Kalon
Chapter One-Hundred-Ten: Jukan Ul Juk Ta
Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant
Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation
Solar System: D-447
Planet: Ora
Location: Research Facility
Hemallia does not fight as much as she did before. I push her forward, leaning some of my body weight on her. I am not sure I can walk for much longer without her support.
"Where are better weapons?" I ask.
"Mallock has already locked those parts of the facility down," she says, her voice heavy with fear as my blade presses deeper, "He is toying with you. Release me and I can really help you."
"Be silent, wretch."
I wonder how best to proceed, I barely trust this woman with a blade to her throat. She will betray me if I release her.
"See, it's as I told you." She says pointing a shaking finger at a doorway, the display pad is red as she swipes her hand across it.
"Access denied." A system voice says, she pulls up another box within the holo module, it reads, by order of Mallock Cotras.
"Vek." I curse, pulling her back from the wall.
A door slides open on the other side of the hall. My eyes hover on the holo display over it. Section three. My teeth grind. He is playing with me. If I were not so weak, I would have used the woman as a shield to close the gap on him. My feet slide towards the doorway. Her breath is becoming more erratic the closer we get to it.
"Release me, I can help you," she pleads, dragging her heels until I stick the blade deeper, drawing blood this time.
"Move," I say.
She does as I ask, there are thick glass panels lining the walls, tinted black. I can't see anything on the other side. Though something tells me I do not want to see it. Mallock would not have brought me here to help me. He takes pleasure in other's pain.
"What is this place?" I ask her.
She does not reply even as I press deeper. There is a whimpering of fear in her as she prays to her gods.
"What is this place?" I ask again, blood dripping down her white coat.
"It is the hall of monstrosities," Mallock's voice says from over the sound system, "I have waited too long to see your will crushed by what you shall now witness."
There is a clicking noise behind me, turning I hear Mallock's maniacal laughter. The tinted glass begins to shift as I move closer to it. The horrors beyond it filling my eyes.
It takes all of my will not to begin severing Hemallia's head from her body. Behind each pane of now clear glass are people in varying stages of Netherium poisoning. There are hundreds of them. I do not want to continue, but my feet carry me further. Deeper into the lair of despair. Men, women, and even… children. All of them are Kuwathi, the glow of their eyes tells me as much.
"I spent so much time orchestrating this," Mallock says giddily, his voice is heavy as he says "I cannot wait to see your reaction."
The prisoners are all bound to the wall of their small rooms, with tubes connected to their bodies and instruments poking and prodding them. Some of the rooms have workers in them, pointing to different parts of their bodies.
"Keep going," Mallock's voice says, heavier now, as though aroused, "Getting warmer."
My hand nearly drops the blade as despair creeps further, behind the glass of the next room is a face I recognize. My stomach flips and twists as my will falters to move forward.
"There it is…" Mallock begins, I can hear the satisfaction in his voice, "What I have been waiting for. You did not disappoint me."
My eyes flicker up and down the person behind the glass. I know her, though not well, she was from Yuri's tribe, the last time I saw her was when… the expedition that did not return. Nekam said he did not know their fate, they must have been sold with the brothers. I had not even considered what happened to the rest. I only cared about Haki and Daki… my heart sinks. They must be here too. The twins… Fennec. They all must be here.
"When Hemallia said we needed subjects, I thought on it long and hard, admittedly still sour that I couldn't turn you into my new dog," he pauses, I can hear the grin on his venomous tongue when he continues, "I devised a way to vent my frustrations… which you caused," Mallock says.
Hemallia whimpers as the blade begins to drive deeper. My eyes trace over and I see other faces that I recognize. Their eyes lock onto mine, dried streaks made from tears that Kuwathi are not meant to shed upon their faces. Their eyes beg for justice or death. Most of them are half Netheric, and some of them are now past the changing. Some of their bodies are bubbling and warping from the treatments. As though they tried to keep them on the edge of it. To study them. All of them, these people, the ones who hold mine. They are sick. Diseased not in the body… but in the mind. Something changes inside of me as I witness the deeds done to those I once fought alongside. Something that embraces the darkness that slumbers deep within.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The next room I see two, made to face each other on either side of the wall. My heart embraces the darkness further, allowing it to fill the voids that my reality is shaping. Matted red hair, eyes half Netheric. It's the brothers, the ones who share the name of demon. Haki and Daki. They are here because they followed me, because they sought to help me and Arrum. Their eyes meet mine and their jaws clench as they see Hemallia in my grasp.
My blade slides across Hemallia's throat, unable to bear her against my skin anymore. She grasps at her neck as she tries to slide to the floor, but I hold her up with all of my strength as the blood gurgles in her open throat. I will not be able to help them with how weak I am, but at least they can see her blood run. Perhaps that will give some solace in the face of their absolution. I hear Mallock speaking, but his words are far away as I look at my hands after dropping her lifeless corpse to the floor.
The same hands that once dared to dream. What a future they have wrought… Is this all there is? Only pain and suffering? Luna spoke of many things on our travels. Worlds covered in foliage and wild animals. Fruits as big as my head, brimming with sweetness… my fingers touch my lips as I slide down the glass in front of the brother's room.
I dared to dream of a life without suffering. Was it too big of a dream? I did not dream of ending the suffering of all my people… and yet it was too great for these hands to hold.
My eyes trace up to them as I kneel before them. Haki and Daki have not given up yet. There is fight in them, more than me. Their eyes tell me to not despair, they tell me to rise… to fight. Can I fight… I am weak as I am now. Barely able to hold my own body, barely able to fight. Mallock has mercenaries, he will show them soon enough, I know it comes. Not fighting is how I can fight him. By not giving him the satisfaction.
Stand, I must stand. But why? What's the point? I am dead, they are dead, all of us are dead. There is no point in fighting anymore.
Kill… to what end?
I will never be able to carve a path from this place. No, there is only despair here. Looking up again, I see the brothers' eyes, Haki and Daki beg me to rise, to fight for them and the others. It shatters me that I cannot. Were I more, were I not so weak and feeble now. I would carve a path for all of us. Turning from them now, unable to bear the shame of their eyes anymore, I hold the blade that killed Hemallia in my grasp. I could spite Mallock and open my own throat, that is how I could punish him. That is… my mind turns, a surge of defiance's embers flowing into me. An image of burning golden eyes in the darkest of dark flashes in my mind. It spurs the feeling higher.
I do not kneel in the face of despair.
My legs begin to rise despite me, despite the despair they rise. Whether it is stubbornness or habit, I don't know. What I do know though, is that I will not die a cowardly death. I will take the hard road until my final breath. Fighting as long as my hands can grip the blade. While there is life, there is the will to keep it.
"Oh, I see you have…" Mallock begins.
"Jukan Ul Juk Ta," I say, looking at the exit, gripping the knife, and beginning to stagger now back to where I saw him last. Each step is filled with determination.
"System, translate the dog's words," Mallock says.
"I detect no dog speaking," the system voice says.
"For frag's sake, everyone and everything around me is so unbelievably dense," Mallock sighs, "Translate what subject zero said."
"According to multiple sources and…" it begins.
"Yes, yes just spit it out," he groans impatiently.
"My blade's song calls for you," the system says.
Mallock roars with laughter, but he does not hear the song that strums in my mind now. Filled with darkness and ill intent. It rumbles with thunderous momentum. Even if I fall this day, the song will haunt him, this much I know. When he closes his eyes to sleep at night, I want him to see my face, my blade always close, never giving him peace again.
As I enter the room, I see he has brought his mercenaries. One will die, this is certain. My pace does not stop even as they tell me to, even as Mallock speaks, my ears do not listen, I exist only in the moments that my weak legs and feeble frame move me through the air. Taking every single moment I have trained in my entire life and harnessing it into this singular attack. No defense. Only offense.
My shoulders do not hunch, I do not need to pretend I am weak, their laughter as I approach tells me they already know it. The first one moves to strike me, my knee drops and my blade finds his groin. Rolling forward, I have only enough momentum to reach Mallock once. Another comes next, kicking me in the ribs, I do not evade it, I cannot. Mallock's smirk turns from his face as he begins to back away. Something that is strange to him crawls into his mind and finds his face… fear.
Next, they hit my head, dazing me, a hand grabs me, and loses a finger for it. Their blood makes my body slick as I fall towards Mallock, stabbing into his boot. He howls with pain. I try to stab again, but they press their knees into my back subduing me. My eyes stare up defiantly at him. He knows that even as weak as I am. Without his men, he would be dead. His eyes blink quickly at me as he limps backward. Darkness swallows me as something strikes my head.
***
Realm of Dreams
***
I am adrift in the waters of my dream world, only the stars shine above me. It is the first time I have found it since they brought me here. The purple tree has grown tall, branches piercing the sky. I hear the moans of the dead, those who have died in pursuit of understanding my body, I carry them now. They are my burden, my penance for existing. There are legions that thrash in the waters. I can hear them now. Calling for justice.
If I were stronger, if I was like Luna, then I could have freed them. If I had… power. If I had power, I would not have to watch the suffering of the world around me, I would not have to watch my people… my people? My people abandoned me… sold me… No, Arrum did not, the brothers did not. At least Arrum was not taken by Mallock… my heart twists again remembering that he will likely die soon with all the others.
"Why!" I yell into the clouds, "Why do you forsake us?"
My teeth grit, the waters stirring with my rage.
"Why are the Kuwathi subjected to such things? Why can we not exist like the Arasha, even their poor can thrive. Whereas ours die horrible and humiliating deaths. Where is the Justice? Where is the…"
Thunder cracks above after blue lightning arcs. Light billows from the clouds, but it does not bring me comfort. The bloom of bright light follows. The air pays reverence to her, the being swathed in light, Leora.
Alakin Dom Jukora
My eyes narrow at the words that she speaks. Another deception. Another… The realm shakes and the waters quake.
Call forth my name
Receive my blessing
Child of The Dawn
The waters raise me up towards her. I still cannot make out her face, the light is too blinding, but her slender hand brimming with light places itself on my chest. Energy cascades inside of me like being struck with lightning. I feel… power.
Call my name Child of The Dawn
My teeth grind… "Leora."
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