INIQUITOUS DOMINION: The Galactic Classic

by Justin Conley

  Then, she was going to break him down.

  It started with a night of dinner. All Hector could talk about was the Hallow Points victory; how he bombed the planets with more firepower than was ever used in the Force of Arms War. She kept her silence, staring into his eyes.

  That was when Hector found something strange.

  "What’s going on?” he said with the built-up rage. “What’s the problem?”

  "Nothing’s wrong!” Isabella said sweetly. "There’s nothing wrong.”

  Then, Hector looked at his food. He looked at his special cup for his wine. Then, he saw Isabella, still staring and grinning. He grinded his teeth.

  "Are you okay?" Isabella asked.

  Hector said nothing. He held on to the table. Then, Hector went for a knife and pushed Isabella back against the wall.

  "Why are you acting like this?” he asked. “Do you think I’m that dumb? Being so damn nice to me after you’ve been gone? Do you think I won’t find out what you’re trying to do?”

  Under her breath, Isabella said, “What do you think I’m trying to do?”

  Hector chuckled sadistically. "Oh, you don’t know, huh? What makes you think that I won’t kill you now?”

  Suddenly, he had heard gunshots coming from outside the dining room. As they started getting louder, Hector pushed Isabella to the side and went to the door that led out of the room. Before he knew it, bullets flew passed him. They went through the door as well. He hid under the table. Isabella stood against the wall and waited.

  "Hector Bozario Santos,” a voice said. "Upon the orders of the Strator Circle, you’re hereby asked to give up your crown.”

  Hector got up from the floor. “I know that voice. Is he for real?”

  Isabella shouted, “In here!”

  Soon enough, Barca Indus and at least twelve Democrat Guards burst in and surrounded Hector. The Santos king had nowhere to run.

  "It’s over now, Hector,” Barca said approaching him. "This has to end.”

  "End what?” Hector asked.

  "You know what.”

  Hector looked over at Isabella taking many deep breaths. He knew that he went too far. He put his eyes back to Barca. “I should have known you were going to be the one to take me down. How does it feel?”

  "I’m not enjoying this,” Barca said. "You’re taking things too far. It can’t keep going like this.”

  "And… who’s going to take over when I…”

  Hector stopped talking. Barca came to him and put his hand on his shoulder. “I’ll make sure that the Strator Circle put you in exile.”

  "I see,” Hector said. “Well, if that’s the case, can you do something for me?” He looked around the room. Something caught his eye. Then, he told Barca, “Will you give me the chance to say one more prayer before I step down? You should give me that much at least.”

  Isabella shook her head to Barca. However, before this, she had a conversation with Barca. Even with her newfound power, she was reserved.

  Barca replied, “Fine! I’ll give you a minute alone with your gods.”

  Isabella went to him. "What are you doing?”

  "We have to give him that much, Isabella. Besides, we’re going to be standing by the door as he does it.”

  Isabella knew he wouldn't change his mind, but she was going to make sure all he did was pray.

  With the exception of Hector, everyone left the dining room. The door closed and as soon as Hector saw that door clicked closed, he was out of sight. He went behind a curtain, opened his window and from there, tried his best to whisper.

  Then, from out of nowhere, Isabella opened the door and saw that Hector had appeared in view just in time. Barca and his men came inside as well with their guns ready. Barca went into his back and took out a special document.

  "You sign this as a sign of your resignation,” Barca said.

  Isabella noticed a calmer Hector. When Barca and the guards first came inside, he was applauded and scared for his life. Presently, he circled around with a little confidence. Hector took the document and spread it out on the table. He looked over it, reading it to himself, touching on some key points.

  "I must make apologies to all of the planets of the ATM,” Hector said. "Was that something you added on there… or was it you, dear wife?”

  "Just sign it,” Isabella shouted.

  "I just want to make sure I understand all of this,” Hector said.

  Then, one of the men looked out of the window and saw all kinds of Crystal Metropolis tanks and Democrat Guards near and around the palace. He went to Barca and whispered it to his ear.

  "When was this?” he asked.

  Isabella went to him. “What’s going on?”

  "The palace is surrounded. We’re trapped.”

  She went to look for herself. She must have gone through all the windows in the dining room. Then, she checked all of the other rooms near it. Her eyes weren't deceiving her. Isabella went back to the dining room and straight for Hector.

  "Are you going to sign or what?” she screamed.

  Hector stood tall. "The gods have given me this power. Only they can take it away from me. Besides, even if I was to sign it, do you think you’ll make it out of here alive? They came for me, because they believe in me.”

  "You’re a nutcase,” Isabella said. “That’s what you are.”

  "Well, I’m no different from the way your father did your mother.”

  Isabella took one of the knives from a soldier’s side and launched Hector with it. Barca stopped her before it happened.

  Then, the sounds of soldiers marching illuminated all over the Santos Palace.

  "YOUR MAJESTY, ARE YOU OKAY? SHOW US A SIGN!"

  Hector turned to Barca. “What now, my friend? They need a sign.”

  Barca realized that there was nothing more he could do. Once again, Hector had won the day. So Hector walked to his dining room window and presented his hand holding the Starstriker ring to the people who could see him.

  Everyone knew it was the end and dropped their guns. Barca was the only one who held his gun. Hector went to him and said, “You still have the chance to kill me. So if you’re going to, then do it and be done with it.”

  He came at Barca directly without flinching. Knowing that Barca was nervous about pulling the trigger, Hector snatched the gun from his hands and like a bully, threw it with the other guns on the floor. He picked up one of the pistols and looked at the men. One was against the wall and without warning, Hector fired a bullet in his neck. Then, he took a deep breath and paced around.

  Isabella took a seat, admitting defeat. Barca was still as a statue.

  "This is something, let me tell you,” Hector said. “I didn’t see this coming. And the strators? Who would have thought they would have the balls to come after me? I guess Crystal Metropolis is full of surprises.” He went to Barca. “And you, my friend? You sided with her.” Then, he turned to Isabella. “And you? Don’t you think it’s a little too late to be your father’s daughter now?”

  Hector went back to Barca and put the gun to his neck. “Well, I should kill you. However, I won’t. And do you know why? Because you’re going to be the constant reminder… of how close I came to death. I really must be a god like my ancestors. I might be even better than they were. What do you think?”

  Barca stayed silent. Hector touched his cheek. He could tell tears were about to form from that side of his face.

  "No! You’re going to live for me.”

  He went around Barca and to Isabella’s chair. "And my dear, dear sister. The love of my life… and my worst nightmare”

  Suddenly, Hector ducked down, and through the chair, shot Isabella four times through the chair. This shook all of the soldiers to the core. They knew that their fates were not far off. Isabella fell lifeless on the floor. Hector left the room as the soldiers stood still. No one made a move or a sound. Not even the once-untouchable Barca Indus, as he saw Isabella’s body on the floor, not moving, not doing anyt
hing anymore…

  TWENTY-TWO: THE CRYSTAL METROPOLIS FIRE

  115 B.E.

  It happened on a quiet night and with one little spark. One spark became two. Two became several. Several became many.

  In the Santos Palace, Hector was alone in his room. He remembered that he had a good time with a wine party and taking some sleeping pills that later to put him to sleep. He slept outside to be under the stars, feeling like he was absolutely safe. Since he took care of the last row of enemies that took a stab at him, he was feeling comfortable in his own tyranny.

  It wasn't until he opened his eyes that he saw bright lights. He opened and closed them again and again and saw the same thing: bright fiery lights. He got up, eyes fully opened and saw that buildings around the Santos Palace were on fire.

  Then, he was able to hear the screams from the Santos Palace.

  Crystal Metropolis is burning! Crystal Metropolis is burning!

  Hector laughed to himself. One of his servants told him to his face, panicking that Crystal Metropolis was burning. More servants came to him with the same accusation. Hector had no choice but to slap himself to wake himself up.

  He went outside the palace and saw that most of his home was on fire.

  "This is not happening,” he said to himself. “Not now.”

  The fires raged on across all corners of Crystal Metropolis land for days and nights. Everyone tried all they could to rescue love ones or possessions, finding water to put the fire out. Luckily, Crystal Metropolis’s water system was enough for them to control the fires.

  When the fires were finally out after two weeks of township cooperation, protests occurred all over the planet, wondering what happened. They wanted someone to blame and once again, Hector was the prime target.

  All Hector could do was complain to his court about what could had happened. There was no one else to blame. He had taken care of most of his enemies. Isabella Santos was dead. Barca was exiled to Hungaro. Everyone else involved in Isabella’s conspiracy to kill him were either taken to a torture chamber to be interrogated while others were executed. Then, from their information given to him, strators were stripped of their powers and riches.

  Could it be that the strators did it for revenge? Hector ruled the theory out due to the fact that the strators were at each other's throat and had nothing to gain from destroying the planet they were sworn to make peaceful.

  Who was left?

  As far as Hector was concerned, he didn't care who took the blame as long as the blame was off of him.

  Then, something dawned on him; something mentioned to him before.

  It came to him in two words:

  Second Renaissance.

  If he couldn't blame his own court or the strators, he could take it out on the religion that had become a force in the ATM. Besides, he thought, he wanted to get rid of them for a while, so it was perfect setup.

  From his throne room, he made the announcement to the people about his intentions.

  “I hereby outlaw Second Renaissance! Anyone following the religion will be stripped of any titles or any monies."

  There were some who disputed this. By this time, Hector tuned himself off to everyone. He did not care about the views of the blasé strators or the typical Crystal Metropolitan. They had no thoughts in his new order.

  He was galactic law. He was Crystal Metropolis. He was the Aventine Monarch Galaxy...

  ****

  When Lucius came back to Crystal Metropolis, he found it in ill repair. Surprisingly enough, he thought that it was Isabella’s plan the entire time: destroy the planet along with her husband’s order.

  However, he expected her to be alive. He was sure that she killed Hector and his court.

  Then, after conversing with others about what happened on the gossip trail, he found out that Isabella was dead and Hector still alive and still king. The only thing she did accomplished was that Hector had another row of enemies that he had to take care of.

  Many families were homeless, fortunes ruined, lives shattered by one devastating fire. Hector blamed it on the Second Renaissancers and pushed the Democrat Guard out to the stars to remind them of the fact.

  However, despite the smear campaign, everyone in Crystal Metropolis had one person to blame from the beginning: the king.

  Like Crystal Metropolis, Lucius’ life crumbled before him. All he could do in the moment was find his wife and son and explain what he had done if they were still alive.

  Before the trip, he was waiting for the queen he had fallen in love with for some strange reason in their special place. He stayed at the home of the queen’s confidant, a strange, disfigured woman named Kira. She had the squeakiest voice in the ATM, but they had some good conversations when they started speaking to one another, producing a strange comfort in Lucius.

  Then, as the days went by with no word from Isabella, Lucius spoke more and more to Kira and the conversations got deeper and darker. Lucius wanted at this point to test her true skills. He asked her all sorts of questions to play around with her.

  What was going to happen to the ATM? What’s going to happen to me?

  Kira started saying gibberish in different languages. Lucius thought she was crazy or maybe even dangerous. It was usual Kira, though. She was used to having shaky spells when she was into her dark arts. Lucius didn't get any questions answered and was left waiting again.

  One night, when he slept, he was awakened by Kira’s screams. They were so loud it almost made Lucius’ ears bleed. He went to her to see what was going on, but she could see through her eyes that it was the spells again.

  Instead of running away, he sat down and observed carefully.

  Kira started talking. “The planet’s on fire! The planet’s on fire!”

  “What planet?” Lucius asked.

  “Crystal Metropolis is on fire,” Kira said.

  “Isabella? What happened to her? Is she alive?”

  Kira fell back and hit her head against her own floor. Lucius went to her quickly and held her head in her lap. She went back to normal from his touch, gasping for air.

  “What did you see?” he asked.

  “The ATM is changing.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know," Lucius said sarcastically.

  Then, from out of nowhere, she said, “All things will come to an end. Death of a regime. Birth of a new machine.”

  It was those words that made him leave Kira's company and straight back to Crystal Metropolis as a passenger, not ready to face what he came back into.

  Sure enough, as Kira predicted, there was a fire on the planet and it nearly destroyed lives as well as property. From this, the ATM was changing thanks to Hector’s new battle cry. And the fact that Isabella was nowhere to be found led him to realize that she was gone for good.

  He went into the Bull Market Triangle, which was nothing more than a poor man’s promenade with people trying to find some sense of stability. It was like a great plague from the stars came and wiped out anything rich and plentiful.

  In here, he had found Juliet trying to buy some fruit with the money she had left. Something in him wanted to go to her. He took the steps to get to her, but he knew that there was no way he could talk to her after what he did. He fell in love with another woman and abandoned Juliet to chase her across the universe.

  He breathed hard and tapped her on the shoulder. Juliet turned around and her eyes widened, but it was more out of fear than of relief. She walked away, and then ran abruptly from him. Lucius chased her down the market streets until he was able to get her stationary. She screamed out anything she could at him, but Lucius just held on to her as tight as she could. Juliet couldn't push or punch him away, so she cried on his shoulder. Lucius could hardly hear it, though, because there were other former middle-class families, millions of them, crying for their love ones along with Juliet...

  ****

  Kasuto had put the right words into his followers. They heard the news about the fire. Although no one
claimed responsibility, he knew the fire was going to bring Second Renaissance out into the open.

  Sure enough, as soon as Hector made the announcement about war on his religion, Kasuto and his men, the Traveling Byzants, couldn't have been happier.

  He gave many sermons on as many planets and moons as he could. However, despite all the planets, there was one place he was never sure about. Even with his new calling, Kasuto was once Chosen Toshio from Solaria, an outcast and a loner. Even to this point, he didn't want to go back there, but the faith inside him was greater than the past.