Chapter 39 - And Life Goes On

A small girl dressed with a simple grass skirt and burlap top, typical islander garb, happily ran across the street to and from stalls. Her bristling skirt bounced with every step she advanced and her smiling face captured the essence of a quintessential bliss ridden youth. Behind her followed a dark figure, cloaked by a solemn robe and hood that hindered a view of its face.

“Halphy, look at all the shiny stuff!” said the girl, grabbing the pearly necklaces with both hands and letting them run through her hands like dry sand.

“Don’t run off too far by yourself, Tanya.” Halphas warned as he caught up with her.

“I know!” Tanya said as she continued to play with the jewelry.

The merchant who was dealing with another customer, turned his head when he heard Tanya and saw the little miscreant tossing his merchandise like they were a child’s toy.

“Kid, if you can’t afford it, don’t bother touching it!” he yelled, snatching the necklace that was in Tanya’s hands.

“Mister, why do you have to be so mean?” Tanya started to pout, “It’s not like I was going to break it...”

He gave her another look over and scoffed, “A poor ignorant kid from some faraway island should know better not to mess with me, Zavi of the Merchant’s Guild!”

At this point, Halphas couldn’t help but to step into the conversation. “Excuse me, Zavi of the Merchant’s Guild."

Zavi looked to Halphas and tried to steal a peek of what was beneath Halphas’s hood. All he saw was the extremely pale chin and purple lips, but it was enough to be off putting.

“Who are you?”

“I'm her father.” Halphas said with practiced authenticity.

Zavi looked at the pearl necklace in his hand and frowned, “Do you see this?” he said, pushing and pointing to a single pearl.

Halphas leaned in and lowered his hood so that his entire ghostly face became visible to Zavi. The sudden surprise made him aghast but the merchant was able to hold his tone. “She scratched my necklace. How do I sell this now?”

“Halphy, I promise I didn’t scratch it! My hands are nice and smooth, see?” Tanya said, rubbing her hands against the front of Halphas’s face, adding a tinge of rosey blush to his pale face.

Halphas slowly pushed Tanya away and carefully held the pearl to inspect it. “I don’t seem to see a scratch,” he said.

“Are you calling me a liar?” Zavi said, pocketing the pearls.

“Maybe.” Halphas said while he moved around the front table until he was less than a meter close to Zavi.

“Pay me a hundred gold right now or I definitely will make sure you both get sent to either the gallows or the slave market!” Zavi yelled loudly, in a frenzied voice.

Halphas parted his cloak and reached into his pocket, feeling for something.

“W-what are you doing?!” asked the nervous merchant.

“There’s no need to yell, Zavi of the Merchant’s Guild.” Halphas said as he pulled out a golden medallion.

Zavi recollected himself when he realized it wasn’t a weapon and stared intently at the feathered crest. “The Phoenix Badge?” he thought to himself, realizing he just threatened the wrong person.

“I didn’t know you were a good friend of the guild leader,” Zavi said, immediately dropping to the ground to do a full body bow.

“I’m extremely sorry for my disrespect, please forgive me.”

Halphas continued to stare at him with his blood red eyes which caused Zavi to sweat. With some quick thinking, he pulled out the necklace from before and cupped it in his hands. “Please take this pearl necklace as an apology gift.”

Halphas turned to Tanya, while picking up the necklace, and asked, “Tanya, do you want this?”

“Didn’t he say it had a scratch on it? I don’t want that thing anymore!” Tanya said with a hurt look.

Halphas then turned back to Zavi who was able to read the situation. “Of course, my sincere apologies, young lady. Please take these instead!” he said, picking up random jewelry on display and pushed it into Tanya’s hands.

Tanya took the jewelry and started placing them on her wrists, fingers and neck while smiling like a mischievous child who was able to grab a cookie out of the jar before supper. Halphas looked at the happy girl and chided her with a “Now what do you say?” to which she responded with a “Thank you, mister!” before they walked off. Zavi watched the two of them walk off and made a mental note of their appearances for future reference.

“So that was a bad man?” Tanya asked as she fiddled with a sapphire ring.

“Yes, he tricks people into paying for things they ‘broke’ or overcharges for cheap goods. He’s also one of the Zanako’s supporters.” Halphas said, pulling the hood back over his face.

“Are all of the Zanako’s people bad men?” she asked inquisitively.

“No, but typically the rich ones are.”

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“How many more do we need to find today?”

“Two more down the street and another five on the other side of the city.”

“I don’t want to walk all the way… Carry me, Halphy!” Tanya exclaimed selfishly.

“Okay,” Halphas easily agreed, picking her up and placing her on his shoulder as they walked down the street.

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Within the dark confines of a secluded room, far off from wandering curious eyes, stood four boys around a single one, kneeling on the ground. Blood smears covered his clothes and under their simple frayed exterior was purplish bruised skin. However despite his weak appearance, his arms bulged and contracted like a bull frog’s neck and his eyes shined with unwavering tenacity. The boys around him were heavily panting but mostly unscathed in comparison. The one of the ground coughed a few times and started to rise.

“I don’t want to hurt you guys.” he said, steadying himself with his right hand as he got up from his knees.

“Shut up, traitor!” yelled one of the four, as he sent his fist flying out.

In an instant the fist was in front of the ‘traitor’ and accelerating faster with each passing millisecond. But instead of a smacking sound, of skin and bones colliding, a cool crackling sound calmly echoed out.

“AHHH!” the boy who threw out the punch screamed.

His fist was about an inch from his intended target but was caught by a casual block. The defender squeezed and squeezed until the fist turned into an octopus shape, fingers disfigured and twisting in uncommon directions. The other three slowly backed away for a moment in shock.

“You bastard!” one of them screamed after regaining some courage and charged in. The other two hesitated but quickly made up their minds and followed in. The last boy, who had his hand mangled was still wailing, pushed off to the side and out of the impending fray.

The swinging of arms and legs caused enough force to extinguish the single candle that was the only light source of the room. Shouts and curses rained down and punches and kicks followed. When the noise settled to a dull silence, a door creaked open and light poured in. Four boys laid on the ground, mournfully groaning and writhing in pain. The victor looked back at them, shook his head, and walked out into the hallway.

“How many did ya beat up today, Lajos?”

To the right was a man, dressed in a Raloman officer's uniform, leaning against the wall. He pulled out a cigarette and quietly lit it with a match, placing it inbetween his thin lips.

“Captain Traid, I’m sorry for breaking the rules and fighting my fellow comrades. I’ll accept any punishment.” Lajos said, bowing.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m not as serious as the others in the Twelfth Army.” Captain Traid said with the cigarette still in his mouth, patting Lajos on the back reassuringly. “I won’t do anything to ya.”

“It was those four idiots who started the fight anyways.” he muttered, plopping the cigarette out of his mouth and spitting onto the floor.

Lajos remained silent and didn’t respond, keeping at attention in front of his superior officer.

Captain Traid raised his eyebrows as he looked at Lajos. He then plopped the cigarette out of his mouth and into his hand, releasing a puffy cloud of toxic fumes soon after. “Ya don’t have to be so serious, kiddo. Loosen up.”

“Is that an order, Captain?” Lajos asked, still looking forward and not directly at him.

“Sure, if that’ll get that stick out of your ass,” Captain Traid laughed.

His eyes darted toward the captain with even more sternness than before, but Lajos placed his arms naturally to his side and relaxed his stance so that his feet didn’t look they were clasped together by an invisible force. “As you command, Captain.”

The captain rapped his fingers against the wrist guard of his sword, smiling. “I like ya gusto, Lajos Obedie.”

He inhaled the cigarette again and then released a puff of toxic smoke. “Would you like to be a Lieutenant?”

Lajos seemed to break character and shock filled his eyes. “Why me?”

“Why not you?”

“Because no one in the Twelfth Army, let alone Ralom, trusts me.” he answered bluntly.

“That’s true. But it’s not up to everyone in the Twelfth Army. Or Ralom.” Captain Traid said, then pointing to himself. “It’s up to me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Years ago the guys up top, like the King and his guys, all chose who was what in the armies but the King got lazy and started to let officers pick their own people. But then some armies got upset so he changed it back to the old ways.”

“So why do you get to decide then?”

“Cause General Ezoso is lazy too and he liked the idea. So us officers of the Twelfth Army still get to decide what to do with your sorry asses.”

“And I. Want. You.” Captain Traid pointed at Lajos.

“With all due respect, I don’t think this is a good idea, Captain.” Lajos replied, walking away.

Captain Traid grabbed Lajos by his shoulder and spun him around. “It’s up to me to decide if it’s a good idea and also, don’t go thinking I’m doing this for you for free. You gotta do me a favor first.”

“A favor?”

“I need you to take care of a problem.”

“Is this a mission?”

“No.”

“Is it an order?”

“No.”

Lajos turned around and started to walk away again, until Captain Traid started to yell “Wait, wait!”

“Okay, what if I ordered ya to do it?” he asked, as he caught up.

“If was an official order, I would have to obey.”

“Then… I order you to kill my wife, Yvea Oros.”

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A thought undulated in his mind, “Am I dead?”

Looking around there was nothing to see. It was pitch black. The only things that existed in this space was the smell that was reminiscent of week-old fish, the damp feeling that comes with being in a regularly flooded cavern and a eerie rumbling sound that intermittently alarmed. The dry taste of salt coated his tastebuds but no amount of squinting would allow the eyes to make full use of its senses. There was only darkness. No light existed here, that was at least, for certain.

“You’re quite alive.” echoed out a voice in his mind.

“God, is that you?” he asked in his heart.

“No.”

“Then who is this?”

“You don’t recognize my voice? Well it has been quite a while since we last spoke and you were just a newborn... My name is Leale of the Polaras. I am your father.”

“Father?”

Suddenly warmness embraced him, what felt like two arms wrapped around his body. A quiet murmur in some indescribable language could be heard and what appeared to be tears, dripped onto his cheek.

The voice echoed out again, “It  has been too many years, my son.”