Kale
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Chapter Sixty-Eight: Shanek ta Ul Pada
Planet: Etheria
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Present Time
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“I ask you again, was it worth it?” Dargo asks as he stands over me, just like the masters “Did the death of everyone you ever cared for satisfy you?”
Energy pulses from my chest rising into my veins and sinking into my bones. The chains upon my body begin to glow brighter as something rises in me. Something that seeks to meet the pain he gives with his words.
He moves behind me, pulling Kotina forward. Dropping her in a heap on the ground in front of me. I look at the wound on her back, lines of darkness jutting from her skin from the Netherium, as though it sucks the life from her… just like the Cursed Edict.
“She is dying, yet another in the long list of people you have caused to die.” Dargo says, then turning to me “Though she has earned this death, by giving you the tools of destruction. She should have killed you… just like I should.”
His hand touches the hilt of his sword as though debating whether to draw it. I do not care, the rage in me does not care about his machinations, nor his ruminations whatever they may be. There are gears spinning in my mind as I piece things together, gears that begin to hold back the anger so that rational thought can attempt to parse reality.
“Was it…” he begins, but I interrupt.
“Enough, old man,” I say. My eyes close as I take a deep breath, releasing the anger and finding the calm. The chain’s light settles back to the dull blue. My eyes open once more, and this time my heart’s rhythm is calm.
He moves to speak, but I start before him.
“You speak ill of her for giving me the tools to slay those who enslave and kill my people for amusement?” I ask, bitterness in my tone “Shame on your mouth, keep its filth from my ears.”
“Boy…”
“She yet breathes. Who is really responsible if she dies, certainly not the one in chains, certainly not while you try to get a rise from me. Did you think I was so immature, so naive that I would not see your tricks?” I sigh with frustration “It is insulting.”
He is about to speak but I speak again. My words become more deliberate as the thoughts form, and my mind becomes clearer.
“Did you think me so foolish that I would not realize?” I say, thinking back to the holos he showed.
He tilts his head at me. He does not realize, that after a lifetime of being an Ulima, I pay attention to everything. Every little thread my mind follows, every clue I hold and keep quietly. Now is not the time for caution, now is the time to say what is on my mind. From his mouth, I will pry the truths I seek. From him, I will take the truth I am owed.
“You killed…”
“I said enough.” I snarl, disdain and bitterness heavier in my voice, fierceness in my eyes as they look upon him “You have earned the right to listen, do not burden my ears with the filth of your tongue's lies.”
His head tilts a little more as he folds his arms. There is curiosity on his face. Curiousity that I will soon dispel, the gears in my mind are turning now as I think back on the events of the last months. So many things that I did not fully realize now coming to fruition and blossoming in my mind. My jaw flexes as I begin seeing a bigger picture.
“Did you truly think me such a fool that I could not see the markings of railgun destruction and plasma scorching?” I ask, thinking back again to the holos, I would know those markings anywhere.
My head shakes at him. For being so wise, he has missed much, but so did I... only now am I beginning to realize what has transpired, the manipulations of those who pull at the strings of my fate.
“I spent a lifetime salvaging ships that were felled with such means, did you think me so dense that I could not parse such a thing? Do not tell me that I destroyed the city, do not place that weight upon me. I already carry legions of dead.”
His brow furrows, but he still listens, I can see he wants to know what other truths I have gleaned in the last few months. I have been silent, but my eyes were always watching, ears always listening.
“Did you think I would not remember the statue of your Goddess? The one you had in your office beneath the Colosseum. Did you really think I would not recognize her face in my soul’s realm? It was not perfect, but it was close enough that one need not leap far to realize it.” I say, there is venom in me as I think about the manipulations, as I finally have time to think about them. Think about how long he and his Goddess have been pulling at my strings and those around me. Where did it all begin? How long have they been manipulating? Where does it all lead?
His jaw tenses now.
“I am not blind to your tricks old man. Amon told me…” My mouth stops as my mind catches up to something, the rare hue of Amon's eyes... I remember seeing them before. He told me that Dargo protected his descendants... wait... no. My eyes hum with bioluminescence for but a moment before I swallow the bile back down. But how could that be. That would mean she is Amon's descendant, a coincidence that they share the same rare color? No, I do not believe in coincidences anymore. I look upon Dargo with a deeper disdain now. Does she know? Did she help them manipulate... no, I do not think she knew all of what I am realizing.
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“Amon…” he begins, emotion striking his face for a moment, but I interrupt.
“Do not speak his name, you are not worthy.” I growl, the venom rising in me “It was not bad enough you used him... now you use her, his descendant."
He does not answer, but his eyes tell me his truth. She dances on the end of the strings his Goddess moves. Repulsive.
"Did you think I would not realize when I saw Amon’s eyes, after seeing theirs? A hue so rare I have only ever seen it once before Amon.”
My jaw flexes. Wondering if she even knows she is Amon's descendant… my hand clenches with my jaw thinking of her. Dargo’s face tells me I am right in all of my realizations so far. Despicable. There is more here though I am realizing, the web they have spun making itself known to me.
“Boy, there is…”
“You will listen!” I snap, spit flying from my mouth, there are still more things my mind tries to figure out, I will not have him interrupt. My heavy breath settles while I collect myself. When the calm fills me again I look up to him “You will hear my words, this much I am due.”
It is his turn to listen to me, for I have listened enough and will be heard. This much I have earned. My questions will be answered, I must know the depths they have plotted. How far back does this go... if she is Amon's descendant and dances on their strings, then... my eyes narrow at Dargo.
“It was not chance that the Cursed Edict fell into my hands, was it?”
He rolls his jaw, then shakes his head no. Finally, a truth is given without blood or suffering. Yet it is a truth that brings anger and sadness to me. It was after the ship crashed and I got the black box that they attacked my people and raided our city. Only to haul us off into the skies to fight in their floating Colosseum of death. More deaths they put on my shoulders now, since their own refuse to bear it. That has to be why he was my keeper, there is no other explanation. Then meeting her... saving her was it all part of their plan? Using Lunara to bring me this cursed thing? Making me think she is to blame for my misfortune... why are they so twisted? What purpose is there in such a ruse? My nails dig deeper into my clenched hand.
“It was not chance that you were my keeper. It was not chance that I met…” My mouth does not want to say her name, there is a knot in me for her, finally, I spit it out “Lunara.”
He confirms my suspicions again with another head shake. If they planned that... then, Mallock. Did his Goddess send me into Mallock's clutches... rage boils up into me, I can barely contain it. Another manipulation, to force me into Leora's palm. I remember when Leora showed me how to call the Edict after the blood bath, when Adonius made us slaughter each other... saving Arrum, yet another ploy to garner my trust? She planned for this... all of it.
“Your Goddess wished for me to use the Edict… when I would not, she arranged for my torture so I would need it..." I say, my mind flashing with the images of my leg being cut piece by piece "She wanted me to feel indebted to her for saving me, didn't she?”
He nods. Though from his face, I do not think he was part of this, still, he knew. That is more than enough for me to despise him by itself. I despise them both. Dargo and his Goddess Leora. Vile creatures.
In truth, I had not pieced it all together until now. My first suspicion was when I saw the true color of Amon's eyes... they were like her eyes. There was something familiar about it. When I saw the hue of Amon’s eyes fully before I fought Adonius again… I knew, instinctually I knew something was amiss. Seeing his Goddess Leora’s face before I left the realm, when she turned to look upon me… only furthered my belief. For I had only seen its likeness in dreams I couldn’t remember and Dargo’s office. When Kotina spoke Dargo’s name saying he brought her here, it began to form more in my mind, pushing further doubts and questions when I saw him defying gravity and parting the raging river. I see him and his Goddess of Filth clearer now, and their manipulations. I wonder how much more they have done that I have not yet seen. If I had the strength...
“You and your false Goddess have wronged me, have caused death and misery for my people. You have forced a cursed thing into my body with your actions. You are vile, repulsive, and sick.” I say to him.
Why would they do all of this though... what was Leora speaking about with Valka... a Spark? What even is that. More questions, more deceptions. It takes everything in me to hold the bile back. I need to know more.
“All of this because you sought some kind of Spark inside of me. Something you covet?” I ask, trying to parse meaning. It still eludes me, what is this Spark and why is it important?
“I do not…”
“Do not speak lies!” I yell, pulling at the chains, energy swelling in me, the lights in the room flickering as the chains become brighter “Your ears still owe me, do not borrow words with your tongue.”
His mouth closes and his ears open to my words once more. Thinking on it further, I remember some of what Valka and Leora spoke of, something about me waking her, though I do not know who they spoke of. Valka said Leora sent thousands like me before to do the same... all of them failed including Amon.
“Your Goddess seeks to use me to wake something which slumbers in the depths of Dashka’Tul… Prison of the fates.” I say, peering at him “She has sent thousands like me to this fate, hasn’t she?”
His jaw flexes but he nods. My teeth grind, my life to be taken on the whim of a Goddess. Filth.
“You let her do this to others, you let her do this to Amon… no, you helped her to do this,” I say, my heart hurts remembering the tears that came from Amon’s eyes as he told me of the past.
He does not answer. His eyes move from mine to the floor, unable to bear the weight of the truth I give him.
The anger wishes to rise higher in me again as I think of the words that Amon asked me to tell him. They are words he is unworthy to hear, my teeth grind as my mouth moves to form words, words from Amon.
“You use his descendant… you use her as a pawn and yet he still asked me to say.” I almost choke on the words… I do not want to say them, but I must “Shanek ta Ul Pada.”
Dargo’s eyes turn towards his chest as his hand rises to it. There is emotion mixing upon his face. Even though he tries to fight it, I can see it. He takes a step backward, eyes blinking fast as he clutches firmer.
“Say it’s meaning… give breath to his existence,” I say, my hand clenching so firmly that blood drips slowly to the floor as my nails dig into my flesh.
Dargo does not speak, his eyes move back and forth as though lost in memories.
“Say it’s meaning!” I yell, the chains cracking under the pressure of the wrath which spills from me “You failed him in life… do not spurn him more in death. Shanek ta Ul Pada, say its meaning, old man.”
He does not speak, the words elude his tongue of lies, unable to speak their truth, so I do it for him.
“Shanek ta Ul Pada - I am sorry I failed you, Father.” I growl at him, words he is unworthy to hear, so I tell him as much “He apologizes to you, using words our people rarely say, words that might not pass a tongue in a thousand years. Yet he gives them to you, again you fail him, unable to say them, unable to give meaning to his existence.”
His hand clenches his chest tighter, his black garb spilling into his fingers, matching the depths of his heart. He is vile, this man Dargo. Filled with riddles and regrets. The lackey of a whimsical Goddess who sends people to be tortured and consumed by her sister and the other demons. There is no good in the Gods, before I once thought that if they existed they must have left this place of suffering… how wrong I was. They are the owner of the boot that presses to necks, loaning it to nobles… I will burn them all to ashes someday… this promise is etching itself upon my soul.
My eyes turn back to Dargo. Venom frothing at my lips.
“He thought of you as a father… yet you threw him to the pyre, now you use his descendent.” My jaw flexes as I think about her, there is much left unsaid between us “You use her as you used him. Yet he apologizes to you still? Where is the justice in this…”
He does not speak, yet his eyes tell me the ghosts of his past visit him as his hand clutches at his chest. There is no pity in me for him, he deserves worse than my words can bring.
“If you’re going to kill me, get on with it. I do not wish to look upon your filth any longer.” I say with venom in my voice and disdain in my eyes.