Chapter 50: Delirium

"Simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures.

Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.

Patient with both friends and enemies,

you accord with the way things are.

Compassionate toward yourself,

you reconcile all beings in the world." —Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

"Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!" —J.R.R. Tolkien

"Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric." —Bertrand Russell

***

"Pack?!"

"Hush! Someone's coming!"

Outside the house, two tribesmen walked and barged inside. A male and a female were roughly kissing on their way to the empty bed. It was dark inside, for only the sunlight was the only source of illumination to the house. Through that gaps between the logs seep the warm rays of the sun.

"Mmm!"

For a second, the lady lightly pushed the man off her face.

"Should we really be doing this when our kin are dying?!"

"Does their lives matter to you? Didn't you say you despise your bloodline and the people surrounding you except for me? This is the perfect time to enjoy such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

Completely disregarding the alarming chaos, the two seemingly couples continued with their hungry kisses until they slowly undressed each other towards the empty bed.

"On second thought," again the woman was hesitant. "I actually think we should help, yeah?"

"Fuck them! Now that Sir Grenoble is dead and the Lakambini is missing, we can only supervise ourselves! Also, you've seen how the soup has turned everyone crazy! It's a relief that we didn't partake in the feast!"

The guy was in utter heat, radiating his lustful desire through his hunger for her lips.

They were completely unaware that Pack and Xenia were watching them.

"This is unexpected! Let's get out of here, Xenia. Staying here any longer is not necessary."

Pack sees it as something obscene and an event she should not watch any longer. But Xenia sees an opportunity to lessen the number of his enemies. Two vulnerable foes were within his grasp, who were making love despite knowing that people were dying just outside the house. And these people were not so different from them. Kinship did not matter anymore to these two.

Frantic, Pack whispered her call to Xenia.

"Idiot! Why aren't you moving?!"

"You can clear our path outside while I pay attention to them. Who knows they might suddenly get out of the bed and coincidentally find us."

Pack desperately tried to convince Xenia, brushing his words off.

"Who are you fooling here?! I bet you just want to watch those two have s-s-sex!"

She blushed, turning beet red after saying the word. The pack isn't gonna believe every word Xenia would say to her.

So, in order to persuade Pack to do what she was instructed, Xenia just gloomily turned his head to her. As soon as she saw Xenia's face, Pack lightly flinched.

"These people are a threat to us, Pack. Remember that they killed the others, tearing them apart for something stupid called 'gift' every Balmackian received from a higher being."

An empty gaze pierced through her. How could Xenia's lifeless eyes carry so much piercing weight?

"No, it was not lifeless. His eyes are full of conviction and unmitigated desire to be left behind inside."

Seeing that Xenia would not be going anywhere, Pack abode by her friend's decision and stealthily went outside the house to clear a path for their escape.

"Now that Pack is preoccupied and these two too, time to get to work."

Sympathy and mercy do not exist in Xenia's vocabulary, realizing that he must sacrifice everything for him to survive. Even if it means ending the lives of people close to you— friends and families.

"I've lost everyone already... What will a few more do to my mental health? I'm sick of being the good guy, always on the receiving end of hate."

Pulling out his obsidian knife, there was only one thing in Xenia's head, to fulfill his job of eradicating every single one of his enemies. He shall do what he must do.

"I pray in advance for the soul of those that perish."

The two in-heat tribesmen made things easier for Xenia to finish. While their lips were battling with each other, connected together as their hands traveled across their partner's body, Xenia crept up behind them beside the bed. When people are kissing, they tend to close their eyes to feel more of the sensation.

Over the shoulder of her partner, upon trying to catch her breath whilst she opened her eyes, the unwavering emotionless expression on Xenia's face flashed before her.

She was about to warn her partner about Xenia but his hunger for her lips prevented her from doing so. Her strength could not be put to work, for he was on top of her. He had her pinned on the bed.

"Mmmm!"

He ignored her, recklessly pressing more weight against her and her lips.

"Gurgh!"

They both flinched when Xenia's obsidian knife pierced through the man's throat and her neck. Both of them stayed together by the use of the knife, impaling their necks together.

"Don't struggle. Succumb to death and free yourselves of this world's earthly desires."

The two tried squirming to shake off the weight they put on themselves. They bathe themselves with their own blood, which eventually seeps into the white sheet of the bed.

"3... 2... 1..."

And so the two remained in their missionary position, lifeless and robbed of the chance to survive.

Pack, on the other hand, quickly found the safest route possible, thus going back inside only to witness the corpses of the two adults who were naked and dripping in blood.

"Ahh!!! W-What the hell happened here?! D-Did you..."

"Only I could do it, Pack. Would you rather have yourself kill them?"

"N-No and that is not the problem here! Y-you killed a human being, Xenia! That's a crime!"

Xenia scoffed at her. "A crime? Right... Surely, you've witnessed everything that happens on this island. Can you say that the laws that restrict humans' twisted desires still exist? Are you still turning a blind eye, Pack? People are not bound by any restrictions anymore."

She could not believe what she was hearing from Xenia. The gentle and easily embarrassed friend became a cold-hearted killer, spouting words she refused to consume.

"This isn't you..."

"I changed for the better. Our incompetence and immaturity will not bring us that far in life. I simply stopped being the two I just mentioned."

~