The Duel

Janus was supervising the building of the highest skyscraper of Alusta. By his side there was Agaklythos technician who was showing the new group of carpenters where to go. New workers were necessary everyday to keep up with Lady Gehenna's demands. Therefore, she was producing a huge number of clones.

He noticed on the project that there was a tunnel connected to the building which ran to the city's walls, into the desert. He preferred not to ask her about it. He didn't want to go through the same fate the other survivors suffered.

"Janus, Lady Gehenna requests your presence" said a Khosrow's clone behind him

"Give me five minutes and I'll be there. We need to have the work here under our control"

"She wants to talk to you now" remarked him

"I can finish here alone, don't worry," said the technician

Janus detached from him and got into a car.

The black vehicle treaded through Haguel. He passed in front of a cubic building which had cubical letters on it. He only knew that it was going to be used for the dumps management.

After a while they arrived under the Aokigahara Tower, and he got off the car.

He walked to the elevator and pushed a button to call it.

During his descent his head wasn't quiet, as different thoughts were starting to accumulate in his brain. His throat felt a bit soar and dry. He passed his tongue on the lips. The elevator's lights were tedious to him.

The elevator stopped.

He left it and started pacing in the lab, when a squad of four scientists, all his clones. Looking at himself was unsettling.

"What's going on?" asked Janus

They moved toward him, and he backed out.

He looked at the elevator.

He was turning back when a clone of Gadreel stood in his way. He blocked the passage and pushed him in the scientists' hands, who grabbed him and dragged him to Lab 8.

He was trying to get free of their clutch. They were too strong for him. Stronger than him.

When they reached their destination, the door opened, and Lady Gehenna was standing there.

"Bring him in" stated her coldly

"Gehenna…Cressida…what's happening? Why are you…doing it?"

They put him in front of one of the eight pods. One of the empty ones.

He noticed that the one beside him had one of Lud clones inside it.

"I've always been loyal to you" was telling him while he was resisting his clones' push

"I know Janus, but it isn't about you. It's about all of us. It's about Slaaf wellbeing"

"Not at this price…this is madness" screamed him with anger

She moved aside, far from his eyesight

"Commander Mabdil, end it" ordered her to Gadreel's clone who moved toward Janus.

"Please…"

Mabdil looked at him and then threw a punch at his head. Janus fainted, falling back in the process.

The pod closed on him, while she was looking at his faithful friend being frozen.

"Get out" said her then

The clones didn't try to go against his wishes and left the scene.

She went to Janus' pod and put a hand on the glass.

"I'm sorry. I had no choice"

Gluskap and the Shaxes King were standing one in front of the other. Around them Hummingbirds and mutants were showing their support by chanting their names.

The King took the transceiver and gave it to one of his lieutenants.

Gluskap was watching it with desire, through his fractured mask. He was wearing his battle gear, which had patches on it.

The King had a suit too, light and dark which covered his monstruous body. He didn't have a weapon, unlike Gluskap who was holding his weaponized staff.

One of the Elders detached from the crowd and advanced toward them.

They looked at him. He was holding a rock in his hand.

He brought his hand up.

"Whens they rocks toucch they grounds, they challengey wills beggin. Deaths wills choosey they winnerr" stated him, while backing a little

They looked each other in the eyes.

The rock left the Elder's hand and floated in the air.

Silence.

A few seconds of peace.

The rock touched the ground and the crowd exploded.

The King jumped on Gluskap with ferocity and speed.

The Hummingbird was on the defensive, resisting to the continuous attacks of his opponent.

The staff was keeping him far from his body, but the intensity of the attacks was higher than expected.

Gluskap's hip was still hurting, and his movement were limited by it.

He saw the glances of his men who looked disappointed, even though they were still supporting him.

The King stopped to refuse. It was his chance to change the situation. He embraced his staff and ran towards him, trying to wound him in the small crevices between the armor's pads.

He was too big for him. Too big to get him down and cut his throat.

Every hit was going over the pads. He felt frustrated.

Then he stepped back, panting.

They were circling each other. Waiting for the next move.

"Iss that's…alll yous…havey gott?" said the King

"As a King you're not that bad" joked Gluskap

"Alls off its fors a dammned transceivers. Iss its evven worths its?"

Gluskap didn't answer it and ran against him, staff in front of him.

The King moved by the side and avoided the hit, while pushing Gluskap down.

The Shaxes were euphoric.

The mutant rushed on him, trying to scratch the suit off him.

Gluskap saw an opening and went for it.

But the King foresee that and stopped the staff mid-air.

Gluskap was trying to free it. The clutch was too strong.

The King ripped the weapon of his hands.

Gluskap didn't expect that.

"Nicey sticks" grinned the King while looking at it

The Hummingbird didn't know if it was the right time to attack.

"Uselless" stated the Shax who rived it with extreme satisfaction

Gluskap squeezed his hands in punches and his heart started running.

The abomination threw the pieces away and looked back at him.

"You shouldn't have done it"

"Thens comey and kills mey, cowards"

Then they ran one toward each other.

Gehenna was pacing briskly toward Tithon's room.

A couple of Whiskers stopped her.

"Let me through," said her

The Whiskers locked the passage

"Tell him that I'm here" told her to the butler who was standing behind them

He nodded and executed his order swiftly

After a while he came back.

"Let her through, now" told him and the two men eased their wall

She went in and gave an angry look to one of them.

"Would you like to…" tried to butler but she showed him her hands to stop him

When she arrived Tithon was sitting at his desk. Which used to be hers.

She looked around and found a bunch of tanks filled with water behind the couch, to the wall.

"Tell me that it was you"

"If that's about the lab I can assure you that the ancestors are here"

"I see. I would be grateful, but it doesn't mean that you didn't set it up"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play with me. The bombs and the symbols"

"You think that it wasn't a Hummingbirds move, don't you?"

"I…am not…sure"

"Well then., I think that it's…"

"Why would they attack it? Why would they kill all those scientists and destroy my work?"

"I'm not supposed to know about that, but I can tell you that not all your men are dead"

"How so?"

"Some of them preferred to leave the lab and have a normal life. They were tired of working for you"

"Where are they now?"

"They are looking for jobs, as they're supposed to"

"But…everyone should be employed, no matter the qualifications"

Tithon grinned.

"This was your strategy. One which didn't allow any of the Guels to rise and the Halars to fall"

"But this…this is wrong"

"At least is different from what you did. Separating the rich from the poor and creating people intended to do only what you needed. You never cared about the individual needs of the citizens"

"This is going to misfire. And it's ironic that you talk about merits when I made what you are now"

"Don't you think that I know about that? It feels good at first, but the guilt is what is left in the end. Therefore, I don't want my people to suffer it"

"I've created all of them, as well as you. You don't know what's good for this city"

"Then tell me what am I supposed to do now? There has been an attack from the 'Birds. I told you that the truce you proposed wasn't going to last. They just want us to fall"

"I…know but…let me…" she took the transceiver from his pocket and opened it

"What are you doing?" asked Tithon

"I want to be sure that the 'Birds are responsible for that"

Tithon stood up and rushed to her

"Give me that"

"No, why?"

"You're not supposed to communicate with them" told him while taking it from her hands.

"Give it back"

Tithon went to the broken window and threw it off the building.

"No, no, no…what…no…"

The transceiver hit the ground and its casing cracked, releasing all its mechanism around. A bunch of people looked at it than gazed at the top of the Tower.

"Why must you break everything? You're anything like…"

"Like what? My ancestor. At least I didn't end up like him" told him while pointing at his tank

She moved away from the window and went to the tanks. She looked at them with affected concern.

"What is going to happen to me now? I'm not useful to you anymore. You can kill me now"

Tithon chuckled.

He went by her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about that. You're still useful to me. Right now, I need you alive for the coming war. Isn't it what you want?"

She shook his hand off her and strolled away from him. Then turned back.

"I want for this planet to thrive. I want vengeance too, but I don't think that this is going to get me what I want"

The eyes of the most relevant members of Rocabarra where on him. Waiting for any kind of answer. Some of them already weren't looking at him well.

It was the second time for him, and it felt different. There was less pressure and anxiety on him but the fear to make them hate him was high. After all he was just a foreigner.

He noticed that on the room's walls there were portraits of the old Chiefs. They all looked, to him, pretty much alike.

"You can speak," said the Chief

"Well, it all started when I was working during my shift…"

He exposed all the journey which led him to them, without leaving out any detail.

"Do the city, the Shaxes or the Hummingbirds know about Rocabarra?" asked one of them

"No. Most of them never wondered what was beyond Drekavac"

"How can we be sure that you're not a spy sent by Lady Gehenna herself to expand her kingdom?"

"Because I was radiated by her due to my knowledge. With it I can bring down my…friend and the city would revolt against her. I joined the 'Birds because I believed in the rebellion and because they saved me"

"Even though you betrayed them by killing a pair of innocent Shaxes, jeopardizing the alliance?"

The memory of it made him shiver. The blood on his hands and the dead corpses in front of him.

"I didn't know why the Shaxes attacked us. And I didn't jeopardize the alliance, there was…is a mole"

"Why would the Rebels Chief be a double agent?"

"He was against the alliance and didn't want to reclaim the city. The fact that he has a direct line with the enemy is enough to consider him a traitor"

"Are you saying that the Rebellion was created to dissuade any rebel from rebelling? As you said, she has influence on both sides of this conflict. If his agent is avoiding war, she wants peace too I think"

"Just because she wants to maintain the status quo"

"Agaklythos is doing the same but why?"

"They gave us the means to fight but to what end?"

"She and the city own a remarkable technology" stated one of them

"Do you think that they're here for that?"

"I don't know but consider that they had the possibility to destroy or conquer this planet and they didn't?"

"Sure, but without them the people of Slaaf would be all dead. Thanks to them we are still here"

"Lud…Kurban…what do you think about that?" asked one of them

He adjusted himself on the chair and then passed a hand in his hair.

"I think that…the only way to know the truth is by asking Lady Gehenna her side of the story. It would be a good reason to go back to…"

"Scarbray" said the Chief

"I still don't buy your story, lad. You can look like Lud but you're not our Lud"

"When did he die?" asked Kurban

"Long ago. We still don't know what happened to him. We just know that he disappeared, leaving us with a growing town and in need of guidance"

"Nonetheless you're still a foreigner for us. You can't pretend from us to take our Dragonflies and follow you back. It could be a trap"

"What if he is saying the truth? We would miss on the chance to go back to Scarbray"

"Chief?"

The man was quiet. His head was slightly tilted to the right. He was pondering his next words.

Then he stood up. The others followed him.

Kurban didn't expect that and rose clumsily.

"This is a delicate situation which require a long and careful examination of all the information at hand. The gathering is dismissed"

Kurban was starting to walk away when the Chief put a hand on his arm, while shaking his head.

He understood and stood there, waiting for all the guests to leave the room.

When all of them went away, the Chief closed the door and went to him.

"I need to show you something" told him when he was sure that no one was listening to them.

Gluskap's dagger made of what was left of his staff managed to scratch the rough skin of the Shaxes's King.

Black blood started coming out of it, falling on the rocky ground.

He stopped and looked at it. Then shrugged and jumped on him, again.

Gluskap avoided his attack easily, by skipping on his side.

The creature's stamina amazed him.

He was pressuring him without signs of stopping.

Another of his rives managed to cut the strings of one of the King's shielding pads.

That didn't stop the abomination, which rushed on him once again.

Something started to feel different.

His hits were losing their efficacy.

Then after another failed attempt he halted and then shrugged off his armor.

"If yous arey ann honorabley mens yous wouldd dos they samey"

Gluskap looked at his men. Their belief in him was rising.

"As you wish my king" joked him while taking off his suit, leaving him with his chest bare and his legs covered by a pair of tight pants.

Between them there were pieces of Kevlar, ropes and black metal.

"A worrthy opponnent thens" said the King satisfied

"Come for me"

The King roared and raced toward him.

Gluskap grabbed a rope from the ground and waited for him.

He knew that it wasn't the right time to strike.

More.

Almost.

When the Shax was almost on him, he managed to leap on him and put the line around his neck.

He started pulling the chord.

Tighter.

The King was trying to get him off his back.

The Shaxes were starting to worry. The 'Birds were euphoric.

Tighter.

Th King's breath was starting to dwindle. He was panting. Gluskap was feeling his body trying to get as much air as possible.

Then, the creature ramped and felt on the side, crushing Gluskap's right leg, who screamed.

Nonetheless he didn't leave the strings.

"Die" was whispering him in his opponents hear who wasn't even able to answer.

The Hummingbirds were chanting his name and asking for his death.

The Shaxes, especially the Elders, were speechless.

"Die"

The King was losing the strength in his limbs.

"Die"

The blood was pouring over Gluskaps body and starting to come out of the Shax's neck.

"Die"

His movements were slowing down.

"Die"

His legs were becoming numb.

"Die"

His eyes were out of their orbits.

"Die"

"Die"

"Die"

"Die"

And then.

His body petrified.

The Shaxes were shut. The Elders were leaving the room.

The Hummingbirds were elated.

Gluskap stood up, helped by his men, and then looked at the Elders.

"Where are you going?" told him while spitting on the ground

They turned and gazed at him.

"Kneel" ordered him

"Nevers" said one of them

"Kneel to your king" asked him again with a thundering voice

Few of them started doing that and then, everyone in the room did it.

Gluskap put the foot of his wounded leg on what was left of the previous King and opened his arms.

He wanted to savor that moment to its fullest, while keeping the shiny transceiver in his sight.