by R Corona
The air thickened nearby, shrinking my breathing source. Two guards began shoveling people around me to make way. My eyes looked up at Gilcome, frightened, searching his face for answers. It must have been part of his plan to place me near Seb Creat. However, Gilcome seemed as stunned as I. A few rows in front of me, I was able to catch a glimpse of Brox’s worrisome appearance. He would not stop looking back, I stared too, trying to decipher his looks. Brox took short steps, taking a few pauses in-between to look back into the crowd. After the fourth step, he had lost sight of me. Desperately he searched for me, to meet my eyes again.
Dez sneaked words behind me once again, “Don’t worry. It’s not you Creat wants.” His words distracted my eyes backwards and, in a matter of seconds, Brox was gone from my view. “There’s nothing to fear,” Dez assured me. “You are no longer a human.” He turned away, repulsed by my serenity. “Though if I were you…I’d be shivering in my boots. June Corpelle has broken out of her specie—you belong among the kind-less. That should frighten you!” Dez strained every syllable between his teeth, wishing to insult me. “Who knows what you’ve become?” His words resonated in my mind but disappeared outwards onto the crowd when Brox found my eyes again. The bald woman being dragged by him, seemed unresponsive and accepting of her fate. Brox’s spirit was beaten, as if he walked an innocent lamb to the slaughterhouse. Every painstaking step was transferred to me via his glance. I wished he would look away. Others began to murmur, wondering why he looked into the crowed so often.
The woman stumbled on the steps but Brox held her up, knowing they were closer to her demise. When she reached the top, Seb Creat took her hand and presented her to his son. Gilcome would decline the offer, he could not feed, not before the Coronation. He whispered into his father’s ear and Seb Creat nodded in agreement. “Well then,” Seb Creat smiled, holding on the fragile woman, “let’s present her first to the families who have brought sources for your future reign.”
Gilcome wrinkled his nose and stepped in, before the bald woman was lowered to the families seated around the throne steps. “Actually father, though my greatest gratitude is directed to the sources brought in aid to my reign, I would like to present the human, exclusively, to the Court.” The woman was taken into the Court’s seating section. A glass station had already been prepared for her. Brox laid the woman on the clear box which suspended her a few feet above the ground. Then, her spine device was connected to the feeding table. A few droplets of blood fell through the feeding table’s orifice and stained the ivory floors. Brox flinched when her body began to shiver. He took a lasting stare at me, then allowed his face to drop, resigned to the woman’s suffering. “The Court will be asked to keep this being alive.” Gilcome announced, seated on the arm chair next to his father’s throne. He directed himself towards the Court. “Unlike other beings, a drained human can be replenished, and this woman’s life will serve us for many ruling years. Use care when feeding.” As Gilcome pleaded for her life, I began to walk closer to the steps. He caught my glance and twinkled his eyes. “Before the Coronation I would like my father’s blessing and that of the Court.”
“Grant, you’ve always had my blessing and I’m sure the Court agrees.” Seb Creat smirked, fascinated by the Court’s feeding.
“This is a different blessing, father.” Gilcome made his way down to the steps and separated the crowd in half, meeting me at the center. “Unbind her,” He ordered the two guards who had been tailing me. Gilcome’s deceitful grin flashed across the throne steps. He took my arm alongside his. “The strongest source must stand beside me, to aid my future reign. I ask the Court to bless the energy within this Carrier.”
“A Carrier?” Seb Creat studied me in amazement. In the weight of a glance Seb Creat felt the force of my energy. To the eyes of the Court, Seb patted his son’s back proudly. The Lord took a second look at me and was unable to break through my thoughts. He asked in a frustrated sigh: “What is the meaning of this?” Creat’s whispers were in close range, so I was able to hear. “Who is this girl?”
Gilcome did not answer his question but replied by kneeling, so that the proceedings could resume. The white piece of cloth tied on my wrist quivered fiercely as nervous tremors clutched my hands. From the top level, I had a clear vintage point of every guard. There was one at every balcony, two in front of the exits and a barrier surrounded the steps. At the sight of a raised weapon they would take me down instantly. The view also flowed out into the city, flooded by a multitude of Fexorrians. The somber presence of the Elite rested highly above the famished members of the Court.
Intoxicated by the human, they continued extracting her energy while the woman’s broken gaze pleaded for help. Brox lingered by the feeding station, trying to distract her from the pain. A tender look convinced me the bald woman was the energy slave. Brox held her life close to his hands, he believed her damnation was his doing. But there was something else he wished to portray in his glace; something she wanted to let me know as well. Murmurings in the crowd drove my focus out, interweaving among the sounds. Dez stood with arms crossed, behind him a few guards were closing in. The Seer approached him, she spoke to him, then set her mumbling on to the air. The wind pushed her voice in a circle around me. In a blasting blur, her voice muttered my name. My name ran loudly and it filled the hall, but a second voice joined the blind woman’s. This voice I had heard before, many times. It had been so long I had almost forgotten it. It was Leev’s.
“By the power of the Royal House, I, Lord Seb Great, name my son, Grant Gilcome Creat, future ruler of Fexorrous.” A band of jewels was placed on his head. The signal had been given, Gilcome remained staring, baffled by my paralysis.
“Save me, Save me.” Leev’s voice felt stronger and closer. I looked at the bald woman, knowing she would not last much longer. Then she mouthed my name clearly and her voice was Leev’s.
The stillness of the dagger bothered me, it pinched my skin and, like ice, it chilled me. All at once I heard many voices and the loudest was the blind woman’s. “For the one who carries hope. Save me. June, June. Save her. Save us. June…”
Seb Creat paced next to me so that all could see the future ruler of Fexorrous. He grabbed Gilcome’s arm and raised it in victory. Gripping his father’s hand, Gilcome left it suspended, giving me access to his heart. He controlled my gaze with his eyes, and commanded my hand on the dagger. Rage took my sight hostage, my body fell forwards on top of Lord Creat. The gash shocked him to the ground. As he lost his balance I watched the white piece of cloth stain in red while my hand remained glued to his chest. The room quaked, feeling distinct energy chains rush out him. Gilcome and I fell to our knees as the room electrified with energy currents.
A flow raised the Seer a few meters up towards the ceiling. The currents entered her being, nourishing her spirit and rejuvenating her body. The flow released the woman on the ivory floors. Dez remained baffled, then like a spark, he ran towards her. He placed his hands above her head and told her to open her eyes. The deep, emerald-green color of her eyes blinded the room with grace. “Oh my Cora. Finally, you can see me.”
Brox ran up the steps to help me down and thanked me for saving the bald woman. I wrapped my arms around her bony structure and noticed the bruising of her back. Finally she was able to cry. “June. Oh June. I’ve missed you terribly. I thought of you and mother every day.” Some of her energy had been returned with the shock.
“How could they have taken you, Leev? Why? Why did they hurt you like this?”
“Because I wouldn’t tell them about you. It was my purpose to surrender.”
“You’re here, alive.” Why had I not searched for her? How could I have accepted her death? “Leev…Leev I’m so sorry. Forgive me.”
“No. I blame myself.” We hugged again and when my hands returned I felt the power of silver shackles constricting my energy, all of me. “Jeff, what are you doing to her?” Leev asked in panic. “She saved me, she saved us.” My cousin pled for me, but Br
ox tightened shackles.
“—Jeff? What do you mean—Jeff? You are Jeff, the Jeff?” How could he have done this to Leev? Brox remained silent, his head lowered in shame.
“Yes, he is June. Jefferson Brox, Council Guard for the Halls of Existence…I know.” Leev came at his defense. “I’ve forgiven him.”
“How could you?” I turned to face him, revolted by disgust, but he wouldn’t look at me. Gilcome had been constrained as well. He shook the cuffs wanting to get free, but these were council shackles, forged in the Halls of Existence. They suppressed a being to the last energy drop.
The crowds dissolved and Gilcome and I remained at the center. We were the object of shameless ambition. The judging looks came from all those whom I had, once, sworn to help. My grandmother, Cora, couldn’t understand why I had been restrained, but Dez eagerly explained. Then she could not bear to look. Leev’s sobs ceased once my mother reached the floor. With her, there was another hooded member of the Elite. The fabric fell backwards revealing a face which neither Gilcome nor I, wished to ever ponder upon; Controller Hed’s.
“The Council must address the crimes committed against Existence. Until your energies return to their original balances both shall be confined.
***
Days after our capture, the land of Fexorrous fell under the rule of the Council. Dez and Cora were not allowed to rule Fexorrous and although they appealed the Council’s ruling, both were exiled to ensure their safety and that of the people. Brox returned to the Halls of Existence, however, he was stripped of his title as a Council Guard. As for my mother, she continued serving the land of Fexorrous as a member of the Elite and a missionary for the Council of Existence. Leev was healed and allowed to return back to our World. The Controller plans on using her as a string of communication between the dimensions.
Of what exists outside the white room I live in, there’s not much to say. I sit alone, staring out a window, imaging the Sanctuary trees; trying to remember the smell of freedom. Although the room is soundproof, a voice plagues my mind like an unwanted guest. During the evening hours, while the starlight begins to dim, it crawls under the door, or perhaps, it flows through the slim entry-way of the keyhole. It is his voice; Gilcome’s voice. It has always been his voice and he is aware that I can hear it.
Every day, I re-write the events that stole my freedom, not because I fear of forgetting but because it’s all I am reminded of while the seconds die away with the starlight. As I gaze at my reflection in the window, a streak of blue stains the clearness of the glass. Until the day of my trial, I will write; until all has been written and not a word is left concealed. The verdict, however, is not likely to cause upheaval in my life. Everything will stay the same, as I’ve been destined to become a vehicle of communication for the future Creator.
Through my writings, I understood Gilcome’s trap. I was destined to fall for it, since hearing his voice on the Plains. He had been the one into the future, the one who had cautioned us about a great disaster. It hadn’t been Dez’ fault, it had been his own…and mine for trusting him. Gilcome was the voice in my dreams, the presence in the Plains. He had stolen the vibrancy of my spirit and for his crimes we both had to pay. But now I had something of his; something he cringed at the thought of living without. I wouldn’t give it back. His energy infused me with power, and although I was caged, because of it, in my mind, I roamed free.
Illuminating a spark of curiosity, he had shown me the Sanctuary; the place to seek. Now it was neither his nor mine. The only thing that comforted me was the assurance of a hateful glance through the large peephole. I lived for the hint of fury, glimmering among the gray highlights of his clean, blue gaze, piercing through the hole. His enigmatic grin implied that was to be my sanctuary…until the end of Existence.