The day was somewhat uneventful up until lunch, I got most of my body put back together, and had printed off a new lower torso, one that would take more than a 3-foot fall, and went ahead and printed the shoulder pieces the same way. All of the casing was still plastic, so that we could figure out if it limited my movement in any way. Lilly didn't seem to have any complaints, but she had been surprisingly quiet since she awoke yesterday.
Lilly and I had just completed putting the jaw on my new frame, when Bilby appeared in front of me, somewhat surprising me.
"Princess, your presence is needed at the north gate." he bowed and reached his hand out to me. I looked toward Lilly, to try and gauge what she wanted to do, and she was mid-flight, and was aimed at my shoulder which had become her unofficial perch. Bilby seemed surprised at her presence, but didn't say anything. when I touched his hand, the room seemed to go grey; and moved away from me. we passed through the walls, and then outside of the house, I watched the scenery go by, all muted and grey. Within a few seconds, I could see the north gate of the city, a trip that had taken a few hours my first time, was over in less than half a minute, no wonder the fairies were such good caretakers of the fallen city.
I hadn't ever seen the outside of the North Gate, I couldn't guess of materials, as everything I could see was the muted grey color, we passed right through the side wall, and I could tell it was solid, and it was thick. we entered a room, and there were several people standing there, and twenty or so fairies that were in color. then they disappeared as color returned to the drab, unadorned room Bilby had brought me to.
"Don't say anything about the guard fairies you saw in the room, they can't hear from where they are, but a signal from me, and they can take care of any problems." Bilby whispered to me, loud enough for Lilly to hear, his wings, which were usually a bright purple, were almost clear, as were Lilly's, but they both seemed to slowly be getting their color back.
"Ambassador Green, Princess Andronis has been able to find time in her schedule to be here, so could you please repeat your request again?" Bilby said to the man who told me his name was 'Suck it Tincan'.
"We are requesting removal of a complete frame, one that hasn't been found in this good of condition in the last century, and as per the Treaty, only the keyholder may grant the authorization to remove a complete frame." The man stated, his voice told me he didn't want to ask me, but also didn't want to upset those whom he answered to.
"I want to inspect this frame, as well as the location it was found." I stated.
"That has never been asked of us for something as simple as this." he rebutted. I guess the initial fear of seeing me alive was starting to wear off.
"Well, Ambassador Tincan, I have never been a Keyholder, and you are asking to remove the body of one of my relatives from their resting place. I want to see the place their body was interred, as well as inspect it myself, and as you have yet to honestly introduce yourself to me, I don't think you want to enter the negotiation room to negotiate this, as you decided to forfeit your life if you ever re-enter that room." at this response, he seemed to swallow his pride, along with some of the willpower he had mustered up to this point.
"Of course, Princess. The group that has the frame is this way." he turned to leave, and escort us to where it was.
"Body." I corrected. "You will take me to the group that has the body." At this he nodded, and led the way down four flights of stairs, to the ground level of the North Gate. as we entered the vestibule, I felt something strange come over me, and I looked back to Bilby, who didn't seem to notice, but Lilly flew back and forth between the place I felt it a few times, then came back to her perch.
The group seemed to be excited as they waited for me to enter the room, I was still wearing the blocky temporary casing that Angela had made for me. I ignored the group, and walked straight to the frame, they had it laying on a cart, and it was in a burial position. when my eyes landed on the head of this Andronis, a series of messages scrolled by telling me who this had been, and where they had been laid to rest. this frame stopped functioning after the bomb.
"I'm sorry Gentleman, and Lady. I can not let you remove this particular body from the city." I said. they all jumped up, and seemed they were about to argue when the Ambassador spoke up.
"And why not? we only want to study this one."
"I do as well, Ambassador. however there are three things you must be told, and all three are reasons why I can not allow this body to be removed from this city, but first; Bilby, is there a place where this person can be taken, and held, that is on neutral ground within the city, so that any who wish to study it, may?" Bilby nodded and flashed a hand signal, and two Fair people appeared, then touched the body, and disappeared with it.
"I will escort you to it in a moment, Princess." he replied. I turned to the group, ignoring the Ambassador.
"You all, deserve to be rewarded, however I am unsure of what would be a decent reward for such a find as you have brought to the gate, and it is because of the importance of this find, that you may not remove it from the city. As I told the Ambassador, there are three reasons why you may not take this one. " I looked at the four men, and one human woman in front of me, each in turn for a few seconds, then continued. "First, you may not take this particular body, for the very reason you want it, it is in pristine condition, and there isn't even any rust on the pistons. Second, that body did not deactivate until 100 years after the bomb went off, and third, you may not take it, because he is still wearing his crown. you have found the last King of the Andronis. Now, take me to where you found him."
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
At my third reason, Bilby fell from the air in shock, the Ambassador's Eyes nearly bulged out of his eyelids, and the five humans in front of me were stunned for a moment, then started pushing each other back toward the city, to show me where they had found Alucard Andronis.
An hour later, we came to an area in the city that was completely flat, and there was a small door in the ground, the woman opened it, and Lilly dove into the hole, then came back out.
"Princess Ayla! there are more in there. I would recommend you go in alone for a few minutes." I nodded at her statement, and climbed down the ladder. there were close to a hundred cubby holes along the long wall, and another fifty on the short walls. when I looked at each one, I was given a brief synopsis of who they had been, their name, and a pedigree. I stopped on one that kept flashing a yellow warning to my mental systems. I looked at her closely, and then it dawned on my as to why this particular Andronis was so important.
[Danielle Leann Andronis]
[Andronic Queen at time of the fall, was the only survivor.]
[Mother of *Ayla Andronis-Oldest Daughter; and Alucard Benjamain Andronis- youngest child, and only son]
*[Ayla Andronis] was un-named at time of the fall, her crown was interred under Danielle's only armored plate. the rest of Danielle's outer skin was developed by her husband in an attempt to circumvent the results of a Gnomish invention thought to be able to wipe out the Andronis. it was the first test of the Weapon that wiped out Danielle's entire family. She later built Alucard to carry on the Andronis Legacy, however he was never allowed to leave this room, and died a week before Danielle did.]
I finished reading as the woman, and two of the men came down. Lilly was floating behind me, as was Bilby. I turned to face the two human men.
"May you gentlemen assist me by sliding this one out for a moment?" the two large men nodded, and quietly moved the bulky and cumbersome body of my mother out. I removed the chest piece, and then the armor over the generator, and sitting there was a small microchip, that my system told me was a crown of Andronis, and had never been used. I put the parts back, and asked the two men to put her back, they struggled with her heavy body, but they were able to handle her respectfully.
"Lilly, could you hold onto this for me, until we get out of here? " I asked her, as I handed it to her. her little eyes became large with surprise, and the emotion was clear through all the servo's parts on her face. it made me look forward to getting into my new body.
"Princess, are you sure I can hold this?" she said, her surprise overflowed into her voice. and I simply nodded, and gestured for her to not say what it was just yet. Bilby simply looked between the two of us.
"Bilby, do you have guards that you would trust with a place like this? I do not want anyone else here without me escorting them." I could tell he was questioning it, but simply nodded, and the Elf from my last visit appeared next to me along with four Fair that I had met in the conference room, but hadn't introduced themselves yet.
"You Five, guard this location with your lives. no one is to enter this room without Ayla present." he said to them.
"You Five may check this room as often as necessary to ensure no one else enters here, but outside of your duties to ensure the safety of these remains, you are also not permitted in here." I added. the five of them went up the ladder, I motioned for the humans to do the same, Lilly and Bilby flew up just ahead of me.
"Princess Andronis, may I ask what it is that we found?" the woman asked. I nodded through my response.
"You five have found the burial chambers of the entire royal family. Every body in that place are former kings or queens of the Andronic people." you have given me more than I would be able to reward you with. This, I consider a gift from the human people to me. I will allow the public study of Alucard, the last King, but I must prohibit the study of all those interred here." everyone present nodded in understanding, even the Ambassador seemed to understand why I had made the decision, and didn't even appear to want to argue.
Bilby looked at the chip in Lilly's hand "What is that, Ayla."
"Lilly, would you mind telling everyone what is in your hands?" I asked her. she nodded.
"This is an Andronic Crown. Being able to even see it in this form, before its worn, is one of the highest honors that the old Andronis could offer to anyone not of our race. This was to be Ayla's Crown. and when the Fall occurred, Ayla's mom put it next to her heart." Lilly said with much excitement, but kept a firm grip on the little square block, careful not to bend any of the pins.
"So that is your crown?" Bilby asked.
"Yes, and I know that if I put it on, I will become a queen. but I am not ready for that. I still want to see more of the world that I am currently in. I would like to talk to all of the Fair that have allowed me to touch their wings." at my last statement, the Ambassador, and all of the men present turned their heads to me in surprise, and then as an attempt to confirm what I had said, looked toward Bilby and saw him simply nodding.
We all walked back to the North Gate and entered one of the conference rooms on the first level, all the Fair I had met on my first visit here were already present, including the four whom were now my family's honor guard.