Sup guys. Dark here back with another chapter. Sorry for the long wait. I recently started my summer classes for college and since I pretty much have one test every week, that requires a lot of studying and little free time. Thankfully, I had parts of this chapter written beforehand and just finished it yesterday.
I will say that with my summer courses, chapter updates will be sporadic. But I will write some more soon!
As usual, I don't own anything.
Enjoy
"You wanted to see me?"
Erica stepped inside the dim room of Markata's office. Across the room behind the desk, the chair Markata sat in was turned around, blocking his body. She knew he was there, but the backrest was concealing his body.
A hand extended from the chair. A bandaged hand.
"Sit down lieutenant."
It wasn't Markata. It was Mumm-Ra.
Not wanting to piss him off, Erica complied at sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. She was wondering why Markata was Mumm-Ra, as he always used that form when addressing the Generals and Pumyra. For Erica, it was always Markata. Not Mumm-Ra. Something wasn't right.
"There's something I wanted to ask you my dear lieutenant." Mumm-Ra said. He turned the chair around. "What do you think when you see me like this?"
She didn't know if he was asking a rhetorical question or if he was being serious. The latter seemed to be what he was asking for.
Erica scanned his body. There wasn't much to say about it. A bandaged body with sickly grey blue skin, a hunched back and a moth eaten red cloak. What stood out where his red eyes. White iris and red sclera, no pupil.
She knew what he wanted to say. Not human. A monster. That's what he is after all. Nothing about this form was remotely human. It was a form of fear and death.
Finally, she answered. "You're a monster. A beast. You're not human."
Mumm-Ra let out a small chuckle. "That is right lieutenant. It is rare you see me in this form when I am addressing you. I'm much fonder of my human form as it makes it easy to communicate with you.
He stood from the chair and went around the desk until he was in front of her. "Hold out your hand."
This was getting weird. And Erica had seen a lot of weird stuff when she was traveling with the Cats.
Complying, she held out her right hand only to have it grasped between Mumm-Ra's hands. "Such fair skin for someone as calloused as you. And soft skin as well. How do my hands feel?"
Again, Erica was sure he was asking a serious question.
"They feel cold. Your bandages are rough and your bones are… they're like I'm touching a skeleton. A corpse."
Mumm-Ra released his hold on her hand and sat back down on his chair.
"That's the first time anyone has ever called me that. A corpse. I do look like one. Except a corpse can't walk, talk, and think." He lowered his head, the hood of his cloak conceal the top part of his face. Except his eyes glowed. And they were staring right at her. Erica swore he was staring into her soul.
But she couldn't show fear. This was her General she was looking at.
"Let me ask you lieutenant," Mumm-Ra went on. "Which do you prefer? Mumm-Ra or Markata?"
This was a no brainer.
"Markata, sir."
"And why do you prefer my human form?"
"Because it's you. Mumm-Ra is just the by-product of whatever happened to you. Markata is human. He is real."
In response, Mumm-Ra smiled, flashing sharp dirty white teeth. "That's a very bold statement from you, lieutenant. All this time, I thought you liked Markata because he was human. I can see it's more than that."
Reaching for something in his cloak, he pulled out some sort of object and placed it on the table. Taking it as an invitation to hold it, she reached out and took the object. It was a remote with two buttons. A red one and a green one.
"Let me tell you something, Erica." Her head snapped up as he said her name, not her title. "We are a hateful species, us humans. Before, we hated each other because of certain superficial traits. The way we talk, the way we walk, our thoughts and opinions, certain religions, race and ethnicity, different lifestyles, people from different countries, what we do with our lives. As I mentioned, all superficial."
He waved his hand in the air, as if dismissing those superficial things. "But we still hated them. We hated each other. Sure, the majority of humans saw passed the superficial traits and learned to accept others. But deep down, inside of us, is hate. Where there is love, there is hate. No one is entirely innocent. Not you. Not I. Not everyone.
"Did you know we had access to powerful weapons, Erica?" He continued on. "Weapons of mass destruction. Capable of decimating entire towns into nothing but rubble. Killing many people, both guilty and innocent. Those who survived will forever be deformed and pass it along to their children. Weapons capable of destroying a planet over and over and over again."
Erica looked the remote in her hands. Was this related to what he was saying?
"I've see you've taken interest in that remote there. I've asked that little robot of yours to build it. The remote doesn't do anything. It doesn't have any wires nor is it connected to anything. This is more of a test. The green button will launch missiles of mass destruction. The red button prevents the launch of said missiles. So, let's begin."
Mumm-Ra cleared his throat. "There is a planet filled with humans. These humans are the ones I mentioned earlier. You are their god. You decide if they live or die. Choose wisely."
What he said earlier was true when she thought about it. They were a hateful species. Each individual had their own beliefs and thoughts. No one is the same. She knew she herself was capable of such atrocity. After all, she has killed before with no remorse. The difference was that the people she killed were animals. They didn't deserve to live. They killed humanity.
She pressed the red button.
"Good choice." Mumm-Ra said. "Now, imagine the same planet only this time, it's filled with animals. Which button would you press?"
No hesitation.
She pressed the green button.
"Hmm. Great choice, Erica."
Erica tossed the remote back on the table. Clearly the test was done. Now she waited for Mumm-Ra to say something.
What he did next was surprising. A purple flash blinded her and when her vision returned, Markata was in front of her.
"The day the animals rebelled against us, humanity died. Mass genocide in over a day. Our population was entirely decimated. It is only the two of us now. Before, humanity hated each other. But we put aside our differences to unite and defeat the animals. We have failed, but we will not die. Erica, we are human. They are animals. They are nothing. We… are humanity. And Third Earth is our battlefield. We will not lose this time."
An alarm rang in the office. Erica, startled by the alarm, she practically jumped from the chair. Markata pushed a button on the desk and a hologram screen popped out.
"Ah. It seems like a Shadow was detected near the Briar Wood. You know the drill, lieutenant."
Erica nodded and reached for the gun holster strapped to her leg. She pulled the gun to summon her Persona.
"Go to Cat Town and get Pumyra. I will put a sleeping spell over the city like I did last time."
Erica rushed towards the door.
"Erica."
She stopped at the door. She looked back at Markata. He was smiling.
"Remember what I said."
She nodded and bolted out of the room to the teleportation room.
Markata stood from his chair and went to the scrying pool in the throne room. As he looked into the pool, the reflection changed until he was looking at Cat Town. He performed the spell and waited. A few minutes later, Erica and Pumyra ran out of the city and into the direction of the mountains where the teleportation room was.
Markata went back to looking at Cat Town.
We will win, he thought. We will rise.