The black box

Tobin has been angry and troubled within himself about what happened between him, Zain, and Zelta. He took the entire blame and was beating up on himself ever since. If only he had let Zain be, non of these would have ever happened. These days, Zain wouldn't even look at his face, let alone talk to him. He seemed to have lost both of them. The last time Zain came to his house, she just came to bandage his wounded forehead. Above all, he was more worried about his parents, whom De voe had held for about three weeks now. De voe had forcefully taken over the family brewery, forcing them and their workers to produce large quantities of wine for consumption by himself and his entire followers. Tobin displayed his aggression and frustration as he punched non-stop against a bulky sandbag, which was hung up by three chains to the ceiling. As he punched, he heard the voice of someone from behind him. He paused to see who that was. It was Alec he saw, leaning against the door with folded arms.

"You're good?" asked Alec.

"Have you been there watching me all this while?" asked Tobin in surprise.

"For over an hour now I've been here watching you" answered Alec.

" It looks like something's bothering you," he added.

"But how come I didn't notice your presence since then?" asked Tobin.

"Over the years, I've trained myself to be able to stay so quiet and unnoticed for a lengthy period," said Alec.

"You were right Alec, I'm really bothered," said Tobin.

"I knew you were," said Alec.

"Judging by the manner in which you pounded on the bag".

"Man I've messed up," muttered Tobin.

" I've messed up so badly that I don't know if I would be able to fix things ever again".

Alec came to where Tobin was, wrapped a strip around his fist, and motioned to Tobin to support the bag for him to punch.

Pow!! Pow!!

"You can still tell me what the problem is," he said as punched hard at the bag.

"I mean, if you want to..."

Tobin stood behind the bag, holding it firm in order for it to maintain a stable and steady position.

"It's about us," he said at last.

"I mean me and my unit," he added.

"You see, despite the fact that we three are a unit, Zelta and I have had this intimate relationship," said Tobin.

"And she and Zain were so close than ever, they were best friends, we all were, not until I did what I did," he added.

"Could you imagine that I started to develop feelings for her"?

He took a break and went to sit on a chair that was nearby. He continued.

"I knew Zelta may have found out about it, but I just wouldn't stop, I kept on hurting her".

Alec stopped punching to hear clearly, what Tobin was telling him. Tobin took a deep breath, then he continued.

"I don't really know if it is true love or mere lust that makes me interested in Zain, but whatever it is, it made me force her to do what she never would have done," he said.

"Did you both have sex?" asked Alec,

"Because I remember Zelta saying similar".

"Although we almost, we never did," answered Tobin.

"We were just kissing before Zelta showed up".

"I know how you feel, but that doesn't mean you should keep beating up yourself like this," said Alec.

"You need to man up and find out a way to get this solved".

"But how?" asked Tobin, "Zain wouldn't even talk to me again".

"What about Zelta, when was the last time you visited her in the block chamber?" asked Alec.

Tobin sighed on hearing the question.

"I haven't," answered Tobin.

"I mean, I can't stand her presence after all I've done to her".

Alec was in shock to hear this. Tobin has not gone to visit Zelta even after the death of her mother. He found this unbelievable.

"Now that isn't right Tobin," he said.

"You should have gone to at least, show your sympathy for the death of her mother".

"You don't understand, I don't want to add more problems to the one I've caused, and to the one, she's presently facing. How would she feel when she sees me?" asked Tobin.

"That doesn't matter, for now, at least you'll do your part. It might even be your first step to reconciliation,"

"You're right Alec, I should see her," muttered Tobin, "But there's another problem," he added.

" What is it?" asked Alec.

"It's commander De voe," blotted out Tobin.

"What damage has he done this time, what have he done?" asked Alec.

"The bloody son of a Bitch has got my parents," answered Tobin.

"He's taken over our brewery and he has detained them and their workers, forcing them to produce whine for him and for those lemons he calls his men," he said with anger in his voice.

"That is not good, we have to do something about this," said Alec.

"We do, but what chances do we have against them?" asked Tobin.

"I think I have a plan, but we need men," answered Alec.

O'Neil went to the priestess's house to keep the place in order. When he got there, he started with the arrangement of the badly kept pieces of furniture which fell apart due to the panic and chaos that was, the day she died. As he did, he recalled his latter memories with his sister. It was almost a month already. The last conversation he had with her was when he complained about the torturing of the prisoner. With a glance at the shelf, he spotted the record book of greatness that she was reading that day. Taking up the book, he scarcely flipped through its pages. He knew she would never be pleased by the present state of the realm. The state in which De voe let it to be in. He knew that it was his responsibility to make things right.

" If only I had never stepped down for De voe, non of these would have ever happened," he thought. But the deed had already been done, he had trusted a snitch. He recalled when she warned about letting his humanity be a weakness.

"The wasn't weakness, I made the right call," he muttered to himself.

"Commander or not, I can fix this," he said.

"And I don't need to be an army commander to be in some record book of greatness," he added.

Getting to Zelta's room, his eyes quickly spotted an object in a party-opened drawer. The object drew his attention and he came closer to see it. Bringing it out, he saw that it was a box. With the manner in which he handled it, no doubt it was something of high importance. He dashed to the windows to see if anyone had seen him from outside. He quickly closed the shutters and grabbed a black leather bag, which he put in the small black box. He rounded up at once with his cleaning and went away from the house. He went with the bag containing the box hung on his shoulder as he unusually walked the streets. He didn't want anyone to notice the content of the bag. He had to be off the streets before someone odd approach him.