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V
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-A-
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Chapter XI: The Price of Peace
A moth danced in time with the stormy winds, as the throes of the season alternately captured and released the desperate creature, while the insect frantically flitted its hoary wings against the prevalent and violent gale.
A flash of white fur intercepted the moth's failing flight, and a young Absol bore the moth unto the ground, as she stripped the red-eyed wings from its tender body.
"See? There's no difficulty in hunting moths. I still don't understand why you can't manage." The young Absol announced snidely.
"But… It was just flying. It wasn't bothering us. It might have been looking for its home…" A small voice pleaded, and an even younger Absol left his cover in the bushes, as he cautiously approached his older sister.
"Who cares if it was looking for its home? We're Absols. We're the strongest predators in the Core Delta. Why should the strongest care about those weaker than themselves?" The older Absol snarled, as she played with her wingless moth.
"Sister, let it go… Please?" The younger Absol looked down at the helpless insect with pity, while his sister licked at the clear blood that welled from the stumps of its wings.
"Why? It won't live without its wings. It will bleed to death before anything else eats it. Where's the point in letting good meat go to waste?" The older sibling smiled to herself, as her brother's eyes grew wet.
"I don't want you to hurt it-" The younger Absol began in a feeble voice, but his sister had been baiting him for such an answer. Scooping the moth up in between her lips, the older Absol turned to her younger brother with a cruel smile, as the moth flailed desperately against her teeth.
"Sister-!"
The older Absol bit the moth in half, and swallowed the tail end, before she spat its upper body into the grassy mud, and crushed the twitching moth beneath a black-padded paw.
"There you go, little brother. No more pain." The older Absol smiled wickedly at her sibling, as the younger Absol drew himself up in grief.
"...Why did you kill it, sister?" The feeble male asked.
He received her answer with enforced humility, as the older sibling lunged and pinned him to the ground.
"Because I can, little brother. And because it's fun…" The older Absol's voice never lost its gleeful malice, as she pressed her brother's weeping face into the mud.
Tears.
Such weakness.
"You would cry for a moth!?" The older Absol roared as she bit down upon her brother's neck. Twisting her teeth into his skin, the snarling sister wrought a squeal of pain from her younger sibling.
"To think that you will be the Alpha someday… How father can even look at you without turning grey in shame astounds me." The older Absol hissed, finally releasing her weaker brother, yet he did not dare lift his belly from the ground.
"I don't want to be the Alpha…" Moaned the younger Absol. His sister chuckled maliciously, and leaned down to whisper into his ear.
"I don't want you to be the Alpha either, little brother… I'd make a better Alpha than you." The elder sister mocked, as she licked away her sibling's blood, the same blood that she had drawn in her attack.
"Why won't father make you the next Alpha? You're stronger than I am…" A snarl interrupted the younger Absol, as his sister rounded on him in fury.
"I deserve to be the Alpha. Father is the only one who doesn't see it!" Spittle accompanied her livid hiss, as her teeth clenched against some wound deeper than mere pride.
"Sister… I'm sorry-"
"-Don't apologize! Alphas never apologize!" The older sibling spat in anger, as she twisted her brother's ear within her teeth.
"Sister, please! You're hurting me!" The younger Absol begged, and an enraged growl deafened his captive ear.
Yet his sister spat out that imprisoned ear, and freed him from her wrath once again.
"You are weak." The older sister grudgingly muttered, as she gently nudged her brother to his feet. He buried his sobbing face into her shoulder, as he wept in shame and need against her white fur.
"Stop crying, little brother. If father sees you crying again, he'll be angry with us both." The older Absol still muttered, but her voice softened with the warning.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I'm not strong…"
"I said stop crying. And don't apologize. That's even worse than tears." The older sister grumbled, as she pulled herself away from her grieving sibling.
"How can I be an Alpha? How can I be strong?" The younger Absol asked in a despondent voice, as a peal of thunder bowed his shoulders and head with fear.
"You can stop being afraid of the storm season for starters. This is after all, our favorite season…" The elder sibling looked up at the angry skies, and smiled fondly at the lightning.
"But it's so dark. And the thunder is so loud…" The younger Absol moaned, as his sister drew near.
"What about the rains, little brother? Don't you at least like the rain?" She teased, as that malevolent smile spread across her face again.
"No… I don't like getting wet…" The younger whispered, and his elder sibling laughed.
"Then come with me, little brother… Let's go cure you of your fear of rain…"
…
Karst opened her wet eyes.
"Little brother…"
She had failed yet again. The lessons of the past had taught her nothing.
"Solomon… What have I done?" Karst moaned as she curled into herself and wept.
She had pushed him away. She had attacked her dearest friend. She had abandoned him in his trial, all in the vain belief that it would strengthen him.
She should have known better. She, of all people, should have known.
"I'm sorry… little brother…" Karst sobbed.
"I'm sorry… little fish…"
How she hated herself. How could she have repeated the darkest action of her past? How could she have done to Solomon what she had done to her little brother?
"...Karst?" A tiny voice asked in a worried tone.
"Leave me alone." Karst curled into a ball, hiding her watery eyes from the matron's pupil, and stared into the cold nothing she saw beyond the grass.
But the Ralts didn't leave Karst to suffer the guilt and shame alone. The Matron's pupil could see through the Absol's grief.
A pair of tiny arms wrapped around the back of Karst's head, and tiny green cap buried itself in her white mane.
"You're afraid for Solomon, aren't you?" The little one asked. Karst said nothing save for a sniffle, and the Ralts held the Absol's head closer against her frail body.
"He's weak… Solomon is so weak… And I chased him away…" Karst moaned as the Ralts slowly stroked the Absol's ear.
"He's stronger than you think he is, Karst… Solomon is stronger than you know." The Ralts whispered in a soothing voice, and for a moment, Karst's sobbing ceased.
A sound. A giggle. Nasally and shrill.
Soon Karst was laughing, laughing without restraint. Laughing till her sides burned, laughing until the pain in her ribs had gagged her of all breath.
Laughing without mirth. Laughing without hope. Laughing in ridicule of the Ralts's childish reassurance.
"Oh, little one…" Karst wheezed through the pain. The Ralts was looking up at Karst with wounded eyes and a trembling mouth.
"...I wish I knew the world that you see…" Karst began to weep anew, as tears of bitterness welled from between the seams of her tightly sealed eyes.
…
The Alpha approached the water's edge nervously. Every fiber of his being begged him to flee this dreadful fate, but the Pride in his shadow stood tense and alert, as their red eyes followed his every move.
Yet his Pride did not stand ready to defend their Alpha. Rather, his greatest Routers were prepared to prevent his escape.
For the Alpha of the Mightyenas no longer led his Pack…
...Here, in this unfathomable situation, did the Pack lead their Alpa to the water's edge.
-Regardless of his willing consent.
"Gyarados?" The Alpha mustered his strongest voice, and called out to the still river that ran through the heart of his land.
As if summoned from the savage past, an awful shape lifted the river in a swell as it slowly broke free of the water's surface.
The Alpha's Pride fell back with a nervous whining, and the Pack beyond them shuddered in a collective breath.
And though their Alpha stood proud and unmoved before the river's edge…
...The mighty hound's red eyes still widened in fear as the Primordial Killer fixed him in its furious glare.
"You… Summoned me, mighty Serpent?" The Alpha struggled to maintain his dignity in such a fearful address.
The Gyarados gave its answer in a lightning quick strike, and that deadly mouth came short of engulfing the Alpha in a thunderclap of its snapping jaws.
The Alpha's hind legs wobbled, and the shaggy hound fell upon his haunches. Sweet breath could not yet escape the Mightyenas' leader, for crushing death had made its promise known but a whisper away from his quivering nose.
"You are dead. No challenge…" The Serpent hissed, falling back into the water.
Staggering for want of air, gasping in disbelief of his continued life, the Alpha Mightyena lowered his belly into the mud, and drew his tattered ears back against his grizzled mane.
"I submit… Devour me, oh mighty Serpent, but I beg of you: spare my pack of your violent hunger. Let my family live…" The Alpha prostrated himself before the Gyarados, and azure wyrm rumble with a chuckle.
"You are so feeble, little Alpha. So tiny to my stomach. For what reason should I spare your pathetic Pack? Surely you can offer me more than just one bony Alpha…" The Serpent mocked.
"Tribute! My pack will hunt for you-!" The Alpha was quick to add, but the Gyarados's following roar flattened the hound further into the mud.
"AND DEPRIVE ME OF MY QUEST?! FOR WHAT CHALLENGE IS THERE IN LOUNGING WHEN THERE IS PREY TO TEST MY STRENGTH?!" The enraged Gyarados roared, and the hounds before him fell to their bellies in terror.
-Yet the kind creature behind the Serpent's facade, pitied every hound for their fear.
Come on, Alpha… Take the bait… Solomon prayed, as he pivoted his massive jaws over the Alpha's head.
"...Surely, majestic Serpent, hunting is no challenge for one as mighty as yourself…" The Alpha sensed an opening, a topic for debate. For as well as their martial prowess, clever minds also separated Alpha's from their lesser kin; and even among the savage Mightyena, their Alphas were no different.
"It is true… I still seek a challenge that no prey has yet sate." The Serpent fell into himself, as his brooding eyes grew dim.
"Then if there is no challenge in your kills, perhaps you would instead take pleasure in a contest of wits?" The Alpha humbly suggested.
Bingo! Solomon secretly rejoiced his opponent's diversionary suggestion.
"What need have I of wits, when my strength is greater than your words?" The Gyarados asked in an angered tone. The Alpha's friendly smile faded.
-Solomon still had an appearance to maintain.
"Oh mighty Serpent, surely you can see that I can offer no other challenge?" The Mightyena faltered in his plea, as his hope of absolution faded.
"...A delegation? I've yet to test myself in such grounds against a witty opponent. But a fresh trial alone does not constitute a challenge..."The crafty Serpent mused, and the startled Alpha lifted his chin from the mud.
"In a hunt, there is a victor and a loser. For the prey, the stakes are life or death. For the predator, the stakes are satisfaction or hunger. So tell me, oh witty Mightyena… What stakes are there in a contest of the minds?" The Gyarados's wicked tone mocked his feeble opponent.
"We must strike an arrangement! An agreement that we both must honor!" The Alpha proposed in a decisive voice. The Serpent only chuckled at this suggestion, as he turned to the crestfallen Mightyena with a glow in his single eye.
"You make me laugh, funny Mightyena… For such humor, I will entertain this little contest. Pray tell, what stakes will you forfeit when I have claimed victory in this game?" The Gyarados asked.
The Alpha swallowed. He didn't like implications that accompanied the Gyarados's confidence.
"You have little interest in our meat, and we have so little of value to a hunter of your magnificence. What would you ask of us in sacrifice, if easy meat does not please your palate?" The Alpha dared ask.
Perfect… Solomon thought, as he tightened his dragon's face in faux contemplation. After a moment of hard thought, the Gyarados arrived to a stake worthy of his consideration.
"...Your land." The Gyarados announced.
Every Mightyena attending the Circle balked.
"Our land? You cannot be serious…" The Alpha whined, and the Gyarados looked to him in mounting rage.
"I can take your land through might, if need be…" The Gyarados cooly suggested.
"But- We need our land! We need land to hunt! Without our land, we will starve-" The Alpha cried out.
"-And why should I care?" The Gyarados asked in a testy voice. The Alpha's jaw fell in hopelessness, but his Pack depended upon his boldness for their survival.
"Great Serpent, it is not your pity that I request, but rather your reasoning. Think of your ancestors. We are prey to you. If the prey should starve and wane, then so to will the predator-" The Alpha began, but the Gyarados cut him off with a laugh.
"If your pack is to starve and die, then after I have finished eating the last emaciated Mightyena: I will seek new lands to hunt. New lands filled with prey. New lands to render barren in my quest…" The Gyarados growled the last words, as his rage drowned out the mirth with dissatisfaction.
"...And what happens when those lands are rendered barren of prey? Will you seek new lands to purge of life, until all the world is made empty? What will you eat then?" The Alpha found a flaw in the Gyarados's reasoning, and proved quick to exploit it.
"...There will always be something to eat." The serpent hissed, but the Alpha stood unshaken.
"The seas were purged, the lands laid barren, and even the skies grew empty; all fell to the great wyrms' hunger. Soon the world had nothing left to offer the mightiest of the hunters. Nothing, except hunger. And so the Serpents turned on one another, the thousands feeding on each other across their domains. So hungry and many were they, that it is said; in their final hunt the very oceans turned red, and the sky itself rained their blood upon the land." The Alpha quoted the legends for his reply, and the Gyarados became livid with its portent.
"I am the only Gyarados. There will always be plenty for me to eat." The Serpent rumbled above the Alpha, and the Great Hound lowered his head in reverence.
"...I'm sure that the final Gyarados spoken of in the legends thought much the same as you do. And yet he still perished for the continuation of his species." The Alpha struck a chord with his respectful reflection. The Gyarados's eyes narrowed in contemplation, as the mighty serpent regarded the brave hound before him pensively.
"...Perhaps you will provide me with a challenge after all, witty Mightyena…" The Gyarados grudgingly acknowledged his opponent's skill. The Alpha steeled himself against a sigh of relief, and shook himself clean of the mud.
"For your own sake, mighty Gyarados, ask not for our lands-" The Alpha assumed a wisened voice for his address, but the proud serpent before him recognized the ruse.
"Do not patronize me, feeble dog! I now know the stakes of our arrangement!" The Gyarados hissed, invoking a subconscious backpedal from the Alpha.
"Your land is the stakes. Should you lose, I lay claim to all of it, and you and your Pack shall live within it as my prey!" The Gyarados growled in finality, and the Alpha knew better than to argue against the Supreme Hunter's decree.
"And if I should win our contest?" The Alpha boldly stepped forward, his voice no longer intoned with a plea, but rather uttered in a demand.
"Then I will leave your lands, never to return. Nor shall I hunt the migratory herds you claim as your own. You, your Pack, and all of your descendants will never need fear filling the belly of a Gyarados." The Serpent replied. The Alpha was silent for a moment.
"...Should our contest come to a conclusion, where victory has been established by wits, do you promise not to revoke our arrangement by exercising your might?" The Alpha pressed for some form of insurance from the great wyrm, knowing that should the Gyarados favor cheating, there would be little other consequence to deter such deception.
"In the event of your victory, I will restrain myself against violence." The Gyarados grumbled.
"Then we have an arrangement. Now what manner of test should we entertain to establish the wittiest? Perhaps a contest of riddles?" The Alpha knew only confidence now, as he proposed the grounds for their challenge.
The Serpent was fierce and powerful, this much was obvious. But the Alpha had already proven himself the wittier. The fledgling titan clearly had the brawn of legends, but from the contents of their discussion...
...The angry serpent seemed evermore as witty as a child.
But unfortunately for the Alpha, Solomon had closely hidden his guile from his introduction on.
"Riddles? Don't make me laugh. Rehearsing colloquial posers is no contest of wit. No… We will hold a delegation to determine the fate of your lands. Should your reasoning falter in its defense, then I will claim victory. But should my argument fail all logic…" The Serpent trailed off with a tease, for the Alpha's jaw grew slack with dread.
"...Is my proposition unfounded, Alpha?" The Gyarados asked in a poisonously sweet voice, hinting at his con with a bony grin. And such an imposing demeanor left the Alpha of the Mightyenas with only one right answer.
"...Of course not, Gyarados. Your suggestion is most agreeable…" No mannerism of the Alpha could conceal his reluctance.
"Very well. I will return to the Circle at sundown for our contest. I expect only you and your Pride's attendance. Should any other predator be present at our delegation, be they Mightyena or not… I will consider it a violation of our arrangement, and then only one of us will know a challenge tonight…" The Gyarados's amused voice winded down into a dangerous rumble. The Alpha swallowed hard, and when no words rose to contest the Gyarados's warning, the tyrannical serpent sank back into the river deep.
As the minutes passed by without any hint of reprieve, the Alpha of the Mightyenas left the river's edge, and returned to his Pride.
"Send a herald to the Absols. Inform the Packmaster of our plight. Make it known that the Mightyenas will defend their own lands, but in the event of our defeat..." The Alpha's throat tightened as he weighed prospects of the battle before him.
"...Discretely request asylum for our pups. And pray that the Alpha of the Absols feels generous today." The Alpha of the Mightyenas steeled himself against his Pack's growing fear, and turned to face the still water of the river once again.
"Our home is at stake. Our livelihood threatened. Regardless of the the Serpent's challenge and its outcome, we must prepare for war."
…
"Karst!" An eager voice roused the Alpha's daughter from her restless sleep, as a gleeful green cap took hold of the Absol's mane, and proceeded to tug the confused Karst into wakefulness.
"What's going on?" Karst breathed out in alarm, as she struggled against her wounds for her bearings.
"Solomon came back! He's at the river now! The matron just left the den to speak with him! Hurry!" The tiny Ralts pushed herself bodily against Karst's rear ankle, seemingly unable to reign in her patience.
"How long was I asleep?" Karst began to fret, as she fought her stiff legs for dictation.
"Not very long. Only a few hours. Now hurry!" The Ralts begged, giving up her fruitless attempt at forcibly hastening the much larger Absol.
"He's back already?!" Karst discovered her haste in panic.
A war was not decided in the span of a few hours. And considering the length of Solomon's aquatic journey from the Sandy Glen, Karst's goofy fish could not have been present within the Circle for more than an hour.
"What's going on?!" Karst gasped in concern as the she and the Ralts bounded off towards the river.
"You'll see, Karst. You'll see." The Ralts giggled euphorically.
…
"YOU WHAT?!"
The livid shout of the Audino greeted Karst and the Ralts as they approached the river's edge.
"I made an arrangement with the Alpha of the Mightyenas. We will negotiate the territories of the Circle tonight at sundown." Solomon stated in a level voice. The Ralts placed both tiny hands across her mouth in order to stifle her giggles, as Karst drew short of the bank in shock.
-An arrangement?!
"I can't believe this… I don't believe this…" The Healer hissed from the shoreline.
"Believe it." Solomon rumbled, and the Audino went wild with a conniption.
"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO START A WAR! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO RECLAIM MY HOME! NOT NEGOTIATE FOR A SLIVER OF MY LAND!" The Audino screamed at the testy Gyarados, and all Solomon offered her in response was a weary sigh.
"I have reason to suspect that you'll receive far more than a sliver, Healer. But that all depends on your own ability to negotiate." Solomon grumbled.
Karst's jaw dropped.
Only Solomon could take something as straightforward as a battle, and turn it into a needlessly complex device…
...All so that others wouldn't be injured by his actions.
"...You treacherous snake…" The Audino was far from content with Solomon's solution. Trembling with rage before the mightiest predator known, the petite Healer seemed almost comical in her scolding of the colossal monstrosity.
"I will not kill." Solomon glared down at the Healer with a conviction firm enough to weather her frustration. And the Healer could only scream in unintelligible fury at the calm serpent's cool utterance.
"You are Gyarados! You have every weapon that evolution ever designed at your disposal! You are the embodiment of dominance achieved through destruction! WHY WON'T YOU BE A GYARADOS!?" The Healer was beside herself in incomprehensible rage.
"...I'm more than just a weapon, Healer…" Solomon spat, finally losing his patience. The Audino was rendered speechless by his retort, as she could only flounder beneath the serpent's one-eyed glare.
"...Sol?" The Healer's silence gave Karst the opportunity to address her friend. Solomon drew a great breath of which to calm himself, before the cautious serpent paid heed to his friend's hesitant voice.
Solomon said not a word when he turned to Karst, but the sorrow in his eye betrayed the wound he tried to guard from her.
"...I'm- I'm…" Karst staggered over her apology, as the tightening of Solomon's jaw told her of his rebuttal.
"...I'm glad you're okay." Karst finished lamely, and the blue serpent before her released his pent up breath.
"...I'm sorry Karst. I didn't mean to insult you…" Solomon murmured, as his own guilt for their prior exchange returned to haunt him.
Karst swallowed her tears, and tried to repress her shame.
Solomon had said something ignorant, this much was true. But her goofy fish's intent for such a naive declaration had never been malicious. Her poor Solomon had been thrown against a wall, as those closest to him attempted to strip him of his morality.
...And when he was cornered and afraid, even the mighty Gyarados would blindly defend his convictions to the bitter end.
"Sol-" Karst began in a shaken voice, denying his apology on the premise of her own guilt.
But the angry Healer would not hear anymore of their sniveling.
"Enough of this! You have not honored your promise, Solomon! You have not repaid your debt-!" The Healer began, and the conflicted serpent rounded on her with a hiss.
"-No. I have not repaid my debt yet. That will be settle tonight in the Circle. I did not promise to fight a war for you, Healer. I promised to return your home." Solomon rumbled as his own volatile rage surfaced, and the wise Healer knew better than to aggressively trifle with a compromised Gyarados.
"You will have your home back. This I have promised. But I will not displace those who also hold a claim to the Circle. I will not be a tyrant who exiles others from their homes. I will not do to other what was done to you." Solomon growled, and a deathly silence filled the air. All present eyes fell upon the serpent in disbelief, as every individual conviction was shaken by this latest of vehement claims.
"...You are no Gyarados…"
Only one frustrated voice could render sound throughout this calm.
Only the Healer could find the wind of which to breach this still.
"I am Solomon. Not Gyarados." The Serpent was both quick and furious in his reply. The Audino let loose a short, demeaning laugh, as she shook her head in ridicule at the impossible giant before her.
"That is being made clearer by the day, Solomon…" The Healer spat.
"Calm yourself, Healer. We still hold an advantage. The Alpha of the Mightyenas is awaiting us in the Circle with only his Pride for council. He does not know that I am bringing my own council." Solomon announced, as he lifted his enervated gaze from the simmering Healer and fixed his heavy eyes on the awestruck Huntress.
"Karst? Are you well enough to travel?" Solomon asked in a soft voice.
"I'm… I-" Karst was staggered by this sudden turn.
"I need your assistance, Karst. I need someone who knows the Mightyena, someone they respect, someone who can talk to them on their level. I can play charades all day as the Mighty Gyarados, but I cannot fairly mediate from such an intimidating role." Solomon's voice was gentle in his plea, and his unclouded eye was resolute when it met Karst's startled gaze.
"...Of course I'm well enough to travel. Provided that my goofy fish doesn't mind ferrying me again." Karst began to giggle as a relieved Solomon turned back towards the fuming Healer.
"I guarantee you a fair delegation. I will keep you protected should the proceedings turn foul. And if all else fails, if peace truly cannot be realized…" Solomon shuddered at the possibility of his failing.
"...Then I will restore your home to you, even by war if need be." Solomon swore himself to the Audino in a shaken voice, and the furious Healer glared up at him with severe eyes.
"...So you intend to level the playing field?" The Audino asked in a terse voice.
"Should our venture prove successful, I will defend your home from any future deceptions perpetrated by the Mightyena or the Grave Stretch's other Packs. I am your friend, Healer. I will not abandon you." Solomon promised, and at last, the Healer knew reassurance.
"...I know who you are, Solomon. I can't say that I'm happy with this turn of events. As a matter of fact, I am far from happy…" The Audino's teeth clenched together as she swallowed her anger.
"...But I will try to establish your peace, before I resort to war." The Audino muttered.
"Then it's settled. Hurry. Gather what treasures cannot be replaced from your den. We must make for the Circle before sundown. You, Karst, and the little one are all coming with me." Solomon began to lower himself into the river, so that the wounded Karst could tread the water above his crest for an easy mounting.
"This is so exciting! I've never left the Sandy Glen before!" The Ralts cried out in jubilance, and the wary Matron was quick to temper her pupil's curiosity with an edict.
"You will stay upon Gyarados's head at all times. Your feet will not touch the soil of the Circle, until we have insured its security. Stay close to Solomon, and don't you dare leave my sight." The Audino was both cold and decisive in her orders, and the pupil's glee was diminished by a nervous uncertainty. Taking her Ralts by the hand, the Matron led her pupil off towards the Den in order to gather their most precious possessions together for transit, leaving both the Absol and the Gyarados alone together at the river's edge.
Solomon rose from the river, with Karst perched firmly atop his crown. The wonder-weary Absol could only stare down in awe at the blue armored brow beneath her, as she announced her incredulity in a dreamy articulation.
"What are we doing, Solomon?" Karst's voice sounded faint, and the serpent below her rumbled with a chuckle.
"What are we doing, Karst?" Solomon slowly shook his head in amusement, before he settled his jaw upon the sandy shore, and awaited the Healer's return.
"We're making a home, Karst. A home for the both of us." Solomon answered Karst's question in a gentle voice, and the onset of a sinusy giggle above him told of Karst's waxing elation.
…
The Alpha of the Mightyenas awaited the Serpent upon the northern bank of the Circle. Tidings from the Packmaster of the Absols had only recently reached the Alpha Mightyena's ears, and their portents did not bode well.
The Packmaster had refused them aid, and now faced with exodus from both the Gyarados and the Absols, the Mightyenas had become a faction with nothing to lose. With their options limited and their survival cast in doubt, the Pack had agreed to fight to the death for their homes.
-Even against so mighty a predator as the Gyarados.
But one feeble hope still persisted. And this hope weighed more heavily upon the Alpha Mightyena's shoulders than it did upon upon his entire Pack. There was still one recourse void of bloodshed and death…
...But that hope would prove vain if the Alpha Mightyena failed to outwit the crafty Gyarados.
The falling sun crested upon the treeline, and its pale light glowed feebly through the rising storm clouds. Distant thunder sounded from the horizon, and the Gyarados's return was expected at any moment.
"Is the Pack sequestered in the raw lands?" The Alpha sought an answer from his Lead Router.
"Every raiding Pride and hunting party are within a howl's breadth. As instructed, they are positioned downwind of the Circle. Unless the Gyarados can smell a hound after his scent has traveled the world over, he should not suspect a thing." The Lead Router reported.
"What of our pups? Have they been secluded as well?" The Alpha asked.
"The dams and pups are well hidden within the raw land's foliage. We have dispersed them in small groups, and assigned each to a specific territory. Should the Gyarados resort to violence, the majority of the mothers and our children should persist throughout its attack. For tonight, at least." The Lead Router grumbled.
"And what of my Beta and my son? Have they a Pride to defend them?" The Alpha pressed. The Lead Router inclined his head respectfully, and offered his Alpha an answer.
"I assigned two Prides to care for your mate and your pup. It may deprive us of an offensive element, but your heir should be secure." The Lead Router reported.
"Good. Then there is but one last detail for me to assign." The Alpha murmured.
"What would you ask of your Pride, Alpha?" The Lead Router led the bowing of manes as the Alpha's Pride paid homage to their leader.
"I have a duty for my Lead Router. A duty of the utmost importance." The Alpha announced, and the grizzled gray mane of the Lead Router lifted from its incline.
"You will depart from the Circle, and join my Beta and my heir in the raw lands. Should the Gyarados's contest turn to war, you are hereby charged with both their defense, and my son's upbringing. Regardless of his father's fate, I expect him to claim his ancestral birthright, and lead our Pack as its future Alpha." The Alpha Mightyena ordered, and the Lead Router rested a pair of proud eyes upon his Alpha.
"Am I to instruct him in both the ways of the hunt and in the ways of guile, as I instructed you, pup?" The Lead Router asked with an amused tone.
"I can think of no greater teacher for my son than that of my own father. Go now. The hour draws near." The Alpha gave his father a fond grin, before his Lead Router made away for the raw lands.
"I hope that we will not require a new Alpha for many more rains. Farewell, my Alpha. May your prowess prove all the greater." The grizzled Lead Router bade his son a cheer, just before the greying hound disappeared into the dense jungle that surrounded the savanna known as the Circle.
"...Let's hope that your lessons prepared me for this, old dog." The Alpha ruefully murmured to himself, as his smile faded away into a look of grim determination.
"Alpha. The Gyarados's scent is on the wind." One of the Alpha's Pride reported. The Alpha drew a deep breath through his snout, and detected the stench of seaweed that denoted the arrival of an oceanic Gyarados. A scent that would have proved elusive had the Gyarados approached the Circle submerged.
"He exposes himself this time. What in the name of the hunt is he up to now-?" The Alpha froze as a new intake of breath revealed more than just a Gyarados's scent.
The dusty odor of dried blood, entangled within the mixed perfumes of smoke and berries.
The sweet smell of a hairless child, tinged with a peculiar note indigenous only to the Rose Hills.
And the spicy hint of a of a white furred Huntress, mingling within a bouquet of Lilligant blooms.
"He does not come alone…" The Alpha murmured in dread, as this fresh portent bore with it no end of uncertainties.
…
"We're here." Solomon informed his passengers, when he rounded a bend in the tributary, and the treeline gave away to the level grasslands of the Circle.
The Audino peered past Solomon's azure crest with forlorn eyes, and gazed at the empty land that had once served as her home.
"...It's so quiet now." The Audino murmured in a saddened undertone, and her pupil moved to take her mentor's quivering mitt.
"It seems that the Mightyena have upheld their end of the bargain." Karst stated in a dry voice, when every breath of the wind proved clear of a Pack's scent.
"Good." Solomon rumbled, slowing his advance into the Circle.
"Let's hope they're not overly upset about my company." Solomon's voice sounded deep and wary. Karst looked down at her friend with worry.
"Are we all ready?" Solomon asked softly, as a Pride of Mightyena on the northern bank came into view.
"As ready as I'll ever be." The Healer muttered in a voice of iron.
"Karst?" Solomon pressed.
"I'm ready, Sol." Karst reported in a calm voice.
"Little one?" Solomon finished his role call.
The Ralts was silent. Thus far, this journey had been anything but exciting. For the Matron's pupil, it had been aught but terrifying.
"Remember what I said, little one. Solomon will keep you safe." The Audino's voice softened when she addressed her nervous pupil.
"Okay. Let's do this." Solomon straightened the arch of his neck, and assumed his most callous of demeanors. The Audino folded her arms across her sternum, as an icy glare worked its way into her liquid blue eyes. Karst rose from her belly in a regal stance, and held herself both haughty and self-assured before the waiting Pride.
...While the little one wedged herself against the base of Solomon's crest, and hid her shaking form within its forked shadow.
"You've returned, Gyarados." The Alpha was ever so respectful in his greeting, but his eyes darted between the peculiar company that dismounted from the serpent's crown.
"...And you've brought…" The Alpha stumbled for words as he sought a title to define the Gyarados's strange companions.
The Alpha knew the feminine pair before him. Both were minor legends within the Core Delta.
One was the ancient Healer of the Sandy Glen, the most proficient practitioner of medicinal craft known within the Grave Stretch.
And the other was the Absols' fallen Lead Router, their fearsome Alpha Slayer, and the exiled Daughter of the Packmaster himself.
"I brought my council, Alpha. Just as you have." Solomon rumbled.
"Such… strange council you keep, Gyarados. Matron?" The Alpha inclined his head towards the Audino with a wary gesture.
"Dog." Spat the Healer in response. Unsullied by her hostility, the Alpha then directed his tidings towards Absols' exiled Lead Router.
"Absol." A deep bow accompanied the Alpha Mightyena's address, and the Absols' exiled Lead Router only smirked with a chuckle in her reply.
"And where is the Ralts? If my nose does not deceive me, then a descendant of the Rose Hills is also present." The Alpha assumed a teasing voice when he pointed his snout at Solomon's crest.
"I keep a diverse council, Alpha. As you may have noticed." The Gyarados rumbled with an impatient intonation.
"Of course, Mighty Gyarados. I did not mean to offend." The Alpha Mightyena quickly reconciled for his boldness, but that boldness had exposed a peculiarity.
As every Alpha knew, there was a reason behind unusual situations. And to the Alphas, every reason discerned existed for their exploitation.
"Enough of the questions, Mightyena. You will conduct your proceedings with myself and the Audino. Unless of course, you wish to debate with the Gyarados directly…" Karst's mocking tone drew the Pride's attentions onto her.
"It's so good to see that you're alive, Absol. We heard from the Packmaster himself that you had perished…" The Alpha Mightyena immediately probed for a weakness, but the Absols' exiled Lead Router had none to show.
"I'm not surprised that my father thought me dead. The Packmaster was far too busy fleeing the Gyarados in terror to pay any heed to his bleeding child." Karst giggled maliciously when she taunted the Alpha Mightyena for his failed insult.
"And you, Healer? It's been so long since the Circle has seen your kind within its boundaries. Does the air smell the same as it did, back when you and your kin lived here?" The Alpha Mightyena offered his pleasant tone now to the Audino, as he pressed her for a weakness in turn.
"Apart from the reek of wet dogs, my home smells much the same as it always has." The Audino replied in a cool voice.
Neither the Audino or the Absol had betrayed a weakness, yet the Gyarados had faltered before either of them, when the explanation for his council had proved lacking.
Something was clearly afoot, and the Alpha Mightyena sensed that among this strange gathering, the Mighty Serpent served one of the opposed as a pawn.
"If I may request clarification, seeing as this is a most… unseemly event, how did the three of you convene?" The Alpha Mightyena asked.
"The Gyarados was wounded. I mended his eye. In return for my aid, he accepted… a challenge on my behalf." The Audino smiled when she responded to the Alpha's query.
"And what of the exile? She seems to have been tended by your craft, Matron. I thought that you'd rather die than heal another Absol. At least, that's what you stated when the Absols left you for dead in the Circle all those seasons ago..." The Alpha's voice grew mocking in its candor, as his Pride grew wary for their Leader's reckless courage.
"What makes you think that I am without my own form of persuasion, Mightyena?" The coy voice of the Absol's Lead Router answered the Alpha's question with a laugh.
"Indeed. It must be quite the persuasion to have tamed a Gyarados…" The Alpha pressed his luck, in his search for an answer to this unusual situation.
...And the Gyarados's calm silence told volumes to the clever ears of an Alpha.
This was no Gyarados.
No Supreme Predator would tolerate the insinuation of having been tamed.
This Gyarados was a puppet, but what strings bound him to the pair of dissimilar females before the Alpha Mightyena had yet to have been discerned.
"So is this to be a game of wits, or was I misled to assume that the Gyarados sought entertainment?" The Alpha grinned at the trio arranged against him, and the guttural rumble born from the serpent's throat reminded the Alpha that there were limits.
"You were not misled, dog. We have come to brandish our wits, and parley for the fate of the Circle. However, should our mediation dissolve without first establishing a treaty…" The Audino paused in her smug address to look pointedly up at the snarling Gyarados.
"...We will be forced to settle our dispute in a fashion far more familiar with your usual means. So please, do continue to aggravate my very large and unstable friend. I'm rather curious to see how quickly your kind adapts to serving as prey…" The Audino ended her threat with a cruel smirk, and every Mightyena in attendance stiffened with dread of its fulfillment.
"If I may offer a bit of friendly advice, Alpha?" Karst's sensual voice sounded far more conceited than friendly, yet the Absol's deferential use of the Alpha's title harkened to the allegiance that her kind shared with his.
"...Do not make the same mistake that my father did, unless you favor the prospect of begging the Arcanine for a new home." Karst's voice tittered with a cloying sweetness, and the Alpha Mightyena recalled his caution for this deputation.
"...Very well. If the introductions have concluded, then let us proceed with the delegations." The Alpha Mightyena rested upon his haunches, and bade both his Pride and his opponents to do the same, all in his unavailing effort of providing a relaxed precept for this evening's moot.
…
"...Do you think that they've made any headway yet?" The Ralts asked Solomon in a tentative voice, as the Gyarados beneath her struggled to control his ragged breathing.
"They had better have agreed to some kind of terms by now…" The serpent spat in a livid voice. The Matron's pupil immediately stemmed her fearful questions. The delegations were but a few hours old, and the Gyarados's inherent rage at the lack of progress had excused him from the debacle.
Three hours of arguing. Three hours of pointing fingers and reciting crimes. Three hours of petty bickering and foolhardy posturing.
Three hours had passed since the delegation's convention, and not one topic had been discussed to alleviate the dispute at hand. Instead, every spoken word had brought them all further from a solution.
Solomon was at patience's end with the so-called proceedings, and after a particularly venomous disagreement had turned the discussions from establishing a treaty to inciting personal attacks: the agitated Gyarados had roared himself hoarse with frustration, before razing the southern bank of the Circle's river in remedial fury.
While Solomon's passionate display had silenced the night and curbed the delegation of the Circle with terror, the newly enhumbled congress was not to last.
Realizing that his intolerant and violent second nature only threatened the stability of the debate, Solomon had left Karst and the Healer to fend for their claims, while he and the Ralts sought solace away from the ceaseless verbal conflict.
Yet despite the distance that separated the shaken pair from the argument, the raised voices and snarls of the congress still assaulted the ears of both the wyrm and the Ralts.
"Looks like everything's going well…" Solomon growled when he spied the Healer cutting an Alpha's snarl short with an aggressive gesture, before both she and Karst turned their backs on the infuriated Pride, and marched their frustrated way over towards the awaiting serpent.
"Have you two settled the pissing contest yet? Or have we gone back to comparing the sizes of our genitalia again?" Solomon hissed as the sullen Karst and shaking Healer approached him.
"We might have made some progress, if someone hadn't abandoned us to destroy the bleeding savanna!" The Healer spat right back in Solomon's face, and the volume of the Gyarados's following roar revealed that he was far from calm yet.
"I tried to get you to discuss the purpose of our being here! But someone is a little too grudge-happy to put aside her past for a night-" Solomon glared at the Healer with venom dripping from his eyes.
"-And someone is little too fond of reminding the Mightyena that her species is superior!" Solomon rounded on the balking Karst, as chords of spittle flew from his frothing maw.
"We have to be assertive, Solomon. Force is the only language that these hounds understand. They barely respect Karst, and they think of me as a joke." The Audino was not sullied by Solomon's accusations. She met his rabid glare with her fearless and impatient eyes.
"You are the one that they fear. You are the one that they respect more than their own Alpha. And while the destruction of my home has most certainly reinforced that respect, you have done little else but snivel during the delegations." The Healer growled up at the enraged serpent, as she was no less disappointed in him as he was with her.
And not even the snarling jaws of a Gyarados screaming certain death scant inches from her nose could coerce the angry Healer.
"Where was this aggression when we needed it?! Where was this aloof confidence when our enemies had us by the throat?!" The Audino slapped the Gyarados's bony lips in fury when his bellow wore down into a ragged panting.
"Sol, listen to me." Karst assumed a level voice for her address, but the severity of her plea was still audible to all present.
"We need you at our backs. The Matron is right. The Mightyena do not fear a crippled Alpha Slayer, and they have little respect for a disgraced Healer." Karst's worried eyes enforced a self conscious reflection from the serpent, and the compromised Solomon struggled to even his turbulent emotions.
"...We cannot make a home without you, Sol. We can't win this fight without your support." Karst pressed urgency upon her tormented friend, and the Gyarados let loose another shriek of rage as the personal battle with his second nature escalated.
"...Fine." Solomon hissed, when his spent breath had rendered both him and beast within faint.
"I'm fine." The serpent growled to the pair of females beneath his prow, doing little to assure them of his return to sanity, yet inspiring them with hope all the same.
"We've taken a short recess. I'm sure that our adversaries are laughing themselves to death over this turn, but when we return to the moot, we need you to assert yourself, Solomon." The Audino ended with a harsh whisper.
"Just glare at them, Sol. Lick your chops and growl a little should the Pride start their mob antics again. Just remind the Mightyena that their Alpha doesn't call all the shots in the Circle. If you do that much, then the Healer and I can ram our agenda down their throats. But as it stands now, we have to constantly defend ourselves from their attacks. Don't give them the opportunity to attack us again. Otherwise, we'll never settle anything here but a war." Karst finished her plea with a warning, and with the threat of that war looming in his future, Solomon once more made himself stern.
"How long of a recess did you request?" Solomon asked the Healer in a cold voice.
"Half an hour-" The Audino began, but Solomon cut her off with a rumbling growl.
"-The recess is over now." Solomon hissed, and took the lead as his startled council returned to the frontlines.
"Mighty Gyarados! Have your friends already finished licking their wounds?" The Alpha Mightyena jeered at their approach, and his emboldened Pride cackled at their leader's jab.
"And there's that cold look of determination again, only ever worn so valiantly by the prey before its final momen-" The Alpha sneered at the Healer, but his attack was silenced by the Gyarados's own.
Without a warning bellow, or even so much as a hardening of his eyes, Solomon scattered the Pride with a sweeping blow of his tail. Thrown from the land and cast into the wind, the startled hounds' wits were replaced by shock when they crashed against the grass in utter disarray.
"Enough of this mindless prattling." Solomon growled in a Gyarados's voice, and every eye of the circle beheld him with fear.
"We will discuss the borders of the Circle now. Or else these words will be the last that you'll ever hear again." Solomon spat to the Alpha, who made himself prone with a whimper before the furious Gyarados.
"Well done, Sol…" A mystified Karst murmured in an undertone, as the fearful hounds beseeched the Gyarados for mercy.
The Audino stepped ahead of the Gyarados, and cast her figure over the groveling Mightyena in a display of joint-dominance.
"The terms that we impose includes your Pack's immediate relocation from the Circle. You are permitted to hunt the surrounding lands, but the Circle will return to its original purpose. You will not harm those who come here seeking aid, and you will not stalk those who leave the Circle's enclosure until three days after their return into the raw lands." The Healer spoke in a decisive voice, and the wary Alpha rose from his prostrate position in the grass to counter her terms with his own.
"Outrageous! The surrounding lands are barren for most of the year, and unless the Packmaster allots us a portion of the Zoroark's territory, we will starve before the next season's rains without our Circle!" The Alpha Mightyena turned to Karst with a meaningful glare, and the Absols' exiled Lead Router could only miff at his less than subtle request.
"I no longer represent the Absols, Mightyena. I cannot negotiate for a redistribution of the lesser Pack's territories." Karst replied. The Alpha Mightyena snorted, and turned back to the Healer.
"Then we must refuse your terms." The Alpha growled.
"Then let me make you this offer, dog-" The Healer spat, and her dangerous tone indicated her lethal intent to the entire fold.
"-Healer!" Solomon roared from her back, reminding the Healer that war was to be their last resort.
Twitching with fury at both Solomon's interruption, and yet another display of his weakness, the Healer gnashed her teeth at the Alpha Mightyena in rage.
Solomon had revealed his unwillingness to commit to warfare, and the Alpha Mightyena was clever enough to notice it.
"An interesting council you keep, Healer…" The Alpha Mightyena directed his growl to the Audino, indicating his intuition with a smile.
The Gyarados was definitely a pawn, of this the Alpha was now certain. But though he had pinned the mastermind of this charade, the Alpha Mightyena had yet to determine what binds linked the Gyarados's will to the Audino's service.
"...You know, Gyarados, this fat pink hag makes for a most unusual Pride member. Surely one of your hunting prowess can do better…" The Alpha sought the strings that tied this powerful monster to such a feeble creature, but his suspicions of their mutual service to one another were dispelled the instant Solomon let slip his connections.
"This fat pink hag is my friend, you insignificant little dog!" Solomon came down upon the shrieking Alpha with a fearsome vengeance, and the Gyarados's maddened strike would have proved fatal, had not one of the gathered harbored such compassion for his innocence's preservation.
"SOL!" Karst screamed his name just as the Gyarados's jaws closed around the Alpha Mightyena, and after a stunned moment of horror, the priorly furious and now terrified serpent spat out his unmauled prize.
How feeble he seemed now, as his rapid and shallow breathing betrayed the turmoil that afflicted him, while his lone red eye widened in stark panic.
"I didn't- I didn't mean-" Solomon was breathless with sick, and the Audino set aside her own fury to console him.
...And even though he lay upon the ground, gasping in fear and dripping with a serpent's saliva, the Alpha of the Mightyena still heard the weakness born from a serpent's terrified voice.
"...W-what are you?" The Alpha breathed out in his own shock, as he gazed up at the the quaking serpent that crumbled above him.
"Alpha. I request a moment alone with you." Karst's voice alone bore strength throughout the moot, and the aloof Huntress imposed her will with an iron resolve. Shaken by his near death experience, and deprived of his dignity before his Pride; the Alpha Mightyena found his feet, and forfeited to Karst's request without question.
"Walk with me." The calm Absol ordered of the Alpha Mightyena, and his quivering form made to follow in the Huntress's steady footprints.
Solomon's desperate eyes tried to catch Karst's gaze with a fervent apology, but the cool Absol couldn't afford to acknowledge his frailty right now.
"It seems that we find ourselves at an impasse, Alpha." Karst spoke as confidently as her father would, when he addressed his lesser Alphas.
"...What is going on, Absol? That is no Gyarados! That is no predator!" The Alpha hissed as their stroll brought them out of the moot's earshot.
"He is Gyarados, Alpha. Your present condition confirms this. But he is not only a Gyarados either." The Absol remarked in a level tone.
"He could've killed me. He could have crushed my entire Pride in his first attack! He has the power to kill every member of my Pack! Why do I still live?! Why has he not killed every member of my Pack?!" The Alpha gasped, as his panic conflicted and mingled with the audacity of this dilemma.
"...Because before he is Gyarados, he is first Solomon." The Absol answered the Alpha in a murmur.
"...And what is a Solomon?" The Alpha asked, regaining an impatient measure of himself when confronted by the Absol's vague riddle.
"...I've been trying to figure that out, ever since I first met him. Back when he was a feeble Magikarp. Back before he became a livid Gyarados." Karst replied in that calm voice, regardless of the personal weakness her admission insinuated.
"...So the rumors are true then. The Packmaster's daughter gave herself over to the meekest of prey." The Alpha Mightyena sneered at the Absol beside him. Karst smiled to herself when their stride brought the pair of predators to the river's edge, and both adjusted their direction to keep pace with the meandering water.
"Yes. I befriended a Magikarp. I protected the feeblest of the prey. And it looks as if my blasphemous compassion has worked to my benefit, wouldn't you say, Alpha?" Karst grinned at her opponent, who stiffened at her unshaken resolve.
"...I'm not sure if I'd consider those wounds beneficial, Absol. Or your status as an outcast among your own kind-" The Alpha began on a mocking note, but the giggling of his opponent rendered him silent.
"I was branded an outcast before Solomon named me. And these wounds are nothing compared to the boons of his friendship." Karst smiled down at the Alpha Mightyena as though he were but an ignorant child, and her confident demeanor despite the acknowledgement of her flaws brought no end of confusion to the vicious Alpha.
"...Named you?" The Alpha asked in a curious elocution, and the Absol beside him halted in her regal gait to stand proudly before his pensive gaze.
"I am known as Karst to my friends, Alpha. Just as the Gyarados is known as Solomon to his friends." Karst announced, and the quizzical look of the Alpha deepened.
"And what value does a name assign you, Absol?" The Alpha sneered, learning aught but ridicule in his private musings.
"Before Solomon named me, I was called Lead Router. I was called the Packmaster's daughter. I was called the Alpha Slayer. But these were only my titles and their roles, not who I was." Karst met the Alpha's mocking leer with that peculiar confidence.
...A confidence only ever displayed by the wise…
"Solomon saw who I was. Solomon knew that I was more than just the Absols' Lead Router. Solomon knew that I was more than just the Packmaster's daughter. Solomon knew that there was something more to me, than just a series of titles and their roles." Karst's knowing smile left the Alpha beside her in sudden doubt of his own convictions, and the peculiar distinction of a name, as well as its lack of application to his own existence, had left a mark on the Alpha Mightyena's pride.
"Solomon named what he saw in me Karst, and in becoming Karst, I have begun to see the world through Solomon's eyes." Karst murmured her discovery in a whisper, and the Alpha Mightyena had to strain his ears to hear her.
"What a vantage point that must afford you, Absol... To see the world through the eyes of a Gyarados?" The Alpha began in a tone of awe, but his remark soon turned derisive in its enunciation, and he laughed at the foolish Absol who stood unashamed by the river's edge.
"...To see the world through the eyes of a Mighty Magikarp!" The Alpha cackled, but his scorn would not tarnish the Absol's demeanor. With an amused sigh, Karst wrote off his insult as a weak utterance of the naive.
"Solomon has a strength that you cannot possibly conceive of. Solomon is even stronger than I gave him credit for. As a Magikarp or as a serpent, Solomon has always been mightier than a mere Gyarados." Karst chuckled at the bemused expression that overwhelmed the Alpha Mightyena's mirth.
"...So what of this delegation? What do I risk in denying you, the Healer, and the Gyarados?" The Alpha treaded carefully now. Karst's invulnerability had swayed him past his original doubts, and now he sought direct answers for the questions that he had priorly feared to voice aloud.
"Solomon does not wish to slay your Pack, Alpha. The Audino, on the other hand, is positively itching for an excuse to incite a war. And as for me?" Karst giggled at the shocked expression on the Alpha's face.
"-I just want to ensure that Solomon doesn't come to regret his decision, regardless of whether he chooses to support a war, or to foster a peace." Karst fixed her eyes on the Alpha's own, and pressured him for an understanding.
"...And why would the Gyarados spare us? Why would he protect his enemies from himself?" The Alpha growled, growing frustrated with the endless contradictions.
"I told you, Solomon has a strength that you know nothing of, and I have only just begun to realize the extent of its scale. But if you still question that strength, Alpha: then ask yourself this…" Karst's coy voice resurfaced, and the Alpha's curiosity held him in enraptured with her answer, despite the demeaning intentions of his previous jabs.
"...Do you know of anyone who possess the necessary strength to defeat a Gyarados?" Karst asked, and the Alpha grew silent as his knowledge of such a powerful being provided him with nothing for an answer.
"...I only know of one such individual who possess that magnitude of power. I only know one creature who can defeat a legendary Gyarados in battle. And his name is Solomon." Karst whispered her friend's name in reverence, and the Alpha opposed to her drew back with a start.
"He is the only force preventing your Pack's annihilation. He is the only reason as to why you still draw breath. Solomon is the only reason that life still persists in the Core Delta, and not even a Gyarados has the might to contest him." Karst declared, and the Alpha found his trembling haunches planted firmly on the river's bank for want of support.
...It was all so backwards. It was all so nonsensical. It was all so childish…
...And yet…
...It somehow made sense.
"...I cannot forsake the Circle's bounty to the Audino. My Pack will die off without its sustenance. You must must make this understood to the Healer! You must make her see reason!" The Alpha now begged his fellow predator for aid, and the merciful Karst answered his plea with a word of advice.
"Then the best way for you to make your case to the Healer, Alpha… Is to explain your situation to Solomon. After all, he doesn't only speak on the Audino's behalf…" And with that incredible revelation, Karst turned on a heel and made to return to the waiting congress; while the Alpha Mightyena swallowed his incredulity, and scampered after the White Huntress, placing his every remaining faith in her distant blue hope.
…
"Are you quite alright, Solomon?" Karst approached her lonely friend unimpeded by her own reservations. The miserable wyrm had once again forsaken the delegations, and return to the river to loathe all that he was, as he struggled to justify his existence to himself.
"...I can't do it, Karst…" The mighty serpent whimpered.
Solomon had never once voiced defeat. Some measure of resolve had always permeated his character, but here in the waters of the Circle, did Karst's dearest friend finally meet his match.
"...A monster can't make peace…" Solomon's voice tremble with the onset of a sob, and Karst lay herself down at the river's edge when her dearest friend's tears began to fall.
"What is a monster, Solomon?" Karst asked in a soft voice, and the wretched eyes of the Gyarados sealed tightly against his tears, as he choked on his self-damning answer.
"...Do monsters know of remorse? Do monsters know of regret?" Karst asked, her own eyes wetting as she recalled the fateful night that seemed so distant in her memories.
That awful and cherished night, when her dearest friend had saved her from herself...
"Do you remember what you taught me about monsters, Sol? Do you remember what you said to me all those months ago, when I came sniveling back to you with a hopeless apology?" Karst's voice shook with passion as she recounted his loving words.
"Monsters don't feel regret, Absol. Monsters don't know guilt or remorse." Karst whispered to her troubled friend, and the meek serpent's eyes opened to behold her in waxing awe.
"You're not a monster, Solomon... You're the most beautiful and loving creature that I've ever known…" Karst began to weep, and her dearest friend…
...An Absol's goofy fish…
...Left his reclusive prison in the river, to hold and to comfort his beloved Karst.
"...How can I make peace, Karst? How can I get them to put aside their hatred?" Solomon begged Karst for her council, and the caring Absol was quick to provide.
"Remember who you are, Sol. You're the one who turned the Absols' cruel Lead Router into a loving friend. You're the one who made the wise Healer see the reason behind your selfless compassion. You're the one who conquered a Gyarados to save the ones you cherished…" Karst's voice wavered as she approached the verdict of her council.
"...So just be you, Sol. Just be the loving fish that I know. You'll show them a reason against their hatred. Just like you've done before. I have faith in you, Sol… faith that you can do anything that you devote yourself to." Karst whispered to her dearest friend, as the Gyarados around her loosened his embracing coils, and rose to face the moot as Karst's weary, perplexed, patient, and pensive Solomon.
…
The entire congress tensed when the serpent and the Absol returned to the delegations, but if the Pride had been fearful of the Gyarados before, they were now even more perturbed by the strange creature that slithered its hulk into their fold.
There was no hostility or anger worn upon the Mighty Serpent's face, and though he loomed tall above them all, his crown seemed bowed by some great burden.
"I wish to try again." The Gyarados announced in a tired voice, belying his apparent youth with a brooding responsibility.
Neither the Alpha Mightyena or the Healer seemed shocked by this sudden transformation, and both lay their heavy eyes upon the Gyarados in expectation.
"The Healer has requested the Circle to serve as a land of healing, but to my understanding, such a land of peace would deprive the Mightyena of their livelihoods. Explain to me the makeup of the Circle, and be specific about its significance to all who call it home." The serpent's voice was weary, but determined; and though it seemed odd for such a mighty predator to express such concerns, the Alpha Mightyena took the Gyarados's display in stride, and indicated that the Healer was to speak first with a stiff nod of his head towards her.
"...When my family lived within the Circle, we labored tirelessly to make it a sanctuary for the wounded. During the dry seasons, we Audino cultivated berry fields in the river's fertile bank, when the summer's heat had reduced its mighty flow to a trickling creek." The Healer began, and Solomon listen carefully to the history of this disputed land.
"For generations, we traded our services for prizes and favors. My family grew wealthy with the bounty provided by both the predators and their prey. We offered our services to all, for we knew that alienating the predators would only spell ruin for the sanctity of the Circle." The Audino looked over to Karst, and through her eyes no longer regarded the Huntress with hatred and accusations, the Healer's bitterness for all Absolkind could still be heard in her following words.
"That changed ten storm seasons ago, when the Alpha of the Absols brought his own drowned heir to the healers of the Circle." Angry tears began to well from corners of the Healer's eyes, just as tears of horrid guilt rose to wet the eyes of the Huntress.
"The cub was long dead when the Packmaster delivered his only son to my family, but the Alpha still begged us to save his son's spent life-" Both anger and pain shook the Audino's teeth as she struggled to continue, and the lone Absol in attendance withered away with the shame of her past actions.
"...But there was nothing that we could do. My kind can only mend the wounds of the living, not return the dead unto life." The Audino found a cold steel in her gut, and used its cold edge to inscribe the bloodied words written in her terrible memories for her audience with the serpent.
"...And when we made such known to the Packmaster of the Grave Stretch, he became wild with a maddness. His first Beta had passed away in the care of the Circle only a season before, and the same disease that had ended her life had also deprived him of the means to sire a new cub…" The Audino lowered her hollow eyes from the weeping Karst, and turned to face Solomon with that vacant look.
"...So the Packmaster of the Grave Stretch took his grief out on those who he believed had deceived him. He blamed the Circle for the death of his son and first Beta. My own children were eaten alive as I was mauled and violated beside them... In the Alpha Absol's cruel eyes, such was our just punishment for having failed the Packmaster of the Grave Stretch twice…" The Healer choked, but forced herself to continue.
"...My family was reduced to bones and tatters… I was thrown into the swollen river, and left to die as the Packmaster's heir had. But by some accursed mercy, I did not perish…" The Audino finally discovered a calm in a shuddering intake of breath, and finished relating her story with its priorly summarized conclusion.
"...I don't know why I didn't just give up. I had nothing left to live for. No family, no home, and no hope for either's restoration. But I lingered on, and in seeking a distraction from my torment: I devoted myself to my medicinal craft, and re-established my reputation as the Grave Stretch's wisest healer from the meager confines of the Sandy Glen." The Audino took a deep breath, and used it to give voice to her truest desire.
"The Circle was my home, and it was wrongfully taken from me. This land means more to me than you could possibly understand. This land was once my legacy. This land still bears my heritage. This land is not merely my birthright, but also a memorial to all of the Audino who toiled to make it a sanctum free of suffering and violent death." Steadying herself with heavy and slow breaths, the Audino faced her opposition, and declared her ultimatum in a voice both strong and certain.
"The Mightyena may not have been the ones to steal my home from me, but they now pollute the Circle's purpose with their savagery and bloodshed. I will not tolerate either in my land of peace and healing. I will not have their kind killing the wounded within my home."
The moot was silent for a moment, as the Gyarados weighed the Audino's case.
"And the Mightyena? You claim to depend upon this land for your survival?" The serpent spoke at last, and addressed the Alpha Mightyena in same firm tone that he had used with the Audino.
"Before the Packmaster allocated the Circle to my kind, the Mightyena were far fewer in number. Our Pack was not permitted to expand anymore than the other lesser Packs of the Grave Stretch. But after generations of loyal service and unswerving commitment to Absols' dominance, the noble Packmaster saw fit to reward our allegiance to the Absols. We alone of the Grave Stretch's lesser Packs were permitted to grow beyond the Packmaster's established boundaries, and so long as we continued to serve the interests of the Absols, we would not need fear a culling of our pups to ensure our Pack's future subservience." The Alpha Mightyena was both proud and passionate in the account of his Pack's history, and the serpent who played the role of mediator in this delegation listened intently with a fair ear.
"The Circle has served my Pack as a nursery for our countless pups. Here in this fertile land, do we hold claim to the only reliable source of clean water throughout the dry season for dozens upon dozens of miles on either side of the Circle. The wayward herds come to the Circle's shallow creek during the summer to drink, and with the meat of their great numbers, are our pups kept strong and fed." The implacable Alpha Mightyena fixed his red eyes upon the Healer, and firmly announced his ultimatum with a harsh voice.
"If the Circle is taken from us, then our pups will starve, and our Prides will grow parched. Our numbers will dwindle when we are claimed by starvation, dehydration, and the diseases born in weakening flesh. The Packmaster has abandoned us to our fate, and should we be deprived of our most bountiful of homes, hundreds of Mightyena will die from the agony known only in an empty stomach. I will not condemn my Pack to such a fate under any circumstances. I will fight to the death in order to defend my species from that wretched end."
The entire congress remained silent, as the pensive serpent weighed each account. Neither party had been shaken by the other's claim, and neither adversary would consider forfeiting the Circle without a fight.
"...So the Audino's claim comes from a want of justice, while the Mightyena's claim comes from a plea of necessity…" Solomon mused aloud.
"This was my home, Solomon-!" The Healer hissed in fear of betrayal when she heard The Gyarados's muttered over simplification.
"I know that the Circle was your home, Healer. And it will be your home again." Solomon declared in an adamant voice, and the grim Pride of Mightyena drew together in preparation for an attack.
"...But it is also the Mightyena's home, and I will not abandon them to starvation." Solomon growled to the gloating Audino, and the war-ready Pride fell back with a start.
"...Why would you defend us?! Why would you aid us when we have offered you nothing in return?!" The Alpha cried out in both his anger and confusion.
This made no sense! The Gyarados was their enemy! He was in league with the Healer! Why did he spurn her and favor them?!
"...I know the pains of an empty stomach, Alpha. I have experienced the desperation that such agony can drive one to. I would not wish that fate upon my worst enemy, and I most certainly couldn't condone that pain being made known to children." The Gyarados answered in a rumbling voice, as he strained his brain for a solution that would relieve his conscious of the encroaching despair.
Neither the Healer nor the Mightyena could find the voice required to contest the serpent's contradictory decision.
"...To hear both of your accounts, it all boils down to you both having access to a reliable source of water. The Healer requires the Circle's river for watering her berries and her wards, while the Mightyenas depend on the Circle's river to quench their thirst in the dry season and bait the herds. Am I correct in my assessment?" Solomon asked the moot beneath him.
"I cannot have the Mightyena trampling my berries and eating my customers, Solomon. And even should the Alpha swear himself to his Pack's restraint, I know better than to trust the words of a savage dog! This savanna cannot be home to both treacherous predators and wounded prey-" The Audino started in a fiery tirade, but the Alpha Mightyena cut her vehement spiel short.
"-I will not allow my Pack to suffer your ridiculous vision, Healer! I assign a far greater value to the life of a single Mightyena pup, than I do to an entire herd of Sawsbuck! If the Mightyena are to perish, then we will do so in the quickened death bestowed by battle! We will not die slowly, or without our dignity! We will fight to the very last-!"
"-ENOUGH!" Roared the thunderous Gyarados, and once more did his terrible voice silence the volatile night.
"...Healer? If I may request another map of you?" Solomon's angry voice died down into a ragged grumble. The Audino lifted her alarmed visage to the Gyarados's tired gaze, and mouthed her wordless confusion to his eyes.
"Please, Healer. A map of the Circle and its surrounding lands. If you can, include the topography and every substantial waterway that persists throughout the dry seasons." Solomon repeated his request, and petitioned for specifics relating to the Circle's seasonal plight.
"Do you doubt my claims, Gyarados? When the rains cease, and the long hanging sun broils the land, there will be no water-" The angry Alpha spoke up in challenge, but Solomon silenced him with a look.
"I do not doubt you, Alpha. I wish to visualize a landscape that I haven't seen yet." Solomon growled. The Healer grunted in exasperation, before lifting a pointed stone from the earth.
"Very well, Solomon. I will make you your map. My memory is a little hazy, so if the Alpha would be so kind as to assist me in charting the Circle's seasonal waterways…" The Healer spat, clearly disgusted by the thought of working alongside her enemy.
"Thank you, Healer. Alpha, will you assist the Audino? Doing so could prove favorable for you and your Pack." Solomon now turned to the stunned Pride, and the Alpha Mightyena could only stare at the great cerulean beast in sheer bewilderment.
"...Can I assume that your silence implies consent?" Solomon pressed, and the shocked Alpha quickly made his way over to the Healer's side.
All was quiet as the Healer carved a map into the damp, hard packed soil. Apart from a few corrections suggested by the Alpha Mightyena, not a word was spoken until the dawn's deep blue shades tinged the starry horizon with the new day's birth.
"Sol?" Karst asked in a timid voice as the great wyrm intently surveyed the Matron's nearly finished map.
"...What are you planning to do?" Karst asked in a worried voice. Solomon drew a deep breath, and released his wind in a weary sigh.
"...The Circle cannot be a land of healing should the Mightyena prey upon the wounded…" Solomon began, and all eyes and lifted towards the tired serpent's voice.
"...But the Mightyena need the water of the Circle to weather the dry season…" Solomon continued, bending low to examine the Circle's tributary with his single red eye.
"...So if the Mightyena cannot come to the Circle for its water, then we will have to bring the Circle's water to the Mightyena." Solomon finished, and the entire gathering froze in place.
"...And pray tell me… How will you bring the Circle's water to my Pack?" The Alpha Mightyena snarled in ridicule at the Gyarados's fantastical solution.
"By digging an irrigation system to concentrate the flow of water from the surrounding lands into a single area." Solomon replied in a growl, and even the Healer's jaw dropped in shock at his announcement.
"...And just who in the tenants of a forsaken Law will dig this impossible irrigation system for my Pack?" The Alpha spat, his derision renewed by Solomon's latest utterance.
"-Who do you think?" Grumbled the grudging serpent, as he measured the sheer extent of his self-imposed duty.
And following Solomon's ambitious pledge, not one voice among the gathered could overcome their wonder to challenge him again, even when the warbling songs of the Swablu heralded the fresh rise of the morning sun.
…
Once more do I close my eyes and see into his world of dreams. Once more do I return to this colorful and shapeless realm to answer the questions of God.
Yet this time, his golden-caged figure does not greet me with the thousands of voices. This time, his hundreds of white hands stay hidden beyond the border of waking. This time his red eyes neither weep not laugh at my audience.
This time, God is rendered speechless.
How?
Thousands of awed voices ask me, with no context given to specify his question.
How? God asks me again in wonder.
How indeed? I reply to the stunned God before me.
He laughs now, in one short and amazed breath.
How have I conquered War?
How have upset his balance, and yet maintained stability?
How have I defied his immutable Law?
Because I chose to. I answer God with a voice both calm and decisive.
And now God cannot cease his laughter. God cannot stem the tears of awe and mirth that fall from his red eyes.
He cannot believe what I have done. He cannot believe that I have rewritten the course of fate.
A side! God cries out, and my expression hardens in light of his euphoria.
I was supposed to chose a side! I was not supposed to defy and sate both ends of the opposed! He could not conceive of a means to defeat the necessity of War! God could not fathom a design to spare both the predator and the prey of his impartial Law!
That's because God is weak. I hiss my venom over his laughter and praise.
God changes at once. No more laughter. No more tears of joy. No more words of praise.
Only guilt and remorse fill his red eyes, as he concedes to me my cruel verdict of him.
Yes, God is weak. He tells me in his shame, but I cannot pity him.
Had he but a whisper of my resolve, God would not have forfeited to War as readily as he had, back when he faced that same trial… God murmurs to me from across the dream.
I don't care. These words of mine are cold and callous. God looks up at me in distress.
I don't care about God's failings. I don't care about his guilt, his remorse, his shame, or his fate.
My actions are not committed on behalf of a God. My decisions are not finalized by the decree of God's influences.
I do not need a God to justify what is right. I do not need his abstract guidance to spread my own compassion.
God brought this world into chaos, and his responsibility has fallen to me, to correct this world of God's cruel design.
He laughs again, his mirth now soft and saddened.
I was right when I told God, so many dreams ago…
...I was right when I told God that it wasn't I who needed him.
...It was God who needed me.
...Why are you so helpless, God? How can you care about this world, and yet not act to save it? I ask, setting aside my anger in order to satisfy my own curiosity. He laughs again, in those thousands of sad tongues, laughs in that sorrowful chorus of unspoken languages.
He can act. God tells me this. But just as I have chosen to act, so has he chosen not to.
Why?
Yet again, I question the divine with the simplest of utterances.
Why does God chose not to act?
And God deems himself fit to answer me.
...Because…
...Because when God last chose to act, he set the template for this world's destruction. And every action that God has since enacted to amend that one divine act, has only served to hasten this world's impending ruin.
...God cannot save his own world from himself.
...So he entrusted me to do it for him.
I find it curious. This is what I state, as my voice grows leveled, and my tone is offered to God, void of my humors or my tempers.
It is curious that God would choose a servant who would defy him. It is curious that God would choose a servant that would deny him.
I find it curious that God chose a servant who would oppose him.
And that opposition is exactly what God wanted. He tells me so in the quiet storm of his thousands of voices.
God wanted an opposite to challenge his every design.
So am I the Devil to God's creation? I ask, and God looks to me with his loving red eyes.
Yes, I am his cherished Devil. I am his defiant servant. I am his passionate child, who in both my pride and grief, questions his every device.
I am the Devil to God's world, and I am his only hope for redemption.
So flattered am I to be your Devil, God. I can think of no more a noble role than that of your opposition.
Yes, I am God's adversary. I am the one who dares defy God. I am all that he opposes, just as he is all that I oppose.
But is there not some common ground between us, Devil?
Can we not both love? Can we not both hate?
Can we not both realize that without the other: God is just a fiction, and his Devil is but a figment?
Are we nothing if not a reflection divided?
Don't be ridiculous, God. Before I was your Devil, I was something else. I was free of God and his cursed world. It is God who stole everything that I was from me, everything except the cold hole left by my former life's absence, and for that lost identity…
...For that murdered me…
...I will never find it within myself to forgive God.
Very well then, Devil. God accepts your hatred. But if he may request at the very least: can God attempt to atone for his trespasses against me?
Despite my admission, you still seek forgiveness, God? Well if that is the case, then answer your Devil's question. Answer me honestly, so that I may know if whether or not I can trust you.
And what question would you ask of God, Devil? What question can I answer that will bring you peace?
My question, God? It is not so heavy a question, but it is a question that has plagued me ever since you first brought me here.
...When God first brought me here, and made me into the meekest of his creatures, he split me in twain, and set my two halves against one another. Why would God sever who I am into separate parts, and invoke chaos in my person with their disputes?
Why would God break me, and not mend the division that he wrought?
God smiles at me, for he is pleased with my question.
Why did God break me not once, but twice?
The dream starts to fade, and God begins to disappear with his unfathomable realm, but before I wake to be surrounded by those I love, God gives his Devil the simple answer he requested.
...Because…
...Because God has learned through his former trials, that one is most honest with one's self, when one's ears harken to both the voice of his heart and the voice of his mind…
...And it is that same honesty that I learned from myself which has made me into God's cherished Devil.
