Chapter 1831: The crowning. (Part 1)
Both women had no problem entering the capital city of the Memorial race.
Usually, they would have had trouble entering the Hydro station and the city, trying to avoid the gaze of the guards and more, but thankfully it seemed at least luck was on their side for now.
Thousands of people had come to the city today to celebrate the crowning of the New King, Yanny. They were unaware of this when they first arrived at the scene, but while using the large crowd to their advantage to get out of the lax security in the Hydro station, they overheard people excitedly talk about the event.
Once in the city, both girls decided to take a break as they swam between two buildings and looked at everyone swimming past.
"What's wrong?" Ceril asked as she slowly floated to her sister. Tears were running down her face. Lately, she had seen her sister cry more often, but at least she knew what the trigger was before. At the moment, she didn't know what had brought this on.
"These people, don't they care what is happening to our family?" Wince replied.
"We served them for years, trying our best to make them have a better life, protecting them and sacrificing our lives for them."
"The Royal army has been captured, including the families, yet these people are doing nothing. Instead, they're just heading to the city square to celebrate the person responsible for this. Don't they care about our lives, how long we were on the run for!"
Since they were underwater, her tears were hard to notice, but Wince's eyes had turned bloodshot, and her tears were large and light, causing them to flow up like air bubbles.
"You followed in your father's footsteps for a long time. You should know that people are selfish. They won't revolt because it will affect their lives, and what happens between the two groups is not their business."
"You shouldn't take this to heart. This is just how the nature of people is. People are selfish" Ceril tried to calm her down.
Although they were sisters, Ceril was never a contender for the throne. So she never felt any tremendous pressure, nor did she really feel like she had lost anything when the Predators took over, which was why she could relate to the people a bit more than Wince could.
Wiping away her tears and rubbing her sore eyes, Wince regained her composure and firmed her will because she knew she couldn't afford to give up. She had to be strong for the people who relied on her, those who had worked in the palace and looked after her, and those who were captured for sticking up with her family.
Wince took a deep breath and quickly swam into the crowd of people, with Ceril following right behind, and now, the two were back on the street. It was obvious where they were going: to the main square. It was the city centre that would surely be filled with busy shops, restaurants, and stages throughout the whole area.
There was a large fountain in the middle that spouted out a mystic pink light, and in front of it was a statue of her father made out of pure pearl.
Today though, the place didn't look like how it used to be. It was much different. There was a giant stage that had been made. It looked like a fairly large pirate ship. With another ship on top of that and another one on top. It was tiered and used to be the Predator's base.
In the past, they weren't welcome to step foot in such a place, so they would sail on the surface of the open sea. It was a strange and hard sight for Mercil to see.
"What's the plan?" Ceril whispered.
Both were towards the back of the crowd, letting others go in front.
"We wait for the crowning ceremony to begin. I imagine all the Generals will be here to witness it, including Yanny. That will be the perfect time to head to the Vault and open it up."
"Then we just need to hurry and get out of here as fast as we can."
They waited a good twenty minutes, and now the entire place was completely packed, shoulder to shoulder, and finally, a horn was played, resounding throughout the whole city.
"Everyone, please cheer for the one and only Yanny Bling!" A huge whale-like creature announced.
The crowd did as he said and cheered and waved their arms, and of course, Wince didn't, in protest to the whole thing. She had to remind herself of Ceril's words from before because right now, she felt like she was standing with a bunch of hypocrites.
As the crowd calmed down, a fairly large figure stepped out from a door and walked onto the ship's deck. He was muscular and had a yellowish skin colour. He had three arms on each side and two legs, all containing several round suckers on them. Then finally, there was a strange pattern all over Yanny's body which looked like blue rings.
Several blue rings could be seen on his skin, which made him stand out compared to the others by his side who soon joined him. There were those that looked similar to sharks, crocodiles, killer whales, swordfish, and more, but as for the most frightening one of them all, Yanny, he resembled that of an octopus on earth.
"I knew this day would come." Were Yanny's first words as he raised two of his arms.
"The day when the people would accept the Predators. Under the old rule, it was only a matter of time before our own politics would have crushed us."
"Making sure to accommodate every single person, making up for others weakness, trying to make them equal, and punishing those that are great and do the most for our race."
"The Supreme Being told me that there are threats that we need to worry about, so in order to protect everyone."
"I decided to act and replace the regime that behaved ignorantly and sowed a false sense... a world that hid the real truth."
"But now, the times have changed, and this day marks a new beginning!"
"Together, we will only focus on improving and making ourselves the best of the best, to make our lives and our race the best there is, not just in the galaxy but the whole universe!"
There were some loud cheers from the crowd from those that truly believed in what Yanny was saying. While others were being swept up in the moment by this charisma, but then, there were also a few who saw through this and were a bit more cautious.
"Does this mean we will be going to war?"
"There hasn't been a war in hundreds of years. So what threat is he talking about? Why do we have to act now."
"Weren't things okay before?"
Her eyes lit up hearing these words for the first time.
"There are those... that appreciate what we did. They might not openly say it, but their actions just now prove it. Father... you didn't waste your time."
While thinking of this, Wince looked at the statue of her great and old father with the trident in his hands. It gave her strength until she heard a slashing sound, and the next second, her father's head fell from the statue and rolled to the floor.
"The old rule is no more!" Yanny shouted. "The Crowning Ceremony shall now commence."
Several explosions from the building were heard nearby, shooting sparkles into the centre. It looked like a lot of preparation had been done for the whole event, and today would be quite the party for them all.
Wince felt someone was looking over them because of all the days they could have come back, today was the perfect day for them to act.
"Alright, let's get going." Wince said as she turned around, ready to swim off and head around the centre's route to enter the palace. She had only swam a few metres before she heard a loud shout.
"PRINCESS WINCE IS HERE! I REPEAT, PRINCESS WINCE IS HERE!" Someone shouted these words at the top of their lungs. Immediately, the people cleared the area around Wince, and everyone could see them.
"Oh, what's this?" Yanny said with a smile on his face. "The princess has returned home and has come right back to me. What a surprise, what a surprise indeed."
Now that she had been spotted, Wince couldn't escape. She knew this, but even more so, she was heartbroken looking at the person who had shouted and alerted everyone.
"Ceril... why?" Wince could barely say anything as the rest of the words got stuck in her throat.
Thinking about it, she recalled when the tubes sent the other two to a different place, and now, it didn't seem like an accident anymore.