Zurkerx- The Empire Shall Grow

by Eric William Haluska

  Joseph and Scarlet are moderate active types, differing from Marcus, who slightly leans passive. However, they greatly differ from Aceso, who is a hard-passive type.

  For years, Aceso thought Argus was dead. Several times a year, Aceso would visit Argus’ grave, reminiscing on the times they spent together. This threw him through a cycle of depression as he tried to conjure up the impossible to keep himself happy: that Argus was somehow still alive. Now his impossible dream has come true, learning that Argus is alive and the new Vorhrer, making his dream a living nightmare.

  The wind picks up, lifting the colors of autumn off the ground. They fly past his face as he swats them away, forcing him to turn his back to the gusting wind. With his back to the wind, he looks up and sees a forest that overlooks the cemetery. The trees atop the hill are the colors of fall as they sway with the wind, shaking their leaves off, giving the illusion that there is color in the wind, hypnotizing him.

  As his eyes follow the dancing leaves, his eyes catch something, breaking him out of his secluded state. On top of the hill, someone gazes down at the mourning patrons. The person is wearing a black outfit, his outfit standing out starkly against the colorful leaves. He squints at the dark figure as he tries to see who the figure is.

  As he attempts to study the individual, some leaves pass his face. Brushing them away, he looks up and sees the mysterious figure backing up slowly, fading away. As the figure fades, he briefly catches a glimpse of who it is, and he takes off, determined to confront the shady figure. He approaches the lip of the hill, walking up its somewhat acute angle slowly.

  As he walks up the hill, Scarlet watches him. She wonders why he’s walking up the hill, heading to the forest inconspicuously. It hasn’t been easy for the man for the last several days, especially when he learned his former friend is still alive, a colleague who betrayed them all. She worries for him, concerned that Aceso is fighting his internal battles alone. She takes a few steps, hoping to catch the man.

  However, she stops as she watches him climb farther up. He’s too far away for her to catch up to him, too far away to call his name. Recognizing her attempts to catch up to the depressed man would be futile, she turns around, heading away from the cemetery. She’ll tell Marcus her concerns about Aceso in their meeting, one she isn’t looking forward to having.

  ~

  A gust of wind pushes Aceso back. Climbing the hill has proven to be a greater challenge than he thought. For every step he seems to take, he is pushed back two, a stumbling effect that irks him. He wonders if the person he saw earlier is still here, though he’s worried the person may have fled. But he’s determined to find this individual.

  Recomposing himself, he takes a couple of giant steps forward, overcoming the howling wind as he reaches the top. He pauses for a moment, catching his breath, staring into the mystifying forest. He then walks forward, being pulled in by its alluring powers.

  Gradually, he works his way in, searching for the mysterious figure. The leaves from trees glide down, knocked off by the powerful wind as they come to a rest on the forest floor. He stops and looks around for a moment, confident that the individual is still here, lurking in the shadows.

  “Who’s there?” he asks in a challenging voice. “I know you’re here.”

  His calls go unanswered as the wind picks up.

  “Argus!”

  The sound of crunching leaves and snapping twigs echoes throughout the forest. Aceso’s eyes look around in a panic. He looks to his left and sees nothing. He looks to his right and sees nothing. The wind picks up again and sends some leaves towards the desperate man. He swats them away and turns around and sees a man leaning up against a tree, looking at the ground.

  “Argus, it’s been a while.”

  Argus lifts his head.

  “Yes, yes it has been, Aceso.”

  Argus stares into Aceso’s eyes, studying the exasperated man. He knows that his former friend isn’t happy with him, is infuriated by his actions. The two men glower at each other, contemplating on what to say next.

  ~

  Scarlet walks out of the cemetery. She is looking for Marcus, who wanted to talk to her and Joseph after the services were held. She has a feeling that he wants to talk to them about the mission that transpired five days ago, a topic she doesn’t feel comfortable talking about.

  “Over here, Scarlet,” shouts Marcus, motioning to her to come to him.

  Scarlet turns around, spotting Marcus and Joseph standing under a large tree. She heads towards them, preparing for the grilling that is to come, wondering what he’ll say. She stops next to Joseph as both look at Marcus.

  “She’s here, what do you want to talk about?” asks Joseph, agitated.

  “I worry that both of you are abandoning the principles of Einzgu-”

  “Oh, not this bullshit,” Joseph interrupts with a sneer.

  Scarlet’s eyes open a bit, shocked that Marcus wanted to talk about Einzgu.

  “We didn’t lose because we failed to follow some dumb ideology. We lost because we decided to embrace the teachings of Einzgu. They have weakened us because it’s an ideology that requires balancing, which distracts us. How could you expect us to succeed when we are too preoccupied?”

  “I’ll add something else: you should have been there, Marcus. Your presence would have changed the tide of battle. Instead, you watched from afar, giving orders that merely indirectly helped. A good leader leads his soldiers into battle and fights alongside them; he doesn’t give orders from a safe room to hide from the dangers of war.”

  He nods, recognizing that Joseph and Scarlet see his faults, but they fail to see theirs.

  “You are both right about one thing: I should have been there. It’s my responsibility as a leader to serve alongside my companions, to gain their trust, their respect. Instead, I have isolated myself, making excuses as I gave orders from behind. It’s inexcusable, and I’m ready to rediscover myself, returning to the person I once was.”

  He pauses for a moment.

  “But what’s also inexcusable is your abandonment of the values you were taught. Both of you have sought to use power over wits. Your fight with Indra revealed that, and it’s a shame because you are some of the best within the nation, and yet you struggled against a guy that relies solely on power, who only cares about himself.”

  “But this power- his power, overpowered us. While we were busy trying to find balance and prioritizing others, he was busy focusing on himself, growing stronger. When we focus on helping others, we become distracted, putting us in harm’s way. The strongest survive, we can’t be responsible for others that are unable to defend themselves from crisis.”

  “I have to agree,” says Scarlet. “Indra has perfected himself by gaining more power. He didn’t care about others, knowing they are anchors that would hold him back. Why be balanced when you can tip the scales in your favor? That’s what Indra did and that’s what we have to replicate.”

  “Marcus, we don’t live in Truskuis’ time anymore. Balancing oneself entails finding perfection, something that is impossible to achieve today. In this day and era, it’s about power, and whoever wields the most can achieve the most. We can’t sit around and wait. Help us, Marcus.”

  “Yes, the longer we wait, the weaker we become. There must be something new you can teach us. We need to get stronger!”

  Marcus raises an eyebrow, astonished by their comments. They feel betrayed by the concepts of Einzgu, questioning the beliefs they were taught, the ethics they learned. They lust for power to defeat a foe supposedly stronger than them. The alternatives they see are better oriented with their goals, even if that means they must commit unethical acts to acquire those goals.

  In addition, they fail to distinguish between what balance and stability are. Their questioning their misguidedness, and this is what Marcus fears will lead to instability, turmoil that destroys individuals and societies. It’s instability that made Indra and Argus who they are today. He cannot let that hap
pen; he can’t allow others to lose their purpose, the goals of the common good. He cannot allow the same to happen to Joseph and Scarlet.

  “You are gravely mistaken and misguided,” he says, riled. “Being balanced and finding stability are not the same thing. As Einzgu teaches us, balance is when one aims for equilibrium. This contrasts with stability, which aims one to be sensible and sane. Balance is rigid, unable to adapt to ambiguous change while stability is flexible, able to adjust freely. That’s what Einzgu teaches us, and to say these values are irrelevant is ridiculous.”

  He pauses, allowing his words to sink in.

  “Power may give you the strength and the speed you need, but left unchecked, your mind, your knowledge, is suppressed as you drive to gain more. That’s what happened to Indra. Both of you are stronger and smarter and very capable of defeating him, although I see a lesson is needed here for you to realize that.”

  Marcus walks up to the tree, placing his hand on it.

  “Take this tree for example. This living creature takes in the carbon we breathe out and absorbs sunlight to feed it, producing the byproduct oxygen, which is essential to life.”

  Marcus walks away from the tree, passing between Joseph and Scarlet. He then comes to a stop and turns around.

  “Now, let’s assume this is the last tree in Zentari, our only hope for life to exist. Both of you are given the task of protecting this specimen, given you are the most suitable and able-bodied to do so. Then one day, an individual decides he wants to destroy this tree, threatening to end all life as we know it, believing we are suffering in this world so…”

  He takes several more steps back, giving Joseph and Scarlet optimal distance. He turns around and gets into a fighting position.

  “I am that individual, and you are that tree’s protectors. You must stop me at all cost as if I touch that tree, all life comes to an end.”

  “Wait, what?” Joseph says, confused. “You want us to fight you, to stop you from touching this tree?”

  “That’s correct. Like I stated before, defend it at all cost. Use any means necessary to win, even if that means you tap your raw, uncontrollable power.”

  Joseph and Scarlet look at each other, baffled about what Marcus is up to, perplexed by his lesson. She then turns her head towards Marcus, giving him a smile.

  “Piece of cake,” Scarlet says confidently. “We are, after all, number two and three in the nation. We can easily take you on.”

  Scarlet gets into a defensive position. Joseph looks at her and nods as he, too, gets into a defensive position. They set their eyes onto Marcus, confident they can stop him. Marcus chuckles softly, knowing it will be easy to beat them with the arrogance they possess. He takes an intimidating step forward.

  Each step he takes is louder than the last, sending a show of force to the tree’s protectors. To emphasize this, he approaches them slowly, not wanting to rush into battle, but rather waiting for them to make the first move. Joseph, growing impatient, lunges forward. He believes Marcus isn’t taking the situation seriously, but is ignoring his own lesson just to spite them. He raises his arm up, his fist closed, ready to strike.

  As his fist flies forward, Marcus gently blocks his attack, barely pushing it away. He can already tell that Joseph is exerting a ridiculous amount of power, wasting vital strength and speed. Quickly, he lightly strikes Joseph’s sternum.

  A sharp pain reverberates throughout his body. Joseph feels the wind has been knocked out of him. He loses his composure, the pain distracting him. Sensing an imbalance, Marcus sweeps his legs, sending him to the ground.

  As Joseph falls to the ground, Scarlet comes rushing in. She throws a few punches, hoping one of them will strike Marcus. However, she fails to land a punch as he backs up, bobbing and weaving.

  Infuriated by her failure to hit him, she viciously throws a crescent kick towards his head. He blocks it, catching her leg with his hands. Like Joseph, she is exerting a large amount of power and speed, which is being wasted away. He also sees they have no strategy, which should be that one acts offensively, the other defensively. They are playing one-dimensional chess, a game that’s completely different from his. He twists her leg, causing her to grunt as he throws her away from him.

  As she goes flying into the air, Joseph lunges forward. Marcus leans back as the fist flies past his face, the wind grazing him. He grabs Joseph’s arm and pulls him forward, lightly pushing his back forward. Joseph stumbles forward and turns around angrily.

  “Why are you going easy on us, Marcus??” shouts Joseph. “I know you are stronger than this. Show me your strength so I can be like you!”

  Marcus rolls his shoulders, brushing aside the ignorant comment.

  “Who is this Marcus you speak of? I am not Marcus, but a man that wishes to end the suffering of those on this planet-”

  “You’re pissing me off, Marcus!”

  Joseph charges in, infuriated that Marcus is only playing around, ignoring the seriousness of the situation. To show him that he’s serious, he must apply more power, trying to pass his maximum strength to make an impression. Already, he has forgotten what his job was, his new goal being to defeat Marcus. Marcus knows this, sensing that Joseph has forgotten about the common good. Knowing it’s time to put a stop to his recklessness, he deflects Joseph’s punch and lightly chops at the man’s exposed throat.

  Joseph stumbles back a bit, gasping for air, holding his throat with his left hand. As he tries to breathe, Marcus pulls Joseph, unbalancing him again. As he’s pulled forward, Marcus places his hand gently on Joseph’s sternum and then, using his strength, slams him into the ground, knocking the wind out of him, the pain reverberating throughout his body once again. The pain is so unbearable that Joseph gasps for air, curling up as he tries to get up. He falls to the ground again, his body unable to do what his mind tells him.

  With Joseph taken care of, Marcus walks slowly to the tree. As he approaches it, he hears loud footsteps behind him. He stops as the footsteps grow louder. Scarlet is coming in at full speed, a strength she cherishes greatly. Considered one of the fastest, her speed has helped her overpower opponents, a gift she describes as an art. She has also been able to use her speed in a stealthy manner, perfecting her art.

  But her quest for more power has caused instability, rattling her easily triggered emotions, hindering the gift she once possessed. While she may be one of the fastest, she has slowed down, rushing in, hoping to overpower her opponent, and Marcus knows how to exploit it. She jumps into the air, performing her signature move, her flying jump kick, forgetting the risks her attack carries, forgetting that she should be on the defensive.

  As she closes in, he sidesteps to the right, dodging her attack at the last second. She doesn’t realize that she has missed, her attention focusing straight ahead. It’s only when Marcus grabs her leg that she grasps she’s in trouble. She has made a pivotal error. Not only has she missed, she’s vulnerable and unable to defend herself.

  But none of that matters as Marcus does a 180, swinging her with him, using her momentum against her to empower him. He then slams Scarlet to the ground, causing her to bounce across the hard ground. She bounces a few more times as she regains control, coming to a stop next to Joseph. She is gasping for air, the wind knocked out of her. She looks at Joseph, staring into his eyes as she gasps for air too, the pain hampering their bodies.

  Then they hear a loud tapping sound. They lift their heads up slowly, gloomfully staring into the distance. They have failed.

  “And the only hope for life to exist perishes, as its guardians lie on the ground defeated,” Marcus says in a devastating tone. “Joseph, your strength surely surpassed mine. I didn’t even unleash my full potential. But did you conquer me? I think the answer is clear on that. Scarlet, your speed surpassed mine as well. There’s a reason you are considered one of the fastest and you tried to prove that. But did you outpace me? The answer to that is clear as well. Both of you showed valor, but you failed to protect the one
thing that is necessary for life to survive, losing to someone that didn’t fully utilize himself, and because he didn’t need to. So, does this mean more power equates to success?”

  He pauses, leaving the question lingering in their minds.

  “And the answer is no, it doesn’t. While aiming to be stronger is a laudable goal, if you don’t have the knowledge to control your strength, how can you control yourself or utilize it to protect others? Every situation will be unique, requiring diverse ways to express the power you possess, whether through diplomacy or aggression, perhaps both. You see, both of you already have tremendous power, capable of expressing it in passive and active ways. But if you don’t come to respect the power you hold, you will lose every battle you wage, forgoing the control you once had, relinquishing the prestige that you build yourself upon. To preserve your individuality, you must utilize it for the common good to protect others. Only then will you become stable. This is what Truskuis taught his pupils and that’s what I’m teaching you now.”

  He takes a step back and examines his fellow Krens. He then turns around and looks up towards the sky.

  “Self-interest is what defines my sovereignty; providing a uniqueness that empowers discovery and innovation, which can never be questioned. But what can be questioned is when I pursue goals that benefit only me, me recklessly tearing the building blocks of society that were forged by individuals. To survive, I must express affection, realigning my goals to preserve the individuality of not only myself, but others as well, to keep stability. Only then do I discover me… Do you understand now what I am saying?”

  Joseph and Scarlet look at each other. They realize now that seeking just power has corrupted their minds, focusing on prioritizing themselves. While it makes sense to improve themselves, they should use their abilities towards the common good, and not carelessly ignore others. They realize that they must respect the power they have, taming it to bring good.