Chapter 147: Burning Questions

My father returned to where he was sitting, and I sat on the only unoccupied couch.

“Before you start,” I say, glaring at Zeris and then my father. “Why’d you stop me?”

“Alex, can you promise us you’ll remain calm?” asks Zeris. “I prefer not to have this place burned down.”

I shake my head but reply, “I’ll do my best.”

With a nod, Zeris says, “Good enough for me.”

After taking a sip of water, Zeris sets his glass down and explains, “We weren’t planning to. To be honest, even as the trial runner for this sector, I still don’t know why Scar was a participant. That said, it’s undeniable that Scar is a threat to our entire country. We’ve never had a good relationship with Racafi, and it can be argued that Scar and his partner singlehandedly ended the war after your mother was taken two years ago. At first, I didn’t know what Armaros looked like, as only the military's higher-ups had ever seen him. The queen even created a fake file for Scar filled with fabricated personal information so he wouldn’t draw any attention. But when Kane arrived to see who your competition was, he immediately recognized the assassin.”

“So, why didn’t you do anything?”

“It was late into the first day. I had already killed Flora, and most participants had already begun to trust Scar. That’s what Scar is instinctively good at… he’s able to blend in and connect with anybody with ease. He’s probably been conditioned to do so for a long time as an assassin. Anyway, once I learned Scar’s true identity, I couldn’t just go out and kill him. Scar was a prisoner that the queen threw into the trials for a reason, and the trials are a sacred part of our culture that Divine often closely monitored. If the queen personally pardoned Scar from his crimes, it’s only logical to assume she would be eyeing how he does in the trials.”

“So… if you killed Scar without making it seem like it was part of the trials, the queen would know that you somehow learned of his true identity. How’s that a bad thing? Don’t you work for the government too?” I ask.

“I do, but my knowledge is very limited. Think of me as an employee who doesn’t have access to the storage rooms or anything that might be a perk; I’m only allowed to do my job. If I had attained information not meant for me, such as Scar being Armaros, it would expose me and your father.”

“How would it expose you? It’s possible that you could have just asked for more details, and the guy you were asking informed you of what you were looking to know, right?”

“Yeah… I guess that can happen,” Zeris scratches the back of his neck. “But ninety out of a hundred times, killing Scar would’ve exposed us.”

“What exactly do you mean by being exposed?”

Zeris glances at Kane, and Kane gives him a nod before taking another sip of his beer.

“Your father, me, and a few others created a group looking to overthrow the queen. It’s called Aleyros, and as of now, nobody has even heard the name besides the founding members and some of you. The queen is also unaware that I’m this close with your father, as Kane has recently returned to service as a military general. If the queen found out I somehow learned about Scar’s real identity, there are only so many people who could’ve told me. She’d eventually figure it out, and everything we’ve worked for over the past few years would be lost, not to mention that we’d also be killed for treason.”

“You… want to overthrow the queen?” I ask, looking at my father, who doesn’t change his expression.

“Yes, but we’ll talk more about that later,” replies Zeris. “I had to switch strategies then, try and find a way to kill Armaros naturally in the trials. Your father and I decided to awaken iris in you, giving you powers that might be able to take out Scar. But something went wrong with the awakening process, and you weren’t aware that you inherited any powers. I had to take extra steps then, and I intercepted your group the following day to try and make you complete the awakening process.”

“That’s when you killed Grace…”

“Yes. I still had to act as a trial runner... in case I was being watched. I couldn’t properly awaken your powers then either, but luckily, things worked out later when your mind seemed to subconsciously lead you back to the spot where you made contact with the shard. You finished the awakening there, and your powers fully awakened within you.”

“But that was just before the camp trial… where I was exiled.”

“Yes, I had Code rig the trial to exile you. Once you were exiled, I could take you under my wing and properly train you up so you could control your abilities enough to kill Scar. I couldn’t kill Scar unless it looked like it was part of the trials, but you could without any restrictions.”

“Why didn’t you just have Code kill Scar in his sleep? Or when Scar was vulnerable?”

“Same thing. If the queen was watching the trial, it would look gravely suspicious if Code only killed Scar and nobody else. Of course, I could’ve ordered Code to kill everyone, but that’s where the contradiction arises… because of you. We wanted to keep you alive no matter what, so ordering Code to kill everybody except you would not only make the queen skeptical but Code as well.”

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“Wait… why is Code…” I click my tongue. “Were you and Code working together?”

“Technically, yes. Code has the power to rewrite people's memories, so he never actually lost his memories of the real world. Before the trials began, I blackmailed Code into working for me. Once he reluctantly agreed, I inserted a tiny communicator into his ear so I could always keep in contact with him. He was just listening to me because he had to.”

“Code was your inside man… and he could alter people’s memories… that’s how…” I trail off, thinking back to so many events that seemed off.

“Code’s crafty. He used to be a lieutenant general who worked closely with your father on numerous occasions. If I had told Code to kill Scar and everybody except you, Code would’ve grown suspicious and possibly only killed you. It was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.”

“But the night I was exiled, why not order him to do it then?”

“Because your father rejected the idea.”

Transferring my gaze from Zeris to Kane, my father opened his mouth to speak, “I know you didn’t have your memories, but I couldn’t take that away from you. Zeris is my closest friend, and I had given him permission to kill Scar, but if it wasn’t Zeris putting that bastard down for good... I didn’t want anybody else but you to avenge Marissa and Hailey.”

“What about you? You have every right to kill him, too,” I tell my father.

“Yeah, that’s true. But over those two years in that cabin, you trained yourself ragged as you developed a blazing intensity to you that even I feared. Some say that the power isn’t in the shard, but the shard awakens the power from within you. I never believed much that saying, but it’s hard to deny how accurate that theory aligns with you,” says Kane, taking a breath. “I don’t know if it was my actions and words that influenced you to become who you did… or if it was your own desires and goals… maybe it was a mix of both. That’s not the point, though, because you put yourself through hell either way. When you were younger, your eyes expressed that you were filled with hope, life, and optimism. But now, your eyes are as dull as stone.”

I remain quiet, and my father continues, “For a while, I considered going to Armaros’s cell and finishing him off myself. With my power and influence, I could get away with killing him, and not many would question it. But watching you train, it felt like if I did that… I would be taking away a massive part of the person you had grown into. And honestly, if you had lost that drive back then to avenge Marissa and Hail– Bee, I didn’t want to imagine who you would become… or who you wouldn’t…” my father concludes, scratching his white beard.

“But after all this time… if you truly believed I should’ve been the one… why did you stop me?! It was me who was about to kill Scar, not you guys! Everything would’ve worked out!” I shout.

“It’s because…” starts Zeris, dragging my attention to him. “As we watched your battle, it was evident Scar wasn’t just a robotic assassin. We previously thought nothing could get through to him, but during the fight, he displayed emotion. At least to me, it even appeared to me that he hesitated on killing you a couple of times… it was almost like he was internally torn about what to do.”

Snapping my fingers, my eyes and hair light up as a flame hovers above my fingers, “Don’t f*ck with me, Zeris! You heard what he said at the start of the battle! And he fought for real!”

“No… he didn’t.”

“How would you know?!”

“Because I fought him myself,” curtly says Zeris, his robotic eye giving off a purple radiance. “He may have been fatigued during your battle, but I can assure you that if he wanted to kill you, he would’ve.”

“You can't be sure about that! And is that why you stopped me?! Because he was holding back?! That’s all the more reason why you should’ve let me kill him! That might’ve been our only opportunity!”

“No… he can be an asset,” says Zeris.

“An asset?!”

“Yes. The queen probably wanted to make Scar a soldier for Iasa, but we’re going to flip the script and have him join our group instead. Scar has no loyalties in Iasa, but he definitely has a negative opinion of the queen. With somebody with Scar’s experience and strength on our side, this coup d’etat of ours just might actually work.”

“Let me clear this up. You, both of you… stopped me from killing potentially the most dangerous person in this country and avenging Mom and Bee… because you’re hoping he goes along with your f*cking rebellion?”

“They were my family, too,” says my father, looking me in the eye. “And if it weren’t for the queen and her corrupted reign of power, Marissa never would’ve inherited the pure gemcore. She would never been targeted and killed… the same goes for Hailey. That’s just one thing, and while I hate Armaros for killing the people I love, I can also understand that the queen was the one who selfishly forced Marissa to wield such a dangerous power.”

“You’re talking like Scar is still alive. Wouldn’t the queen be suspicious of you guys for stopping me from killing Scar?”

“No, we learned a few days ago from one of our trusted colleagues that the queen is currently tied up with some political issues. Divine may have been planning to keep Armaros under her close watch, but your father has confirmed that the government isn’t keeping tabs on the trials as attentively as they have been in recent years. The circumstances of the political negotiations must be severe.”

I grumble, “So what the hell do you plan to do now? Scar is here, isn’t he? Do you want me to just… forget about killing him? We’re going to let him live?! What would Mom and Bee think?!”

“I don’t know, but it’s not exactly like we need to be friends with Armaros,” says my father. “Believe me, I have no desire to connect with him, not in the slightest. But if it means overthrowing this shitty government once and for all, I will stomach my hatred and work with him as allies.”

Burying my head in my hands, I shake my head back and forth in disbelief.

“Alex,” says my father. “I know this isn’t easy to hear. It’s the exact opposite of everything you’ve dedicated the past two years of your life toward. However, after watching you interact and fight with him, I believe there’s something more to Armaros than just being an assassin. I don’t know if we’ll ever learn of those stifled traits… Armaros has been an assassin since childhood, so maybe whatever is in there has already been smothered. But in my eyes, anybody who’s experienced what you and Armaros have had to go through at such a young age… deserves a second chance.”

“I don’t expect you to forgive him or forgive us... far from that. It’ll take time to adjust to this, but maybe during that time, our feelings toward each other might change,” my father adds, and I deeply inhale through my nose and lift my face out of my hands.

“Whatever,” I say, wanting to change the topic immediately. “So, where is Scar? And what happened with Code?”