MOSA II



  Mosa II

  The Empire

  Written by Jungwhan Kim

  For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him be saved. - John 3:17

  Contents

  Chapter 1 7

  Chapter 2 16

  Chapter 3 26

  Chapter 4 42

  Chapter 5 47

  Chapter 6 62

  Chapter 7 76

  Chapter 8 82

  Chapter 9 93

  Chapter 10 103

  Chapter 11 111

  Chapter 12 125

  Chapter 13 130

  Chapter 14 141

  Chapter 15 150

  Chapter 16 162

  Chapter 17 168

  Chapter 18 179

  Chapter 19 184

  Chapter 20 190

  Chapter 21 194

  Chapter 22 199

  Chapter 23 208

  Chapter 24 219

  Chapter 25 235

  Chapter 26 241

  Chapter 27 248

  Chapter 28 253

  Chapter 29 261

  Chapter 30 274

  Chapter 31 286

  Chapter 32 291

  Chapter 33 297

  Chapter 34 306

  Chapter 35 315

  Chapter 36 323

  Chapter 37 328

  Chapter 38 335

  Chapter 1

  The Basileus Republic

  The man walked up the marble stairs and entered the round hall where flock of people walking in every direction. The ceiling was high, the massive pendant which depicted assorted water drops hanged in the middle. Security guards were talking from a distance, wearing black sunglasses. The man moved to the entrance of the ballroom where the red carpet laid. He showed his identification to the host who resembled a red nutcracker.

  “Enjoy the evening sir,” said the host, politely, gesturing at him to go in. The man walked inside the ballroom in surefooted steps and paused for a moment, staring at the crowd.

  “Table sixteen, table sixteen…” murmured the man, skimming through the room filled with men with tuxedo and women with fine dresses. There were green, orange, purple garden salads with white dressing and sprinkled nuts on the top. Alongside, white chicken breast and bloody burnt beef steak seasoned with salt and pepper laid flat on plates. Waiters and waitresses walked around with white gloves, pouring wines into the glasses.

  The man’s name was Protter. He was living in the country called Basileus Republic, working in the intelligence agency. He was having a dinner with his long time friend, Heston and his wife.

  From afar, one man raised his arm and waved at him, and the woman with a white silky dress showed her teeth. Protter grinned and went up to them.

  His name was Heston, was a broad-shouldered, athletic looking man while Protter was skinny and bit baldy. They were both working in the intelligence agency for seventeen years now.

  “What’s up buddy!” exclaimed Heston.

  “Hello Protter,” said Gloria, smiling.

  “Good evening,” said Protter, sitting down in the chair. Heston sipped the wine from his glass. He seemed like he had a couple of drinks already.

  “Sorry I’m late; I had to make some soup for my wife. She is sick in bed now,” said Protter.

  “Oh my, is she alright?” said Gloria. “The summer’s over, people should be more careful.”

  “She’s fine; she just slept with no blanket yesterday. She’ll get over it soon,” said Protter.

  “Gentle,” said Heston, derisively.

  “So, did you guys order a meal yet?” said Protter, facing them across the table.

  “Not yet, we just ordered this wine,” said Heston. “They say is a new brand, very disappointing though.”

  “Uh huh,” said Protter, stressfully, looking at the menu. He gestured at the waiter. When one of them came near, they all ordered the food.

  “I assume you would love to talk about those deformed animals walking around the city street now, but we figured it is not a dinner conversation,” laughed Heston, glimpsing at Gloria. She shrugged innocently.

  “I bet the workload is piling up for you,” said Protter.

  “Yes, but that’s nothing compared to what you’ve gone through recently,” said Heston, smirking. “How’s your project?”

  “You already know the answer,” Protter sneered, frustrated about the topic. The ballroom was filled with conversation, munching sounds and plates clattering. Heston grabbed the wine and poured it to Protter’s glass.

  “Honey, I’ll be right back,” whispered Gloria to Heston, leaving her seat; she headed toward the restroom.

  “I had to say, Protter, how embarrassing this is. You can’t even deal with that small country,” said Heston, seeing Gloria walking away.

  “Who would have known?” Protter sighed, gulping the wine to ease his burning chest; it was dry and bitter. “Veron Komer wasn’t pursuing a nuclear war. Although we knew he pursued the biological warfare, producing the bothlinum and plague bacillus… But this was quite out of blue for us.”

  “Yeah, I bet Nina Polchinski herself is surprised too,” muttered Heston.

  “Those media pundits are having a feast now,” muttered Protter. “Biological terrorists, the war, and the end of the dictatorship… bluh bluh bluh… they actually called Nina Polchinski the modern day Robin Hood.”

  “It’s not a bad description,” said Heston, sipping the wine. “Did you manage to track her down?”

  “She disappeared,” said Protter, simply.

  “So whether Veron Komer intended to make those deformed creatures is pretty much clear now,” said Heston. “But I’m guessing that he disappeared too.”

  “Yes,” said Protter. “We don’t even know whether Komer is alive. The agency is on fire! There are too many associates related with this filthy mess. I mean the drug cartels, various weapons dealers and other rebellious militants all took part of this… It turns out that Veron Komer promised fortunes and and ensured the safety for them,” said Protter.

  “I bet they are going for Nina’s neck,” muttered Heston.

  “Considering the time and resources they put in,” said Protter. “Presumably, yes.”

  “Did the agency get something out from those guys?” asked Heston. Before Protter could answer, Gloria emerged from his back and sat down.

  “They just talked about the cells which became popular since few years ago. After the success in this so-called Ephemera technology, Komer sold it to various other warlords in the world, meaning there are more creatures lurking around.” said Protter.

  “Talking about the Cassandra again?” said Gloria, smoothing her dresses with her palm.

  “Oh, yes,” said Heston. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t bother. I’m very much concerned with it too. I and my friends talked with a great length yesterday. Although the topic is too gory for me, I found it quite interesting,“ said Gloria.

  “Really?” frowned Heston.

  “You know every government is full of problem with women, this case, they were literally destroyed by a woman,” said Gloria, smiling. Heston and Protter looked at each other.

  “Are you saying she is a feminist?” said Heston, playfully. Protter cackled.

  “She’s a hero,” said Gloria, gracefully sipping the wine.

  “Aye, brave little girl,” said Protter, heartily.

  “Do you think she’s alive?” asked Heston.

  “Well, I think she is,” said Gloria, sweetly, her eyes beaming with hope.

  “Hard to say,” said Protter. “Cassandra is a slaughter house now.”

  Heston cleared his throat and glimpsed at the waiter coming near. He brought dishes, steak for Protter and Gloria, and the grilled fish for Heston.


  “Enjoy,” said waiter. “If you need anything else, please let us know.”

  The waiter walked away; they looked at the food impatiently and hastily grabbed folks and knifes.

  “Ah! Good good,” exclaimed Heston, drooling.

  “Nevertheless, I do feel sorry for the girl, how did Nina end up in Cassandra?” asked Protter, munching the meat.

  “I have no idea,” said Heston, slicing the big chunk of fish and melting it on his mouth.

  “Do you?” said Protter, sardonically, curling his lips.

  “Simard Polchinski, Nina Polchinski’s grandfather, was the military general in Cassandra before Veron Komer came to power. He was ill-obsessed with the bio tech, the report indicates that he could do some of the fancy tricks himself too,” said Heston, cheerfully detaching the skin of the fish from the bone. “That is, until he is killed by Veron.”

  “I guess now that Nina earned the freedom, she will not return, huh?” said Protter. “Now all we have to do is cleaning up the mess she made.”

  “I disagree on that. If she survived, Protter, if she did, I certainly think she will come back,” said Heston.

  “To Cassandra, you mean?” snorted Protter. “Veron is as good as dead. Why would she ever want to do that?”

  “Oh? Do you want to bet?” smiled Heston.

  “Bet?” said Protter, raising his eyebrows.

  “Yes,” said Heston. His wife glimpsed at him, slicing the steak.

  “Well, ok,” said Protter; he sniffed, clearing his throat. “What do you want?”

  “Hmm… let’s see,” said Heston, looking at Gloria. “I want the painting you have gotten from the auction. My wife loves it.” Gloria smiled. Protter thought for a while, poking another meat from his plate and munching it. A moment later, his eyes sparkled and his mouth formed a smile.

  “Ok, I know what I want. If indeed Nina comes back to Cassandra and become a queen or something,” muttered Protter, gazed at Heston and Gloria playfully. “Invite her to this restaurant.”

  Heston and Gloria were left in shock but a moment later, Heston burst into laughter. People around them started looking at them. Heston grabbed the wine glass and raised it in the air.

  “Deal,” grinned Heston, and they cheered.

  Few years back, in the military research department where Simard worked. They were mourning for the death of the brilliant student, Alice Cvitanic, who discovered the Ephemera cell in the first place. Initially, it came from the crazy idea of hers to enable a massive production of cells to prevent people from dying when they inhale the poisonous gas. Simard was driven by an intellectual curiosity to finish her work. With his childhood friend, Jeffery Danver, they started the secret project.

  But during the project, the civil war broke out and current regime lost its stand. Veron threw Simard and Danver into prison for an interrogation. However, they were released from the prison because Veron was pleased and very much interested in their research.

  Although Veron have indeed been partnered with Simard for the project, Simard never really intended to help Veron. He tried to destroy the cells as it could lay horrible consequences.

  They were pursuing the experiment by ignorance and persistency, carefully examined Alice’s work and successfully was able to put that into a practice, but as they did the real experiment using infants, Simard felt guilty and decided not to pursue the project. Danver however, disagreed with Simard that he believed that this technology will save millions of orphans from Veron’s hands, but Simard was horrified. Later this conversation was slipped by one of the secret police and afterward Veron contacted Danver to ask whether he could complete the project without further help from Simard. After the assurance given by Danver, Simard was killed.

  Veron needed a much bigger production facilities in a secretive area. That is when Veron contacted the billionaire, Ricky Guido, who was suffering from the death of his wife, spending days and days in his castle with alcohol. Ricky had no children at the time, as his wife was barren.

  Veron contacted him for the project in the Island of Riddles for the construction of a maze. Ricky threatened Veron to leave his presence as he abhorred the dictatorship, but later, he decided to undergo the project.

  However, surprisingly, this massive behemoth has fallen by an outcry of the little princess, Nina Polchinski, so the partnership was cut off completely.