It happened on the third month of the year, where the illness was getting worse. She told Luciana the story.
“I went to see a fortune teller. I wanted to know what would happen to me in the years to come. She was telling me about all these things about people I have never met before. I didn’t know what to think of it. Then, they said your name and I knew what she was talking about. She was telling me about the future of the Santos family.”
“What about it?” Luciana asked listening intently.
“She knew everything.”
“What is it?”
“War… civil strife… family deaths… this is the future of the Santos going forward. Within many more years, the Santos family will cease to exist. The gods of the universe want revenge and they're going to take it out on your family.”
Luciana was getting worried. "What’s specifically going to happen to the family? What’s going to happen to my son?”
“All will die horrible deaths,” Gintina said. “Nothing will ever be pretty anymore. Crystal Metropolis will go back to the people and after that, it will cease to exist. It will destroy itself. Then and only then will the stars align again and the universe will be pleased.”
Luciana’s lips shook, not liking the way her friend was talking.
“And what about me?”
Gintina smiled at that question. "We should pay for what we done."
"Don't talk like that!" Luciana pleaded.
Gintina ignored her and continue with her answer. "We should burn for what we put in motion. Luckily for you, the gods had forgiven you a long time ago. You’re going to die before the real madness starts. You’ll be joining me soon enough. And just like me, you'll be forgotten. That's the gods' revenge for you. No one will remember you. No one would mourn you. No one will deem you a goddess. You'll be alone and worth no one's time. Not even your own son.”
Gintina let out a laugh, followed by a dangerous cough. Luciana comforted her throughout the whole ordeal. She knew that Gintina was not afraid to die or Luciana's wrath anymore. Nevertheless, she was going to stand behind her because she was afraid.
Three days later, Gintina died peacefully in her sleep.
When she died, there was a small funeral abroad a small ship arranged by Luciana and her maids. They were the only people in her life. Luciana gave a eulogy for her before her ashes were shot off into space.
****
56 B.E.
For the first time in her life, after spreading the ashes of her once-faithful confidant, Luciana's morality crept into her mind. She was in her eighties, a shell of what she once was. She had no more spunk or electricity in her. Her own son had forgotten her and she was no use to anyone.
She would spend most of her life walking around the streets of Crystal Metropolis; streets she used to love when she was a kid. All she could see at the moment were ghosts in the day and shadows in the night. It was as if she could already see Gintina’s words coming true.
When she goes into the Santos Palace, it was as if the people that she saw were strangers. Worse, when she went to see her son, he was either doing drugs, having orgies every night, or a mixture of both.
Timon had become a casualty in her own treachery. A man who did not want anything to do with the crown was relishing it as if he wanted it for years.
Then, just as Gintina predicted, she was struck with a sudden illness. Also as Gintina predicted, no one seemed to care. They gathered around her, but no one truly cared. They were just waiting for her to die.
They were only two people who actually took an effort to care. One was her grandson, Ichiamo. Since he was mostly ignored as well, they had something in common. They would have conversations about Timon and how worse he was getting. He was not in killing moods, but the urge still swam in his blood, waiting for a reason to jump out. It was the closest that grandmother and grandson had to a close relationship.
The other person that came to see her was the young boy Cheron Priam Santos. She did not bother to get to know him, but he was curious about her. She could only ignore it for a while before she gave into the pandering. She understood wanting to know about the allure of the Santos family, for once upon a time, she was on the outside looking in.
As the days went by, her illness got worse as she lost her eyesight. She only hoped that someone would take pity on her. Sure enough, that person was Ichiamo Santos. He said a prayer for her, hoping that the gods will take her to the stars so she could be drawn into the vast space as a constellation.
Then, after many prayers and many days in the dark, Luciana could not take anymore and asked Ichiamo to give her a special potion. When it was given to her, she drank it in front of her right away. She went into a deep sleep. Ichiamo knew that this was a sleep she would never wake from. He closed her eyes and put two special coins on them, both showing the face of Pisanio Santos.
As Ichiamo left the room, Cheron crept in and viewed the body for himself one more time. He saw that the body was in a blissful state and did not want anything to ruin it. He took the coins from Luciana’s dead eyes and Cheron looked closely at them.
Then, he heard someone talking to him. He thought Luciana’s lips were moving.
“You have to stop my son,” she whispered.
Cheron was startled. Then, a hand touched Cheron, spooking him to the point he fell off the bed.
“Stop him,” she whispered again. “I beg you. Stop him before the gods punished everyone.”
Then, from out of nowhere, Cheron put his hand on her lips. Luciana tried to breathe, but it was no use. Cheron was too strong and the potion she took was taking effect.
Then, once again, she was sleeping. Cheron left without another word of his great-grandmother Luciana.
****
A massive funeral was ordered days after Luciana Santos’ death, in which her body was to be carried all over the streets of Crystal Metropolis as tribute to a fallen queen. However, another prediction from Gintina came true. No one came to give her a proper send-off. The markets did not stop. None of the strators or lators gave her a goodbye. Worse of all, Timon was sleeping off a stupor from a night of drink and debauchery to even mourn for her.
The coffin that was supposed to be carried around for the people to mourn was left out. Some painted weird sexually-explicit paintings on it like massive penises with a woman's mouth opened to take it in. Some little boys even pissed on her coffin as a joke to impress.
Then, as a final insult, someone had it in their mind to throw a bottle of oil on the coffin and set it on fire. The fire blazed until there was not anything left of the coffin or Luciana's body. The woman known as Luciana Boardwalk Santos, who for a time went from lowly servant to a powerful queen, was no more.
Unfortunately, the reality of the situation did not hit in until the end of 56 B.E. Despite her flaws, Timon had lost his greatest supporter.
Things were never going to be the same again for the rest of his reign.
****
58 B.E.
“I didn’t mean to do it.”
Cheron Priam Santos was looking from an alley. He was close to it, but his eyes tried their best to divert itself from it. It was too much for him. Worse, he was with his little sister Imogen, holding his hand tight.
He could see people going to the site of the blaze.
The Santos Palace was on fire.
It was a disturbing sight, but at the same time, Cheron was amazed he could have that kind of power to bring a palace into flames. Either way, it scared his sister. So he kept it to himself and went as far away as possible from the crime scene.
Still, the thought of how it was done never left Cheron no matter how long or far he ran. If someone found out, Timon was going to kill him for sure. He had to stay away for the time being until the coast was clear.
It started as a little game of tag. Cheron and Imogen chased each other around the palace. Even though Cheron was already a teenager and Imogen had just gotten to that stage, they were still just
as impish and playful as they were when they were in Guapa. Both were playing around so much that they did not look where they were going. One of them knocked over something that at first did nothing, but with other factors involved, fallen objects turned into a raging inferno.
Timon was away from the palace when he was given the news. It was no way he could not catch who did it, even with the drugs still in his system. Since dealing with the backlash from his mother’s death, he had gone for stronger drugs to get some kind of cure for his long-range depression. Something in Timon’s body was telling him that as long as he was the king, he was not going to escape it.
No one was hurt in the fire, but the infrastructure was in shambles. It took days, but by the time the last flame was taken out, black was the color of the inside of the palace. It had “melted” as Timon put it, since it was made from strong crystalline steel. Timon was already weighing out his suspicions about who could have been responsible.
Luckily for Timon, he had made many palaces around Crystal Metropolis, so he had hiding places to exercise his habits: women, drugs, and thoughts of murder.
****
When the tension of the fire calmed itself, Timon and his trusted friend, Touchstone went to another one of Timon’s smaller floating palaces and talked about the problem. To Touchstone, however, it was more about what he had to do or who he had to kill. To make it worse, Timon wrote down name after name on some paper. Then, he started crossing out names.
Both men said nothing for the next few hours.
When Timon finished, he finally said something.
“Alejandro,” he said.
“Excuse me?” Touchstone said, knowing what he said.
“Alejandro’s my only enemy. Lately, people have been wondering if he’s coming back to take me down.”
“Alejandro’s an old man,” Touchstone said. “He hasn’t been in Crystal Metropolis for years. Why would he want to take you down to take over himself now?”
“Maybe it’s not about takeover.”
“I don’t understand.”
Touchstone understood too well.
“Of course not,” Timon said. “Alejandro has always wanted me dead since I took over. Bring honor back to the Santos name. It goes all the way back to my grandfather. What about the rest of the family? They could all be in it as well. Look at Priam. His own nephew was sent by strators to kill my sons. You think he couldn't cause that fire by sending someone to do it? Don’t make the mistake of underestimating that old fool. No matter how old he is, if he was to return, all of Crystal Metropolis would bow down to him immediately.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“I have to bring him to Crystal Metropolis. Then, when I have that…” Timon makes a gesture of a knife to his throat.
“What if he doesn’t come?” Touchstone asked.
“We’ll make him come.”
“With?”
“Killing his children. Killing his relatives. Killing all that are remotely related to him. We’ll go to Guapa and take them all out until Alejandro gets the message. And if he doesn’t, we go after Guapa itself. Destroy the planet. I never liked it anyway…”
Timon went on and on about Alejandro as Touchstone tolerated it. He saw the eyes of the man he called king; the man who gave him his position. He saw that Timon was losing all grips of reality. There was no way Alejandro would come to Crystal Metropolis, whether Timon took out his family or not. Alejandro was going to be a waste of time.
At the same time, he had to think about his own position. He could do it and still be in Timon’s graces, or do not and face Timon’s wrath.
He took the former.
“Issue the order to the Guard,” Timon said. “Tell them I don’t care how they do it. They could cut them into a million pieces. Just make sure that Alejandro makes it known that I’m not playing.”
****
Alejandro Santos was loyal to Timon because he was a Santos and he cared for the ATM.
Nothing more.
He was always suspicious of Timon’s actions, mostly because of the circumstances surrounding his mother's death. He never could get over how Luciana came to become queen the minute Livia's ashes spread to the stars.
So it came as no surprise that when Timon’s own Democratic Guard touched down to his planet, they stormed his castle right to the his throne room with a message from Timon; although Alejandro gave his own men specific orders that no harm would come to them and to made sure they were properly accommodated.
Touchstone told Alejandro about the Santos Palace Fire. Alejandro shook it off as a joke.
“Timon thinks I had something to do with this?” The elder Alejandro asked.
“Entirely responsible,” Touchstone said.
“And what do you think?”
No one ever asked him that before. He was used to taking orders. He saw that white-haired, long beard Alejandro Santos, no matter what he did in his past life, was at peace with himself and his domain. So badly he wanted to tell him about Timon’s mood. Then, reality of the situation set back in.
“He’s not giving you any time to think. You have to give him an answer or…I have to give him his.”
Alejandro put his head down. Then, he brought it up. “If Timon Boardwalk wants a war with me, then tell him it’s his right to do so. No matter what, I'll never come to him just to prove something to his mother."
Then, Touchstone put his head down. In his own subtle way, Alejandro insulted Timon. This meant that he had to go back to doing what he did best. He and his legion left politely without another word.
"I really hate this," Touchstone whispered to himself. Touchstone had no issue with Alejandro Santos or any of the clan. A part of him did not want to do his specialty. Bastiannius Priam was one thing, but he was sent to possibly kill an entire half of the most powerful family in the universe.
When they got outside, the list was passed out. No more stalling. Action had to be made and made fast.
“Make it secret,” Touchstone told his men. “But make it known.”
****
59 B.E.
During his lifetime, while he was trying to be the supreme warlord of the galaxy, Pisanio Santos had the chance to find love. Little that he knew, it would come early and often. According to different biographers, it was said that Pisanio left his “mark in every planet without spilling a drop of semen.”
With his many love affairs came many children. Pisanio claimed none of them publicly just in case his enemies used them to get to him. He was very careful not to make too much noise.
For a warrior who was not afraid of death, scandal was the one thing Pisanio feared. He wanted his name to ring all over history. The one aspect that gave Pisanio nightmares was for his many lovers to find out about one another and fight it out for his affection; thus ruining his reputation.
He never had to worry about during the time he lived. When he died, it became another story.
Two particular women in Pisanio’s life would bring the scandal that he would not have liked had he lived: Aubrey and Jaquenetta. Two different personalities, their children produced two different factions and would bring the scandals the Santos would dread after Pisanio. While the rest of Pisanio’s lovers stayed out of the public eye, these two women wanted more: carry on the Santos name.
Jaquenetta Santos, the sexual deviant, would have many children. Most of them became either soldiers or criminals.
For Aubrey, she only had one child, a son that would eventually become the victor of the secret “children wars”: Nero Horrando.
No blood was spilled between the children because not only did Pisanio choose Nero to become the new ruler, but Nero made it a family affair once he accepted. He found out about his other step-siblings, contacted them, and with their help, established a power base in all corners of the galaxy by hitting the problem planets.
One of the children was Jaquenetta's youngest child, Ajax Santos, the self-appointed Butcher of Troyuvant.
"I don't need the crown," Ajax would tell his court. "I have Troyuvant."
INIQUITOUS DOMINION: The Galactic Classic Page 7
