“So, what’s the verdict, doc?” Varhi asked.
Cyial gave him a slightly annoyed look but it was brief as he sighed. “Fully healed… Both the side and your arm arm.” Cyial mumbled.
“You sound disappointed.” Varhi observed.
“...You’re imagining things. Seriously, there isn’t even any scarring. After the wound had closed there were still signs, but now it’s like nothing had ever happened.” Cyial said. “I... I still don’t understand it, but it is what it is at this point. I wish I knew the cause to this, then we’d get even closer to understand what apparently happened to your head when the ‘incident’ happened.”
Nayleen, who was sitting on the mercenary’s bed, clasped an arm around Varhi and pulled the boy closer. Varhi didn't resist, blinking as he was leaned towards Nayleen's side. “That just means he’s gonna stay good lookin’ even after getting beat up~”
Cyial gave her a side-long glance as he packed up his medical supplies which weren’t even needed. “Yeah… about that, can you put your shirt back on Varhi? Before Nayleen slobbers drool over you.”
“He doesn’t have to do that.” Nayleen pouted.
“Sorry Nayleen. Eseras could be coming any moment anyway.” Varhi said, unfolding the leather of his armor and straightening out. There was a ‘diiiinnngg-dooonnngggg' which reverberated softly through the entire floor. “...Speaking of which…” Varhi sighed.
“Guys, she’s here!” Sairek called from outside the room.
“Yeah, we know!” Varhi called back, partially muffled as he slipped the leather shirt over his head. “Bloody worst timing…” He mumbled. "Help me get me dressed please, need to look the part at least."
Cyial sighed, moving out of the room to go and join Sairek down below. “Varhi’s almost ready. Just answer it.” He told Sairek.
Sairek peeked through the peephole of the door, then unlocked it and opened it. Eseras with an entourage of men stood in front of the door. Without even being invited, she and her military marched on in, practically pushing Sairek back into the apartment. Cyial moved to steady him.
“Well, good morning to you, too.” Sairek greeted her with heat in his breath.
“Yes.” Eseras replied absently to his disdain. “Where is he?”
“I'm here,” Varhi replied, stepping out of the room, fully dressed. He leaned on the railing of the balcony to speak down below.
Eseras squinted up at him. “You look like you’ve just gotten out of bed.”
“...I did just get out of bed." Varhi answered her with a deadpan stare.
“...Children.” Eseras tsked.
“Adults.” Varhi tsked back in the same tone-of-voice before he regarded her in a more even turn. “You seem to be in a bad mood today and annoyed today. Not much good news the past couple of days? That lead you went to investigate on your own was no good?”
Eseras paused for a moment. Sairek was keen to note she looked almost... caught off guard by the question. She brushed her hair back behind her head by threading her fingers through it and she reset her expression. "You children have such wild imaginations." She dismissed, her tone becoming more serious, yet there was still an... edge, to her tone. “The…” She paused; a brief moment of weakness, something Sairek also noted. “The King wishes to speak with you, Prince of Ceareste.” Eseras said, turning to Sairek, her tone rectified to one as if she was making a transaction now. It didn't match what she was saying. She was forcing the tone to be more... business-like.
And yet regardless of Sairek's observations; what she said caught him completely off guard.
“I… A… Uh…” Sairek’s voice caught in his throat. He swallowed and cleared it. “Sorry— What?” He managed dryly. Cyial moved to hold onto his upper left arm tightly, giving it a firm squeeze.
“The King wishes to speak with you.” Eseras repeated, her eyes falling on Cyial for a moment before looking back into Sairek's emerald eyes..
Sairek had heard it the first time, but only managed a dry “Why?”
“... ...That is not... for me to know." She stated, the tone had a sourly tone to it. "He has summoned you, so we are leaving now. I have come to deliver you to him at his… request.” Eseras answered. The edge was still in her tone. She didn't want to do this.
“Uh… What about us?” Nayleen asked from on top of the balcony beside Varhi.
“Only the Prince was invited. Varhi will be coming with me, as planned. So they both will accompany me to the palace—”
“No.” Cyial denied, holding Sairek’s arm tighter. Sairek turned his head to look at Cyial at his sudden declaration. “We either all go together, or none of us go at all, Varhi included. That was the contract.”
Eseras let out a long, drawn, weary sigh. “...I am getting tired of you children trying to think we are equal and you can keep ordering me to do things.” Eseras said calmly, but her eyes narrowed. “Let alone a demon child…”
“Regardless of our social status or our nationality differences, the four of us are a team. Something that involves one of us, involves all of us as a unit. Maybe you cannot comprehend it over here, but that is our way and it is not negotiable and again, it was stated as such as part of the contract, so kindly keep your opinion to yourself.” Cyial retorted, his voice strong and firm. “Or is there a reason all of us going together is such a grave inconvenience?”
“Regardless of your opinion on how social status works here, at the end of the day, our King has demanded a private audience with your Prince only. This is a government matter, and as such by law as decreed by the Neutral Council, common citizens shall not get involved with the discussion of governmental matters, as such discussions are considered classified.” Eseras said, her patience beginning to wear thin.
"You may claim Cyial is nothing but property here, but in Ceareste, that's not how it works. Cyial is not a common citizen.” Sairek rejected calmly. “Cyial is the most important person in my life. My other half, Eseras.”
Real genuine emotion shown on Eseras’ face. First shock, then disbelief…
Then anger.
“What?” She demanded. “You cannot be serious. Love cannot possibly exist between a human and a demon—Let alone two males!” She strode herself a step forward, entering both Sairek and Cyial's personal space. “Do not try my patience, Prince of Ceareste. Even if you do feel that way, it is not a real emotion. It is one coerced by one of his ilk to make you feel that—”
Eseras’s ranting fell short as Sairek nudged Cyial gently, causing the demon to turn his head, and then Sairek leaned over, kissing Cyial on the mouth for a few seconds in front of everyone. Cyial was briefly hesitant, but understood and returned the gesture. They both pulled back, with Sairek glaring at Eseras with an icy expression.
“Do you want to tell me he faked that just now too, or did you see me do what I did with no hesitation, Prime Minister of Kior?” Sairek questioned her, his voice firm. "I'll gladly do it again."
The soldiers behind Eseras were murmuring.
“SILENCE!!” She barked, teeth grinding together as she turned around and glared at them, before curtly spinning back around and glaring at the pair before her. “I don’t believe I have ever been insulted so brazenly in my entire life… A Prince… falling in love with a slave species of the same gender—!?”
“If you think this is the worst insult you’ve received, I’m about to smash that record if you do not back off insulting my partner. Or is this how Kior’s hospitality is?” Sairek warned, his gaze now becoming arctic. “Cyial is to be my other half and therefore, not a ‘common citizen’. You have your orders from the King, Prime Minister.
“You sent a message of the invitation from your superior. My partner, as is the custom, is allowed to be escorted with me since anything that involves me, involves them as well. That is how the law works.” Sairek reminded her. Despite their size difference of two feet and some inches in height, Sairek managed to stand tall and proud, somehow managing to look down upon her instead of the other way around.
“So, with all of that cleared up, I will gladly accept King Regenar Kior’s request for an audience with us.” Sairek wore a painted smile, not unlike a smile Eseras had been giving most of the time to them. Currently however, she looked like she was about to grab and break something. “Without further delay, let us depart for the palace, shall we?”
* * *
“Oh my gosh, you pissed her off so much…!” Nayleen hushed excitedly, trying to hold back a grin from looking too obvious as they sat together on the zeppelin. “She’s never shown anger like that before.”
"Stop complimenting me...! I can't believe I did that in front of everyone...!" Sairek whined, face buried into his hands, embarrassed. "I, I just... I just did it without thinking...!"
Nayleen blinked at him. "But it worked. And again, you pissed her off!"
“As good as it felt in the moment, I can’t help but feel I just made a powerful enemy…” Sairek grumbled, cautiously glancing around with his eyes like he was about to be assaulted from within the shadows. He stopped looking eventually and let out a long sigh. “First the King of Masirean, and now the Prime Minister of Kior, and probably my own father...! Yeah, I’m doing great with building relationships with the other world leaders... At this rate, Varhi and I are going to be partners in crime...!”
"...Not sure if I should be insulted or complimented by that." Varhi droned in the background.
“Bitch deserved it, though.” Nayleen reaffirmed.
“C…Could you please keep it down?” Sairek whispered urgently, looking around nervously again. “What if some soldier of hers hears us?”
Nayleen snorted. “Fine. I’ll just rant when we get back to the apartment.”
“Well, this certainly isn’t how I thought today would go.” Varhi sighed, scratching behind his left ear.
“Sorry. We uh, we probably made your day a lot worse for you.” Sairek apologized with a frown.
“Meh. Worth it in my book. No pain, no gain, right?”
“I’m not sure we gained anything.” Cyial pointed out.
“Satisfaction.” Varhi countered.
“...Uhhh… Sure. You can have that one.” Cyial conceded.
“In all seriousness, I wouldn’t have been comfortable with you having to be left alone in Kior’s palace anyway. I know Cyial will raise scorched earth if anyone tries to do anything to you, even with the collar.” Varhi smirked.
“I will if I need to.” Cyial confirmed.
“Eseras is still not allowing Nayleen to go with you though.” Sairek reminded them.
“She’ll at least be nearby. Besides, I can handle Eseras.” Varhi sniffed. “I’ll give her the bare minimum as agreed. After seeing that, I know I’ve made the correct judgment call in keeping her in the dark as much as possible, not like there was any question about her motives in the first place.”
“I did have my small doubts, but I agree wholeheartedly now as well.” Sairek nodded. “She can’t be trusted. She has some ulterior motive. I’m not sure what she wants, but whatever it is won’t be for the ultimate good. Still, I can’t help but feel guilty holding back information, or not just go look for those people ourselves… Regardless of her ulterior motive, it's still real people who are going missing.”
“We need more resources that we don’t have, and the one who has those resources is that dumb cow. Maybe it’s something you can bring up to the Neutral Council as well?” Varhi suggested.
Sairek shook his head. “Not with the contract. She’ll call foul, and I can’t put Cyial at risk like that…” Sairek pressed his lips together in a frown. “...I think this is what she meant by coercing my co-operation. It’s almost like blackmail. If I rat her out, we’ll lose Cyial.”
“She can do that even after the contract is completed?” Nayleen asked.
“Yes, if it’s through foul play, she could argue that we were withholding our end of the contract by keeping information from her. She wouldn’t be wrong, either.” Sairek explained. “There’s not much I could do to argue against it unless it's something we could prove without a doubt. It’s not a guarantee she’d win, but it’s a huge risk and I’m not doing that to Cyial.”
“Of course—Ouch. Dammit.” Varhi swore as the zeppelin suddenly halted with a jerk as it docked, causing him to lurch forward and bump his head against the seat ahead of them. He rubbed at where his head made contact with a frown.
“Would've been safe from that if you wore your helmet.” Nayleen chastised.
Varhi gave her a side-long look. “I’m not that ready for combat just yet. It’s a battle of wits, not strength. Unfortunately I’m not that good at wits. She’s wiser than me. No doubt I’m going to have to let some info spill. I just hope I can waste her time enough to be convincing but not give out everything.”
“Just try your best, but don’t take too many risks. Remember, it's your information she wants, not actually you.” Sairek reminded him.
“...Sometimes I doubt that. The way she looks at me sometimes gives even me goosebumps. My only concern is that I’ll miss my chance to get the answers I want before I manage to come back here.” Varhi grumbled, standing up. The other three joined him.
They all disembarked the zeppelin, Sairek wary of the soldiers around them, escorting them. He did a quick headcount. There were fifty percent more soldiers around them than last time. That basically meant they were outnumbered five-to-one. Sairek glanced back towards the palace, looking over the extremely large structure, and that extremely larger window at the top floor that faced towards the city.
Eseras disembarked after them, and with a sharp gesture, beckoned them to follow. Yeah, she was definitely still annoyed at them…
Sairek was preparing for another long walk in the ginormous structure, but it was only shortly after they entered that Eseras turned to the soldiers. “Escort Varhi Vloyis and… the girl, to the usual place. I must escort the Prince to see the King.”
The soldiers moved, almost forcefully to separate them. Nayleen and Varhi looked towards Sairek and he nodded at them. Willfully, they detached from him and Cyial, separating and going their own ways without a word. Still, Eseras and a number of remaining soldiers remained escorting them through the palace to the usual path. However, when they got to the throne room, they continued going past the grand chair to a back room. This didn’t surprise Sairek. The Cearestian castle was the same in this regard with his Father’s own room.
Unlike the castle though, this instead led to a long, grand hallway first before coming to an extremely large door which was guarded by four more soldiers.
“This is as far as we may take you.” Eseras said. “...Please forgive his Highness’ lack of hospitality, as he is in no condition to greet you himself.” She said in a rehearsed tone.
Sairek swallowed and nodded. He took a quick glance with his eyes at Cyial, who stood close to him, looking straight ahead, collar around his neck.
“...I’m ready.” Sairek said to himself more than anyone else. Both he and Cyial walked forward past Eseras together. Sairek taking the right side door, and Cyial taking the left. They pushed them open with grunts of effort; almost too heavy for their smaller bodies to push open. As they stepped through, the doors closed behind them automatically with a loud clunking sound, leaving them free of Eseras and everyone else that was with her.
It was a large, spiraling staircase, leading upwards. Sairek glanced up the center and his stomach dropped. “What the— ...Seriously?”
“Oh my. I guess you’re getting some exercise today after all.” Cyial commented dryly as he looked up with Sairek. “That’s... a good two-thousand steps, at least? This must lead all the way to the top floor. I noticed that really tall... glass looking tower thing at the top of the palace both times we've come here. I believe this must lead to that part of the structure?”
“...We better get started, then. Yggdrasil give us strength... We're going to need it.” Sairek sighed, taking the first step up.
After climbing, Sairek’s legs beginning to burn from the effort at this point, there was another large door at the top. Sairek didn’t waste any time for fanfare as he moved and pushed one side, and Cyial moved to open the other as they stepped through together. What they both saw while they took in their surroundings and looked around, caused both of their eyes to widen in bewildered amazement.
The room was utterly massive and grand. So massive and grand, it had trees within it, a small waterfall and a stream. There were several stairs leading up higher and higher, it was almost like a mountain hiking trail. It was a strange mix of marble and stone structure combined with artificial nature and tranquility. It was beautiful, but to Sairek, it was kind of unnerving. It was nice… almost too nice. He thought they reached the roof outside but looking up, there was still the ceiling of the palace. All of this, and they were still indoors...?
“I… I wasn’t expecting this for a bedroom…” Cyial muttered quietly, looking around in awe. He took a few tentative steps forward, the ground under him a mix of marble stone pathways like it was cobblestone instead. He walked towards the stream bed, which flowed near them, looking down into it. “It… It even has fish living in the stream.” He murmured, astounded.
Off in the distance, on top of almost everything else, save for the trees, was a single bed, which Sairek saw a prone form laying there, un-moving, though he could barely make them out from this far away and with it so high up. The bed was turned to look out through the large windows, which Sairek now recognized as the one he saw from outside that was so prominently featured as Cyial had mentioned. From here, Sairek could only see the sky through them, but up there where the bed was based on the direction the windows were facing, would have given an absolute overlook of almost the entire skyline of the city from this direction.
Sairek's uneasiness was increasing fast despite the serenity of this room. .“...All of this, for a young man that is essentially on his deathbed?” He pondered out loud to himself. He looked around again. Even birds were flying overhead, chirping, singing…
“It’s beautiful…” Cyial murmured, returning to Sairek’s side. “But doesn’t something feel… off about this?”
“...Yeah. It's been bothering me ever since we came in here... This peace and quiet, just like when I visited my mother in Lamen... Cyial, I don’t think this is specifically a bedroom… It’s… I think… that everything here, all of it… I think this is a graveyard...”
Cyial’s eyes widened slightly, but a sense of recognition also lit in his eyes. “You’re right,” he agreed, looking around once more. “It’s… not unlike the monastery. Just more grand. That tranquility that we leave for the dead so they can rest until their souls join Yggdrasil fully once more… The everlasting sensation of tranquil peace and quiet here…” He trailed off.
“I can’t imagine being put in a graveyard just waiting to die…” Sairek mumbled sadly. Just how dire of a state was Regenar’s health? He knew the disease was bad, but… Sairek was beginning to question if he was going to even have the willpower to go up the steps to see for himself.
“Are you okay? Your face has gone pale..” Cyial asked him nervously.
Sairek swallowed something down his throat that tried to come up. It burned with a subtle bile. “Y…Yeah. It's just... disturbing to me. I'll endure it. Let’s go...”
Cyial reached out with his hand to clasp onto Sairek. He clasped on Cyial’s hand firmly back. Cyial gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, and stepped ahead, walking over a footpath over the water as he guided Sairek along with slow, deliberate steps. Reaching the initial stairs didn’t take long. The bed was on a pillar of a mix of concrete, marble and rock, dirt, grass, vines… It was probably a good one-hundred meters or so up. Ornate railings protected them from falling on one side, but it was still quite the climb. The stairs were steep, and Sairek’s legs were beginning to burn halfway up thanks to the earlier climb. How in the Flaming Lands was anyone supposed to deliver food for him like this? Or did they actually climb up every single time to feed him his meals?
...Did he even eat...?
By the time they had climbed up, Sairek had let go of Cyial’s hand and was using his staff as a walking stick whilst grasping the railing. He was winded and beginning to breathe hard. He felt sweat beginning to form on his forehead, but they were almost at the top. He glanced towards the window and like he predicted, he could see almost the entire city from here, save whatever was blocked from taller buildings or the skyline haze, no doubt from the pollution of factories within the city and just outright distance due to the horizon. The sight from here must look brilliant at night, though, especially because The View district was the first district and closest in line of sight.
A few more steps, and they finally made it up to the bed. Both Sairek and Cyial’s eyes widened.
“...Oh, Sweet Lands…” Cyial whispered.
Sairek swallowed again. This time it was almost nothing but bile and he had to suppress a gagging belch.
In front of both boys, in the center of a grand king-sized bed was a man who Sairek knew was in his twenties, but looked to be in his late thirties... at least in some areas. He appeared even older in others. His face actually still had a youthful appearance. He actually looked younger than Sairek would have believed, knowing what the disease did to his mother with accelerated aging. It seemed Reginar had a completely different symptom.
It was like all the vitality had been completely drained from him. He was frail and gaunt, face misshapen and sunken in somewhat. Despite that though, his hair was still a brilliant red, like it hadn’t been affected by the illness he was suffering from at all. He was dressed in a plain white and thin robe, though Sairek couldn’t see most of it due to a white blanket being draped over most of his body as he lay on the bed. Kior’s King however smelled like a corpse that had begun to decompose. The smell not strong, but awful, with a mixture of urine and fecal matter all in one.
Sairek could see as well that the bed's mattress had sunken in and molded to the man’s shape. He had been… simply laying here like this, day by day, no doubt for years. It looked like his head barely moved much at all, and even as both he and Cyial came into view, there was no movement. Sairek would have thought the man dead, if he didn’t see the eyes give a slow, deliberate blink. Things were hooked up to him, medical equipment Sairek assumed to keep him alive. Thin tubes piercing frail, ghostly white and wrinkled skin. Occasionally, Sairek would see fluid pump into his body, while others pumped blood out that looked brown, almost black.
…Around them was the graveyard. What Sairek And Cyial were staring at now, however, was the coffin.
* * *
Varhi pushed his head up from resting on his arms on top of the table when he heard the door finally open. Expectantly, Eseras walked in.
Unexpectedly however, were the three other people who walked in with her. A man and two other women.
Varhi eyed them all curiously as they took seats around the table. He was left alone on his own side, but they all filled Eseras side. They didn’t look like the other soldiers at all, but they definitely were not civilians. Officers, maybe? Perhaps some more who were politically involved on the more... governmental side of things, rather than Guardian Forces?
“Um… Hoi. To what do I owe you all the pleasure?” Varhi greeted quizzically and a bit cautiously.
Eseras was very business-like. She raised her right hand – Varhi’s left. “To my far right is Mister Daniel Arbereck. He is the leading officer of the investigative branch. You could say that he is basically the leader of all of the soldiers that moderate the law within the city that puzzles crimes together. Everyone else I will introduce also works with him as well in regards to the missing person’s case in one way or another, even if not distinctively directly.”
Varhi’s eyes fell onto Daniel. He was a man in his late thirties or early forties, only a few years younger than Eseras' age perhaps, although Eseras probably appeared younger than she was. The whiskers and shadows of recently shaven facial hair on his face shown in the black hooded robe he was wearing with that hood raised. What of his hair Varhi could see under the hood, was a hazel brown. He couldn’t make out the style, but a curly bundle strand of hair was on his forehead, stopping just above his right eyebrow. His eyes too, were brown, but angled; a sort of worn and aged look was sketched into his facial features that Varhi couldn’t quite comprehend, like he was even older than his appearance suggested. However, he knew that he too, was being appraised back just as much as he was appraising Daniel. Despite the man’s unfriendly look, Daniel spoke to him in an almost jovial and tone of voice that wasn't deep nor intimidating, which ironically caught him more off guard than if it had been, as the voice and tone contradicted the man's otherwise serious and brooding appearance.
“Hello, young Varhi,” pronouncing his name like 'Var-ee' in quite a thick accent, “Miss Eseras here has told me much about you. I am eager to work together in this operation with you, yes?”
“...Operation?” Varhi questioned within his own head silently. Eseras gestured to both the women beside her.
“To my right here is Miss Rochelle Keening, and to my left, Alyxa Brenning. Alyxa is the lead researcher in the medical science department. Rochelle is her assistant that works under her. They are both here to collaborate with Daniel in the investigation, by studying your physical health and mental well-being in determining the true nature of your amnesia.”
Both women were blonde and even wore ponytails. Rochelle’s hair was a darker blonde, and much longer in length. Despite being the junior member, she looked older than Alyxa, though, not old by any means, she was clearly in her late twenties to early thirties. Alyxa however barely looked like she was in her early twenties. Most men would describe her as “hot” and “sexy” and she clearly knew it with her posture and her coat enticingly unbuttoned enough to leave a men's imagination to run with potential possibilities of what lay beneath her coat. Their white medical coats they were dressed and matched, and yet, they were not however matched in how they wore them and presented themselves. While Rochelle wore hers properly, Alyxa wore hers unbuttoned just at the top to let her breasts pop out just a bit more.
“Aaaand, she’s not wearing a bra…” Varhi noted to himself inside of his head dryly. So this was who he was dealing with, huh...
It probably would have been enough to entice most male’s imaginations. To Varhi however, other than a brief glance at her chest to spot the way she was dressed and posturing herself suggestively towards him, returned his gaze to her face in complete disinterest. She smiled in a painted expression that Varhi already had enough experience to know was fake just from Eseras alone, her bright jaded eyes glinted in an almost mischievous way.
Rochelle had much more dignity in the appearance department, it seemed. She had a weariness in her eyes, but it was different than Daniel's. Almost like a nurse who had seen just a bit too many horrors in her field of work. She also looked a bit uncomfortable or nervous, which was different compared to the others, but she was hiding it well. Her eyes were hazel brown, almost like Nayleen's, and she wasn’t appraising Varhi with as much emphasis like the others, but she was still studying him nonetheless, in between occasional glances towards the rest of her cohorts on her side.
Alyxa, seemingly spoke for both herself and Rochelle. Her voice was deeper than most women, silken, like a seductress. Considering how she was advertising herself, she probably was one one way or another Varhi wagered. Despite that, though her tone was suggestive, the words she chose seemed strictly for business.
“The data on your case listed you as having potentially—and I use that term loosely—been harmed before you went missing, given the rather large and volumetric quantities of blood left on the road from where you were last seen officially before your reappearance… Is that correct?”
Varhi blinked his violet eyes slowly at her. “...I don't know. That’s what it seems like, yes.”
“Good. Our job in the medical science field is to experiment on new foundations to which could be used to help people recover at times of life-threatening injury.” She explained. "We're miracle workers, essentially, making the impossible, possible."
Varhi had to resist rolling his eyes. Her tone was like she was trying to sound smarter and more amazing than she actually was; or that he was dumber than he really was. He didn’t like her already. She was so fake. “Sounds like very important work. Do go on...” He urged her, against his own wishes.
“For you to survive such an impact, we theorize that to resuscitate you, that they must have done some experimental treatments that are not finalized. We believe it was blood transfusion, that is, someone gives you blood to make up for the loss of yours. However, it isn’t just that simple. One individual's blood isn’t compatible with another individual's; even in the case of family. We don’t know whose blood works with who. It is a big gamble, something that we are still trying to understand. At least, until recently. It seems some individuals have specific types of blood, and specific types of blood can get along better than others. Some can receive, while others can donate from specific types. Some are also much more rare than others. We are still trying to figure out which ones get along better with what.” Alyxa explained.
“I understand— I think, but why are you all here for?” Varhi questioned.
Rochelle cleared her throat before speaking. “We want to analyze a fresh sample of your blood. If we do that, then the list of potential suspects who could have given you blood via transfusion can be minimized. Potentially drastically.”
Varhi flashed his eyes towards her as she spoke, and flicked them back to Alyxa. That... didn't sound right, the way her voice sounded was... unnatural. Forced. She was either lying, or telling a half-truth. Either way, something was being hidden from him.
Alyxa continued. “We believe that someone in the group must have gotten word of my—sorry. …Our research somehow. The knowledge of this research when the incident took place was not and is still not public knowledge. Even now, no hospital uses the practice yet except as last ditch efforts.”
Varhi slightly raised an eyebrow in false curiosity. “If you’re telling the truth, then that would suggest that whoever, individual or group, is involved in the missing cases, and comes from your team of researchers, Alyxa.”
Alyxa readjusted her posture in her chair, hands cupped together on the table. “How observant of you.” She praised, but the tone was laced in sarcasm that Varhi didn’t miss. “However, we don’t think that to be the case...”
“Oh? Why not?” Varhi pressed in an innocent tone.
“Classified documents were stolen around the same time the people started going missing.” Alyxa clarified.
Varhi regarded her for a few seconds before inhaling a breath to speak. “...So, you’re suggesting that it was not someone working under you being a suspect, but instead propose that someone broke into whatever classified structure you guys do your research in, stole said classified research and then began doing their own experiments on live subjects they grabbed off of the streets?”
“More or less.” Alyxa shrugged. “If someone completes the research before us, it would be worth a lot of seru to sell to another country via the black market. Essentially, it is selling Kiorian research and medicine to a third party. Normally, a citizen such as yourself shouldn’t even be hearing about this information. However, since you are involved in the case and are working with the investigation in a manner of speaking, we are allowing this exception to you.”
“Oh? Lucky me, then.”
Daniel spoke next. “We believe there is more than one person in this group, of course, but we do have our suspects. If we can find one suspect, then all the rest should fall into place, yes?”
“So that is why we are here today. With a sample of your blood, we would be that much closer to solving this case, and finding out what happened to you, Varhi.” Alyxa offered, unclasping her hand and gesturing it to him in offering. “We could get justice for what happened to you, and for your parents, and you would be that much closer to figuring out your memories and your past—”
“I do not give consent to this.”
The room became frozen in surprised silence at Varhi's denial that cut-in through Alyxa's speech. Eseras, though silent the entire time, glared at him.
Varhi calmly reached into his satchel to pull out his helmet visor, and slipped it onto his head. Now he had it on...
He stood up from the table and placed his hands on top of it, leveling his height with the four people across from him who were still seated. His violet eyes became an icy glare of defiance. “You’re correct. You could find my 'blood type' and perhaps find links to people who could give me a blood transfusion if what you said is true… if it was true... but that’s not all you are after, nor is it what you’ll do. So cut the bullshit.” He claimed, and gave a look directly towards Alyxa. “I may only be twelve, but I've been doing this whole mercenary gig for a while and damn, you’re a really bad actor.”
Alyxa’s face tinted red, and she adjusted her seated position in agitation, still trying to put up appearances like she wasn’t phased. She licked her lips, and glanced at Eseras with her eyes who did not return the gesture, then back at Varhi.
Varhi’s eyes squinted as he glared at Eseras. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. This is twice now you have tried to pull me into some sort of facility, Eseras. Why are you so desperate to drag me in there and lie to me about the reasons of wanting to do so?”
Eseras said nothing, just watching him, her gaze was still unnerving, but it was also resolute and calm.
“Do you know what I think?” Varhi questioned openly to nobody in particular, “It’s all... too convenient. People go missing on the streets, never to be seen again.
More scrying lenses are deployed, and yet nothing is still seen.
Even more are set up, yet nothing is conveniently ever noticed.
Everybody goes disappearing in a place that is all around the city, connected and intertwined with it, and yet, nobody but very specific people are allowed to enter into...
The situation itself is too perfect. The excuse for how they’re disappearing, too perfect. Your reasoning for wanting my blood is too perfect. And finally, your apparent interest in me?” Varhi growled, his eyes practically glowing with ire.
“...It is too perfect.”
* * *
Sairek continued to stare for a long time. Regenar’s eyes had flicked onto him and Cyial both.
Sairek gently took Cyial’s hand back into his own, both for reassurance, but to guide Cyial to the other side of the bed with him, the side free from the medical equipment. Regenar’s eyes followed them. Slowly, Sairek lay his staff on the ground in the grass next to the bed and knelt himself down, sitting on his knees. Cyial soon followed him after. Sairek placed his hands with a bit of weight onto the bed, studying Regenar again. Considering his condition, Regenar managed to speak fairly clearly, if quietly and weakly.
“I must look horrible to you. This is not my finest moment…”
Sairek appraised him a third time, then looked back into his eyes. “...To be honest, compared to what I remember happening to my mother, you look pretty good. I was expecting... something different. Something worse.” He replied, giving a weak, reassuring smile.
Regenar managed to offer a weak smile of amusement back. It bewildered Sairek how he could manage to do that. “It seems, despite this… this cancer, Melina Ceareste managed to birth a healthy son, even without the advantages that I have...”
“I…” Sairek’s chest tightened, and he sighed, frowning slightly. “I’m sorry to get straight to the point before pleasantries are even finished, but I have to know… Why did you request an audience with me?”
“I want to talk… about many things.” Regenar said, then glanced towards the window without moving his head. “I don’t have much else going for me these days. My end is coming soon… I give myself a few more weeks at best.”
“Is—Is that so?” Sairek asked, biting his bottom lip.
Regenar gave a nod that was so slight, Sairek nearly missed it. “As strange as it sounds… You are probably the only one in the world who understands my… situation the most. Other than your Father, perhaps, but…”
“My… My Father still blames Kior for what happened…” Sairek frowned.
“What about you?”
“...I don’t know what happened. It’d be less stressful to have a target to blame, for sure. To have someone to curse into the void for robbing me of my mother, but at the end of the day, we are all victims of national tragedies. It’s not like I believe you are the one who did it, anyway, if there even is a perpetrator to blame... My father's blame... his hate for what happened... it has torn him and I apart.”
“What a thoughtful lad you are… but I am sorry that it has impacted you so negatively...” Regenar smiled bitterly. "Your voice tinges with guilt."
"...I'm not entirely blameless, perhaps..." Sairek admitted dryly.
"Not that..."
Sairek winced. Even with his mask up, he was being seen right through.
"Your voice also etches with concern... Fear not; the disease is not contagious... It never has been. Believe me, I would have known by now. It was not your fault, and you won't get it either..."
"E-Even when she was sick when she was pregnant...?" Sairek whispered.
"Yes... I do not have the time... I cannot explain why, but I beseech you to please believe me on this."
Sairek bit his bottom lip and hiccupped. His eyes watered with welling tears. For years since his mother had died, he always dreaded in the back of his mind that perhaps, just maybe, it might happen to him... Regenar was speaking to him with such conviction, that burden he has felt for the most of his life was lifted off of his shoulders.
Sairek didn't trust his voice. He merely nodded.
Seeing Sairek was in no state for further conversation at the moment, Regenar's eyes fixed onto Cyial instead. “Well? How about you...? Your presence here despite my orders makes it clear who you are to the young Prince... Do not be afraid to speak up as well..."
“Uh, um…” Cyial stalled.
“Ah, yes... You are free to remove the collar and bracer here… I am a dead man anyway. Do not worry... It will not trip any alarms here.”
Sairek swiftly and wordlessly pushed the button on the bracer and pulled it off of his arm. At the same time, the collar released from Cyial, and he eased a breath, slipping the instrument up over his head. “M-My name is Cyial Rylai, sir…”
“Sir?” Regenar began hacking and coughing. Sairek tensed up and moved a hand to try and steady him, but the hacking turned into laughter, and he eased back. Cyial frowned, and his face tinged red. “My apologies...” Regenar said sincerely, clearing his throat. “You are so polite and full of manners. Such a good quality to have these days… and unfortunately becoming so rare… You two are a good match for each other.”
“Uh, y-you can tell?” Sairek stammered, embarrassed.
“I’ve had nothing to do but observe people for over a decade... I have become a pretty good judge of character.” Regenar said, clearing his throat. “My later teenage years, and my entire adulthood... I’ve been strapped to this bed, failing my people… unable to rule, while those who wish to usurp me pretend to rule under me, enact terrible fascist policies under the guise of my kindness... I am a King with no authority. A pawn to my very own subjects I am supposed to lead and rule to glory…”
Sairek and Cyial were both silent. Regenar seemed to need a moment to catch his breath, as if the act of speaking so much was winding him. “That Eseras… She is truly a vile one... Even when I was a little boy, I could sense her determination to rise in the seat of power. She has been here ever since I was born. She works diligently, with determination, but she is after the throne, I can tell… But her motives are driven by selfless desire and power.
It is thanks to her that I am kept alive this long, though, but I wouldn’t trust her if I were you... Knowing her, she probably hauled you into some kind of contract. She desperately tried to keep information about your arrival a secret from me. Thankfully, at least a few of my subjects remain faithful to me, willing to be my eyes and ears…”
Sairek and Cyial both looked at each other. Sairek began to have a sinking feeling in his stomach, but he ignored it for now. “She did… Well, my entire group, really. A favor for information is what it boils down to. But it’s not my information she wants. She wants one of my friends’ information instead... Maybe him entirely.”
Sairek then proceeded to tell him everything about Varhi and their situation in needing their boat repaired, though leaving out details about the trip to Masirean as a whole.
“I see… She has roped you in very well indeed. I will order the contract to be absolved, and will have the ship continue to be repaired.” Regenar said. “All dock hands will be sent to repair it so it will be finished before the end of the day. Everyone available will handle it with the most urgency...”
“R-Really?” Cyial asked, astonished. “Just like that?”
“Consider it a thank you for visiting me... and a warning to stay away from—” Regenar began, then cleared his throat. “Hm, I’m terribly sorry… My throat is quite parched. Could you give me some water? Eseras would normally arrive, but she is otherwise engaged, it would seem...”
“Sure, I’ve done it before.” Cyial offered, shifting his position to stand as he pulled out a flask from his robe. He helped steady Regenar’s head, and slowly tipped the water from the flask onto his lips. Sairek could see even from here how caked and dry there were. Regenar looked much more relieved with the liquid entering his body.
Every couple of sips, Cyial would pull back, giving him a chance to breathe, or request he stop, but Regenar kept drinking until the entire flask was drained. “Hrm, thank you…” The Kiorian King said, a bit wearily. “You must be trying to become a doctor, or a healer... How strange for a demon… but I applaud you for it.”
Cyial’s face flushed slightly again at the praise. “I, I was born in the Overworld, but I don’t have any idea who my biological parents are. The monastery in Lamen more or less took me in, even if some of the members were… unwilling. Father Abbot—Err, the Head Abbot, has always treated me well, at least.”
“Indeed… Unfortunately us humans are not very friendly with your kind... Kior’s leverage over them was something I was hoping to change, but there is not much I can do given my health… I am afraid that once I am gone, it will only get worse for them under Eseras' rule...” Regenar paused for a moment, before looking back to Sairek. “Do you... have your copy of the contract with you?”
“Uh—” Sairek faltered. “...Eseras... never... gave us a copy...”
Regenar clucked his tongue. “Of course, she ‘forgot’. Ah, no matter… If she argues, I will object otherwise. I can do at least that much… While I am still King, she isn’t above the law, after all, at least for now.” Regenar coughed. “She still… needs to play by the rules, for a while longer…”
Sairek and Cyial exchanged quick looks at each other. Sairek was getting more uncomfortable in his stomach. “I don’t understand. If she is such an awful person, how did she climb in the government, and is next in line to be ruler?” He questioned.
“A good question… Unfortunately, not one I can quite fully answer in detail. Like I said, she has been working in the palace before I was even born, however…” Regenar paused, clearing his throat, swallowing and licking his lips. Sairek and Cyial waited patiently until he resumed. “...Like Ceareste, a bloodline rules over the country. Of course, that is only while the bloodline lasts…
“Eseras has been Prime Minister for quite some time, shortly before my parents passed. With myself being the last of the bloodline, if I fall, then the Prime Minister would automatically be elected as the next ruler. That bloodline succeeds over the previous... There are indeed many who do not like her, though. However, that’s not how Kior selects its next governor. It has been this way for centuries...”
“Well, she has a motive for letting you die, but you said previously that thanks to her, you’ve been able to live up to now?” Cyial questioned in confusion. “Why would she work hard to keep you alive if your death would benefit her?”
Regenar let out a chortling cough. “I am her guinea pig, that’s why, boy. She can run her experiments on me right under the city's nose... I am useful to her dead, yes... but I am even more useful to her alive..."
“E…Experiments?” Sairek asked quietly.
“She can do whatever she wants to me… And she can do it all under the guise of desperately trying to keep me alive, or to cure my disease…
“She is a dangerous woman, lad… It’s the Kiorian throne she wants… No, no… She is after something far greater. I’ve seen it in her eyes…”
Regenar began to have a small coughing fit. Sairek reached down to grab for his staff, holding it tightly. He was beginning to tremble. He looked at Cyial again, who was returning the glance with a knowing expression.
“What kind of experiments does she do…?” Cyial whispered.
* * *
Daniel let out a chortling laugh towards Varhi, his expression breaking out into a fanatical grin. “Look at you! The cogs within your mind are spinning, spinning! Fwuuwuuwuu~” He said giddily, twirling an index finger around his ear rapidly to mimic the rotation of said ‘cogs’. “Ah, but the cogs do not connect for you just yet, yes?”
“My ‘cogs’ are about to connect straight to your face if you insult my intelligence like that again.” Varhi replied dryly, gripping the table tightly. "It's pretty obvious that the people who caused me to initially go missing are standing right in front of me, or at least have a heavy part that fucking played into it. What kind of sham is this making me run around the city to remember how I got punted in the head for anyway if you already know the answer?"
“Pof! You have more spunk than I expected!” Daniel said, throwing his hands up in mock surrender.
“...Don’t you think you are getting a little bit ahead of yourself, Varhi Vloyis?” Eseras asked him calmly, confidently. “There is actually one more member I have yet to introduce you to. Well… perhaps ‘re-introduce’ would be more accurate.”
“Re-introduce…?” Varhi asked cautiously.
“Does the name ‘Ozwald Rominav’ perhaps tickle your lost memories, Varhi Vloyis?” Eseras asked.
At the mere mention of the name, Varhi’s head rang with a splitting headache, enough that it caused him to stumble and nearly collapse back into his seat. He managed to keep himself upright by pressing his weight against the table, trying to hide the pain, but the grimace was clear on his expression.
Why did just hearing such a name spike such a massive headache like when he tried so hard to remember something...? It was like his consciousness just... slipped; like it had just been shoved hard.
“Hmm. There was no expression of recognition, and yet It looks like something within you remembers that name, even if you yourself do not.” Eseras smirked. “Ozwald works under me, but he is the richest man in all of Kior, although, much like our King, he is unfortunately not in good health, which is why he is not here today. Their problems are however, quite separate. However, thanks to my research Alyxa's experiments, he is still alive, longer than would be expected...”
“The three of us were all hired by him…” Daniel continued, becoming serious once again. “He is funding Eseras' very important research… Research that could change the very nature of humanity!"
Daniel cracked a wicked smile, his tone once more becoming jovial, and yet... still remaining a dark, serious undertone. "I confess, the research doesn't interest me so much as witnessing the resulting mayhem! Death... destruction... disease... All of the fine things the modern world offers us, hmm~?”
“You do know how us humans are limited and bound to Yggdrasil, yes?” Rochelle asked Varhi, but didn’t wait for his answer other than his violet eyes flicking over to regard her behind his hand grasping at the pain within his forehead. “We humans are all pitifully bound and shackled to the world tree. If we leave its boundaries, our souls will eventually disappear without Yggdrasil’s guidance and grace.”
“But with Eseras' research and Ozwald's funding, we may be able to surpass and break the very bonds of our creation – to transcend our limited mortality!” Alyxa chirped excitedly, leaning forward on the table towards Varhi, a fanatic and wild look within her eyes as she was unable to contain her visceral excitement. “We could solve both the physical and spiritual limitations of our very bodies to stop not only our bodies from decomposing during the death state, but even do the same for our souls! We could potentially solve the process of aging or have death be just a temporary problem!”
“Ugh… The lot of you are nuts...! You are seriously thinking of tampering with the life cycle—!?” Varhi grunted, holding his left hand up to his head, trying to stop the splitting headache that was coursing through it. “I don’t care what you can "solve…" I’m not allowing you to experiment with my blood…!” He hissed.
“That is unfortunate, but really, we already have your blood.” Alyxa said, her demeanor confident, a smirk on her face. “If I recall correctly Varhi, before you entered the city, you and your friends were boarded on a military ship to which you were treated for a serious case of lethal poisoning, were you not?”
“That’s—” Varhi flinched. Ignoring his headache, he slammed both of his fists onto the table angrily. “Even as far as last week, you bastards had people ready to take my blood without my consent before we even entered the city!?” He raged.
"It was the same ship eye witness reports had described of a young boy looking very, very similar to you..." Eseras crooned in a way Varhi hadn't ever heard from her before. That made his stomach lurch from the uncanny tone of her voice.
“What makes me so damn important to you all—?!” Varhi demanded.
"You were the only one so far that has succeeded beyond expectations." Rochelle stated.
"The only one who has come back from beyond 'certain death'. Memories missing and damaged, but otherwise alive and well!" Alyxa grinned. "My experiment... I am so proud of you!"
Varhi felt more nausea in his stomach from hearing that. He glared at her with an icy stare. "Your experiment? Fuck you... Just what did you people do to me and my body—!?"
“Varhi, Alyxa and I saved your life...” Rochelle reassured him disguised empathy. “You were involved in an accident. You would have passed on without our help and the meticulous research we have done ... Our research and experiments saved you. You are living, breathing, walking and talking; and it is all thanks to us.”
"We saved you from death, boy." Alyxa stated with a wicked smile. "You are living proof that the experiments work. That my work has merit!"
“No... I don’t—”
“You saw the damage on the street for yourself, yes?" Daniel cut in. "A small poor pale boy… forgot to look to both sides of the road before crossing the street, and… pof! Hit by a coach dead on! I've even seen it myself— a small boy's head was practically split open... Admittedly. It wasn't on purpose... Ah— do not worry; the one who hit you, he was conscripted into the experiments himself as punishment. Errm, a pity he did not survive them... but not a big pity.”
Varhi clenched his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut, shaking his head. “I… I don’t believe you…!” Varhi forced out through clenched teeth. “It wasn’t… an accident… It’s...!”
“Your parents too, were a part of my team initially, you know.” Alyxa informed him, causing Varhi's eyes to snap back open to stare at her. “They begged Ozwald, Eseras and I to do anything to save their poor, dead son at first. We did everything we could to save you. Honestly, I didn’t think anything we would try would work, but…” Alyxa gestured with a hand and let out a chuckle. “W-Well.. Here you are…! And with an inexplicably astounding constitution to boot! Better than new, if you pardon the memory loss -- a small price to pay, really...”
“No…!” Varhi shook his head, refusing to accept it.
"The problem is that we don't know why it worked so well with you! We've retrace our steps on other individuals, but they don't come back like you did..." Alyxa continued, ignoring the boy's declarations of denial.
"NO!" Varhi shouted with as much defiance as he could muster. "That... That's bullshit! If what you are saying was true, then why were both of my parents killed—!?”
Eseras clucked her tongue. “A... regrettable outcome, Varhi Vloyis. You’d think they’d be grateful for us saving you, and initially they were; but they just couldn't let the accident go. They got stupid. They started making threats to the wrong people -- to Ozwald and I. Complaining how you just wasn't 'the same' anymore, despite that being the normal for prolonged dead individuals even through the normal means. Regardless though, the research we are doing is considered taboo if it got out to the public...” Eseras answered him in a low, dangerous voice.
“I cannot afford to lose my position as Prime Minister and have that position threatened, even at the slightest provocation, Varhi Vloyis. We are doing very important work that, unfortunately, the general public just won’t understand until it is ready. Sometimes a few sacrifices need to be made to save thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives— sacrifices to save our King from death... The same thing that, if I recall, took the Cearestian Queen's life, no?”
Eseras raised a hand towards Varhi. "Unfortunately, I do not think the Cearestian Prince is at an age enough to understand the importance of the work I am doing. Perhaps in time, however—
“Fuck you!" Varhi spat angrily. "Just who do you take him for? Take me for!? And who decided that you get to play judge, j-jury… a-and… Aghah!”
Varhi’s legs buckled, gripping his head in both hands, nearly accidentally prying his helmet off as the headache, that feeling like a sword was going through his head, caused his consciousness to waver, his vision to double, and then triple.
Alyxa was saying something to him, but he couldn't understand it. Everything was too reverberated and echoing within his ears. But whatever she was saying to him, it was interrupted.
Rap, rap.
...A sudden sharp knock on the door.
The room fell into abrupt silence, save for Varhi, growling in pain and heavily breathing. The three subjects of Eseras turned their heads in quick sharp motions towards the door. Eseras however moved her head slowly and coolly. “Daniel, you are the closest. If you would; tell whoever it is that we are busy discussing important matters, and that we are not to be disturbed again, else they will be severely reprimanded.”
“Yes, madam.” Daniel offered, pulling his chair out to stand and walking jauntily to the door as he pulled it open. “Hello~! Madam Eseras politely asks to not be disturbed and—
...Oh?
Oh.
Oh, I see.”
Daniel looked away and craned his posture away from the door to look behind himself and towards Eseras. “...It is the Cearestian Prince. I'm afraid your threats of unemployment do not work on him.”
“Ngh…?” Varhi grunted, managing to look up past his hands as the door abruptly swung open from Sairek pushing it aside forcefully and walking forward, causing Daniel to have to back up a little, surprised by Sairek’s sternness to enter the room. Cyial and Nayleen were both behind him, trying to look past him to see into the room, though they didn't enter it like him.
Seeing Varhi’s apparent state, Sairek’s eyes widened in alarm, but he quickly corrected his expression before he turned to look directly at Eseras, his expression quickly going back to neutral. “...Your King has absolved our group’s contract, stating that what we have done is more than enough. As such, Varhi isn’t required to be here anymore, should he not wish to be. All of our work with you is now concluded.”
There was a long, uncomfortable silence as Sairek stood, holding the door open with his left hand and clutching his staff tightly in his right, awaiting her answer and response. Eseras slowly turned from looking at Varhi towards Sairek, then back towards Varhi. There was an expression in her eyes, one of wanting to fight, as she looked back to Sairek once again, but seeing the stern glint in his eyes that weren't hidden by his masked neutral expression, the fight softened into acceptance, knowing that the Prince was not lying.
“... ...I see. I will choose to believe you. In that case, you are dismissed, Varhi Vloyis.” Eseras conceded. “Remember however, that this investigation and all information pertaining to it is a governmental matter, and thus by law, anything you say cannot be said to the public or to the Neutral Council, or it will be seen as treason. Is that understood?”
Varhi glared at her, sweat coating his face and neck. With shaky, stumbling steps, but moving with surprising haste, Varhi wordlessly walked towards Sairek and past the others through the door. Sairek glanced behind himself to look at Varhi, but turned back towards the room. He regarded Daniel, then Rochelle, then Alyxa, before finally settling back on Eseras.
“...I will be taking my leave now as well. There is no need to see us out. Have a good rest of the day, Prime Minister and company. We thank you for your hospitality.” Sairek said through forced politeness, stepped backwards, then moved to close the door gently.
When the door closed, he dropped his visage and moved towards Varhi, though Cyial and Nayleen through the hallway were already holding him as Varhi's weight practically collapsed into them as they walked away from the door. “Varhi...!" He hissed in a whisper. "Are you okay? What did—”
“No, not now… We need to get out of here—out of Kior. Now…” Varhi hissed in a hoarse whisper, his voice sounding broken. “Seriously… We are in danger, all of us. Sairek. We need to leave the city... Immediately...”
“I still have absolutely no idea what’s going on.” Nayleen hissed, annoyed.
Sairek gave her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry Nayleen, but Varhi’s right. We need to leave right now. We need to get back to the apartment, pack our things and get whatever last minute supplies we can before boarding a train to the docks where the ship is being held. We’re leaving Kior right now.” He told her in a hushed voice.
“Well, you don’t have to tell me twice. They wouldn’t even let me near the door.” Nayleen muttered, helping Varhi walk with Cyial’s assistance. “How did you even get them to let you through anyway?”
“Later,” Sairek insisted. “I’m serious, we need to get Varhi and ourselves out of here, urgently. We’re in danger. Eseras is not going to let this slide.” He said as he began walking forwards to lead them out. "If we're not out of here, Eseras may find some excuse to keep us here and then we'll never be able to leave. Maybe not even that...! I am confident she will just outright break the law—I don't know... Just come on, Nayleen...!"
“Ugh!” Nayleen grunted in annoyance at having none of her questions answered. Regardless though, she was more than willing. “Can you at least tell me that you know which direction you are going in?”
“Yes. Cyial is remembering them in his head, which is why I need you to be quiet so he can concentrate please.” Sairek replied dryly.
“O-Oh... Sorry.”
Maintaining her silence, she let Cyial lead them through the palace. Sairek soon helped with moving Varhi, urging them to go faster. All three of them were practically carrying Varhi, getting rather curious and strange looks from soldiers, even though Sairek couldn’t see under their masks. They moved through the palace walls and towards the exit.
“Are you okay? Do you need any assistance?” Someone would ask now and then.
“No thank you. He’s just not feeling well. We’ll be alright though.” Nayleen would dissuade soldiers who approached them.
Eventually they helped Varhi board the zeppelin, and climbed on with him, with Sairek requesting the staff that they take them back to The View district. Once they were seated, this time without a bunch of Eseras’ guards overlooking them, Nayleen took a quick glance around to make sure they were alone once the zeppelin finally roared to life for take off, masking their voices from any potential eavesdroppers. Regardless, she leaned towards Sairek to speak in a hushed tone. “What the heck is going on, you guys?”
“Our talk with Kior’s King was… extremely informative.” Sairek began to explain. “First off, Eseras is dangerous. Really dangerous. We all knew that—we severely underestimated how dangerous she really is. And she is dangerous to Varhi most of all; more than we ever suspected.”
“Okay. Cool. Figured that out already just by looking at how he is right now. Whyyy—?” Nayleen stressed in a frustrated tone.
“Well… to start from the beginning, we just… talked for a little at first. Mostly about each other. It was brief... Well, I'll explained that at another time... Before long, he talked about Eseras, and how she goaded us into a contract. He absolved it. Then he kept talking about Eseras… The type of person she is, how she came to be Prime Minister and finally; who she is as a person.” Sairek began to explain. “She’s a cruel, calculating individual, Nayleen, who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. No boundaries exist in accomplishing her goals. Nothing.”
“You’re starting to make Avotash sound good in comparison.” Nayleen commented dryly.
“He is. She is completely unethical, Nayleen.” Sairek growled in clear hate, his hands gripping his staff shook. “I’ll tell you exactly what the King of Kior himself told us;”
* * *
“What kind of experiments does she do…?” Cyial whispered.
“Oh, what doesn’t she do would be a better question, lad...” Regenar chortled with a snorting hack of a cough. “I may be strapped to my deathbed, but even I still hear the rumors… She has joined forces with a secretive organization in the city that is researching medical knowledge, however, many of their practices are quite taboo… Many of their hospitals they run in the city are legitimate on the surface, but I am sure somewhere, they do research that is quite… extreme.”
“I suppose you would have done something already if you could have…” Sairek replied.
“Of course… Between Eseras and the richest man in the city, an ‘Ozwald Rominav’, they can pretty much do whatever they want… Seru is no obstacle, laws are overlooked, investigations search but ultimately and conveniently turn up nothing, and with the best intelligent minds to do the dirty work, they can do it all under the guise of trying to save… me.” Reginar’s face became hollow and exasperated. “I shudder to wonder how many innocent people have had their lives ruined and destroyed… all to “save me”... an already dead man, being prevented from passing onto Yggdrasil. How many people’s blood must I endure being suffered through my veins to hold off the inevitable, all to be used as an excuse as a cover for that dirty witch’s research…!?”
Regenar was reduced to practically nothing more than wailing and sobbing. Sairek and Cyial looked at each other in horror. Moving to stand up, Cyial tried to reach over and calm Regenar for a few minutes, but it was no use. He gave up with a sigh. “...He’s too gone. He’s having a mental traumatic breakdown from stress.”
“U-Uh… Is he going to be okay?” Sairek stared, horrified.
Cyial glanced towards the machinery hooked up to him. “I, um, probably physically, I think so… f-for now, because of those.” He said, pointing to the machinery. “Though I’m not sure he even wants to be…? If this was a normal patient of mine, this would be when we would sedate them...”
“We… We can’t mercy kill him. Even at his request, that would be… catastrophic.” Sairek whispered shakily. “That would spark an immediate war if we ‘killed’ Kior’s King…”
Cyial's form shook at that thought. “I— I know. I think it’s time for us to go... I don't want to leave him like this but— but Varhi is in danger.”
“How are we even going to find him?” Sairek questioned.
Cyial signaled at the lack of collar around his neck. “Magic works here. It’s unaffected by the dome. After having my signals suppressed for a week, I can sense everything quite... acutely. I can find him if we get close enough. We just need to retrace our steps to where we saw Nayleen and Cyial separate from us and follow the direction we saw them head towards.”
* * *
“We found you Nayleen, and you of course lead us straight to where Varhi was.” Sairek finished retelling his and Cyial’s story of what happened.
“Eseras has been using the King as a live guinea pig for experimental medical treatment. The non-ethical kind.” Cyial explained to her. “He literally told us this himself. The reason why the disease hasn’t killed him yet is probably because of these experiments. And... all of those missing people are probably subject to similar experiments... Shit, she may even be using the same 'disease' that... that..." Cyial trailed off with an exasperated shake of his head.
“These experiments…” Varhi spoke in a low tone, that it was hard to hear him over the noise of the airship. “...They wouldn’t happen to be the same experiments they performed on me… were they?”
“I, I don’t know…” Sairek frowned at him in sympathy. “I don’t know if they’re testing on the King as a result of the experiments on you succeeding or what… but it sounds like to me they want your blood and ultimately, you, because the experiments succeeded on you. Possibly a fluke, but to them it’s proof that something is working. It’s… most likely they were trying to keep you locked up to experiment on further, to find out why it worked on you, but it sounds like you managed to escape. You’re not frail and weakened like Regenar is...”
“They already have my blood, Sairek… They took a sample when I was being treated for the poison on the military ship… remember…?”
“...Dammit...” Sairek cursed. “There’s nothing we can do about that now, though.”
Varhi looked slowly towards Cyial, his violet eyes had a weariness to him. “I guess you were right. It wasn’t normal. I’m not normal. I’m a guinea pig. My extreme constitution is just a result of being experimented on. Probably my strength too for that matter…”
“Varhi—” Cyial tried.
"I... I've already died. They revived me because of those experiments... They killed me, took my corpse and they... they..."
"V-Varhi...!" Cyial tried again.
“Tch…! My 'strength'? It's not from ‘hard work’. It’s not from my ‘determination’. I was just fucking altered this way…!” Varhi cursed, clenching his teeth. “They’re the ones who caused my amnesia… They’re the ones who killed my parents… They’re the ones who kidnapped me… THEY are why I’m like this…!”
“Shhh,” Nayleen tried to sooth, reaching over to Varhi’s seat and wrapping her arms around him in an attempt to calm him, but it didn’t help much.
“They lead us around like damn pawns…! They wanted me to remember just enough to get a taste! It was all a guise; a bait so I’d go with them!” Varhi cried angrily, burying his face into his hands.
Nayleen still tried to hopelessly soothe him. She looked up at Sairek, a helpless expression on her face. “Can’t we do anything?”
“Like… Like what?” Sairek asked.
“I… I don’t know, bring it up to the neutral council—anything?”
“W-With what evidence, Nayleen?” Sairek demanded more harshly than he intended to. “S-Sorry. The… The only evidence would be Regenar’s testimony and he is in no condition to even make one. Even he doesn’t know if he’s going to be alive in the next couple of weeks...! By the time a trial starts, he may very well be dead, or Eseras could just let him die if it would be so much convenient for her so he couldn't testify anything. We don’t have any evidence aside from that.
They could just deny everything anyway. Even if things were found out to the council, they could just disguise the reasons as desperate attempts to save the King. As taboo as it is, it wouldn’t amount to anything. I’m not sure they could, or would do anything even if we did have evidence. And once Eseras becomes Queen, it won’t matter anyway. She will be above the laws themselves and any who are working under her word. The only other solution to protest what they're doing would be war…”
“Urghhh…” Nayleen groaned.
“All… All we can do now is get out. They’re going to come after Varhi soon if we loiter. Possibly all of us. I don’t want any of us to be missing faces on any of those broadcasts…!” Sairek said tensely through gritted teeth.
“Even so, this isn’t going to be easy. The ship is on the other side of the city and we have a long way to get there. By train alone, that would take eight hours. And then we have to go through registration to leave the city. They won’t let anyone in or out otherwise.” Nayleen explained. “I don’t know how long it would take to order troops in the city from the palace, but it definitely isn’t ‘eight hours’ long.”
“We’re on the way to Yggdrasil. It gives us a little bit of leeway. With me being the Prince of Ceareste, it gives us even more…” Sairek thought out loud, sweat beginning to bead along his temples as he rattled his young brain to desperately unravel possible ways to get out of the situation. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to think harder. “We… We’ll get our stuff from the apartment and will depart immediately. Varhi, what district would the ship be docked in?”
“The Cloud District…” Varhi answered in a quiet mutter.
“That’s the most northeast district of the city. Literally across from where we are; southwest...” Nayleen reminded him.
“Okay, okay…” Sairek breathed. He felt Cyial move a hand to his back and gently rub it up and down. It helped calm Sairek down some; as it usually did. “We’ll grab our stuff, and head directly to the Cloud district. There’s pretty much no use trying to zig-zag away, they can monitor us anyway with the scrying lens. With any luck, Regenar will do what he can to obstruct any of Eseras’ orders if he is in any condition to do so…”
“We’re relying on luck? Sairek—” Nayleen protested.
“Not luck. My gut.” Sairek interjected, then glanced at Varhi before looking back to Nayleen. “If there’s anything he can do to screw Eseras over, this would be it; letting us leave Kior when she wants to prevent us from doing so. The last 'fuck you' he can give to her is letting Varhi get out of the city. She probably knew this was coming. It’s why she was annoyed when Cyial insisted everyone come to the palace. She wanted to cut us off and separate us. She wanted to control us and have us not be able to act. Possibly even wanted to take one of us as leverage so we wouldn’t leave...
“She didn’t get that, and now Regenar has absolved the contract so we are under no more legal obligation to stay or fulfill it. He’s done everything so far to protect us and to sabotage Eseras, Nayleen. We have to hope he can continue to do so, and if not…”
“Alright,” she conceded, “it’s not like I have a better plan after all…” She glanced down towards Varhi, who was staring down at the floor, his helmet visor shadowing his face. “Hey… Varhi, it’ll be alright, okay? We’ll get them back for this. It… It just won’t be today.”
Varhi didn’t respond. Nayleen wrapped an arm around his form and pulled him close again. He didn’t resist her, merely closing his violet eyes, bitterly accepting the cruel reality of his situation.
A cruel reality that was worse than he ever imagined.
Why couldn’t he listen to his own advice…?
