CHAPTER 279 - RESOLUTION

Tom stood. The dead zorcas around him were not worth paying attention to. Anger coursed in him. He had to deal with the chosen. “Everlyn are we safe?”

Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught Everlyn nodding. Then she gestured and Rahmat went one way and she the other. They split and travelled only as far as it took to get better lines of sight around the nearby hedges. He couldn’t fail to notice that they stayed close enough to hear what was happening.

The chosen were doing their low pitched moaning noises. All of them and not just the one that was physically suffering in the centre. The volume was loud enough to be a concern. The surrounding area had been mostly cleared, but there was always a danger the racket might cause monsters to investigate them.

If it happened, it happened. The scouts were deployed and if they attracted the attention of any enemies, at least they would get a warning.

“Shut up,” Tom growled at them. None of them responded. If anything, the noise that was rapidly becoming obnoxious got louder. They were still itching away with their front side pointing toward the dying chosen.

The chains moved. It grunted, and there was a spirt of milky liquid out of a wound that had opened near its top. It was kind of like a whale and a blow spout.

Toni crept closer to it like she was in a daze. “What’s happening?” She stammered. “Tom what’s this?”

He frowned and then answered accurately. “The contract is destroying it.”

“Why? Why would it do that?” the air mage asked her eyes widened in horror. “It’s suffering so much.

“Because,” he swallowed as his voice caught in his throat. He had been hunted and stalked by this middle. He remembered very clearly the systematic way it had exhausted his defences before withdrawing all its support at the worst time to give the zorca leader an opportunity to kill him. “Because it broke its contract.”

“What does that mean?”

“It tried to kill me.” He answered flatly and then shot a look at the elder. Part of him had been expecting it to zoom over like it normally did to dispute the claim. Nothing happened. It continued to back away from the middle while generating the noise that was setting his teeth on edge.

The middle shifted again this time a cut like you would get from a spear slash appeared down its side. The milky liquid seeped out of the cut. Its wailing contained a distinct edge of suffering that was lacking from the other chosen.

“It tried to murder you?”

“It did.”

“But I didn’t think they could.”

“Nor did I.” He agreed grimly.

The tone of the doomed middle was becoming more high pitched. It was closer to the earth sensibilities of a young in distress than previously.

“Turn it off, Tom,” Toni begged. “It’s in so much pain.”

Tom shook his head. “Sadly. I can’t.”

“I don’t want to be the person.” Keikain said. “But there is an opportunity here.”

“Then don’t be,” Tom warned him simply.

“But if it’s.”

“I said don’t.” Tom almost yelled over the man. He didn’t want to build with that shit.

He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be feeling. His emotions were all over the place.

The elder wobbled and partially rose off the ground before its strength gave way and it thumped back into the dirt. It’s orientation had changed to face Tom instead of the doomed middle. It said nothing and still released the same frustrating hum.

“None of the others are suffering backlash,” Tom mused to himself. “How does that work?” he had worked long enough with the chosen to recognise that fact made no sense. “Elder, help me understand how a middle could do this while its intentions remained unclear to the rest of you?”

Even as he said that the contract between them reacted.

It trembled and chains manifested around the Elder and both of the smallest. The chains threatened violence but did not start to drink blood. Evidence of culpability but insufficient to trigger a penalty, Tom thought as he interpreted that reaction. They had known and done nothing.

With a mental thought, he checked the contract and frowned. “You know that type of loophole exploitation can go both ways.” Tom snarled at them. “I can explain to my team and then they can put a sleeping potion in my food and abduct me and take me away from you, and the contract won’t do a thing to stop it. You’ll be almost certain to die and even if you don’t you’ll be blocked from betraying humanity’s secret. We can be two faced arseholes as easily as you…” Tom stopped himself before he unleashed a torrent of abuse at them. “And we’re humans, so we’ll do it better.”

His mind was swirling. None of this made sense to him. How could a race like the sanatios chosen have a conspiracy to kill another sapient?

It was impossible.

It was not something they could do.

“Leader…” the elder started and then trailed off back into the frustrating humming.

“What?” Tom demanded.

“Tom…The middle one was supposed to test you. To punish you with pain, but not put your life at risk.”

“It did more than that. It actively engineered the situation to kill me.”

“Leader Tom… I… yes I see it must have done that… that’s…” The voice successfully conveyed the chilled horror the elder felt. “Words can’t convey my shock.”

Tom wanted to rip his hair out. It still did not make sense. The grief from the elder felt genuine… but. “Did the concept of murder exist on your home planet.”

“Leader Tom. The term is unfamiliar, so I think no.”

Tom glanced at the middle and the chains burrowing into it. A lesser creature would already have died but the middle’s healing capacity was impressive. It had tried to kill him. Tom did not believe for a moment that the circumstances around the human and chosen interaction were so unique that it could create behaviour that had never occurred before. There was a secret here an extra layer that they were hiding. “Is it really true that your kind have never killed each other?”

“Tom?” Michael warned. “You’re coming across a little belligerent.”

“I’m fine! Elder, answer the question!”

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“No. It is impossible. That’s preposterous.”

Tom stared at the struggling middle and tried to marry up the elder’s words with its actions. He also remembered a bit about how these aliens functioned thanks to the True Dream where he had shared the elders’ thoughts and body. Tom could recall all too strongly the conviction that dwelled at the heart of the species. It was a genetic feature, a core part of their makeup. Something Tom was sure that they all possessed.

A fundamental truth, a hard wiring of their morals which would not allow them to kill another sapient, yet this middle had.

And it had done so purely out of spite. A reaction to Tom granting them the choice to accept an uncomfortable burden or to be cast aside to die. That was what really made his blood boil. He had not forced anything upon them, but instead had given them an option they had chosen to accept.

And now the elder claimed that there was no murder on their home planet. That they never killed each other. That claim, combined with everything else he knew did not make sense. “I don’t believe you. I would like to see whether you’re wiling to assert that under a truth spell.”

“Leader Tom, you will not subject me to any further such indignities.” The words said were harsh, but Tom was aware the chosen was still on the ground and that meant something.

Abruptly, the smallest lifted itself from the dirt and shot forward to hover at the standard height they took for conversations. It meant that it was above the prone elder looking down upon it.

“Large one,” the smallest proclaimed with a voice filled with authority. “I declare a Grace Break.”

If the elder could physical have sunk further into the dirt, then it would have. It appeared to cower, and the firmness of its exterior melted away. That resulted in the base, that rested on the ground, expanded while its height dropped by over a foot. It was like a deflated football ball.

The smallest made a clicking sound and then zoomed over to hover in front of Tom. “Aggrieved Tom, I apologise on behalf of my species. The elder has deliberately misled you. It was correct in that the concept of murder does not exist in our species. It can not exist because our soul would not tolerate it. However, like all sapients we are not perfect. When under the effects of extreme emotion, sometimes our kind strakans. Strakan is a word that captures the notion of being so overwhelmed with anger that you sacrifice your own existence and a painful destruction of your consciousness in order to strike out at the cause of your pain. Around half the time, it results in the death of both parties and the rest of the time, only the one committing strakan.”

Tom’s mind reeled from what he was hearing. They did not have the concept of murder as a standalone action but rather one of murder suicide…where the suicide occurred even if the murder failed.

He shook his head to clear it. The social dynamics of the sanatio’s chosen were irrelevant. He needed to focus on the here and now and that was to answer the question of what was next? Did they abandon the chosen? Did they go to war? Or was there an explanation and a pathway through to keep cooperating. Having them help defeat zones was a massive win for his team, but the question was whether they could be trusted. “Did you know the middle intended to commit strakan?”

“Wounded Tom, strakan is not something our kind can think of without immense discomfort. None of us knew the middle was contemplating such an extreme action.”

“Knew,” Tom snorted. That word was selected carefully. Even when being honest, it was being a politician. Though he might be being unfair, at least the smallest had made a point of emphasising it for him so he wasn’t actually mislead. “You didn’t know… God I thought your species was…” He trailed off without saying the words out loud.

Special, he thought to himself. Holy. Something more than humanity. A genuinely good race when humans were a step away from being terrors. Tom felt like crying. He should have known such a thing was impossible, because how could such a pure race evolve naturally?

He brushed the tears out of his eyes. Let them think it was anger, actually who cares what they thought. The betrayal of the ideal was almost worse to Tom than the strakan itself. He had so wanted to believe. “Smallest, you suspected didn’t you?”

The smallest bobbed in the air, admitting its culpability.

Yes, they had known and let it attempt the act, anyway. He was furious, sad, disappointed, but mainly angry. Ultimately, he was responsible for his own survival and ranking point accumulation. This mistake was on him. He needed to do better with his contracts. Despite their magical nature in practice, they ended up feeling porous and manipulable. It didn’t matter that this threat was not one he had envisaged, he should still have defended against it.

“Aggravated Tom. We are at fault. We owe repatriations. What the cursed one raised should not be dismissed. It can be considered a partial payment of our debt.”

“Smaller one, that’s a negative,” the elder proclaimed his voice panicked.

“We can’t vow that, tiny one. Evilness needs to be gladly undertaken. The middle is strakanable.” The third elder said almost talking on top of the elder.

“Smallest one, with much ground touching and shame I impeach you,” one of the other two remaining middles said. “That requires consent. I will volunteer instead. The strakanable will get no glory from participant.”

“There was a Grace Break.” The smallest said coldly like that explained everything.

Not all of them, but most of them deflated like the Elder had earlier. Grace Break obviously meant something significant in their culture. Only the smallest remained uncowered as it floated in their traditional position. As Tom watched, the grounded chosen began to fidget. Sticks and twigs dug into their underbellies as they wobbled slowly away from the middle, that was being torn apart by the contract. Not that the enforcement was needed, Tom realised. If he removed the contract, the middle would still die in agony as its soul, its centre collapsed.

The deep moaning sound got louder. Compared to when the contract was applied to them, it was like back then they were whispering and now they were shouting. It was an aeroplane level of noise.

Tom assessed what he was seeing and what it was saying. “Smallest, I feel that if I accept, then there is a high chance I will offend the rest of the chosen. Won’t that increase the probability of one of them doing a strakan in the future.”

“Leader Tom, that is very insightful.” The elder said from the ground. It was weird, to have a chosen speak to him, and not be so close to him that he wanted to push them away.

“Stop lying to the humans,” the smallest interrupted. “There has been a Grace Break. Do I have to keep saying it to get it through your head? And this situation shows us in a damning light. While the silence applied by the contract is restrictive and uncomfortable, everyone of us must admit that the humans have done more favours for us and we had a right to expect. The decision of the middle to strakan was beyond abhorrent. I’m responsible too. I did not act when I could have, but under our customs it wasn’t my place to interfere earlier. That I allowed myself to be bound by traditions is a criticism that I’ll gladly suffer. The middles decision to strakan for the reasons that it did was moronic and childish. Your failure to stop it elder is a consequence you’ll have to wear.”

“Smallest… it’s a new universe.”

“I will abide by the traditional laws of the Grace Break. No,” it said loudly to halt anymore protests. “I’ve decided. I understand everyone’s concerns that the healing of the cursed ones should only be offered freely from one of us in their right mind, but… that middle via its actions has lost the right to that courtesy.”

Silence descended on them. No one, human or otherwise, dared to move. The only noise was from the doomed middle as the chains of the contract cut into it. Opening up new cuts that bled before the healing magic of the creature closed it. It seemed its vitality was flagging. The wounds being created were remaining open for longer and its movements were getting smaller.

“If we’re going to do this, we need to do it now,” Keikain said. “The sooner we start the more likely we are to complete the ritual. I’m not sure we’ll finish in time.”

“Keikain,” Clare snapped, sounding scandalised. “We’re not doing it.”

The smallest responded by zooming over to hover in front of Clare. “Soul damaged one, your concern and empathy for our beliefs is heartwarming. But the actions the middle have taken has clearly created a Grace Break. At this point, a failure of you to utilise the resource will shame us.”

Clare shook her head empathetically. “No, our ritual tortures those it consumes. You have bought us time to find a member of a terror race.”

“Kind one. Your ritual in this case will be a kindness to the middle. Having your soul collapse is the single most agonising thing we can suffer. It exceeds all other forms of torment. I implore you to act soon to bring it mercy from the result of the strakan. Its sacrifice will allow you to survive for longer. Unfortunately, there is no time to prepare it, so it will not be as potent as last time.”

Clare was still shaking her head, but he could see the way her lips pursed and the change in her body language. She didn’t want to do it, but had been convinced that it was necessary and she always stood up when required. The sacrifice was happening sooner than he wanted, and he remembered the conversations he had with both Everlyn and Keikain.

Like Clare finding her resolve and acting upon it, he had to do the same. He would not be a coward and make a decision by default. Plus, he had time to consider the conversation he had had with Everlyn. He did not want to admit it, but he had no choice.

She was right.

The two of them began to walk toward the middle.

“Keikain wait. I need a moment.”

The earth mage looked at him quizzically. Then there was a flare of understanding. Tom shut his eyes and appeared in the system room. Plain metals walls greeted him and the number two printed in the corner. Subconsciously, he squared up and faced that single non uniform feature.

He had a question to ask.