Chapter 22: Wild Man

"I really don't think I should go with you anymore...You're all messed up." Tella's winces at the many bloody bandages that encased me were nothing more than pity--I did not need PITY! I needed answers.

My hand motioned to my left with a closed fist. "It was not that long ago when Yana was in a similar familial position, Tella. It is right for an intelligent person like yourself to be beaten like an animal." The frank remark caused a slight shiver in both of them.

It was not my aim to directly compel Yana to relive her father's abuse. I would need to be more meticulous in the future. Sloppy. "Fawi just gets carried away...Uncle Garan says that he's my Boss--What he says, goes." Tella picked at an open sore near the base of his chin, eyeing Yana from across my hospital bed. It was clear that he desired her in some way, his pupils were a dead giveaway,

"The only people who are beaten under my employ are those marked for death. No human being deserves to be treated like they are not such," The prolonged back and forth tired me, it would be a long flight back to the sands of Buriti once this whole matter of Saxun's death was squared away. "And I doubt your Uncle would mind so much if the KING of Buriti-Vasca were to take you under my wing, of course I would need to meet the man first."

Tella sighed, his mouth tried to form words but he settled on a frustrated groan. "I haven't seen my uncle since I was a little boy, almost 2 decades ago..." What the actual fuck? Tella was not a child!? This entire time I could have not been coddling him as if he were just a toddler! "I don't know--It seems dangerous to be around you also."

His pink eyes flicked over the bandages again, mocking me with their incessant compassion. It was weak. Tella was going with me either by design of my scheme or his own accord...Garan would understand loss. "I assure you back at the capitol I am highly regarded by all others, besides my cabinet," Yana had been glaring at me until the last teasing aside, smiling slightly.

Yana was hard to read, not as confusing as the enigma that formed Aiko, but still had a depth of emotions that alluded me. "Speaking of which, where are Aygu and my cousin? Did they not find it advantageous to see to my health...Or at least feign to?"

"Aygu and Aiko are standing watch outside as we speak, they did not consider it a safe place for you to wander by yourself in light of your...Activities." I did not know if she was speaking of the King of Svet's death or my torture. Neither was my fault tho, I had done all this due to her advice...

"Kyler...Where is my cousin?" I must have not blanketed my speech with the sweet tones a Tella had heard me give off before. He flinched with the ending of my sentence as if he received the end of a razor in his hand.

The end of my toes curled, anticipating the bout of wrath that my body was used to demonstrating. Yana spoke though, calming my mind. "He is on his way back to Buriti...It was a safety precaution--If both you and Kyler were killed there would be no Vascan left on the throne."

It was surprising how instead of leaping at the chance to spill Vascan blood as I had done to my older cousin Dennis, Yana actually seemed to care about the line of succession. "Well...I hope the giant son of a bitch makes it home in one piece, It would be a shame for him to--"

My eyes bulged at the sound of the door jiggling, Aiko and Aygu entered with President Parva and then Aiko quickly made her way back outside the door. "She insists to be let in...I hope this is not what I think it is." Aygu planted himself squarely between the Doigan leader and myself.

Parva ignored the insult, already hearing enough of my accusations of LoveMaidens and harlotry. "I am mortified that this has happened to you, it was our security team in charge of this year's events...By honor of Doiga, you are able to do with me as your country sees fit." She dramatically bowed herself to the floor, making everyone but Tella recoil in response to her display.

I let loose an anxious chuckle at her foreign ways. "Please, President Parva--Stand. I wish nothing upon you for what transpired. I assume there are much darker forces at play that would see Izmar remain a backwater continent meant for slave trade." It would not be right of me to do anything in light of my own negligence, it was not even Lord Garan himself who had tortured me for so long.

The tiny bald man was most likely some rebel-turned-mercenary. Maybe even an errant SandHound had stolen a plane and came here to exact his revenge. I had called for the annihilation of their entire clan but it was unlikely that even the combined Aygu rebel Junta and Vascan military I commanded could even see through with it so quickly.

I truly do think the tiny man was some sort of terrorist. The way he flayed my skin, a patient butcher of flesh. It was nothing like the hours of Vascan torture I had watched before they sloppily executed the poor soul--The techniques had actually pierced deeply into my essence as if something was lingering within the pang of my wounds.

"King Vasca?" Parva's voice sent me back to the moment, her eyes blaring into my own. "Then what can we do to make this right, lying is irrational when dealing with country-wide power. I would be remiss if I did not let you know that my agents warned me of what you have said."

The smile faded from my face, I was not in the mood to deal with the consequences of my own actions. "Well...I was not wrong. The fact that you came running here shows that you see me as a threat to your homeland," I sat up from the laidback stance my body had taken. Pushing the limits of my IVs to get inches closer to Parva.

I waited for her response, catching Yana knowingly back to the corner. Tella stared off distantly, I doubted he was even paying attention, unlike Aygu. Aygu was as intensely gritting his teeth as me. Parva had stepped into the Hyena den.

"I-I N-King Vasca you have me mistaken for some kind of heartless diplomat! It is appalling to me--No, Horrifying. Horrifyingly worrying to me that this happened and the repercussions on your body." Her hand waved over the small indent in her wrist, a bright blue screen displayed in thin air.

SORCERESS! This witch was also cursed by the gods! Why hadn't the others reacted to this techno-monstrocitiy!? "The assassin attempted to inject you with some kind of serum that was meant to stop your heart after a certain time"

"So Saxun was already poisoned long before we came to the summit." Yana spoke as she stared into the floating screen, her eyes dancing between the foreign symbols.

As I was trying to make sense of the situation Parva adjusted her face slightly with a look of measured surprise. "It pleasures me that you have someone who is not as afraid as you of innovation," I would have swallowed my tongue if I had the ability. Parva was some sort of blasphemous mind reader.

"It does pain me to think that the bombing of your capital, along with the death of Saxun, are most likely linked to another active situation that plagues even myself." Parva pulled up the image of the exact man that had tortured me! I could recognize his bald head and goatee from anywhere!

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"WHAT IS THIS!? This man is a scoundrel!" I was now placing the clothes on my body, almost ripping my jacket and pants as I yanked them like I did my IVs. Parva flinched, confusion riddling her entire face.

She spoke with a virtually muted tone as she waved the 'device' off. "This man is a radical extremist that has been using the growing Doigan nationalism to an apex...Are you alluding to me that this is the person who tortured you?" Parva took a second to think in line with the amount of time it took me to become fully dressed.

"If not, his depraved twin is running around Solitutdo...I suspected it to be Garan," I motioned to the hospital bed, circling my hands. "Obviously, it was a mistake--I am happy that at least one of my hidden adversaries showed their faces." Finally dawning my full royal Vascan attire, framed with the black accents of military garb, the room fell silent.

Tella spoke up, clearing the room of the stillness. "My uncle wouldn't do something like that. He's a good man--Fawi and his security goons are the real issue." It was respectable that Tella would speak of his essential servitude as a mere issue of his employer. In truth, it was clear his uncle had sold him long ago. Banished to be nothing more than a servant among the dregs.

Sickening. "Show me..." Tella's face scrunched. "I would like to see the kind of life that you and the other 'workers' lead outside of the assemblies watch. Myself and Aiko will be accompanying you to your quarters." The only one who reacted with confusion was Parva.

The others most likely gauged correctly that I was moments to minutes away from creating a massive scene. They were correct. If I hadn't been trying to hide how deeply I was in pain, this entire island would have tasted my divine wrath. Alas, my power was drained from the spectacle earlier. I was weak for the moment, but not brittle. "But King Vasca...Your injuries?"

"I know no pang, suffer no ache. The only thing my heart and mind desire is the justice that they must serve." My grandiose statments. If only I had mastered my abilities as much as I had Brinkmanship. Faith, authority, and my own sanity; Always much further puffed than in truth...

Parva left the room at some point as I contemplated over the next steps if I had found mistreatment in the bowels of this place. Aygu was not far behind as Yana called Aiko with a low whistle. "It seems like you and Huck are going to be taking a walk. I pray that you can keep him 'of sound mind'." Yana's tone was uneven.

She and her damn invisible schedule would be the death of me, unlike before in the dunes. If I hadn't gone on that walk to clear my head before I would have never been able to be gifted the powers of the Goddess...Wait. Aiko had said that she was the one cursed with the powers of the fem diety.

My hands closed over the bandage on my cursed mark, covering the tinge of glow that began from my heightened emotions. The goddess had simply, Remade me? I was not the bringer of lightning and destruction? It was not something that actually made sense to me.

This entire time, I had been waving my arms like an enormous fucking idiot thinking that it was my boon to open the floodgates of heaven. I must be extremely careful when treading the path ahead if staying alive long enough to understand that infernal woman's deception to its full extent.

"Of course he does...Let's get going then--The plane radioed that they were only 2 hours out. We have time." Aiko's surprise pep to her words was surprising. Not only to myself as well, Yana shot her a glare like she had given me before. I hoped this was lasting. Hopefully, the truth about our nature could allow some godamn decorum!

Tella seemed extremely anxious, his shoulders quaked like the dusty foundations of a Buritian hutt. "Hurry, Tella. This way we can make sure there is no 'real issue' with your moving to Vascan court." My words seemed to ease him into the idea that he was better off agreeing with me. Good.

As we left into the light gray hallways of Solitutodo's long passages Aiko clasped her hands tightly on the rifle she had used to kill Dennis. Her bond with him could have been possibly driven by Dennis knowing of the secret of her curse. My feet dragged slightly as the excruciating pain of my slit tendons pressed deep into the physical layers of my mind.

Tella led us in shaking silence down many wooden stairs. The pungent smell of saltwater penetrated the dense cement walls that went like arteries down to the heart of Solitudo. It must have been at least 5 stories before anyone said a word, Aiko clicking in annoyance at the long trudge. "This is nearly as arduous as the damn servant tunnels of the capitol. Doutros' scales--Do you climb this every day?"

We came to a steep slope that only could be accessed with a lever at eye level; its pulling allowed a small bridge to form over the darkened chasm below. The walls of this section were much farther apart, power washed clean but leaving the faint aroma of blood. "Yes, but not too often during the day when there's people out,"

Tella responded while holding the railing tightly as he descended. "Usually they assign whatever kind of worker that complements the guest of the island. Sometimes not at all--Fawi says that some countries dont like the idea of being served." I crossed my arms behind my back, walking slowly down the steep stairs precariously placed over the opaque abyss.

"Subjugation is no issue when it is for right cause, I myself am no stranger to the consequence of disobedience." Aiko kept to my back. I could feel her scanning the perimeter of the dark room like a desert corvid. It was a surreal experience, to tell the truth.

The entirety of Solitudo's topside was a gleaming stain of modernity while the core was nothing more than a soulless ebony vacuum. My eyes tried their best to adjust to the darkness but struggled greatly. Tella's were most likely much better for these conditions, his guiding footfalls keeping me from tumbling to my death.

"What is Vasca like?" Tella's question rang around in an echoing fashion. Was he speaking of my father? The Old World Capital? Though he was clearly Buritian, he was paler than the milk-colored moon due to albinism. I waited till the strained echoes faded to respond.

"BURITI-Vasca. Assuming I understand you, is a beautiful bastion of hardy sands and many people. I find myself enthralled in the tasks of duty too much to truly bask in the orangy glow of our Fatherland," Aiko let out a small tisk, her boots stomping on a screeching rat beneath them.

I continued my propaganda, ignoring the varment's demise. "Once the capitol is rebuilt without the clumped slums and crimson apartheid walls, all will know the grace of true order." Neither of them reacted to my words. We had finally made it to the bottom of the stairs and into a cavern-like space with many tiles adorning its bumpy floors.

It was a sparse room with only a large purple collum centering it. It reminded me of what my tutor Haige had shown me when I was a boy about how the Svets treated the native Buritians when they first landed on the northern shores of Izmar. It was meant to break them and separate them in case of a revolt, the room was likely trapped with some sort of failsafe to flood the entire basin if necessary.

"I don't know where everyone is...It's nearly 6. Usually, there are at least some other servants down here," Tella made his way to a small cut hole in the wall that contained a filthy mattress. The only thing of personal effect was a small photo of a dark-skinned woman with long orange hair holding a ceremonial sword before a pale baby.

I watched Tella begin to rummage through the blankets before tying the endings into a sack. "It usually doesn't look so bad...Everything's been cleared out for some." The motion he made was uncomfortable but not treacherous, I found myself more mesmerized by the large center collum in the room.

Its beautiful purple hues were gorgeous, the intricate scale patterns meshed seamlessly into itself as if grown. "We must find the color palette and makeup of this marvel!" Aiko let out a small controlled laugh, eying the same beam that jutted into the large opening in the center of the roof. Tella was still scavenging the effects of his old life, I chose to ignore him.

"The Palace is destroyed, why waste government funds on painting ash and rubble?" Aiko spat out, creasing her eyelids as she smiled at her own ignorance. It was a good thing, I must have it.

I shifted my weight off the pained feet below me. I chose to myself on a nearby wall that housed a small cubby-bed. "The summer mansion is still standing...I feel the capitol no longer the place for me. In all my time at the Mauve palace--It never occurred to me that the land on which it stood was not our's to govern."

"What are you whining about now? Yana has already put forth plans to refit the palace back to--" A slight fall of a coal-colored pebble made her stop speaking. We both looked up to see the darkened cavern ceiling, nothing seemed to have compelled it to fall.

My head shook, dismissing the threat. "I no longer wish to live in the palace...Open it to the people and bureaucrats--The people would benefit much better not seeing me modeling in their once great city like pox on a leper." The movement of my arms caused slight pain. Tella was completely ignoring us at this point, folding his sheet into a neat and tidy sack to hold his scant personal wares.

"...I don't see why that is a bad idea," Aiko spoke softly, mulling over my idea with a measured glare. "Just don't expect anyone to care when you can't parade yourself like your father on the daily."

"I am not like him--I am nothing like him."