A Tale of the False Utopia

The area was dimly lit. It had an eerie sort of feel to is as a shadowed figure took his seat on the throne. "Bring him in."

Upon the command, and almost as if he was the Christian deity itself, the door leading into the room swung open. Two soldiers wielding rifles stepped in first, their guns holstered upon seeing the shadowed figure sitting comfortably on his throne. Then, they stepped aside as a new figure came into the room, breathing heavily.

He was clutching his left arm, which was enveloped into a bandage-made cast. Its white color was partially stained with red, giving it a rather shuddering appearance. His unhurt arm was limp at his side. What would've been shown as red eyes seemed to have been hidden under his hood, an otherwise intimidating crimson light extinguished. But despite his heavy breathing, he refused to show any of his pain as he walked up to his superior. Once he got in range, he stooped to a kneel, unaffected hand pressing its knuckles to the ground.

"You have requested my services, my Lord?" He spoke in a tone that was completely devoid of any humanity, cold and mechanical to the very listening touch.

Despite the man's hight status, his voice sounded surprisingly young. "Remove your hood when you are within my presence Damian."

"O...oh course..."

Only slightly taken back, the hooded man reached up to grasp the lining of his own hood. He stopped for a moment, however, as if hesitant to pull it off. But then, he was in the presence of his superior, one who would never bother with such trivial things as his worry. Along with his reluctance to defy orders, he could be assured that his Lord would not squander his personal problems. That confidence gave him the go-ahead to completely take off his hood. Surprisingly, it was not a machine underneath, but a human face. The skin was pale, having been hidden from the sunlight for so long. Long, black hair was covering up the upper portion of his face, partially able to block his eyes from view. His crimson eyes stared up blankly at the man sitting in the chair, careful to express no emotion as he turned to his formal kneeling position.

"Nice to see that you are indeed human." The king murmured. "Now for the reason I called you here. I request a status update on the hunt for the Kurosaki Woman."

Damian closed his eyes, mulling over what had happened. "The search was aborted, my Lord." He spoke bitterly, the pain in his arm turning into an annoyingly throbbing ache. "While I and my escort soldiers were questioning those who could've known her location, we were ambushed and my soldiers were dispatched."

"Ambushed?" By whom?"