the royal mark
wouldn't be as visible.

His heart jumped into his
throat when the child turned, letting out some sleepy noises and
most likely having sensed his presence, but far too deep in slumber
to wake. Knowing he had been in the house too long already, Galax
stood and picked the neatly folded cloak, likely belonging to the
child's father, off the table and wrapped it around his shoulders
and neck, hiding the lower part of his face. With all these
changes, hopefully the soldiers roaming the Cobalt City streets
like hawks would mistake him for a Pallium or a Ranger and not feel
the need to turn on their Altor vision to do a check up on the
color of his heart.

Who was he kidding; they
were probably all constantly sporting the vision at the moment.
Cypress would have ordered it. Again, Galax couldn't fault the man;
he would have done the same thing. But at least he could hope that
the attire would have them do a double take, giving him a head
start.

Before leaving through the
opposite window to a new alley and hopefully not another
cul-de-sac, Galax took one of the chairs from around the table and
moved it towards the front door so he could shove it under the
handle and have it behave as a make shift lock. You never knew in
cities as large as Cobalt. After all,
he
had broken in.

Silently opening, climbing
and closing the small window, Galax breathed in the warm night air
while looking left and right to make sure no Altor soldiers were
around. So far, so good. When he started walking, he cringed at the
sound of the small heels beneath his shoes echoing. The cringe was
replaced with a grimace as he lifted his leg and used his Regius
strength to tear them off. At the rate he was going, he would soon
forget logic and use his strength on everything he could. The many
years Flux spent teaching himself control and breathing methods to
tone down his violent reactions would go straight out the
window.

While that thought would
have halted him before, he only walked faster now, successfully
pushing the idea to the back of his mind. He would give in to the
nature of the Regius if it could save Solenum.

* * * *

Why he hadn't gone to the
Rangers Tavern instantly, Galax didn't know. He should have known
he would find the obnoxious pirate there. Isa was either up in the
sky, tossing back beer after beer in the tavern or, through recent
discoveries, harassing his girlfriend. Isa didn't have the finesse
to kidnap Solenum as expertly as it had been done, and while the
pirate's devoted interested in Solis made him want to rearrange
Isa's face, it also told him that he wouldn't harm her.

Galax knew it had to have
been Digitalis or Rhamnus who had taken Solenum. He knew why the
Regius had taken her. They must have somehow found out what she
meant to him and he could see the logic in Xania's move. Take
Solenum and Galax will follow. For his sanity, he didn’t want to
know what they would do to her. All he could do was do exactly what
Xania wanted. But he would do so through some calculated moves and
with the help of a power grander than any other known in Zinc.
Vervaine.

But to get to the Coliseum
in the Meadows of Serenium, he couldn't take the boat like any
normal person would. Flux must have noticed his and Solenum's lack
of presence in the garage and warned Cypress about it. If he
stepped into Cobalt's harbor, soldiers would take him down and drag
him back to Pallium territory.

His adoptive father may
believe he and Solis had run off, ignoring his order of having to
stay in the garage, but Galax had made sure to keep them in the
loop by writing his sister a note. 'Solenum was kidnapped. I'm
going after her', is all it said. No details or else they would be
after him in a matter of seconds. He could have included them in
the plan to get Solis back, but they would have kept him locked
away for his own safety, fearing Xania and the Regius would get to
him. He was not going to sit and wait around while the others tried
to find his girlfriend. Or more accurately, he would not sit and
listen to them say that Solenum was most likely already
dead.

Tucking the cloak more
securely around his face, Galax stepped inside the Tavern and was
instantly washed over by loud music with a dark melody. The place
smelled like sweat, cigarettes and alcohol and due to the lack of
space and the many people in it, he felt slightly suffocated. But
the atmosphere was joyous. The Rangers were laughing, singing,
conversing and arguing enthusiastically, most likely letting one
another in on their recent adventures up in the sky.

When Galax stepped into the
light, several Rangers stopped in their doings and allowed
themselves to scan him over. He knew those were the ones that had
needed the trigger and had obtained the Altor vision. But even if
his heart was blue and this was normally perceived as danger, these
weren't Altors any longer. The Rangers were used to interacting
with the Regius, so Galax could only breathe out a sigh of relief
when they simply returned to their own business.

He spotted a couple of
crew member's belonging to Apnea and Juglan. While the captain
himself was not present, he saw Dell McDuffy, Apnea's techie,
playing darts with other pirates. Guo Jivan, Apnea's mast monkey,
was playing guitar up on the small wooden stage and then finally
Galax's eyes landed on Isa. Juglan's first and heir to Apnea when
the Captain deemed it time. If Juglan had chosen Isa, it meant that
the pirate had leadership qualities that were worthy of the captain
title, which was hard to get since Juglan's standards were high. It
also meant that Isa had an I.Q. high enough to man a sky-ship.
Galax knew he was forced to believe it as Juglan's word was law,
but he couldn't quite picture Isa being that valuable. After all,
their relationship was strained. Even if they'd known each other
for years, they'd never gotten along because Isa always had the
obnoxious tendency to remind Galax of his origin. And if it had
been salvageable before, due to Isa's driven need to mess with his
girlfriend, it
definitely
was not anymore.

Marching over to the bar
where Isa was buying another beer for a cute fellow Ranger, Galax
made sure Isa couldn't swallow the last of his drink by grabbing
the cup and forcefully planting it back down on the wooden bar. To
say the pirate was surprised was an understatement, more so when
Galax continued to grab the guy's wrist and used his strength to
make sure Isa couldn't break free and was forced to wobble off of
his stool and follow him out of the tavern. Galax found it slightly
amusing that nobody was surprised Isa had seemingly gotten in
trouble again.

"Hey!" The pirate tugged,
but quickly realized Galax wasn't about to let go. "Wait till I
tell your daddy about your lack of control." Galax rolled his eyes
and tossed the guy out of the tavern, glad that the loudness of the
music and overall noise of the place drowned out when the door shut
behind him.

"My behavior is none of
your business." Galax growled.

Isa wrinkled his nose,
rubbing the wrist that was most likely aching. "What crawled up
your ass?" He paused. "And what the fuck are you doing here? You
never leave Pallium territory." Isa looked around them, the frown
on his face deepening. "Where are your bodyguards?"

The irritation,
frustration, anger and worry that had settled inside of Galax ever
since he'd found out Solenum had been kidnapped, momentarily broke
free. Letting out a noise of rage, Galax gripped the pirate's
collar and shoved him up against the wall that belonged to the
tavern.

"The sound of your voice is
enough to make me want to kill, so if I were you, I'd start using
it only when it is truly necessary."

Although Galax could hear
that Isa's heart beat had marginally quickened and that the
pirate's blood was flowing faster due to slight fear, Isa made sure
not to let his discomfort show on his face.

"Ah, I see. You've finally
figured out that taming the Regius within is impossible and since
I'm the biggest pain in your backside, you went out of your way to
find me so you could unleash the cruelty." The pirate grinned. "I'm
touched, your highness. The lengths you've gone through to finally
hurt me the way you've wanted for years is flattering."

"Xania had Solenum
kidnapped." Galax punched the wall beside Isa's head, swallowing
down the pain with ease even though blood seeped out of his
scratched knuckles. "I'm here because I need you to convince Juglan
to ignore his truce and longtime friendship with my father and
bring me to the Meadows of Serenium so I can have the Seer help me
find her." Isa's eyes had widened at the news of Solenum's
situation and the fear that had been pooling inside of the pirate's
body before had been replaced with deep concern for
Solis.

The Ranger gulped.
"I…yeah." He nodded his head frantically. "Of course. I'll do
everything in my power." Galax breathed a sigh of relief at Isa's
promise, suddenly a tad grateful for the pirate's deep interest in
his girlfriend. Without it, Isa might not have helped. "Are you
sure there is still time?"
Isa edged.