...And the Beginning

Deep within the Imperial Palace, was the home of the Imperial Emperor. Not much was known about him, seeing how this emperor came out of the blue, which was highly against the foresight of the masked man. He truly didn’t see this, but nevertheless, his plans would be accomplished. He would admire the ancient art that foretold the history of these lands by a mere look. Truly its art was a work of beauty; the mask man had admired this type of art for a long time, since he had seen the style of masterpieces evolve throughout time. His head would continue to circle around, observing the many jewels and famous swords that filled the room, "Nothing but history", he said, while sitting in the chair of the Imperial Emperor.

Yes, the masked man would dare occupy the chair of the Emperor, it was nothing but a chair, he thought. But he was not alone, for he couldn't have gotten this far within the palace without meeting some type of security clearance guards. They seven guards would lay on top of each other without a single scratch on them, lying unconscious. They were all placed on the far end of the throne room, hidden away from plain sight. Blood was not to be spilled here in this treasure room, someone like the masked man had to respect the valuable knowledge. He would also not kill the Emperor's guards without talking to the Imperial Emperor himself, respect was being given, except for the matter of the chair of course.

While the masked man occupied the throne chair, with his right leg over the other, cross, and his arms crossed as well, he would wait for the Emperor. The masked man would wait for the large doors to open, only to reveal a man dressed in a black like jump suit that had a vest over it to conceal what he wanted to be concealed, a hood that was attached to the vest that also conceal most of the man’s head, and to only be complemented with a crème colored ceramic mask that covered his face. The emperor would dine with an interesting figure tonight, for what he could offer the man was power beyond all recognition.

The idea that an emperor was always on his throne was a ludicrous idea. Kuro was always kept busy with deals, production lines, and other various businesses he attended to. Being the most powerful and richest man in China did have its faults, so he was not often sitting on his throne. When he did, it was mostly to relax from his daily duties. Admittedly, it was only because he had just been instated as the emperor that his schedule was so busy. As such, he would have much more free time later. Until then though, he was annoyed. As intelligent and cunning as he was, even he couldnt free his schedule instantly. Since he was so busy, Simon would have waited a few hours.

When Kuro finally walked in, time slowed down for him... thanks to geass, which was covered from view by his hair.. He eyed the bodies for a moment, turning his attention to the masked man. He could see the bodies were alive, as they were moving ever so slightly. He grinned at the masked man. "Dont want to know, dont care, get the fuck out of my seat, and we can talk. Ive had a long day, not in the mood for games." Oddly reminded of the same feeling that his contractor gave him, he frowned. She did mention it was possible there were other immortals. It was possible, and not all that surprising. The man had the same type of body posture she did as well, indicating either immortality fixed the body to be perfect in ways even he didnt know of, the man was secretly her, or that the man was related to her.

"Im glad you didnt kill them, but Id rather not have to kill you, so what do you want?" Kuro spoke with that casual grin. He had little doubt this man was somehow related to the woman who had given him geass, but if he was right, then he could easily profit from this. He wondered briefly if it was possible to attain two Geass. If it was, he was damn sure not going to pass that opportunity up. Although his contractor had not explained much about it, he learned all he knew by his own experiences. For one, it was obvious every geass was different, that much she had explained, but that each had separate branches of powers was something he learned on his own.

The ever so patient man would continue to sit on the throne, waiting for what felt like an eternity. Simon's sense of time was forever destroyed, due to his current status of being. An immortal who was impatient, such a laugh it was. His eyes would then widen as he saw the door open, his fingers would continue to rapidly tap the right side of his head, and for his rand hand had changed position due to the strenuous waiting. "At last", he said beneath his breath in a horrible groggy tone.

Behind the mask of the mysterious man, a smile would form; this emperor was indeed, different in the terms of word choices. He would then wonder about whether he should change the way he greeted people, Simon was the type of person who would normally go to someone, instead of letting people find him. However, Simon would abide by the Emperor's command, for now, it would only drag out the meeting to an unnecessary length, like the last one. "Very well, forgive me for the intrusion, but i am on a tight schedule, surely you can understand?" His last bit was a jab to the emperor, to give hint that he had been here for quite some time.

"Yes, them, I try not to take things without cause, it would have been truly unfortunate to destroy the art that you have here." He said this while pacing around the throne, taking a few more glances here and there at the treasure. He would then stop behind the throne, crossing his hands behind his back. "Now, for the reason why I came here. I take it since you are new to the throne, you might be also new to this game, the dance of politics, so to speak." he would clear his throat once more, his groggy tone kicking in once more, but not to the point where the Emperor could barely understand. "Tell me, how do you see yourself now, how is your military power, your state of economy, do you know how high your poverty rates are? Do you even know how well your international trade routes are secured?" He would bombard the emperor with these questions, to see what kind of reaction he could get out of him.

"I ask these things because if accepted, I can help you achieve a goal that all Kings of time have strived for..." His fist would tighten a little; such a line was said to him before, but at an earlier time, an extremely earlier time. The Emperors position was so familiar to Simon, so very familiar.

Kuro grinned, walking towards the man more now. So he was an immortal, that was obvious. The same exact sentences, the same theatrics... "Save your theatrics, I'm all for gaining more power. I am a man who loves to gain power, even if I never use it." Kuro's grin grew wider now. "However, what is the catch? Im no fool, so what is it you want?" Kuro had spoken these exact words to the other immortal before.

(Short post, cant think)

Simon would watch as the man would take a few steps forward as they were now 20 feet apart from each other, as well as the sinister smile that took place. "My theatrics? There nothing more but a few mannorisms that i have picked up along the way here, forgive me." he would see that this man was one that would crave power, just like the King of Britannia, except this one was more open about it.

"You see, in my travels here, i noticed that your military support proved to be quite, lacking. Your technological placement in this world could use a fine tune up. I am here to offer you a deal, a deal that you and i can both gain from. The world is at war, the war sirens are calling." Simon would then slowly reach into his vest, pulling out scroll from before, the same scroll that was like the one for King Henry. The scroll however didn’t contain land details, or anything of the sort. The scroll contained blueprints to what appears to be a highly advanced Nightmare frame. It also contained the same ancient phrase from before, the description of geass.

In its earlier days it managed to bring down many bold and proud men that sought for it, its name was forever lost but held strong onto reality. Its indigo color would glisten when looked upon, shining towards those who would come into the presence of its master. The arc that lay upon that color would ascend to those that would be unworthy to its master. Its terrible power would mold into the image of its maker, spreading the word that would be known today as King. The Power of the King it was.

"Here, take this offering of power, it could very well lead to the goal at which you seek, to gain power to hold only use it at your command." he would say this as he would toss it towards the Emperor. The scroll was sealed tight with the blue ribbon, secured so that it would make its way towards him.

"Tell me, do you believe in the supernatural? God, the devil... higher deities?"

Kuro deftly caught the scroll, twirling it between his fingers. He grinned, already having a clue as to what was inside. Blueprints for something, or other information. If it was any information, it could have easily been spoken though, unless they had reason to believe someone was spying on him, which was doubtful. He chuckled once more. "God? The Devil? Of course I believe. I dont believe in coincidences. You came here for a purpose, not to hear my philosophy. However, seeing as I rarely get a chance to enlighten those such as yourself, let me ask you this. How could we exist in a world where nothingness, yes, the very idea of space itself, exists if it was not formed by a higher power? Could we be conscious in such a world? If so, I would rather live with false hope than true depression, wouldnt you?" His words were ages ahead of his actual age, showing simply how intelligent he truly was. And to think, that was without using geass.

Kuro chuckled. "I think you misunderstand my goal though. While I love power, I love freedom, to have power over a free society is an interesting idea, but it wouldnt work that well. So what do you truly want? Your question states that you believe in the super natural, and by asking it in response to my earlier question you prove that you somehow have the ability to bestow upon me a supernatural power, this... power of the king is it?" Kuro grinned. "I see more than you would believe, and know more than most can think exists." In order, Kuro had deftly answered the question, stayed mysterious about it, asked a counter question, seen through the metaphorical phrasing, seen through it all right to the point, and and shown that he knew something of the power of geass. It would be fairly impressive to mostly anyone.

"How could we exist in a world where nothingness, yes, the very idea of space itself, exists if it was not formed by a higher power you say?" Simon would glare at the emperor, making a judgment that would label him for now. Simon would have to label the one as a intuitive one, asking a question of that caliber. "We could go on and on about that, the chicken and the egg babble of repetivness. But yes, there is a Higher power, it’s just so high strung that it has been overlooked by many."

Simon would also hear that the emperor would rather live a lie, than see the true in what life could really be. Those worlds would force Simon to tell the emperor a few truths of his own. "You rather live in a world of lies, which is shame, coming from a intuitive person such as yourself. To willingly place a blindfold over yourself instead of viewing the truth, is practically ignorance to the letter. No, I wouldn't want to hinder my intelligence to such a degree as so." Simon's groggy voice had taken over, as he had expressed something that he hadn't expressed in a long time. "Then you talk about your love for power, your love wants for freedom…, after you speak of such nonsense?" The two would rant on back and forth, as Simon would be cut off by the unbelievable. "My dear boy, you question wha-", the boy had knowledge of the power. He knew the power of the kings beforehand, seeing how he mentioned it before he opened the scroll.

The Emperor's smile would cause Simon to boil with rage, could his plans be undone here, he asked himself? Simon's face would forge itself into a mirror of pure disbelief, but was shrouded by the mask, a thankful cover. Simon had slowly walked around the throne chair, as he would now be beside it, "How do you know that?" He said so in a hard cold tone, his fists were forever tight. Simon's brain was instantly calculating the possible outcomes that would figure out how the boy would come into contact with such privileged information it only took 3 trys for him to come to a final answer. Simon's mouth would speak the answer, but with no voice, just mouthing it with anger, "The other one", her sinister laughs would creak in and out of his complex mind.

Kuro's grinned fell, his eyes changing into geass. In that instant, many things happened. One, his geass was no revealed over his strangely exotic eyes. Two, he used his geass to unleash the full muscle power he had by altering the brain's control over it, making himself much, much stronger. Three, he sacrificed the sense of smell in order to speed his perception of time up, showing him what would look like in slow motion, which meant his current reflexes were off the charts. What happened next was simple. Kuro charged forward, grabbing at the immortal by the neck, slamming him into the wall with the force of a freight train.

"Look here you little shit." Kuro spat. "You barge into my home, invade my palace, sit in my throne, insult my country, spit in my face at my hospitality, and then you insult my beliefs?!" Kuro increased the pressure he was putting on the immortal's throat. "I dont give two shits about your pride, this country's pride, or even my own pride, however.." Kuro took a momentary breath, calming down in both tone and posture. "You, as an immortal, should know better than to misinterpret and insult someone's beliefs. You assumed I had no knowledge, no idea what you were, no geass, no real power. You came in here as a fool, do not expect my hospitality again. Honestly, you obviously prize yourself above mortals, yet you came here with the same ignorance, the same illusions of grandeur."

Kuro's arm was not shaking like a normal person's would have. "I could truly kill you, I dont mean cut off your head, I mean blast you into the fucking sun. I could chain you down in a prison so deep for so long you wouldnt even know your own name. Oh yes, I have knowledge most do not, as you do. The difference is, I know how to abuse my knowledge to my gain, and to come into enemy territory, or even an unallied nation's land without such knowledge... you are a fool, yet you presume to reside above me. Do not think yourself dealing with a teenager, I experienced true pain and true gain, I know both sides of every coin you know, and several you dont."

Kuro slid his free hand through his hair. "Now if you still want to see if this double geass will work, Ill accept, but I would rather we start off on the right foot next time, knocking out my guards was foolish really. It made me utterly aware of your intentions, power, and skill. If I had been more hostile, Id have already melted you in a pit of lava. Now, lets forget this little incident, and work something out to best benefit us both." Kuro smiled, letting go of the immortal.

Simon dropped to the floor, flat on his feet as he tried to regain his perfect posture. While fixing his clothes, he would nod his head a little as he would pace towards a direction that out some distance between them. A few cracks of the neck were made, the sound echoed throughout the throne room.

"You are quite strong indeed", he said, as he felt his neck, still sore from the powerful grip of the emperor. "However you are right, let us... start over fresh. Starting with that geass of yours, answer this and we will see about this... double geass." Simon spoke with a bit more respect, seeing how he will have to watch what he says, the geass power that the emperor had was still unknown to him. Strength, speed... never has he come across such an anomaly, a geass that granted the user two abilities.

It was then decided that he would have to travel back to the lab, to do more research on whether or not she was dead or alive. Her existence could hinder Simon's plan greatly. For not, he had to gather as much information he could.

[next post will be more detailed]