₦airaland Forum

Part 6
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I felt a hollowness which I could not describe. It was as if someone had stolen something vital from me, an important lifeforce which I could not name, but felt its loss. There is an animation that accompanies life, a special rhythm associated with the pumping of the heart. As I took my first step into Nefastu, I felt this animation leave me. I was alive, each part of me working as it ought, yet there was something off, something vital which I could not quite name. It was as if I had lost this piece of me simply by stepping into the cursed road. It was an oddly chilling premonition.

I pulled the heated cloak tighter around the portion of the imp left in my arms, as I continued along, trudging on. The hail here was uncouth. I did not realize till that moment what it truly meant to be subjected to the pelting of uncouth hail. The hard globs of hail fell on me as I walked. I could only liken the feeling to being subjected to a stoning. These hail stones were much smaller and thus their stings milder, but accumulated, the continuous fall was more than bothersome. I forged ahead, grateful for the thick coat I wore. The coat did not cover my ailerons and my head, but it did much for the rest of my body.

Each step I took seemed more arduous on the hail covered grounds. Luckily the footwear I wore was made for canvassing weather such as this. I took a few more steps deeper into the road and found myself suddenly blinded. Red stained my vision. For as far as I could see, there was nothing but unending swirls of fast-spinning red fog. I forged ahead, stubbornly moving through lands I could not see, as my mind reminded me that each moment was one I could not waste. I did not know how much longer Musa had before it was fully sapped.

The further along I walked, the more aware I became of the cold. It was like nothing I could have imagined. I scolded myself then for not buying the headguard I had seen at the coat shop. I had only thought of how foolish I would look wearing such. Now, with my ears stinging from a pain I could only attribute to the chill, I wished that I had been smarter. My mind chose that moment to remind me of uspecs who had frozen to death in mejo ports. I shivered, the chill from my face spreading down into the parts of me that were clothed.

The swirling fog did not fade. It continued as it was, blinding me to my surroundings. I could be walking in the middle of a war zone and not know it. A particularly large piece of hail fell on my scalp and then rolled off me. My shivers increased.

The heated cloak filled my arms with a pleasing warmth. At least, I thought, Musa would not have to suffer the same chill I did.

“Live.” I whispered with chattering teeth to the imp in my arms. “Please live.”

I was starting to lose feeling in my ears. I tried to move them, wondering then if I had ever been able to move my ears. How much I had taken these ears for granted. I lifted the cloak, and the imp wrapped in it, to my head. Then I took turns placing the bundle by each ear. I tried unsuccessfully to remember what the cloak seller had said about keeping the cloak heated. A few more seconds and I could feel my ears again. I brought my arms down.

Still, the fog surrounded me, preventing me from seeing the path. I wondered how far along Nefastu the detour route was, and how I would know it when I reached it. If I continued along the straight path, I would be led to the isle of shuns.

A blast of fog drifted past me.

I had never felt anything like it. It was as if the fog carried hail in it, travelling faster than I had ever seen fog drift. It moved so fast that my heavy cloak flapped. My shivers doubled after the fast fog left. There was one benefit to that fog though, it seemed to have chased away the swirling fog around me. The path in front of me was clearer now. There was still patches of red fog and falling hail to blind my vision, but I had enough clarity to see that I was not surrounded by uspecs in the throes of war.

I kept going. As I moved, I jerked my head, moving my gaze about for signs of a road that led off this path. I don’t know what I expected, but whatever it was, I did not find it.

I registered a lighter weight in my arm. Surely the sapping could not have happened fast enough for Musa’s weight to change so drastically in so little time. I felt fear. Frowning, I realized that my emotions were not as they had been outside Nefastu. The panic I had felt over Musa’s state had greatly reduced. My anxiety was lower. There was something unsettling about the change in my emotions. I could not quite put my finger on it, but I knew that something had happened to it.

Curiously, I reached for the lifeforce in my pain and felt no reply. No, I shook my head as I pondered on the feeling. It was not a lack of reply, it felt more like a block in the reply. This was not similar to the equipoise where the magic had simply gone away. Here I still felt its presence, but it was as if there was something blocking it, something keeping me from reaching it. This realization sent tingles across my skin, an odd addition to the cold which already coursed through me. I would need to warm my ears soon.

I tried not to focus on things that were troubling.

I walked for the rest of the day. Although the fogs and hail made it hard to see the exact coloring of the lighting, I could tell when the orange light of day gave way to the red of night. The orange had made itself known in the slight tinting of the fogs. Now, the redness of the fogs felt deepened. I ignored the change in timing, forging ahead on my path. I did not have time to stop and rest.

As the peak of the night approached and the red of the fogs deepened, it became impossible to see through the path. It was at this point that I knew I had to find a shelter for the night. But where?

I cannot say how much further I walked before I found a hail structure. It stood out because it was covered in white, the sole un-red thing in a crimson landscape. When I got closer to this structure, I realized that it was nothing but a tree, a tree which was covered in hail. I recalled reading something about hail trees then. I read somewhere that they were the tallest trees in the existence, and that the fruits from them were the sweetest.

I placed Musa on the ground, and sat by it, underneath branches so far up that I could not see them. I leaned my back against the stem of the tree, pulling my coat tighter around me. I do not know what I had expected from a hail tree, but it was certainly not heat. In that regard, the tree did not disappoint me. It was as miserably cold as everything else on this cursed road. I closed my eyes, but after moments of shivering, with hard hail falling on me, chilled fogs drifting by me, and a hail tree stealing my warmth, it became obvious that I could not sleep. It took several more minutes of teeth-chattering shaking for me to come to the conclusion that this amount of cold was in fact lethal. At least walking I generated heat myself. Sitting on a bed of hail with hail behind me, all I felt was cold.

I picked Musa up and continued walking. The further away I got from the white hail tree, the more impossible it became to see anything. If I had to guess, I would say that we were in the latest hours of night. The red was deeper than it had been before. I saw nothing. I found it odd that there could be so much red that I could not even see the green of my skin, or the black of the cloaks around us. I clung to Musa’s weight in my arms, visions flashing in my head of what the sapped imp had looked like the last time I’d seen it. I could not help but recall what remained of its arm. It had been nothing more than a stump at the elbow. There was nothing left of the face that I had grown so used to seeing, nothing of the legs that had supported the imp for so long.

A stunted sadness rose in me. It was sorrow, but it was not. Again, I realized how strange the emotions I felt were. I registered sorrow, and for moments I could feel it, but it never lasted. It was as if a fog drifted within me, carrying my emotions with it.

I walked through roads I could not see, but I had reason to be grateful for the smooth terrain. I did not trip over rocks, or walk into trees or shrubs. There did not seem to be any other sign of life on this road, just me and my imp. The more I walked the higher the chances that I was approaching the bend in the road. It was a bend which would have been difficult to see when the orange dots provided some contrast during the day. Now at night, surrounded by nothing but red, that road would be impossible to see. I knew that I could miss it, but I had no choice, I had to walk. Staying still was not an option.

It took me a while to realize that the terrain I walked on had changed. The previously smooth hail filled floor was now covered with mixtures of sharp hail and hard rocks. I found myself tripping, more than once, on things that I could only describe as tree roots. Not a hail tree, not without the white hue. I slowed down, growing more careful with my steps.

When at long last night shifted to day and slight orange hues began to tint the red fogs, I caught glimpses of the trees that I had guessed at. They were short trees, with varying colored stems. I saw purple vegetation around some of the trees. There was a modest blue stemmed tree with thick bark and large fronds on its branches. It was a parasol tree. It bore no fruit, but it was so named for the fronds that grew off it. There were mejo slums were houses were erected underneath the shade of parasol trees. When fully grown, the frond branches would touch the grounds, completely protecting a perimeter around the stem of the tree. I remembered reading about the herbs that grew around parasol trees.

The parasol tree I saw was not fully grown, but it was mature enough that some of its fronds had started to curve downwards. The fronds above seemed to protect the area around the base from the hail, because there was a patch of rocky sludge ground underneath it. There was no hail on this sludge.

I heaved a sigh of relief when I walked underneath the parasol tree and found that its bent fronds kept a large amount of chilled drifting fogs away. It was with gratitude to the tree, that I sunk down by its base, exhausted. I carried Musa in my arms, glad for the warmth of the coat. The spot underneath the tree was far from being warm, but it was a great deal better than anywhere else on this road.

It was not until I sat, my mind freed from the worries of a frosty death, that I allowed my body to feel the strain of walking throughout the night. I noted then the aches in my feet and soreness in my limbs. My stomach rumbled for food and my dry throat pleaded for drink. Food I could give, drink I could not. How had I not thought to pack okun? I did not know that a place existed in the spectral existence where there was not okun. Okun was everywhere, or so I had thought. I could see no okun around me now.

@phoenixchap Yes, I hope Nebud is able to restore Musa too

@spixytinxy at last...hopefully it lasts...

@Boludammie welcome to the comments section, I hope it wouldn't end hopelessly too

@CasNova thank you, glad you're enjoying it

@Omittesb Can't it...well, I guess we will see

@cassbeat yes yo!!!

@Smooth278 Thank you, lol, you're right Nebud seems to have made its choice already

@ayshow6102 hahaha, you still remember that trail? Well, I guess there are more pressing things on its mind now

Part 5
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Fajahromo’s words echoed in my head.

It will not die, but once it is reduced to its last sustainable bit, it will never be able to regrow.

It will never be able to regrow.

Not like sapping, my mind reminded me, not like the horror that Musa had described the wielders unleashing on its kind. This was different. This was worse. With sapping the imp regrew. It took time, but eventually it regrew. This was not the same, there would be no regrowth from this. It would remain immortal, but it would be stuck in its last sustainable bit. It would not have enough form to be solid, enough appearance to be seen, enough memory to know what it was, or enough consciousness to know that it existed. It would technically be alive, but it would in essence, cease to exist. That was the fatal pain that I sensed in the imp after the Samu gnawed at it. This disease could not be cured.

“Please!” I begged. What more could I do? My imp was dying before my very eyes. I could see the form seeping away from its torso. None of the fingers in the sole limb it’d had remained. The lifeforces were slowly seeping out of it. I tried to think. Could there be a cure, something that I had read? I cursed myself for not reading more about imps. I should have read more. How had I been so arrogant as to think that I could never be subjected to this much loss?

“Greatest founder,” the words of another prayer came to my lips unbidden, pulled out by the despair I felt. This was too hard. It was too hard to watch Musa suffer so slowly, to watch as the life was drained from it, bit by painfully slow bit.

“Greatest founder,” I began, but the words fizzled to a stop. What else did I have to bargain with? All I had, I would give, I swore. Musa did not deserve to end this way. The pain burned in me, hotter than an inferno, more painful than a scourge. I saw pink liquid fill the ground around Musa, pulled forth by my pain.

“Go away!” I yelled at the okun. “You did not come when you were needed but now you appear?!” The okun disappeared.

I was frothing with anger.

“I will find the last brio!” I swore. “Do you hear me Chuspecip? I will find the last brio and I will make sure the plenum gets it! I will help them destroy you. I will destroy you. Save my imp, or you will rue the day that I was born!”

I was too enraged to give much thought to the words I said. There were voices in my head telling me to do more, to threaten worse, to raise the spirit of a god who watched its people get slaughtered. A selfish god, I thought. Chuspecip. All Uspecipytes were cursed by a coward god! I hated myself for praying to it. I hated myself for that weakness. There were voices in my head that cautioned patience. They warned of angering gods. I did not listen. I did not care. Let Chuspecip approach me if it dared!

I stared at what was left of Musa’s slowly rotting form, and I knew that nothing would ever be the same. There was nothing I could do to help my imp, nothing I could do to aid one who had tried so valiantly to save my life. I recalled all the times Musa had been timid about using its pansophy. Had it known all along that a creature like this samu existed? Had it known that any uspec could unleash this dreaded weapon? Was that why Musa had been so reserved in its actions? I recalled all the times that Musa had shaken with fear at the mention of yielders. Yet, this time, it had seen my troubles and rushed in to attack them. If Musa had not appeared…I shook my head.

“I will avenge you.” I swore it. “I will rip Fajahromo to pieces!”

Murmurs pulled my attention to the open door. Several imps stood by it, I counted four. As soon as my eyes met their empty sockets, they scattered, leaving before I could spend my anger on them.

I rose instead, picking up my weapons as my eyes traced the room. Only minutes ago my entire world was bursting with possibilities. I had seen visions of a life in a hooni mansion. I’d had Fajahromo so close I had stabbed my dagger into the uspec’s heart. Why would it not die? Why did it live to haunt me? Had it not taken enough from me? No more, I swore to myself, Fajahromo would take no more. I pushed my cutlass into my sheath as my vision blurred with violence, and my heart pounded with a bloodlust I had never felt before. I wanted to kill everything. I marched over to my imp. As I bent to pick it up, cradling what was left of its body in my arms, I decided that I would.

If this pain was what the lit okun demanded, I would give it a feast. I would go to the main hall of the mausoleum and cover the grounds with lit okun. Every single uspec in that room would feel my wrath. I would kill them until they told me where Fajarhomo was. Then I would go to Fajahromo! I knew I could kill it. Fajahromo knew it too. It had seen what I was, what I could create.

I felt the energy of spectra pounding in my veins. This was the energy needed to harness the powers of the other eyes. I had that energy. The only eyes Fajahromo had which I did not, where hooni eyes, for teleportation, and mejo eyes, for burning. I would kill it before it attacked me, or I would die trying. This was the end of my game with Fajahromo! I swore to the imp, and I would kill anyone who got in my way.

“You will not die alone.” I said, as I carried it through twisting walkways, back to the room-vault I had purchased only two weeks ago. We had spent eleven days in that room-vault together. I looked back longingly on that time, yearning to have it back.

How could pain such as this exist?

My toes brushed against the hard fog door. The fog softened, sensing me. I walked in through the light fogs, then stomped over to the nearest lounging bed. I lay Musa down gently on that bed.

I felt strange.

My heart was pounding with an unebbing thirst for carnage. It was a pounding which heated my blood with the anger that accompanied the thirst. Yet, despite the heat I felt in my veins, I felt an uncharacteristic cool around me. The thermal gradient was unsettling enough to pull my mind from thoughts of the uspecs I had to kill. It was jarring enough to let thoughts of Fajahromo, cut up into a million little pieces, slowly fade from my mind, leaving in its wake, a chill which was starting to seep into me, from my cool exteriors.

I looked up then, my mind cleared for long enough to see that the wall had been opened. Musa liked this chill. The thought filled me with a pang, a sharp pain, as if an arrow had been shot straight through my heart. The imp had probably left the wall open, before leaving the room, its curiosity getting the better of it.

Cool air filled the room. I walked over to the open wall.

I saw the bucket of slush, right by the slits on the ground just before the opening. I knew that putting some of the slush into the slits would heat the room, combatting the chill of the hail port. The key to closing the opening was also plain, a clearly exposed sign of another way to abate the chill. But even though the cold had now completely filled me, making me shiver with a fervor I had not felt before, I did nothing to make it warmer.

Instead, I simply stood by the opening, my feet just in front of the slits in the floor. A step or two forward, and I would be falling out of the opening, tumbling in the sky like the unending stream of falling hail.

There is a beauty which only a mejo port can have. It is a beauty etched into the pristine white landscapes, one enforced by the fine hail which never stopped falling. I could just barely make out spots of green canvassing through the streets underneath me. For some reason, the sight of these uspecs filled me with an inexplicable anger. It reminded me of the uspec that had taken the life of my imp. It reminded me that I had uspecs to kill, rooms to flood with lit okun.

How dare the scene appear so pristine, every inch of it covered with white? Red would far better soothe the mood that I was in.

A patch of red filled my eyes.

Nefastu, I thought with a grimace, the cursed road which led to the Isle of shuns. For some reason, that road, even though it was linked to a mejo port, had as much fog as it did hail. In some places more, the tales said. The fogs there drifted faster than normal fogs did, and the hail that fell in Nefastu was uncouth, hard pellets that drummed against the skins of the ones who chose to walk that path.

A soft voice trailed into my mind.

You see, there is a port which borders the isle. That port is a mejo port.

I frowned at the thought. I could not quite remember where I had heard it, but the voice in my mind reminded me of Arexon when it had pretended to be a female imp. I shook my head, pushing the meaningless words away.

I turned my back on the opening in the wall. I was about to close it, when I recalled Musa’s fondness for the chill. I would leave it open then. While I went about my mission of finding Fajahromo and bringing my savage justice to it, I would leave Musa with the memory of fond things. I did not know how much of the imp was left in its body. How much had the pious ones’ sapped before I ended them? Did it have enough consciousness to think? Did it know where it was? In lieu of closing the wall, I chose to place packets of slush into the slits on the ground.

An inferno flared to life once the slush sunk in though the slits, meeting the reactant at the bottom, which caused it to ignite. The warmth of the inferno seeped into me, filling my veins with pleasing heat.

I walked back to my imp then.

Most of its hand was gone. There was only the bottom part of its palms left connected to its wrist. The skin of its hand was stained in the blood of the pious one that I had beheaded. I remembered then the strange message that it had written into the pool of blood.

“Sad.”

Had it been saying that it was sad? I had left it by itself and so it was sad? Why was it sad? Why did its sadness warrant a message? Surely an imp as wise as mine would leave an important message if it was going to leave a death note. Avenge me! Kill the uspecs! I shook my head. No, those were messages I would leave. From Musa, I would expect a message like, ‘find the heir’. Yes, that is what Musa would be thinking with its dying breath. But ‘sad’?

My mind darted back to the last time I had seen a message in blood. The memory floated effortlessly to the front of my mind. I recalled that day on the inter-port trail, when I had witnessed Reynard’s death. I remembered watching the invisible finger moving in blood.

‘Beware the wrath of Sada’

That was the message that Xavier had left in the blood, by Reynard’s body. Beware the wrath of Sada. I frowned. Sada. Sad. Sada. Sad. Had Musa been trying to write Sada? Anger boiled in me. Was that it? Its dying note was a token of thanksgiving to the god it chose to serve? And that was what I had been straining myself to decipher?

Something felt off.

Musa seemed to approach religion the same way that I did. I had never seen or heard the imp refer to this god in anyway. It did not give thanks to Sada or pray to Sada for help in finding the heir. No, I shook my head, Musa was like me, it trusted in its own prowess to achieve its goals. Musa was no religious zealot. So why would it leave a dying note relating to ‘Sada’?

I wracked my brain for answers. “What were you trying to tell me?” I asked the imp when no answers came. Musa was no religious zealot. I was convinced of this. Perhaps the message had simply been what it had read like, ‘sad’. Perhaps it was saying that it was sad to die without finding its missing heir. No, Musa would not leave that as a dying message. Musa was no fool. It had to be Sada, I just knew it was, but I could not understand why the imp would leave such a message.

Beware the wrath of Sada.

The memory of those words written in Reynard’s blood, filled my head. The wrath of Sada. Something clicked into place, like gears finally meshing and turning accurately together. My brain had found a connection, something of importance about the phrase of words. The wrath of Sada, I repeated to myself, the wrath of Sada.

The wrath of Sada, it is an imp resistance group.

Musa’s words filled my head, releasing an avalanche of memories. I remembered being in that hovel on the inter-port trail, recovering from Xavier’s unexpected appearance. I had quizzed the imp about it, and it had told me that it was a resistance group of imps fighting against the enslavement of their kind. I remembered it telling me that the wrath had tried to recruit it for its pansophy. My eyes widened as the pieces fell in place. I recalled Xavier stealing my bag in search of Tantan’s appearance, a doll that I still carried with me in my belt. I remembered the rage I had felt because Musa kept the object from me. That felt like another life now. But of all things, it was the ‘pansophy’ that rang in my brain. They had wanted to recruit Musa for the pansophy it had.

He tried to recruit me for the wrath. They like to get imps with pansophy. Their main aim is to revive all the sapped imps by giving them a boost of growth. They have a growth cache, so they have been successful in the past, in helping sapped imps.

They have been successful in the past, in helping sapped imps.

The wrath of Sada! That was the message that Musa left me. It wanted me to take it to the wrath of Sada! They must have a cure then, a way to help Musa combat the effects of the Samu.

I looked down at the imp and found that all of its palm was gone. The sapping process had not stopped or slowed while I thought. How much time did I have? I could not tell. Some parts of the imp’s body seemed to be sapping faster than others. Did I even have up to a day?

I jumped up then, springing into action. I had a chance. Hope swelled in my chest, filling me with a joy that I could barely contain. Musa was not lost to me, not yet.

I walked over to our coffer. Musa had left the key to the coffer, laying on top of the hard surface. I picked it up and stuck it into the coffer. I pulled out travelling clothes as I thought of the new hope that Musa had left me.

“Thank you.” I said to the genius imp. “Now all you have to do is hold on.”

I would need to travel fast. I emptied the contents of my belt, choosing to fill a pouch with a mixture of money pieces, a few pieces of worth, a little more of merit, and the rest of it value. We had dried meats and some cakes still left uneaten. I wrapped them in cloth and placed them in my belt. My eye caught on the doll, Tantan’s appearance. I shoved that into my belt without thinking. What else? I looked around me, and pulled out the cloak which I had bought which gives off heat. I also pulled out the thicker coat. The one with the heat I would wrap around Musa. It was as I secured my hail footwear to my leg that I was filled with a daunting realization.

I had no idea where the wrath of Sada was located.

All of the joy seeped out of me as quickly as it had come in. My hope was gone, all that was left, was an empty husk.

I shook my head, forcing myself out of the defeatist mindset.

Musa had left the message for the wrath of Sada. It would not have done so if it was in a place that I could not find. Perhaps it was information that I could buy.

I frowned when that soft voice drifted into my head again.

You see, there is a port which borders the isle. That port is a mejo port.

I walked back to the opening in the wall. Covered by my heavy cloak and footwear, it did not feel quite as chilly standing by the opening.

You see, there is a port which borders the isle. That port is a mejo port.

My eyes drifted to Nefastu. There was something about this soft voice. Was it Arexon? No, I shook my head, not Arexon. But an imp, certainly an imp. An imp with a voice which reminded me of Arexon. A female imp? Which female imps had I known well enough to remember this clearly?

There was only one. One female imp from Aurelion who had called me Ned and told me secrets only imps were meant to know.

Aaliyah.

I was suddenly thankful for the fortune that I had given to Yakubo. I prayed that it cared for the imp, as it was due to this imp, that I had a chance of saving mine. I closed my eyes, allowing the chill to blast my exposed skin as I thought on the imp Aaliyah’s tale from the day we’d left Aurelion. With my eyes closed, I could focus on the imp’s words.

This is an imp secret, passed by word of mouth between imps. Permafrost is the main ice-mountain, the Cathedral of our faith in Sada. It is where the wrath of Sada is located.

Permafrost.

Again, the earlier words returned, but this time, they came to me complete.

You see, there is a port which borders the isle. That port is a mejo port. When you reach the trail to the isle of shuns, you could continue on towards the isle, or you could veer off the trail, and go to Permafrost.

I opened my eyes, and the answer was staring me in the face. It was there in the red-tinged trail. Nefastu, the forbidden road which led to the isle of shuns.

But now I knew that it also led to Permafrost, to Musa’s only chance at survival.

Forbidden or not, cursed or not, it was now where we were bound.

@Smooth278 lol, you don't sound too sad haha. Well, you're right Nebud didn't tell it the secret, that's sad...

@Tuhndhay Glad to have you back! Yes, Nebud has had a number of slips...well, we'll see what happens to it

@spixytinxy It's a real operation, anyway, I agree oh, it's so sad to see this happen to Musa

@Fazemood thanks for the feedback, I always enjoy getting honest feedback, good/bad. Anyway, I'm sorry the story isn't going in the direction you want it to, and while I really appreciate your willingness to stick with the story, I think that if it's gotten to the point where you don't want to read it anymore, then you should stop. Don't keep reading something you feel this strongly about not liking, just for me. Like I've said before, thank you for the support you've shown me overtime, I really appreciate it

@Omittesb thank you for reading. There are four types of magic in the spectral existence. There's spectra, which is linked to the eyes that the uspecs have. There is pansophy, which is the manipulation of lifeforces. There's emotions which allows an uspec to manipulate the five key emotions. And then there's route which we don't know too much about. But we know route is used for creating the equipoise and it's magic that only Chuspecip has.

@cassbeat well I'm starting to think that I shouldn't have included that part in the beginning about Nebud being Kaiser...oh well, maybe that's something to change for later

@ayshow6102 Thanks for reading. I'm sorry that the update made your mouth bitter, and right when you were eating too. Chai, Musa is lucky to have a friend like you to mourn for it

Fajahromo paused in its gloating, obviously waiting for me to enter the conversation. I remained silent, now seeing all the dots connected myself. Arexon had called me a fool, and in my short time in this burg, I had done everything in my power to prove it right. I had never even thought that the clerk would go to Fajahromo with the story of how I had stared at it, and all the questions I asked about Takabat. It had never crossed my mind that imps I bribed could be bribed by someone else. It was not in my nature to be trusting, but it was also not in my nature to see schemes and plots behind every gesture. I had simply thought of the mausoleum as the name implied, a place for storing valuables. I had not thought that a place like this would be rife with politics, that it could be bought and controlled by a duke from another port, another spectrum. I just hadn’t thought. And what was my lack of insight going to cost me this time? All of the uspecs in the room had pansophy, and spectra. I may be the best fighter, but what was sword skill in the face of magic? The only smart decision I had made was keeping Musa away from here. At least I would be alone in suffering the repercussions. Musa would be free. I wished then that I could say goodbye to it, that I could tell it to make for itself the greatest life it could. But it would not listen to me, not when it searched so desperately for its heir.

“There is no need to look so glum my friend.” Fajahromo stated. “I did not lie to Isthum, I do want to continue where my sibling left off, in looking after you. Together Nebud, you and I could rule this world. A world filled with iriras, just like us, where iriras are free to show off their features. It is still my dream, my friend, is it truly such a bad dream?”

“And what would you ask of me?”

“Friendship, that is all. You are the heir to Lahooni, you can find the lost wealth of your line, and the last brio, and we can use those things against the people who stole so much from you. The plenum wants the last brio, we can set a trap for them once we have it. We can slaughter them all. Then we can use the last brio for the purpose that it was made for.”

“Which is?”

“To destroy Chuspecip.” It stated. “With Chuspecip and the plenum gone, the spectral existence, in its entirety, will belong to us. We will have that which the plenum seeks, a means to communicate directly with the Kuwor. And that is where true power lies.”

Fajahromo’s words connected some more dots in my head. Isolated events that had caused me pause, teasing me with the promise of memories that I could not fully recall. Now I recalled one of import. I remembered where it was that the connection had been made between the plenum and the last brio, and I remembered what that connection had been built on. It was as if I was back in the pits, standing outside of the room that the plenum met in. The conversation came back clearly.

“Where is it?” a voice asked.

“In Behooni I hear.” Another replied.

“Salin sent a dispatch from Lahooni to comb through Behooni. Chuspecip is not in that port. How does it evade us? How!”

“It should not be able to.” This voice sounded thoughtful.

“It has power. While the last brio remains, it will always have power. The only way to kill one of the Chu is to destroy all its lifeforms. The brio hides Chuspecip’s lifeforms. And so, we must find the brio and use it to guide us to the other lifeforms. Then we can destroy all of them and finally put an end to Chuspecip.”

The last brio was the way to kill Chuspecip. It was a weapon. From talking to Sensu, I knew what the last brio was, but I did not know how it had come to be in the possession of my line. Sensu had mentioned that it was something passed down from one uspec to the next, but why would we own a weapon which could be used to kill Chuspecip? Why would the founder allow it? None of this made any sense to me.

To Fajahromo, I said. “That ring is the last brio. As the heir to Lahooni, I am the only one who can use the ring to get to the last brio. Give it to me, and I will give you what you want.”

Fajahromo scoffed. “The coffer, not the ring, is the last brio. And the coffer is being kept somewhere, and I think you know where. If you will not work with me as a friend, then you will work with me as an unwilling participant. But you will work with me.”

I sighed. It had been too much to hope that Fajahromo would believe me. I don’t know what I would have done with the ring if it had given it to me, but it would have been enough to have it in my possession.

“Master!”

No.

I turned around, swiveling as soon as I heard the achingly familiar voice. Musa was standing at the door. Its eyes were trained on an uspec whose sword would have touched my back if it had not warned me. I had no doubt that the swords were made of pansophic metal, the conduit that allowed all pansophic lifeforces to pass.

I struck out with my blade, sending the other’s blade away. But more of the pious ones’ blades now approached me.

“The imp is a pious slave!” one of the pious ones declared.

I turned to see that Musa had disappeared. It had removed its appearance, probably done to hide itself, but it also made its knowledge of pansophy evident. Musa’s invisibility took the attention of the uspecs away from me.

“Samu!” One of the pious yelled.

A pious one reached into its coat and pulled out an animal? It looked like an animal, one small enough to be held in the palm. It placed it on the ground and the animal moved across the room. I have never seen any creature move that fast. It seemed to glide over the ground, like flowing liquid, or the sludge bottom of a landlocked canoe.

A pious one screamed out in pain. It had a wound in its side. A fatal wound it appeared, as the pious one fell to its knees and then collapsed into a pool of its own blood.

Musa.

The pious ones appeared alarmed. They moved their weapons around, cutting blindly into the air.

Then I heard another cry.

This time it was not one of the pious.

Musa lay twitching on the floor. Its form changed, from visible to invisible, a few times before it remained, visible. I saw the little creature that the pious had released perched on the ground, nibbling on Musa’s arm. I felt the imp’s pain, like a blast of emotion in my face. That troubled me. If the imp could not hide its pain, then what did that mean? I reached into that pain and found that the imp was dying. I did not understand that. Imps bodies are not the same as uspecs. They cannot die, I knew that, so why did its pain tell me that it had been inflicted a mortal wound?

“Sap it before it is gone.” Fajahromo’s dry words stirred me out of the reverie that Musa’s sudden appearance had locked me in.

“No!” I cried. “Leave the imp be. I will do whatever you want Fajahromo. Just leave it be.”

Fajahromo sighed. “The samu’s bite is fatal to imps. It will not die, but once it is reduced to its last sustainable bit, it will never be able to regrow. That is what the Samu does. The imp will leak all of its lifeforces away anyway, but the process will be slow and painful. If the pious sap it, it will be fast and the lifeforces will not waste. It is a kindness, really, a better way for the imp to go.”

The pious placed the tips of their blades on Musa, and I could tell from the changes that began to happen to its form, that it was being sapped. “NO!” I screamed. I saw the loss, one that I had not even thought was possible, and I yelled.

There is a pain that you feel when you lose that which you hold dearest. I realized then that it was one I had only felt one other time, when I’d lost my offspring. I did not know till that moment, how much I cherished the imp. It was the one person who had stayed by me, even when I refused to go on the course that it charted. It stayed with me, keeping its oath to help me, to teach me. I learnt then, that there was no one living, that I cherished more. And I would not allow it to die. I would not. And so I screamed with the pain of seeing the inevitable end awaiting the imp, but hoping that by crying out my disavowal, I could do something to stop it. The hilt of my cutlass was in my hand as I ran towards the pious ones. In my fury, I cut off the head of the closest pious one.

The two that remained had their eyes trained on me.

Musa’s head no longer resembled a head, and its legs appeared like spots of goo sticking out of its waist. I knew that this was what it was for an imp to be sapped, and I felt Musa’s pain. I felt the pain of death. There is nothing like it.

For a moment, I was alone in my rage, and then I heard an answering cry, another thing that felt the pain that I did, one that knew my despair and swore to come to my aid. I formed a bond with the essence of pain, a strange voice that spoke to me through the pain of losing that which was most cherished.

It told me not to fear.

I heard a scream. “What is this? How is this?” The voice resembled Fajahromo’s but all voices came to me distorted, morphed by the sound of my own screaming.

My vision was blurry, but I could see through it to the uspec. It was a sight I wished I was in a better state to savor: the sight of Fajahromo showing true fear. Its features were frozen in it. Fear. And then brown appeared underneath it, and the uspec was gone. As soon as the brown left, the entire room seemed to be filled with a pink glow. The pink receded.

I felt it pool around me as my vision began to clear.

That was when I noticed what happened. The other pious ones lay dead in the room, their swords fallen away from Musa’s body. The lit okun seeped into me, telling me through my pain, that I had awakened it. I had created it. I had, at last, found the secret language the okun demanded of me. For others, the okun simply asked for pain, pain of any kind, the pain of a flesh wound, of a broken heart, that was all the pain needed to use the magic of the kute eyes. But for me, for one gifted with such intimate knowledge of the pain emotion, the okun demanded more. It wanted pain to the degree that I had just felt, it wanted the pain of losing one cherished, this was the only pain it would speak with me through.

All of this was made clear as the okun came back into me, filling me with the energy absorbed from draining the two dead pious ones of their lives. This was energy that I would now be able to use for the other forms of spectra.

I did not care about that.

I felt to my knees by the disfigured body of my imp. I felt for its pain, but there was nothing there. It had no pain or anger. All that was left of Musa was a torso and a single arm. The rest of it was gone, their presence only known by the goo left where they would have emerged from the torso.

I screamed. I don’t know how long I remained as I was, kneeling by Musa’s mutilated body, screaming. I don’t know if I cried, if I wept as I often derided others for. I don’t know how the pain and rage I felt were expressed in me. I do know that when at long last it ended, my throat was sore from the screaming. There were four bodies in the room. One Musa killed, one I did, and two the lit okun killed for me. But it was not enough. I wanted more. I wanted Fajahromo. I wanted Fajahromo more than I had wanted it after my offspring died. For doing this to Musa, I wanted it to suffer. I wanted it to suffer in ways that even I could not comprehend.

I was frozen to the spot, my body unable to move, my brain unable to come to the realization that Musa was indeed gone. But my eyes still worked. They scrutinized Musa’s body, praying for signs of life.

Praying.

I had not prayed since I left the slum, not once. I had once believed in the founder Chuspecip, but that had been before the pits of Hakute. My eyes continued to study the imp. It did not move. But I could see that the goo was eating into its torso. It was happening slowly, as Fajahromo had said it would, but it was happening.

My eyes followed Musa’s one remaining limb. Its hand was in a pool of blood. It was the blood of the pious one that I had beheaded. I followed Musa’s fingers and found them all drenched in blood.

I frowned.

I crawled closer to that pool of blood. It looked as if Musa had written in it. There was something so familiar about that, about seeing writing in blood. It had written, “Sad” and its finger was on the last letter.

Sad. What did that mean?

I knew that it was nonsense, probably just a farewell message from the imp, but my grieving brain would not accept it. It clung to the hope that it had been more than a farewell message. Perhaps it was a clue, maybe there was a cure for this Samu somewhere. If there was a cure, I would find it, I swore.

I found myself praying for the first time in over ten years. We are taught to identify ourselves when we pray, to mention our lineage. As de trop uspecs we had never had a lineage and so we’d placed ourselves directly in Chuspecip’s line. I had a lineage now, and in the off chance that Chuspecip really did hear these prayers, I wanted it to know who I was.

“Greatest founder,” I intoned, “most noble one, I am Cala, true heir to Lahooni. Listen and pay heed to my words as I am your humble servant. If you give life to this one, imp Musa who has served my line faithfully for centuries, I will be yours. I will bow at your feet, and jump at your command.” I did not know if that was enough. Why should Chuspecip care about what I would do? What did I have that I could offer it? The answer came instantly. “I am Cala, descendant of the line of the Kaisers of Lahooni, guardians of the last brio. If you give life to this one, I will find the last brio and protect it with my life. I will serve you till I draw my last breath.”

I don’t know what I expected. I thought perhaps that Chuspecip would listen and immediately make Musa whole. I was wrong. If Chuspecip existed, it was not listening to me. Musa was still as it had been before my prayer, slowly being sapped to its last sustainable bit.

Part 4
-------

The door was open when I arrived. It stood ajar, the fog softened and drifted away, as if beckoning invitingly for me to approach. I frowned. Why would the door be open? I stayed out of the way as I continued my cautious approach to the room-vault. I was now only a few paces from that open door. I stood with my back pressed against the wall, as thousands of questions buzzed in my head. Not the least of which was why I had insisted so strongly that Musa stay. Musa had pansophy which Fajahromo did not possess. That might be the only advantage that I could use against an uspec like Fajahromo. I knew that my spectra alone would not be sufficient. A voice urged me in pleading whispers to return to my room-vault and bring the imp along. I did not do as it bade. One thing remained unchanged, I was not yet ready for Musa to know of my true identity. The heir to Lahooni meant too much to this imp, and so it would expect more from me than I could give. For better or worse, my nearest future belonged to the voice in my head, and Musa would not understand that. How could I blame the imp when I could barely understand it myself? No, I shook my head. Musa could not know. Which left me to deal with Fajahromo on my own.

I took a few steps closer, my back glued to the wall, as I inched quietly towards the open door. I stopped when at last I was close enough that a simple twisting of my neck would grant me a quick glance at the room. My heart continued to thump belligerently in my chest, in preparation for the fight that was to come. It was a trial to ignore the beating of my heart and the unsettling mixture of dread and excitement that it awakened.

I heard an animal-like growl emanate from inside the room. That sound was followed by a loud bang, a crash, and then the unmistakable sound of fragile objects shattering into pieces.

“An open book in life but a riddle in death.” It hissed. “I did not think you capable of so much mystique Takabat. That was my failing, I did not think it of you. Why had I assumed that Fajahr’s cunning only passed to me? I told myself it was for that that our progenitor chose to give me a name derived from its very own, one that proclaimed me in advance of my lineage. But I was wrong, wasn’t I?”

As soon as I heard the voice, I found myself back in the pits, facing an inevitable death at the hands of the uspec on the other side of these walls. I heard the sounds it made in irritation, and learned from its soliloquy, that Takabat, even in death, was managing to outfox it. It was a thought that brought me much relief. I decided that for Fajahromo to be this piqued, it must have failed in gaining what it came here for. It may have the ring, but it could not have my identity, the knowledge of my presence and the link I bore to the ones who owned the ring it had stolen.

Still, I turned to stare into the room. Suddenly, all of my options were laid open in front of me. Fajahromo had spectra, it was magic which I still could not use, magic which would always give the uspec the upper hand. But it also had my ring, it had the key to the coffer, the key to the last brio. I knew that I did not have the luxury of time. I needed to retrieve that ring, I had to ensure that my secret was safe from Fajahromo. My eyes locked on Fajahromo and I felt my legs moving forward, pulling me into the room as if of their own accord. Fajahromo was alone, this was my chance, I could not risk waiting until the pious that had surrounded it returned. I walked in.

The room was just like mine, except emptier. It was devoid of furniture. There was nothing in it but a simple wooden stool, or rather the remains of a stool, and the glass contents that had sat on it. Seeing the room, I could understand the cause of Fajahromo’s ire. This was what Takabat had spent a fortune on? To buy a room-vault which housed nothing?

Fajahromo’s back was to me. I could see the twitching end of its tail, and the back of the light fabric coat it wore. The position of the ends of that coat showed that it hung open at the front.

There was something unbelievably stirring about seeing Fajahromo standing in this position, with its back to me, oblivious to my presence in the room. If I had any chance of getting the better of Fajahromo, it was this, now. I could catch it unawares. But I had to move quickly.

With one hand gripping my cutlass and the other hand my dagger, I walked further into the room.

What do you expect when you face your first foe? The pains that I had been dealt at Fajahromo’s hands far outweighed any that others had done to me. And that was a feat, as in the short time since I’d left the pits, I had become subject to so much pain. I’d had the magic of the soaru eyes used against me, drawing out pains which even my highly honed pain receptors were unfamiliar with. I’d been scourged, whipped with thorns until the pain was so great that I lost consciousness, a thing which had not happened even when I fought in the pits. My flesh was forever mangled, but even that was eclipsed by the hurt that Fajahromo had caused. No pain existed which could be greater than losing an offspring. To watch it serve Fajahromo while looking at me with the eyes of a stranger. To see it attack me, its own progenitor, for Fajahromo’s favor. Then to see it die, to watch the life drain from it and know that the only way to cope with the pain was to cut it off, to pretend that it had never existed, to disown it. An act done out of pride was really just one done to save myself. But here, standing in Fajahromo’s presence, all of that pain came back, and with it, an anger that I could not quell, one that I shook with.

I was blinded by that rage. I realized at that moment, as my hands reached for the weapons I bore, that the urge to slaughter Fajahromo was too compelling. I could not seek to reason with it, there was no reasoning with one such as this. There was only death. There was only death for all that Fajahromo had done to me, all the pain that it had dealt to me. I was blinded by that pain, spurred on by an inundating bout of rage which obliterated all desires save for an irresistible drive to seek justice for the offspring I’d lost.

Unceremoniously, I pulled my dagger and my cutlass out of their sheaths, arming myself with the dagger in my left hand and with the cutlass in my right. I ran towards Fajahromo, announcing my presence in the room.

Fajahromo turned around when I was only a few steps away. One second more and I could have cut off its head.

To my surprise, Fajahromo had a sword hidden in a special sheath sewed into the cloak it wore. It pulled that sword out, its eyes widening as it stared in fear at my approach. I did not see the light of recognition in its gaze, as I swung my cutlass down. The uspec’s sword clashed against mine, deflecting the blow that I had aimed at it. It countered with an attack of its own, which I repelled with a slam of my cutlass. It made to attack me again.

I slapped its sword away putting the full strength of my bulk behind it. This created a wide opening to the uspec’s spike-filled chest. I stuck my dagger in between two of those spikes, stabbing right into the uspec’s heart.

Fajahromo stumbled.

The sword fell from its hand as it stared in shock at the blood seeping from the mortal wound that I had struck. Both of its hands went towards my dagger, just as the uspec lost its footing and it fell clumsily to its knees.

The taste of victory was not as sweet as I had expected. Perhaps it was the ease with which I had won. I always knew that Fajahromo was no great fighter, but I had at least expected it to try to use its spectra. I must have cut it off guard then, for it to not even try to use the magic of the eyes that filled its face. Still, there was something to savor at the disbelieving stare on Fajahromo’s face. The uspec must have thought itself invincible. I decided that its head would make a great trophy.

I rose my cutlass up in the air, and let it swing unerringly towards Fajahromo’s neck.

Fajahromo rose a clenched fist in the air.

I stopped, just moments before the cutlass would have made contact with the ring on its finger. My ring. Again, just the flash of it, so close to me, wrought feelings in me that I was not wholly certain I liked. I saw myself surrounded by quicksand, in a mansion built from it. In a way the mansion was as much a maze as the ones in the labyrinths, because a simple touch of the wrong wall could make the quicksand soften and take you somewhere far away. I saw green, a place filled with green sludge, and a green face staring down at me. It must have been a giant from the vast distance that separated our faces, but I could tell that it looked on me with love. Then I felt a cold, chilling fogs drifting around me.

The visions stopped when the ring began to shake. At first, I thought it was some sort of magic, and then I realized that it was only shaking because the uspec who wore it shook.

Fajahromo.

It shook so violently I thought it was having a concussion, and then its smiling face rose to meet mine. I saw its own victory in the eyes that stared back at me. It laughed as it rose to its feet. This laugh reminded me of the last time that I had foolishly tried to kill Fajahromo.

The uspec pulled the dagger out from its heart and dropped it on the floor.

But it was not possible. A mortal wound was a mortal wound. No one survived from a wound to the heart.

“So many things possible with pansophy, but by far my favorite, is where pansophy meets spectra. For example, an uspec with only a basic understanding of manipulating its internal lifeforces, could combine this magic with the magic of, let’s say, the hooni eyes, and use this to change the location of its internal organs. Fascinating, is it not, my friend.”

Many things hit me at the same time. The first was that Fajahromo had pansophy. It had pansophy. It became even more clear as I watched the wound on its chest heal. How did an uspec like this gain pansophy? But that question was far outweighed by another, it knew me. The way it called me ‘my friend’ showed that.

I took a step back, and was stopped by the sharp point of a blade. I turned around immediately, and saw two pious ones standing behind me. From the markings on their fraises I could tell that they were yielders, the ones known for sapping imps. I turned back around and found two other pious ones there. It became clear that they had always been here, the four of them, they had simply taken away their appearance, so that I would not see them.

Fajahromo’s smile was just as I remembered it. “It is remarkable what you have done for yourself Nebud.” It cleared its throat. “I suppose I should say banneret instead.” It laughed. “As you hail from Mugakute, or was it Murekute, I see that your tales have gotten confused.”

I could not believe this. How did the uspec know so much about me?

“You made it too easy to keep tabs on you Nebud, too easy. You didn’t even think to change your name! All I had to do was hire a few auditors to go in search of you. I told them to look out for a fighter, one with a penchant towards covering its neck. They had you on the inter-port trail, and just followed you from there. At first, reading of your exploits was simply an entertainment I allowed myself, but now, now, I understand what it was about you that I always found so intriguing. You always stood out Nebud, and how could you not, with the blood of the mighty Calam running in your veins.”

I clenched my jaw.

Fajahromo kept laughing. “I will confess, I did not quite put all the pieces of the puzzle together until you came here. I had always known that my sibling hid an irira in Hakute, which was why I had spent so much time collecting Hakute iriras.” Suddenly, the room filled with iriras in the pits made sense to me. I flashed back to the time I had spent there, and the song that had bought me freedom, and entrance into the arena. “Yes, Takabat hid an irira, I knew that, but I never knew why. I wanted to find the irira because knowledge is power, and that was one puzzle I was desperate to solve. But then I killed Takabat and tortured its osin. It took months to break it, but when it did finally break, it mentioned a connection between the fabled wealth of Lahooni, the last brio, my own sibling, and a pious one named Isthum. And thus a search began which took me to Chiboga, and finally, brought me here.” It broke off, its smile turning into a wolfish grin of self-exaltation. “You have much to learn Nebud, or rather, Cala. Which do you prefer?”

I glared at the uspec, but I remained silent.

“Never mind,” it said, “you are by birth imperial, and all imperial ones must have their arrogance. I understand. Where was I?” It ran a finger over its temple. “Yes!” it exclaimed melodramatically. “Much to learn. But who can blame you, coming from a slum, and then the pits, it is truly admirable that you have been able to live the life you have for the last year. But, please, do not learn from the ilk of Marcinus, or Arexon, those are the tales of failure. Learn from Manus, from Sophila, from the successful. You are so clueless. Why else would you come directly to the Mausoleum and make a point of asking about my sibling from the least-trustworthy clerk here. You did not even take the time to learn who answered to whom, and if there was anyone you could buy. Politics, my friend, it is all politics. The attendant you spoke with belongs to me, as all clerks here do. For a little retainer, they tell me everything of note that happens here. And when you, Nebud, the irira from Hakute, who Takabat took such an interest in, arrived here, asking about Takabat and bribing imps to tell you when I appeared. It became obvious who the heir to Lahooni was, and how that linked with Takabat’s protection of an irira from a slum. Truly, I should have put it together sooner, but your arrival here was the vital clue I lacked in connecting the dots.”

@Ultimategeneral Yes oh, let's see how far it can go...

@Fazemood Well I guess we shall see how Nebud does. Maybe it will surprise you...

@ayshow6102 thank you for reading

@Omittesb I agree it did strategize more in that fight in the pits. Well that Nebud is not the same, life has changed it. I guess we'll see what happens

@HotB Exactly, I'm happy that you can see the flawed aspect of Nebud. It's not perfect. And yes, I do need all of the descriptions and the background for a novel. So, I have to make sure I'm getting the right experience now. Thank you for understanding

Part 3
-------

Perhaps I had been spoilt by the luxuries of the world which I now inhabited, but I found nothing truly awing about the room-vault. It was nothing but a sparsely furnished room. I grudgingly admitted that it did have the finest lounging beds that I had ever seen, these lounging beds being much wider than those usually contained in the entertaining rooms. I found a large counter in the middle of the room. The counter was lower than those in the main hall of the mausoleum. It was circular, with parts of the center cut out to resemble the Cormeum.

Two things happened at once.

First, the room filled with a chill. It was as if I was suddenly standing outside underneath the falling hail. A cold breeze swept into the room, carried on the backs of drifting fog. Fog and hail made for a terrible combination. I frowned, thinking about it. I had been outdoors in this burg, but I had never felt the combination of hail and fog as acutely as I felt this.

My head snapped up and I realized why I felt the breeze so keenly. That was when I also noted the second change in the room. The room was naturally lit by pure, dazzling streams of orange light.

Musa had found another opening to the room. I walked, shivering as I approached the parted wall. As I got closer to the opening, the chill became more severe, prompting me to pull the ends of my cloak closer towards me. I held the lapels tight as I continued to edge forward, unable to resist the beckoning of the exposed scenery.

It was not till that moment that I realized what it meant to own a room-vault at the top-most layer of the tallest dwelling in the entire burg.

“It is beautiful.” I spoke through chattering teeth which inevitably distorted the words I said.

But it truly was beautiful. It was so beautiful that I remained in the same spot, freezing, without paying too much attention to the discomfort. The entire burg was laid out in its full splendor before us. I’d seen maps of this place, so many different maps for so many different labyrinths, but there was nothing like seeing it all together as I did at that moment. From my vantage point I had a clear view of the rest of the mausoleum underneath me. I counted four different labyrinths, around the petals surrounding the Cormeum.

The Cormeum was the center of the burg. It was the first labyrinth which was built. All others were built around that first one, starting with the petals, and then the labryinths that bordered the burg. There was something so magnificent about seeing the Cormeum from this viewpoint. All I knew about the Cormeum was that it was home to the sovereign of this burg, and considered to be the one place in the entire port, which could not be breached. Looking down on it as I did, I could easily see how the maze of roads on each petal, led finally to the Cormeum, the bud in the center.

Another area caught my eyes.

Nefastu, it was called, the forbidden road. Most ports had strong impenetrable borders which could only be breached through the inter-port trail. Damejo was one of the most notable exemptions to this norm. I could not say how it came to be, but the Kaiser of this port had allowed for a connection to be made between its port and the Isle of shuns, the place where all shunned uspecs were remanded. The road from Damejo to the Isle of shuns was accessible by all uspecs, but it was deserted, as all thought it ill-luck to be close to those who were shunned. There was also the practical aspect of shunned uspecs being desperate to add others to their shame. I had read several tales of uspecs foolish enough to wander onto Nefastu. Those uspecs were set upon by shuns they likened to maddened beasts. Needless to say, when the shunned were done with them, the uspecs became shunned too. Only fools walked down Nefastu.

When at long last, my ogling ceased, I noticed that the air was not as chilled as it had been when I walked in. In fact, it appeared no cooler than the main hall in the mausoleum. I frowned, wondering how this had come to be. Musa must have read the confusion in my expression because it said,

“There are sealed packs of slush, master.” It said as an explanation.

I turned then, taking note of a covered bucket by the wall. I remembered reading something to the effect of how slush was created. I did not find it a particularly intriguing tale, but I knew that slush was made from hail, infused with the magic of spectra and pansophy, so that when it made contact with a special type of dust, it created an inferno. I looked down to see slits on the ground, and underneath these slits, a crimson inferno raged.

I smiled. Perhaps this room-vault was more spectacular than it appeared at first sight. My perusal completed, I walked back towards a lounging bed and collapsed onto it. Musa reclined with a more dignified composure. My study of the imp intensified as I noted the harried way in which it tapped the lounging bed beside it. Its feet shuffled impatiently against the ground, and its gaze kept darting back to the door through which we had entered into the room.

“Are you alright?” I drawled.

The imp’s empty sockets snapped over to me. It jumped to its feet then and began to pace. “Did you hear all that the attendant said master? About the ring? Fajahromo has already found it! It seeks to steal that which belongs to the heir of Lahooni! And if it finds out the identity of the heir before we do? The heir will be finished. We must do something, master, we have no time to waste.”

“What do you propose we do?” I asked calmly, slightly amused by the imp’s angst. It had always presented a calm and controlled veneer to me.

It turned on me. “I don’t know! Something master.” It ran over to me then and knelt on the floor, by my lounging bed. “Please master, please! Fight for my young master as you have for others, and you will be rewarded. I swear it by Sada!”

I had never heard Musa swear by Sada. How had it managed to appear so composed throughout our journey here. It was killing it to do nothing. “Did your former masters own a room-vault?”

The question seemed to have caught the imp off guard. It frowned. “Yes, master.” It replied cautiously.

I was not sure why I had asked, especially since I already had the answer. I was no one else’s heir, so the white trail had to be from the line of the Kaisers of Lahooni. What had they left me? “What do they keep there?” I asked.

The imp frowned. “What does this have to do with the young master?”

I shrugged.

It sighed. “I do not know master. I was never brought here. Chike accompanied master Calami once, I think. No other uspec of that line brought an imp here.”

There was something about the tone in the imp’s voice. Was it pained? It sounded somewhat resentful. No, I shook my head, that was not the right word. Offended? Hurt. Had it requested to be brought here and then had that request denied? This was the first time that Musa had given me any reason to believe that life between it and its previous masters of my line, was anything but perfectly harmonious. I stored that somewhere in my mind. “Why don’t you go and find the food the attendant hinted at. I am starved.”

“Master!” it cried out, its arms flying up in exasperation. “We cannot let Fajahromo discover the young master’s identity. Can’t you see how much is at stake? The honor of a prestigious line could be ruined if an uspec, such as you hint at Fajahromo being, controls Lahooni. And Fajahromo could control Lahooni, if it finds the heir before I do.”

There was absolutely no chance of that happening. “There is nothing we can do until Fajahromo’s search reaches this layer. I only have access to the layer that I purchased a room-vault in. Unless you know a way to use pansophy to change this?” Musa shook its head. “Then busy yourself,” I ordered, “find us fresh food. It will take your mind of situations that you cannot change.”

Musa rose from the floor with a humph and stormed out of the room. I noted as it left, that the door did not need the key to open from the inside. It was as all others are in that respect. I rose then, glad to have the room to myself. The imp’s worrying got to me. I did not like seeing my ring on Fajahromo’s finger. I did not like how close it had gotten to my secret. I did not like anything about the situation that I had walked into. If only I could have come sooner. But now that I was here, I would confront Fajahromo, and once I did? I shook my head. Fajahromo had the full range of spectra. All I had were eyes that I could not use. I had seen Fajahromo use spectra. It was quite skilled at it. And that had been over a year ago. If I could turn myself into a banneret in that time, I shuddered to think of what Fajahromo could do.

A knock on the door pulled my attention to it.

I walked over and opened it, placing my hand on the hard fog. It drifted away, exposing one pouting imp and a coffer whose top surface was covered with food.

“Your meal, master.” Musa said sullenly, walking into the room.

I ignored it, choosing instead to pick up the platters and transfer them, one after the other to the counter. There was also a pitcher of chilled purple wine, and a single glass goblet.

I inclined an eyebrow as I turned to stare at the imp. “Are you not eating?” I asked.

“How can one eat at a moment when time is so crucial?”

The food was pleasing. There was a stew made out of a type of meat that I could not place. The stew had grains in it, adding a bit of texture to what would ordinarily have had the consistency of liquid. I tore off a chunk of bread and dipped it into the stew. My taste buds exploded with the infusion of flavors. Filling my goblet with purple wine, I watched the imp’s pacing. It continued to shift between staring pleadingly at me, glaring at me, and then looking at the door.

“I will go and see if Fajahromo has reached this floor.” It stated, walking towards the door as it uttered the words.

The cake was delicious. It had fruits embedded into it, and chunks of meat. I smiled snuffing down the entire cake. By the time Musa knocked at the door, the meal was finished. It did not seem to care, as it shook its head at me, informing me of the futility of its search, an event I could have predicted, before walking past me into the room. It slumped onto the lounging bed, dropping its head into its hands. “What if we do not find it? What if all of this is for nothing? What if it never comes to this layer? Maybe we should go back to the main hall and await it there.”

“What will you do when we find it?” I asked, starting to get irritated by the imp’s behavior. “Will you, for the first time since I’ve met you, actually attack an uspec? You did not do it when an uspec stabbed you in Katsoaru, or when Arexon threatened to have you sent to Aurelion. If you did nothing then, what do you hope to do to Fajahromo when we approach it?”

The imp stared at me, suddenly at a loss for words.

I sighed, shaking my head. “That is what I thought.” I mumbled, sprawling fully on my bed. It was not long till I found myself asleep, chased into slumber by my own inability to answer the same question that I had asked the imp. What would I do when I found Fajahromo?

Luckily, as fate would have it, both of us were granted more time to consider our answers. Days passed, and in those days, there was no sign of Fajahromo. On the third day, Musa had the brilliant idea to bribe an imp to let us know when the uspec appeared. It took a piece of merit to buy the imp’s silence and another piece to get its agreement. After that, Musa and I were able to relax our watches. We still took regular walks around the layer, but the spacing between those walks lengthened. Whatever imp was on duty would let us know when Fajahromo appeared. I had promised to pay a piece of merit to that imp, if it was different from the other imp we’d dealt first with. In all, I concluded that bribing was indeed a tenuous affair, but it yielded results.

After ten fruitless days, the message came.

Musa and I had begun to despair. Takabat bought thirteen out of twenty of the most expensive vault-rooms in the mausoleum. Surely, it had done this for a reason. And if it had not, Fajahromo, must at least be curious to find out what had driven Takabat to make such a bargain.

On the eleventh day, the answer came.

We were in the middle of our meal, a delicious serving of mashed grain morsels dipped in etku sautéed nama herb sauce, when we heard the scratching sound. Musa froze, its mouth opened wide to receive the brown morsel. Unbelievingly, we both turned with wide eyes to the door, holding our breaths as we waited for the sound to be repeated.

Seconds passed before the sound was repeated, a very distinct scratching, followed by a loud thump. The morsel fell from Musa’s hand. We both jumped to our feet at the same time. Running faster, Musa reached the door before I did. It placed its hand against the hard fog, and we both waited as the fog softened and then drifted away.

The imp standing on the other side of the door was one that I had not seen before, but it wore the uniform of the imps that served in the mausoleum. “The duke just appeared on this floor moments ago, domina. It is searching the room-vault that is closest to the cleaning room.”

I pulled a piece of merit out of my belt and handed it over to the imp. It bowed, grateful for the promise kept, and then withdrew.

I walked out of the room, took a few steps away from the door and then turned around.

“No.” I said, shaking my head as I watched Musa’s attempt to follow me.

It frowned.

“Wait for me, Musa. I know Fajahromo, it will go better if I am alone.” In all the days that I had spent preparing for Fajahromo’s arrival, the only step I had made towards making a plan was deciding that Musa could not be with me.

“Why?”

“Just trust me Musa.”

“This is my mission, master.” It snapped. I heard the sting of fury in each word that it uttered. “You cannot keep me away from it.”

“Your mission is finding your heir, not questioning Fajahromo. If you want my help to complete your mission, then you will do as I say.” I snapped back at it, the fury in my tone matching the imp’s.

I saw something in the imp’s gaze. Was it hate? Perhaps, although I could not conceive of Musa hating me. It was anger, and it did have the right to that. I was after all, not telling it the truth.

I was beginning to suspect that Fajahromo knew a great deal more about my true identity than I was willing to reveal to the imp.

Musa walked back into the room-vault and the fog hardened between us.

My heart was pounding so hard that I could swear I heard it. I took a deep breath, wrapped my hand around the hilt of my cutlass, and then walked in the direction of the cleaning room, to the room-vault that the mausoleum imp had mentioned.

Fazemood:
@ bolded... Really? I don't think so, not after what you gave us in Osazele's story. You are definitely a fan of fighting and most definitely slaying c'mon Obehid; who are trying to sweet talk right now? Abeg abeg make I hear! You that killed many characters in Our wolf pack, even killed that gay boy(what's his name again?)that loves oyibo boy, and osazele's entire village. Chai see madam Obehid o. Shift let me see clearer

Look if I don't see actions in our story, walahi no sharwama and coke for you this Xmas. Try me and see

LOL, I'm actually not a fan of fighting or slaying, those scenes are actually pretty hard for me to write. Like, it's not as easy as writing the day to day drama and just normal interactions. I'm not a fan of fighting, I just write what the story demands, not necessarily what I like to read.

@Ultimategeneral that is a good point, but you have to remember that Fajahromo has the ring that's Nebud's birthright, and it's currently searching for the coffer among Takabat's rooms. And the coffer is pretty important, Nebud can't just let Fajahromo take it. Is it risky for Nebud to try to attack it now? Yes. Will it succeed? I don't know, but sometimes, you have to do things even when you're not prepared because you don't have time to waste, and that's where Nebud's mind is. It doesn't want Fajahromo to find the coffer, or its connection to the Kaisers of Lahooni.

@Omittesb I do agree that Nebud is stubborn and eager to pick a fight, but I don't think that's the motivation for this one. Like I explained to Ultimategeneral, time is of the essence here. As far as Nebud knows, Takabat has its secrets hidden in one of the room-vaults and Nebud needs to stop Fajahromo before it finds it. Is it dangerous? Probably, but what in life isn't?

@tunjilomo Does Nebud think it could defeat Fajahromo? I don't know, but it knows that time is of the essence. Especially when Fajahromo already has the ring. Who knows what Fajahromo could do with that ring...

@ayshow6102 LOL, don't worry I missed you I'm sorry your phone got spoiled, but I'm happy you were able to get a new one

@Fazemood Is Nebud dumb? I don't know if that's the word I'd use to describe it. Arrogant, definitely, proud, annoying, brash, but dumb...well, I'm biased though, anyway, as to the details, I think it's really to each their own. I see you're a fan of action well there's definitely action coming up, but not everyone who reads reads for action. I know that I'm not really a huge fan of the fighting and killing (I don't know why there's so much of that in this story ). And I think the details are important. It's hard with something that I've been posting for this long, to really see how all the details connect. I think that's the one big drawback with posting a book like this piecemeal, because the details matter, but it's rarely ever obvious right there, why that detail is important, but it comes back.

Lines of confusion appeared on the uspec’s face. “Normally uspecs who come to the mausoleum do so in search of a vault, either to go to one they already own, or to purchase one.”

“A vault.” I muttered. Then, “a vault!” I exclaimed, when it looked like the uspec’s mild confusion was beginning to turn into suspicion. “Of course, why else would I be here?”

The uspec smiled then, all previous misgivings apparently forgotten. “Then you came to the right counter!”

I noticed for the first time that the uspec wore a chain on its neck. This chain seemed to be made of links of thick scales, with a large circular pendant at the base resting against its chest. That pendant was inscribed with scribbles that could only be described as a maze. The uspec dislodged the pendant from the rest of the chain and brought it down against the counter. As soon as it touched the counter, a piece of the surface shifted, exposing a mini-maze structure. The uspec lowered the pendant, matching the maze on one side of it, with the maze extrusion from the exposed surface of the counter.

Then the uspec twisted the pendant, and pushed against the counter. A part of it swung freely, granting entrance for the uspec to move to the space within the counter.

“Will you be purchasing a vault, or requiring access to one you already own?”

“Purchasing.” I replied.

The uspec smiled. “We have several quite affordable vaults…” it began.

“Tell me,” I interrupted it, “how long have you been in the mausoleum?”

“Myself, noble one?” It placed its hand against its chest theatrically, smiling as it replied, “several decades now, noble one. I was born in the Labyrinths and reared on these very counters. My progenitor was a mausoleum clerk, just as I am.”

“Decades.” I tried to infuse interest into my gaze and voice. “Then you were here when the pious Takabat purchased vaults.”

It nodded. “Yes noble one. I recall it was quite an event, and an expenditure on the pious one’s part. We all wondered how Takabat came across so much wealth.”

“Wealth?” I asked. “Surely the vaults are not that expensive.”

“Oh, you need not worry noble one, the prices vary. We have very affordable vaults.”

“But those are not the ones that Takabat purchased?”

It shook its head. “Not at all. Takabat purchased room-vaults in the stacks as well as in the single layered crypts. Room-vaults in general are more expensive than lockers, and much more expensive than boxes. And room-vaults in the stacks are far more expensive than those in the crypts.”

“How many stacks are there?”

“There are two four layered stacks, one two layered stacks, and thirteen crypts.”

“Which did Takabat purchase the most amount of room-vaults in?”

The uspec chuckled. “So many uspecs, caught up in the fever of the duke’s presence, ask the same question but are greatly disturbed when they realize that they cannot afford it.”

“And what do you tell these many uspecs?”

“The truth. Takabat purchased the most room-vaults in the mansion. We call it that because it is the grander of the two four layered stacks. Would you like to hear something even more awing?” It asked, leaning over the counter, a conspiratorial twinkle in its center eye. “Takabat purchased thirteen of the twenty room-vaults on the highest layer of the mansion. It purchased so many room-vaults in the mansion, that the duke, Fajahromo, has spent four days searching there and it is still yet to reach the room-vaults on the highest layer. Fascinating, is it not, noble one?”

“Mesmerizing.” I replied. Now, truly fascinated by the uspec’s tale. “I will take a room-vault on the highest layer of the mansion then.” I stated.

The smile faded from the uspec’s face. “I did not mean to mislead you noble one…I only added those details as part of the curiosity of Takabat’s wealth. A banneret could not possibly afford a room-vault in a crypt, not to talk of the prime spots in the mansion.”

“How much do they cost?” I asked.

“A room-vault in a crypt costs half a piece of worth.”

“I was referring to the highest layer of the mansion.”

“Five pieces of worth.”

I almost screamed the extortionate cost out at the top of my lungs. Five pieces of worth for a vault? Five pieces of worth. I could buy a small port for that price! Well, I did not actually know if it was possible to buy a port, but if it was then five million pieces of value had to cover it.

I had made a small pouch of each of the denominations and kept them in my belt. I had twenty pieces of worth in my worth pouch. With my gaze on the face of the clerk, I placed my hand into the pouch and counted out five pieces. I would not miss the money, but that did not mean that I could not appreciate its cost.

I placed the pieces of worth on the counter, watching with slight satisfaction as the uspec’s eyes widened, staring disbelievingly at the fortune. Its gaze snapped from me to the money, then back to me. “How…” it began, and then it shook its head, and cleared its throat. As it gathered itself, I wondered what story would be spun of the fortune that I used to purchase the room-vault. And as that thought crossed my mind, I thought of another, Takabat’s fortune. If a single room-vault cost five pieces of worth, then on just one layer, Takabat had spent sixty-five pieces of worth, and those were not the only room-vaults that it had bought. How did Takabat come across such wealth?

The fabled wealth of Lahooni.

My inheritance.

The words filled my head before I could dwell on them. I found the second much more troubling than the first. When had I come to think of that wealth as belonging to me? A wave of anger rushed through me as the thought continued to ping in my head. I realized that I was angry at the spendthrift way that Takabat had parted with money which belonged to me. The emotion left as quickly as it came, but I was left feeling shocked by it. I was not yet sure that I liked it.

When my attention returned to the counter, it was to find it empty. A single vial sat in the place of my money. I stared quizzically at it.

“That is your key noble one. Once you imbibe it, you become the key, your life and identity alone will grant access to the room-vault. You can access the layer that the room-vault is on by stepping into any portal in the mausoleum. The key in you will guide you to the right place. When you die, the ownership of your room-vault will automatically pass to the heir you declare.”

“And if I were to purchase multiple room-vaults?”

“Then the portal will guide you to whichever room-vault is foremost on your mind. Once you arrive at the layer of your room-vault, a green trace of dust will appear on the grounds leading to your room-vault. Only you will be able to see and follow this trace. If you own multiple room-vaults on the same layer, you will be led to the unopened ones by a trail of green, and the opened ones will vary in color from red to white, depending on how old the room-vault is.”

I nodded. “Where are the portals?” I picked up the vial from the counter, mindful of the uspec’s still disbelieving gaze as I imbibed its contents. I had not come here with the intention of purchasing a room-vault, but now that I had one, I was starting to see how useful it could be. If I had not purchased one, for example, I would have no access to the vaults which Fajahromo was scouring through. Now, I knew that Fajahromo had not yet searched the room-vaults on the highest layer of the mansion, so all I needed to do was go to that layer, and wait for the uspec to arrive.

As soon as it was empty, the vial disappeared, decomposing into a vapor which drifted in through my nostrils. It was a strange sensation.

The uspec bowed as it walked out through the counters. “All portals in this burg are outdoors, in areas exposed to the hail. Majority of the portals in the mausoleum are the exteriors. As soon as you step out into the hail, the ground underneath you will soften.” It led us through the maze of counters as it spoke. “As the stacks are home to only our most illustrious clients, the layers are furnished with a luxurious cleaning room, food and a lounging room to enjoy it, and messenger imps who will see to your every whim. Most of our clients who purchase room-vaults as large as those in the highest layer of the mansion, do not bother with rooms whenever they come to the labyrinths, they simply rest in their room-vault.”

“Intriguing.” Even if the room-vaults weren’t large, I had every intention of staying in the one I had purchased until I found Fajahromo. I did not care how many days it took.

“To this end, the room-vaults are furnished with lounging beds and several coffers. The furnishing is yours to change, as you now own it. Though we provide a complimentary cleaning service whenever requested, we realize that you might prefer the contents of your room-vault to remain confidential and so we provide cleaning supplies if you would like your own imps or servants to clean it for you.”

A part of the wall parted, allowing for the cold to seep in. I found myself shivering before I stepped out of the room. As soon as Musa and I were standing on a bank of fine hail, with more hail falling on us, the ground underneath softened and pulled us in.

We were taken to a walkway.

The first thing I noticed was the trail of green that emerged on the ground before me. That trail started at my feet and grew, stopping at a set of fog doors two doors in front of us.

To my surprise, another trail began. This trail was made of white specks. It reached in front of me, and then curled around me. I turned around and watched as the white trail made a bend around the side of a walkway.

I frowned. The green was unopened, the one that I had just purchased. What was the white?

When you die, the ownership of your room-vault will automatically pass to the heir you declare.

My eyes widened. Whose room-vault was revealed by the white trail? My sire’s, Calam?

“Master?”

My gaze shifted away from the white trail. “Is the trail behind us?” it asked curiously.

I cleared my throat, and shook my head. “No.” I jerked my head forward and led the way down the green trail. The fog door was only a few paces away. Both the white and green trails faded once I placed my hand on the fog door. Later, I promised the white trail, once I was done with Fajahromo, I would find out what had been left to me.

“What do we do now?” Musa asked.

“We wait till Fajahromo’s search reaches this floor.” I replied as we walked in. “Then we attack.”

Part 2
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Uspecs fleeted by. I saw clothed imps move before my eyes. They darted, disappearing, and then reappearing, but my gaze did not follow them. My gaze did not lock on the dazzling display of keys hanging like ornaments from the walls. I did not instantly become fascinated by the arrangement of the counters in the room, the mazelike pattern of the surrounding décor. Instead, my mind noted the little things, like the footwear an uspec wore and the cyan sole that appeared on it. The footwear had the sole raised a few inches from the bottom, with spokes sticking out the base. I could tell from my recent education on this accessory, that this particular footwear had been made for traversing through hail covered grounds.

A coat caught my eye. It was red, but the bottom half of it was in strips. These strips allowed for the tentacles of the soaru uspec garbed in the coat, to drift out of the confining material. I found my mind fixating on that, and heard my thoughts as I wondered if perhaps the Tundra coat shop I went to had something similar for kutes. I was only just noting that my tail was trapped within the confines of the light coat that I wore. The coat, as all uspec coats, had holes cut out for ailerons, but nothing for the features.

My eyes drifted back to the right of the room, where an array of red counters met parallel lines of white. I found it intriguing how the occupants of the room easily navigated through this maze. Granted, it was nothing compared to the mazes which I’d seen in the different labyrinths in this burg, but it was still somewhat complex, more so for one used to straight roads.

Its coat was an interesting shade of maroon.

The design of the counters was odd. The counters were not like others that I had seen, having the customer on one side and the attendant on the other. Instead, these counters were built around the attendants. And so, the attendants stood within holes carved out in the center of the counters. I supposed that this design was necessary to keep the mazelike counter arrangements.

Its footwear was not the type made for walking in hail. It was flat, as the one I wore was, and had a covering only for the sole and sides of its feet, leaving most of the upper part of its feet exposed.

Uspecs seemed deep in conversation as they walked around the room. I heard several loud guffaws. An imp or two narrowly missed tripping over me as it ran along on one errand or the other. The imps in this place where the smartest dressed imps that I had ever seen. They wore fine robes made out of a light brown material, and moved around with singular focus. There were no imps standing around waiting to be called on, it was as if they all had assignments to perform.

It turned towards me and for a second I forgot how to breathe.

My mind stopped its wandering then, all parts of my body colliding into one thought.

Fajahromo.

My heart was pounding. Suddenly, I was back in the pits, staring from the arena, at an uspec I had called friend, and just waiting with bated breath for that uspec to come to my rescue.

Its eyes narrowed, and I felt a congestion in my chest. I saw those eyes as they had stared at me the last time we’d shared the same room. I felt a sharp jolt of pain course through me. Suddenly, I was seeing another uspec standing by Fajahromo. A small uspec, one that I was bound to. The young stood by Fajahromo’s side, basking in the glow of its approval. My heart twisted and tore at the sight of my own offspring running towards me with a dagger in its hand.

I shook my head, dislodging myself from the past, just as Fajahromo looked away. I realized that the uspec had never really been looking at me, and even if it had, it would not recognize me. There was nothing of the de trop Nebud, in the banneret that I had become. I was suddenly grateful for the lacerations on my chest, as I knew that they would be one of many things which would prevent Fajahromo from identifying me.

Then Fajahromo lifted its hand in the air, beckoning towards uspecs on the other side of the room. Those were most likely the uspecs that it had been staring at. I watched as four pious ones walked over to where Fajahromo stood. They were all dressed in light coats. Two of them had a single strip in the back of their coat, with room for their flapping tails to move outward, the other two had horns on their heads. Two kutes and two mejos. They all had fraises on their necks, facts which declared them as pious, but when they saw Fajahromo they bowed to it.

Fajahromo smiled and I shuddered, my mind taking me back to all the times that it had gifted me with that smile.

Then it lifted its other arm and two things became evident.

The first was the slits in the arms of the coat that it wore. Those slits showed off four golden bands. The last time I had seen Fajahromo it had only had three, the sign of a majestic. Now it had four, which meant that it had become the duke of a metropolis. How was it that Fajahromo always managed to grow in power? That realization was far less jarring than the other one that I made.

It was right there on Fajahromo’s finger. I could not help but note the irony of Fajahromo wearing that ring on the same hand, on the same finger, as I wore mine.

The ring is the most beautiful color that I have ever seen, a blend between cyan, red, and gold.

Arexon’s words came back into my mind. The moment I laid eyes on it, I knew exactly what it was. I did not need the confirmation of the colors that Arexon had described, although it truly was the most beautiful color that I had ever seen. There was something about the ring that drew me, something that called to me. I would know if I shared space with this ring, I would always know. The ring felt like a part of me, and now, seeing it, I felt close to being complete, as if a lack I had never known existed, had suddenly been revealed. I felt warmth in me, a certainty of what I would be, a vision of a future that I could not fully articulate, all as obvious as the yellow light surrounding me, and the hard counter that I leaned on.

“It is mesmerizing is it not?”

Just as quickly as the certainty had developed in me, it went away, eroding whatever confidence I’d had, and leaving me feeling oddly cold and shaken. The strong feelings only lasted for a second, but it was a long second which I would not soon forget. One thing was obvious, the ring belonged to me, and Fajahromo had it.

“Salutations noble one.” The uspec who had emerged in front of me, breaking my gaze on the ring, bowed with flourish. I tried to look around its shoulder, but when I did, the ring was hidden, no longer exposed as it had been before.

Grudgingly, I shifted my focus to the uspec, although I could not keep my gaze from darting back to Fajahromo.

It was with a pleased smile of smug satisfaction that the uspec informed me that I was, “not alone in my admiration for the great one, as all patrons who come to the mausoleum are quickly in awe of the legend, the great Fajahromo. The duke is only a recent client,” the uspec explained, “having come to us in search of its sibling’s vaults, but the legend of its victories in the pits of Hakute far precede it.” This was not the first time that I had heard of Fajahromo’s supposed feats, one of which included killing me.

It was a struggle to keep my countenance civil as I replied. “I am an old friend of the duke’s.” I found that explanation far more preferable to the uspec thinking that I was one of the many fools who believed in Fajahromo’s reputation. Although, I hesitantly admitted, the uspec was bulkier than when last I had seen it.

The uspec gaped at me with wide eyes. “You do not say!” it shrieked. “Well then, perhaps you can solve the mystery of the ring.”

“The ring!” Musa gasped. It was the first time that I had ever heard Musa intrude on a conversation I was having with another uspec. I realized that while I had been fixated on Fajahromo, I had forgotten about the imp’s presence behind me. Had it not seen the ring? How could it have missed it? The ring appeared like a large blaring sign to me, calling me to it. I took my gaze from Musa back to where Fajahromo had been standing only seconds ago.

That spot was unoccupied, now taking up by walking uspecs.

“Where did it go?” I asked, my eyes scouring the room.

“Oh, have no fear, noble one, the duke has only gone on its daily escapades.”

Daily escapades? With Fajahromo gone, I realized that my attention could focus solely on the uspec. I had not noted before that it was slightly bulky. It had all of its outer eyes formed and two of them filled. I could tell from the color of those eyes that they were both imp eyes. The uspec was dressed in a robe that seemed to be darker than yellow, but not quite brown.

“Which escapades do you speak of?” I asked.

The uspec was only too eager to share the tale. “It is said that many years ago, an uspec of the duke’s line bought over a hundred vaults in the mausoleum, and bequeathed each vault and the unknown contents of that vault to a different uspec in its port. Since then, it has been a custom for the uspecs of that line to take possession of those vaults and add wealth to the one left there by their ancestors. It is in one of those vaults that the duke found the ring it wears. The ring which is shroud in mystery. Some say that the ring was left here by the first descendant of that line to buy the vaults, others say it was left more recently, by the last uspec of that line to purchase so many vaults. A pious one named Takabat. Takabat came over the years to deposit many more items in its vaults, and some say that the duke will not leave Damejo until it uncovers every vault that its sibling bought.”

“Fascinating.” I said, once it became obvious that a response was required of me.

“Well, since you are a friend of the duke’s, perhaps you can provide some insight on the origin of the ring it wears. It is truly the most unbelievable artifact that I have ever seen. There is something so richly noble about that ring, that one cowers in its presence.”

“The ring is a new acquisition.” I stated flatly.

“Oh.” The uspec’s cheery disposition wavered. It turned its gaze from me, to the neckcloth on my neck, and then my imp, and the coffer beside it. “Well, I am here to serve you noble one.” It said, and then repeated its previous flourished bow.

“Serve me?” I asked with a frown.

cassbeat:
Well even if there's no showdown I'm sure they'll get to meet tho

I'm sure you're not not right

@dragonstar14 thank you for reading

@Omittesb ghen ghen really oh! The meeting between Nebud and Fajahromo is starting to seem like a possibility after all this time. What will happen? Thank you for reading!

@cassbeat hahaha, it's really prepare for a showdown. I wonder if there will be a showdown between them, and if there is, who will win

@HotB Gratitude for reading! hahaha, and I appreciate your use of the spectral terminology, lol! Yes oh, that meeting (if it happens) would be legendary

We all turned. There was another uspec standing there. This uspec was dressed in a light lime green cloak. The cloak appeared to have buttons along the middle, none of which had been done up.

“Noble one.” The uspec bowed when it saw me. The other uspec, the one that had led us here, bowed then, and slowly walked out of the store.

“What is this place?” I asked, staring at the uspec’s retreating back.

It was the one in the cloak that answered. “A guide shop, noble one, just as the sign says.” This uspec had two imp eyes on its face. I could tell from looking at it, that it was not young. The horns on its head were slightly bent.

“Guide for what?”

“Why, through the Labyrinths of course. This burg is a maze noble one, and if you have any plans on leaving the vacuous chambers, you will need to purchase a guide. My imps are the finest guides in this burg. There is no Labyrinth that they cannot find the way out of.”

“All I want is a cloak.” I stated impatiently.

The uspec chuckled. “Even the market is a maze, noble one, rent one of my imps and they will guide you to the cloak shop, and further, if you desire.”

I turned back to face the imps and found them staring at me with the same vacant expression they’d had when I walked in. My sweeping gaze roved over the kiosk behind the imps. “Are there no maps? No tour books?”

I turned back just in time to catch the smile on the uspec’s face waver. It was quick to put the smile back on. “Of course noble one, but why bother with a tome, when you can be guided by well-trained imps?”

“Stop wasting my time.” I snapped.

The smiled on the uspec’s face faltered. “As you wish noble one,” it bowed. “Follow me.” It led the way, weaving around badly arranged desks. Was everything in this burg made to resemble a maze? I would think that the obvious thing to do would be to allow a straight path through the desks.

“What kind of maps do you seek, noble one?” the uspec asked.

“A detailed map of this burg in its entirety.” I stated. “I want a current one. If I find anything amiss in what you sell me, I will return, I can assure you of that.” The uspec turned back around. Its gaze darted to my newly claimed boga eye. It nodded, and then bowed. Then it turned back around. I wondered if the uspec would be so meek if it knew that I could produce no fog. Not that I felt the need to inform it. “A map of this market and of the Terminal as a whole, too. Also include a map of the Mausoleum.”

The uspec turned back around. “No one sells maps of the Mausoleum, noble one.”

“How is it reached?” I asked.

“A moment, noble one.” The uspec moved around its shelves. I found that while I had been talking, the imps standing around the kiosks had been searching through the tomes on display. One of the imps pulled a tome out and brought it to me. It gave the tome to Musa, and turned back around without as much as looking at me. I wondered if this was some sort of training.

Musa gave the book to me. It was a small tome, only a few pages long. But each page contained a rich sketch of an area in the Labyrinths. I was shocked by the winding paths and the loops and swirls. One thing was clear, I would get lost if I ever attempted to make my way through one of these Labyrinths.

The uspec returned with another tome. It saw the direction of my gaze and pointed at a spot on the page. “I do not know why they include such things in these maps, noble one. It is not proper.”

It took flipping through several pages to see that the place the uspec pointed out, was a road that bordered the slum. That road led to a place I had read about while I was in Katsoaru, the isle of shuns. It was in flipping through the pages, that I realized that the tome was actually just a very large sheet of paper folded into smaller ones. Unraveling a sector showed the full map of the Labyrinths that neighbored the Tundra.

“This is what you are seeking, noble one.” The uspec stated. It held a much smaller map tome open in front of me. “This,” it pointed at a store close to the edge of the map, “is where cloaks are sold. And these are the portals. You can reach the mausoleum through them.”

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Here.” The uspec pointed at a store only a few shops away from the cloak one. This was the store it had assured me would be difficult to find? I shook my head at it.

“How much for the maps?”

“Ten pieces of value for the map of the Labyrinths, one piece for the map of the Tundra, and two pieces for the map of the Terminal.”

I counted out thirteen pieces of value into the uspec’s hand.

“Gratitude noble one.” It said with a bow as we walked out of the store, our maps in tow. I was still sorting through the map of the burg when we walked into the darkness which led back to the main road.

“Do you think you could possibly figure out the way to the cloak shop?” I teased.

Musa laughed. “Only if I try really hard, master.” Musa teased in response.

We both laughed at the store owner. We made our way along the straight road. It had only taken a single glance at the map for me to realize where we were going, that was how easy it was to reach the shop. Three stops passed and then we turned left.

Tundra Cloaks and Hail Coats, the sign read.

We walked in through darkness and emerged onto a store lit with almost blinding white light.

I shivered.

Wasn’t the market supposed to be warm? I thought with a frown. Garments hung from various levels in the wall. The arrangements of garments left narrow passageways which one could walk through. Another maze, I thought with a grimace. I walked between a rack of leather coats. I was pleased to find that some of these coats actually radiated heat. That was exactly what I would get.

An uspec appeared in front of us. It wore an elegant looking fabric coat, much thicker than the leather ones around us. Two imps in leather coats stood behind the uspec.

“Welcome noble one.” The uspec bowed. “Will you and your imp desire cloaks? The imp cloaks are in another part of the store, but my imp can lead yours there.” I nodded.

Musa was led away.

The hour that followed was one of the worst of my life. I decided then that I did not care for garments. There were so many different kinds, some made of thick fabric, others thin. There were coats like the first one I’d seen, which gave off heat, and some that could be changed to cool instead of heat, not that I could think of why anyone would want that. I had just begun to relax when the garment shopping ended, until I realized that I would also need footwear.

Footwear.

There would be footwear for hail covered grounds, and footwear for cloud grounds that were cool. When at long last the shopping ended, all I had to show for a wasted hour, was two garment cloaks, a leather coat, and two footwear. Musa seemed to have made much more use out of its time. It had vastly more coats and cloaks than I did. I was just glad to pay and be out of that place.

Although, I did learn that the Mausoleum was outdoors. That knowledge led to my decision to garb myself in my newly purchased garments. It was the first time that I had been so adorned. I chose the lighter fabric cloak, with hail footwear.

We left the cloak shop and made our way to the portals. A sort of excitement ceased me. There was something about being on my way to the Mausoleum that uncovered feelings I had not known I had. I thought of the secrets hidden in Takabat’s vault, of a ring that could make me Kaiser.

Kaiser.

In Chiboga I had not let myself think it. Was it fear of jinxing my escape by dreaming of a life after? Or was it the knowledge that Arexon would have seen it if I did? That thought puzzled me. Arexon was a friend. It was one of four people that I trusted. But this knowledge, the possibilities it revealed, it seemed too fragile to grasp, like if I dared to think too hard on it, it would break into pieces and I would watch the shards slip away.

Tundra Outs to Get About, the sign by the portals read.

We walked through the darkness and emerged in a roofless area. I was glad for my choice to be cloaked, when I stepped out of a blissful warmth, and into cold I could not have imagined.

The hail that fell was fine, it filled the area with an ethereal beauty which I had come to associate partly with the hatch. If only it was not so cold. Perhaps I should have gone with the thicker fabric.

“Your destination domina?” an imp asked. The imp wore nothing but a light shirt, and trousers. I did not know how it could stand the cold.

“The Mausoleum.” I stated through chattering teeth.

Luckily, I did not have long to endure the hail.

The white ground underneath me softened and sucked me in.

I was still contemplating the cold when I arrived in a roofed room. There were so many things to note about this room. There was a businesslike briskness to the movement of the uspecs and imps. The counters that filled the room appeared much more meaningful than previous counters I had seen. Several keys lined walls and light sources streamed down a continuous glow of yellow light. So many interesting things were suddenly revealed to me, but I found it hard to focus on any of them.

My eyes trailed the uspec instead. It had been so long since I’d last seen it, but I would never forget this uspec’s face. How could I? This was the uspec who had taught me the reality of my de trop station. The first noble to ‘befriend’ me. So much had changed in my life, but it appeared just the same.

Fajahromo.

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VOLUME SEVEN
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~~~
Mejo
(A Spectral existence word which represents one of the five spectrums in the spectral existence. This word refers to the people of this spectrum, that is the uspecs of the Mejo spectrum who have horns as their distinctive feature. The uspecs in the Mejo spectrum are sometimes called hail people as they are so tightly bound to the hail in the spectral existence. As such, mejo eyes give an uspec the magic of the hail, which allows them to use hail to alter a thing’s temperature. The uspecs in the Mejo spectrum are bound to the worry emotion.)
~~~

Part 1
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The Third Metropolis of Damejo (the spectral port which coincides with Yobe State, Nigeria)
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“Kuworyte.” I said in response to the question that I had been asked.

The attendant’s head moved in a way that appeared to be a bow-nod hybrid. The uspec had four curved horns on its head. It had no belt on its waist and no garments on its body. There were other attendants in the hangar, but they all appeared as the one standing at the other side of the table. It placed two tags on the counter in front of me.

I smiled at the sight of those tags. Their presence meant that the Kaiser of this port did not feel as Chiboga had about the presence of imps. I found that uncharacteristically pleasant. I picked up the tags, handing one of them over to Musa as I asked, “do these not come with a price?”

“Admittance to Damejo is free, noble one.” It replied, timidly glancing away from me. The uspec only had one outer eye filled. At first sight of me, the uspec’s eyes had widened, darting over my outer eyes with a fascination that I found amusing. It had probably never seen an uspec with so many eyes.

What sort of port was this? The tome that the duke Auxa had given to me, had contained mild descriptions of this port. I was grateful for the stress that the book had placed on the cold. Apparently, mejo ports had a constant stream of falling hail. In the slums of a port like this, the hail would be what the book had termed ‘uncouth’, hard pellets which fell forcefully onto the ground. In the burgs though, the hail took on a much finer form, like grains of a white powder. Although, the book was careful to warn about the ‘cyclone’. According to the book, there were parts of Damejo ports that had hail combined with fast drifting fogs, the combination of which was almost impossible to navigate through.

“Do you have a specific destination in mind, noble one?”

I pulled my attention away from thoughts of the tome I had read. “The Labyrinths of Damejo.” I replied. “The Mausoleum, specifically.”

The uspec’s casual nod made it clear that my request was not one that it found surprising. “The Mausoleum can only be reached from inside the Labyrinths, noble one.” It said.

I nodded in acceptance. The Labyrinths of Damejo. That was another thing I owed to the tome. I did not know where to start my search for Animaon, but the uspec was not the only reason I was here. Fajahromo. The name echoed in my mind. At long last, I was close to Fajahromo. Fajahromo had come here in search of Takabat’s vault, and all the vaults in Damejo where located in the Mausoleum.

“This way noble one.” The uspec called out. It gestured for us to follow. I took the opportunity to transfer the tag unto my scarred chest, before following the uspec. As I glanced at my chest, the scars from my scourging visible, I wondered if perhaps my scars were why the uspec had stared at me as it had. With a shake of my head, I dispelled the worrisome thought, choosing instead to believe that it had been awed by my outer eyes, instead of horrified by my marred flesh.

We navigated around the counters and moved towards the curtains at the front of the room. The uspec pushed aside the curtain, revealing a room filled with portals. A single naked imp stood by each spot of quicksand, holding a bowl filled with pebbles. We were led through a maze of portals, to one close to the right wall of the room. Once we reached that portal, the uspec gestured for us to get onto the quicksand.

“The Labyrinths,” it said to the imp standing closest to us, before bowing to me, and walking away.

The imp pulled out a yellow pebble from its bowl and let it fall onto the surface of the hardened quicksand. Once that pebble touched the quicksand, it softened, sucking us in.

I felt the cold first.

The ground was made of foam, but even that was cold. The cold from the foam ground seeped into my body. I found myself shivering before I became aware of the rest of the room.

It was a somewhat large room. The walls were the same color as the foam I stood on. I turned around, my expectant gaze rising to the ceiling. My feelings about hail were mixed. On the one hand there was the beauty of seeing something so foreign, so resplendent in its rarity. Then there was the practical part of me, the part that knew that the beauty of the sight might not be worth the discomfort of the low temperature. It was with a frown that I returned my gaze to the empty room. There was no hail falling into the room, the ceiling, as every other wall in here, was sealed.

Then why was it so cold?

A portion of the wall in front of me sublimated in a vapor of cream fog. Out of that drifting fog, came an uspec dressed in nothing but the natural horns on its head. It had one of its outer eyes filled. The uspec wore a friendly smile on its face as it walked through the fog. Once past it, the uspec stopped midstride. Its lips parted as it stared in shock at me. This uspec was considerably taller than the last, so I could not confuse the direction of its gaze.

It gaped at my mangled flesh.

“Perhaps you would like to reconsider master.” Musa spoke for the first time since we left the trail. The imp had offered its services in healing my scarred flesh. I had refused at the time. I could not even properly formulate my reasons for wanting to keep my skin as it was. Perhaps in some way, I thought of the scarring as a souvenir of my time at Chiboga. This was the price I had paid for my foolishness. By keeping it plain I was less likely to repeat my mistakes.

The uspec swallowed nervously, before approaching with a great deal more caution than it had showed when it sauntered in. Or perhaps, I thought with a grin, I kept the scars for the intimidating effect that they seemed to have on lesser uspecs.

The uspec bowed deeply to me. “Salutations noble one.” It greeted.

I nodded dismissively at it. “Where am I?” I asked.

“The Tundra, noble one, the northern Vacuous chamber.” It replied.

Vacuous chamber. I recalled reading something about it. The Labyrinths, so named for the mazes that filled the burg, had only two maze-free, vacuous, chambers. Those chambers were the Tundra and the Terminal. I had a brief memory of the map of the Labyrinths which I’d seen in the book. That map showed that the Terminal Vacuous Chamber bordered the Mausoleum.

“I desire a suite in the Terminal.” I stated.

The uspec bowed. “As you please noble one.” The uspec’s wary gaze scoured over me. This time, it made a studious effort to avoid even glancing at my chest. I took my time to study the uspec’s lean body. It had no muscles, and the horns on its head were wispy, but it did not appear to be affected by the cold. “Would you like to purchase a coat before you leave for the Terminal?” it asked.

Was my shivering that obvious then? I had tried to conceal it, but it seemed that I had failed in that respect. I saw no need to hide it then, I nodded at the uspec. It bowed.

“The market is heated, noble one.” It said, as it led the way to the section of the wall that it had walked out of.

I noted, as we approached, that the wall remained drifting fog even after the uspec walked out of it. The closer we got to that cream fog, the warmer I felt. I sighed when at long last I was enveloped by the warm fogs. I was loath to leave.

But true to the uspec’s words, the area we walked into was warmed.

I was baffled by the sights that greeted us. I had read about the mejos’ penchant for building dwellings out of hail, but I had not quite imagined this. We walked into an underground pathway. The trail led all the way down a straight road. Other roads seem to veer of the one straight road that we stood on. I saw boards with markings on the bends which led off the main road.

“Where is this?” I asked.

“The Tundra market, noble one.” The uspec replied. “The dwellings are built on top of this. Please follow me.”

The roof was the real wonder. It seemed to be made of a million globs of hail. This hail however seemed to be emanating heat, which was a far cry from the cool normally associated with them. The hail must have been giving a mixture of color and light, because they shone with a crimson glow. The glow reminded me of the few infernos I had seen created using the magic of the mejo eyes.

We were led a few paces down, to the first path which veered off the road. I frowned. The path appeared short, culminating in total darkness, only a few steps away from where the path began. A sign by the path read, Tundra One Stop Guide Shop, in swirling calligraphy. The uspec, seemingly unperturbed by the darkness, walked into the path. We followed behind it.

There was an odd sensation to the darkness. As soon as we walked into it, the black gave way to a bright shade of lime. The store we walked into reminded me of the pious school I had escorted Sophi to. Several imps sat on desks, their eyeless faces fixed on us as we walked in. The imps did not move, only the barest of chest motion showed that they took in air. They were all dressed in the same shade of lime green as the room. Behind the rows of seated imps, was a small kiosk filled with tomes small enough to fit in my palm. Two imps dressed in a slightly darker shade of lime walked around, seeing to those shelves.

“What do you have for me my friend?” a voice called out from behind us.

@maynation thank you for reading! LOL, yesterday was Wednesday? So I missed Wednesday like that, I guess we'll have to wait till the next Wednesday for the update hahaha

@Omittesb tor tor, lol. Thank you for reading. Yes oh, I'm happy Nebud made it out of there in one piece out of all the many suffer that it suffered in Chiboga.

@Fazemood LOL, you like that? Yes, the hoe-spear is a mixture between a hoe and a spear. So imagine a normal long spear, but the flat end is a hoe instead. So it's a double-sided weapon. Sophila has really suffered a lot of uspecs, I'm sure they'd be throwing a party somewhere not that it is gone. And yes, Lahooni is the spectral port that coincides with Lagos. Thank you for reading

‘Banneret.’ Had it really been that long since I had been called that? The word sounded so strange now. I cleared my throat. “Salutations pious one.” I replied.

“You come from Chiboga?” the pious asked, trying and failing, to sound unaffected. After the time that I had spent watching Sophian, I doubted that I would ever find another uspec capable of that level of aloofness. No, I could tell the effort that this uspec was making to appear as if it was not curious about the question it asked. The slight motions of its face gave it away.

“Yes, pious one.” I replied.

“How?” it asked.

The uspec was far shorter than I was. It had four outer eyes on its face, just like I did. It had no bulk to it, and it carried no weapons.

“The usual way.” I replied. “Through the hangar.”

“You are the only uspec who has left through that hangar in days.”

“Intriguing.” I replied noncommittally.

The pious ones frowned. “Who are you?”

“I am Banneret Nebud.” I replied.

“You are kute.”

“Yes.”

“Banneret…”

I sighed. “I am a messenger, pious one.”

The pious one appeared intrigued. “Messenger?”

“Yes, that is why I was allowed to leave. I am to deliver a message to the great Auxa, duke of the first metropolis of Chiboga.”

“Ahh,” the pious ones relaxed, “we have been waiting for this message.”

“I knew that Sophila would blink. It may think that it is strong, but not even Sophila is crazy enough to deem itself strong enough to face the full might of the plenum.” Another pious one said.

“Tell me banneret, what was the Kaiser’s mood when it gave you this message?”

“Morbid.” I replied, stifling the urge to laugh at my own joke.

The pious ones seemed to enjoy my response. “Morbid.” They laughed. “And to think I worried that we might actually have to spend a few months on this inter-port trail.”

“Give me your message banneret, I will deliver it to the duke, and you can await its response.”

I shook my head. “I was told to deliver it directly into the great one’s hands.”

The pious one shrugged. “As you please. The duke will get a kick out of this. Come.”

The pious one broke from the group. It led the way to the dwellings and the warriors standing there. “Are you involved in politics?” the pious one asked, making conversation as we walked.

“No.”

It chuckled. “That is good. Soldiers should remain soldiers and leave the politics to those wise enough to handle them. Let Sophila be an example to you. I cannot wait to see what the plenum seeks as repayment for its foolishness. Are you a fan of Sophila’s?”

“Certainly not.”

It nodded. “Good. Then, between you and me, you should be glad to know that the plenum has had all that they can take from it. This time, Sophila will pay for its defiance. I for one, will be on the front lines, watching Sophila squirm. How did you come to be in Chiboga?”

We had arrived on the hardened cloud flooring. I luxuriated in the feel of the floor pulling my leg in and surrounding my feet with its softness. For some reason, my departure from Chiboga did not feel real until that moment, when I walked on soft ground.

“I found it intriguing. A port with so little known about it? Who could resist?”

The pious one laughed. Warriors broke from their conversations to watch us. They stared at us, their eyes following as we made our way along their camp. There was no order to this place, just dwellings haphazardly created.

“And did Chiboga meet your expectations?”

“I am glad to be out of it.” I replied.

The pious one laughed. It stopped walking. I looked past the pious one and found that we had reached a dwelling which was bigger than the rest. This dwelling seemed to be situated right by a wall of clouds. The pious one looked over its shoulder. “Do not let Sophila hear you say that.” It winked its center eye.

I did not respond.

There were two guards standing in front of the dwelling. These guards, unlike the others, appeared capable of a good fight. They had three outer eyes on their faces, and the bulk of great fighters. They wore nothing but the belts on their waists.

“The message from Sophila has arrived.” The pious one said.

A guard nodded. It sized me over with its eyes, before turning around and pulling the curtains open. It walked into the room and bowed in front of an uspec seated behind a brown desk. “A message from Sophila.” The guard said.

The uspec glanced up. From the distance separating us, I could make out no particular features on its face. But I could see enough to note that it had completely filled outer eye sockets and gold on its arms. “Send in the messenger, dismiss the pious.” The uspec ordered.

The pious turned around. It did not wait for the guard to return before storming off with its jaw clenched.

I was nodded in. Musa followed cautiously behind me, our coffer traversing behind it.

I stopped in front of the desk and curtsied. “Salutations great one.” I greeted.

“Draw those curtains!” the uspec snapped.

The curtains were drawn.

“Rise. Your name and birthplace?”

“Banneret Nebud of Mugakute.” I stuck with my fake Kuworyte origin place.

The uspec did not look at me as it spoke. “What is the message from my dear sibling?”

For some reason, my eyes chose that moment to notice the cyan ring on its finger. This ring was the same one that I had only seen the uspecs affiliated with the plenum wearing. Sophila’s sibling worked for the plenum?

“Are you the great Auxa?” I asked.

The duke lifted its head. It stared at me. “Yes.” It nodded.

“My message is from Arexon.” I whispered.

The duke’s eyes narrowed. It stared at me with a great deal more fascination than it had shown before. The corners of its lips pulled upwards in a smile. “What is the message?”

I gave it the tube.

As soon as Auxa touched it, the outer casing of the tube went away. It dissolved into a drop of goo. The uspec laughed. “Still playing your games, I see.” It mumbled to itself.

A scroll was revealed. Auxa unrolled it. Its eyes scanned over the parchment quickly. After it was done reading, its gaze lifted to me. It said nothing, it just observed me with more interest than it had before. Then it returned its gaze to the parchment. “Do you know what is written here?” Auxa asked, its gaze still on the parchment.

“No, great one.” I replied.

“Have you never heard a tale of one who delivered an order for its execution with its own hands?”

“I have heard several such tales.” I replied.

“Yet, you agreed to deliver this without reading it?”

“I trust Arexon with my life.” I stated.

“It appears it trusts you too.” The duke said. Hail appeared. It stuck to the parchment, and moments later, the parchment went up in flames. The duke reached for the goo that had formed out of the outer casing, and placed its finger on it. The goo hardened. Auxa picked up the hardened goo and put it into its mouth. It smiled at me. “You have brought me great news Nebud.”

I did not know what to say, or what to think of all that I had seen. Did this uspec also have pansophy? What great news did I bring it?

“Are you in need of money?” it asked. “I have several pieces of worth I can part with for a friend of my ward’s.”

“Your ward?” I was confused.

“Did Arexon not tell you about me?”

I was just about to shake my head, when I remembered why the name ‘Auxa’ had sounded so familiar. Auxa was the uspec who had saved Arexon’s life. I recalled Arexon telling me of the uspec who had made it realize that it could do its serfdom. But, Auxa was Sophila’s sibling, which meant that Sophila had made its own sibling a serf.

“Yes, great one, it told me.” I looked at the uspec with new eyes. “I am in no need of money.”

“Where are you headed?” it asked.

“Damejo, great one.” I replied.

The uspec rose. It walked over to a coffer a few steps away from its desk and pulled out a tome from it. “Do you like to read?” it asked.

“Yes, great one.”

It approached me with the tome. The uspec handed the tome over to me. I took the tome, sizing the uspec up as I did. It was shorter than I was, only several inches taller than Musa. It had some bulk to it, but not the obvious bulk of a great fighter. Although, after Marcinus, I had come to realize that uspecs who fought with weapons did not appear as bulky as those who brawled.

I took the tome from the uspec. INTO DAMEJO, the title read. “Gratitude great one.”

It smiled at me. “Just a little gift in payment for the much greater one you gave. Come Nebud, I will see you out.”

The duke led the way and I followed.

Part 25
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“I can conceal our appearance.” Musa was worried. I could tell from the nervous way in which it looked around the room, and how it inched closer towards me. It wanted to be close enough to touch me if I relented.

I could not.

The room was filled with soldiers in their armor. Most of them were serf soldiers, so they were simply decked in the head and neck armor, standing at attention with their right hands gripping their hoe-spears. The bosses were positioned behind the lines of soldiers. They had their hands gripping the hilt of the swords in their black belts. I stared at the rows of armed soldiers in their armors, with the earrings in their ears and their gazes set forward to the wall of fog in front of the room. They looked ready for war.

I did not know what time of day it was. Was it still night? Or had these soldiers been standing as they were for hours? They did not appear to be afraid. I remembered then that Arexon had mentioned something about sending some of the more seasoned soldiers first. Were they ready to die? Was I?

A soldier standing at the end of one of the neat rows, turned slightly. Its gaze fixed on my face. For a second it simply stared at me, as if unsure of what to do about my sudden appearance in the hangar. I could tell from its uniform that it was a boss, one rank below a guru. It had two silver crosses on the long chains which dangled from its ears, and two imp eyes on its face. The uspec did not appear familiar. None of the soldiers in the hangar were familiar. I’d thought that I had seen most of the uspecs stationed in the Acropolis, over my time here, but from the large amount of strange faces, I knew that I had been wrong.

The uspec’s hand on the hilt of its sword tightened, its eyes narrowing on me. Slowly, I rose my hand, and placed it on the hilt of my cutlass.

“Master.” Musa whispered, its hand lashing out immediately to touch my arm. I saw the pleading look on its face and ignored it.

Several more uspecs became aware of my presence in the hangar. They all turned slightly to stare at me. Even with my unexpected arrival amongst them, they remained in order. No soldier broke out of its lines, none as much as made a sound. Arexon would be pleased to see this order.

Moments passed in which we did nothing but stare at each other. Me and Musa, against over a hundred armed uspecs, a quarter of which had the magic of the boga eyes. I realized, as we stared at each other, that none of the soldiers knew how to react to my presence. They must have realized that I could not have come from the inter-port trail, as spectra cannot be used there, which meant that I was not part of the plenum’s contingent. I had to have come from within the port. I think it was this realization alone, which kept them from attacking me.

“Assiduity!” A voice barked.

It took me a while to see the uspec giving the order, as it was hidden behind rows of soldiers. The uspec marched forward though, revealing itself as one of the two gurus stationed in the hangar for the first day of what would be a long and gruesome battle. The gurus were the highest ranks in the room, making them the onsite commanders. I could not see the other one, but I knew that it was somewhere in the room.

The soldiers’ saluted as one in response to the guru’s order. The coordination of the salutes was actually quite masterly executed.

The guru stopped in front of me, and swung its arm in the air, bringing the side of its right hand to rest against the left corner of its chest.

I found myself saluting back on instinct. “In clover.” I ordered, once I brought my hand down from my chest.

The guru’s hand came down. It stood at attention. “The commander sent word of your impending departure sirga, you have the mighty one’s permission to leave.”

The mighty one’s permission? These soldiers did not know of Sophila’s death then. I could not help but worry for Arexon. What would happen once their deaths were known? Sophi was much too young to be Kaiser. How would it fill its new role? Will it still see Arexon as wise and seek its counsel? Or would it find out about the role Arexon had played in Sophian’s death, and have the uspec killed? Even that thought seemed ludicrous. I had never met an uspec more capable than Arexon. Arexon could morph to any situation. It was a survivor. It was also the single most powerful uspec I had ever met. It would take a lot to kill Arexon. The thought of the commander had my mind darting to the scroll I carried. What was in that scroll, I wondered?

To the guru, I turned and nodded.

The guru marched in front of me, then it turned in the precise way that I had never been able to learn, and marched forward. I followed quietly behind it.

“This is too great a risk master.” Musa’s voice was low, but it seemed amplified in the silent room. “We do not know what awaits us on the inter-port trail.”

“We must do this. We have no choice.”

Musa sighed, but it refrained from making any more statements.

The guru stopped in front of the wall of fog. I stared at the impressive thing. It was hard to imagine anyone breaking into this hangar, not when it was so well guarded. But it was possible, and those with pansophy could achieve this feat. I thought of all the pious ones that would have to be on the other side of the inter-port trail, working their magic on this fog. According to Sophian’s projections, they would be close to sending people through in a matter of hours.

I knew Musa was right about the danger we faced, but I could not give into fear. How could I refuse an uspec who had saved my life so many times? I could not.

The guru stepped out of our way, and then turned to face me. It stood, waiting.

“Repeal the fog.” I ordered.

“The commander said that it gave you the key sirga.”

Of course, I nodded at the uspec. It had been foolish to think that a key that important would be given to a soldier on the front line. But if it was the key to the fog, then why would Arexon ask me to give it to an uspec on the inter-port trail? Could it not be as easily used to break into the port?

I stuck the scroll into the fog. It turned translucent, signaling that I could go in. For some reason, I found it necessary to take one last look at the lines of soldiers standing at perfect salute, their impassive faces revealing nothing of their feelings on this war. I stared at the chains dangling from their ears and was suddenly filled with memories of this port. One thing was certain, I would never forget Chiboga.

As I stepped into the translucent fog, I heard one last cry of the now so familiar order, “In clover!”

===============
On the Inter-port Trail
===============

I was standing on hard fog.

That was the first thing I noticed. Perhaps I noticed it first because it stood out on the inter-port trail. The trail that I was used to had hardened clouds as the ground. The walls were as expected, with the red light streaming in, a result of the luminescence of the clouds that the walls were made from. I could tell from the shade of that light that it was morning. The daylight dots would soon emerge, diluting the red of the clouds with their bright orange glow.

I turned my gaze from the hard ground underneath me, to my environs. Perhaps I should have sensed the danger from Musa’s proximity to me.

The area that greeted me was nothing like the inter-port trail I expected. Dwellings had been constructed directly onto the trail. There were more dwellings than I could count. These dwellings were accompanied by uspecs. Warriors, I decided, from the swords on their belts. The uspecs had the relaxed calmness of warriors, fighters, as opposed to the structured discipline which I had come to associate with soldiers. Several of these warriors talked amongst themselves as they moved between dwellings. The front row of dwellings was several feet away from where we stood. There were about ten soldiers on the front lines, between us and the dwellings. Their hands lay calmly on the hilt of their swords. They did not stand at attention, as the soldiers in Chiboga did. Their gazes were not fixed determinedly on air. These warriors leaned against the dwellings behind them and stared patiently at us.

They watched us with looks that could only be described as mildly curious.

“Master.”

I turned to face my imp, and then I turned to stare at the area behind me, when it jerked its head in that direction. Now, I understood why the soldiers had appeared so unperturbed by our presence. There was a wall behind us, and in front of that wall, five pious ones, slowly approaching. They moved quietly, probably hoping to catch us unawares and use their pansophy on us.

They stopped once they realized that they had been sighted. Then they nodded at me, and then continued moving. They walked faster this time. I noticed that there was a thin area before the wall where the ground was clouds, instead of fog. The hard fog continued, until a few paces in front of where the warriors stood.

The pious ones were all bogas. The markings on their fraises showed them to be of the Order of Fabrication.

“Salutations banneret.” One of the pious greeted.

@tunjilomo Thank you. I actually don't know that you can edit the title after the fact. I've tried to do it, but I haven't been able to figure out how.

@cassbeat Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it

@maynation Yes oh, Musa is back!

@cherriex hahaha every chapter can't have suspense, I am happy you liked this one

@Fazemood I'm sure Nebud has its reasons for not telling Musa I think your points are valid though...Nebud should really consider this. It's really insecure voice, hahaha. As to if the voice is the pious...well, we'll see. Yeah, I like Calam and I really like how much Calam sacrificed. Thank you, we'll see what Nebud remembers

The imp stared at me. It nodded. It was sitting quietly beside me. My joy at seeing the imp was boundless. I smiled. I could not believe how close I had come to losing it. It wasn’t till my relief faded, that the anger set in. This imp had made me worry. It had turned my life upside down for days.

“You have returned.” I stated flatly, now that my initial joy at seeing it unharmed had faded.

“I never left.” Musa replied. “I have been here, in this suite, the whole time. I would not leave without you master.”

I pushed myself off the ground and rose to my feet. “Not even in search of your precious heir to Lahooni?” I asked.

Musa was silent. “Forgive me master.” It said, after a while. “My behavior was unacceptable. I will accept whatever punishment you deem necessary.”

I ignored the imp, took off my belt and unceremoniously dumped it onto the hard fog ground. Then, I walked over to the cleaning room. It was strange to walk into this room and see myself in so many reflective surfaces. This was the first time that I could lounge without worry of the barracks, or Sophian. I saw the silver earrings dangling from my ears, and the dried blood on my skin. I stepped into the okun, submerging fully into it, several times.

I felt something strange.

I felt myself lifting out of the okun.

I heard the flapping of wings, and saw the drops of liquid splattering, all about me, before I registered the fact that I was flying. At long last, my ailerons had turned into wings which gave flight. They flapped, raising me all the way to the roof. I willed for myself to be lowered, and I felt my wings heeding that request. I was lowered, back to the ground.

Musa stood close to the entrance of the cleaning room with wide sockets.

I willed to be lifted, and felt my ailerons flapping. They flapped and I hovered above the ground. They continued to flap, and I was lifted again to the roof of the dwelling. I lowered myself, touched the ground and rose back up. I repeated this until the novelty of simply rising in a confined space wore off. Then I lay flat in the air and willed my ailerons to take me away. I flew over Musa’s head. The entry to the cleaning room was narrow, so I had to bend at an angle to fly through it. It was this way with so many other entryways, but I did not mind. How could I, when I was flying?

I had not thought that it would be so easy. But this flying was as easy as walking.

When I returned to the ground, I found Musa standing behind me. It had followed me about as I flew, and I had ignored it. If only I had pansophy, I could have removed my appearance as the imp had done.

I walked to the entertaining room and sprawled on a lounging bed.

Musa knelt in front of me. “Please forgive me master.”

I stared at it. “Why did you not go in search of your heir?”

Musa sighed. “I want to search with you master. I can see that you are curious about this, I can see it in you whenever the topic comes up. Let us search together master.”

“Why?”

“The heir will reward you, generously master. The fabled wealth of Lahooni is no myth. If we are able to restore the heir to its rightful place, it will show its gratitude to you. I will ensure it.”

“How can you ensure it?”

“I have a close bond with that line master, the uspecs listen to me, they trust me. If I tell the heir that you deserve a reward, it will give it to you. You can make a home in Lahooni master, the heir is an irira, just like you.” Musa’s head dropped. “I have had time to think about it, and I now understand why you were so hesitant to leave. Chiboga is the first place that you felt accepted as an irira. But you need not worry, you will be accepted in Lahooni as well, once we find the heir.”

“You are wrong Musa.”

“I am not. I promise you master, Lahooni will welcome you. I promise.”

“I despise Chiboga.”

Musa frowned. “Master?”

“The only reason I stayed was to get Sophila’s eye.”

Musa’s frown deepened. “I do not understand master.”

I laughed. “Neither do I.” I stated, between bouts of laughter. “Neither do I.”

Musa’s expression turned cautious. Did it think that I was insane? Perhaps I was. Why else did I laugh so much? Now, I couldn’t stop. My life felt like a joke, yanked from one port to the next, on the whims of a voice that I could not ignore.

“You are mine Nebud! You are mine! You belong to me!!”

The voice owned me. It told me where to go, and I went. If that was not a joke, I could not imagine what else was. How I had fought against serfdom to Sophila. I had fought as if I was free, as if Sophila was the first one to own me. But it was not. The voice in my head was my owner. It was an owner I could get no release from. One who I could not kill.

“Master, you are scaring me.”

“I listen to the voice in my head Musa.” I said, once the laughter waned. “The voice in my head is my master. First, it sent me to Katsoaru to take Marcinus’ eye. Then it sent me here to Chiboga, for Sophila’s eye. And now it wants me to go to Damejo…”

“Damejo?” Musa’s expression brightened. “But Master, that is where Takabat’s vault is! That is where we need to go in search of the heir.”

“Perhaps you are the voice in my head.” I teased.

“Whose eye does it want now?”

“An uspec named Animaon.”

There was a slight change in Musa’s face, a flicker of recognition.

“Do you know this uspec?”

Musa shook its head. “No master, I do not.”

I sighed. Perhaps I had been seeing things. Maybe I wanted Musa to know this uspec. Wouldn’t it be nice to walk into a port knowing exactly what awaited me?

“So we are going to Damejo then?” Musa asked. “Should I prepare our things?”

I nodded distractedly. I do not know what I had expected from Musa, but it was not this. Perhaps I had told the imp because I hoped that it would have some insight on my problem. I had wished that it had heard of this before, that it would know how such was possible. Was it pansophy? What else could it be? But who would do such, and why? The eyes I was being asked to take were specific. The voice did not just want any boga eye, it wanted Sophila’s. It did not ask for any soaru eye, but Marcinus. And now, it wanted Animaon’s eye. Who was Animaon, and how did it fit with the others? Was there a pattern? I thought of something else, the places that I was being sent to. Was it just a coincidence that these had all been places that I had been as a young uspec? First Katsoaru, where Takabat had separated me from the imp Chike. Then Chiboga where it had brought me and Sensu, and then Damejo where Takabat had a vault. Where all of these related to the voice?

I felt Musa pulling on my tail. I turned to find it putting on the silver banneret’s sheath. It finished that and went hastily to fasten the silver neckcloth onto my neck. As the imp moved with feverish haste, I finally understood why it had no inputs on the voice in my head. It cared more for the heir it hoped to find in Damejo, than it did for my plight and the voice in my head.

“Shall we go master? I can take away your appearance now, we can sneak through the hangar.”

“Go where?”

Musa frowned. “Damejo.” It stated.

I shook my head. “We cannot leave yet.”

“But why? You have what you came here for.”

“Not yet.” I said. “We must wait for Arexon.”

“Master…”

“We wait!”

Musa huffed.

I closed my eyes, wondering if the imp had even heard the things I had told it about the voice. Or had it been so eager to find its precious heir that it paid no attention to me? I fell asleep thinking of how ludicrous it was that, even in my own mind, I differentiated myself from the heir.

I woke up to the sound of an impatient pounding on the door. Musa rose before me. It ran over to the entrance. I moved at a more leisurely pace. The fog drifted away, revealing Arexon standing on the other side of the door. It marched into the suite without preamble.

“I will ask something of you.” It stated.

I did not like this. “What do you ask sirga?”

It pulled out a sealed tube from its belt. That tube reminded me of the last time it had been in this suite. It handed it over to me. “The tube is sealed. Deliver it sealed to the great Auxa, duke of the first metropolis of Chiboga. The uspec is on the inter-port trail.”

Auxa. Why did the name sound familiar?

I gaped at Arexon. “You want me to walk into a war zone and deliver a note to a duke?”

Arexon nodded. “I know that you could possibly have your imp hide your appearance and try to sneak past them. I am asking you not to do that.”

“You are asking me to risk my life.” I stated.

Arexon stared at me. “Tell the duke that it is from me, Arexon. The duke will not harm you.”

“I am more worried about the plenum’s troops.”

“Will you not do it then?”

I sighed. I shook my head at myself, before taking the tube from Arexon. “For you sirga, I will risk my life. It is the least I can do.”

Arexon nodded. “Gratitude.”

“May I ask what is in the missive I bear?”

“No, you may not.”

I scoffed.

Arexon smiled.

It placed its hands on my arm and pulled the silver bands off them. Then it reached for my earrings and took them off. It forced the earrings into my hand, when all I wanted to do was burn them. Arexon touched my earlobes and I felt the holes on my ear fill.

“You are banneret again.” It announced, with a grin. “Keep the earrings Nebud, if for no other reason than the memories they bring with them.”

“It is those memories that I wish to forget.”

“Not all of them I hope.”

I smiled at Arexon. “No sirga, not all of them.”

“Goodluck banneret.”

Quicksand appeared underneath me. It sucked me in and teleported me to the hangar before I got a chance to bid Arexon farewell. Which, considering that it was Arexon’s magic that caused the teleportation, was probably the way the commander wanted it.

Part 24
---------

I had Cala’s hand in mine as I led it in through the opaque cyan fog. It was only two days old, but there was so much that it needed to know. The fog turned translucent once it sensed me. It remained that way, granting access to Cala and me. Cala’s eye widened when it saw the green sludge. It pulled its hand out of my hold and fell to a sitting position in the sludge.

A smile filled its face as it stared at the room. It sunk its hands into the green sludge and pulled them out. Its little green hands were coated with sludge that matched the color of its skin. I sighed, staring at. There was so much that I wished for it. Cala smiled and I saw Calami in that smile. Perhaps it was just a mater’s wishful thoughts, but I saw Calami in its offspring. I saw Calami’s greatness, and its flaws. The brashness!

My mind drifted back to the pits of Hakute, to the hatch and the brazen manner in which my offspring had walked to its death. Calami had been so confident, so arrogant. I warned it. I warned it not to fight, not to procreate in that way, but Calami would not listen. So headstrong, always so headstrong. I wondered if Cala would grow up to be what its progenitor had been. A painful pang filled me at the knowledge that I would not be there to caution Cala as I had its progenitor. Who would watch after my Cala? Who would protect it from following in Calami’s footsteps?

“Cala.” I called its name sharply.

It rose its head up, pulling its hands from the green sludge. It smiled at me, its teeth flashing once its eye recognized me. It only had that single center eye on its face. I would not live to see it with its outer eye sockets formed. I would not live to see its first battle. Would it be a warrior like its progenitor, or a scholar as I was? Was it selfish to hope that it would be more like me? I had to accept that Cala’s fate was in its hands. I hoped Maraci would raise it well. Maraci and Calami’s bond was such that I could rely on the uspec to care for Cala. It was young. Much too young to be Kaiser, but it had already inherited the position from its progenitor. It had an offspring of its own now, Manus. I wondered if it would have another.

“Stand Cala.” I said.

It stared at me with its mouth hanging open, and its eye wide. I could not blame it for not understanding. It was young, too young, much too young for all that was about to happen.

I reached down and placed my hands underneath its arms. Then I pulled it to its feet. Once I let it go, it fell back to the floor, and smiled up at me. I should have scolded it, but what good would that do? It would not understand anyway. Besides, it would remember this moment someday. I did not want it to remember me as a tyrant. What little memories it had of me, I wanted to be blissful.

I picked it up again, but this time, I lifted it in the air, and carried it in my arms. Cala placed its sludge filled hands against my cheeks. It wiped its hands all over my face, trailing its fingers from my face to the scales on my neck. It liked my scales.

“You will have these too one day.” I said with a smile. “When you are older, and stronger.”

Cala’s smile widened. It giggled, or well, I liked to think of that particular sound as a giggle. I knew all of Cala’s sounds. I knew the sounds it made when it was hungry. I knew how it acted when it was tired. I even knew the little whines it let out just before it fussed on its bed to be more comfortable. There was nothing about my little Cala that I did not know. I had all the love in the world for it. All the love I could bear as its sire, combined with all the love I had for its progenitor. All of that love, I gave to Cala alone.

“You must remember this place Cala, you must remember this. Remember the Isle of Brio, remember that you must come here once you are able. Tell Maraci that it was my final wish, that you must come here. This place kindles the link that you have with your ancestors, your link to the line of the Kaisers of Lahooni. This will be as a solace for you, a place that you can come to whenever you are in need. When you come here, you will know what to do. The Isle of Brio, Cala, never forget the Isle of Brio. I hope that it is your hooni features which grow first. If they do, you will master quicksand early, and will be able to bring yourself here, at will. As irirakun, it will be hard for you to learn spectra, but Maraci will help you. Maraci will ensure that you grow into the Kaiser you were always meant to be. You come here first Cala.”

I looked into the little one’s eye, but it only stared at me with its carefree vacant smile. There was no comprehension in its gaze. What else could I say to stress the importance of this place?

“You will hear tales of the wealth of Lahooni. Many will come to you, desperate to find it. You will be safe in Katsoaru, I have given Maraci all that I can to ensure your safety. There are thought bubbles to keep all with ill intentions towards you, out. There are pansophy caches to keep the port wealthy enough to support you. Maraci does not know what all of this is for yet, but it will learn once I send you to it.” I realized that I had lost my train of thought. “The wealth of Lahooni. It is here Cala, all the wealth of our ancestors, all the innovations, the things that so many will kill to get. You must come here Cala, come here with the ring, and no one will question your legitimacy. The Isle of Brio, Cala, the Isle of Brio.”

I waited, what for, I could not say. I knew that it would not suddenly age enough to tell me what I so desperately wanted to hear. All I could do was repeat the words. I knew it would remember, the only question was how long it would take for the memories to be uncovered.

I carried Cala with me to the hard fog stand in the center of the room. Standing by it, I placed my hand onto the hard fog, and watched as it disappeared. Cala made its happy sound. It clutched its little hands firmly around me, before tipping itself forward. The base of its ailerons scraped against my arm as I tightened my hold to keep it from falling into the enclosure that I had just revealed. I stared at the fortune, buried here, where no other would be able to reach it.

The green wraith rose from the tunnel.

Cala shrieked.

I laughed. “You have no need to fear it Cala. It is nothing but our ancestors, coming up to greet us.”

“Salutations.” I greeted the wraith with a deep bow. It floated towards me. I felt the dust particles poking at me. I opened my mouth and granted it entrance. The wraith went into me, searched in my mind for what I needed, and then it pulled out. Moments later, the coffer appeared. “Gratitude.” I bowed again. The wraith returned and the fog hardened.

“It is time for us to return Cala.”

The coffer followed the ring on my finger. I wore Cala’s ring. One day, Cala would grow into the ring, and it would fit on its finger. Again, I felt the sorrow of knowing that I would not live to see this.

We walked through the cyan fog. I could not summon quicksand while I was inside the shrine, now that I was out of it, I reached into my anger and spoke through it, to the soul of my spectrum.

Quicksand appeared underneath us. It sucked us in, taking us back to our home.

Animaon awaited me in my lab. As soon as it saw me, it rose from the chair it had been sitting on, and bowed deeply. “You have returned sirga.” It said.

I smiled at my favorite novice. The pious ones in my port had taken to sending me novices to instruct in pansophy. I could have told them that the secret to my expert knowledge was a certain imp named Musa, but then that would spoil all the fun. None, but my most trusted acquaintances knew of Musa’s pansophy. Animaon was one of the few. It had trained under me for over twenty years now. I had received Animaon when it was barely five years old. The uspec had been unnaturally talented in pansophy.

I’d decided to train Animaon. It was so close in age to Calami, that once Calami saw how much attention I dedicated to our lessons, it insisted on joining them. That had, of course, been my plan all along. Animaon had turned out to be a favorable influence on Calami’s education. Before it came, Calami whiled away its time with Sensu, fighting and generally causing havoc. After Animaon, the three of them became inseparable. We all mourned Calami.

Animaon came over to me. It smiled as it traced Cala’s outer ear. Cala turned and smiled at the uspec. So few of us were lucky enough to receive Cala’s smiles. It was as if it already knew those who it could trust.

“How was your visit to Hamlet Kook?” Animaon asked.

I nodded. “Successful.” I gestured to the coffer.

Animaon’s face became distressed.

Cala’s wandering hands reached for one of the horns on Animaon’s head. It grabbed onto that horn and pulled. Luckily, it did not have the strength required to yank the horn out of the uspec’s head. Animaon was an irira, a hooni – mejo crossbreed. There were few ports where it could achieve its dream of becoming a pious one. Fortunately, Lahooni was one of them.

“Shall I take Cala off your hands, sirga?” it asked.

I shook my head. “We have things to discuss.”

Instead I reached for Chike. Siphoned magic was a powerful thing, it bound the one siphoning to the one being siphoned. And so, I could reach for Chike and see how it felt. I would always know the state of it. I could not read its mind, or share thoughts with it in anyway, but I could give it some nudges. I had learned that siphoned magic was a form of magic all of its own. It bound people in unusual ways. I had a hypothesis of the extents that siphoned magic could reach when shared between uspecs. I wanted to test my hypothesis with two siphoned links, but I did not have the time.

Time. I sighed.

A pool of quicksand appeared in the lab, just before the imp did.

“You summoned master?” Chike said. It was in a bad mood. I suppose we had all been in a bad mood since Calami’s death. Only Cala could improve our moods. There was so much of Calami in its offspring that we could not help but reclaim a little of what we’d lost, in Cala’s face.

I put Cala down.

“Please take Cala for its cleaning, then feed it. You can play with it after if you would like, or you could bring it back to me.”

The imp’s expression changed. “I will take care of it.” It said. It held onto Cala’s hand, and led it away.

Cala turned back to face me. It always did this, whenever we parted company. It turned to look at me one last time before leaving my presence. It was hard to face the knowledge that soon, it would be looking at me for the last time. I smiled at Cala and nodded. It turned back around and allowed Chike to take it away.

I waited till they were gone, before turning to my apprentice.

Animaon waited patiently.

“I ask something of you Animaon.”

“Whatever you ask of me I will do sirga.” Animaon swore.

“Peel of a scale from your neck.”

Without hesitating, Animaon reached for its neck scales and peeled one off. I peeled a scale off my neck and stabbed it into the empty patch that Animaon had just exposed. I knew that it felt pain, but it did not flinch.

Animaon.

The name came to me as soon as I woke. I did not open my eyes, but I returned to consciousness, knowing what had occurred, and what would follow. I remembered nothing from my unconsciousness, nothing but the name Animaon.

“Nebud! You are mine Nebud! You are mine! You belong to me!!”

I was used to this voice now. “Whose eye do you want?” I did not voice the words, I simply thought them.

“Animaon’s. Go to Damejo and take Animaon’s eye. You cannot fail me Nebud. You must not.”

I exhaled.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. I was quick to realize the extra vision which I had gained with the added eye. Sophila’s eye. Just thinking of the uspec reminded me of the events of that night.

I turned my head slightly.

I gasped.

“Musa.” I could not believe it. “Is that really you?”

@cassbeat yes it is shorter, lol

@decoderdgenius hahaha, yes oh! I like your write up but the update might not be what you are expecting sha...

@olite93 Wednesday is here, time for the next update

@dragonstar14 Wow, the best. Well, I would agree that this is very action-packed. I'm happy you liked it

@popeshemoo i like that you like where it is going

@Omittesb thank you for reading and allowing me to make you happy

@elyna thank you for reading and enjoying it!

@spixytinxy Thank you!!! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yes, oh Musa's departure is...well, let's see how Nebud handles it

@maynation LOL, thank you for reading the long long long update

@tunjilomo thank you! A wonder, wow, I didn't know everyone would enjoy this update like this oh. I'm glad I could help give your heart a workout, lol

@Queenyprinxex hahaha, I definitely understand that. It is quite daunting. And as I'm writing and seeing the number of pages increasing, it gets even more daunting. But, you can always start from the first post and take your time to read it

@lukfame thank you for reading, I'm glad I could make you happy

@cassbeat wow, best update ever...okay...anyway, me I'm just sha happy that you liked it. Thank you for the vote, and I do believe the next update will be intriguing, but I can never predict how everyone will react to the posts. I guess we shall see

@Fazemood Funny? Well, we'll see if you recognize the name when the character is introduced. Yes!!! I'm glad you enjoyed the update. Arexon is just something else, I really like that character, I hope it does not disappoint sha...

@ayshow6102 thank you for reading, Yes, spectra fights are so great! I can just imagine myself with spectra creating okun and blasting someone else's okun away. Would be so satisfying. A fight between two beasts from different spectrums? Will that happen, I guess we'll have to wait and see

Sophian stood in front of me with its hands crossed behind its back. “Arexon took a special interest in you. I want to know why. I want to know why Arexon pleaded for your life, and why it delayed its stay in Aurelion to give you time to heal. Tell me why, and I will kill you quickly. Tell my why and tell me now. I will only ask once.”

I had read of fog poisoning. Scholars did agree that it was the worst way to die. There were remedies to other things which killed quickly, and if there were not, then there were ways to take away the pain. Not with fog. Once the fog entered your system, no form of magic worked on you. Neither emotions nor pansophy could be used to ease your pain. To those forms of magic, the fog in your body meant that there was already no life in you. It was a terrible death. It was the kind of death that I wished on Sophian. How ironic.

I kept quiet.

“So be it.” Sophian said.

It turned around and walked back to its chair. It had dismissed me from its mind. I only had to look at the fog to see why. A string of fog drifted towards me, making its way towards my big toe.

As the fog approached, I thought of all that would die without me. I thought of Musa and the heir to Lahooni it searched for. That search would prove futile. Perhaps it would learn years later that it was I, Nebud, who was the young master it sought. When it learnt that, would it also learn that I had been killed by Sophian? How would Musa take that news. It would never forgive itself for leaving me. I knew that. Why did I find no comfort in that? Even though the imp had abandoned me, I could not wish it ill. I could not wish for it to spend the rest of its eternal life with that guilt. I thought of Fajahromo. I would never kill that uspec, never get to bask in the joy of seeing the life draining from it. Perhaps Arexon was right all along, I was a fool. I’d been a fool to think that I could win, that a de trop irira from the slums could defeat a Chiboga imperial.

There are moments in your life which you know you will never forget, a thing that a person says, the smell of a place, the taste of a meal. For me, it would be the sound of a bang. The bang was so loud that I thought it would make me deaf. It was made even more conspicuous by the silence that followed it.

The fog was gone. Someone had removed it.

Sophian turned back around. It was standing by the side of its desk when it turned around and gaped at me. Again, I noticed the display of emotion on the uspec’s face. It looked frantically around the room, searching, I assumed, for my savior.

I searched for the same thing.

My eyes missed it at first.

I caught a flash of green as I glanced around the room. Then my brain made sense of this information and directed my eyes back towards the opposite side of the desk, across from where Sophian stood.

Arexon appeared.

Sophian’s eyes widened. It took a step back, and then another.
Had it been standing there the whole time? I wondered. I thought of the lie that I had made up to get the uspecs to leave their post in front of the Kaiser’s suite. Perhaps my lie had not been a lie after all. That was why the soldiers had not returned to their post by the time I left the suite. They had truly been searching for Arexon.

Sophian frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“I have pansophy Sophian.” Arexon stated, drily, “do you really think that those soldiers could restrain me, even if they wanted to?”

“Traitor!” Sophian screamed.

Arexon shook its head. “I have never betrayed you Sophian, and I never will. Is it so hard to believe that I can be as true to my word as you are to yours?”

Sophian’s jaw clenched. Large globs of hail appeared in the air. Those pellets surrounded Arexon. I knew what Sophian meant to do, and whatever hope I’d had died in the face of Sophian’s spectra. Sophian had the full range of spectra while Arexon only had four outer eyes. It did not have the mejo eye or the hooni eye, which meant that it could use neither form of magic. The hail was a mejo magic. I had seen Marcinus burn a hovel down with that hail. Sophian could just as easily create an inferno and burn Arexon with it.

“Does my life truly hold so little value to you Sophian?”

“You are a serf!” Sophian spat out. “A traitorous serf. Your life holds no value to me.”

Arexon sighed. Another loud bang filled the room.

The hail went away.

I smiled.

Sophian gasped.

Arexon’s empty outer eye sockets changed appearance, revealing that there were actually eyes in those sockets. Arexon had the full range of spectra too! It had hidden the extent of its spectra, just as it had hidden its pansophy.

“What do you hope to achieve Arexon? You are already dead. My progenitor will kill you if anything happens to me.”

“Sophila is dead.” I stated.

Both Sophian and Arexon turned shocked faces to me.

“Liar!” Sophian screamed.

“I beheaded it while it was enjoying a lust climax. I have its center eye to prove it.”

Another fog appeared around me. Again, a bang sounded, and the fog was destroyed.

Sophian turned to Arexon. “Where is your gratitude? My progenitor kept you alive. We gave you command of our army. We made you something.”

“I was born an imperial Sophian, just as you were. You made me nothing but a serf.” Arexon replied.

Sophian sighed. “Very well, I will free you. I will replace the silver on your arms with gold. I will return Aboga to you. It will no longer be a forgotten kingdom annexed to Chiboga, it will be its own port, and you will be its Kaiser. We will be allies. You have my word.”

“You wanted to know why I fought for Nebud. Do you still want to know?” Arexon stated.

“It killed my progenitor…”

“Nebud, just like us, was born an imperial. Nebud is Calami’s offspring. The true heir to Lahooni.”

Sophian’s eyes widened. “You have been plotting against me from the start!” it yelled. Quicksand appeared underneath Sophian. A bang sounded and that quicksand disappeared before Sophian could teleport with it.

Sophian pulled out its sword and ran towards Arexon. Arexon pulled its sword out of its sheath. It deflected Sophian’s blows with an ease which made the fight border on hilarity. Arexon knocked Sophian’s sword out of its hand, and pierced its cutlass through Sophian’s neck. It pulled its bloodstained cutlass out from Sophian’s neck and watched as the uspec fell to the ground.

Sophian bled out.

The fight completed, Arexon returned its cutlass to its sheath, and walked over to the desk. I watched pensively, as the uspec picked up my dagger and brought it towards me. It held the hilt of the dagger, with the sharp end pointing out. For a second, as it approached me, its face an emotionless mask which bore a sickening resemblance to the uspec it had just slain, I feared that it meant to kill me.

Then it stopped in front of me and placed the dagger into the sheath in my belt.

“Gratitude sirga.” I said, after moments passed, and there was nothing but an uncomfortable silence filling the room.

Arexon’s gaze rose from the floor to my face. It still appeared emotionless. “You were right, Sophian was no friend of mine. Is Sophila truly dead?”

“Yes sirga.”

Arexon nodded. “Then you have what you came here for.” It stated flatly.

I wished for Arexon’s pain then. I wished that it did not have the emotion blockers to keep its pain hidden from me. If I could, I would have taken the pain away. Sophian did not deserve to be mourned by one as great as Arexon.

“Forgive me.” I said, “I did not mean to reveal your secret.”

Arexon was silent for a while. Its gaze was set on me, but I could tell that it was not really seeing me. “I know.” It replied. “Return to your suite Nebud. I will see you before you attempt to leave this port.”

Arexon’s gaze fixed on me. It was waiting for my response. Its last words were an order then. I nodded. “Yes sirga.”

It nodded.

Quicksand appeared underneath me. It sucked me in, teleporting me from the castle, to my empty suite in the civilian’s camp.

Musa was gone, and Arexon did not want me leaving just yet. I found that I had enough respect for the uspec to heed its order. I would not leave until it allowed me to. It was the least I could do for one who had done so much for me. I had wanted Sophila and Sophian dead. Now they were. Why did I not feel the thrill of victory which I expected to?

I pulled out the vial and reached for Sophila’s eye.

Part 23
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As I walked through the hallways, I thought of the battle that awaited me. I made the walk from the Kaiser’s suite to the North wing of the Castle in a much saner state of mind than I had been when I ran to the Kaiser’s suite. I thought of Sophila. Easy pickings, I thought with relish. I admitted to myself, that I had not thought long on the ramifications of ending Sophila’s life as I had done. The body was exposed, the eyes taken. How long will it take before the alarm was sounded? If I was lucky, the soldiers who had left in search of Arexon had no other key to the Kaiser’s suite.

I felt as though my luck must have run out. Maybe killing Sophila as I had done had been foolish. I had not thought of what I would do after, of how I would leave the Castle, or the port. And after I killed Sophian? What next? I planned to be long gone from the port when the alarm was raised, but what form of exit was there? The hangar was filled with soldiers readying for war. There were all sorts of soldiers in their armor, standing in that room, wondering if this day would be their last. How would I sneak past them?

I did not know. I could not even tell what would happen once Sophian was dead. The young Sophi would become Kaiser. It had not even grown old enough to form its outer eye sockets, how would it lead an army against the plenum? Perhaps if Arexon was around, if Arexon could be called on for help. But, thanks to me, Arexon was at the scourge. Or worst. Arexon could be dead.

I tried not to think of that. I realized then, how optimistic I was being. Certainly, I would kill Sophian. I had to. If I did not kill Sophian, I was dead. But Sophian had the full range of spectra. What chance did I have against one with spectra who knew how to use it? Yakubo had saved me from the soldier’s fog, in the Kaiser’s suite. I recalled the loud bang I had heard. That was the sound that associated spectra duels, when one uspec created a soul and another destroyed it. There would be no bangs when I faced off against Sophian.

I could not fight the feeling that I was not prepared. I was not prepared to do battle against Sophian, and its spectra. Again, I had that nagging thought that I should not have killed Sophila. It had all been too easy. Once the opportunity presented itself, how was I to resist it? I knew what lust would do to the uspec, having felt it myself. I knew the level of deliriousness that would take over it. I knew that it would be most mindless right at the climax. When the climax came, I’d seized my opportunity.

Four gurus stood in front of the hard fogs which guarded the suites in the North wing. They saluted me once they saw me. I marched to a halt in front of them, saluted and then pulled my hand down to my side.

“In clover.” I ordered.

The soldiers’ hands came down. They kept their gazes fixed straight ahead, none of their eyes met mine.

“I have news for the imperial one.” I said. “Straight from the Kaiser.”

“The imperial one is not in its suite, sirga.” One of the guards replied. “It sent us here from its office. It said that it desired solitude.”

Sophian was alone? Perhaps there was a way for me to kill it after all. I made sure that my face did not reveal my feelings towards the news that had been relayed to me. I nodded at the soldiers, made my best military turn, and then marched off. Sophian’s office was in the South wing.

As I walked along the hallway between the gym and the visiting lodge, I thought of the scourging, and how much I wanted to make Sophian pay for the pain that it had inflicted on me. I thought of all the days that I had spent dreaming of how slowly I would kill Sophian, of how I would make it pay for all that it had done to me. I had the presence of mind now, to admit that those had been fits of fancy. Now that the time had come, I would be happy for a simple death. If I could throw my dagger at Sophian from across the room, and have that dagger kill Sophian cleanly, that would be pleasing. Now I knew that my desire to leave this port with my life, far outweighed my desire to see Sophian writhing in pain. I was beginning to realize just how strong my survival instincts were.

I saw the entrance to the library on my left and I walked past it, wondering what had become of Arexon. The library reminded me of how foolishly I had let my guard down, and allowed Sophi to use its pansophy on me. That pansophy was the reason that Arexon was now in grave danger. I knew that I could not leave this port without ensuring that Arexon was safe. I would be coming back to the gym then, back to the scourge. I would kill every soldier that stood in my way. I would repay the debt that I owed Arexon.

This decision buoyed my confidence. I had to live for Arexon. I had to kill Sophian to ensure that Arexon lived. Sophian’s death was now more than just the means of my escape, it was also the means of Arexon’s survival.

The hard fog that led into the south wing was accessible by all soldiers stationed in the Castle. There was an okun in the south wing. The south wing was also where the soldier’s quarters were located. Soldiers serving the entire day in the Castle could eat here.

Sophian’s office was the first room in the south wing. It was cordoned off by a set of thick curtains. I recalled those curtains from my first visit to this Castle. That had been the day that I had been scourged. The day that I met Arexon. Weeks had passed since then, and so much had happened in that time. I pushed through those curtains and walked into the anteroom.

It was empty.

Everything about this room felt familiar. I remembered waking up here and thinking that Manus had been behind my abduction. The conversation I’d overhead sitting here, came back to me then. It all echoed in my head, and I stood in that spot, taking it all in.

How to kill one with spectra?

Take it by surprise. That was the only way. Sophian would never let me get close enough to pool out my sword and cut off its head. It was not under the influence of lust as Sophila had been. I would have just one chance. The moment I pulled open the second set of curtains, the ones that led to Sophian’s office, I would have to take my chance.

Dagger throw.

That was the only thing I could think of. It would have no emotions for me to manipulate. If I meant to take it by surprise, I had to throw my dagger at its neck. I pulled out my dagger, grasped the hilt in my hand, and headed for the curtains. I was only a few steps away from it, when I backed away.

My heart pounded in my chest. I would have one chance. One chance to throw this dagger, one chance to hit Sophian. If I failed, I was dead. The only time my throw had missed its target was moments ago, when I was under the influence of lust. I suffered from no such weaknesses now. I could throw the dagger and make it hit its target. I knew that. So why did I hesitate?

I took a deep breath and made my way back towards the curtains. The ends of the curtains fell all the way to the ground, so there was no fear of my feet being seen from the other side. It had to be done. I pushed aside my fear and took the last few steps to the curtains. I recalled that Sophian’s desk was to the left of where I stood. So, I positioned myself with my body facing that direction. I listened for sounds of Sophian pacing. I heard nothing. If I was wrong, I would have to turn around. Hopefully, Sophian would be too surprised to prepare for the attack.

In one move, I yanked one set of the curtains open, and threw my dagger.

I acted on instinct. The dagger was out of my hand before my eyes registered the uspec sitting on the desk, and identified that uspec as Sophian. I realized that I would have thrown the dagger at an empty chair in my heightened emotional state. But the chair was not empty. Sophian sat in it.

And it was my best dagger throw.

Time seemed to slow as I watched the dagger circle in the air. It went towards Sophian’s neck, right as I’d aimed it to. There was no callousness in the circling of the dagger, only a beautiful fluid motion, as it spun. Sophian’s gaze was on the open tomes before it. Its right hand rested on the table, and its left held a pen. It scribbled onto a sheet of paper, its focus completely on the task in front of it. It did not register my dagger until it was too late.

Sophian’s attention did not move to the dagger until the dagger was right in front of it. At that point, the uspec was already dead. The thrill of victory surged in me. I had killed them. I had killed my enemies, and it had been easy. I was victorious. I won against the line of the Kaisers of Chiboga.

The dagger stopped.

But there was no blood.

No loud thud followed. Sophian’s body did not fall onto the desk. It took me a while to realize that Sophian’s right hand was no longer on the desk. My eyes seemed to be unable to focus on Sophian’s fingers pinching the sharp end of my dagger.

No. I took a step back.

Sophian had caught the dagger. It had caught the dagger with its fingers. I had never seen skill like that. Never. How was such a thing possible?

Red fog encircled me before I could retreat.

I knew that I was dead as soon as the fog surrounded me.

“Come in chief.” Sophian ordered.

I had no choice. The fog began to move, and if I did not follow, it would move through me, taking my life with it. I do not know why I walked in. It was obvious that Sophian meant to kill me, so why did I give it the satisfaction of doing so at its own pace? Why did I not just let the fog pass through me and take my life with it?

I walked into the office and stopped when the fog stopped moving. It remained around me, a translucent barrier reminding me that I was dead.

“I am disappointed in you.” Sophian deadpanned. “We could have done great things together.”

It released the dagger, letting it fall onto its table. Something about the clanging of the metal against the hard surface appeared ominous.

“I do not lie chief.” Sophian stated. “And so,” it pushed its chair backwards and rose to its feet, “I will tell you this, you will die. You will not die soon, you will die now. Have you ever heard of fog poisoning?”

I nodded.

“Good. I could tell the fog to drift into your toe and poison you. If I do that, it will start by taking the life away from your toes, and then move to your legs, and then up your body, until finally, you are dead. I have heard that it is absolutely the worst way to die, because once the fog enters you, there is no remedy, no cure, and it takes its time working over you. It is excruciatingly painful. I could do that. Or I could tell the fog to kill you quickly. You’d be dead in under a second. No pain. Which would you prefer?”

I did not respond.

Part 22
---------

“Nebud!”

I was starting to feel delirious. Perhaps it was the white fumes, although, practical thought told me that I could not have inhaled enough of the fumes to feel as heedless as I currently did. I stopped walking and began to run.

“Nebud!” Yakubo’s voice faded to the background. I could tell that it was now following me, by the distance which I heard in the sound. I did not care, I kept going, running towards those white fumes.

I recalled the soldier from the feast. “Involved in much more pleasurable exploits.” It had said, when I asked where the Kaiser was.

I kept going. My feet ran before my brain could stitch all the pieces together into a favorable picture. In some part of my mind, I knew what I was doing, where I was going, and what I intended to do when I reached there. But all I had was an overall picture, a high-level view of what I intended to do. The details were yet to be worked out. As I ran in the direction of the white fumes, I let my brain work out what I would do next.

I passed the hallway which led to the gym. I found it intriguing that they called that area a gym. The ‘gym’ was where the scourge was, it was where I had been taken the first time that I had been in this Castle. Sophian had had me scourged there. As I ran, my mind replayed images of the lash falling against my chest. I still had those scars on me. They would forever mar me, forever show what I had endured at the hands of another uspec. My skin was disfigured, bent in unseemly folds that still caused other uspecs discomfort when they stared at it. I wondered if that would ever end. Would I forever be grotesque?

I kept going. The fumes were so light. They left a trail for me, marking the way towards their source. I followed that trail, my heart pounding, my mind a mix of insanity and logical thoughts.

I was running past the hall now. It was in this hall that Arexon had been sentenced to the scourge only minutes ago. There was a voice in my head reminding me to feel guilty, telling me that I had harmed another friend, just as I had harmed Marcinus. I was just as responsible for Arexon’s fate as the uspec who had sentenced it to the scourge. I felt no guilt. There was only ecstasy, and extremely delightful anticipation, a quickening in my heart. I felt no guilt for Arexon or for Marcinus. I did not know if Arexon would survive the scourge, but at that moment, I did not care. All I cared for, was myself, and the bliss that was about to be mine.

“Nebud! You have lost your mind.” I heard Yakubo’s voice close behind me. It had decided to follow me then. “Nebud!” It screamed. “Stop!” It yelled. Its voice was breathy, it panted as it screamed. I could tell from that voice that the uspec was having trouble keeping up with me. For some reason, its cries for me to stop only served to spur me on. I ran faster than I had ever run before. I ran as if I was being chased. How could I explain to Yakubo, what awaited me in those fumes? It was victory! I screamed within my mind. The sweet victory of seeing a foe vanquished.

I ran.

“Stop Nebud! You are going to the Kaiser’s suite. They will kill you.”

Yakubo sounded out of breath. For some reason I found myself smiling at its words. The fumes were thicker here. They led me to a hard fog wall. Suddenly the fumes disappeared. I found my mind reeling. Where were the fumes? The Kaiser’s suite was behind the hard fog, which meant that the fumes could not possibly have drifted out through them.

Six chiefs stood on guard in front of the hard fog wall leading into the Kaiser’s suite. I recognized one of those guards as the one who had told me that the Kaiser was Involved in much more pleasurable exploits. It was not until I stopped in front of them, my faculties returning to me, that I realized just how fast I had been running. I bent with my hands on my knees and panted as I struggled to catch my breath.

“What are you doing here?” One of the chiefs asked.

I could not speak. I was too out of breath to talk. I did not understand what had happened to me. I did not know what had caused my delirium. It was obviously not a result of the white fumes. I kept panting.

Yakubo appeared beside me. Its pose matched my own, as it too tried to catch its breath. Yakubo’s presence there seemed to have alarmed the guards, because they were reaching for their weapons now.

“The commander!” I yelled, once I could speak. My voice sounded much breathier than Yakubo’s had. “The commander escaped! It must have removed its appearance with its hidden pansophy, because we were escorting it to the scourge under the imperial one’s command, and then it swerved, running in this direction, before it vanished.”

Yakubo’s wide eyes turned to stare at me. Luckily, the other soldiers’ attentions were fixed on me.

“This direction?”

“Yes.” I said, my voice still wheezy.

“Without appearance?”

I nodded, opting not to speak. I rose then, standing to my full height. The vigor of my panting had greatly reduced.

“It has the key!” one of the soldier’s yelled.

“Well, open it!” another snapped.

One of the chief’s pulled out a key from its belt and stuck it into the hard fog, the hard fog softened, and white fumes, drifted out. I knew the moment that the lust hit the soldiers.

“Let us go.” One of them said.

“It may not have gone in.” I added.

“You three go in, we’ll look around.” They separated.

I followed the three going into the suite. Before they could turn around, I reached for my dagger, and pulled out my sword. I threw my dagger into the back of one of their neck’s, and my sword into the other. They both fell.

Red fog appeared around me. It encircled me, moving closer and closer towards me. The last soldier had brought out the fog as soon as it saw the other two fall. It was going to kill me with the fog.

I heard a loud bang. The sound of that bang was followed by the disappearance of the fog.

Yakubo ran in with its sword drawn. The other soldier attacked. I ran over to the two uspecs I’d killed, and retrieved my weapons from them. I was starting to feel the effects of the lust.

Yakubo’s sword clashed against the other soldier’s. The form had been returned to the fog, so I did not have to worry about the fight been heard outside of the hallway. I thought of the Kaiser, but knew that it would hear nothing, not with the lust it inhaled.

I felt the ecstasy.

Yakubo tripped over itself. It was starting to feel the effects of the lust too. I lifted my dagger and threw it at the other soldier. My aim was off. My dagger missed the uspec and clashed against the hard fog behind it. The sound distracted the uspec long enough for Yakubo to thrust out with its sword, and push its sword into the uspec’s pubis, right between its legs. The uspec fell.

Yakubo pulled its sword out, as I walked to retrieve my dagger. Yakubo struggled to rise. It was unsteady on its feet. It smiled widely. “What is this bliss?” it asked, supporting itself by leaning on the wall.

I felt the ecstasy, but it was nothing compared to the first time that I had felt this. I was still in control of my faculties. I placed my bloodied sword and dagger, back into their sheaths in my belt, and reached for the blue liquid vial, grateful that it was still there. I had not known that I would ever need to use it again, but I was glad that I had not thought to remove it from my belt.

Who would have known that I would have cause to be grateful to Manus?

With the vial in my hand, I walked back towards Yakubo. The uspec’s ecstasy was plain on its face. I uncorked the vial and then drank half of its contents. Then, I forced Yakubo’s head backwards and poured the other half into its mouth. It did not even to try to stop me.

The liquid had an odd metallic taste, almost like the taste of blood, but different. It was more sour than blood, and had a mild fruity tang to it. As soon as I swallowed it, I felt the ecstasy fade away.

It took longer for Yakubo’s sanity to return.

Yakubo’s smile slowly faded. As soon as its sanity returned, it looked around the hallway, at the bodies on the floor, and lifted its sword. It pointed the sharp end of its sword against my throat.

“I should kill you.” Yakubo said. It took one more look at the bodies, and then it pulled its sword away. “We will be killed for this.” It stated sadly. “But we will be in good company. Perhaps it is what I deserve for what I did to the commander.”

“Come.” I said to the uspec. “We have no time for this.”

Yakubo appeared uncertain. “What was that I felt?”

“Lust.” I replied.

“Lust.” Yakubo repeated the word wistfully.

From the pleasure in the white fumes which I had felt before drinking the blue liquid, I could tell that the lust was close to a climax. It was obvious where the lust was coming from. I followed that trail, leaving Yakubo to decide whether or not it would follow me.

Once I got there, I pushed the curtains open.

There was only one lounging bed in this room.

The imps lay on a mat in the middle of the room, their pelvises joined as they made lust. There was another imp on that mat. That imp sat. There were no pious ones in the room, no other uspecs save the one laying on the sole lounging bed. The lack of pious ones told me that the imp sitting on the mat had to have pansophy. It required one with pansophy to transfer the lust into the white fumes. Sophila knew of imps with pansophy then.

The imps cried out. Their cries were followed by a hoarse groan from Sophila, as it climaxed.

I knew that I would never get another opportunity. I ran towards the uspec, pulled my sword out of my sheath and swiped at its neck.

My heart was racing, it was beating faster than it ever had before. My head spun with the implications if I failed. There was no coming back from this. I would be killed.

I felt the spray of blood on my face.

I heard the screams of surprise.

The first thing I saw through the haze of blood, was the imp screaming. It was hard to see through all the blood. One imp screamed, while another reached for that imp’s head, rose it up, and slammed it down hard against the ground. The screaming stopped.

Another imp was running towards me. It had to be the imp with pansophy. The two who had made lust still lay on the mat, one unconscious, the other staring with wide sockets at me.

I swung my cutlass aimlessly.

“Master!” I heard the imp yell. “You killed my master!”

I swung again.

There was a loud ringing sound in my head. I saw the Kaiser’s head on the floor. I saw the eyes staring up at me. I knew that I had indeed done it, that I had beheaded the Kaiser of Chiboga. But it seemed too surreal to focus on. I could not believe it, not yet.

There was another loud thud. The imp continued running towards me, but its head was no longer on its body. Instead of running to me, it tripped over the lounging bed, where the bottom half of the Kaiser’s body still lay. I knew that with the imp’s head severed, it would not be able to see. Its ability to move would depend on how well skilled it was in pansophy. If it was very well skilled, it could grow its hearing and other lifeforces and use them to navigate. The imp’s headless body fell to the ground. It went on hands and knees crawling around the room. It appeared disoriented.

“Jacob? Ned?” The voice was familiar.

I wiped away the blood on my face. It took me some time, but I was finally able to see clearly.

“Okun!” I yelled. I recognized the imp. That was why the voice was so familiar. “Get okun!” I yelled frantically at it.

The imp frowned at us. I jumped to my feet and ran back to the hallway to retrieve the vial. I grabbed it, and the cork, and ran back to the room. I only had minutes before Sophila’s eye would lose functionality. I had to retrieve it.

When I returned to the room, the imp knelt by Sophila’s body with a bowl of okun. I grabbed the bowl, took it to the head, and rinsed out the vial.

“What are you doing Nebud?” Yakubo asked. I saw it coming towards me, and felt its presence when it knelt by me.

I pulled out one of my scales and scooped out Sophila’s center eye. I put that eye into the okun-filled vial. Then, I took a deep breath, corked the vial and placed it into my belt. The eye did not look any different. I could only hope that it was not dead. I scooped out the rest of the uspec’s outer eyes, and placed them in the bowl of okun.

I pushed that bowl over to Yakubo. “Our journey ends here, my friend.”

Yakubo looked at the bowl with the eyes in it, before looking at Sophila’s head, and then looking at me. “We killed Sophila.” It said, its voice filled with shock. Then a slow smile crept onto its face. “We killed Sophila!” it yelled. “We killed Sophila!” it cried.

“That is you!” The imp ran over to us. To our surprise, it pulled Yakubo into its arms and hugged it. Yakubo stared shocked at me, over the imp’s body. “I knew that you would come back for me Jacob. I knew it.”

“Take the imp, and the eyes, and go. Keep the eyes in the okun, the okun keeps the life in the eyes. You can also surround it with fog, any of the five souls of the spectrums really, but it must be immersed in it. Take the eyes you need and sell the rest, or sell them all. You will be wealthy either ways.” I placed my hand on Yakubo’s shoulder. “You saved my life Yakubo. I will never forget it. Take the imp, and the eyes, and run as far away from this burg as you can.”

“But the war?”

“The war need not be a concern of yours.”

Yakubo stared at the imp in its arms. To my surprise, it clasped its arms around it, pulling the imp closer to it.

“Go Yakubo.” I advised, as I rose to my feet. “Get as far away from this Acropolis as you can. The war will start here and spread to other parts of the port. The further away from here you are, the safer you will be.”

Yakubo nodded at me.

I reached into my belt and pulled out the pouch of worth which I had gotten from winning Maraci’s bout. I placed it into Yakubo’s hand and curled its fingers around it.

Yakubo gaped at the pouch. “This is too much!” It exclaimed.

“It will be enough for you to establish yourself elsewhere. Be safe my friend.”

“What about you? Will you not come with us? You and Musa, come with us, we can make a life for ourselves, together.” Yakubo pleaded.

I shook my head. “Where I must go, I go alone. Take care of yourselves.” I walked towards the curtains.

“The founder’s grace be with you my friend!” Yakubo’s yell caught me as I walked out through the curtains.

I turned back around and stopped just long enough to see the uspec and imp, entwined in each other’s embrace. I found the embrace peculiar, but I could not begrudge the uspec its happiness. I walked out then.

The key was still in the hands of one of the soldier’s who’d walked through the hard fog first. I pried that key from the uspec’s hand, and walked back out. I placed it into the fog, waited for the fog to soften, then I threw the key back into the suite, in case Yakubo decided to leave via the same route.

I found the hallway in front of the Kaiser’s suite empty.

With a single purpose in my mind, I marched through the Castle. I had to kill Sophian. It was the only way that I would make it out of the port alive. I did not know what would happen to Arexon, but at that point, I could not let myself focus on that. It was either Sophian died, or I would. It would find out that I had been responsible for its progenitor’s death and it would ensure that I could not leave the port.

I no longer had an imp that could take away my appearance and make it possible for me to leave the port undetected.

I stopped.

It felt strange to acknowledge that Musa was gone. Musa had left me. It was gone. I could no longer rely on it. It had gone in search of its young master, it had abandoned me.

My resolve strengthened. I had no way of hiding my appearance. I could only leave this port if Sophian was not alive to stop me.

@phoenixchap as in, well more coming soon

@HotB You are really seeing somethings with your destiny theory, but let me not say too much . I agree though, it might be spectral understanding that you've received, haha. Thank you so much for your kind words

@barag thank you for reading and allowing me to change your Wednesdays and Saturdays

@OluwabuqqyYOLO THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I'm sooo glad that you're still enjoying this sturvs and spreading your enjoyment

@cassbeat HAHAHA, my NL musician

@Ultimategeneral thank you, thank you. More coming soon and I hope it keeps you glued too '

@spixytinxy thank you for blowing my trumpet

@maynation you're even inviting outside people to vote, chai, thank you oh!

@Rynne thanks for the vote!

@Queenyprinxex thank you! Now that you're here, if you like fantasy works, you can give this a try

@Dathypebruv[b] thank you of course!!! [/b]

@ayshow6102 thank you for voting and thank you for reading

@lirusehn thank you for the vote!

@tunjilomo I agree, this should go more than somewhere. I cannot wait for you to see what I have in mind

@Fazemood You know I love the straightforwardness, I like hearing your true feelings about the story, good and bad. What made me sad was the thought that you were leaving because the story stopped holding interest for you. I'm very happy to hear that that is not the case! I'm happy you vented. I think my protagonists are actually the weakest characters in my stories, that's one of my shortcomings, and that's something I have to work on. Like Osezele, for example, from the feedback I got, a lot of people didn't like her in the first two books, they only started to in the In-between. So, anyway, I'm happy that you've pointed out Nebud's shortcomings. I definitely don't want to push people away by having a weak central character. That being said, there is more to Nebud than meets the eye. I'd forgotten that before, but I'm starting to remember. I hope soon enough I'll be able to show it, better. Thank you for sticking around, I appreciate it! In fact, I'm thinking that I'm going to need a new character in the future, this character just occurred to me so it's still going to be a looong time before it appears, but it's a character that will be around for a while and (spoiler alert) will make an appearance in the next marked book I'm going to write (the Reckoning). Anyway, as a thank you to you, for you steady following, I have decided to name that character after you, so that you will be part of the marked series (wherever it goes, and I hope it goes far). Thank you!!!

@Smooth278 thank you for your vote!

To:

OluwabuqqyYOLO, spixytinxy, maynation, Rynne, Queenyprinxex, Dathypebruv, ayshow6102, lirusehn, prinx55555, Fazemood, Smooth278, and all others who voted for me,

I just want to say a BIG THANK YOU Thank you so much for voting for me, I really appreciate it

Part 21
---------

Yakubo was waiting by the entrance to the grand hall, where the feast was set to take place. It saluted, upon sighting us, and kept its hand on its chest, till Sophian stormed by it. Yakubo turned its troubled expression to me. It fell in line behind Sophi, just as we walked into the hall.

“Assiduity!” A loud voice yelled. I recognized that voice as belonging to Arexon.

“Assiduity!” A number of soldiers picked up the cry and chanted one of their own. This sound was echoed across the room several times, until all sounds halted and all soldiers, Yakubo and I included, turned to face the dais at the front of the room. We all saluted in unison.

There were several uspecs already standing on that stage. Arexon stood to the right of the highchair. The chair to the left of the highchair was left empty. A magistrate stood behind the chair beside that one. From the bands on their arms, I could tell that there were two other silver capons, and five golden capons on the stage, but none of them were familiar. There were also other pious ones standing on that stage.

Sophian made its way across the large hall. It climbed the steps up to the raised dais, and then it stopped behind the highchair. Its gaze zoomed over to us. It gestured impatiently for us to approach. For a second, I feared that it meant to confront Arexon right then and there. Then I noticed its gaze was on Sophi. It was merely gesturing for its offspring to join it on the raised dais. The young uspec marched forward, its steps uncertain, as it made its way past the rows of saluting silver capons. Finally, Sophi reached the dais. It stood behind the chair to the left of Sophian’s.

“Assiduity!” Sophian announced. It followed its announcement with a salute of its own. Sophi saluted as well. All uspecs in the room stood, and those who were not soldiers, bowed their heads in deference.

Sophian brought down its hand. “In clover!” it yelled.

The civilians rose their heads up from their neck bow, and the soldiers brought their hands down. We all stood at attention.

“Tomorrow we fight. Tonight, we feast!” Sophian bellowed.

“Tonight, we feast!”

Sophian nodded. It pulled out its highchair and sat on it. Sophi sat next. Then the other uspecs on the dais, followed by every other uspec in the hall. I stared at the stage, wondering where the Kaiser was. Yakubo poked me in the side with its elbow. I turned to stare at it, and it gestured with its chin, to empty seats at the back of the room.

We made our way over.

The hall was filled with long rectangular tables, having long benches on both sides. Yakubo and I sat close to the end of one these tables. Places had been set, with plates and utensils for each uspec. The tables were filled with trays of meats and grains, loaves and cakes, pitchers of wine, and empty goblets.

No one ate until Sophian was served. Serfs appeared. Four of them walked onto the dais. They filled Sophian’s plate with portions of meals, and its goblet with wine. Sophian picked up a piece of cake from its filled platter and tore of a chunk. It put that chunk into its mouth and chewed. That was when the real feast began.

Musical notes drifted into the hall. I looked around and found an interior balcony. This balcony was covered with light curtains, so I could not see the people playing the instruments. The conversations began.

I grabbed two loaves of bread from a tray, placed one on my plate and the other on Yakubo’s. Yakubo filled our goblets with okun.

I frowned at the drink. “Okun?” I asked.

“Better than wine.” Yakubo replied. “It is not wise to get drunk the night before battle.”

I agreed. I thought of the uniforms that we would be required to wear starting the next day. The security in the port would be tighter. It would be so much harder for me to go into the Civilian’s camp undetected. I thought of the soldiers who were at that moment, marching in their iron armors to the hangar. The wartime armors were made for the boga spectrum, as such, there was no cloth worn on the chest, as the bogas already had iron spikes protecting their chests. The armor was made up of a helmet which covered the head and extended all the way down to the top of the shoulders, leaving only the face exposed. The armors that the silver capons wore covered every part of our body, except our chest. I had been made to fight with that weight, it was not one I looked forward to donning with the day’s break.

Yakubo handed me a tray of meat. “What is it?” I asked.

“Smoke bear.” It replied.

I had never had smoke bear flesh before. I put only a few chunks of that meat onto my plate, choosing to be much more generous with the nama meat, which I was familiar with. We ate in relative silence. There was the sound of the music being played, and the sounds of conversations, but there was order to the talk, as if we were all too cautious of the imperial seated on the stage, to sink to the raucous which would occupy a feast such as this, in the barracks.

“Where is the Kaiser?” I asked Yakubo.

It was another uspec who answered. This uspec was also a chief who served in the castle. “Involved in much more pleasurable exploits.” It replied with a smirk. The soldiers seated by it laughed.

I drank my okun. It was chilled, I appreciated that.

“You should not inquire about the Kaiser.” Yakubo whispered to me. “Things like that are noted here.”

I nodded.

A loud bang sounded in the room. All conversations halted immediately, as we turned our focus to the source of that sound, the dais.

“You dare lie to me!” Sophian yelled so loud that everyone in the hall heard it clearly.

The music stopped playing.

“Chief Yakubo!”

Yakubo froze mid bite. It stared dumbly between the meat on the fork in its hand, and the dais.

“Chief Yakubo!!” Sophian bellowed.

Yakubo’s fork dropped loudly. It jumped to its feet, almost tripping over the bench in its haste to climb over it. Yakubo’s approach to the stage was a mix between running and marching. The indecision in its movements made its motion hilarious.

“Nebud!”

I must have been expecting it, because I was already rising before I heard my name. Although, as I marched to the stage, with much more composure than Yakubo showed, I realized that Sophian had not called me chief. It appeared that we were on a first name basis now, how flattering.

Yakubo was standing in a salute by the time that I joined it. I saluted as well, doing my best to keep my gaze from moving nervously to Arexon. Did it know what I had done? It was obvious from the tense set of Sophian’s shoulders, and the anguish on Sophi’s face, that the conversation had been about Arexon’s pansophy.

“In clover!” Sophian ordered. It appeared so enraged that even that order came out as a yell. In this one day, I had seen Sophian show more emotion than it had in the entire time that I’d been in the port.

“Chief Yakubo, do you subject to the inquest?”

Yakubo’s eyes darted to me, before stopping to rest on Arexon. I took the opportunity to stare at Arexon too. Arexon’s gaze caught mine.

It knew.

I swallowed nervously. What had I done? Yakubo was still staring at Arexon when Sophian snapped, “I asked you a question Chief Yakubo.”

“I…I…” I had never seen Yakubo appear so flustered. Arexon nodded at Yakubo, before looking at me, and then turning its gaze to the platter in front of it. Yakubo’s gaze turned back to Sophian. “Yes, imperial one.” It stated.

“Yes, because the commander has given you permission?” Sophian barked. “Who do you serve? Arexon or me?”

Yakubo’s gaze darted to Arexon again, but this time, Arexon did not raise its head to stare back at Yakubo. “You, imperial one.” Yakubo’s voice shook. Even I could tell that its answer lacked credibility.

“Well?” Sophian yelled. “What are you waiting for?”

A pious one stepped down from the dais. It took its time walking towards us, and then it stopped in front of Yakubo. It placed its hand on Yakubo’s shoulder.

Yakubo flinched at the touch.

My heart pounded in my chest. Was I next? I had never before wished for pansophy more than I did at that moment. If I had pansophy, I could deflect my thoughts, make sure the pious one saw only what I wanted it to. Now, I knew too much. I thought about all the lives that would be affected by the knowledge in my head. My mind darted to Musa. They would learn about Musa, about its pansophy.

The pious one took its hand off Yakubo and turned to face Sophian. It bowed slightly before speaking. “The chief confirms it imperial one. Commander Arexon has pansophy, and its pansophy is no secret to the capons. In fact, the commander has used its pansophy to come to their aid many times. They are loyal to it.”

“Traitor!” Sophian snapped. “How dare you? How dare you plan this coup?”

Arexon exhaled. It rose its head and stared Sophian in the eye. “I would never plan a coup against you.” It swore. “Never. What I do for my soldiers, I do it in the name of your line.”

“Liar. Not just a traitor but also a liar. Pansophy! How dare you? Who gave you permission to obtain this? How did you achieve this? Who are your coconspirators?”

“There is no merit to learning its name.”

“I decide what has merit and what does not!”

“Pater.” Sophi called out in a low voice. “Please, this should be done in private.”

Sophian turned to stare at its offspring. Sophi bowed its head. Sophian took a deep breath and then let it out. “This feast has ended!” it bellowed. “When you think back on this day, remember that you owe the cancellation of this feast to your traitor commander. When you are asked why you were not allowed to revel in your last festivities, recall that the blame rests solely on Arexon! I dismiss you! I dismiss you all!”

The uspecs rose hurriedly. There was a mixture of hesitation and anticipation in their movements. It was as if they were eager to obey Sophian’s command, but were equally eager to remain and listen to the conclusion of the proceedings. Yakubo and I remained, as well as all the uspecs seated on the dais.

“Who gave you this magic?” Sophian asked.

“Sophian, I have never used this to harm you. If anything, I have used my pansophy to turn soldiers to your cause. They fight for you, instead of against you. They never riot, never rebel, they simply obey you. It is because I ensure that they see the benefits of serving their serfdom peacefully. I am, as I have always been, your loyal friend, Sophian.”

“You are no friend of mine! You are a serf. That is all you are, and that is all you will ever be! When you refer to me, do it by my proper rank, or I will have your tongue cut out.”

Arexon shook its head. “I know you do not mean that, I know that it is only the anger that talks.”

“My pater told me that I was being overly cautious when I said that we could not trust you. It was eager to release you, to stick to its ‘word’ and end your serfdom. But I knew better. I knew that you would try to steal control of our army, that you would turn our soldiers against us. I knew what you were doing even though I could not see how it was being done. Now, I see.”

Arexon’s previously calm face filled with a mask of fury. “You kept me a serf?” it asked.

“I kept you in your place!” Sophian snapped in reply. “I want the name of the pious one who gave this to you. I want the name of the one who plots against me.”

“I do not know its name.” Arexon’s voice remained level even though its clenched fists shook with rage.

“Liar! Speak the truth for once in your life. Tell me the truth, and maybe I will consider allowing you to serve the rest of your life in the position that you now occupy. If you lie to me again, it will be the last thing you ever do.”

“I tell no lies. I do not know its name; I only know that it was a pious. It came to me the night after my…after Arigad’s death and told me it had a gift for me. It gave me pansophy, then disappeared. I have never seen the uspec again.”

I frowned. What an intriguing notion?

“Who did it say the gift was from?” it was a pious one who asked this question.

“There is no merit to that question. Have I not proven myself to you imperial one? What have you asked of me that I have not given? When you prolonged my service did I rebel? What did I do but continue to serve you as loyally as I ever have? Should my word not be sufficient?”

“How can the word of a liar and a traitor have any significance?”

“I never lied to you.”

“You never told me!”

“Please…”

“I want the name. Or do you deny knowing the name of the uspec who gave you this gift?”

Arexon spoke through clenched teeth. “The pious one said that it was a gift from the mighty Calam.”

The gasps that filled the room seemed to echo the shock in my mind. My sire was responsible for giving Arexon pansophy? Was this the real reason why Arexon had taken so much care to ensure that I remained alive? Did it feel indebted to my sire? Why had Arexon not told me this? I turned to stare at Arexon, but the uspec did not look at me.

Sophian shook its head. “Uspecipytes are plotting against us in our own port!”

“I am no Uspecipyte!” Arexon yelled.

“Then why would Calam give you pansophy? Why? What did it ask for in return? What Chiboga secrets did you sell to Calam to pay for your pansophy?”

“I gave it nothing.”

“You lie! Every word out of your mouth is a lie! You will tell me the truth, or your suffering will be so unbearable that you beg me for death. Take it to the scourge!” it ordered.

“Pater!” Sophi called out. “The commander has never betrayed us, how…”

Sophian slapped Sophi. The strike cut off the words that the uspec had been about to say. “Go to your suite.” Sophian ordered.

“But pater please, the commander…”

“Now!”

Sophi sulked down from the dais.

“I said take the traitor to the scourge!”

Sophi stopped walking.

The soldiers on the dais rose and went towards Arexon. They reached out to grab it, but Arexon shirked their hold. “I can walk.” It said.

Arexon did not so much as glance at me as it walked by.

“Commander…” Sophi called out.

“Take Sophi to its suite!” This order was clearly meant for us. Yakubo and I approached the young uspec. By the time we reached it, Arexon and its escort had already left the hall.

Sophi walked out on its own.

None of us spoke as we made our way to the North wing of the Castle. We were just about to walk into the corridor which led to the North wing when the young uspec turned around.

“I will go unaccompanied from here.” It ordered.

“But sirga…” Yakubo began.

Sophi shook its head. “I want to be left alone. I am going to my suite, I just want to go there alone.”

“Yes sirga.”

We stood there watching as the young uspec made its way past the curtains which led into the wing.

My mind returned to Arexon. I could not help but wonder what fate awaited the uspec. The scourge was surrounded by equipoise, it would be free of magic there. Would Arexon go willingly? I was just thinking of how I could save Arexon from the mess that I had gotten it into, when I saw familiar white fumes, to my right.

I turned around and followed those fumes.

“Where are you going?” Yakubo asked.

@Smooth278 I understand that reading it piecemeal makes it hard to remember all the details and the way that the plot develops. I wish that I could write it all and release it, unfortunately I can't. Like I mentioned earlier, I have a lot of other things I'm working on and so, unfortunately, I can't make all updates as long as everyone would like.

@ayshow6102 wow, that's really flattering and very humbling. Thank you, I really appreciate that.