The Revelation

       The pit. Havila. 

     "It should be of great benefit to you if you pay attention to what I'm about to say."

      The Emperor's voice was firm but you could that his face was a contradiction of his stare. He had been at odds with Jim all along though Tzu had been trying to set things right but Jim really didn't bite off the cake. 

    "And why should we take after you or believe what you have to say?"

     Jim shot at the emperor. He was seated by Tzu while the Emperor was seated opposite them. They were seated on the floor in the pit. 

     "You have no idea who you're talking to. If not for the odds, you should still be a cleaner by now."

    The chief seated by the Emperor hurled at Jim. The chief was opposite Jim. Jim felt like grabbing the nape of the chiefs and crashing it against the pit. 

     "You seem to have a death wish, eh?"

   Jim's threat seemed to have life but the chief wasn't intimidated. Though he was old, his face was rough and stern. You could tell by the wrinkles that he had seen bad and ugly things happen. 

     "You're just cheeky. If you were what you seemed, why did you end up in this pit?"

     The chief was owning up to the stance he had created. 

      "I had no faintest idea what the crazy guy was. If I knew that he was strong enough, wouldn't I had prepared enough? Wack brain!"

    The chief wanted to hurl a cut from a wood at Jim, but the emperor intervened. Jim wore the emperor out, he loathed him with great zeal. 

    "Would you stop this already, Jim?"

    Tzu tried to caution, but Jim was never caught unawares. 

    "If it weren't for you, will all this happen? Want to be all bossy now, eh?"

    The chief shook his head as he wore Jim out with an odd ogle. 

   The emperor wasn't moved anymore. He only sighed and brought up his mat. 

    Jim watched in surprise as Tzu stood up from where he was and crawled over to the Emperor's side. 

    Tzu held an edge of the mat and the chief held the other. 

     "Not this shit again!"

   Jim cussed wishing he could lay his hands on the mat and tear it into confetti. Everything just pissed him off. Or seemed to. 

    Though he was yet to ask Tzu how he'd heard about the death of their brother. By time, he would. 

    The emperor made his usual chant and there was the tuning of the atmosphere. There was a strong wave of the winds hovering over the top of the pit. The rage of the winds swept in dusts and the pit was choked to brim.

    All began to react to the dust. Jim's cough was the loudest as he cussed,

    "Motherfucker making scene when he couldn't do a thing back then."

     He choked on the dust. He sneezed severally before he was able to get rid of the dirt. 

    The winds waned out as well as the dust and there was a scene supplanted on the magic mat. 

    Tzu and the chief were holding the mat against the other side of the pit such that all of them could see it. 

     The scene of the mat went thus,

    A hefty man was seen standing before a golden statue. Before the statue were three other smaller men. Men of average heights. Soon, the men bowed before the statue as bade by the hefty man. As soon as they stood up, the hefty man blew some trail of smoke into them. The first two got great waves sweeping them out, while the last one who was restless got just a pint of it. But the last one who got the pint and least wave of smoke was seen later bossing around and destroying. Sooner the scene began to blur out till twas retrieved. Then abruptly a brief scene popped up. The flaunting man was seen melting into smoke, while the remaining two stood before him laughing and cracking up. Then a wave swallowed the two.

     Tzu and the chief were reluctant to fold the mat. It seemed like they had been hit by the same motive. Like they wanted the scene to go on. 

    "It's now very clear."

    Started the Emperor, his voice croak but rich. You could tell the difference between the first time he spoke and that time. There was authority in it. 

       Jim was very much reserved at that moment. He seemed to had been broken by what he had just seen. A part of him lied to him that he had an idea what the scene was all about but he wasn't so certain. 

       "Poseidon had recruited the three of them and had promised to give them a golden statue. And as we can all see, all of them had been smothered by the offer."

    There was a pause, but when the emperor made the pause, there was an urgency which sprouted from the last word. 

      "What did he tell them to do?"

    Tzu was curious. Jim had meant to ask that but he was way too proud. But a part of him was glad that his annoying bro had got his back. 

    "It's a ritual of the supernals to hide basic things from mortals who were opportuned to have a slightest idea of their dispositions."

   The Emperor dragged in a long loop of air after that and continued,

     "Aojen is all jumpy and he has always been like that. Fate only had it that he would taste of wealth and power for a while before things are hijacked from him."

    Jim felt like smacking the Emperor for making those unnecessary and annoying pauses. He wanted to force the words out of the Emperor. 

    "There are plots that I have chiseled out in the first place but now it's of no great use anymore. But some of them are still in shape. Aojen would die. He would be killed by his brother and the last warrior. His power is just a shadow of that of the remaining two. You know, empty barrel makes the loudest noise."

     There was a peace spread on the Emperor's face at that. 

     "Like you."

   Jim shot. The peace on the Emperor's face was retrieved instantly. But before he could make a move at Jim, they felt water pouring from the top of the pit. 

    The guards were at it again. Aojen would send the guards to wet them like plants with drums of water. A substitute for bathing. 

     "The mat!"

    The emperor called, looking at the mat as the trail of water drenched him and soaked the mat. 

     Twas too late to save either of them. The battle line had been drawn. 

     A war triangle.