Chapter -94: A Shackled Soul
"Invoked in the language of the forbidden tongue, I engrave upon this child's soul a last name, one that shall instill and beckon obedience to my word and law. And this new name shall be...'Arcavira'."
"Da-" "Dad-!"
"Mmrrrr..." With weary bones and a struggling groan, Justek's eyes cracked open to the sight of his two energetic children standing before him.
Solaris had been shoving at his chest while Lunis stood back, trying to keep him away with all the delicacy of a sparrow.
Justek's smile crept up, his eyelids weighed down by a grimy crust.
"Another restless night..." He thought, as the memories of yesteryear dragged themselves out to a point of redundancy.
Solaris shoved him a few more times, eagerly begging for a proper start to a new day, "Hurry up daddy, I wanna go out and eat!"
"Heh," Justek chuckled, "Your hands are so small and limber. They felt like leaves upon my bones."
He rose up from the corner of his room, this prison cell, feeling stiff all around. A staff of orichalchum make helped him stand.
His two children were at his feet, fresh and energized to tackle a new day. Dressed up, hair tidy, and wearing their personalized smiles.
"How you've grown so much in such a short time, yet you remain small and fragile." He looked upon Lunis in particular, whose eyes bore passion not for the vigor of play, but of an endearing love for him. A single tear, welled up in his eye.
"Daddy?" Lunis whispered poignantly.
"Every night, I feel the darkness. It's claws...cold, but welcoming, as it seeks to grace me into it's infinite abyss. But you two...have been my guiding lights. You...and one other."
Justek smiled at the vestige of his cherished friend inside of him and then tapped his staff upon the ground, pushing through the ache of his bones to make his way for the door.
"Let us see what they have for us for breakfast today, shall we?"
"It would be no different from any other day. But I offer them the prospect of change, however minute, to spare them the early death of their curiosity."
They were treated the same as the citizenry: Three meals a day, with food brought forth by the "blessing" of Borealis' power.
In truth, this was tainted food, stolen and defiled with Alchemy to be mass-produced and fill the masses. It retained all of the flavor, but none of the soul. A perfect idiom to describe his "sanctuary".
As a fledgling sun deity, Solaris had more energy to burn and scarfed food down like a Blizzard Ursine. When he was distracted talking with his sister, Justek would sneak a little of his serving onto his plate.
Their place of residence within the palace was built in the spur of the moment following their "arrival" in Sancturia, and Borealis put in the bare minimum to make it functional for three.
Two beds, and a place to hang their clothes. No color, fickle lighting, and the empty smell of the cold air.
Justek was content to let his children have the beds to themselves. He could endure.
When their plates had been emptied, Justek guided his children out of the palace to let them stretch their legs.
Solaris bound around and Lunis did her best to keep up with him. They smiled and laughter burst from their full gullets, and in turn Justek had to smile as well.
"They prance about, unknowing of a world beyond these walls. Without one another, they'd be alone, with none who could understand the youthful vigor of which carries their little legs around."
He watched them off, his budding fatherly instinct making him wish to put a leash on their excitement.
But a vague flicker of light from days yet to come plagued his inner eyes, showing him what his children would grow into, and though he saw only their legs, it filled him with sadness...
"The least I can gift them...is the ability to be young and free."
Once they were fully out of sight, Justek let out a sigh and then went about his own business.
"I walked these streets a mere arrogant youth, a stranger in their eyes," He looked around and felt the people's hostility. Not towards his size, or his shriveling frame, but what muddied his soul, "Now they see a monster, a slave, walk among them. They lack the self-awareness to see that I am their own reflection, and so curse me to deny the truth within."
But they were a nonviolent lot, unable to cast a stone. For every gaze thrown, however, it stung all the same...
He marched his way to the city's library, his true sanctuary within this "sanctuary", and entered without resistance.
He was welcomed by all the shelves filled with books as a friend, and he gave them his due respect in turn.
For every cover he opened, he swept the dust clean with his breath. Every page turned, he made sure to unwrinkle. And he never disrupted the order they were placed in.
Today, he felt like dividing his attention between science, history, and children's stories.
He would be giving his children a new experience, the first in a while. A part of him pondered if he should treat them with a little more maturity...
But he feared the thought of them growing up too fast.
Once his tower of twelve tomes laid against his chest he floated down to the bottom floor and took a seat in a chair.
Any aches he still had were ironed out by it's soft exterior design and attention to craftsmanship. Loathe the man though he may, Borealis did not skirt on the details in his little cage.
The library is usually quiet and empty, save for the floating platforms that let people get from floor to floor. But today, someone else will be joining him.
Even were he both blind and deaf, Justek would know this man's presence from the weight of his footsteps.
He was the Aurians' indomitable defense, a tower both in stature and girth. Speaking in very few words, but making the most out of them.
He was Stonestein, one of the Ten Sages.
As he entered the building the two immediately made contact with one another through their gazes. Stonestein nodded and then made his way to the shelves.
He carried on his back a bag with artifacts and broken tablets from the ruins outside of Oreore, and a few other places as well.
He placed said bag down on the opposite side of the table Justek sat at and then climbed to the upper floors to peruse the history section.
He had a few books in mind and picked them out in minutes, returning to the table with them fanned out on top.
He then laid out a few artifacts, mostly rusted over or broken, and began to quietly motion his eyes between them and the pages.
Justek poked his head up from his material briefly and at times the two's page-turning was in sync.
He then lowered his book, marking where he left off with his thumb, and addressed the man with respect, "Lord Stonestein, how goes your affairs these days?"
The man looked up and said in his quiet and gravelly tone, "I have made little progress."
"I gathered as much." Justek kept to himself, and then looked towards the artifacts, eyeing what appeared to be half a crown with chipped sapphires a little dampness molded into the rust.
"The crown. Aquamorian?" He remarked.
Stonestein laid his hand on top of it and pushed it in Justek's direction, "A remnant, from the fallen isles."
"Ah, right. The people of Aquamoria once lived out on the sea atop a city floating on the surface. I just read about that a few days back."
Justek then smiled and lifted the crown, gesturing it at the Sage, "But do you sincerely think a broken crown will lead you to what you seek?"
Stonestein nodded firmly, "Leave no stone unturned."
"The Creed of the Scarabs," Justek said softly, laying the crown to rest closer to him, "Just make sure you aren't buried in the process. It would be quite the shame if Lord Borealis lost his most trusted shield."
Justek's stomach churned as he said that, with him fighting off the urge to change his expression more bluntly to match.
"Thank you for your concern, Justek." Stonestein said sincerely.
He then took the book at his fingertips and turned it around, sliding it towards him, "What do you make of this?"
Justek peered down and nudged his glasses up, pretending to concentrate.
"They've all been led to believe that I have been taught to read through the use of aura...That is merely a carefully crafted lie I concocted to prey on their undying loyalty to Borealis. None would question the words spoken by his 'property', ergo, my sole trump card in this inescapable prison remains hidden away..."
"My clairvoyance. My eyes may be blind, but my consciousness is not. The future comes to me, fogged up but clear enough to discern. So even if I cannot see what is in front of me in the present, so long as I memorize the future..."
A little of his smugness returned in his smirk, "Even a blind man can still 'see'."
He leaned back in and closed his eyes to ponder what he just "read", "Now, let's review. The book's contents detail a possible connection between the Aquamoria of old and Oreore."
He then looked Stonestein in the eyes and told him, "The crown's material. What do you believe it's made of?"
"There is rust. Steel, perhaps?"
Justek then took the book he had marked and opened it up, presenting it to him atop the one laid before him, "Surviving in this cage is all about making friends with the right people. Fortunately for me, this man and I share a similar lust for knowledge."
"Coincidentally, the book I was reading had something to say on this topic." He guided the Sage's eyes with the rhythmic tap of his finger.
Stonestein browsed it quickly and came to his conclusion, "The crown only appears Aquamorian."
"Exactly," Justek remarked, "It's a mock-up created by Oreore in the early days of the war to taunt the people of Aquamoria over losing their home."
Stonestein crossed his arms and murmured, "Therefore, it lacks ties to the Rot."
"Though I am curious to know how it wound up in the sea," Justek said, closing the book back up, "Alas, it does indeed appear to be a dead end for you."
The way Stonestein's brows furrowed were like two crag stones grinding together. He then somberly put the relic away and moved on to another.
They continued to converse without distracting their gaze away from their books.
"You have adjusted well to our books." Stonestein remarked.
"I've been at it for so long already and yet hardly feel like I've even begun to open my eyes to the world of old," Justek gave a half-hearted smile and remarked, "It feels, if you don't mind me saying, almost shameful that very few of us make use of these tomes of knowledge."
"...I agree," Stonestein said with much reluctance, "But this is Lord Borealis' way."
Justek closed his eyes and let out a forlorn sigh, "You are a respectable man, Stonestein. But your unyielding loyalty to that man shall always put distance between us."
But the man could still have his uses, if Justek worded his questions carefully enough. It was a game of patience, after all, against the most sensitive race in the world.
For now, he was content to spend the rest of the day continuing to read and play along with Stonestein's requests as they came.
He had to play the part so thoroughly, however, that it left him barely any time at the moment to pick out a new children's story for tonight.
"I'll come back later. I should check up on my children."
He made his way towards the general direction of where he last saw them. They wouldn't be here, certainly, but he was more after the eyes stationed in the area. Or rather...it had been planned by fate that this encounter would come to pass.
There was a new face around the Pyramid these days. An anomaly among the citizens not for their ability to express oneself, but for how dreadfully that act of expressing came to pass...
He was a young man with a powerful body that was of similar build to the likes of Gabriel and Stonestein, but he was clad in ancient garb, including a rainbow bare-chested vest and baggy pants. He wielded a naginata with a thick emerald blade, and on his right hand was a bracelet with a stone wielding a pitch black mark.
He had long black hair tied into dreadlocks below his head and a small and shaggy beard.
Though he had the air of a peaceful man, being in his presence made Justek feel...uncomfortable.
"It is not entirely uncommon for an Aurian to break free of Borealis' sterilization, so I've overheard anyways..."
"There were rumors going around for a while about a mother who birthed an Aurian so powerful they died in childbirth."
"And that this exposure to such a gruesome act poisoned the father's pure mind and made him lash out against the newborn son as he grew up."
"Unable to control his wild emotions, he continued to physically and mentally abuse the child until eventually...The child snapped."
"I saw it faintly in my visions. The Archives...Blood and guts squeezed out from a sphere of flesh and bone-pierced skin. One child...frozen with a terrifyingly gleeful smile as he stared down at the mess that was once his father."
"Borealis intervened directly and took the child under his watch before he could gain any self-awareness of the power he wielded."
"But this was no act of kindness. Like all things under his eye, this child was merely another thing for him to control..."
"The child thus lives out a fabrication in hopes that by filling the emptiness inside...It will keep his monstrous strength from being turned against the Sages."
And so his smile comes off as unnerving to those who see the greater picture. But again, he is just another facet of the cage leader's design, and thus can be exploited and used.
"Damascus." Justek addressed the person by the name given to him on his leash.
The man left his guard post and gestured his hand out coldly towards him, "Arcavira. Come bearing a message from Lord Borealis?"
Justek turned his nose up at him and chuckled, "Not today. My children. Where have they gone off to?"
"Hmmm, I last saw them going westward." Damascus replied.
"Thank you." Justek bowed his head and went about his way as soon as possible.
"You should be grateful that he has allowed you this time with them. For it is only a matter of time before our Lord brings them in line with the rest of his world."
Justek paused, his fist getting taut around his staff.
The mask slipped, his glare turned ice cold, and he whispered draconically, "Never."
He then hurried along, a mite ashamed.
His temper had gotten the better of him. But that deluded soul deserved a far worse taste of his wrath. He could not afford to be too ill-mannered though, even if it meant further reducing himself to the level he was perceived to be.
He kept his hastened pace a few steps more and then began to slow down as he recalled seeing what would happen next.
"And as if to further challenge my patience..."
He would soon find his two children having brought themselves to the point of exhaustion with smiles on their faces. Solaris was laying atop a bed of floating blades laid horizontally, while tired little Lunis rested her head atop the lap of Nimus, the Sage of the Sky.
He sat at the edge of a fountain with a salad of stolen greens in one hand and the other brushing Lunis' lush, silvery hair.
That Justek's tense glare didn't burn a hole through the Sage's skull at that moment was a stroke of luck, nothing more.
He walked in closer and Nimus poked his head up from his activities to address him in his carefree and insultingly friendly manner, "Heeeey, Justek. Hope you don't mind me watching the kids for a bit."
He patted Lunis gently and said, "Poor little guys ran out of steam."
Justek clutched his staff to the point of his knuckles creaking and then held back an intense, bitter feeling in the pit of his gut, "I will be sure they get a proper nap in the comfort of their beds."
He reached out towards Solaris first but his makeshift bed was dangled out of his reach, with Nimus chuckling and remarking, "Why the rush? Come on, it feels like we've never had a real man-to-man talk."
He then carefully put Lunis down beside Solaris by extending the length of the bed with more blades. He then scooted out and patted where he once sat, "Sit here, it's nice and warm and you reeeeeeally look like you could use some blood flow, pale scale!"
Justek brows furrowed at the sight of him, him and his cocky, unfazeable smile.
Little by little, Justek sat down next to him, with even the calming sounds of the fountain unable to cool the fire in his eyes.
The Sage reached into his bag and pulled out a sandwich, throwing it down on Justek's lap, "Here, an early lunch from me to you to break the ice!"
He happily chomped down on his salad. Justek stared at his sandwich.
"Look at him," His inner thoughts laced with a tone of contempt, "Engorging on stolen delights without a care in the world."
His eyes narrowed unconsciously, bringing about a thicker atmosphere that soon made Nimus pause and place his meal on his lap.
With a dry chuckle he pointed at the sandwich and remarked, "You uhhh, are hungry, right?"
Justek continued to glare at him. There was a splendorous vision of him biting down on the Sage's head with all his draconic might. Not as a sight of the future, but something he deep down wished he could create...
"Hmm." His temper had to be caged by force if he would hope to make it through this day unharmed...
He then pulled his head away and cracked a tiny smirk.
Nimus laughed and patted him hard on the back, "If you got something you want to say, say it. I'm no tattletale."
"Where would I even begin?"
"You're a duplicitous, conniving, thieving rat with wings. All your arrogance and bolstering hides a pitiful man who only thinks he's on top of the world because any who disagree are too afraid to challenge you."
"You wormed your way into my best friend's heart and then crushed it under the weight of your betrayal. If I could I would smash you into paste a thousand times over and then feed you to the very birds from whom you've robbed from."
"And that is only a taste of what I would say to you, you cocky little rat."
"...I curse that I must play this part of a silent, obedient dog," He peered sorrowfully over his shoulder at his children and then took a deep breath in, "But please, let me have the strength to help them make it through another day."
He then let it out and looked down at his sandwich. He'd force it down his throat one strained bite at a time, it's decadent flavor tainted by the filth of guilt in the pit of stomach.
As he slowly pushed it down, the Sage beside him seemed to be satisfied having put him in this degrading scenario and began to speak up.
"Aaaah, I missed this sort of vibe," He sighed softly, "Just two guys sitting around, a relaxing atmosphere, and a fresh meal."
Of course, a chained dog could still let out the occasional bark and bite, "I never took you for a hard-worker, Lord Nimus."
"I can be pretty motivated when pushed," Nimus said in a heartfelt tone, finishing the last bits of his salad with a deep gasp of pleasure after, "But hoooooo boy, I've been getting thrown every which way these days."
"Lord Borealis?"
Nimus bit his teeth down and let out a quick hiss, "Ehhhh, partly that old fart's fault. Then there's HER..."
He patted his stomach and with a huff of discomfort he faced Justek and told him, almost out of a sense of pity, "God that 'Lord' crap really doesn't suit you."
Justek's eyes briefly widened and he turned away, slowly taking a bite of his sandwich.
"..." Nimus put his hands behind his head and leaned far enough back without slipping off, his usual cockiness manifesting in a more blunt manner, "Admit it. You hate me."
Justek weakly gave off a smile and shook his head, letting out a laugh as dry as his skin, "You assume a lot about me, Lo-"
"Nah shut up. You've been pushing out huuuuge waves of negativity before I even looked you in the eyes," Nimus smirked, "And I get it. You lost your home, your family, your freedom. You blame it all on us."
He threw himself upright and slapped down on his knees, "Buuuut, the way I see it, we're both slaves."
Justek glared his way out of the corner of his eyes and muttered, "How dare you insult me."
"Oh, you think being a Sage is all springtime and roses?" Nimus had the biggest chuckle as he stood up and tucked his hand in his pockets, beginning to pace past Justek, "Just cause mine are of a different mold doesn't mean I'm not wearing shackles too, buddy."
He flicked his hand out from his pocket and smirked, "Being a Sage means being beholden to certain traditions and duties. If you're not acting like a proper Sage, you're nothing, an utter disgrace. It's all outdated bullshit."
"Now, I can't tell you the nitty-gritty, but I am working my ass off to uproot the status quo of this world and create a society where everyone will be free to create their own path."
Justek's eyes widened, and then pressed down with a narrow and concise fury, "So...you claim yourself to be on the same road as Sarajin?"
Nimus smiled and his laugh left a bitter mark in Justek's soul, "I guess you could say that."
"And yet you betrayed him without a second thought."
"Y'know..." Nimus faced him fully with his plainest smile and said, "You've betrayed him too."
Justek's eyes flared and he stood right up, trying to point his staff at Nimus' neck. But his body gave out part way and he froze there, shaking at the wrists while slowly panning his gaze back to look at his children.
His nerves had given out but all for nothing, they were still ok...
Nimus was unflinching in his stature, a truly unconquerable symbol of arrogance, but he used this unearned confidence to approach his angered companion in an outright friendly manner, "All the stories Sarajin told me painted you as a lot more blunt and willing to get his hands dirty."
"But I don't see any of that. You're just a shell of a man who surrendered his freedom to the man holding the leash."
Justek flinched as Nimus thrust his palm into his chest, causing his energy to feel as though it was being shoved out of his back.
"Gh...!" Justek trembled and then fell on one knee.
"You felt that?" Nimus said coyly, "Good. It means you're not dead. So quit acting like it."
He tucked his hands back into his pockets and smiled, "You may be shackled down by your oppressors, but that just means you've got to value what little freedom you do have to give you the strength to survive."
With a quick nudge of his head he brought Solaris and Lunis levitating over between them and smiled before gently sliding them onto the ground.
He then stuffed his blades onto his back to form wings and turned around to walk away. Justek propped himself up with his staff and muttered, "I-If freedom is truly what you're after...Then please, can you not give these children that?"
"Tsk...!" Nimus leaned over his shoulder and mumbled, "Would if I could. 'Duty', y'know? Some things you just...kind of have to stomach."
He took another step forward and then turned back around with his finger raised, "Oh and one last bit of advice? Try and keep whatever power manifested out of that mark a secret from ol' Borealis. You're only lucky to have this time with the kids cause he still believes nothing happened to you."
"...I don't know what you're referring to." Justek said as steadily as he could.
"Pffft, please. There's no way something didn't happen to you around the same time as our little cotton candy princess," He then put his goggles on and remarked, "Again, value the little freedom you have."
He then took off out of the city at blistering speeds.
Justek hung his head partially in acknowledgment of his children resting tenderly, and in hesitant deference to that Sage's words.
"I let myself get cocky. If even a carefree fool as he saw through me, then there's no doubt the other Sages can see through my submissive guise."
He laid a hand upon his chest, feeling the uncomfortable word gnawing at his soul, "But perhaps...I have been too good of an actor."
He picked up both his children, still small enough to be placed over his shoulders without disrupting their sleep, and made his way towards the palace.
"When did I stop desiring anything but survival? Was there not a point where I had a dream to believe in?" He thought of his friend, leaving him feeling melancholic,"...Even if you were here at the moment, old friend, what could I even do to help?"
His thoughts would soon bring him at the crossroads of another close to him: Auris.
The two met at the front of the palace and though her body was still cursed to be peerless, Justek could feel the energy waning from her demeanor.
"...Justek." Her voice lacked it's usual force.
"Lady Auris." He said, feeling the quiver of her expression upon him saying it.
They stared at one another for an agonizingly long period, and then Auris closed her eyes and the two walked past one another.
"She has not been the same since she returned...Almost as if she was someone else entirely."
"We share a cursed existence, but at least you can still speak against your fate...I envy you for that, just as I envy the feelings you've snatched from his heart."
"But the more you suppress your voice, Auris Aurora, the quicker the flame that once burned bright shall fade out. And in its place..."
Justek saw infinite darkness at her side, carried by a man clad in black with eyes of inhuman red...
"Shall you welcome the infinite abyss for warmth..."
Before she was too far out of reach, Justek whispered carefully to her, "Value the freedom you have."
Perhaps...that was the purpose behind his meeting with that man: To pass on that message in hopes of saving her from a dire fate.
The future wrote a vague picture of what it wished to occur, and knowing this was of no comfort for him.
He carried his children to their bedrest and laid them down together after rolling back their covers.
Solaris was easy to put to sleep for a nap. He snored loudly and wiggled his arms around but nestled into the covers like a tired little lamb.
But as he went to cover Lunis her eyes began to open. She had a little energy to spare, and spent it looking upon his face with a tired, forlorn glance.
"Daddy?" She whispered, rubbing her eyes and letting out a petite yawn.
Justek smiled and put the edge of the sheet in her hands, helping her lay down, unable to get the image of the inquisitive look in her eyes out of his head.
"What is it, my dear?" He whispered back.
"Solaris and I ran around a whole lot."
"I know you did," He chuckled, brushing some loose hairs back down, "You've got energy to spare."
"Mmm..." Lunis' eyes were struggling to stay open, "Daddy?"
"Yes?"
"Why don't the other Aurians want to play with us?"
It was concerning to hear that from anyone, least of all a five-year old child, "...Well, it's because you're different from what they're used to seeing."
"Is that bad?"
"No, not at all. You are two very unique and special children."
"Am I...?" Lunis murmured, bringing the sheet up to cover part of her face, "B-Because, I don't feel special..."
"..." Justek's smile widened and he brushed the aside of her face to soothe her into poking her head out, "You are to me."
"Daddy?" She whispered with a little more cheeriness to her voice.
"Yes?"
Justek fell silent as she raised her head and kissed him on the cheek. His smile wavered, as the warmth of her lips melted into his skin.
"..."
"I love you." She whispered, tickling his ears with the blind innocence through which she expressed herself.
"...You see these moments coming, and it robs them of their beauty."
"The smile I wear should escape my face at her touch, but I've already experienced this kiss once before. Only it's warmth is new to me, a sensation no foresight can deliver, yet cruelly robs me of the surprise such genuine affection shall bring me in the future..."
"These steps I take have already been written for me, a road that stretches forth in one inescapable direction..."
"I know when they will cry, when they will laugh, when they will grow taller, experience new sights and sounds. I will know how to react to them without thinking, but in my mind none of it shall feel an expression of the real me. I have been robbed blind of this right to be the best father I could be, and I DAMN the one who cursed me with this ever-growing feeling of powerlessness with all the fires of HELL raging in my heart...!"
"And yet...I may only see my children in visions of what's to come, but I can never stop loving them with all this fire inside of me."
"I just wish..." He did not notice that he was beginning to cry, and before Lunis could make his foresight a reality and pity his moment of weakness, he pulled her close to his chest and held her gently, "I could be stronger...Stronger than fate itself."
"Forgive me, Lunis..." He whispered tenderly into her ear, "Forgive me for all that I cannot give you..."
"I can only be as strong as I am now...And endure. When the time is right, hopefully...I can give you a better tomorrow."
"I am alive. If I must suffer, if I must continue to lose everything that makes me who I am...Then let me at least give these two innocent children a future worthy of the hope they gave back to me."
Next Time: What it means to rule