Chp.25: Carrion's secret (part 3)

Haku noticed that the light in Carrion's eyes had changed. He'd been angry when he'd talked about his awful past, and he'd been dreamy when he'd talked about the human society and the goddess Heloisa. Now... there was something else. It felt like hate, but it wasn't just that: it was a deeper, more primitive, more ancestral feeling. An ancient madness and cruelty more powerful than any rationality, filling his eyes as if they were dancing flames and giving his face an almost eerie look.

"Initially I didn't think I should go that far. In my short-sighted and foolish view of things, I thought all I had to do was protect this realm from letting those cursed beastmen set foot here. I've made friends with many people over the years... intelligent and far-sighted people who understood the danger posed by our neighbors. Even the king understood this, he often spoke about it. Even before the empires of the east, our main enemy was the Baudonia City Alliance, the biggest obstacle in the formation of an efficient line of defense against the enemy". Carrion's body shook slightly, but this time it wasn't from a bad memory; he seemed almost excited. "Seeing what was happening, a part of me began to ripen the desire to go to war. Exterminate the beastmen, one by one. I reproached myself for such thoughts, because they were not in line with the teachings of the goddess Heloisa. I should think first of the deaths that a war would cause, certainly not of what I took to be a foolish desire for revenge. But I soon began to wonder why even the king, who was so devoted to the teachings of the goddess, wanted that war. I was wondering if there was something I didn't understand. Did the goddess want more from me? Maybe, just like the king, she thought a pre-emptive strike was the best option? I tormented myself for a long time and repeatedly begged the goddess to speak to me again, but she never answered. This was logical: the gods don't speak personally even to their favorites more than once, it's known. Mine, again, was yet another representation of the arrogance and selfishness I had inherited from the accursed race to which I had the misfortune to belong. But even though she didn't speak to me, the goddess still answered my prayers by having me meet a priest. His name was Sudon"

Haku remembered that, based on the investigations that Sisna had carried out through 'The spider', Sudon was a priest very close to the extremist faction. Apparently, he had introduced Carrion to the system.

"He opened my eyes. He explained to me that the teachings of the goddess had to be interpreted. Of course, on the surface they seemed to speak exclusively of love and justice, because this was what the ignorant masses of the plebs had to understand in order to continue to stay on the right path. But the leaders, the far-sighted, the wise, could dig deeper". Carrion gritted his teeth. "The goddess teaches never to voluntarily choose war... but it wasn't the Jurao Kingdom that wanted it, it was forced by the irreverent race of the beastmen. Even if we attacked first, the fault still lay with the beastmen because they dared so stupidly approaching the eastern empires. This was just one of the many things I understood thanks to Sudon and many other priests he introduced me to. Very soon, I too began to meditate on the teachings of the goddess. And I finally understood the truth. Reflecting on the my life, on all the experience I had acquired, on everything that had happened to me, I finally came to a profound awareness"

Carrion's smile widened even more, so much so that he showed the sharp teeth hidden under his lips. "Everything… was premeditated. I was born into this cursed body, into this race of deigned, so that I could see how hideous the beastmen were. That is why the goddess had given me birth like this, and then after all my vicissitudes she had allowed me to see the splendor of human society and then she had raised me to a legendary level. I knew the horror, the cruelty and the sin committed by my vicious kind. Unlike the king, who couldn't see it, I knew for sure that one day the beastmen would rise up and throw the kingdom into chaos... or even worse, they would spread like a plague and taint the beautiful society human with their heretical and disgusting values, until they took control of the nation. I couldn't allow it. Just as the king had launched a preemptive strike to prevent the beastmen from allying with the eastern empires, I had to take preventive action to eliminate this horrendous scenario. I had to eliminate the beastmen completely and fulfill the will of the goddess to make the kingdom bigger and stronger, erasing forever the ancient pagan traditions of the Baudonia City Alliance and replacing its inhabitants with virtuous humans worthy of occupying this beautiful land. I would transform this den of perdition into a rich and beautiful landscape, which would become the Jurao Kingdom's shield against any threat from the east"

Carrion's tail wagged and made a rattle-like noise, as if it were a rattlesnake. "When we won the war, as could be expected thanks to the support of the goddess and the skill of the ruler she supported, I devised a plan that could allow the realization of this utopia. I knew that I couldn't ask the king to kill all the beastmen: he he did not know them as I do, and would never have approved of genocide. No, I had to act longer and more underhanded... and this would have allowed me not only to eliminate the threat, but also to expedite construction projects defenses to the east while slowly punishing the beastmen for their sins. After all, the goddess teaches that justice must always be done, and the beastmen had many sins to pay for. All the horrors they had perpetuated over all those years had to be punished. And I did it. First I punished the lizardmen people for faults I knew certainly existed, and then I punished the tigermen and lionmen for daring to defy my justice and contributing so much to the war. As for the other peoples, they too would be punished, but through a long and terrible system called slavery, which would slowly deprive them of their life force until they were driven underground. I had all the allies needed for this, and now I'm about to finish my work! Here, in the Arapaina Gorge, I will crush the last bulwark of these heretics' rebellion in one fell swoop, and through them I will show the king the need to enslave them all!". Carrion chuckled and pointed at Haku. "Here's what will happen, dragon. I will kill you first, evil bloodline, and my men will exterminate this pathetic army. After that I will return to the labor camps and kill all the prisoners, finally eradicating their cursed lineage from this land. And in the end, all the rest of the Province of Baudonia will be enslaved, deported and finally eliminated by age and fatigue! And thus the will of the goddess will be fulfilled! Humans will step forward and bring their light to this land once inhabited by heretics, and they will become more powerful and stronger than ever before!"

'I wish I could blame him, but there's a strange logic behind it all. Very twisted, but there is' Haku thought, and then he said: "In doing so, however, the only evil beastmen left will be you"

The smile on Carrion's face faded, but not completely. "Yes... Yes, that's right. But basically that's who I am. I was born in this horrible body belonging to this race of sinners, and there's no way I'm different from them. But it doesn't matter. I will be the darkness that will allow the light to shine. And when my task is done and I find myself before the goddess, perhaps she will be compassionate enough to allow me to reborn as a human being"

Haku's eyes widened slightly at those words and his breathing became more labored. Carrion seemed to notice, and indeed his gaze became inquisitive. For a few moments, neither of them said anything. Then Haku whispered: "Now I understand. That's why your story seemed so familiar to me. We are the same"

Carrion raised an eyebrow. "Really? I'm not aware of walking on four legs"

Haku ignored the joke. "We were both born into horrendous backgrounds. We were both hated by everyone we met most of our lives. We both killed our parents. We both hate our kind, or in my case, a part of it. We both slaughtered and killed to achieve our goals. We are both filled with hatred, anger, revenge. We both believe that we are just darkness, horrible and unrepentant monsters, but that by our actions we can allow others to live in the light. And we both searched for something, a mission, that would allow us to give ourselves the strength to carry on". The dragon let out a snort. "You and I are the same, mirror images of each other. Even physically we look a bit alike... you may not walk on four legs, but you have scales, horns and a tail just like me. Apart from a few details, looking at us each other we could almost see our reflection in a mirror. But there is a fundamental difference between the two of us"

Carrion obviously didn't know anything about Haku's past, and therefore couldn't know if he was telling the truth, but something seemed to suggest to him that his words were true. "And that is?" he asked curiously.

Haku looked at him with a look that almost seemed compassionate, which irritated the man a little. "I have someone who prevented me from falling into the abyss. You don't" he finally answered. "I've always had someone more important than my anger, someone I had to protect. Everything else was secondary. And even if I didn't notice it, they protected me, preventing me from making too bad choices. And now, they still care about protecting me, still preventing me from falling into darkness. They force me to believe that I can be better, that together we can build something that allows us to live differently. Even if I don't believe it, even if I'd rather continue to isolate myself and hate everything and everyone... I still have to keep working towards that dream, because I have to make sure they are happy". Haku let out a growl and clicked his tongue. "You, Carrion, are me. You are what I would have become if I hadn't had someone dear in my dry heart. You have never had anyone, not even a friend, and therefore the only thing you ever fought for was yourself, leading to an absurd and cruel fanaticism. I probably wouldn't have appealed to a god, but apart this I wouldn't have been much different from you. I guess I have to thank them... for keeping me from suffering your fate"

Carrion didn't know who these 'they' were, but he doubted the dragon would tell him. In any case, he was somewhat irritated that a dragon, a spawn of evil, dared to compare itself to him and even think itself better than him. "I'm starting to get tired of talking. If you have any more questions, ask them right away, so then we can start fighting"

"Don't worry, I'm done. I had a lot of questions for you, but you've already answered them all" Haku replied, turning to look at the valley below them. "But there's one last thing I'd like to share with you before we really end our conversation and start fighting"

Carrion narrowed his eyes. "Speak"

The dragon didn't even turn to look at him. "You know, I've always been fascinated by heat"

Carrion was flabbergasted. "Heat?" he repeated confused.

"Yes, heat. I've always found it nonsensical. I mean, it's well known that heat is generated by energy. Like when a person rubs their hands to warm them. But then, what keeps it? Once they've been warmed, the hands no longer move, yet the heat remains. It is illogical. There should still be something, a sort of continuous movement that consumes the accumulated energy until it disappears". Haku moved his hand as if he was grabbing something. "Still, solids don't move. No matter how much you heat them, they stay put. But that's not the case with gases. I've noticed that the hotter a gas gets, the more violent it becomes. The stored energy is released in the form of discharges of hot wind. Well, that already makes more sense. It's as if the heat is nothing but the movement of tiny parts of matter, so tiny that we can't see them, that as soon as the temperature rises they start to shake due to the accumulated energy and they disperse it over time"

Carrion couldn't tell if the dragon had gone mad or was just teasing him. "Why this should be important now?"

"For no reason. I just wanted to tell you about it. Because you see, in studying this strange phenomenon, I was faced with a dilemma: how can I understand how this process really works?". Haku looked somewhat annoyed. "Solids remain stationary, and gases are free spirits that it is impossible to follow. To establish if this is true, something that moves but still remains compact would be needed... such as water, for example"

Suddenly Carrion heard a strange sound. It sounded like a kind of dull 'blup'. His gaze quickly searched the entire Gorge of Arapaina, but he saw nothing that could have caused the noise. Haku however completely ignored this and started moving his paw as if it were a wave. "The more you heat the water, the more the water gets agitated. It becomes violent, like a river in flood. But this continuous movement is hampered by the fact that at some point the water starts to boil and evaporates. But what if it couldn't escape? What if there was a ceiling above it, and the temperature kept rising?"

Further 'blups' were heard throughout the valley. The soldiers of both armies seemed to notice as well, but while the humans were worried, the beastmen were strangely calm. Then, the ground began to shake. They were light tremors, but strong enough to knock some stones off the steep walls. Carrion turned furious towards Haku ready to ask for explanations, but the latter anticipated him. "Well, I guess we just have to find out. At this point, our conversation can be considered officially over" he said, then he turned and looked Carrion straight in the eye with a cold gaze, so much so that the man felt a slight shiver. "By the way, dear general... are you thirsty?"

In the next instant, the earth cracked and a jet of boiling water of unusual strength shot up in the sky.