Kalon

Chapter One-Hundred-Twenty-Four: Ularak - Part Two

Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation

Solar System: D-447

Planet: Ora

Location: Orarak City, above the planet's surface.

There is anticipation in the air as Keeper Dargo calls my group forward, those who have been marked with black. Nekam walks beside me, his eyes level, he does not hang his head. Strange, when I saw him before as an Ulima of an inner city clan, missing his arm, he looked more pathetic. Perhaps it was an act. Nekam was Ulima once before after all.

As we approach, my eyes wish to wander downwards, the shame is heavy upon them. People look upon the hundreds of markings upon my back and whisper. I cannot hear what they say but their glances cause my jaw to flex.

Before us stands Dargo, a paragon of a man. The wariness I felt before is now justified, yet again. He looks upon each of us, his gaze is unnerving but I do not look away, the remnants of my pride hold my eyes upwards. I will not give him this, I will not look away.

"Those of you before me bear the black mark. You rank among the best of those here. There is potential in each of you," he says now jumping down from the raised platform of stone, and walking amongst us.

As he walks through, he gives personalized instructions to each person, I cannot help but be amazed that he recalls each detail about their shortcomings so well. He tells them what to improve, and dismisses them each one by one.

"Your eyes betray your movements, with your style a longer blade such as a sword would serve you better," he says to a man near us.

"Yes, my Keeper," the man says bowing to him.

Dargo moves to a woman now, she is fierce in her gaze.

"Your footwork, when you roll, you need to already be striking when you land."

"Yes, my Keeper," she says, giving him a small bow.

He is upon us now finally, my anticipation growing, I would hear what my deficiencies are. He looks over Nekam grasping his arm and holding it outward.

"You fought well, even with one arm, but your blade sings where it wishes to go," he shows him a rolling motion with his arm, "Make yourself more fluid and your blade's song will only be heard by the dead."

I have never heard anyone besides the Kuwathi call blade form in such a way, yet I know on instinct… he is not Kuwathi. In the same breath, he is familiar with our ways.

"Yes, my Keeper," Nekam says, bowing to him and practicing the motion while it is fresh in his mind.

He walks towards me, my heart beating quicker, but to my surprise, he moves past me now, his eyes not crossing mine. Blinking quickly, in a daze of sorts as he instructs another person beside me. Why has he skipped me? Am I not worthy of his instruction? My jaw clenches as the shame and anger rise together, turning my stomach. Taking a deep breath, I swallow it down, repressing it. Instead, I pay closer attention to each person's instruction hoping to glean what I can from him.

After he is done, he stands on the stage and beckons everyone to gather around.

"You are permitted to rest now," he says, snapping his fingers.

Panels from the black walls of the large domed room retract revealing doorways. The circular pedestal he stands upon begins to rise upwards towards the ceiling, the center of the dome opening, he disappears into it, leaving us all alone.

"Come," Nekam bids to his children and me.

He is too comfortable commanding me. Like I am still his blade. I will have to have words with him about this. Otherwise, there will be no respect between us, not that there is any now… not really. I follow him into one of the doorways and see before us a long expansive room, the ceilings much shallower than the main domed room. Along the walls, there are bunks on both sides. At the end of the room is another room with a metal circular disk in its center. I see a man walking to investigate it, when he steps upon it, the rings rise, and water sprays upon him. It reminds me of when they hosed us off before, but the spray is less abrasive, and bubbles come from the spouts upon the floor.

"It's called a shower," I say, seeing Neeba eye it curiously, "You bathe with it."

My people approach it warily at first, then begin throwing the bubbles in the air curiously and drinking from the water that sprays. I cannot help but smile at this, a break from the misery, they are like children. After a time, the commotion dies down and people begin taking bunks. I hear people whispering of the Keeper, in awe of him still.

Does the inquisitor know that he is here? Why is he here? What purpose does it serve?

Nekam waves for me to follow and I do, reluctantly. We head to the end of the rows of bunks, and we sit upon them. My backside sinks into the small mattress. It is comfortable compared to what Kuwathi know.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Such comfort is strange," Nevari says as she adjusts herself on the bed.

Hearing her voice is like nails being driven into my ear drums. I despise the sound of it. A melody which once called me, and now sickens me.

"Focus my child," Nekam says leaning in closer, now turning to Neeba and then me, "Tell me of where they took you, what did you see, how many soldiers, spare no detail."

I know he means in the facility we are in now, but my tongue lets slip my mind, "Where they took me… when you sold me? Or after they took us all?"

His eyes fall, as do his children's, my mouth mulls words of vile poison, but I don't speak them. This is not the time, we must work together here.

After a few minutes of explaining what I saw, he finally speaks.

"It will be difficult to escape this place," he says with a sigh.

"Father, in the pods that ride the glass tubes, did you see the city?" Neeba asks him.

"We did," he recalls, then he explains everything they saw.

There is little difference. It seems they treated old wounds and measured Nekam for a new arm, telling him it would be fabricated within a few days. They also told him that he would only receive one replacement. Anything else he must earn using something called Hunter credits, or have a sponsor pay for it.

"Rest now, we will need our strength. We can speak more of this later," Nekam says as he lays down on his bunk, deep in thought.

Neeba crawls up to the bunk above him. I turn to Nevari who sits on the same bed as me. There is a tiredness in her eyes that calls for sleep, yet when she looks up at me, her mouth wishes to speak.

"Do not," I say, climbing to the bunk above her, laying my head to rest, the mattress a cruel songstress that bids me to my dreams. What waits for me there I do not know. There is fear in my heart.

***

Awoken suddenly from the terror of my dreams by a buzzing on my wrist, I sit up quickly, my eyes wide, drenched in sweat with my heart pounding. The lights in the room begin to turn on slowly. I realize it is my holopad that vibrates, it begins chiming the Talum Merchant Federation anthem.

"Attention Hunter… System Announcement… Your next task has been scheduled a week from today," it says, a chime, and then silence follows, a counter appearing atop the holopad's menu.

Thoughts race as the possibilities begin to unravel before me. There is a roar of worried voices all around me. Pictures of the last task flood my mind, and I push it down. Turning, I see everyone else also received the same message. What will the next challenge be? How many will die? How many tasks are there? So many questions and no answers.

My wrist buzzes, and there is a notification icon on the menu. A message from him.

[ Keeper Dargo: Hunters, gather in the main assembly area. Training begins. ]

Jumping to the floor from my bunk I see Nevari and the others have seen the message as well. There is a silence in the room now, hollow eyes that come from disturbed dreams. We file through the doors into the large domed room, the pedestal lowered, and Dargo sits upon it meditating. Once everyone arrives, he slowly opens his eyes.

"First we exercise," he says jumping down bidding us to follow.

He walks towards one of the walls, as he approaches the wall opens and a large well-lit corridor appears. His pace begins to quicken, an easy jog at first and then a more serious pace. We keep running, walls become doorways in a straight path, the destination not known to us.

Minutes tick by and the pace continues until finally, the last wall opens to a grand stadium, ten times the size of the room we assemble in. The ground is made of sand. The height of the room is well over a hundred paces. Dargo does not stop, his pace begins to quicken again, making it hard for people to stay behind him. He makes us do laps around the stadium, moving up into the metal stands, then back across the field of sand. Anything that is useful I record in my mind, an Ulima must always be aware of their surroundings.

We have been running for more than an hour now, and many people have fallen far behind and are beginning to get lapped, when they do, Dargo taps them on the back with his sheath, a red mark for the first of us to fall behind. His pace quickens again, my lungs are beginning to burn. I see Nevari and Nekam starting to fall behind now. I fall back to run with them.

"Keep the pace," I say between breaths.

"I… can't," Nevari replies.

I glare at her, "My body is withered, do you see me whine?"

Nekam shakes his head in agreement with her. I can see the shame on his face, so my eyes do not linger on him long. Gritting my teeth I catch up to Neeba who is beginning to feel it as well. He does not speak, he focuses on the task driving his pace faster to catch the Keeper. There is a fire in his eyes, a fire that lights within me as well. We push deep and manage to catch up to him again. There are only twenty of us keeping pace now.

Two hours have passed since we began, the little fat I had on my body burns to fuel my muscles, my mind is focused. Nevari and Nekam have finally been lapped, they received purple marks. There are only ten of us now, steam flows from our bodies. The pace quickens again, and Neeba starts to fall behind, I pull him to keep going, but he shakes his head as the pace becomes too much.

There are five of us now, I will not give up. I am Ulima, I have always had to push harder than everyone else just to survive. He takes us to the stairs of the stadium again and begins jumping the steps three at a time, his stride harder to follow. A man in front of me stumbles and I jump over him not looking behind me.

He will not shame me again.

Two of us remain after three hours. The pace quickens again, my body is beginning to fail, my lungs burn, and spit flies from my mouth. My heart is pounding out of my chest. The man next to me slows now shaking his head, leaving me alone with the Keeper.

As we continue moving I hear Nekam yell to me, "Vitar!".

A moment later Neeba and Nevari yell the same. The shame of them telling me to have strength of will… drives my legs to push harder, ignoring my body's cries to stop. As I approach another group they say the same in whispers. I am almost upon him now.

Dargo turns around, now running backward. There is a grin on his face as he quickens the pace again. He mocks me, yet again he mocks me. I push as hard as I can, trying to pass him now. He laughs at my efforts which drives rage spewing forth from me, I choke it down, I must not show him my anger, I will not give him the satisfaction. He turns, running forward again, exploding the pace to a speed I could never hope to follow. My legs buckle and I fall to the sand in a heap. My pride falls to pieces around me as I fail. My legs are numb, my heart pounds in my face, and steam rises from my body above me. There is a deep anger at my failure bubbling inside of me, thrashing at the sides trying to escape. If I was not withered, I know that with my body weight, I could run for days, but I am almost broken as I am now. Mallock robbed me of so much… his death was not enough to pay it.

Dargo returns from lapping me and marks me. I see that the mark is not black like the others who kept the pace with me, but red like the failures who fell out first. My teeth grit and I stumble to my feet, it takes everything in me to not shout at his grinning face. My hands tremble from the frustration but I hold myself in check. I limp towards the circle of people forming around him, one of my legs throbs in pain now, the numbness fading.

"Well done everyone. You will see again I have ranked you."

My jaw clenches firmly as I look down at the red mark on me.

"Those of you with red marks will stay and do ten more laps. Everyone else, back to the assembly area to shower, change, and eat. Then we will begin the next lesson," he turns now not fully looking at me, a grin sliding across his face as he says, "You will do twenty."

My jaw clenches back the bile that wishes to flow, my life as an Ulima holding fast my tongue, so it is not cut off from my body.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.