by Rabia Rahou
A father betraying his son. I realized today that I never loved him; I even hated him. A person like that should never lead an empire. The only reason he is sitting on the throne is that he is from the royal family. The only reason the royal family is the royal family is that we let it be. We like to look up to special people. We love the glamor and the sparks they emit, even if they are not special at all. They are normal or even below that. But, we want to worship a savior, an ideal that the weak and the hopeless pray for. Begging a god in the sky or the royals on Earth is our natural state of mind.
We met three nights in a row. This last meeting was held to make their request official. Now we are all guilty, and there is no way out. I read my monologue claiming I’m doing all this for the empire. I’m taking the heavy responsibility to lead them in these dark times. We must force Oris to take some rest with the royal family for their own good, mainly because he is not sure about the attacks. He thinks he needs to keep the promise he gave to our enemies, Konu and Banume. That is very naïve and childish as obviously, Konu is just looking to buy some time until the machine is giving predictions in real-time. As for Banume, we know that he is playing a double game, as he didn’t leave the League straight after the meeting. He stayed two days more, and god knows what he was doing there conspiring against us.
No one from the oligarchs spoke a word. They knew that this could just be a show to uncover a traitor among them. That’s why I need to show how much I’m serious about this. A sacrifice is needed to be made from my side too. The younger brother of Oris, Raog, needs to die tonight.
They all left silently just like they came. I got a messenger the same night telling me that they will do everything for the glory of the Rotanios Empire, and that they are waiting to see my sign too.
Raog is named the “Crystal of the Empire” by his family. He is a little bit more handsome than the rest of the royals, as they are honestly a quite ugly lineage. He was always thinking about himself as an angel fallen from the heavens to the point that he started to be interested in men. The royals kept that secret as homosexuality is forbidden in the empire and punishable by death. For me, he was an easy target to not only show a sign to the oligarchs but also to ruin the image of the royal family. That’s an easy job for an insider.
Raog was executed, and his images were taken in a very compromising way – naked, and in an orgy of men. I disguised it as a crime of passion by his lover, and all through the underground sites, the news circulated like thunder, not only in the empire, but around the world.
Oris called for an emergency meeting. Furious, he started screaming about everything and at everyone, blaming the royal guards, the Services, the army, and even the royal palace's gardeners. The oligarchs attended the meeting, and they were all looking at me as the true emperor, their way of saying that they accepted the sign.
The oligarch's signs were smart. They demanded the generals to dismiss the royals' authority after the disgraceful fiasco that shamed the entire empire. The end is near, and they must pick a side. The army didn’t want to gamble on the wrong horse, as they know that the oligarchs are the real sponsors of all the army's weaponry, and more importantly, their paychecks. The same day, the oligarchs put their mercenaries and special security forces under my power. I left the royal palace and gave the instructions to arrest the royal family and lock them in the royal resort outside of the capital. I asked to keep Oris in the royal palace until I get back when all is done.
Four days after his humiliation, I struck back at a god to get my revenge. Oris didn’t see how vulnerable he was. In his head, he is a demi-god, as wherever he goes, clapping, hand-kissing, and submission are bestowed on him from the most powerful people in the empire and beyond. It’s hard to combat the sense of greatness when it is the only goal of the species, and resisting it is unnatural. That feeling will blind you completely if you keep only the most obedient people in your first circle. You lose your balance when there is no equalizer, no criticism, and no logical thinking is tolerated by the “god,” as god is right and never wrong.
“My son, you need to rest a little bit now. You are tired. It is dangerous to stay here, in the palace. The guards will escort you to a secure place. Your family is already there.”
“Traitor! I’m not your son as no lion has ever been related to a crow,” he replied.
“I never loved you. I wanted to tell you this face-to-face before you leave for good,” I said.
“You only taught me how to hate, as you never knew what love was. A lonely, miserable person as you will never rule this empire. You will be murdered by the oligarchs as soon as they get rid of me. You are stupid. They are already preparing an emperor right now, and he will be from their trusties. Why keep you when the gate is open now, and they could use a real trustworthy person from their inner circle, not a traitor like you?” he said.
I left after that; he was right. I may have made a mistake. I have no idea why I did this. In a moment of anger, oh my god, what have I done?
The echoes of Oris screaming were following me like a nightmare.
“Fuvo! Seizing power is easy. Keeping it is hard.”
Chapter 20
Drying the Blood
“Believing is the only thing we can do.”
~ Banume
C onfused… I feel I’m on the edge of hurting myself again… I’m cutting my skin to liberate my tortured soul, the soul that I betrayed by the way I lived in my past and even my present. There are no more places to go, anyway. My body is all that’s left.
Oina told me that she is backing him. She is deep into him in a way that I have never seen a woman be before, giving up everything for a man. That is strange behavior from a woman from the League, but especially one with the power that she has. How and what does she know about love for the opposite sex? Nothing! And yet, she is taking enormous risks for him; organizing the meeting in her territory without consulting with the supervisors is risking her life.
Oina is not naïve. She may know something that all of us don’t or have just ignored. She surpasses the seniority of every world leader. She is 98 years old, even if in our eyes she looks 30, and that never fooled me. I always knew that her body is nothing more than a distraction. Nevertheless, she knows my state, and she services me secretly, too. A thing that I appreciate even if she doesn’t have to, as she is protected by Konu now. She doesn’t need to do me that favor anymore, although she kept doing it in a way to tell me that the League exists with or without Konu. That is an act of admirable courage.
I stayed two extra days at the League as Oina arranged for the best doctors to check my brain again. I can't stop the voices inside, and recently they did worsen. They are torturing me to the limit! It’s a burden that is pushing me to end my life. And that might happen soon, as they concluded my condition is incurable.
The voices echoing in my head are in his favor, as they recognized his personality in a flash of a second when he shot the Second Citizen. He is a master who is trying to create the exception, not because he has anything to prove, but because he is acting against nature in a revenging rage against that higher being that took everything from him. The voices are telling me that Konu is not looking for power, and his last masterpiece will be something unnatural, something that radically differs from the natural way of every human being.
Still, my logical thinking tells me that he has a week to stop the machine, and I’m not sure if I have the luxury to keep my promise. In just three days, our actions will be known by the Amians. They will overcome us easily. They won’t colonize us, but will divide us into federal states, then autonomous provinces, then independent movements, then another layer of federal states, autonomous, independent, and so on until every citizen will rule his own state! That is the easiest way. They will destroy every occupation we now have to force us to sell our resources just for bread and then sell ourselves. We will never again have an advantage against them as we, as a single, strong entity will cease to exist.
The Bamos Empire will be blown away, and all that I have now is only his promise to destroy the machine and the voices in his favor. In other words, nothing.
I cut myself again on my chest over another scare. I’m bleeding, and I feel some relief. I cut again on my right shoulder; it's bleeding all over my back. I feel free from my depression, from life itself, as my hurting overcomes it in a way.
He is in a rare position that never happened in history before and is close to becoming the ruler of the planet. He executed all the First Citizens except Wonfuse. I presume he needed him to update the code to its definitive version, then once the machine will process in real-time, he will end him. I don’t see any other outcome from this equation, whether we launch an attack that will destroy everything, or we wait to be destroyed. In both cases, the Bamos Empire will vanish forever.
Supremes, this time we need more than guidance. We need a miracle.
The report on my table says that the morning he came back, he slapped Kadar in front of the whole military council. Kadar didn’t say a word and stepped down like a beaten dog. He retired a day after as he couldn’t perform his duties from a mental hospital, a big shock for him that destroyed all his reasoning in one day. Who thought that the mighty Kadar would end up like that? It’s unbelievable!
He is a highly capable man. The way he reclaimed his throne through violent bloodshed leaves no doubt about him. He’s a very violent, ruthless creature who is willing to burn the world down without hesitation. That said, he is also a very thoughtful mind that avoided getting noticed all these years, a master that never doubted his potential and abilities.
Hiding one’s skills is the hardest thing to do, as most of us pair our personality with our abilities. The more skillful we are, the more self-confident and content we become. But a rare breed of masters makes a clear distinction between their personality and their abilities, as the latter can’t be them or add anything to their inner self. That helps them judge everything objectively; what can and can’t be done is readily perceived. Therefore, if they fail at a task, they retry it with a thoughtful approach that fixes the previous mistakes. They can repeat that indefinitely as the failing can’t affect them in any way as they are not the job, they are not the skills, and for sure, they are not the success or the failure of the task.
Even when those around them doubt their skills or their mental ability to resolve problems, that doesn’t affect them in any aspect. When they are isolated or mocked, they can still hide their abilities, as they don’t need a show to exist in society because they are not counting on their skills to elevate them like their peers. In other words, their attitude is, “Here I am. Take it or leave it.”
On the contrary, almost every human, character-wise, changes with their achievements. We feel elevated when we succeed in a task, even if we only had a small part or negligible contribution, still that would define us deeply.
He had been enduring the humiliations from his entourage all his life as an orphan, then from his hierarchy in the army. In the end, he kept his talents hidden from the First Citizens to avoid attracting attention, and then waited for the right moment to strike. He will be the ruler of this world in a week, and I will be happy to see someone like that achieve his masterpiece. That said, with him acceding to the ultimate throne, we're going to lose everything.
Striking him is inevitable, unfortunately. I’ll have to do this alone as Oris is out of the game for good. He was overthrown by his mentor with the help of the oligarchs, and all the diplomatic channels are suspended for now. That’s why we are having this meeting in the middle of night.
The blood is still running. Let it be.
“Loman, thanks for coming.”
“Supreme…where are you?”
“Here on the floor…in the corner”
“You are bleeding! What happened?”
“That is my true self, Loman. Unfortunately, I hate my nature and I have hurt myself since I was very young,” I replied. That made me even feel more comfortable but made Loman very confused. He didn’t answer. There was nothing to say about my state anyway. It is desperation for him and salvation for me.
“Supreme, the final preparations for the strike are done. The High-security Council is waiting for your green light.”
“Do you think this is still avoidable?” I said, looking at him like I was hoping for a miracle.
“Supreme, to be honest, this strike will only slow them down. The first wave will destroy their nuclear power plants and all the essential generators, then we will proceed with the second wave on the major cities. From our estimations, we will reduce their population by at least 15 percent. That said, the collateral damage will be equal if not worst. Unfortunately, no scenario includes the total destruction of the machine, as we concluded that it may still be operational after the doomsday strikes...Supreme, we need to start the high security protocol for you. Your transportation will be ready in about six hours, our space base in the asteroid belt is already prepared to welcome you. This world will be only fire, the final war is here.”
“As the light beings, I will return just like I came. I really wish it’s true; unfortunately, it’s not. There will be no striking back, Loman. They will not shoot a single bullet. They will unleash the future in the present. They will exist in many forms many times through many lives. Konu will be a god and we will be his slaves.”
“Supreme, there is something very important about Konu that we found out recently. We confirmed that his personal guard and driver Dismar, who helped him escape his execution and make the carnage that night, was an ex-Black Unit. Also, he is an orphan, and he grew up at the Sunshine Orphanages, just like Konu.”
“What?”
“More importantly, the commander of the Supernova is his friend from the Black Unit too, but also, he is his only childhood friend from that same orphanage. That means he is under his command, not under the control of the Arc. We concluded that Konu used the Supernova to counter the First Citizens, and that is how he reclaimed his position.”
Suddenly, my scars stopped bleeding, and my eyes went wide open. It seemed like the Supremes finally listened to my prayers. I said, “For this life and the many more, the Supremes are looking to us, as the story of our destiny is now in their hands.”
“They can’t counter the Supernova as their defenses were designed by ONC, and most of them by the Second Citizen. He never thought that their own weapons will be used against them. It is so obvious, yet unthinkable,” said Loman.
“The obvious way… He executed the Second Citizen, not just for us, but for him to be sure that his plan will succeed. He wanted to be certain that the Second Citizen would not be around to realize what’s happening and could order to fix the defenses against the Supernova, which he designed, by the way. He shot him many times in the head. His brain was on the ground, covered with bones from his skull. His childhood friends from that bloody orphanage ended up being his weapons. Luck, or calculation? We may never know, but for sure, the voices are right.”
“Supreme, what voices?”
“Loman… well… I don’t know…” I took a deep breath and continued, “Loman, are you a believer now?”
“Supreme, a believer in what?”
“A believer that this world is unbelievably unpredictable. In other words, it is crazy! Anything and everything can happen, including dragons galloping on the stars!”
“Supreme, you must leave this world. The war is coming, please!” Loman screamed desperately.
“No, Loman, I am not leaving, my old friend. I understand everything now – Konu, the voices, the Supremes, Oina – everything.”
“Keep the preparations going and come back in two nights to get my green light. You will find me still here.,
“Leave now!”
Chapter 21
Hello, It’s Me
“Is that son of a bitch multidimensional!?”
~ Konu
E verything must burn down to the ground, and all my thou
ghts with it. I am sick and tired of all my superficial dreams, my stupid ways of thinking that tend to end up always in a big clapping scene or in an interview on a red carpet. My inner self is begging for attention and recognition, even for a small gesture after restoring the state. I’m ailing and tired of my brain that can’t keep quiet and of the giant salamander playing his deplorable theatrical play repeatedly. He set the stage specifically to blindly fulfill his ego, playing all my feats into a loop, the loop he calls “art.” I’m depressed at how I ended up living a superficial life even if I’m trying to make a happy ending for this lame story about me saving the world. I should run far away, change everything. I still have a chance. I don’t need to go down to this rabbit hole.
That was my mental preparation before I made my way down to the AI machine. I had an odd sense of hesitation as I thought that all my actions that are making my story were already installed in me way before. I get that feeling when I swallow those precious drops from that startup’s desert weed. That’s got me hooked lately as things almost went sideways, so I needed a soothing cocktail to balance myself against the crazy world around me. With that cocktail, I found myself performing my tasks normally but without consciousness. When I wake up from the weed’s dream, my tasks have been carried out the same way as if I had been totally awake. That reinforces my doubts about my reality as it tends to keep progressing in a linear path, whether I acted consciously or unconsciously.
