Episode 5 (part 3) : It was nice knowing you.

Burberry drains me. Once again he is a child and I am a feeble old man. My blessing is non existent. Fear creeps into my nerves as I face the synthoid. Receiving a strike is going to hurt now and that thought makes me uneasy. I need to conjure up a new way of fighting. One that is efficient and effective.

After several hours of getting my ass kicked by the synthoid, Burberry finally lets me eat and revert back to my age. The bruises and cuts heal themselves within minutes due to my enhanced body. The food feels heavenly after having had worked so hard for it.

Burberry: You're starting to abandon your old style. I knew it would happen naturally once you realize how ineffective fighting like a beast is, but I'm pleased to see you adopting a more refined version. It's nowhere near where you should be but that'll come with time.

***

The following weeks are long but full of new and exciting information. When we aren't training, Burberry takes me out into the city. It is full of distractions: luxury outfits made from ghoul leather, fancy restaurants serving overpriced ghoul dishes, all sorts of vanity within carnal pleasures. The people of my village wore ghoul leather because that's all we had, we ate ghoul meat because that was in abundance, most of our pleasures were within art and music.

The synthoids play a huge role in the garrison society. They provided every kind of necessity. If a human did not gain a position of power within politics or became a powerful vessel warrior, they had no value. The synthoids did everything a mundane human could do but better. They were never tired, they never complained, and they always did each of their tasks to perfection. 

Even things you wouldn't necessarily consider such as entertainment was a big part of what they contributed. Arenas with synthoid fighting, clubs with synthoid dancers, the best chefs were synthoids, even teachers and babysitters were the synthoids jobs. They were treated as a utility but also with certain reverence because of the cost it takes to produce them. Each of their cores were brimming with gods blood, never needing to rest or be recharged. Their limbs and joints were made from the finest metal. The only thing humans were good for were time wasting activities and maintaining the synthoids.

In my eyes they were no different than shepherds to ghouls. They bashed and lowered the level of synthoids to lowly beasts. Slaves to humans endeavors that amounted to nothing but petty politics and lust for power. The war between the abyssal reef and the peaks seems so insignificant and worthless. My desire to reach the elites and demand answers for their silly antics grows larger the more I learn from the peak society.

I visited a produce market the other day. I never had the luxury of having tried one, only ever having had ghoul meat or wild roots that grew along the shore. I've gotten a sweet tooth for fruits. I can't get enough of them. The synthoids grow them to be the ripest and most tasty. Juicy mangos melt in my mouth. Succulent berries and savory vegetables have been the bulk of my diet. Meat doesn't appeal to me anymore now that I've discovered the heavenly flavors of fresh produce. Works out for the best because the people here have a hard time harvesting meat.

It costs many divers lives to harvest ghouls and bring it into the city; but to them human lives are not nearly valued enough as the vanity they can produce for the elites above. Divers are merely an extension of synthoids. They are half metal half human, with their mechs that they are attached to. They do the dirty work of the elites by battling the shepherds and harvesting ghouls.

I will soon be within their ranks. It takes two years of ruthless training in the academy to be placed in a divers fleet. If you survive four years of being a diver you get promoted to alphie. With enough accolades and time as an alphie commander, you will soon be promoted to an inquisitor. Not much is known of how to become a peak elite. People speculate that with enough time of brewing within political studies of the garrison academy, the elites draft apprentices. It doesn't concern me though, I will become an inquisitor and be close enough to the elites to find my father.

Burberry has been very helpful, not only with my physical training, but with understanding how to integrate within the garrisons society. He was oddly very kind and comforting to rely on; it made me wonder what made him into a murderous psychopath? I didn't want to press my luck with asking personal questions, but as the last week of preparing for the academy was rapping up, one night after a long day of training we both laid down on the front lawn of the mansion, gazing at the stars. I just felt compelled to ask.

Titus: Hey... You want to elaborate on your blessing and backstory?

Burberry: What? Didn't you want to naturally find that out? Like, through us getting close, fighting our way up the ranks in the academy together, and then eventually I open up to you?

Titus: Nah, not really. I kinda just want to know now. It's funny to think this but... I think we're sorta similar. At least in the important ways. It can be hard for me to understand why you abruptly slaughtered your entire household, but I've shed blood in the past that have been disturbing to remember too.

Burberry: I don't think we're similar at all. I haven't told you this yet but this is the biggest distinction between the peaks and reefs. It is forbidden to make a covenant with a demon if you wish to reside in the peaks. Within the abyss, only demons approach that region and same goes for the peaks. It is very rare to be approached by the opposing deity from where you are born. You were born and raised along the shore of the hellcoast, the teetering divide between the two opposing sides. You have the rare opportunity to make a covenant between either angel or demon; or even both. I myself am a vessel of the demon of death. I am cursed with immortality.

Titus: Why is that a curse? Most fables and tales of the afterlife involves eternity or everlasting life.

Burberry: Well for one I need to constantly conceal my covenant. If anyone were to know who my mark belongs to they would execute me or exile me to the abyss. I have lived several eons Titus. I am only capable of remembering up to about a century of my life but the past haunts me and it reminds me of my long perilous life. I agree that immortality is sought after, but I would argue that it is only valuable when you have others to share that abundant time with. All of my loved ones coveted my blessing.

Titus: But was that enough to warrant their death?

Burberry: To be specific: my blessing is that I can manipulate lifeforce, whether that be mine or something else. Whatever I touch I can effect to give or take lifeforce from it. My curse is that once I die, due to whatever cause, usually it wasn't age, my dead body can revert myself and anyone who touches me to youth. At first it felt amazing. I lived many lives and granted long life to my loved ones but eventually my soul grew weary. I wanted to rest in peace without being revived. Death felt welcoming, peaceful. But my family had no intention of allowing me to rest, I was their source of everlasting life. They used my curse against my will, bringing me back from the dead over and over again for their own fear of death. It took centuries to make this decision. But I had to kill them all. They were the only ones who knew of my blessing and curse, with them gone I can live my last life in peace.

Titus: Well... now that I know your secrets... You gonna kill me too?

Burberry: I could've just chose to die after killing my family. There's unfished business with the elites. You're going to help me reach them. We're not enrolling in this academy to become divers. We're going to reach the sacred islands and end the war.