Campaign 17

There was a parade of vehicles along the main road of the academy. Cadets, faculty, and soldiers were standing on either side of the road, looking in awe and fear at the sight before them. Four long trucks with platforms were carrying a gigantic monster, and this monster was regularly administered a drug by another cadet.

Once the vehicles reached the end of the road, where the academy gates were, they all stopped as they were met by an old man in a regal military uniform. Beside him were a frozen little girl, a slack-jawed one-handed man, and a blankly staring woman.

“Malachi… is this part of your declaration?” asked the old man, “That was a record-breaking five hours, and you even captured the target. And… what in all Hells is that thing around you?”

Malachi leapt off the truck he was riding on with Jin still strapped around his body. He approached Eleazar and gave a salute.

“Hell Worm subjugation, mission accomplished, sir!” he reported, “This little guy here is Jin. It came from that big one over there, and recognized me as its parent for some reason. Good thing, too. Imagine if Jin was born all of a sudden without any of us present.”

“Jin?”

“He seriously tamed that Hell Worm?”

“What in the world?”

A commotion occurred in the surrounding crowd. Eleazar glanced around and returned his gaze on Malachi.

“And where do you plan to keep the captured target?” he asked, “We don’t have any facilities to house it in during your detention.”

“Oh, right, there’s that,” commented Malachi, “Then, since I haven’t gone into the academy yet, the mission has yet to be accomplished, and I’m still out on duty. Asher, have the trucks go in reverse! Don’t enter the academy!”

A wry smile floated on Malachi’s face as he waited for Eleazar’s decision. However, Malachi was, after all, Eleazar’s grandson.

“Kh, hahaha!” laughed Eleazar, “That’s a good loophole, Malachi! This is excellent!”

Eleazar was wholeheartedly laughing in front of many people without a care in the world. The first to react appropriately was Carlos who had covered his face with his palm.

“This damned family,” he quietly cursed, “It’s a miracle His Majesty Emmanuel and His Highness Elijah aren’t like this. Hell, even Lady Alexa.”

“Well, fine,” continued Eleazar, “Still, where will you be keeping it? You can’t exactly block all of the traffic here, right? What about the rest of your class?”

Malachi hesitated.

“Uh, I hadn’t thought that far into it.” He said. Malachi held his chin and thought.

This time, it was Eleazar who had a wry smile.

“We’ll take care of it,” he declared, “You had a reason for turning it into a capture mission, right? Clara, have some of your men take over the convoy. Axton, lead a few soldiers to a section of land where we can contain the Hell Worm and set up a makeshift observation station. Malachi, give me the specifics.”

Malachi was staring at Eleazar in disbelief.

“I guess I lost this time,” he said with a dry laugh, “What do I do with Jin?”

When he pointed at Jin, a growl came from behind the crowd. The sea of humans parted and revealed a Manticore approaching Malachi. It was Shyama.

Shyama sniffed Jin for a bit, and then growled softly. Jin roused from its torpor and directed its gaze towards the towering Manticore. Shyama and Jin growled at one another for a while, and Malachi was wracking his head trying to understand what both were doing.

“Manticores and Hell Worms can talk to one another?” he observed, “Jin, why don’t you try being with Shyama for a bit?”

Jin looked at Malachi for a moment, and then slithered its body off him. As soon as the last pair of legs latching on to Malachi had left, Jin had already nestled on Shyama’s back. Jin let out a soft growl, seemingly in satisfaction.

As for Shyama, she just licked Malachi’s face.

“Take care of Jin, all right?” requested Malachi, “Then, Headmaster, you need to…”

Malachi shared with Eleazar how to take care of the gigantic Hell Worm, from the dosage of the drug to the recipe of the drug itself. After doing so, Class 13 was dismissed and Malachi was taken into custody. Malachi never revealed any sort of dissatisfaction as he was being led away, even smiling as he went through the crowd.

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The entire academy was in a complete uproar due to Class 13’s achievement, especially with the towering Hell Worm present on academy grounds that could be seen from their windows. The Hell Worm, still put into torpor by the drugs, was for all to see in one section of the field. It was chained down, bolted with gigantic stakes. The perimeter was patrolled by many guards, and makeshift observation posts were erected around it. Since they still had no idea what Malachi planned to do with it, they could only keep it in one place.

There was also one other thing that kept the academy noisy throughout the days. This time, though, the noise was not from the cadets, but a large amount of construction equipment being delivered one after another in front of one of the cliff faces. It was time for Malachi’s request to be built.

As for the person responsible for the entire ruckus, he was calmly lying down on a bed in his cell. Malachi’s cell was a tight fit—a tiny 4 sqm room with no gaps aside from the slit where the food would presumably come from. A knock came from the door to his cell.

“Apologies for this,” said a voice, presumably a guard, “Orders of His Highness.”

“It is fine,” said Malachi, nonchalantly waving it off as though he could be seen, “At least it’s a one-day detention, and not an entire week.”

“Hmm, well, we shall be leaving now,” said the guard, “We will bring you your lunch and dinner, later.”

Malachi listened closely to the echoing footsteps until he concluded that the guards have truly gone away.

“Can’t remember if I ever got detained back then,” he thought back to his past, “Father just let me run wild, with my siblings watching my back. Guess I’ll meditate for the time being.”

Malachi sat upright and crossed his legs into a lotus position. Once he closed his eyes, he shut out all of his senses and came to complete silence. This was completely different from his usual self.

An hour later, the slit on the door opened, and a plate of food came in. The guard knocked on the door to tell Malachi that his lunch had arrived. Malachi woke himself up from his meditation and thanked the guard for the food. As for the guard, he was bewildered about Malachi’s total silence. The guard had expected Malachi making a bit of noise since there was nothing to do in the cell.

Once the guard delivered the food, he left. Malachi listened closely to the guard’s footsteps until they were gone. He stood from his bed, went to the tray of food, and sat down on the floor. His food was simple since he was in detention, but it was enough to fill him up.

Then he heard another set of footsteps outside. Listening closely, he could surmise that it was not a guard. Each step was light, like it was from a smaller body, and it was uneven, like the owner was looking for something. Eventually, the footsteps stopped in front of his cell.

“Malachi?” it was a young woman’s voice, “Are you in there?”

Malachi’s eyes widened in surprise, he recognized the voice.

“Why are you here, Alexa?” he asked.

Indeed, it was Alexa outside his cell. She placed her hand on the door in relief. It seemed that she was guessing which cell Malachi was being held in.

“Are you all right, Malachi?” she asked further, “Have you eaten?”

Malachi was confused why she would be concerned about him.

“Uh, well, the guard just delivered my lunch a few moments before you arrived,” he answered, “Don’t tell me you came all the way here just for that.”

Alexa hesitated a bit.

“Um, no, it isn’t just that,” she said, “I just wanted to know something, and I need to hear it from you. I was looking for a chance to talk to you about it, but I never had the chance to do so. And, well, when I heard you were detained, I thought I’d take this as a chance.”

“Wait, wait. You had a question for me? Is it really so important that it must come from me?” he clarified, “Honestly, Alexa, I’ve always been wondering, but, why do you want to know me so well? I am, after all, a Skaria.”

Alexa was silent. She did not expect this sort of development just from her whims. She took a deep breath then threw back a question.

“Does it matter, Malachi? Then, I ask you, why do you wish to serve the kingdom, your clan’s enemy, so much?” she asked, “It can’t be because of mere debt and gratitude for my grandfather—that he spared your clan and kinsmen from total damnation—that you give us all of these gifts of power and technology.”

From his cell, Malachi made a wry smile.

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“I don’t know anything about my ancestry, Alexa, so I cannot give you an answer about my kin,” he answered, “All I know about Clan Skaria are what I’ve heard from others and what I’ve read from books. ‘Why’ do I wish to serve the kingdom? It’s because I want to, and I want the people who had birthed me to feel safe; for my Eskur mother, for Arlianne, and especially for my Perlasian father.”

Silence permeated between the two. Just when Alexa was about to speak, Malachi cut her off.

“Oh, and one other person, you see,” he continued “I’m doing this for a friend of mine that I met back when Arlianne and I were younger. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen him yet.”

Alexa’s hands trembled.

“That… friend of yours, who was he?” she asked, “I… I might know him since I’ve been here longer than you.”

Malachi glanced at the cell door with a raised brow.

“I guess it shouldn’t hurt to tell you,” he commented, “Well, I only know his name and not his family name. I would assume he was a noble’s child, judging from the presence of his bodyguard. His name was Axel, do you know him?”

Alexa clenched the collar of her uniform. She looked down on the floor, and was breathing erratically. She looked at the door, and tears began to form on her eyes.

“D-did you say, ‘A-Axel’?” she stuttered, forcing herself to keep calm.

Sadly, Malachi did not notice the change in her.

“Yeah, we made a promise as friends that we would enter the academy and serve the kingdom together.” He explained. Then, his voice changed. “Ah, but, now that I remembered it, he seemed to have this hate for Eskurs. That incident in the arena exposed my lineage to him. We were there when the Fire Ant outbreak happened. When I saved him from the Queen Ant, my eyes were revealed to all.”

Alexa was already covering her mouth, stifling the sobs that were coming out.

“Maybe, because of that, he felt betrayed?” added Malachi, “I mean, he told me about his experience with Eskurs, but I kept my lineage hidden from him. Maybe I shouldn’t have forced him into that oath, ‘A friend today…’”

“… and a friend forever…” finished Alexa.

Malachi jumped up in surprise, and heard the opening of a lock. The lock to his cell was opened by Alexa, and the two faced one another.

“Alexa?” he called out in wonder.

In Alexa’s hands was a set of tools. Specifically, they were lock-picking tools.

“Lakeng taught me various things as I grew up,” she said, “He was the youngest among his siblings, making him as mischievous as you. You wouldn’t think that a Lady of Perlas would know a skill like lockpicking, no?”

Malachi reacted strongly to Lakeng’s name. After all, they became acquaintances during the Fire Ant incident. His back was to the wall as Alexa came into his cell.

“After the incident, father took me away from the capital and had me live in the family castle,” she said with each step, “As time passed by, the only thing I had left of our memories was that broken pair of goggles you once wore.”

Alexa pulled out a pair of old goggles with a torn strap and showed it to Malachi.

“When you saved me back then, I couldn’t stop thinking of you. I wondered if you were treated well after that. I wondered if anything bad happened to you. I even had Lakeng look for you, but you suddenly disappeared.”

Alexa came close to Malachi on the wall. Malachi was just a head taller than her, and Alexa was gazing up at Malachi’s eyes.

“Even though I suffered a lot because of past mistakes, I was able to forgive them all because of you, Malachi. Damn my past hatreds for your kin! Damn my past hatreds for your clan! Malachi… I was torn when I wasn’t able to find you again, but when I saw you a week ago, it felt that hope finally rekindled within me… then your clan name was revealed to me.”

Alexa grasped the hem of Malachi’s uniform. There was an eerie light within her eyes.

“I thought I’d lost you again. My classmates kept telling me hurtful things about you, but I forgave them since they never knew you. They always tried to stop me from getting closer to you, every chance I got, but I never minded them because they never knew you. If you were a bad person like they always told me, you wouldn’t have saved me… you wouldn’t have saved any of us back then. You are a good person, Malachi. Each of your actions, I know that you were doing it for the good of others.”

She raised her hand and caressed Malachi’s cheek. Malachi was still frozen in shock from her revelation and was staring at her with a slackened jaw. Was it because she was Axel? It was part of it.

“I followed you around, earlier. Since you had your entire class have a break, I was hoping to find you alone and tell you all of this. I no longer want to live in a life full of lies; I had to tell you who I truly was. Even though it was an accident when your lineage was revealed, but I no longer cared about that. All I cared about was, ‘were you all right?’ It wasn’t fair that only you were able to reveal a secret, I thought that I should share mine as well. Then I found you and Arlianne.”

After caressing his cheeks, she brought her arms around him into an embrace. Alexa had her head rest on Malachi’s chest.

“I had doubted since then that you and Arlianne were siblings, but I never thought that the two of you were actually like that. It hurts, Malachi, knowing you were going further away from me. It hurts, but I only know one thing that would make it stop hurting.”

Alexa raised her face and body.

“May I… seal the deal… with a kiss?”

Just before their lips touched, Malachi woke up.

“Agh! Wait!” He cried. Malachi pushed Alexa away.

It was Alexa’s turn to be shocked.

“Why?! Why did you push me away?!” she cried back, “Malachi… Malachi! I’ve missed you so much! Why do you deny me now?! Didn’t you miss me as well?!”

“That was because I thought of you as that little boy back then,” explained Malachi, then he thought, ‘Crap, what the Hell is up with this development?! I can’t even predict what she’ll do once she knows my other secrets!’

“Is that it, Malachi?” asked Alexa, “You want me to return to being Axel? You won’t even look at me as Alexa? That’s fine, Malachi. That is completely fine for me.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” clarified Malachi, “No, I’ve understood that Axel was an alias you’ve used to explore the capital.”

“It’s fine, Malachi,” she consoled, “You can think of me as Axel, your friend from back then. I will change how I look, what I wear, and who I am if you want.”

Malachi gazed into Alexa’s eyes, there was a strange light coming from within. Malachi felt a strange fear coming from her.

“Alexa, I think there is something wrong with you,” he commented, “Do you suppose if you just take a seat and a deep breath, can you calm yourself down?”

“Calm, Malachi? I am calm,” she refuted, “Why, is there something you are afraid of about me? Why do you look at me with those eyes, Malachi? What happened to those eyes that were glad to see me alive back then?”

Malachi approached Alexa.

“Alexa, j-just calm down for a sec,” he advised.

Malachi held Alexa’s shoulders, but she swept them away.

“Are you afraid of me, Malachi?!” she cried with tears in her eyes, “Are you afraid because I am a Perlas?!”

Malachi struggled to get a grip on Alexa, trying to calm her down, but she also resisted each and every effort he made.

“Alexa! I am not afraid of you, or your family!” bellowed Malachi, “What I am afraid of is what will happen to you if you know any more of my secrets!”

She stopped struggling.

“Secrets?” repeated Alexa, “What could be a greater secret than your lineage, than your name? Is it worse than knowing about me?”

He almost averted his gaze, but he resolved to look straight into her eyes.

“I… cannot say,” he answered, “Not now, not ever, and only time can tell whether you will know about it or not.”

Alexa’s lips quivered.

“I’m sorry, Alexa,” added Malachi, “I… appreciate your feelings for me. I also appreciate that you were still alive and well. However, knowing all of this, knowing a lot of things… I—“

Before he could finish, Alexa turned around and ran away. As she left Malachi’s cell and went through the corridors, she passed by another person heading towards Malachi. Fortunately or unfortunately, Alexa hadn’t realized who the other person was.

When this other person arrived at the floor where Malachi’s cell was, this person noticed the opened door and hurried towards it.

“Malachi?!” called out Arlianne, “What…?”

Arlianne found Malachi slumped on the ground with his head raised and covered by his right hand.

“What in all Hells is up with this…?!” he cursed, “God dammit! I don’t understand anything! Argh! This fucking life…!”

Arlianne did not know what was wrong and just stood there watching Malachi curse at the heavens.

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When Malachi finally calmed down, the guards had already been notified about his opened cell. They tried questioning him, but Malachi never said a word about it. The guards also tried questioning Arlianne, but she could not say anything since the door was already opened when she arrived. Therefore, the guards resolved to bring the matter to Eleazar. However, when Eleazar personally went there, Malachi still said nothing. Eleazar, knowing Malachi’s personality, surmised that Malachi had a reason for not answering.

“All of you, I wish to be alone with Malachi for the time being,” ordered Eleazar, “Not one person is to come close to this cell without my knowing.”

The guards saluted and began to file out. Arlianne was about to follow along, but…

“Arlianne, you stay, too,” said Malachi, finally saying a word, “You’re a part of this as well since it has something to do with… Axel.”

Arlianne doubted his words.

“Was he the one who opened this door?” she asked.

Malachi glanced at Eleazar.

“Gramps, how much have you found out about me?” he asked, “You did say that you’ve had people watch over me since my birth. Do you, say, know about a friend Arlianne and I made?”

Eleazar furrowed his brows.

“Was she responsible for this?” clarified Eleazar, “No wonder you wouldn’t say anything.”

Arlianne looked back and forth at the two men in confusion. To make her understand, Malachi pointed it out for her.

“Arlianne, Alexa is Axel,” he explained, “Alexa opened the door with lock picks then told me everything about it.”

He suddenly held his head, as though it was in pain.

“There’s… something else, is there?” wondered Eleazar, “If it was just that, you wouldn’t be worrying this much.”

Malachi was silent for a while.

“… Hey, Gramps, what would you do if your cousin fell in love with you without her knowing that the two of you are from the same family?” announced Malachi, “For me, it should be fine since we are cousins, especially since my grandmother was a mistress. But, when it comes to Alexa, I don’t think she’ll take kindly to that revelation.”

“… Er, uh, I…” even Eleazar did not know what to say.

As for Arlianne, she did not know how to react.

“Her eyes were scary when she said all of that to me,” continued Malachi, “From that, I just knew that something bad might happen to her—even me or any of us—if she ever knew about this; with me as a Skaria, as a Perlas, as the Crown Prince.”

The cell became silent again before Malachi continued.

“Especially once Uncle Elijah catches wind of our relationship,” he added, “I don’t think Alexa could take it. Dammit, why did it have to be me, of all people?”

Eleazar closed his eyes for a while.

‘Malachi really is a good child,’ he thought, ‘He even considered everything for the other person. Ah, Alexa, what should I do about this?’

Arlianne looked down on the cursing Malachi on the floor. There, she also went down and brought her arms around him. She hugged Malachi as tightly as she could.

“Hush, Malachi,” she whispered, “You didn’t have any hand in what happened. None of this was your fault.”

Soon, Malachi also returned her embrace. Full of emotions, he embraced her as tightly as she did. Eleazar massaged the back of his head as he left the two of them alone for a while.