RE:volt! Chapter 25: Knowledge
After bathing using buckets and eating their usual rations of leftovers, Ark and the other slaves were allowed to rest.
A reward for surviving the day's mission.
But Ark didn't go to sleep, instead he left the barracks and entered into the brisk night, sneaking out with Thirty-Four and Thirty-Three, the two sisters following his lead.
After a few years of this, the trio had gotten quite good at skulking about, with Thirty-Three and Thirty-Four often roaming around the nearby area. Sadly they couldn't leave beyond a certain point as the collars would activate when the containment fences were turned on at night.
"Let's see what Ninety-Nine got me." Ark muttered to himself as he reached into the tree, retrieving the bundles of paper before making his way to the roof of their barracks.
"Are these more teaching materials?" Thirty-Four asked, a twinkle in her eye as she followed Ark until he found a spot under the moonlight to eye his prize.
"Yes." Ark replied, activating his core and funneling negative energy to his eyes.
Immediately the capillaries in his eyes began to tighten, a pressure in his pupils that made his vision pulse, allowing him to see the letters on the parchment more clearly.
"What is it?" Thirty-Four asked, leaning over Ark's shoulder as he narrowed his eyes.
"A calender…" Ark replied. But not one that he recognized as he flipped through the used pages. Instead of the fourteen months he was familiar with, the calender had been broken up into seasons, one for each… hero.
Roland, Jasper, Xon, Stya. Each "Hero" representing a different season with the days numbering into the hundred for each section…
Ark clenched his teeth. Where was Aem? Where was Liana? Matter of fact, where was he?
Questions piled up.
He set the calendar to the side, allowing Thirty-Three to grab it and fawn over the numbers and colored pages as Ark sifted through the other papers. He had asked Ninety-Nine to find anything he could on the heroes. An odd request, but one that the man had followed through with.
Ark's eyes glanced from page to page, each piece of paper crumpled and used, refuse no doubt scavenged from bins.
Dates, names, shipping orders, requests for aid to help exterminate a growing monster infestation. All used as wrapping for what Ark realized was a tiny picture book buried in the stacks.
"Bastard." Ark smiled, reading the title as he passed the calender to Thirty-Four who squinted and struggled to look at it..
"What's that?" Thirty-Three asked, narrowing her eyes, concern on her face as she eyed the smile Ark was displaying. For all the years she'd known him, she'd never actually seen him display emotions other than stoic, annoyed, or sad. Oftentimes he would just sit there staring at nothing, his mind appearing to be gone.
But Thirty-Three knew better, knew it was mostly a facade. She'd seen how he taught, how he observed, knew things that no other slave could know. He was dangerous, that much was a fact. But her sister was smitten with the things he said, the things he taught. Even if it could get them killed. There was also the fact that she was a red-sashed, squire of Bruno, a position she would not have if not for him giving it up.
Begrudgingly, Thirty-Three accepted being used. This was the price, but she was still worried. There was also the fact he called her an idiot and she was feeling sore about that.
"A book." Ark said as Thirty-Four rested her head over his shoulder. To anyone else, she was cold, off-putting, and dismissive, but to Ark… she was like an eager puppy.
"Can I see it?" Thirty-Four asked but Ark shook his head.
"Not yet." Ark said as he read the title.
Legend of The Dragonslayers.
"Is that supposed to be me?" Irelix laughed, eyeing the caricature of a fire breathing white dragon spewing flames against a band of cartoony heroes.
Ark opened the book, reading the words aloud.
"Once upon a time… there were seven heroes." Ark said, eyeing the crude drawings of his party arranged in a neat row.
"Seven heroes, Roland… the Handsome Light?" Ark blinked, pausing for a moment as his face contorted with a scowl.
"Keep reading." Thirty-Four hissed, helping Ark to recover.
"Stya, Mistress of Ice and Shadows.
Aem The Rock.
Xon The Crimson Spear.
Jasper The Wise.
Li-... Liana the Pious Maiden.
And…
Her battle thrall, Ark the Greedy?"
Ark blinked, while everyone had pictures of heroic poses, Ark's picture was a shadow-like being smiling ominously in the darkness behind everyone.
"The hell is this bullshit?"
"Keep reading." Irelix coaxed, the dragon suddenly very interested in the story.
Ark turned the hardboard page.
"Seven heroes. Seven artifacts. Each blessed by god."
Irelix snorted.
Well that's a lie. Ark said to himself, eyeing the illustrations of the "blessed" artifacts.
"By god they mean dragons."
"On the journey they went, long and far, the heroes saving town after town from the clutches of the evil monsters."
Ark flipped the page, an image of a town beset by some kind of flying creature.
"The people rejoiced, thankful for the heroes aid."
The next page, one of smiling faces celebrating at a table, each hero laughing, each, except Ark's shadowy form.
"But little did our heroes know, a traitor dwelt in their midst." Ark narrowed his eyes, staring at the caricature of himself. "Ark The Greedy, a… lowly and..."
"Why'd you stop?" Thirty-Four asked innocently.
Ark clenched his jaw, his hands gripping the paper with so much force it was beginning to tear as he read how the book described him.
"It's a bad story. Not suitable for kids." Ark hissed, reading about how the book described him as a wicked and malicious being, a person that made a pact with a dragon for power. Then used that power to betray his friends. To turn on his master, to kill… Aem.
Ark turned the page to an image of his shadow self stabbing the tearful giant in the back.
He grimaced, reading the words, Why? That came from the man's sorrowful face.
Then he apparently forced Liana to be his plaything. Using the powers of the dragon to turn her against the heroes. But by the power of… friendship… Roland was able to defeat Ark and Irelix, slaying both evils.
Ark was now on the last page, his brow furrowed with fury as it displayed Liana dying in Roland's arms.
Still he forced himself to read on, to see the words she never uttered written on the page.
Thank you for saving me.
Ark tore the book in half, unable to stare at it any longer much to the dismay of Thirty-Four and Thirty-Three.
THOSE BASTARDS! ME?! ME?!
It took every ounce of willpower Ark possessed not to scream as he realized that his former friends had not only stabbed him in the back, but had also twisted his legacy, wrote history in a way that painted him a villain. A VILLIAN! In a child's story no less!
"A-are you-" Thirty-Four began.
"Don't touch me!" Ark spat, pushing the girl's hand off his shoulder as he climbed down off the roof, unable to handle being around anyone.