Chapter 28
it's already been a few hours and codala still isn't waking up, still, I leave him be, for I have done all I can. I sit beside him and reminisce about the times when I hadn't a care in the world, times when I just beat up those weaker than me thinking myself the strongest. times when I felt like I had all the power, and we're atop the world. times when a child like myself was so desperate to walk in the world of adults thinking myself fully grown, only to be reminded of the child I am. well now I know those were only childish dreams, dreams that were easily shattered. it shames me that it took the deaths of the people around me to open my eyes, it shames me that it took the infliction of pain on the mortal flesh of loved ones to open my eyes to the brutality of the world, it shames me that it took the threat of extinction from genocidal maniacs who see me and my kind as a threat to humanities continued existence for me to see the world for what it truly is, unfair. what are my kind, who are my kind who so deservedly need to be removed from the earth, the accursed ones, a subspecies of humans that have either been brought into existence by inheriting a curse from God or by humans dabbling in dark alchemy, transmutations or even the dark mystic arts. just being born under the banner of the wrong subspecies is enough to condemn and give me the sentence of death, me being innocent and obedient thrown outside the window. I ponder these questions, asking myself what atrocities I might have committed in my past life to deserve such a cruel fate in this one. but one thing I know for certain, is that I will not go down without a fight. me meeting them, learning of their plans and escaping must have been fate at work. so I will grow in strength and I will fight them, even if it means drawing my last breath in the process.
still i sit close to codala quietly and then I begin to hear him murmur a bit, I think he is regaining consciousness.
" where am I ?" he asks
"we're in the crawlspace, you saved me from the dark order and brought us here to get away from them" I reply
" who.... are the dark order ?"
" some very bad people"
he asks me how long he had been out, I tell him only a few hours. he decides to open a portal and take us back to the light space, though I don't think he is up for it in his current condition, but he insists that we return to light space as staying in the crawlspace for too long could have dangerous effects on the human mind. he opens the portal to light space, but he is too weak from both the injury and opening the portal to walk, so I carry him. it's the least I can do for him since he has saved my life twice already.
the portal opens up in the Agi sub section just outside the motel, owned by brownbetts. I knock on the door while carrying codala, Kasim opens it up and with joy shouts my name, the others quickly rush to the door and embrace. the village chief asks where I have been, since they had been thinking I had died already. they bring me into the motel, I tell them to call for a healer to check on codala. though they do not know who the injured roachfolk with me is, Mr. ozar does not hesitate to make arrangements for one. I tell them about everything that's happened to me in the past few days, including the incident with codala, the guards hired by the yokko crime family, including the dark hand of the order and their plans at genocide. the village chief asks that if all I say is true then we need to inform the council members at todays council meeting as well since the king might be in attendance, but i tell him that according to what the dark order told me, they are working together to annihilate all the accursed ones and carry out their plans. while everyone is talking about the whole situation and how we can handle it, I notice an absence that sends fear into my heart. I don't see cept anywhere, I begin to think of the possibility that he has already been killed, I begin to think up different negative scenarios in my head and I overreact to my imagination fueling my fears. then I ask the village chief the question, where is cept. he replies by saying that cept had been arrested and imprisoned in the capitals dungeons by the pale guards and has been condemned to death, then I ask what and how they plan to rescue him. they say nothing but their silence speaks volumes, and in a fit of rage I yell at the village chief, asking that they knew cept had been condemned to the gallows where he would face certain death and they were just willing to let it happen. he tells me that there is nothing they can do about the whole situation as they were in a bad place mentally, they thought I had died since they couldn't find me and them hearing about the execution of some criminals while also seeing cept amoung said criminals only seemed to confirm their deepest fears. I have had enough with letting the people I know die without being able to do anything to stop it, I tell the village chief and the others that we are going to the council meeting for today to deliver our message about the Wakaani, while I and luvera are going to go rescue cept from the gallows. if I am to be an accursed one, then I will curse them all, all my enemies.