Chapter 36 - The Tower
As the sun rose the next morning, the fall weather was strong. Clouds speckled the sky, frequently obscuring the sun to create a brilliant palette of grays and silvers across the sky. A breeze whipped across the Royal City and the surrounding meadowland, creating a chill as it carried fall leaves and an earthy aroma all across the region. It made a distinct whistling noise as it hit the many balconies, windows, and spires of the Aubade Palace.
Hearing it buffet the nearby window, overlooking the eastern side of the city, Kita couldn't help wondering what it felt like. Though she felt a bit nervous, queasy in her stomach, she had quickly grown bored after being told to wait here for so long.
Next to where she waited, in a fourth-floor hallway, there was a sturdy mahogany door. It didn't seem distinct or special, but she could still hear the voices of authoritative soldiers on the other side. They were too muffled to understand, but from tone alone, she could tell Shira and Atara were among them.
Kita sighed, slumping against the wall. Her thoughts kept spiraling until the meeting was interrupted.
The door flew open, and one man walked out. The familiar violent tint of his armor marked him as a lieutenant. When his gray eyes landed on Kita, she shifted uncomfortably. She had no idea who the older blond man was, but he didn't seem friendly.
"Rein?" He asked flatly.
Kita gave a hesitant nod. "Yes?"
"Yes, sir," the man corrected her. "Sir Chiro Hitai, if you must know."
Though annoyed, Kita faked a polite tone. "Oh, I think I met a relative of yours just last night, mister Hitai. A younger man, named Surei?"
"Sir Hitai," Chiro said with more aggression. "You ought to adapt to proper titles quick, little girl, your reputation isn't great as it is. And instead of talking about my obnoxious brat of a son, we have questions for you to answer."
Kita's humble smile betrayed the irate feelings burning in her chest. She knew she preferred even Timbur's overzealous threats to this patronizing, arrogant behavior.
"Of course, sir."
With a snort of contempt, Chiro led her into the room. It was surprisingly cozy, with dim amber lights and warm-toned wood flooring, but something about the grunge-patterned ivory walls, the golden designs woven in the wooden roof panels, and the large oval table with clawed feet gripping the ground made it imposing as well.
There were a few people inside, all wearing armor. Some suits were silver, but far more pristine and intricate than a sergeant's, and the rest were violet. Sure enough, Atara stood with her arms crossed on the other end of the table, while Shira was waiting for her.
"Welcome in, Kita," Shira greeted. "Let me guess. You've only known each other for one minute, and Chiro is already giving you a hard time?"
Kita bit her tongue, unsure how to answer.
"Shut it, Akane," Chiro spat. "Get on with your questions so we can get back to work."
Shira rolled her light blue eyes, then guided Kita to the table. Even though she wanted to appear confident, she shrank under the stares of these powerful soldiers.
Pressing her palms against the table, Atara leaned toward her. "Kita, we need you to answer some things about your time among the Zyreans. It would be in your best interest to be completely honest, because even though Queen Corelia has gone easy on you thus far, this is a serious situation. You know that, right?"
Kita choked on her own words, only managing a nod.
"Alright. To start, where were you kept for the duration of your stay?"
Kita hesitated, but answered, "I don't know exactly what or where it was. From the Blood Forest, they took me through a portal, and it led directly to a shore. I stayed there, in a shack, while they took a secret passage to their fortress."
"Did you ever go inside?" Atara interrogated. "And what did this shore look like?"
Trying to throw them off, Kita found the will to lie. "No, I never went inside. The shore looked like it may have been a lake region, with clear water and golden sand."
"Sounds pretty, for a demon hideout," Shira remarked.
Atara continued to ask some more random questions, none of which stuck out to Kita. She found it easy to give vague responses, and for many of them, she genuinely didn't know the answer. However, the final one stuck out.
"Lastly..." Atara's brown eyes bored into her. "Did you ever feel a sense of loyalty toward the demon king?"
Kita felt like those words were a sharp pin, painfully prodding her heart. Her throat filled with a tense, uncomfortable heat as she searched for something to say. Unfortunately, Atara caught onto her indecisiveness.
"Be honest," Atara said firmly.
Kita sighed, "I didn't necessarily feel loyalty, but I did gain a bit of respect for him. Based on his strength, and some wisdom I got him to share. I never looked at him as a replacement for Corelia, if that's what you're getting at."
Atara stalled to search her for a moment, as if examining her very soul for honesty, before leaning back.
Chiro grumbled, "This goose-chase lasted almost a whole month, and we don't even get information from it?"
"Uh, Chiro, we have two warriors detained," Shira said flatly. "Largely thanks to Kita, no less."
"It'd have been nice to end that bloodthirsty beta," Atara muttered. "But, it's something for sure. All of you are dismissed."
The group started to disperse, though Chiro lingered to give some commands to the silver-armored soldiers. Kita stuck close to Shira, who was waiting for her sister to catch up. Atara seemed a bit disappointed, likely from the lack of information, but still calm and approachable.
Kita cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Shira?"
Shira refocused on her. "What is it?"
"Would it be okay if I asked you some questions too?" Asked Kita. "Just to help reorient myself."
Shira went to speak, but Chiro's loud snap at a slacking troop made her stop and roll her eyes. Catching up to them, Atara gestured for Kita to follow. She and Shira led her out of the room and back into the hallway.
They went southward, as far as Kita could tell. Around a large bend in the halls, they came across a round room. There were stairs along the right wall, and the ivory stone balcony before them showed off the city. It told Kita that they were in one of the palace's frontal towers.
Shira leaned against the edge of the wall, where it met the balcony opening. "There we go, nice and peaceful here. Sorry about Chiro, by the way. He's a proud yet dull type, like most Hitais."
Atara smirked and winked at her. "It's one reason the Akanes are the superior family."
Shira snickered at that.
"I did like meeting Surei," Kita remarked.
"Oooh, did you now?" Shira smirked. "Taking kindly to the handsome soldier-boy?"
Kita immediately blushed. "N-Not like that!"
Shira laughed, "I'm just kidding! Aw, I didn't mean to embarrass you. For the record, you wouldn't be the first, though rumor has it he's a really hard one to lure."
"Um..." Kita awkwardly fidgeted. "Can I ask my question now?"
"Oh, right!" Shira yelped. "Sorry, go ahead."
Kita paused to find the right words. "What are you going to do with the demon hostages you have?"
"We don't know her majesty's specific plan," Shira explained. "She'll likely just question them, and that could give us some information to use. Likewise, just having them here will -hopefully- open the alpha to bartering."
"Will I be able to see her majesty soon?" Asked Kita.
"Soon," Shira agreed. "Right now, she's busy. A queen's work is never done."
Atara stepped closer, making Kita tense up. "You seem a bit uneasy, Kita. Are you feeling okay?"
Shira cringed. "Ah, right. Demons don't eat, sleep, or drink, so they probably weren't very sensitive to mortal needs. You must be starving."
"They sleep, but the other two are void," Kita concurred. "But I'm not hungry, and I couldn't sleep if I wanted to. I don't think you'll like what I have to ask next."
"Try us," Shira replied.
Again, Kita hesitated. "You're not going to hurt them, are you? The captive demons?"
Shira sighed, "We'll try not to."
Kita felt her anxiety rise. "What does that mean?"
"Woah, we're not brutes," Shira insisted. "We're not going to go out of our way to hurt them, but if they act out, we'll have to fight back. That's what I'm trying to say. I hope you understand; I know you said you gained some respect for them, but they could still turn hostile."
Kita just nodded, unsure of how to respond.
Shira stood straight, stretching. "Security is high because it's a new dungeon with new restraints, but I may be able to take you down there later, if you want to talk to them for yourself."
"Thank you, that makes this a lot easier."
"No problem!" Shira chimed. "Is that all?"
Kita nodded, which prompted both Shira and Atara to bid her goodbye and leave. Alone in the tower, she couldn't help feeling much more at ease.
She whispered, "Despite the critics, there really are sylphs that will treat me with respect. I guess Leiytning was right..."
Before that thought went any further, Kita distracted herself by leaning onto the railing. The city and distant hills provided a pleasant backdrop, as did the cloud-strewn sky. The late morning sun was soothing as it warmed her skin, and feeling the strong breeze glide across her skin was the perfect balance for it.
"'Did I ever have any loyalty to the demon king,' they asked. I may have answered, but even I don't know if it was honest..."
Kita took a deep breath, closing her eyes. Her mind was cleared as she took in the relaxing environment. Even the bustle of the palace seemed more like white noise, allowing her to concentrate on the subtlest pleasantries.
'cling!'
Kita flinched and opened her eyes.
'Cl-CLING!'
She flinched. The sound momentarily became louder, before it quieted back down. Now it was barely audible, but she could tell it was coming from above her.
Kita gulped nervously, but her curiosity overpowered any fear. She ascended the stairs of the mysterious tower and opened the door to the next floor -a room with a small table, and a window with the same city view. It was empty, but there was another set of stairs on the other side, and she could already hear the sounds growing louder as they echoed down. Now she could tell it was clanging metal, and several random thuds.
Her heart was starting to race, but she clenched her fists with determination. After all, if it was something bad, she may need to alert somebody.
Kita started the ascent, but each step made her legs shake more.
At the top of the stairs, the sounds became clearer and louder. The door blocking the final room was ajar, and she felt the tiny gap practically screaming for her to look closer. By the time she was reaching for the knob, the clanging stopped, but she could hear low voices.
She swallowed her fear, then pushed the door open.
The sight left her shocked.
The room was in shambles, and its large window was shattered. Nearly a dozen guards' corpses coated the ground. Their blood was staining the floor with crimson, and tainting the air with a disgusting iron-like odor. Viscera splayed out from under their armor, a few pieces of which looked somehow torn.
Kita covered her mouth, fearing she may vomit. Her heart was fluttering like a frightened bird, her legs trembling like a leaf in the wind, and the world felt like it was spinning. She couldn't move; she was paralyzed by pure and unrelenting dread.
"P-Please..."
Kita lurched back, realizing that somehow, the situation was worse than she thought.
There were still two living creatures near the back. One was a guard without his helmet on. He was bleeding heavily, and his expression was twisted with pain. His arm was completely disfigured; the flesh was fileted and bone had splintered, to the point it was barely recognizable as a limb. Many pieces of his armor had fallen off, or were completely gored through. Someone else was keeping him pinned by his bleeding throat, with just one arm.
Even worse, Kita knew the assailant.
It was Leiytning.
The demon leader looked monstrous. Cryptic black marks had manifested on his body, his scars fused into them. His claws were nightmarishly shaped and long enough to be knives, blending with his blackened hands. An oil-like substance leaked from between his fangs. His silver ritualistic dagger was aimed straight for the poor sylph's throat. The worst part, however, was his eye. It was pitch black, with a piercing white ring for an iris.
And upon seeing that eye, Kita felt her entire world plummet. Corelia's words of warning were taunting her.
"'The last thing many poor souls have seen before meeting a horrible fate.'"
"Ack-!"
The soldier gagged, blood pouring from his nose and mouth.
"You don't have much blood to spare, mortal," the demon spoke darkly.
"I don't know about the hostages," the guard insisted. "I wasn't in the unit, and word hasn't spread."
Leiytning's grip tightened, making the guard choke even worse. To Kita's horror, his mouth formed a bestial maw; a malevolent snarl unlike any person, with sharper and more pronounced fangs.
"You're as bad a liar as the rest of your species," he remarked.
"You're a monster!" The guard cried.
Leiytning chuckled, his grip now suffocating the guard. "By all means, keep going. I'll either find out what you did with my idiotic pawns, or I get to be amused by your pitiful death."
His grip was tight enough for Kita to see tendons in the guard's neck snapping under pressure, and she barely kept from fainting. Before the guard could pass out, Leiytning just barely loosened the grip, allowing him a very weak and strained breath.
"Now..." Leiytning put one of his claws at the base of the soldier's gut. "Does that mean you'll give up, already?"
"Never," the guard wheezed. "For my queen, I will bite my tongue, regardless of your threats."
Leiytning looked irritated. "It astounds me how useless you maggots are. The fact that anyone cares about your life is laughable. Although, your pleas have fallen on sympathetic ears. Perhaps I will release you."
The guard looked up desperately.
'CRUNCH!'
Suddenly, Leiytning's claws tore through his flesh, followed by his whole hand sinking into the wound and expanding it. The guard tried to gasp, but in one swift upward jerk, the demon tore open his entire front. The wet ripping sound was vile, as was the crunch of bones as they broke outward, and the smell of blood and viscera as it gushed out like meat from a split can.
As the guard collapsed, Leiytning yanked out his heart, like he had simply snapped a ripe fruit off a tree. It emitted a few dying beats in his blood-stained hand.
"Indeed," Leiytning muttered. "I release you from your miserable existence."
He crushed the heart to bloody bits.
Choking down a scream, Kita went to flee.
'THUNK!'
That time, she couldn't hold it in; Kita screamed and froze up. The silver dagger was now stuck in the door, just inches from her face.
"Thought I didn't notice you?"
Kita was still paralyzed, even when she heard the demon approaching, behind her.
She barely managed to squeak, "L-Leiytning, I'm sorry."
"Are you, now?" Leiytning responded. "Is that just another plea to save your own skin?"
Kita shook her head. From the corner of her eye, she saw his blackened and bloody hand grip the dagger, but he didn't free it. His very presence behind her was suffocating; the cold grip of death, squeezing her neck to block her throat. His voice stung her ears.
"It seems we were right again. You may have presented conditions to catch our attention, but you are no different from any other maggot. An oblivious mortal. A coward desperate to hide..."
His claws scraped her neck, making her flinch and gasp with fright. She felt her heart ache as he chuckled at her misery.
"You are prey."
Kita tried to speak, but her voice came out as a strained squeak. "This can't be real. There's no way you could be like this."
Leiytning freed the dagger. As the blade pressed against her shoulder, Kita rigidly turned to face him. Then, again using the blade, he forced her to look him in the eye. His haunting, piercing black eye. It was very much real, but there was not a trace of the leader she knew within it.
"Who are you?" Kita whimpered.
"The truth. Is that not what you wanted?"
Kita kept her eyes down. "Leiytning, please hear me. I know you're angry at me, and I know you want to keep fighting, but when will it be enough? You and Corelia are fighting in a war that neither of you started, and neither of you wants. Why can't you just let it go?"
Leiytning sneered, "You think I care about ancient history?"
"But..."
"As far as I am concerned, Sybilius is merely a stockyard, and you deserve to be butchered..." He twitched unnaturally. "Maybe then, you maggots will understand."
"How could you say that?" Kita cried.
"Heh..." Leiytning voice became distorted as he preached, "Look around, you stupid little girl. This world is shattered. Countless fragile fragments that reflect the same fallen kingdom; evolve, live, then die. Doomed to repeat, nothing to break the cycle. Mere toys to the creators. Sickening!"
"What are you saying?" Kita murmured. "Are you mad?"
"That is all the masses can say to convince themselves. You came to us wanting the truth..." A dark aura manifested around him, like physical shadows. "The truth is that the nightmare will be over only when the world is dust. Only then will we be truly free, from the greatest lie of all. To punish the darkness that stains these lands, and to punish the vile gods that have broken this world. Dii sunt nova diabolus."
"We'd all be dead!" Kita snapped.
"Exactly," Leiytning spat. "And mortals, they are the first to go."
"That's what you're trying to do?" Kita retorted. "Just kill everything?"
Leiytning grimaced, limbs trembling as his dark eye rolled back into his skull.
Kita felt tears burn her eyes. "I thought you fought for honor. I thought you had been smeared as something terrible, just because others didn't understand. I thought you were like me. How could you be this horrible underneath?"
"SHUT IT!"
Kita flinched. The growl from Leiytning's throat was like that of a dragon, amplified by the return of his bestial snarl. His ears twitched, as if listening to something she couldn't hear.
"Your words mean nothing..." Leiytning's eye fixed on her once more. "Do you really think we ever cared about your sorry mortal feelings? You're just another scrap that the world will watch suffer and die. Your only true potential has clearly been wasted. I don't care what anyone has to say about it. If anything, it'll make this next part more fun."
Sensing danger, Kita turned to flee. However, there was no chance; Leiytning immediately grabbed her wrist and slammed her back against the wall. His grip felt strong enough to snap her bone, as she dangled helplessly a few inches off the ground.
On Leiytning, the dark aura started to manifest again. The ends of his black hair flared like fire. As black ooze continued to leak between his fangs, it started to scorch the ground where it dripped.
His voice became even more distorted. "Don't tell me you thought you were getting away. First, I want you to tell me..."
To Kita's shock, Leiytning put his claw to her stomach, just as he did with the poor soldier moments ago.
"If a mortal's heart breaks, does it show? Or will it look like all the others I've removed?"
Kita gasped, trembling as a sob escaped her throat. Visions of her friends -and who she thought were friends- flashed before her eyes as her body tensed up, anticipating something lethal.
Leiytning's maw flashed a sinister grin. "Shall we find out?"
"Stop!"
'SHING!'
Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and the clatter of metal. Kita was grabbed again, but pulled back to safety. When she finally regained her senses, she saw more clearly.
Leiytning was across from her, hunched over like a beast. Corelia was in front of her, though, with her ornate sword in hand.
"Y-Your majesty?" Kita stammered, still in shock.
"Stay back," Corelia insisted, her eyes fixed on the enemy.
Finally, Leiytning convulsed strangely, then slowly started to look as Kita remembered. The marks faded, save for the plethora of scars, and so did his claws. His eye returned to dark blue with a slit pupil. He took on a more dignified position, but silent fury -and an air of deadliness- hung strong over him.
"Such a typical Erxina ability," Leiytning muttered. "Always knowing exactly when to get in the way."
"I thought you may appear," Corelia muttered. "Yet you still caused a bloodbath. How typical of a demon."
Leiytning sneered, "Is it sad or funny that the enemy knows your palace better than you do? I could say either..." He put his foot against a dying guard's head. "It's certainly sad that these idiots still test me, when they know the ever-consistent result."
Kita held back a yelp of shock as Leiytning effortlessly stomped through the guard's skull, reducing his head to shards of bone and a heap of red and grayish paste.
Leiytning continued, "For the record, that one was a mercy shot."
Corelia's eyes narrowed, and she clutched her sword tighter. "Get out."
"I plan to," Leiytning agreed. "Stand by."
Corelia looked confused. "What?"
Leiytning carelessly responded, "A warrior that cannot admit defeat will find it in the worst ways. I've used up enough time with these maggots, anyway." Something slipped into his hand. "In the meantime, at the very least, try not to damage my warriors too much. Broken bones are a pain to treat. As for you, Kita..."
Kita stepped back, and Corelia raised her sword.
"Don't think you've gotten out of this just because you found a royal whore to hide behind."
Suddenly, Leiytning hurled something at them, and Kita barely realized that they were sharp, bloody glass shards. She curled up with fear as they stuck into the floor and wall around her, Corelia jumping to protect her. However, just as the queen went to retaliate, Leiytning was gone.
"Damn snake," Corelia muttered. "At least he's gone for now. Kita, are you alright?"
Kita was still shaking. "I, uh..."
Corelia sighed, "Come, let's get you out of here."
Kita was still shocked, and couldn't manage a response. Corelia quickly guided her back out of the room and down the stairs of the tower. They reached the balcony that Kita had been on earlier.
"I'm sorry you had to witness that," said Corelia. "I thought we had things under control."
Kita took a rigid breath. "How did you know where I was?"
"One of the guards got away. Listen, are you alright? Did he hurt you?"
"N-No, I'm fine."
"Good. Avoid any tower spaces from now on, though; whenever he gets into the palace, it's from a high point, so it's more dangerous. Now, let's-"
"Your majesty," Kita interfered. "He had black eyes..."
Corelia nodded solemnly. "I tried to warn you."
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