Apotheosis (Song of Sophangence Book 3)

by E. I. McAllistair

  It would appear the security staff in no way expected the two men to have not only escaped their cell, but also obtained a vehicle, because they received no additional scrutiny at the gate. Peter held his breath so long as they passed he was sure he would faint. Once the building was in the distance, he released the air in his lungs, gasping voraciously for air. They found a place to leave the vehicle and proceeded on foot to where Anaar had deemed an extraction location.

  With the data handed over, Peter watched as Anaar negotiated a vastly higher payout for their mission, in accordance with the quality of the outcome, and the improper preparation for hostility. In all of the exchanges Peter sat or stood quietly and the man navigated such talks with authority and ease. Finally heading back toward campus, Anaar took the time to check in on Peter.

  “What did you think of your first mission? Was there enough action for you?”

  “Is this normal for you?”

  There was a pause and then his typical shrug, “Pretty much. There wasn’t nearly the body count of some missions, but I suppose that makes sense as this was your first one and you aren’t a traditional combatant.”

  “How can you be so indifferent about harming people?”

  “Don’t you take Leslie’s class? That woman is practically forcing us to maim one another.”

  “That feels different though. It all seems like it is for sport, or for practice. Somehow it does not feel real.”

  “I understand what you are saying, but I will give you a tip that may save your life. You are going to need to toughen up. Not because I expect you will be going on dangerous missions all the time, but because your Melee is coming up sooner than you would expect, and people are absolute animals in that event. Less than it being about your ranking, if you aren’t ready to pull the trigger, literally and figuratively, you will end up seriously hurt.”

  Peter thought on Anaar’s words and how shaken the experience had made him. That night he could not help but wonder if he was cut out for such a life. Everyone knew of the guaranteed careers Sophangence graduates had, but would events like what had occurred earlier become his life? He found himself unable to contact any of his friends that night as he spent his time in solitude contemplating.

  If Anaar had not been with him, everything would have gone very differently. He would likely still be sitting in a cell, awaiting a ransom, he would have completely failed his first mission, and he would not have hurt a number of people. Sleep did not come easy for him, but when it finally did, he was afforded a sweet peace from the fretting he had been doing all day as his adventure truly came to a close.

  15

  This feeling was foreign to him. Quite frankly it sickened him. Pacing around his room, JaMarkus thought through everything he had at his disposal to regain his father’s favor. Even though it appeared the list was endless, he could not get over this cloying feeling of nervousness, so strong he felt as if he had taken some mystical grade of stimulants that could make even him feel jittery.

  The thought of doing drugs brought up a throbbing pain in him that felt like a festering pustule on the verge of exploding. Despite his family’s ability to metabolize at an extraordinary rate, it seemingly did nothing to protect them from addiction. He wanted so badly to partake in anything he could get his hands on, but he had a number of obstacles preventing him from doing so.

  The most glaring obstacle was his lack of funds. Never in his life had he known the term ‘budget.’ Now that he had been effectively cut off for months, the meager change his father had been providing, not enough for the most basic of his needs, he found himself begrudgingly lowering himself to the level of serfdom. If it were not for being number 1 in his class, he would be forced to eat with the common rabble on a much greater basis, but the privilege of being at the top allowed the use of the executive floor for free.

  It was not long after he began frequenting the floor that he found there was a limit on how many times per week he could utilize the facility without paying, and his meals were being capped. He had no way of confirming with others in the top of their class, but he was certain he was being singled out, his benefits limited, likely by the detestable witch that was Ixnes Sastre. Though they were not friends by any margin, she and his father did have a common pastime they seemed to enjoy which was making his life miserable.

  No longer could he afford to go into Haxby for lavish meals at his whim, the thought of which once again made him want to gag. It even appeared his manservant had reduced what he was normally responsible for, with such things as breakfast waiting for him in the morning, and additional care when he was finished with his playthings. Though his exploits had diminished greatly, that was something he refused to part with, and surprisingly came at no cost to him, which made him ecstatic.

  Though he had curtailed his insatiable appetite for women in order to show how he could be responsible, he found the new class of students particularly susceptible, which made for an easy time fulfilling his needs. He was forced to treat them with a modicum of dignity since he no longer had someone to clean up the messes he made of them, and the drugs he normally had that numbed their minds were not present, so tales of his exploits were travelling around campus. He could not have everything taken from him, so he decided to keep it to what he considered a minimum.

  He noted that his standing on campus was something of an issue for his father as well. It never ceased to amaze him how hypocritical people could be. His behavior could be considered nothing if not reflective of his upbringing, and how he was completely superior to everyone else. It was not the place of animals to share the table with him, or think themselves befitting of anything other than being the gravel beneath his feet he tread on. His father had taught him that well, yet those same lessons seemed to be viewed with distain when put into practice. Though he did not go out of his way to commune with others, he did take care not to openly belittle them as much, even though it was their due.

  With infuriating restraint, he had even ceased his attacking of his archnemesis Anaar Vorpahl. Though he wanted nothing more than to pretend a lower than scum, dirt poor Fire Affinity could situate himself in such a position, no one around allowed him to forget that he had never bested the overgrown vermin. Even his position as number 1 in their class was only a formality as no one accepted his victory, and his poor showing in the school rankings only solidified such. Even the uneducated Earth boy had been avoided, ever since his unfathomable overcoming of his weakness to water.

  His own education had seen vast improvements once he actually applied himself. He always knew there was no way such a large number of people could boast a higher intellect than he, and without the constant haze of drugs in his system, he had begun to show that. He still was not certain how he felt about his studies requiring effort in the first place, however he had decided when he first started this journey he would swallow as much of his pride and feelings as possible to get the job done.

  He was finally ready. His resolve set, his head held high, he knew he was ready to face his father. Even if that brother of his had been dripping his viperous poison into his father’s ear, there was no way his accomplishments could be overlooked. He decided he would take things easy and start with increasing his allowance again. Diving fully in, asking for everything he had lost would be extremely foolish. His father was a businessman if not much of a family man, so presenting an appropriate figure would be crucial. Starting up the video communication, he prepared himself to finally break free of the squalor he had been living for the past few months.

  “That fact this call is coming from you means it is not to tell me you are dead, and I have one less problem in this world to concern myself with. For what reason could you have to be contacting me boy?”

  For a moment JaMarkus’ face went dead, his affected smile disappearing. The anger welling up in him was enough to turn his dark skin a violent shade of red, but he caught himself before he said something untoward. He had prepared for the possibility of a cold in
troduction, he just needed to stick to his plan and keep his performance crisp.

  “With your connections, I know you are well aware of how much better I am doing in school. I recognize my previous behavior was unacceptable for someone of our standing and I have made sure to change it.”

  The look on JaMarkus’ father’s face remained expressionless as he heard his son’s words. His silence in the response to JaMarkus’ claims were so staggering, JaMarkus was having a difficult time retaining his composure. Even still he remained smiling, looking his father directly in his eyes. This went on for so long he felt his jaws begin to ache and his heart race uncontrollably. When his father finally spoke, it took him completely by surprise.

  “This belief that I had given any further interest in your welfare is despicable. I made it clear you were not to contact me, and instead of obedience, the easiest path of all, you chose insolence. If I were to lower myself to the fragile and diminished state that is your mind, I could only presume you truly believed what you have done is of some merit. The plan was to inch your way back into my good graces? Perhaps ask for your allowance to be increased, but not fully restored?”

  The world became a tumultuous sea of sensations and emotions for JaMarkus. Not only had his father not been impressed with his work, he seemed utterly annoyed he was even attempting in the first place. His plan did more than backfire, it was laid bare as if he had sent a transcript to his father in advance so he could prepare.

  He could not pinpoint if it was his own ineptitude or his father’s outstanding acumen for analysis and business, but his plan seemed to be a complete failure. He knew that it was not just his father’s many years alive that was the reason their family was so successful. For the first time he had truly gone up against it and was foolish to think he was in any way equivalent to his father’s prowess.

  It was all or nothing at this point. If it was to his father, it would not be something shameful, but instead something that was sensible. JaMarkus dropped to his knees in front of the holoscreen, hands outstretched in a desperate plea. He had no choice but to beg.

  “Father, please! Understand the situation I am in! I have done everything you have asked! My grades are better. My reputation is better. I am no longer partaking in substance abuse. I have curbed my use of women. Everything that brought me to this point I have made a change! You must see I have made great strides!”

  “You bear the honor of life, that alone is enough of a reward to your so called ‘efforts.’ Do you know how many bastards have been disposed of due to their inadequacy? The very fact that you still remain alive-”

  “Bastard?!”

  JaMarkus’ heart nearly burst in his chest. He knew his father had just as much of an appetite for women as he did. His mother would of course never think to protest his exploits, but the wound that was just inflicted was more than he could bear. He was not even his mother’s son.

  He had never known love in his family. Not from his father, not from his mother, not from his siblings. To him that was just the way life was. Love was something lower beings used to make their lives more bearable so that they could continue on living and being of service to their betters. With this astonishing truth, he now wondered if this was the true reason he was never loved.

  He was a True Quintessence. He bore the family’s trademark manifestation. He saw now that to someone like his father, he was nothing more than an asset that showed promise. Now that he had been deemed a liability, he was expendable. This was why his siblings hated him so much. He was only their half-brother and they despised him for being better than they were.

  “The fact that you never worked out something so obvious after all these years shows just how much of a complete failure you are. Allowing you to continue on living now that you have been so publicly enrolled in that school is something that makes the bile gather in my throat. This is your final warning: Do not contact me. If you do so again, I will forego this farce and end your pitiful existence myself.”

  The screen disappeared and his father was gone. He realized that in all honesty, his father was never there. To have a father would have been to be loved and cherished. Instead he had a master, a keeper. All this time he went about his life, he was nothing more than the pet his family suffered to keep. That is why his life had been filled with so much pain.

  Writhing on the floor of his room his mind was in extreme shock from the revelation that the final component of his life he held dear was gone. All his work was for nothing if it was not going to bear any fruit. He had lowered himself in so many ways just to find it was the ultimate test of futility.

  The end of his first school year was nigh and it was without a doubt the worst 18 months of his life. He thought it was difficult to lower himself to the level of others before, but he was now finding that there was a possibility he was there all along. Tears unbidden sprang from his eyes as he wallowed in his misery on the floor.

  He never believed he could ever live life like the common trash that populated the campus, but the new school year would put him to the ultimate test. Though he would retain his position as number 1 in the class until his next Melee, the new school year would bring with it the main thing he hoped to persuade his father to allow him to keep. He would no longer be afforded the room in which he was living, and would be required to move to a place infested with others. His belongings did not fit in his current accommodations, so he knew there was no way they would fit into something less than. The final test of whether life was worth living was rapidly approaching him, and he was more terrified than he had ever been before in life.

  In his anguish he did the only thing he could think of to take away the pain. He searched for the final stash of drugs he had kept hidden away for such an occasion. It was not nearly enough to keep him numbed, but even just an hour of peace would be welcome. Taking up the needle and the vial, he injected the substance into his vein and sprawled out on the floor without even bothering to remove the syringe from his arm.

  16

  It was surprising how easy one’s actions became routine. As Dan lounged in the chair, studying while Maggie cooked, he could not believe that only half a year ago he was vying for the affections of his best friend, and only a year before that he was content with simply bringing home enough money to put food on the table. He told Maggie over and over that she need not cook for him, but she always disregarded him, grumbling something about letting her be a proper woman sometimes.

  Pungent spices wafting through the air, Dan found it hard to concentrate on his studies. When he was over, Maggie had made an effort to speak to him in Spanish as much as she could in order to bolster his proficiency. In just a short time he had seen an absurd spike in his grades, and even when there was something he struggled with, he had enough knowledge from his informal training with Maggie to provide context clues. No matter how much he looked at it, he was gifted a goddess in her own right that he felt he had no proper claim to.

  From her beauty, which put most women he had ever met to shame, to the way she cared for him like they had been together for decades rather than months, nothing but love gushed from him as he gazed absently at the tiny woman. Curvy in all the right places, but completely comfortable enough in her own skin to not feel the need to sexualize herself, he knew that he alone was the only one who had been blessed with the opportunity to savor her splendor.

  Though the smells of the food she was cooking were filling the small apartment, nothing pleased Dan more than simply being in her space. He was convinced her scent should be a perfume, and even though he was anxious for the food he would be receiving soon, it was impeding the succulent aroma that she left. He had half the mind to go into the bedroom and bury his face in her pillow under the guise of taking a nap. He knew better of it though, because she was in many ways as keen as Anaar when it came to certain things, and she would be alerted since he had never taken a nap since they had met.

  Instead he soldiered on with his studies, something her influen
ce had also made a titanic impact on, even outside of Spanish. Where he had always utilized Anaar as his tutor, and still did, thanks to his overflowing knowledge about seemingly everything, Maggie offered not only knowledge, but a deeper level of moral support he had not gotten with Anaar. Both wanted nothing more than to see him be successful, but with his more frequent exposure to Maggie, he was never without the feeling of love and encouragement. He had risen in the ACR, he was becoming quite comfortable taming his accent, usually, and he had begun to look forward to his classes.

  The one downside to having someone so unbelievably fearsome as Maggie as a partner was that she spent a fair amount of time beating him up. All his life he had lived with this understanding that women could never best men when it came to a fight. If there were not world class doctors on campus, he is positive he would have lost his life a number of times. Even with her holding back he still found her to be far more than he could handle. He chuckled to himself as he accepted who wore the pants in the house. Their training sessions had made him stronger for it though, and their synergy had improved.

  Whilst rubbing a phantom bruise on his side, his phone rang, which was odd considering he kept it on him dutifully, but had never actually heard it ring since he came to campus. All his friends had Vizers, and Hekiah waited for him to call since his schedule was far more complex. Looking down at the screen, he saw it was his aunt calling him, which he found peculiar since she was never the kindest to him.

  He still remembered the years he lived with her after his mother had died and his father had gone completely off the rails. Even when she was alive his mother did not take him to see her often, even though they lived fairly close by. He felt this was strange because from what he knew, his mother was the most loving person in the world, and they bore no grudges against one another. It could have possibly been his father who caused a rift between them, and his mother was simply doing her best to keep the two apart. Either way he knew without her, he and Hekiah both would have been in foster care after their mother died in childbirth if she had not taken them in, and he was thankful for it. Answering the phone, he sounded cheerful, trying his best to hide his curiosity.