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Kale
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Chapter Sixty-Seven: Dashka’Tul
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Realm of Souls
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My eyes open in the Realm of Dreams, or as Kotina taught me… the Realm of Souls. The once stormy seas have settled now, there is a tranquility in the air, a calm that I have not felt in some time. Was this Dargo’s doing? As I look around the Realm, I see the green flicker demon still standing where they once did. Near the edge of the cracked mountain shaped by Valka, while she tortured me in the ice cave.
The green flicker demon’s form seems to have evolved more. From the darkness that envelops them, I see locks of green hair beginning to show. Their eyes spin with color, as though the green spark is resisting the crimson that dances in their eye.
I move closer to the edge, wondering what they are peering at. I feel Amon step into my Realm with Valka close behind, Valka’s slithering tongue grates my ears as she speaks.
“One should not stare into the Abyss of their own soul,” Valka says, coming near me now.
My jaw clenches at her presence, making me want to eject her from this realm. I do not, I swallow back the bile, I need her… for now.
“Your soul perhaps.” Amon says to Valka, to which she sneers, then placing a hand on my shoulder he continues “You did well, with more time and practice you will learn mastery over the Legacy.”
“He still should have chosen mine,” Valka says, twirling her finger through her deep black hair, playing on the ends that are dipped in crimson, like her eyes.
“Your Legacy comes with a cost no doubt,” I say, inching closer to the water’s edge.
What transfixes the green-sparked demon so much? Is there something in the depths? I had never given it any thought. I assumed the seas were without anything hidden beneath, save the souls of the dead who I carry. I am wary of searching further; my memories are enough reminders of what might lurk beneath. Their faces play on my mind. The ones that Valka and Adonius slew I am not ready to face. Their deaths are my burden, the weight of it heavy upon my shoulders.
“All things worth having always have a price,” Valka says with a deep smile on her cruel lips as she steps closer to me. Her mouth is about to slither more, but I give her the look and she stops.
“He will test you soon.” Amon says. My eyes turn to meet him. His expression is somber as though thinking on memories “He will try to break you. Do not let him.”
“Is there a way for me to defeat him?” I ask plainly, though I have little hope for an answer. I have seen Dargo fight hundreds of warriors but none landed a blow. Amon shakes his head.
Valka remains pensively silent. I feel she has something she wants to say.
Taking a few moments I finally decide to ask Amon “You said he was your old master?”
“He was, though he was more than that really.” Amon says, turning from me, looking towards the endless seas “He was like a father to me, in many ways. The last time I saw him though…”
Amon pauses, his face tense as he fights back the emotions.
My eyes fall to the seas again, sparing him the shame “What happened?”
“For the first seven hundred years after I became trapped here, I despised him, hated him even. Hated that he did not…” Amon pauses, closing his eyes “Hated that he did not kill me when the darkness took me. Hated that he let the Kuwathi Empire fall, that he let them become slaves once more.”
Seven hundred years… so then... Dargo must be older than that. I search Amon, seeing only truth in his eyes. How can this be?
“Every time his Goddess Leora sent someone to try to tame Dashka’Tul…” Amon begins, hanging his head low now.
Dashka’Tul, I have not heard the name before, but I know the meaning, Prison of the Fates. I think back to when I first read the inscriptions on the black box before I was told by Lunara and Fennec that it was the Black Edict. I remember some of the words well, though not all of them illuminated well enough to read.
Here sleeps destiny, shackled by fate
Thousands must die, so that one may rise
Power through blood
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Hail Thy Gods
Is the true name of the black box Dashka’Tul? If so, what does it truly mean? My jaw flexes, if Amon had not given me so much already, I would grab his jaw and make it give meaning to my questions. I cannot though, he has given much when I gave him nothing, I am not so dishonorable that I will not hear him out. I can tell the truths he wishes to speak have a heavy burden upon him. Perhaps I can help lessen it as he has lessened mine.
“For seven hundred years… I joined Valka in tormenting any that were sent, destroying everything and everyone they loved… seeking vengeance for what their people had done to mine, seeking to hurt Leora and Dargo.”
Tears roll from his eyes, disappearing into the air as they fall.
“For the next three hundred years…” he begins.
“You cowered like a lost child crying into the darkness,” Valka says, rolling her eyes.
My eyes turn to her, she closes her mouth again.
“What changed?” I ask him, I do not judge him too harshly for seeking his revenge, I too have sought it, and seek it still.
“I saw through the eyes of one of the chosen, that despite everything I had done… Dargo still watched over my descendants. Still guided them, as he guided me. He protected them from the rampages of the Nine, protected them from me.”
My eyes fall lower still. Is there good in Dargo? My jaw flexes, thinking about how strong he is, enough to part the water of a raging river and fly against gravity’s pull. Something I haven’t seen Kotina capable of. Yet, from what Amon said, he did not help the Kuwathi Empire. He did not help my tribe in the Colosseum either. There is bitterness in me for him.
“When I heard your blades call, it brought me back from the depths of my despair. I heard them call to you, Jutarak… Bringer of Justice… I remembered that my people once called me the same.” Amon says, now turning to meet my gaze “I will not wallow in despair any longer.”
My jaw tenses as I feel his resolve. There is pain in his eyes that seek atonement.
“When you see him, tell him… Shanek ta Ul Pada.”
Words that are not often spoken by our people.
“I will tell him.” I say, then pause “But when I see you next, I expect answers.”
I feel the call to the Realm of Reality… or as Kotina told me, the Realm of Mortals.
There are many truths I need to know from him and the others. Many things they have kept hidden from me. I want to know more about these Legacies, the origins of the black box, or as he called it Dashka’Tul – Prison of the Fates. Above all… I wish to know how to become stronger so that I can carve a path for our people.
“You will have answers,” Amon says.
Valka gives him a look of irritation as the realm begins to swirl, she moves to speak with him as my mind is being beckoned to the Realm of Mortals, but I do not resist the pull. Yet I cannot help but wonder what vile words her venomous tongue has for him.
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Realm of Mortals
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My eyes open slowly, only to find I am in darkness, save that which binds me. My body is chained, I can feel the heaviness of it, thick chains, with blue light like the formations of Netherium. I can feel it sapping my strength. There is a hum all around me, in the air, coming from the ground my body rests upon. There is something strange in its frequency like it is resonating with something else, I can’t quite make out what it is. A holo strikes at the darkness illuminating the room now. The floors and the walls are clad in dark metals with intricate flowing designs. My eyes adjust to the light of the holo.
It shows the city of Agora from above, smoke billowing into the skies from it. A tilt to its axis as it plummets to the surface. My eyes widen as my heart pumps faster with an aching in it. Agora city, once home to millions of lives, crashes into the sands, exploding violently. Sending energy that scorches shuttles that tried to escape too late.
“Millions died that day, millions that needn’t have.” I hear Dargo say from behind me. I do not turn, my eyes are fixed on the horror that is before them.
“My people?” I hazard to ask with knots in my stomach and pain in my chest.
“Dead, all you have ever known, all you have ever loved. All of them dead.” Dargo says “Because of your recklessness, your foolishness, and above all… your pride.”
“No… that cannot be, they escaped on shuttles, that was the plan, they would have…”
“A half-baked plan an hour before you caused the collapse of order in an entire system.” Dargo says, moving closer now, to look down upon me “You really thought that would be enough?”
“I…” my head is spinning, does he lie to me, Amon said he would try to break me. I turn to look at him. His eyes are colder than I remember, I cannot parse truth or falsehood from them.
“Now tell me, boy.” He leans closer “Was it worth it?”
My eyes turn from him towards the ground. A sledge of emotion slams into my chest, beating me down as I feel the weight of his words. My hands are shaking. My mind plays the images of the dead.
“They would have escaped.” I say finally “Akaria said she could get them out in the shuttles.”
Dargo snaps his fingers, and the holo changes to orbit. Showing a massive battle between warships, the emblems of the Republic of Hekat, and the Gallec Empire upon the crafts. Why are they here? I remember when I found the black box originally, it was an Empire ship that was shot down. I am sure of it now. Lunara never explained how she came to be on it. In the holo, I see stray shots of plasma rip through the hulls of ships that sought refuge in the star's embrace. My stomach wrenches, thinking any of those could be people I love.
“Millions are dead and trillions more may die, all because of your actions,” Dargo says, stepping into the holo.
The gore plays across his chest now. I feel twisting inside of me as I see the shuttles being caught in the midst of it all. Was this my fault? Did I cause this? How can the actions of one person cause the deaths of so many? In my pursuit of a worthy death… what have I wrought? My jaw clenches, it is not the time to feel sorry for myself. The city bore signs of attack from a warship... there were Gallec Empire ships fighting the Republic's... why? It makes no sense. My mind turns back to those I love, even though I know his intention is to break me, I feel the weight anyways.
“If it wasn’t enough that you lit the fires of war in this system, you also broke Divine Law.” Dargo says “What do you think God Helenius will do in order to regain some semblance of the pride that you shattered?”
“But…”
“There are no buts or I didn’t mean for it to happen.” Dargo says “You are responsible for…”
“Arrum and the others, they would have escaped... How can I be to blame for all of this? I did not call the Empire, and the Republic placed the boot... should my people take their oppression for fear that others may die? Is freedom not worth death…”
Dargo waves his hand, and a holo of them defending my body appears. My jaw tenses. The sledge slams deeper.
“They tried to protect you from me.” He says, crouching eye level “I left them to die with the city.”
He snaps his fingers again and the holo shows them all slumped over in a shuttle atop the sand of the Colosseum as the tilt increases and the city begins to fall faster. He snaps again and shows the city exploding upon the planet’s surface again.
“You killed them all,” Dargo says.
The chains on my body begin to vibrate as the air starts to swirl. Anger rises as my eyes rise to meet his with defiance.