THE SAND CHRONICLES, CHAPTER 9
He walked cautiously, the silence of the night making his steps a little audible.
He arrived at the place, using a transmigration technique, crossing the wall and appearing in a dark place where there were only a couple of torches, and around him eleven individuals, sitting in an open circle, covered from end to end, being it barely recognizable that they were human.
"You're late," one of the unknown figures in the room, located in the center, reproachfully said, "I was about to send for you."
"I apologize for the delay, the planned took more time than expected, but I managed to meet the target, we agreed a congregation," replied the newcomer, bending on his knees in the middle of them; He also wore a full-body tunic, leaving only the lower part of his face visible.
"So, you mean they fell for the trap?" Objected another of the beings in the room, his voice a thick and slow tone, hinted that it was an old man.
"Not entirely, but the first steps are already taken, it will only be hard to convince them with a bit of talk and tears, they are so idealistic and naive that it will be enough," said the character that was on its knees.
"But can you do it?" Inquired another of the beings with distrust. "We can not risk it, the best thing is that you act with the help of someone else and ..."
"It will not be necessary, it will be enough with me," said the character in the tunic with his face uncovered. "We should not get more accomplices in this, if we do, we will leave many loose nails once we try to erase what will happen, there is no risk if I act in solitude, in fact, our victims will see it more convincingly."
The characters around her began to murmur, there were many who disagreed and in favor. It was the center being, the one who had spoken first, who spoke again.
"We'll leave it in your hands, again, I know you will not fail. You already know where to take the papers that you will present in your favor. We will meet in the afternoon, in the same place where we keep our joker. You can go."
The others present remained silent, a decision had already been made.
The character in the tunic nodded after hearing her new mandate, stood and walked in the same direction from which she had emerged. She was about to cross the wall when the leader of the strangers spoke again.
"Wait. I know you already know it, but don't think of acting on your own, modifying the plan to your rebellious act. The slightest mistake can lead to failure, and the first affected will be your brother and I, remember that... Ann."
The character in the tunic, who was turning her back on everyone present, takes off the hood that covered her head, letting her long dark golden hair escape her prison. She turned her face aside and gave a gloomy smile to her leader. Her eyes reflected the soul of someone who seemed to have lost her sanity long ago.
"I know ..." Her voice rang with a demented tone, "but... have faith in me. I assure you that for the next full moon, we will drink the blood of the Sand Clan, in our celebration glasses, and we will dissect their inert bodies as trophies. But, I appreciate your reminder... mother."
The young Taiyō covered her head again and continued on her way, crossing the wall that hid them from the outside world.
Daena put a hand to her head, in acceptance, as she smiled with the gentleness of a lady. You could tell she was proud of the monster she had created and had as a firstborn.
Iderum was invoked, with a gesture from his mistress, he understood what he should do.
He opened his beak as much as possible, inviting the redheaded one to hide in it.
"I knew they would come, but I did not think it would be so fast, Kazekage move," the Taiyō said seriously. Seeing that he was slow to act, she pulled him by the arm and pushed him into the mouth of the beast, which swallowed him roughly. "Iderum, minimize yourself and keep the Kazekage conscious, it is necessary that he listens to everything that will happen here, lend him your senses," she ordered.
Gaara came out of the commotion that had flooded him, he was conscious floating in a space of luminous color, surrounded by nothingness.
"What's going on? Where I am?" Asked the redheaded one.
"You are in the vortex of space/time that is inside me, do not worry, I won't eat you, but I must warn you not to think about anything. Close your eyes and I'll give you the chance to see what's happening now, on the outside, Daena and her entourage of scientists just arrived and are talking to my mistress," said Iderum, who appeared at his side in the borrowed form of the younger brother of the Medical Chief.
The redhead looked perplexed at the entity that appeared next to him, and closed his eyes, as he had been indicated.
He could see Daena-san talking to her subordinates, while giving them directions by looking at the huge tubes. He had the view of the beast, which was perched on the shoulder of its owner.
"I just controlled their basic functions, everything is in order," said the young Taiyō.
"Ah, I've noticed. You arrived early today, tell me what happened," Daena said directly.
Ann remained silent for a few seconds. Then she took out a tiny bottle from one of her pockets, in which you could see three hairs of different colors.
"They fell into the trap, as we had anticipated, although they have not shown it, they are desperate in this situation. I have agreed to meet with them, again, at night, they have ordered me to go to their home, inside the headquarters. While I have been with them, I have been able to appreciate that there are many physical differences between the originals and our clones. I took the opportunity and took a new sample of their DNA. With this we can correct the mistakes." She tossed the small vial to one of the many assistant scientists there.
"Well, I don't understand these things anymore, I left it a long time ago, do what you see fit, make sure you don't make mistakes," the mother said, while looking seriously at the huge tubes and their contents. "On the other hand, you know what you have to do when you go into the Kazekage's headquarters.
Ann nodded slightly.
"Ah, I know. Now I retire, I must prepare myself for what I will do tonight. With your permission, mother."
She started to walk towards the exit.
"Wait, I don't have anything else to do here either," the Taiyō leader objected, "besides, I have to tell you something in private."
Her daughter stopped, waiting for her to reach her.
They walked in silence, they left the place, they crossed the tunnel, reappearing in that uninhabited room, they left there and they stopped in the enormous garden that united that building with the others; the children and their mothers were gone, because the sun was already hiding. In the sky, you could see a reddish mantle and in the air you could feel the coldness that the night would bring, in a couple of hours.
"I hate the sky at this time, it's like feeling those of the sand, above us. It's as if that damned Rasa were still alive, watching us from the sky," Daena said, focusing her annoyed gaze upward.
Anngelius looked at her in silence, the words of her mother seemed indifferent to her.
"If it bothers you so much, when we capture his children, we can eliminate them at this time, so you can feel that he is watching with pain as we annihilate his legacy, she replied calmly, as she plucked a beautiful red rose from those in the garden, she placed it in one hand and extended it to her superior.
"Your lack of sensitivity and extreme cruelty makes me feel that I did not completely fail, with you." She smiled with malice, while closing her eyes, "So I entrust you with that work, you will be the one who frees our Clan from the yoke of oppression with which we have lived since those of the Sand came to our territory," she opened her eyes and approached the rose offered by her daughter, placing her hands on top of it. "Ann, when the day comes and we have "ours" in their leadership positions, I want you to take care of the originals."
Ann opened her eyes in surprise, although she knew she would have to face them, she thought that whoever would end the Kazekage clan would be her mother.
"Mother, I thought you would want to do that. Why do you entrust it to me? I…"
"It's something that includes us both, remember that this is not just a rebellion, it's revenge, "our revenge."" She took her hands and pressed them against her own, causing the beautiful flower to be crushed. "I want you to make them suffer, to clamor for their lives, to torture them, to the extent that they curse being born under that lineage, and to beg for you to end their misery by not bearing the pain that you have to inflict on them," She shook with rage her daughter's hands, causing her to completely destroy the rose and begin to fall in pieces on the floor. "And I want you to bring me the heads of the three children of the Fourth, stuck in a stake... reflecting in their last expressions the pain and the despair," her smile went from malice to madness, transforming her face into that of a grotesque being.
"If that's what Mother wants, I'll fulfill it as she asks," the young Taiyō answered serenely as she took her hands away from her mother's hands and wiped away the remains of the unhappy rose she had destroyed. "Now, I must go to my room, there are some things that I have pending before meeting again with the Kazekage."
The Chief Medical Officer began to walk, leaving her insane mother to fantasize about her madness, in that beautiful garden.
Once in the privacy of her room, she took Iderum from her shoulder with her hands, and placed him in front of her.
"Kazekage, we'll see each other on the roof of your headquarters, after ten o'clock, I guess until then you'll have time to explain everything you saw and heard, to your siblings, Iderum, take him away from here." He nodded earnestly, while she opened the window and let her beast fly.
"Damn witch, I knew she could not be trusted, I always knew she was hiding some dementia behind that face," Kankurō said angrily, crossing his arms and fixing his eyes on the ground, totally worried.
"Wouldn't it be better, now that we have that information, to go to that place and destroy everything? We would have high chances of winning, without mentioning that we have a reason to do so," suggested Temari, while with a cloth, she gave her routine clean to her beloved fan.
Gaara had his eyes focused on a void, in the morning, he had not even the slightest suspicion of what was hidden inside his Village. At times, he had the memories of seeing his clone and those of his older siblings, there, inert in the darkness awaiting their awakening.
"Gaara, are you listening to me?"
The insistent voice of his sister brought him back to reality.
"If we do that, we will have many casualties of civilians, not to mention that at this time we are full of visitors from other villages, due to trade and tourism; I don't want to have to answered for a noble relative of the Feudal Lord who died for the negligence of our actions. Even if we attack them by surprise, they would surely respond effectively in counterattack. We could destroy the village in a matter of minutes..." The redhead replied to Temari's preposterous suggestion.
"And what are we supposed to do then? I refuse to stand by with my arms crossed, waiting for the day someone will come to behead us," the blonde said angrily.
Gaara got up from the couch where he was sitting and went silently to the exit of his residence, leaving behind his worried siblings.
A few minutes passed after he reached the roof. Iderum appeared being mounted by its owner, she jumped from the air, falling firmly and standing, a few meters from the redhead. Iderum descended sharply, then vanished and returned to the tattoo on his mistress's hand.
"Take me to a place where we can have privacy, I've been thinking the last details of our counterattack, there's a lot to explain, so it's best to start right away..."
"Before that, I want to ask you some things, I'm not sure we can trust you, blindly, not now..." the Kazekage said while looking at her with his inquisitive gaze that characterized him.
Ann watched him with the same face.
Silence reigned for a few long seconds.
"I know that the information obtained today exceeds what you had expected, but it is what's happening at the moment, we don't have time for doubts, or ..."
"That's what worries me, Ann-sama!" Replied the redhead with the greatest seriousness expressed in his voice. "How do I know we can trust you? How do I know that this is not another trap? Do you really mean to choose to betray your clan, joining the clan to which you previously manifested your hatred? Why do they hate us so much? How the hell did you get those hair samples from us? Not even I, having the sensory ability more advanced than my siblings, could notice the moment in which you stole those hairs from us." He clenched his fists, he felt that the desperation wanted to invade him and he had to control himself.
The young Taiyō looked down at him, although her face was almost expressionless, her eyes became distressed.
"It's true Kazekage, I hate you all. I hate your father and I hate you even though I know you are not to blame for your parent's mistakes. Your family destroyed mine, and you went unpunished for it. Being honest, just seeing your face fixedly, makes the anger and hate accumulate more in me, to the degree of wanting to grab you and destroy your face on the floor, to kill you, and I see your father's reflection in you. I understand that you were also mistreated by him, but that does not matter to me... I do not care to know your history, I do not feel the slightest bit of compassion. Empathy ceased to exist in me, the day I lost one of the beings I loved... it was a loss that could have been avoided, but no, the Fourth Kazekage decided that it was something inevitable..." She clasped her hands in the form of fist due to the pain that caused her to have to talk about "that subject" that tormented her, and that had become noticeable in the tone of her voice.
"And still you want us to trust you? After all the hatred you keep, it would be illogical for you to support us," said the young Kazekage.
"The clones will not be ready to assume their role in all this, if they do not have the memories of the original person to whom they copy," express the Taiyō seriously, "and that is a huge barrier to biotechnology today, it is impossible. But... there is another method to pass the personality and memories from one individual to another, it is a technique developed by my Clan that was practiced in ancient times... the ritual is efficient if it is fulfilled to detail, the one that fulfils it will have at their disposal not only some clones with memories of others, but also faithful slaves who will obey them until death. But all this has a price, the ritual demands the sacrifice of a nobleman of the main branch of the clan, only the soul of a noble is a good payment for the God who grants such unrealism. Currently, there are only three noble people who serve as a sacrifice for this. My mother, my brother and me. And guess who they chose ..."
"Your mother is a monster..." Expressed the redhead, after catching on to what she insinuated.
"I don't want to die. Not yet. I made a promise that I would never leave alone the only being I still love. And this forces me to have to swallow my pride and have to ally myself with the people I hate the most in this life. I don't intend to break my promise, even if I have to betray or even kill my mother," she closed her eyes, before they overflow with tears.
The Kazekage approached her, his serious gaze had disappeared and a slight sorrow now flooded him, with a mixture of decision.
"I have decided to trust your help, I can feel that you still hide many things, but ... I do not judge you, we all have something we want to hide or forget. I am not aware of what my father had to do to have won such hatred from your family, and even less if it is something that can be remedied. But today I need your help, just as you need mine. Let's pact our alliance, together we will destroy Daena-san and avoid your sacrifice. If then you want to confront me and try to delete me from existence out of revenge for the suffering that my family caused to yours, I am willing to assume the duel, but I must warn you that I will not let you defeat me, since I also have reasons why to live. I can understand the love you feel for your younger brother, since I also have two siblings, and although they are a couple of idiots who exasperate my day to day, I can not imagine my life without them. Heavens, it's the first time I say out loud that I love them ..."
He extended his right hand, hoping for a stretched one in order to close his provisional alliance. His face showed great security and determination, and a slight grimace flooded his lips.
The face of the Taiyō showed confusion, all the sorrow that went beyond it had disappeared just by listening to the words that the redhead had dedicated to her. How was it possible that someone had that power of conviction? Who was this subject? Why did his words sound so alive? A strange sensation flooded her, she was sure that she had felt it before. But with whom? Why couldn't he remember it?
"Why do you extend your hand? I don't understand ..." Expressed the blonde, while looking with surprise at that gesture.
"I want as to make a pact out of our verbal alliance, a shake of hands would be the suitable thing," the redheaded one explained.
"I see... Would it be like this?" She extended her right hand a little insecure, she had never done that kind of thing.
"Yes, then we have a deal." He grabbed her hand and held it firmly with his.
She tensed her hand and returned the squeeze. For some reason, the confidence that characterized her returned to her.
"Your hands are bony and somewhat cold, although soft," said with total freedom, Ann.
"Ah, I have that problem with my hands, I have trouble keeping them at a good temperature. Yours are quite warm and somewhat small," the redhead pointed out.
Only a few seconds, more was enough for both of them to agree that their alliance had been their best choice.
"Then, we can continue in the place where the others are, we have much to do and little time for it," expressed the Taiyō.
"Ah. But I'll have to take you in a somewhat annoying way for you. With your permission.
He grabbed her arm, dragging her while he was carrying out the technique of transporting sand, and that's the only way they would get there quickly to the several floors below, where the residence of the sand siblings was located.
It was about to dawn, the first lights of the sun could be seen in the distance.
The tide was high, causing the waves to land hard and putting the shore of the beach in an almost cold environment.
Ann was standing on one of the mini solid rock boulders, which afforded a good view of the beach and the sea. She looked at the horizon, as if waiting anxiously for the first rays of the sun on land.
"Are you sure that acting as a double spy is the best?" Asked Iderum, who was at her side with a bird-in-nest pose, accompanying her to such a rare habit that only she had.
"I do not know. But if I manage to survive until after the next full moon, I can surely live and fulfill my promise ..." Answered calmly, Ann.
Iderum looked at her with empathy, he felt that something in her mistress had changed. She was quite calm, so as not to be subdivided in those other two beings that helped her share her bad emotions and uneasiness.
"I hope that brat, the Kazekage, has not evangelized you to the point of becoming one of his faithful subjects," the beast announced with concern.
His young mistress fixed her gaze on him. And placed one of her hands on his head.
"Don't say nonsense Iderum, this is the peace and calm that you feel before the storm. The best thing is to enjoy it, you never know if it will be our last moments together. Also, if the opportunity presents itself, I will kill the Kazekage..."
End of chapter.
AUTHOR'S NOTE.
Hello! What did you think? Oh, even I'm nerves with what will proceed. xD
Comment anything, I'd like to know what your favorite moments of this chapters are.
A big kiss.