Too Much of a Good Thing

The pillars that supported the large frame of the house stood taller than the actual building itself, forming a unique design as the roof was incorporated into the pillars at its tallest point. The architecture of the building in general resembled the castles of old, with a mix of western design thrown in for fun. There was a large overhang between the pillars and roof, with the roof extending further than the pillars themselves. Allowing for a similarly large porch to be made. As such there was quite a gap between the door and the staircase that led up onto the porch.

A smaller fence and gate surrounded the entire building, made of what looked to be wrought iron, even looking victorian; as we drove up to it, the gate naturally opened up for us. A large fountain was installed in the middle of a round-about, the round-about encircling the entire fountain, it connected the front door and gate. Which allowed for easy access in and out of the compound. The roads were large, enough to fit several vehicles side by side. Hell, everything was large, even the fountain had a massive statue; the statue depicted a man looking out onto the horizon while holding a globe of the world, water fell down from the statue's hand and poured into a small ring around it.

As we drove around the road, getting closer to the front staircase that lead onto the porch, Vira looked out of the window and said something.

"Here it is, home"

Vira stopped, and turned to look at me, saying something else, "It's beautiful, is it not?".

"Yes, quite, clearly whoever designed this had something large in mind."

Vira couldn't help but laugh at my unintentional joke, which was not something I intended to do. Maybe I should focus more on my talking skills, mixups might be bad if I intend to do a lot of speaking.

"Haha, yes that is true, my father dreams big, and says he needs everything to reflect that."

Looking back out towards the window Vira pointed to the large statue, "I mean you get the idea when he made a large statue of himself holding the world."

Vira let out a soft chuckle when she said that, so I did as well.

Could this supposed man find himself larger than the world? He was undoubtedly a man at the top, he was my competition.

As we were close to the stairs that led onto the porch, the driver pulled the car a little to the right, parking closer to the fountain than the staircase. One thing I had noticed was that the car was unnaturally quiet, and a very smooth ride, unbelievably so, nothing like I had experienced before, in fact, the opposite.

Vira looked over at me and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Of course I replied.", with an unnatural-looking smile on my face.

As soon as I gave my confirmation Vira nodded a little to the guard that was sitting in front of her. Instantly the car doors opened on both sides, Vira and the guards got out immediately, followed by me. Did I mention this wheelchair was drivable? A ramp did unfold to let me down from the car though.

One thing that came to me as I rolled down onto the ground, was if Vira went through all this trouble to keep me alive, why not fix my legs? With her money she could've; perhaps she had a reason, or an ulterior motive. Questions, questions, so many questions.

As we stepped out Vira walked to my side, she also said one thing that put me on edge. "Don't do anything strange, there are hidden guards keeping an eye on you at all times. All it takes is one wrong move".

I looked up at her and smiled, I could do nothing bad even if I wanted. I lied, I wanted to do bad things, but I couldn't... I was too weak.

The other guard quickly joined us, standing side by side we naturally formed a triangle formation, with Vira at the front. And with everyone in tow, we started walking forward, I rolled forward. But soon I encountered my first obstacle... Stairs.

As Vira strode up the stairs she stopped and looked back at me. She just stood there for a moment as if saying 'come on', but then she immediately realized something. She blushed and apologized furiously, apparently, she had meant to install a ramp at some point but forgot. She sent one of her guards to pick me up and carry me to the top, and now with that out of the way, we were ready to go on forward again.

The front door was grand looking up close, it had many patterns and characters etched on it, and it was also very large like everything else. Similarly to the gate, the one we just entered, it opened automatically as soon as we got close to it. Contrary to its size, it opened rather fast, which startled me a little bit.

Beyond the opened door was a large hallway, large corridors stretched far left, right, and forward; you couldn't even see the end of them. Lavish paintings and gorgeous statues aligned the walls in alternating patterns, red velvet covered the entire floor with a checkerboard pattern of red and darker red. Large chandeliers hanging from the tall ceiling lit the entire floor with crystalline patterns. Lavish to the extreme, some say too much of a good thing is bad, and it wouldn't be unwise to say that here. I couldn't even begin to imagine how much this had cost, easily enough to buy an entire city I guessed.

And just like that, we continued on the way forward.

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It actually took thirty minutes just to get close to where we needed to go, the building was just that large. I began to wonder how many people were employed, as we ran into someone every minute or so. I also began to wonder how much effort it took to clean or keep this place in order.

This whole thing was quite unbelievable, I knew the Scalzettis were wealthy, but this was too much. Too much for even them.

Finally, after what felt like ages, we finally seemed to have reached our destination. Vira who was smiling this entire time had a shift of tone, dropping the wide smile she had, and adopting a very serious expression instead. She even walked over to me and straightened me out. She had given me a suit to change into back at the hospital and now she was checking to make sure it looked good and proper.

After fixing the tie around my neck, which had become slightly crooked after the long ride and walk, Vira nodded to herself and muttered "good" under her breath.

Looking up from my tie Vira met my eyes and said, "Don't disrespect my father, and don't talk unless asked.".

I nodded, drilling that warning into my head, my life really seemed at stake here...

After Vira was fully satisfied we began to approach the large door that stood at the end of this hallway. It was quite a short distance, and in just a moment we were all standing beneath it. A large chandelier stood overhead and was slightly swinging as if it was a tree swaying in the wind. The changing light moved the shadows around us in weird ways. Making our shadows seem alive, as they moved and wriggled around due to the moving light, wait... Did my shadow just look at me?

I had no time to wonder as Vira opened the wide door, stepping in without a pause. It was very sudden and even made my heart skip a beat.

The two guards also quickly stepped in leaving me behind. I began to feel a crawling panic that slithered up my spine, and so I rolled in just a moment behind them.

The light almost seemed to flicker, following a large *thud* behind me as the door closed tight.

My first thoughts were how grand this room was, If I thought anything I had seen earlier was lavish this was divine beauty. I couldn't even begin to describe it, the way things shone and radiated was supernatural. I simply had no words.

I could only look around in sheer awe, I tried to reel myself back to sanity but to no avail, I literally couldn't look away. I began to grind my teeth in anger, the feeling of not having control over my body took me back to my darkest despairs.

A deep voice shook me from my stupor, instantly drawing my attention forward to a man sitting on a chair facing a windowed wall.

"Do you know what makes a man? Is it the stride in his walk? The sun on his back? Is it the air he breathes?"

The man took a long drag from a cigar he held in one hand, puffing out a cloud of smoke before he turned his chair to look me in the eyes.

"Or is it just Avarice? The greed of wanting more."

Those eyes, now fixed to mine, like the stars that shine so far above me, felt like they had just uncovered all of me; it felt like, at that moment, he already knew everything about me.

The slithering snake I had just a felt a moment before now came back, crawling up and down, in and out, now strangling my heart in its viperous hold. It had a hold of me, locking me in place, but I found my own will. I wrestled it back, under the rage I've gained, under the wrath I feel. No one can stand above me, they should know their place.

With the same rage that burns within, I project the same rage outward. It is my device to use, it is now mine to fully control.

"The will of man is one to be bent, extorted. It is meant to be abused"

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