The Inheritance of Wrath, page 19
Liwanu opened his mouth to speak, intent on explaining his own mistakes that lead to their setback in the cave, but before he could say anything else, Zakiya walked out of the room.
After leaving the building, Zakiya kept moving until she found the local bar. Before she knew it, a drink was in her hand. She rarely drank, because of the way it reminded her of her father and his obsession with liquor, but she was desperate. In need of help and too ashamed to turn to anyone, she was running out of options. Her own reflection stared back at her out of the small glass. A single tear dropped into the dark liquid, sending ripples across its smooth surface.
The next thing Zakiya knew, her vision blurred. She only had one sip of alcohol, so it wasn’t difficult to figure out what was happening. Although she had been travelling with the group for a long time, she had only visited Empyrean once. Before losing consciousness, she pondered what the reason could be her return trip to the land of her ancestors.
When she opened her eyes, a thick, steaming mist surrounded her. It was a purple haze that could not be found anywhere on Earth. Tall grasslands provided the backdrop, broken only by the occasional pillar of fire, and a familiar humidity pressed in on all sides. A cough forced itself from her lungs as she attempted to breathe in the acrid air. She recalled her first visit to the strange place, and how she thought she had been cast into hell. After standing to her feet, she looked all around. As before, she wore only a simple gray smock. It would normally be an affront to look so disheveled. In Empyrean, however, it didn’t bother her. There were other concerns that took precedent.
Strange monsters meandered in the distance. They kept apart from each other, each standing upon a small mound. The closer she looked, the more she could see faces in those mounds.
Each one was made up of decaying bodies.
A man-like figure materialized before her. Uncanny was his appearance and ominous was his presence. Clearly different from the other monsters, it looked down on her as it folded its arms across its chest.
“Zakiya,” it called out in a monotone voice. “Why have you disappointed us so?”
Zakiya looked at the thing and scowled. Her hard eyes met the uncomfortable stare of the thing. “In what way have I failed you?”
“You dare look me in the eye?” it asked. Zakiya didn’t answer, but slowly lowered her gaze. After all, it was still unclear what sort of harm she could experience in Empyrean. It took a step forward. “To answer your question, you have failed me by failing those you lead in the physical world. Your people are beaten, battered, and completely lost. Are you not their leader?”
“I am!” she called back. She shook her head and drooped her shoulders. As distant as all of that was, she could still feel the pain of her failure. “I am. But how can I lead and inspire people that I have let down? They trusted me to guide and protect them and I broke that trust. After what has happened, how can I keep on leading?”
“You still believe that your mistake lies with your decision made within the cave,” the man said. “You are wrong. Your mistake wasn’t made until much later. Every decision a leader makes will be imperfect. A better option is always available, but not taken. The only thing you can do is keep the members of your group going, despite the obstacles and mistakes that happen along the way.” Despite the encouraging words, the creature’s voice remained rigid and frightening.
“And how exactly do I inspire my people now? At their lowest point? When they have no hope?”
“Are you still too foolish to see? You give them exactly that. The one thing they need, and that you can offer. Hope.”
With a burst of energy, the man-like creature sprinted at Zakiya. It struck her on the temple with the staff that it, carried and she fell flat on the ground. Its bare foot pressed down on her head. The last thing she saw was its proud face looking down on hers before she slowly faded back to her traditional reality.
As quickly as her spirit had left, Zakiya was back in the bar. She ignored a few strange looks from patrons of the pub, left a World Peace Organization coins on the table, and made her way out of the building. The evening light had given way to darkness, signifying that she had been in the bar for at least a few hours.
Although unclear on what exactly she would say, Zakiya had a direct purpose. She pushed through her headache and entered the hospital. After knocking on the door to Liwanu’s room, she was surprised to hear no answer. The door creaked open, and Zakiya noticed that the room was empty.
In a panic, she ran back outside. A lone figure stood silhouetted against the foggy night, slumped next to a large tree. After breathing a sigh of relief, she calmly walked over to him, and without a word, stood by his side.
“You know,” Liwanu said without turning his head, “I miss my father. Every single day. Some days, I’ll wake up, and for a moment, forget where I am. Forget all that has happened. And then it hits me. My old life is gone, replaced by a new one filled with pain and uncertainty.” Liwanu looked up at Zakiya’s unmoving face as if searching for some sort of explanation. Her eyes softened. “Despite everything that I’ve experienced, I haven’t shed a single tear. I don’t know if it’s because of my trips to Empyrean or because of my own stubborn nature. Either way, my sorrows have nowhere to go. They are a part of me.”
“I know that you’re in a great deal of pain,” she said. “And I know it may not seem like it now, but if you hold on, you can make it through this. All of your action will be rewarded justly. Your father’s killer will be punished. Your village will accept you back. And this world will not remain in the hands of a madman.”
A sad smile was all he could offer her. She patted him firmly on the shoulder, and then the two of them walked back to the hospital. Liwanu leaned on her for support, clearly in pain, and she was happy to help. As long as she could call herself his leader, she would be there to assist him.
Samuel stepped out of his tent. On his orders, he and his small group of men departed for Rode. Their large caravan travelled the main roads, and it would only take a week to return to the capital. Despite the setback at the cave, he had a better understanding of his enemies. When he had sent scouts back there, they found one of their own dead on the floor. It was evident that the man had failed to kill Liwanu. The entire operation was a failure. There were no casualties on the opposing side and Professor Baker had provided no new information about himself or the connection he held to the ancient organization that seemed to hold so much influence.
Impatience had driven him to action, despite time being on his side. No longer would his emotions get the better of him. He would fortify the city’s defenses, and when next he met with the professor’s group, things would go very differently.
When they stopped for the night, Samuel stood outside his tent with a cigarette dangling from his lips. A movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He pulled out his gun and fired. The flash from the exploding gunpowder revealed the person to be Hiroki.
“Heading back to Rode so soon? Perhaps to promulgate your failure to the masses?”
“What do you want?” Samuel asked.
“The same thing as before,” Hiroki said. Samuel shrugged with disinterest.
“I assume that you tried and failed. I had to come out here myself. If you failed before, how will the next time be any different?”
“I could ask you the same question,” Hiroki countered. Samuel shot him a hateful glance, took another drag of his cigarette, then let out a sigh.
“Go ahead and try,” he said. “What do I care if you die in the process?”
Samuel blew out a cloud of smoke, and before it dissipated, Hiroki was gone.
A few days later, Liwanu sat in his bed with Zakiya and Tummu standing on either side of him. It had been difficult for him to rest since he had been brought to the hospital, and not strictly because of his injuries. It was important that he spoke about what troubled him. His two trusted friends waited patiently for him to speak. He took a deep breath as if he were about to speak, but he hesitated. The words he was looking for were difficult to come by.
“Are you finally ready to talk about your encounter with Samuel?” Zakiya asked.
“I am,” Liwanu said. He looked at the smiling faces of his two friends. “Samuel said something that worried me. He told me that the professor doesn’t find people with powers; he finds people to give powers to. In some way, he sends them to Empyrean.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Zakiya said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“That’s what I thought at first, too. But the more I thought about it, the more it does make sense. Professor Baker claims that he is skillful in finding people who have visited Empyrean because of a book he’s read on genetics. But it seems to be more than that. Not one person has developed these abilities without the professor being there.”
“What about Hiroki?” Tummu asked.
“We can’t say for sure that Professor Baker wasn’t around when he became Empyreal either. I’d bet he was.” Despite himself, Liwanu couldn’t keep venom from entering his voice as he spoke.
“You believe what Samuel told you?” Zakiya asked. “What if he’s just trying to tear our group apart? What if he’s purposefully putting these seeds of doubt within our minds in order to weaken us?”
“Then I guess it’s working,” Liwanu said. “Think about the guy that killed Alexander. The professor certainly seemed to make him Empyreal when forced to. What if we’ve been played this entire time? What if we have more than one enemy in this fight?”
“Now hold on,” Tummu said. “Even if he is granting powers, that doesn’t mean he’s our enemy. These powers were used to fight The Crows and other threats. That doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”
“It was all done under the direction of the professor,” Liwanu said. “And the purpose of the group has changed over time. If people need our help, we feel an obligation to offer our assistance. Under the guidance of Professor Baker. We have been his tools of war and he hasn’t even been honest with us about anything. Who knows what he will ask of us next? Maybe when we take down Samuel, he will take his place as ruler of the world, with us acting as nothing more than his firepower.”
Tummu and Zakiya both raised their hands and gently pushed Liwanu back to a seated position. Only then did he realize how irate he had become. He worried for a moment that his voice had grown loud enough for the professor to hear from the room next door. They sat in silence for a few seconds before continuing their discussion.
“I appreciate you bringing all of this to my attention,” Zakiya said. “For now, the most important thing is that we continue pushing our way towards Rode. When you and the professor are ready, we will continue on as if nothing has changed.”
“But things have changed,” Liwanu said.
“I know,” Zakiya said. She stared at Liwanu for a moment before nodding and looking out the window. “As we move forward, we will try to learn as much as we can about our powers and Empyrean without the professor’s involvement. I’m afraid that we don’t have much choice but to work together until Samuel is defeated. When the time is right, we will confront Professor Baker and get to the bottom of all of this.”
Chapter 21
Three weeks passed before Liwanu was well enough to travel. The professor explained that his injury should have taken much longer to recover from but being Empyreal sped up the body’s ability to heal. Of course, it would take much longer for him to recover from the betrayal he felt concerning the old man.
Without delay, he asked for them to move. They couldn’t afford to wait for Samuel to further solidify his rule. But perhaps more pressing than that was his desire to simply get moving. Laying in a hospital bed for too long left him alone with his thoughts. They could be as painful as the gunshot wound.
Liwanu’s mood improved for the first day of travel, but it quickly diminished after that. Overall, the trip was much less joyful than it was before Toba’s betrayal. Because they were forced to travel off the main roads, it would take a few weeks to reach Rode. The going was less sure without Toba’s tracking abilities to lead them. As they marched along without any horses to help carry their gear, there was very little talking to be heard outside of the occasional grumble.
Tummu tried to brighten the mood by singing a song he learned while growing up in Otari. It was a simple song, sweet and poignant, and somewhat fitting for the occasion.
When I was a young lad,
Roaming ran in my veins,
My mother always warned me
I’d discover it someday.
My father had it too,
Which is why I never knew,
Who he truly was,
Or why away he flew.
And one day it happened,
In the blink of an eye,
I left my poor mother,
Without even a goodbye.
The whole world seemed
So large and inviting
And I had to explore it,
It was just so enticing.
But when I at last made
My way back toward home,
My poor mother, how old
And frail she had grown.
That’s when I realized,
Seeing her all alone,
While the world I did roam,
My heart was at home.
Cui let out a loud sniffle. It was Tummu’s beautiful voice as much as the lyrics themselves that seemed to affect everyone. Even Niccolo had to wipe his running nose, muttering something about allergies while doing so.
“I think we should hold off on the singing for a while,” Zakiya called back from the front. “The closer we get to Rode, the more likely we are to attract unwanted attention.”
“If Cui’s blubbering doesn’t give us away first,” Niccolo teased.
“Like you’re any better off!” Cui retorted as he wiped a sleeve across his face. Niccolo laughed uproariously.
“Quiet, both of you!” Zakiya snapped. “We can’t afford another setback. Caution is key from here on out. Behave yourselves.”
“They’re just having a little fun,” Liwanu said to Zakiya. “I think it’s a good thing. It’s better than carrying on in silence, anyway.”
Zakiya stared at him for a moment before turning around. Her expression was blank. The longer they travelled, the more he saw that the others did struggle with their Empyreal issues. Remembering his own shortcomings, Liwanu didn’t let her brusque demeanor get to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tummu shirk back and look down as he walked. His plan to encourage everybody through his singing seemed to have backfired.
As the group crested the top of a hill, they looked down to see a huge city lying before them. People crowded the stone-laid streets, jostling each other as they pushed through the crowd. Smoke from a multitude of chimneys fell softly upward, creating a smog around the city. And if Liwanu listened carefully, he could hear bells ringing softly in the distance. He had never seen so many people in one place, and his initial thought was that they had reached Rode.
“This is the city of Lewisburg,” Zakiya announced. “The last big city before we reach Rode. Since we are so close to Samuel and his forces, the city will be even less receptive than all of those we passed through before. We will set up camp a safe distance away, and later tonight, I’ll send one or two to go gather some supplies. The cover of dark should help lower any suspicion.”
Everyone helped to set up camp on a small hill that was a little closer to the city. Zakiya didn’t allow for any fires to be made, so everyone ate what was left of their dry rations. After Liwanu and Tummu finished eating, Zakiya called them over.
“You two will be getting food for us tonight,” she said. They nodded. “In order to blend in, I’m going to ask that you each wear your hooded jackets. Try your best to keep a low profile and bring no attention to yourselves. You have two hours to be back here, or I will come and find you. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” they both said at the same time. They donned their jackets, grabbed some empty packs and a few coins from Zakiya, and headed toward the town.
Upon arriving, they were surprised to see that the town was just as busy, if not busier, as it was before the sun set. People walked around with a purpose, taking part in the social scene that came with big city life. At first, they worried that they would stick out. The local population consisted of pale men and women that looked similar to Professor Baker or Niccolo. Liwanu pulled his hood down further as he noticed eyes on him.
Their long hair and drab clothes brought even more attention than their skin tone. Everyone around them had eccentric outfits, with colors that clashed in Liwanu’s eyes. It wasn’t uncommon for hair to be died in unnatural colors, and there were even people with strange piercings all over their faces. Yet somehow, he and Tummu were the ones to be looked at with uncertainty.
The two men rushed to the local market and picked out everything they would need for the rest of their journey: fresh fruit and vegetables, grains, rice, potatoes, herbs and spices, and a variety of salted meat.
When Liwanu went to the counter to pay, he offered what he figured was a fair deal. The man that ran the bazaar gave him a curious look.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Liwanu said, “do you not use the bartering system here?”
“No, of course we do,” the man said, folding his arms across his broad chest. He stared into Liwanu’s dark eyes. Instinctively Liwanu pulled his hood down slightly. “What I don’t understand is why you made your offer with the wrong currency.”
“Wrong currency?” Liwanu asked. “The same currency is used worldwide. What are you talking about?”
Tummu looked up from the pile of pears he was inspecting and noticed that something was amiss.
“Ever since Samuel took power, the currency has changed,” the man said. “Of course, you’d know that if you were from here. Where are you from, exactly? By what authority have you traveled to this city?”
