As fast as my legs could operate in my current state, I made for my house. I was relieved to see only minor damage to my home as well as the majority of the village. When I barged in through the front door, the furniture was all over the place. My mother’s antique collection was completely destroyed. Wide holes in the walls could be seen in different places, letting in the sun. Several objects lay about the rooms, and food was splattered all over the kitchen, the dining table, and even into the living room. When I walked down the littered hall, I found my mother sleeping on her side in Molli Su’s bed. I stood over her and coughed to receive her attention. When her eyes opened to see me standing over her bed, she leaped up and screamed with joy. Her voice cracked a bit, suggesting that she had recently been crying, “Oh, Sui, it’s a miracle! How did you escape?”
“I’ll tell you later, Mum.” I insisted, “Where’s Dad and Molli?”
“Your father’s asleep and your sister is at a friend’s house, being watched by her mother. Your father and I needed some quiet.” She paused for a moment to look behind me, “Is George with you?”
“Yes, Mum. He’s out on the porch. He’s fine, but my left arm was broken in a fall. It aches so much.”
“Let me see it.”
My mother was a white mage, but no magick teacher. She always knew how to take care of me and make me feel like a thousand shimmering, golden coins. The best that I could do was put my shoulder up to her, as I was unable to move my crippled arm. She lifted it slowly, triggering powerful stinging sensations through the fractured bone. She studied it closely to determine how dire of a wound it was. She possessed some unique way of seeing bones under the skin if she stared at them deeply, as if in a trance. “It’s definitely a fracture, just a small one though. I know it feels like your whole arm has been ruined, but that’s just the nerves shouting at the rest of your arm. Soon you’ll be healed, but in the meantime, you’re going to have to wear a cast and get some rest.”
I nodded and said, “Yes Mum, but first, may I go see Dad and Molli? I just want to tell them I’m alright.”
“No, Sui,” she answered while pointing to my room, “I’ll tell them myself. You need to rest.”
“Please, Mum? It’ll only be a few minutes.”
My mother stood there and smiled for a moment with her lips dry and chapped; her eyes red and swollen. She knew it was best for me to tell them myself. She tilted her head and rolled her eyes with a little smirk, admitting defeat.
“Fine, dear, just be back soon. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mother.”
After a brief reunion with my mother, I went into my parent’s room, which had endured most of the damage. The floor was caved in, exposing dirt, which was scattered all over the floor with tiny goblin footprints. Every belonging they had was broken, and there were many holes, exposing the outdoors. He was sound asleep and snoring obnoxiously, as he usually did.
I whispered in his ear, “Dad.” his snoring came to a halt and his eyes opened like a dragon disturbed from a long slumber. His head turned to face me, and just like my mother, a large smile appeared on his face.
“Sui! Thank the gods you’re alive!”
He jumped up about to wrap his arms around me, but I quickly put my right hand out and told him everything George and I had been through. I told him about the beast and his minions along with everything they told me. His eyes darted around fearfully, but he hid his feelings behind a stiff grin. He nodded and kept telling me that he was so glad I was alive.
Just when I was about to ask him why he was so afraid, Molli Su unexpectedly barged into the room. She was wearing a bunch of makeup she had borrowed from her friend. She dropped her bags, full of dolls, much like she dropped her jaw. Being twelve years old, Molli Su was an energetic child, a bit immature for her age, with bundles of energy compacted like a contortionist in a miniature frame. She was an optimist and got over tragic things in a frighteningly short amount of time. As far as she was concerned, Rïdeneer had never been attacked and no one ever died.
When she saw my face, I knew exactly what was about to happen.
“Sui!” She screamed in a high-pitch voice, dropping her dolls and charging toward me. Wide-eyed like a Matta Shimbib bush baby, she kicked the air behind her as she sprinted, throwing herself on me like a leech. Bam! I wanted to be put to sleep after feeling that sheer, agonizing pain shooting through my entire nervous system. When she backed away with alarm and asked me what was wrong, I just stated in a choking voice, “I think I’m going to go rest now.”
My mother yelled from across the house in an ‘I told you so’ kind of manner, “Yeah, that’d be best!”
I bid my family a good night and went to bed down the hall. We were all covered in dirt and blood except for Molli, who had probably bathed at her friend’s house. I knew George had decided to sleep on the couch that night so I could have some space with my arm. He was the type of man who would let you have a moment alone and not feel like you were betraying him. Many men are clingy and try to find any excuse to get into bed with you, but not George. He was respectful in that manner.
That particular night around twelve, there would be no escaping the horrors of that kidnapping and having to return home through the wild prison of the jungles. For some time after all that transpired, every time I lay in bed, I was reminded of those horrors. My hair was oily and frizzed, my skin was filthy and sticky from the moisture, and my night gown was torn to pieces. Despite my fears, I tried not worry about it. The only thing that I had to worry about at that time was the wizard. He was still alone out there in the dark jungles. I had no idea if he was alive after saving us from that monster. The demon from the Shi Shii underground chamber, I supposed, was the one mentioned in his strange note.
As I lay naked, with only a cast on my left arm, in my warm bedroom, I thought more about that note, lying in the dirt, claiming that I was the chosen one; the one to stop the beast. I knew that I didn’t want to have anything to do with it; I was a girl, not a warrior or a dragon slayer. The only type of war art that I was interested in was magecraft, nothing more. My adamant choice was my very own and I believed there was really nothing that was going to change my mind about it. I had no interest in fulfilling some silly prophecy.
After a time of rest, I woke up later that evening with a quilt lying over top of my nudity and my mother folding some of my clothes. I was missing my cast, but I assumed that my mother had taken it off in my sleep so that it wouldn’t itch. She was humming a tune as she worked and tapped her foot to the slow, yet catchy beat. The strange thing about it was that when George used that charm on me back in the jungles, he was singing the same exact tune in that strange language. It was slow, but happy and it had a slight jump to it in some areas. She had never sung that song to me, and she didn’t know how to instantaneously relieve pain as George did.
“Mum, how do you know that song?”
“What song, dear?” She knew I had heard it, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The tune you were just humming as I woke up.”
I hummed the melody, proving to her that I had actually heard it. My mother looked guilty, and I couldn’t help questioning why. It’s a beautiful song with healing powers, so what would make my mother, a white mage, so ashamed of it? The look on her face was that of grief and regret.
“What is it, Mother?”
“Sui, I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while now. You and your sister used to sing that song together in a foreign language when you were thirteen and Molli was seven. You forgot about it because I forced you to forget.”
I was surprised to hear those harsh words escape my mother’s mouth. She was against forcing people to do anything, so how could she have done this, more importantly, why?
“You see, that song is, well, how can I put this? Evil.”
“What?” I leaned forward, turning my
head.
“I know, but it has beneficial uses too, such as vanquishing pain.”
“But how could such a beautiful song be so dark when it sounds like it came from heaven?”
She set the towels she had been folding on my desk and took a deep breath, “Well I’ll tell you. There’s a demon out there with black skin, no, darker than black. He intends to bring about the end of all existence. His minions have the original version of the hymn. It sounded perfect, but it was a hymn to all that is vile and malevolent. That foreign language you were speaking, that was the language of old Jaqan.”
“Jaqan-what?”
“Jaqae: they are a race of demons who serve the black demon. They are his brood. They have purple skin, long ears, and talons like dragons. They are not to be underestimated, especially their leader. His name is not to be uttered by mouth because it could summon him. Most of us who study the subject refer to him as “The Black Beast.”
Right then and there, I knew exactly what she was talking about; the demons back in Shi Shii that my forefather saved us from. Those monsters were quite frightening and caused me to have horrible nightmares even when I was awake. There was no way I could expect to sleep soundly for a long time after such an encounter. I listened to my mother as she continued telling the story of “The Black Beast” and his followers. It sounded so similar to Äbaka’s note in the jungle.
“There is more to that song,” she said. “The leader, “The Black Beast”, he is the one who wrote the hymn and taught it to his minions, the jaqae. In its lyrics, there are graphic depictions of destruction, death, and cutting down a woman blocking his path. For whatever reason, this demon wishes death on every living thing, especially those who try to stop him. The jaqae taught it to others like us. They were in disguise as humans, elves, dwarves, and gnomes. They tried to deceive people into thinking it was a hymn of holy matrimony. They deceived a lot of people, but one day, a powerful sage appeared and turned the song against its original creator by giving it healing properties, but he could not take away the fact that evil had created it, and it would always be evil that owned it.”
“Why did we sing it back then, Molli and me?”
“You two were visited by a jaqa disguised as a night elf before they knew-”
It was an awkward moment where she appeared to forget what she was saying. Or perhaps she didn’t want to finish that sentence at all. She turned away from me and carefully walked away without uttering a single word. I could faintly smell the aroma of something cooking down the hall. After a moment, she abruptly re-entered the room and changed the subject, her voice shaking with the fear that she had told me something I wasn’t supposed to know.
“Dinner is almost ready. Let’s hope Forefather is here before we start eating. No more questions about that damn song.”
She went hastily down the hall, leaving me to sit on my bed and wonder what she and my father were hiding. George had sung the lyrics to me in the jungle; he should have been my first lead to an answer, I thought. I quickly got out of my bed, dressed myself in a clean set of clothes, and slipped on my cast, ready to get some answers that would make sense of this whole mystery. I found George in the living room, sleeping on the couch, covered halfway by a small blanket. He had one arm hanging off the side and a leg arched up, with a bit of drool running down his cheek. He seemed at peace, so I decided not to disturb him right away. Instead, I occupied my time by amusing my sister, playing dolls with her until he woke up.
About an hour later, I spotted the neko passing us down the hall, rubbing his eyes on the way to the bathroom. I dropped the dolls, much to Molli Su’s disappointment, and ran out to get some answers. “George, where did you learn that song you were singing in the jungle; the one that soothed my pain? My mum said that it was created by the leader of a demonic race and some old man turned it to a healing charm.”
He stood there with his eyes squinted, having no clue what I was talking about. He shook his head and replied, “I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about with this demon rubbish. I just learned it from an old man before I ran away from home. I don’t assume you doubt me. Do you, Sui?”
“No, I just- I-”
I blushed and tried to slowly walk away without causing myself anymore embarrassment. His eyes were fixated on me, making it impossible to leave. I wanted to know more about his dark past anyway, so I took advantage of the current mood and asked what the goblins and jaqae wanted with him and how I may have fit into the whole scheme. What the demon had said in that underground hall was not something a simple guardian would likely hear.
“I haven’t been completely honest with you, Sui. I’ve been honest; I just haven’t been giving you the entire story of my life as a vagabond. I was raised miles away from the outskirts of the northern city in Shimbia. I had a decent life out in the country, like here, but I wanted something more. I desired adventure and excitement like my favorite superhero on television. I wasn’t sure what it would be like. My mother always told me that the world is nothing like Tigerman, or the other superheroes from my graphic novels made it out to be. Still, I knew that when I grew up, I wanted to go around the world viewing everything there was to witness and experiencing what life had to offer. I wanted to start my journey in the city of Northern Shimbia.”
His words were slow and his voice sounded inspirational. We felt the same, trapped in a small little area, unable to view the world from other perspectives. We were bound to the land we grew up on and that seemed to be final. George was braver than I, as he was capable of abandoning his home and his family to explore the world outside his seclusion to become a free man. As much as I was inspired by his words, I wanted to hear about his relation to these malevolent beings who had kidnapped us. Just before I could interrupt his train of thought, he continued with his story.
“But when I finally left to get a life of my own, Sui, I couldn’t help but to do anything I could to survive. Nobody wanted to hire me for work because I’m a neko, so I started to steal many valuable items: jewels, pearls, coins, precious treasures. I sold them for large amounts of money and eventually bought myself a house outside the southern city. I was given the proper papers by the previous owner, so there was nothing illegal about living there. One day, when I was working with the former owner, my house was attacked by the secret police of Shimbia. They burned it to the ground with all my belongings inside, warning that I was not allowed near the city anymore. Furious, I fashioned a disguise, vowing vengeance on the entire society with hate and destruction on my mind. My grudge had quickly escalated into a plot of death and bloodlust.”
Hearing George’s hateful tone was something mighty terrifying. The things he admitted to doing; I would have never suspected him to be such a violent man.
“Was some of this violence also a part of your curse?”
“No, I was the one to blame for my emotions, and yet, I didn’t stop to consider that what I was about to do was wrong. I joined a cult known as the Inglorious Dominion. They were a group of demon-worshiping mercs in a similar situation to mine. Shimbia has always been very discriminatory of its deviant residents, and we wanted to bring that society of pure human dominance to its knees. I will admit I had some encounters with my inner demons, antagonizing me to join the cult. That was partially why I didn‘t question the fact that they were evil. The other reason was because I personally wanted revenge. I simply followed out their requests. Our campaign against Shimbia commenced three days later. Despite thorough planning, our campaign came out as a complete and utter failure. We killed several conservative aristocrats and destroyed many buildings, but most of the cult members were slain by the Shimbian city guards. Few of us escaped with our lives, and we never spoke out against the might of the kingdom again. My sense of judgment kicked in and I never made contact with the Inglorious Dominion after that. I continued wearing my disguise as a hooded stranger throughout the city. I still wasn’t backing dow
n from my adventurous agenda. I needed money and only certain companies in Shi Shii had jobs to offer the nameless.”
“Did this cult you speak of have anything to do with those demons and goblins last night?”
“I don’t know. The Inglorious Dominion was a lofty, yet well organized cult. There’s no way to be sure if they were physically involved with demons, but spiritually, yes. They might have been in contact through a higher power, trying to hunt me down for forsaking them. As I said before, you might have been dragged into it for harboring me.”
The unsettling feeling of that idea of his was brought back to my attention. It made me cringe and tense up every time it came to mind.
“No, George, I think there’s more to my involvement than that.”
“Perhaps, but those demons are as new to me as they are to you.” He paused and noticed how unsettled I was. “Forget about them. Would you like to hear the rest of my story?”
“Yes, of course. There’s much I wish to know about you. The good and the bad equally intrigue me.”
“Alright,” he said, scratching his nose and trying to remember where he had left off. “I was nearly sixteen when I committed my worst crime. When I was competing in a local Shimbian chariot race, I was cheated by one of the competitors. After the race, he taunted me with his trophies, fan girls, and money. I was becoming ferociously angry. The fury of the curse possessed me all of a sudden, and without control, I struck him and the girls surrounding him. Then I made off with some of the coins he had dropped. It wasn’t till the next day, that I saw investigators around three dead bodies; one male and two female. They determined that someone had stabbed them with a dagger the night prior. I took their lives without control. I ran from Shimbia, and made my way to Bonitheraj on the first ship I could stow away on.”
The Spark Page 4