Fourteen
Unpaved
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'The morning's nigh! If I don't count 488 soldiers gathered, you'll get a punch for each missing person!' Yaş shouts throughout Ryut from a palace balcony. He tries to be menacing, and no one doubts his strength, but when it's Yaş' turn to train them, the lazy don't bother to wake.
His arms crossed, Yaş looks at the still sun above him. Mornings in Alem are only determined by the time.
Unk and Lucille watch Yaş from a side window. Lucille stands on a wooden chair to compensate for her short height, something she got from her late mother. Cuma slithered closer and upon seeing her on the chair, said; 'hah, Shorty.'
'You're not that much taller than I am, master Cuma,' she replied.
'Shut up! Hey, shouldn't you be taking care of Igni?'
'Yes, he's sleeping.'
'Lucky,' Cuma said before climbing into Unk's pants and coming out through his collar. Cuma looks at Yaş and his people, all the same as always.
'Wait, what!? Why aren't they laughing!? Why isn't he ashamed of showing his face to the soldiers!? There's no way the maid didn't talk about what she saw! Ugh, things keep turning out different than I want them to.'
Yaş looks down. Hundreds of Demons, both men and women, have gathered. Some stretched their limbs, others slept whilst standing, and a few leaned on their fellow Ryutians.
'1-2-3-4-5-6' Yaş began speedily counting the heads with his index-finger, '…37-38…488, perfect!'
'How many are there, actually?' Cuma asked.
'453,' both Unk and Lucille said.
'Did you write-'
Unk immediately shows him a piece of paper containing the names of the 25 missing soldiers.
Cuma laughed his sly and menacing laugh, even scarier having the mouth of a literal snake, 'some of them are repeat offenders, time for deserved punishment!'
In that moment, with a straight back and eyes locked forward, Su passed the three by. Carrying the usual frown, he almost marches his walk through the palace halls.
'Hey, hotshot!' Cuma said, 'where might you be going?'
'None of your business,' he said, continuing.
'Someone's in a bad mood.'
'Who?' Unk asked.
Uncertain about him not noticing or just not understanding, Cuma said; 'don't worry about it, just talking to myself.'
'If you use your mind to think about the words, you don't have to use your mouth, master Cuma.'
Knowing for sure Unk means well, Cuma responds kindly back; 't-thanks, I'll look into it. By the way, I need to go over something with your dad, so you'll be accompanying Yaş today after he's done with the general combat practice.'
'Must father not take over the Yu management course after this?' Unk asked.
'Yeah, umm, your dad isn't really the type to teach Yu management, his abilities are way too specific, and he isn't really the teaching type to begin with.'
'Master Cuma,' Lucille said.
'What's up, sweetie.'
'I don't want to teach Yu management to the people.'
'Okay, I didn't ask you, did I?'
'No, just making sure.'
Cuma sighs, 'do you need help with your… shyness, to put it lightly. I'm super good at talking to people, you know. You're getting to the point of unmanageable.'
'H-how will you help me?'
'We start small, people you know a bit, then slowly add more and peop-'
Lucille turns her head to the left, Cuma immediately realizes what's she's about to do.
'Hey! Unk, hold your sister!' Cuma shouts.
Unk immediately grabs his sister's left arm. Even though she moves her legs, Unk doesn't even budge from where he stands.
'You can't keep running from your problems!' Cuma says.
'Unk, let me go!' Lucille says. Unk lets go, and she sprints off.
'Wha- why did you let her go?' Cuma asks.
'Because she told me to,' Unk replies.
'Damn it! Alright, I'm not fast enough, so let's go get her together before I have to talk with your pops.'
'I have to do something for father now.'
Cuma does what he does best, 'oh, I forgot to tell you, your dad really wanted me to talk with your sister so-'
Unk launches off, holding Cuma by his tail as he flails in the air behind him laughing, 'bring the chair, bring the chair!'
◊◊◊
They consume to restore, not to maintain. So when Yuzdo got out of bed, his body felt as good as new, except for a slightly stiff neck. He walks out his same named building, unsure where to find him, but before he gets to think about it, a stranger's cry calls upon all with ears.
'Help! Someone, please!'
Yuzdo sprints towards the sound, unleashing his wings midway, 'what now again!?' he thinks, arriving at Kairi's front door, looking around.
'Hel-' he hears not inside it, but behind. He flies high and lands on the roof, looking down at Kairi holding the now unconscious body of a stranger less familiar than those who slumber inside.
'What's going on!?'
'Oh, right! I remember what I wanted to ask you again!' Kairi says laughing.
Just when Yuzdo warmed up to the man, he realizes it's not that easy. 'It's Kairi,' he thinks, 'apparently, somehow, heavy pasts sink slow,' and so, Yuzdo picks his guard back up.
'Remember that baby from a week ago,' Kairi says, flying to Yuzdo, still carrying the stranger.
A surge of memories go through his mind, 'of course,' he says.
'A day after I let everyone sleep and got to working on the houses, I thought about the little one and wanted to go get him, but then a group of people showed up to town. Finding only me, they got suspicious, and I had to put them to sleep too. Every day a few people enter town and I realized I can't really leave since it takes a few hours to go and return, enough time for people to appear and ruin everything. So I wondered if you could go check if the baby is still there.'
Yuzdo averted his eyes, 'there's a good chance he's not there anymore, it's been a week after all.'
'I know, but it's worth taking a look, don't you think?'
Yuzdo raised his brows for a moment. Kairi trusts Yuzdo enough for him to leave town. If he wants to, he could even leave and never return. Unsure about his feelings towards Kairi and what he should do with his life, he accepts his request. 'I trust my heart will show me what I want once I'm far enough away,' he thinks.
'Sure, I'll take a look.'
'Great!' Kairi says, 'a banquet of meat will be ready when you return.'
Yuzdo gave a smile and stretched his wings. With a single flap he launches to the sky, making his way south, to the place where it all went wrong.
As Kairi watches him fly, he thinks; 'if there would be any time to risk it, it would be now. Let's see if he'll come back, or that I must take another risk.'
◊◊◊
Left hook, right hook, jab, low kick, high kick-
'That bag has taught you everything it can,' Yaş says to the Yu excreting Su, steaming like an onsen. 'So, did you come up with something?'
'Not yet,' Su says, hitting the punching bag again.
'Then why are you wasting time in here?'
'It helps me think.'
Yaş moves to the bench press, taking a seat to think with him.
'How was the training?' Su asks, 'are they coming along well?'
'They need more time. General combat is going fine, but their Yu management is, uh, pretty much nonexistent. The only one who can teach them well is Cuma, but we kinda need him for more important stuff. Troubling times my son, troubling times.'
Su stops punching and extends his arm to stop the moving bag.
'You don't have to worry about that,' Yaş says.
'Isn't it foolish for me to worry about taking care of Igni or hitting Cek whilst I could be helping with more important issues?' Su asks, looking down at the floor.
'Who came up with the one month challenge again?' Yaş asks.
'Master Cek.'
'See? You can't be more sure about the best course of action when that deadpan suggests it. He's a pain in the ass sometimes… many times, but among all of us, he's the most focused. He wouldn't be wasting his time with you if he didn't know it was important.'
'I understand,' Su says, taking a breath, 'it's probably better if he doesn't take care of Igniculus… I shouldn't have spoken to him like that.'
'It's not just being strong that makes a King, Su. If that was the case, we would still be living in Central.'
Through battle, the young Demon got a firmer grasp on his position in the order. His pride made way to what was right.
'I should apologize,' he says.
'Just try to impress the man if you feel like you owe him. Cek's a complex guy, so it's hard to know what goes on in his mind, but I know him better than anyone and I can guarantee you he doesn't feel you should apologize for anything.'
'Master Yaş, what can I do?'
Yaş expands his cheeks and slowly blows to deflate, 'you've come at a point where I can't teach you much anymore, so it's hard to answer that question. Every Demon is different, even though we have the same affinity, everything gets kinda unique after basic training.'
'What did you do to further develop yourself?'
'I thought about myself for a long time, not really sure what kinda person I wanted to be. It wasn't after all the shit that happened after your mom died, that I really started growing. Ugh, I hate to say it, but I owe a lot of my power to the Conqueror and the Kormoro. He basically forced out every bit of strength we had in us.'
'But how?'
'Well, he collected the strongest people he could find, then made us fight each other every single day, always a different fighter. And before the fight he'd come up to us to hand a note containing every flaw the other person had.'
'Do you think something like that would work with us, with Unk and Lucille, maybe Igni later?'
Yaş laughed, 'if I knew your weaknesses as clear as Kairi did mine, this would all be much easier. Even if I knew, you need to know, the fights we had weren't your everyday battles.'
'What do you mean?'
'They were death matches, we fought to survive. The remaining 28 became the founding members of the Kormoro.'
'Oh,' Su said before falling silent.
'There is no better teacher than necessity, but she sure is an expensive tutor. Even if you are willing to pay the price, you might not be able to afford it,' Yaş said with a smile.
'I kinda want Igniculus to grow up faster now,' Su said.
'That's the spirit,' Yaş says, standing up and walking towards him. He puts his hand on his shoulder, 'how bad do you want to grow stronger?'
Su lifts his head to look him in the eyes, 'what.'
'How bad do you want it?' Yaş says, a look in his eyes Su hadn't seen before. A subtle cold breeze fills the room. 'How bad?' he asks again.
Su looks him straight in the eyes. It was cold that day as well, when he took his mother into his arms. The snow piled up for hours, burying the young Su until her corpse became one with the Yu again. He remembers crying, his ears not picking up any sound, and remembers cursing the world for being how it is.
Intimidated, yet courageous, he answers Yaş; 'I want it more than anything.'
'Then you have something to sacrifice.'
Su keeps staring into his eyes, waiting for more.
'Your dream to become the strongest has brought you here, if it can't take you further, you must abandon it. If you lose to Cek, you must give up on your dream, forever.'
'That's bullshit! Even if I agree, how am I supposed to give up on that?'
'You idiot!' Yaş shouts from only a few inches away, 'Sujin, I don't want to hurt you, but don't you understand? If you can't land a hit on Cek, you will never be the strongest. You can continue dreaming about it, but that's all it will be, just a dream. Like a fool you'll be making yourself believe you can do it, until you reach an age where it will finally kick in, where you will finally realize you're just an average Demon living an average life. You have no reason to think your special, Su.'
He grabs Su by the cloth covering his chest.
As he watched his master with an open mouth, the poor boy's eyes couldn't be wider and more filled with shock. Drop by drop, dread drained into his ears.
'You're not shit yet, kid. Earn the right to stand tall.'