The darker side of control - Prisoner

"Whoa, what was that sound?", said Alex while turning around.

"Turn around, prisoner", said the soldier guarding Alex while poking him with a stick.

"Poke me again and I'll put that stick where the sun don't shine"

The soldier backed off, while throwing the stick on the ground.

"For a Royal Guard, you sure talk a lot", said Count Anthony.

"For a hmm, whatever you are, you don't talk enough, Anthony."

"It's Count Anthony to you, imperial scum."

"Whoa, that was a little harsh, judging me from my uniform, Mr Anthony. I'm sure that once you get to know me, we could become pretty good friends"

The other soldiers just watched the banter between Alexander and Count Anthony. They had never seen the ruthless Count Anthony say any sentence that didn't include threatening someone or swearing allegiance to his cause. They were also awed by Alex's composure, bantering with the person that would most likely kill him without hesitating.

"So, we've been walking for a while now. Where are you taking us?", asked Alex while observing his surroundings.

"You'll find out once we get there", answered Count Anthony.

"Are you looking for any particular tree? Maybe this one, or that one..."

Alex began pointing in seemingly random directions. But then, his finger started glowing. By the time Count Anthony realized this, Alex was already jumping towards him.

"Imperial jolt!"

"Revolution halt!"

Alex's finger clashed with Anthony's palm, resulting in a flash of light. All of the soldiers drew their weapons, getting ready to fight.

"Not bad, Anthony. Not bad at all..." Alex drew his sword.

"I should say the same to you. Pretty brave of you, I could just tell my bosses that you died on the way..." Anthony drew his guns.

The situation was at a standstill. Anthony and Alex didn't move, they just stared at each other, sizing each other up. The soldiers didn't dare move before their leaders attacked. Alex's forces were outnumbered, but Anthony didn't feel like he had an advantage.

"Sir, something's coming!" a soldier shouted, but Alex and Anthony didn't care. They just continued staring at each other.

Suddenly, there was a loud roar. A black apparition appeared out of nowhere and charged towards them. The black apparition landed, hit two of Anthony's soldiers, and stopped.

"Looks like we've found them earlier than expected, Arissa", said Meera as she came out of the Range Rover.

Arissa came out, followed by their captive.

"Go jump of a cliff or something"

The captive followed obediently, running into the woods never to be seen again.

Alex and Anthony didn't care what was happening around them. The dog of war had already barked. They charged at each other with weapons in hand.

"Feel the power of a royal guard!"

"The time of imperialists has ended! Revolution!"

The darker side of control - Blue

"Sir, do you think that we could umm, have some fun before we killed them? No one will know, right?"

The soldiers began cheering at the thought, albeit a little silently to prevent Count Anthony from hearing them. The person left in charge however remained silent, looking at Alex's sword that was buried deep through the chest of his dead comrade. He went to the body, mumbled some words and took something off the dead person's uniform.

"Do what you want. Just make sure you kill them afterwards", said the leader.

The soldiers were estatic. They were like schoolchildren, boasting about what they were going to do while fighting about who was going to go first.

"Come on, so who's gonna go in first?"

The situation was heating up, as every single one of the soldiers wanted to go into the Range Rover first. The leader just shook his head and turned a blind eye towards the antics of his subordinates. A soldier approached him.

"Sorry Sir, but this is getting nowhere. Could you please decide for us?"

"I couldn't care less, but that guy over there. It looks like he could use some action"

The leader pointed to a nervous looking soldier. The others cheered as they pushed the nervous soldier towards the Range Rover. He climbed in and slammed the door shut. Some violent shaking ensued, as the soldiers outside gave even more screams of encouragement.

The cheering was deafening, as if the soldiers didn't even care if Count Anthony heard them. The leader could swear he could hear familiar clicking sounds, but by the time he realized what the sound was it was too late. The door swung open and the nervous soldier came out.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three shots were fired, all of them hitting the celebrating soldiers.

"For an idiot coming in with two half loaded guns, he has pretty good aim", said Meera as she and Arissa climbed out of the Range Rover.

The soldier panicked and shot towards Arissa and Meera but all they could hit was the nervous soldier as he dodged towards each bullet as if his life depended on it. The soldier fell kneeling to the ground in a hail of bullets.

"Stop it!" Screamed the leader, as he tried to calm down his now dumbfounded soldier but the sight of gunning down their own comrade proved to much to take, as some of the soldiers had started puking.

"What the hell did you do!" Screamed the leader as he took out his gun and aimed it at Arissa and Meera.

Arissa remained silent. Meera was awed by her friend's remarkable composure as she looked nervously at the gun pointed towards them.

"Die!" screamed the leader as he began shooting.

"Protect me!" Commanded Arissa, her eyes gleaming an eerie blue.

All of the shots connected, but they connected at the soldiers jumping towards Arissa and Meera. The leader shot at them until all of his soldiers died and he ran out of bullets. Arissa walked calmly towards him, her eyes gleaming that eerie blue again.

"Now it's my turn. Take me to my father"

The darker side of control - Surrender

"It seems that they have us surrounded, Sir. The ratio of their soldiers to ours is about three to one. It would have been four if it wasn't for the stunt you pulled back there", said a soldier calmly analyzing the situation.

"If it was five to one, then we should worry", said Alex.

"Not all of us are killing machines like you, Sir", said a soldier beginning to worry.

Alex analyzed the situation. Apart from the sound of their cars' engines, everything else was silent. If he wasn't trained in the art of warfare, he could swear that there wasn't a battalion of soldiers surrounding them getting ready to attack.

"Seems that they're waiting for orders or something. Let's attack first", said Alex getting excited.

As soon as Alex said that, they were showered by lasers.

"Oh, this can't be good"

Shots were fired everywhere. Alex's soldiers didn't even have time to scream. The accurate and plentiful to ensure that the soldiers would die a quick death.

"Damn, didn't they learn anything from the academy?"

Alex closed his eyes, held his sword firmly and started chanting. Some soldiers did that same. Some just closed their eyes and got ready to fall in the hail of bullets.

"Imperial rook formation!" Screamed Alex.

The soldiers begun to swing their swords faster and faster. At first it just seemed like an act of desperation, until the enemies saw that their bullets were flying back at them, killing some of them in the process.

"Idiots. This is why we don't use guns. Imperial bishop formation!"

Alex began chanting and stuck his sword into the ground. Metal spikes came out everywhere, hitting the still bedazzled enemies.

"What is he?" That was the last words of most of the people who fell victim to the Imperial Bishop.

By now, Alex's force had depleted to only seven people, and that was including Arissa and Meera.

The enemies numbers had also diminished thanks to Alex. Suddenly, an enemy came out of the forest with twin desert eagles. He looked like their leader, with his extravagant uniform and his knee length cape.

"This is meaningless. If we continue, the only people that will be left is us, Mr..."

"Sir Alexander of the Royal Knights" interrupted Alex.

"Okay then Sir Alex, I'm Count Anthony. Let me put it to you this way. My soldier has your 'fair maidens' at gunpoint."

As Alex turned around, he heard Meera scream. There was an enemy soldier by the door of his Range Rover. The enemy soldier stepped back and fell slowly. There was a sword in his chest. Alex's spare sword. Alex knew what he had to do.

"Okay, we'll surrender. But you have to promise to let the two girls go"

Alex and his remaining men put down their swords and were immediately surrounded by the enemy soldiers. They were walked into the forest where they slowly dissapeared into the forest. A soldier walked towards Count Anthony.

"Are we letting the girls go?"

"Nonsense. We've captured one of the top royal knights. That's all we need."

"What about the rest, Sir?"

Count Anthony put his guns back into their holsters on his belt. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and opened them again.

"Kill them all"

The darker side of control - Guardian

"Heey, are you okay?"

Meera looked at Arissa, slapping here face gently.

"Uhhhmmm...", Arissa managed to squeeze out some form of verbal sign before she passed out again.

"Let her rest. She's earned it."

Meera thought Alex was being sarcastic until she realized that Alex looked serious.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you weren't there so... Well I just saw a glimpse of it too, but the moment I saw it I knew what it was."

"What did you see?" Meera asked excitedly with a hint of irritation.

"I saw her mother." said Alex while staring out the window.

"Huh? What do you mean? Her mother's still alive? And she was there?"

Meera was confused. She took a look at Arissa and immediately knew what she had to do.

"Turn around!" Screamed Meera.

The driver slammed the brakes, pulled the handbrake and tugged on the steering wheel. The car spun 180 degrees. The rover behind them almost collided head on with them, just barely dodging.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Alex screamed with Arissa in his arms.

"Well, she told me to turn around, so..." answered the driver as if nothing had happened.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU TELL HIM TO TURN AROUND? WE ALMOST DIED, DAMMIT!"

"Well, you said her mother was there, so..." answered Meera a little frightened by Alex. His look had a little mix of fear and anger, but it was mostly fear.

Alex calmed down after seeing Arissa almost wake up because of his shouting.

"Oh, you were mistaken. I meant that at that exact moment, she looked exactly like her mother."

"Well Sir, you could have explained it better", said the driver as they continued their journey.

Alex's face looked red. He was silent for a moment, then he continued his explanation.

"Arissa's mother was different. There was just something about her. She looked normal, but she had an uncanny ability to bring men to their knees."

"So that monkey must've been male", mumbled Meera.

"What do you mean? She used it on the monkeys before we arrived?"

Meera tried her best to remember what happened earlier.

"I'm not sure, but I think that's why the monkey's stopped attacking before you arrived."

"Are you sure? Her mother could only use the ability once a day, even then she would pass out for the whole day", explained Alexander.

Meera was amazed. She finally understood what happened on Arissa's birthday. She wanted to ask more questions, but she didn't have the heart to interrupt Alex as he was lovingly stroking Arissa's hair.

"When we arrive, you'll find the answers to almost all your questions", said Alex as if he could read Meera's mind.

"The car ahead is slowing down. Something's wrong," said the driver.

"Take care of Arissa. I hate to impose this on you, but you have to be her trusted guardian now. I can't always be there to protect her", said Alex while putting Arissa into Meera's arms and his spare sword into her hands.

"Tell everyone to get ready. We've been followed from the moment we left. Luckily, that 'stunt' you pulled actually cost them some of their people."

Alexander took his sword and opened the door. The others followed.


"Let us grant their wish of an early death, even if they did not wish so."

The darker side of control - Father

"Hey, you."

Arissa slowly opened her eyes to see a familiar figure sitting at the side of her bed.

"So your awake? Your lucky I came when I did, you know. One minute later I'd have to drag your carcass here."

"Very funny, father. Anyway, where's Meera?"

"I told you to call me "daddy". She's okay, it's you that I'm worried about. You were passed out when I saw you. The last time that happened, it was..."

Arissa interrupted her father.

"I don't wanna remember that day. Hey how do you know about it?"

"I know more than you think I do. Who else do you think had to cover up the mess you made? I mean, all the bodies..."

"Lalala, I'm not listening, uuggh...", Arissa stumbled while trying to get out of the bed.

"Don't try to get up. I don't know what happened in the forest, but you're totally drained."

"I'm not sure. One minute I was awake, and the other I wasn't."

A young, well built man entered the room.

"Sir Alex, we should go now. His majesty is not fond of tardiness."

Alex got up. He pet Arissa's head.

" Righto. Hey kiddo, I gotta go now. Peace out."

The young man suddenly unsheathed his sword.

"Someone here?" Asked the young man steadily gripping his sword.

Alex nodded. Arissa tried to understand the situation, but she was just too tired. She just looked at her father. It was weird, as she had never seen her father like this. He was serious.

"Hey, where's Meera?" Asked Arissa, while trying to get up.

"She's with the rest of 'us'. You, stay with her. I'm gonna check on them."

Alex left the room. The young man stood by Arissa's bed with his sword in hand.

"Don't be nervous, we do this sort of thing all the time", said the young man. He seemed more nervous than Arissa, though. Arissa was just too tired to notice anything. Especially that person coming through the window. And the two people coming through the door. Armed with swords. And the fact that the young man was struggling against them. Arissa did notice that the person entering from the window was trying to strike the young man from behind.

"Watch out!" Arissa screamed with her remaining strength.

The young man succeeded in parrying the blow but the shock caused him to let go of his sword. However, the other people in the room now had their attention on Arissa. They came up to her, two of them chanting something. The middle one raised his sword, and made the mistake of giving her a compassionate glance. He froze, with his sword still raised. The other two were confused, so they chanted even harder. Arissa, who was already drained at this point, too drained that she couldn't even faint anymore. She just seemed to fade in an out of consciousness. The two people who were chanting had came to the point where they were chanting into the ears of the person in the middle. The middle one seemed to have gained his senses, shook his head and continued to finish the job.

"For his majesty, the king!" Yelled the young man as picked up his sword and slashed the three people from the back of their necks, instantly killing them.

Alex entered the room.

"Nice job" commented Alex while checking up on Arissa.

"Sir Alex, what just happened now? I was... and then she was... and they just..."

"She's more like her mother than she will ever know."

Alex carried his daughter out, followed by the young man. There were bodies everywhere. All with only a single cut, all at various vital points. He knew this handywork too well.

"Hey, stop dilly dallying and get into the car. Everyone else is already in", said Alex while putting Arissa into one of the Range Rovers.

"Did he do this alone?" Asked the young man as he got into the car.

"When we came here, it was already like this", answered the driver.


"Multiple precision cuts in the heat of battle. It could only be the Captain of the Royal Knights, Alexander"

The darker side of control - Trees

"Are you sure this is the place? There's nothing here."

Meera was right. They were in the middle of nowhere. The only thing that was around them were trees. Lots of tall, bushy trees, doing what they do best. Which is being trees, of course.

"I'm sure that it's here. At least I think it is. Hey I think I know that tree. Oh wait it's just a tree", said Arissa trying to familiarize herself in the area she claimed that was just like the back of her hand.

"Let's face it. We're lost."

"No we aren't. That tree looks familiar. Or is it that one?"

Arissa just seemed to be pointing at random trees.

"What is it with your obsession with these trees. Were your parents dryads or something?"

"I'm sure father wasn't, but mom on the other hand..."

"I can't take this anymore. If you point at any more trees I'm gonna break your finger off", said Meera while kicking a tree stump out of anger.

"Meera, nooooooo....." screamed Arissa.

"Relax, I know. I broke my high heel. It's just a shoe. Sheesh, you are such a drama queen. I got spares in my car."

"No it's not that. I think you made the tree spirits angry."

"You are such a..."

Meera's words were interrupted by the sudden shaking of the tree behind her. Then the tree behind that one shook. Then the one behind that one. Soon. it seemed like the whole forest was shaking. Leaves fell everywhere.

"You know, this would be beautiful if it wasn't foretelling our certain doom, hehe" giggled Arissa.

"Hey stop kidding, you dryad. That's not funny. That's not even remotely funny. C'mon, lets get back into the car."

A tree branch fell right in front of Meera.

"Hey you should apologize to the tree spirits", Arissa said calmly.

More branches fell around Meera. The branches landed right beside her, each of them barely missing her.

"Hey why is this only happening to me?"

"Like I said, you're the one that angered the tree spirits."

"Ok, Ok, I'm sorry Mr tree spirit or whatever."

Arissa couldn't control herself anymore. She laughed so hard her eyes watered. Seeing the dumbfounded look on Meera's face only added fuel to the fire. Arissa tried to think of sad thoughts to suppress her laughter, and after seven or eight sad thoughts later, she finally managed to lower it down to a giggle.

"Relax, they're just hungry monkeys", said Arissa wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Since when were hungry monkeys any better than angry tree spirits?"

"Umm...Ruuuun!" Screamed Arissa.

The monkeys came down from the trees. In a matter of seconds, they were everywhere. They were all over the car. Arissa and Meera were trapped. A monkey came forward.

"Umm, I think it's the leader."

Arissa also moved forward.

"Oh, you're so cute. C'mon, let me pet you."

"Hey, that's not a kitty. Arissa, come back. It could be dangerous."

The monkey suddenly screeched and charged at Arissa. Arissa didn't move an inch. She just stared at the monkey. The monkey raised its paw getting ready for the finishing blow. It looked into Arissa's eyes, and suddenly...just stopped. It turned around and commanded the other monkeys to stand down.

"Good boy..." Arissa said before fainting. Luckily she was caught by Meera who jumped towards her. The monkey turned around.

"Oh, come on." said Meera, at her wits end.

The monkeys were getting ready to charge, when three black Range Rovers appeared from out of nowhere. The monkeys scattered all over the place. A man came out of the main Range Rover and headed towards them.



"Better late then never, right?"

The darker side of control - Prolouge

"Damn it. It's happening again. Why is he following me? I just looked at him for like 3 seconds, and now he's following me like a lost puppy. Why does this happen EVERY SINGLE TIME?"

Luckily, shuffling through people in busy places was her specialty. She'd been caught in this type of situation too many times.

"I think I've lost him."

She opened her compact and used the mirror to check her surroundings, another trick she learned from her estranged paranoid "military person" father. She didn't know and didn't quite care what her father actually did anyway, but the things he taught her did come in handy sometimes. The "puppy" was right on her tail. She shuffled through even more crowds, but he was still right behind her.

She reached the front door, made a call and waved towards someone. A 307 zoomed towards her. She went in, lowered the window and waited for the "puppy" to come. He looked so happy, almost running towards the car. Three more steps from the car, he stopped and continued trying to walk as manly as possible without looking too desperate.

"Lets go."

The 307 zoomed off.

"Thanks, you're a real lifesaver", she said to the driver while putting her shades on.

"This is the third time this month, you really are pushing your luck Arissa. I can't be there to save you every time this happens."

"Oh come on, can't I have a little fun? I didn't do it on purpose anyway. Anyways, I know you'll be there for me, Meera."

"Well, can't say I didn't enjoy seeing the look on his face when we zoomed off though. Come on, lets go home."

The silence was broken by Misz Nina's "Watcha Waitin' For?". Arissa picked up her phone.

"Hey, Meera. Can you take me to the base? He wants to see me."

"Him? Why?"

"Something about my 21st birthday."

"You mean the time when "that" happened?"

"Don't know. Maybe he just misses me, hehe." Arissa said cheekily.

Arissa knew too well that it wasn't the case. She knew that what happened on that fateful day would eventually reach him, she just didn't expect it to be this soon. She just braved a smile, as she was going to face the person she called "father".


"My smile can hide a thousand doubts. Maybe even yours."