Kalon

Chapter One-Hundred-Thirty-Four: T'Akor - Part Two

Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation

Solar System: D-447

Planet: Ora

Location: Orarak City, above the planet's surface.

Blood drips from my hands where I have dug my fingernails into my palms. The hope tainted by anger bids me to rise and strike down this wicked woman, for the sins that she commits against our people. How can she be so cold to us? How can she be the one who orchestrates our suffering?

"Do you want to know what the second record you broke was?" Warden Adona asks me, still feigning disinterest.

"Are you actually asking…" I say rhetorically, struggling against the gauntlets of the soldiers powered metal suits. She snickers at this, a small smile on her lips. My blade is screaming the lullaby, saying it will never be satisfied until her blood and the others who would stomp us down soak it… I will make an ocean of blood as an offering to any god who will lend me their strength. My thoughts move to the Cursed Edict, and I can feel it, the only thing that stops me from calling it are the visions that Zarae showed me of the future… I cannot release the golden eyes, I am not strong enough to control it… not yet.

Warden Adona's words derail the movement of my thoughts.

"You broke the record for the highest bidding, for the first month, on the first day no less."

There is information here, I need to focus. If I anger her, she may punish Arrum and the others. Taking a deep breath again I let the calm back in, the same calm that has kept me alive whenever fate would ask for my blood.

I had read the notifications already, but I did not realize it was that unusual.

"Now, it's not the highest ever for the Grand Hunt, but still, it's nothing to scoff at. For the first day especially, it's absurd," she says now turning to look at me fully, her hands arched in front of her face, "So tell me, what in the hells makes you worth so much?"

Weighing her words now that the calm begins to guide me, I find myself also confused and curious. Why would anyone want to buy me? I could see Luna doing it to help me. Whoever it was, they must have known me from before the Grand Hunt. The buzzing started as soon as the challenge began, I hadn't even done anything yet. She does not stop her gazing, she searches diligently for answers I do not have. Even in my own mind, the gears are spinning, so many questions flashing. Seeing she still does not speak, I decide to answer, trying to glean information.

"Perhaps if you told me about the bidders, I could enlighten you, Warden," I say trying to feign respect. The grin grows deeper on her face.

"Finally breaking out the charm and being clever. I cannot say for one, but the other is through a proxy named Fennec. Ring any bells?" she probes.

I fight with everything in my body not to react, driving my nails deeper into my flesh, and more warm blood drips from my hands. Fennec is alive, there is only one that he would be bidding for. Luna, she knows that I am here, she knows that I live. There is hope in this. With her resources, perhaps the ones I care for can leave this place.

"Why can't you say for the other?" I ask, trying to throw her off the scent.

"Dodging my question?" she asks, her grin fading for a moment.

"I will answer, if you answer me," I say tilting my head to the side, showing I will play with her, but only if the rules suit me as well.

She waves the soldiers off me, and they return to her side. Her face tries to suppress a wide grin. My face tries to hide the desire to see her blood. Together we make a strange pair, both seeking different things, yet here we are.

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"So much courage and defiance in you," she says twirling a loop of her hair now leaning back further, feet still planted on the desk, "Very well, I will play your game. Question for a question, if you lie, I will know," she points to her eyes, confirming my suspicions they are strange in some way. An answer to one of my questions was given freely.

"I am not intimately familiar with this Fennec you speak of," I say, it is not technically a lie, not in the way that I intended it to be understood, "Why can't you say about the other bidder?"

She squints at me with her strange eyes.

"Interesting, well whoever he represents seems to know you. As for your question, how can I put this, it would create an awkward situation for the Interim Governor if the Federation Counsel knew he accepted a large sum of money from outside the Federation."

"I don't understand," I say, hoping to glean more, my knowledge is very limited of the governments in the galaxy. The Kuwathi are told nothing but to obey.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't, my turn. Did you receive outside help from any member of the rebel faction or someone originating outside the Federation?" she asks, now finally putting her legs onto the floor and leaning in fully.

Rebel faction, there's that implication again, as if our people were capable of rebellion.

"No, I have never worked with a rebel faction."

I am about to ask something important, something the rage whispers as it tries to sneak back to the surface, but she interrupts.

"Now, that's very interesting you say that," she says, the grin falling from her face.

My pulse quickens.

"Because one does not spontaneously develop antibodies for a rare venom. Especially one so potent that it kills the ones that produce it."

"I don't understand."

"You should be dead, you were in fact dead. Minutes later your heart started beating again."

"Perhaps it was not a fatal dose," I say thinking quickly, I do not want to reveal anything, especially if I do not understand it myself.

"Restrain him."

They pull cuffs for legs and hands from a hole that opens in the wall. There is nowhere for me to go, so I flex my body as much as I can, so there might be a gap in the restraints, waiting for them to cuff me.

"You're awfully cooperative," she says, tilting her head at me again.

"There is nowhere to go," I say, careful not to lie. This seems to quell her suspicion slightly.

They cuff my hands and ankles to the floating metal chair I sit on. They made them very tight, but perhaps not tight enough. My body is withered still after all.

"Leave us."

Their heavy metal boots echo from the chamber, the door sliding closed behind them.

"System, turn off all recording devices and create a distortion field around the room."

"Command Accepted, Warden Adona."

The lights in the room change to a more amber color and a humming noise appears all around us. I feel an ebb of Etheric Maka coming from behind the wall, powering the field that distorts around us.

"See, I just thought to myself, it's so strange that you would garner so much interest. So, I did what curiosity bid since you were in a coma, and I had all footage of you pulled from before and after you came here."

My pulse quickens, I try to slowly slide out my wrist, it is tight, perhaps too tight.

"How surprised I was when I reviewed it, you have been quite busy H215-777."

She comes closer and sits on the edge of the desk in front of me.

My mind is racing, what does she know? How much does she know? What will I say? What can I even say, she will know I lie if I try. If I do not tell her what she asks, she may hurt those I care for. I need to focus. Looking at her now, I see she has two blades hidden on her person, one attached to each hip. In the same way that a Kuwathi would wear them.

"There is only one thing I truly wish to know from you, the real reason why you are in here today," she says moving closer now almost to my face.

I can feel her breath upon me. My pulse rises to a pound in my chest as she leans ever closer, brushing my cheek and she whispers something softly into my ear.

"What's in the box?"

My eyes grow wide, and I feel the bioluminescence wish to swirl, but I hold it back. I press back the fear that will lead to her finding out more about the Cursed Edict. The fear that it will lead to my body being tortured endlessly again, to having to watch my friends be carved one by one.

"Perhaps you need me to jog your memory," she says, no longer whispering as she moves further away from me, raising a hand at eye level.

Slowly an image begins to form, I see myself holding the Cursed Edict in black box form, this is from when I first held it, many months ago. I didn't even know there was surveillance where it showed me.

"So?" she asks, her eyes searching me.

"I don't know."

"I have men as we speak, combing the wreckage of your city, I will find the box," she begins, moving forward towards me, she grabs my chin pointing my gaze upwards to hers, "You would do well to tell me."

"I don't know," I say, her eyes linger on me as the grip tightens on my face.

It is not a lie that I tell, I don't know all that lurks within the Cursed Edict, there were many demons under Krotha's command. I even remember Amon, the one who defied her to help me save Luna after we crashed. I suspect that Zarae is within it as well, she must be the one that Krotha said is sleeping, the one who shows visions of the future.

The system chimes now. Breaking the silence that had ensued.

"Warden Adona – Message from Governor Adonius – Listed as urgent."

"Play message," she says, not taking her eyes off of me.

"The message is as follows – Adona report to me at once, we have an injunction filed against us in regards to one of the hunters, I forget the number, doesn't matter, get up here now. End of message," the system chimes off and Adona's jaw flexes.

She presses a button on the side of her desk, the amber light fades and the doors open.

"Return him to his grouping."

Something tells me this will not be the last time I see her. She clearly knows the Cursed Edict is important, but how much does she know? She only showed a holo of when I first found it, will she find more? Before then, I need to be strong enough to carve a path from this place.

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