Chapter 10B: The Beast of Bones City

Hayatama announced to us after he locked the door, “There is no reason to play pretend anymore. I’m sure you have figured that I am Bellaina’s client, and thanks to her courier, I understand that you are in her employ. It doesn’t matter how I found you, and I have no reason to report either of you to city security. I said before that I want to extend to you both my thanks, and that is still true. However, it’s obvious to me that you only managed to overcome the monster by using your power. Between Bellaina and the invader, you must have accrued a healthy sum of quintessence. I’m sure you know… that there are others in the underworld who would readily kill you if they knew what you possessed.”

I saw Aeliana twitch as if she dared to draw her dual daggers, but she dismissed her own instincts when she saw the four bodyguards that joined us in this office. Despite that her weapons worked well in a confined space, we were outnumbered. Aeliana and I both felt the hostile threat hidden in his harmless words, but we could not make a move in this place.

“That is why we work to repress the power I possess. Only the people in this room know the secret I suppress. My power is not known by anyone but her, and I strongly doubt that it is one you can infer. I doubt your men would dare attack without that knowledge, so let’s both just walk away with a word of homage. You have nothing to gain if you choose to fight us,” I said as I could sense his bloodlust.

But Hayatama merely laughed and then faced me as he said, “I think you have a few too many worries in your head. My men are merciless marauders for sure, but I doubt they care enough to steal your quintessence. I want to hear your thoughts, Asivario, assuming of course that I correctly remembered your name. It’s about our Astrodeus powers – this unique ability we all seem to possess. What do you think about it?”

I took a moment to consider my response. I could feel the remnants of my victims all striving to guide my hand in a different direction. Aziel wanted to tear a bloody path through to safety without speaking another word. Kalairo wanted to stay calm and cordially converse with the city leader as it was our only real defense. The golden-eyed monster called to kill the corrupt caitiff in a clash of blades and fire. But when I closed my eyes, I could see Aeliana and myself emerging safely from this office without a single scratch on our bodies. Her scarred skin would shimmer in the starlight. In this glimpse of our perfect future, we were not on the run, and I could only achieve this by keeping calm. A firm but deferential conversation could create more options at the very least.

“I was thrown into the underworld just to repay my debt. I kept my head low until the day we first met. She was the girl for whom I would die to defend, and it was the man who stole her who made me descend. I know how to use my power and I understand the Array; I know you steal four points when you burn someone away. But I don’t know the source of this power we possess,” I answered as the little I cared to confess.

Hayatama nodded with a chuckle and explained, “That line of logic has long locked us in chains. People delude themselves into thinking that everything has a source and a destination, and then they deceive themselves into inventing inane ideas like God and the afterlife. But the reality as I see it is far more mundane. Where did this world come from? It was always there. Who set the stars in the sky? They were simply always there. Where did our powers come from? We never noticed them before because the fuel is nearly impossible to discover – accessible only by killing another on a special inscription written in a special ink. Our Astrodeus powers were programmed into our hearts when we were first conceived. This power epitomizes the uniqueness we as people all possess; it is the only thing that truly distinguishes us from everyone else. It betrays the true nature we strive to hide from a hateful world. There are those who believe that this power defines who you truly are. This is how I know that I am truly a selfless civil servant, despite the corruption in which I am complicit.”

I couldn’t help but consider the implications of his words. If he were right and these powers truly did represent our unique soul itself, then it served as proof that Kalairo was always a coward at his core. His power let him conceive a decoy with which to shield himself, almost as if he could deflect any damage or blame to someone else. He could never fight anything head-on. The self-righteous woman with golden eyes swore to purge my evil for the sake of the world, so she summoned spheres of fire to burn away anything impure. Bellaina could unleash a scattershot of energy blades because her brutality had built her dark empire. Something like that. In all cases, the connection was tenuous at best and arbitrary at worst, but I myself was an exception. My eyes bind my mind in monomania, meaning that I enact my will upon this world without worry for repercussions. I am avarice unbound.

Not only could I crush any creature to stray upon my path; I force them to serve as steppingstones for the power that will scour this worthless world. I bury their bodies beneath beaches so that they serve as the literal foundation for our future. It is not enough that my obstacles must perish from my path. They must strengthen the weapon with which I will wipe away the next hurdle. If I must devour countless souls for the strength to slay the stars in the sky that both cursed and crossed us, then I will pay the price with their blood. Whether or not Hayatama’s theory is worth anything, it is certainly true for me.

I asked as I silenced my mind in its downhill roll, “What is the power that manifests your soul?”

Hayatama answered with an entertained smile, “You look like you’ve wondered that for a while. The truth is that my power is nothing special, in fact it is perhaps the most mundane power of anyone I know! But I am not a fighter nor some supernatural warlord. I am a builder. I am a giver. I am a humble-”

“What is the form of the weapon you wield?” Aeliana asked with her impatience unconcealed.

“Ha! Isn’t that just like an outsider? You truly are a victim of your own hunger! But very well. I have the power to give away my own quintessence to other people. And that’s it! In that way, my power makes me no more special than your queen of the dark. I seize my fuel from her victims, and then I trade it away at an even higher price! But I don’t trade in mere money like Bellaina. I want loyalty. I want warriors. The men who stand with us have exceptional powers, and I pay them with this fuel. And even that… is just the tip of the iceberg. I have men in my pocket who consider themselves righteous and upstanding. They have no idea that the fuel I give them is extracted from the black flames of a dying soul! They think the power they possess is a gift from God, and they believe that I am their closest link.”

But I asked to interrupt his exposition of glee, “How does any of your empire pertain to me?”

Hayatama answered with a booming chuckle, “I don’t think I’ve ever met such a charming couple! The truth is that we both have a lot to gain from each other. Asivario, I would like you to serve as my bodyguard. I can pay you in quintessence – far more than you could ever scrounge up from street-fights with other outsiders! What do you say?”

Note: There are still 2 more parts to this chapter