Ten
Tough Choices
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'The name's Breri,' he said after making Yuzdo sit across from him at the same table near the fire.
'Y…' Yuzdo stopped, 'although I was a fairly new member before the fall, he might've still heard of me. I should play it safe, before the whole town freaks out,' he thought.
'What's wrong?' Breri asked.
'Nothing. I'm Yurin, pleased to meet you.'
'Drinks?' the waiter asked from behind Yuzdo.
'What would you like?' Breri asked.
'Water's fine.'
'Two waters it'll be,' Breri said, putting two fingers up.
'So, Yurin, from which part of the Midwest are you?'
'Uh, Braggle,' Yuzdo said.
'Nice, I've been there once. I didn't really like it, though. No offence, but your people are way too obsessed with physical exercise. The moment I arrived, they kept asking me how much I could lift, what my peak jump height was, and don't get me started on the fondling…'
'Haha, yeah, totally. We tend to do that…' Yuzdo said, thinking; 'why didn't I say a village I've actually been to? Damned Braggle was the first one that came to mind.'
'I'm from Ari-village, it's a few miles east of Braggle,' Breri said.
Yuzdo's eyes widened, making the light of the campfire glow in his azure blue irises, as if the sky was set ablaze by clouds of fire.
'You've been there, haven't you?' Breri asked, smiling from his eyes.
'Born and raised,' Yuzdo thought.
'A few times,' he answered.
'I knew it! Did you like it?'
'Y-yes, very much.'
'I can talk hours about my village. I love the theater, the smell in the air, the food, just about everything. What did you like the most during your visit?'
'Mom,' he thought.
'The people…'
Noticing the melancholy on his face, Breri knew it could only be nostalgia, so he asked; 'is there a reason you didn't stay?'
Never having talked about it, although knowing the answer, Yuzdo fell silent for a bit, creating the sentence that would convey his feelings.
'I've always had everything a man should ever want,' he said.
Breri's brows rose, stopping his smile abruptly.
'When you reach inner peace, your privilege whispers to you softly, asking all kinds of questions. Do you deserve it? Why? What makes you better? Are you just lucky?'
Breri's jaw dropped just a bit, showing the shadow in his mouth.
'Eventually you realize, that you are no better than anyone else. So yes, I am lucky. When you figure that much out, you only have one thing to do, one obligation. You pave a path for those less fortunate, to lead them towards a sliver of what you have.'
After a moment of silence, Breri spoke; 'Yurin… we are very much alike, my brother.'
'How come?' Yuzdo asked.
'Because you just read a page of your mind, making me think we own the same book. I left Ari-village for the same reason. I came all the way to the Middle East, driven by desires and aspirations. Desires and aspirations to change Alem for the better.'
'Why would you be here though?'
'What do you mean?'
'Why would you come all the way from the Midwest to the Middle East, especially after the fall of the Kormoro? Central is in turmoil. Anyone who'd want to better Alem would start there.'
'I've come here invited,' Breri said with a smile.
'Invited to what?'
'Classified.'
'Bullshit,' Yuzdo said, standing up, jiggling the glasses of water.
'Pardon?' Breri said, genuinely confused at his reaction.
'I'm not going to sit here and listen to your lies.'
'What? I'm not lying! We share the same dream and you're here as well, aren't you? Why are you here if that's what you believe?'
Yuzdo, with his hands in his pockets, turned his back towards the sitting Breri and started walking.
'I don't know either,' Yuzdo thought, 'that being said, I will not sit around with a dead man. Let's get this shit over with.'
'Hey, wait!' he shouted, seeing Yuzdo leave. The whole pub looked at Breri. As he tried to follow, he felt a hand hold his wrist, halting his movement.
'Fourteen,' the waiter said.
'God damn it, here, now let me go,' Breri said, laying a stack of coins on the table, immediately running after Yuzdo.
Yuzdo kept on walking, bumping into everyone on his path to Kairi, ignoring the shouting Breri behind him. 'Lord, forgive me. Lord, forgive me,' he kept on thinking during his march.
In the distance, on a bench at the edge of the village, Kairi sat with his arms folded, waiting for Yuzdo. His stare focused directly ahead, not seeing his accomplice coming from his left, but still noticing. Next to him sat a man prodding his arm, wondering if he's some kind of realistic statue.
'Sir, are you alright?' the man asked Kairi, but he didn't respond.
Yuzdo runs the last couple of feet and as he reaches the bench, grabs the man by his collar and throws him aside, asking; 'do you have a death wish?' under his breath.
As the man tumbles a few times on the sand, the people's attention turn to the two foreigners, becoming three at the immediate arrival of Breri.
'My patience is running low,' Kairi said.
'Yurin?' Breri said, looking at the two from a short distance.
'I-it's him,' Yuzdo said, not having the guts to look at Breri. And with these words the wings of the Conqueror appeared, sealing the deal and shocking the innocent villagers about to witness the death of a fellow Demon.
Yuzdo squeezed his eyes shut. He'd seen many deaths and caused just as many himself, but always relieved of guilt, since he did so believing it to be the right thing. Now, however, he couldn't make himself believe he was innocent. 'I could've told him I lied, I should've tried… but I…' he thought, not even able to be honest with himself.
Trying to be the hero he always wanted to be, he fooled Kairi and saved Igniculus, but when fate asked him if he'd die for a stranger, Yuzdo realized he wasn't a hero, but rather your everyday Demon. Could anyone blame him? Yes, two people can, the man making the choice and the man dying as a result.
Kairi floated towards Breri, who dropped on his knees in amazement, 'you're him, the Conqueror,' he said with an open smile.
Kairi put the back of his right hand on his chin, wiping diagonally until he stopped touching the baffled Breri.
'You can't fool me any longer,' Kairi said as the Yu of Breri scattered in every direction.
'I… am a coward,' Yuzdo uttered, grabbing his chest with his right hand, with his other in his hair, 'forgive me, Breri, God, I beg of you.'
Kairi stepped over Breri's few remains and a silence ensued. In the deafening absence of sound, Yuzdo moved to the now evaporating pieces of Breri, kneeling down, digging his fingers in the sand, and squeezing it out of frustration, but while his left held sand, his right grasped something else, the amulet Yuzdo had seen him wear.
It took a while for the public to process what just happened, as a surge of rumors and memories went through their minds, 'Kormoro – Conqueror – Warden – Prison – Death – No – Help – Run – Run – Run!'
Like Breri's body scattered, so did the mass of people, trying to flee the village as fast as possible. Friend's were forgotten, lovers got separated, mother's left their children, control belonged to their primal instincts, it became survival of the fittest, and so, Kairi played a home game. Within a couple of seconds, the structure of civilization fell.
Kairi is inevitable, Kairi is unstoppable, Kairi is King.
Kairi spread his arms, his wings following suit, showing the incredible span of his featherless appendages. 'Rise,' he said in a deep voice. The invisible border of the village became visible as a wall of sand appeared, forming it. The villagers tried climbing, but their grips only pulled handfuls of sand. Seeing it get replaced effortlessly by Kairi, the dread peaked. People climbed on each other for a chance to escape, but as soon as one got close, the next doomed their try with one of their own.
'Kairi! Kairi, stop it! He's dead! It's over!'
Kairi turned to Yuzdo, 'I know,' he said, 'this is the next step.'
'Kairi…'
He put his left hand on Yuzdo's cheek, moving it slowly towards his right ear.
'Why?'
'You're exhausted, comrade. Try to sleep,' Kairi said. A damp sound from within made Yuzdo close his eyes, grains of sand dripping from both ears and nostrils. The weight of his body leaned on Kairi's palm. He lowered his subject slowly, gently laying him on the desert floor. The hellish screams around the village didn't bother him, rather reminding him of better times, but he still needed to silence them, for their own sake.
'The future will soon arrive to Green Bird Village!' Kairi said, stretching his arms as he made his way towards his next victim with a wide and menacing smile.
'Last one standing gets a free haircut.'