The Leviathan Trial

by Oliver Madison

  Levi coughed as his vision swirled. When he rose to his feet, there was only the sound of a high frequency ringing in his ear. There was so much heat. It was as if for a split second they were walking on the surface of the sun. If there was somewhere for the smoke to disperse, they would have had an easier time breathing. However, despite the room appearing as a forest, there was no open air here. Levi turned in horror to see Mauve. Her condition was beyond critical. She took most of the blast. It was as if she shielded Levi entirely.

  Levi knelt beside her and examined her blackened and blood-ridden body. There was still an inkling of fight left in her. “You were my favorite…” Mauve wheezed weakly. Tears rolled down her face, collecting soot as they trailed her cheeks. It was painful to look into her eyes, for Levi knew there was no helping her at this point. But it was the least he could do. He did not take his eyes off her for a second. Most of Mauve was charred. For as instant as the explosion was, this was a slower death than what Levi was used to witnessing from his siblings. “I love you bro. Thank you…for showing me I was not alone…”

  With that, Mauve’s head fell back as she took her final breath. She stared unblinkingly at the sky. The white light burned brightly for her. With her final ounce of energy, Mauve curved her lips. It brought the same warmth to Levi that he felt from her last year when she blissfully celebrated her victory at their academy’s essay award ceremony.

  In the end, Mauve died smiling.

  Then, her eulogy began.

  ‘Do not cry my philosopher stone.

  You were not unloved. You were not alone.

  Life was not bleak. You were not weak.

  It saddens me your outlook had never reached its peak.

  You should have listened to your heart.

  Sparked that passion and smiled.

  Depression tore you apart. Took you out of your trial.

  Could have been queen, but despair was your throne.

  I love you to death, my young philosopher stone.’

  CHAPTER 20

  HOT POTATO

  Levi wiped away a lone tear as he placed his deceased sister in the corner of the greenhouse on one of the stone tables. He set down his bag and sword as he closed Mauve’s eyes so she could rest in peace and arranged some nearby violet azaleas in her hands. They were her favorite. He would stay with her longer and pay his respects if he could, but time was short. That would have to wait.

  As he continued down the cobblestone path of the indoor garden, joyful boyish laughter filled the air. It was Sion—the bratty troublemaker of the family. He looked down at Levi from above. He sat elevated atop one of the higher shelves in the greenhouse in cargo shorts. He tied his good dress shirt around the top of his head, resembling a do rag. “That really blew her away. Didn’t it?” He chuckled with dark circles beneath his eyes. The thirteen-year-old had not slept a wink since the trial first began. He was delusional. He repeatedly tossed and caught something in the palm of his hand. Up and down it went. It was the size of an egg. It was anything but.

  It was an M-80.

  It was a powerful class of firecracker. He made a lot of variations of these. The one he held had just about three grams of pyrotechnic flash powder. It was a small red cardboard tube with a short fuse protruding from the side.

  After lighting it, Sion tossed the M-80 casually towards Levi, right before the sparks reached the base of the fuse.

  SNAP!

  It exploded as it fell. The air shook with a pulse as it detonated.

  Sion’s timing was daring, but well calculated. Even though Levi was out of range from the small blast, he felt the shock wave. It was just about an inch and a half in length, but it packed a wallop.

  “How about a game of hot potato, bro? Just like old times!” Sion jested in his immature squeaky tone. He was still going through puberty. He tossed another small explosive to Levi, honestly expecting him to attempt throwing it back. Levi did not play. He slapped the homemade bomb away. Dirt flew and pebbles scattered as it exploded in a potted row of azaleas.

  His younger brother was always making these sorts of things. It was what sparked his fascination in chemistry. In one instance, Sion was suspended for destroying the plumbing of the Elysium Academy bathroom last year after he flushed one of his creations. He got a second strike against him just for showing some of his classmates how to make other types of explosives on his way home from school. From there on out, the academy made no further exceptions. If Sion so much as uttered the word ‘explosive’ or ‘bomb’ or ‘detonate’, they vowed to expel him without a hearing or a second thought. He had been careful ever since—only working on his science projects, if you could call them that, on the weekends at Lancaster Manor. He blew up bugs and bird nests out of view of his family’s security cameras.

  Sion bragged that he was responsible for boobytrapping some of the rooms in their home. There was a pipe bomb attached to the corner of the greenhouse too. He tugged a string he held, detonating it. When it went off, the whole room rattled. Some of the light fixtures fell from the ceiling, flashing as they swayed like a pendulum on a dangling cord. The thick glass walls however, like most of the other windows in Lancaster Manor, did not crack.

  “Look what you did to your sister,” ordered Levi, pointing to the direction of her body. It was still warm.

  Sion shook his head defiantly. He did not want to accept the consequence of his actions. This was a game to him. Not a game he wanted to play, but one he was forced to participate in. His instincts knew he needed to be enthusiastic about it if he wanted to win and live.

  “You can never undo what you did to Mauve!”

  Sion’s conscience was getting to him. It distracted him as he lit another M-80. Originally, he wanted to lob it at Levi so his brother would evade in the direction of another boobytrap. Now, he just wanted to hurl it out of anger.

  “She was your sister and we treated her like shit! Even still, she loved us! She loved you too! Even now, if she were alive, she would forgive you!”

  Sion brought his hand back and prepared to chuck the M-80 like a rock. Before he could let loose, it detonated in his hand.

  His timing was off.

  Levi’s words were far too distracting for him to concentrate.

  CRACK!

  Sion did not cry at all. He was still in shock, fixating his gaze on his quivering red and blackened hand. It gushed with blood, right where his index finger used to be. It was blown clean off. Finally, the pain was starting to sink in. He squeezed at his wrist and ground his teeth in agony. He was rolling off his shelf. Levi spotted another tripwire below. He rushed in, miraculously catching his brother before he could land in range of another pipe bomb blast. Even though they were both in the clear, the wire was still tripped by stumbling feet.

  Not only were there misters for the plants, but there was a full-fledged sprinkler system in place, if worse ever came to worst and the greenhouse caught fire.

  Both were destroyed.

  The smoke set it off to begin with. The chain reaction of explosions burst the pipes above altogether. Because the water had nowhere to drain in this airtight dome, puddles began forming and merging. The cobblestone floor was slick and the outpouring water from the pipes showed no signs of slowing.

  Thousands of gallons flowed from above like a waterfall. Pots on the lower level began floating away. Like a rising tide, the flood grew. It mixed with the soil and sloshed around within the glass greenhouse as it swept away some of the platforms.

  Now, it truly was a rainforest.

  Levi gently set his brother down on a bench, taking his word that the last of the pipe bombs had detonated. “I don’t want to die!” cried Sion. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to play anymore!”

  This boy, his brother, was responsible for Mauve’s death. It was beyond challenging, but Levi could despise his little brother’s actions while still loving him unconditionally. Sure, he was a mischievous hellraiser at school, but he was still a boy. The Levia
than Trial, and the trial alone, forced Sion to resort to murder.

  Or did it?

  Yes, they all had free will. Yes, they could all choose how they wanted to react to this situation. Even still, it was an unfair choice for the young boy to make.

  “I didn’t mean to hurt anybody.” Sion murmured. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”

  Sion did not have to say anything for his brother to forgive him. He was so young and naïve. Levi reached out his hand to his brother. “It’s going to be okay,” assured Levi. “I don’t care what the rules of this trial are. We’re going to get out of here together.” Levi left for only a second to collect his backpack.

  Sion’s eyes lit up with hope. He would escape. He would not be alone either. He did not know how, but Levi was convincing. They would find a way out of this hellhole. Sion lowered his one good hand and dropped his last unlit firecracker.

  The violence was over.

  That is, until a wide shadow grabbed him from the shrubbery.

  His oldest brother, Hiroshi, appeared from behind drooping plants and swooped Sion up into his brawny arms. Sion kicked and screamed in midair as he dangled in a voiceless chokehold. This was the first time they had seen the eldest Lancaster boy participate in the trial.

  “Stop!” Levi ordered.

  His words fell on deaf ears. It was painful to watch—uncomfortable and unsettling as Hiroshi squeezed the life out of their little brother, one failed breath at a time. Levi never felt so powerless. He ran up to help free him, but a powerful backhand from Hiroshi’s log of an arm sent Levi flying.

  “You’re killing him!” screamed Levi, wiping the blood from his cheek.

  Hiroshi gave no response. He was focused on his task. Sion did not stop without a fight. Things went silent for him in his struggle as he landed punch after punch to the side of the giant’s head. But he was just a boy. His fists were feeble. His positioning and reach were awkward. His last strikes for life were grazes against Hiroshi’s ears at best. When the boy in his arms ceased his struggling, Hiroshi used a finger as a brush, soaking it in Sion’s blood from the hand with the missing digit.

  “Join me in the singularity, brother,” exhaled Hiroshi. He was in a trance—disconnected from the reality of his actions. His eyes bulged from their sockets. Hiroshi swirled his blood-coated finger around the center of his forehead. It resembled a sloppy number six. “We are all one…” he murmured. “None of us are alone…”

  “How could you do this?” Levi yelled in fury. “How could you kill him?!” He was more disturbed by just how hands on and calm Hiroshi was. Sion’s technique was impersonal. Sure, he set up the bombs, but the explosion is what killed Mauve—not Sion. There was just something far crueler and intimate about strangulation as a method of murder.

  “You’ll join him…” uttered Hiroshi with lifeless baritone. “We’ll all join him…We must accept death…”

  It did no good to reason with him. Hiroshi was not himself—could never be himself again. It was as if there was no soul behind his hollow eyes. He made it clear he had no intention of saving himself either. In all likelihood, Hiroshi would commit suicide once he was certain all of his siblings were dead. “It doesn’t matter if we make it out,” Hiroshi explained. “We could escape a house, but we could never escape this trial… We could never escape ourselves and our actions…We are the Leviathan… Acceptance of death is our only option.”

  Moments passed after Sion’s final heartbeat and there was the faint murmuring of their father’s voice several rooms down. It was muffled out by the pouring waterfall of gushing pipes. The eulogy went unheard by the Lancaster children. If they did hear the recording, it would only have dug deeper into Levi’s guilt-ridden soul.

  ‘Passion of fire. Chemistry with those you love.

  Now, I watch you react from above.

  Would mature in time, after an explosion of youth.

  Boys will be boys, and that is the truth.

  However now, that point is moot.

  My wild child is pure. His soul shall never pollute.’

  You are my firecracker. You loved to the moon.

  Perhaps, I asked you to grow up too soon.

  As a final request, if I may be so bold.

  Stay young, firecracker. Don’t ever grow old.’

  At that, Sion was gone.

  CHAPTER 21

  MARCO POLO

  Their eldest brother, Hiroshi, was no more. He had a heartbeat, but everything that made up Hiroshi, was dead. His warm love and kind-hearted embrace were gone. His relentless resolve to come together as a family was entirely withered away to the bone. What was left was a shell of a man that only looked like Hiroshi. And even then, just barely. This was an out of touch monster with several swirls of blood painted on his body. Each of them was most likely from the other deceased Lancasters. It was his way of bringing the family together one last time. In his eyes, he was doing right by them. Levi went through countless variations of ‘how could you!’ and ‘I can’t believe this!’, but at this point, berating a boulder would bare better results.

  Talk was over.

  The Lancaster family was far past talking. After the last day and a half, the entire family had evolved, or rather regressed, in one way or another. All had to adapt. Levi was no exception. He needed to punish Hiroshi for what he had done. After watching his family fall one by one, Levi no longer feared death—not for him or anyone else. If it were to come, he would accept it.

  But not before bringing Hiroshi down with him first.

  He treaded through the murky water of the greenhouse that was now a foot deep. It was rising exponentially and rippled as the pipes poured in more distilled water from above like a rainstorm.

  Levi’s odds were nonexistent. There was a zero percent chance he could outdo his brother on the battlefield. Hiroshi was physically superior in every way. Because of his strict diet and exercise regimen, Hiroshi weighed two-hundred and ten pounds and had a body fat content under five percent. He was pure muscle. The steroids his Leviathan key unlocked only made him stronger and more enraged. He tossed Levi around as they splashed and slid in the tide, throwing him into lush green tropical ferns. The only advantage Levi had was that they were both drenched and slippery. This made it harder for his brother to seal his fate. Hiroshi was a wrestler. All he had to do was lock Levi in a hold and it would be over. Punching Hiroshi was futile. Levi used his self-defense techniques he picked up over the years, after his father encouraged him to take karate lessons. Even still, it did nothing to prepare him for this situation. With his brother at six-foot five, Levi’s fists could only reach at about chest level. His jabs seemed to bounce off Hiroshi’s bulging pecs and abs.

  The man was a living tank.

  When it was apparent Levi would never win in a fair fight, he gouged Hiroshi’s eyes with his fingernails. He pressed into them as hard as he could until they bled. Hiroshi let out a furious roar as he was blinded.

  He homed in on his other senses. Hiroshi chased after Levi who rushed around the greenhouse, hopping over destroyed tomatoes and fragments of clay pots. He needed a moment to find something—anything that could be used as a weapon. As of now, Levi’s sword was somewhere hidden in the tide. Like a rhino, Hiroshi came charging from behind. He pulled vines and branches out of his way to get to his brother and choke the life out of him.

  Rich chocolaty dirt scattered along the deluge as he knocked over a tray of flowers. His gorilla arms struck through the foliage, grabbing nothing but air as he tried to tear Levi to pieces. He punctured himself on thorns and stems, but not even that slowed him down.

  The bloody swirls Hiroshi drew on his face earlier were washing away one drip at a time. Their shoes slipped and slid as they both struggled to the top of the platforms. It was as if they were climbing a hill. Soon, they both fell, diving into the flooded floor. Levi had the misfortune of landing on his back on a table. From the murky depths, Hiroshi rose splashing about completely drenched. He was still half submerged
as he grabbed hold of his brother. With his apish grip, he dug his calloused thumbs into Levi’s throat. Levi kicked and squirmed, but to no avail.

  This was it.

  There was no escape. Soon, Levi would join the others. Zara, Allister, Troy, Eden, Pearl, Mauve, and Sion. That was the only thought giving him peace as his lungs felt like they were going to collapse from the lack of oxygen. Hiroshi’s squinting gaze was the last thing he could see as the world became darker.

  Darker.

  Blacker.

  As Levi was knocked out, in the furthest regions of his subconscious, he could barely hear a split shriek. It lasted only an instant as he floated in space without a single thought in the world.

  Had he been conscious and turned his head, he would have seen Helena. Her stance was solid.

  With her tiny frame, Helena stood on another platform as it rocked like a sailboat caught in a storm. As Hiroshi fixated on her, he only saw blurs. When he squinted, he noticed she was holding something. It was long, thick, and ropey. Had a metal sheen to it. It almost resembled a headless snake whose body was limp with guts sticking out from the top, right above Helena’s grip.

  He followed the tail end, seeing that it connected to the bright ceiling lamps above. It did not click until he heard it shriek and buzz. It hummed and sparked and zapped violently! It was a live wire. White squiggles cracked as they appeared and reappeared from the cable she held. Helena stared angrily at Hiroshi. It was the most emotion he had ever witnessed from her. He tried treading through the water to get to her, but it was no use. With her free hand, Helena pulled down her facemask so he could see her fury. With the other, she tossed the cable into the water.