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Ch. 3

He murdered Soya Yee. He, a slave, murdered the greatest Upu to ever live. One of the last Naht-do. A glorified cook. Oldest creature he has ever met, older than any other Upu to ever live. He spent most of his adult life with her and her pet. And he murdered her. The evil known as Soya Yee is dead. Stopped her coup. Stopped her murdering rampage. He hangs around long enough to make sure Uh’ knows she is gone.

The cry echoes among the crowd. Most join the master-abacist. Some cheer. The intelligent. The Kind. The slaves like him, sit quiet. The Feast of the Never-Ending Agony compels one to not care.

He’ll feast on Suhup Yee’s sorrow for however much longer he has with life, though. Rantira wants to see old Uh’ die also. But that wasn’t fair. He wants to see them all die. Everyone on both sides. He moves back into shadows and beyond and enters the dark warren of caves that make up the underground vaults. He walks slow. He isn’t trying to escape, merely do what he always does. Disappear.

Hanging around anymore would be to witness the Upu cry over a creature so heinous history should celebrate her passing. Should, but likely won’t. The campus is in an uproar already as he slips past guards rushing into the titerrium. The crowd is frothing.

Then the ancient ceiling quakes. Cracks and fissures appear, his old heart aches at the suddenness of it.

Those around him stop too as if watching the ceiling dissolve into dust will stop the weight of it from falling on them.

Rantira races past, race might be too strong a word because racing is far from what the shriveled grey-fuzzed creature is doing. Which is good because his goal is to die on Nahtdo when it passes on its transgression. The how has taken glimpses of manipulation to facilitate. There is a launch of mining vessels he plans to be aboard. Foolproof in that nothing stops the launch of mining vessels. Nothing.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

His obedience band itches as it yearns for its opposite. The further he gets from its owner the worse it will get until the pain becomes so great he will die. Can he die? A lot of Naht-do say death is an illusion, that the Feast of Agony is suffering that goes on and on and on. He doesn’t know.

But he does have a fix for the pain and after two minutes of walking he finds the cell in which Soya had been held. It was as when they all left it that morning. A lush prison with all the trappings of luxury. She was old, so food needed to be easy to digest and his job as cook was simple because of that. It was just the three of them anyway. But soft or not he kept his blades sharp. He takes one, a heavy cleaver and with no fanfare removes the obedience band and the arm it was attached to.

The pain is immediate and the only thing he truly regrets in his life. He would go back to any past moment he had ever lived just to get this decision back. But it is too late for that, so he moves on to activating a burner with a foot pedal, and then because it’s what comes next, his stump sizzles.

Then a dip in a redmoss powder he made in preparation for this moment. It works perfect and soon enough he is able to tolerate what he did to himself. Not all the pain ceases, but enough of a soothing is created by the healing layer of herbs and salve to allow him to push on with his journey. He wraps it carefully to look like the arm is still there because nothing draws suspicion like a slave with a missing afirmitizer. His last step is placing it in a sling. The powder will help until he is onboard the mining vessel on his way to dying as he wishes after a life lived in the hell of being denied his passion. Beyond that, in his pouch, is something to help him rest. The pouch he keeps himself prepared with, it could be more full but his days are limited so its burden isn’t great. When he moves he does pretty well for himself, nearly making it out of the dome and onto campus when another giant rumble overtakes everything.

A grey cloud filled with falling rocks and bodies collapses on top of him punching him into a deep dark blackness.

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