"Caught up in a spider's web"
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Some time had passed until lady Kalah's eyes began fluttering open, and the only thing she could make out aside from the sensation of the cold stone pavement…
Was that there were two men dragging her and prince shiro had deathly pale skin. And they both wore long sleeved black tunics with opened high collars. Their pants were puffy and white, and they were also barefoot.
Their backs were turned away as they dragged both Prince Shiro and lady Kalah along the cold stone pavement, and towards a pristine white castle.
Once they were inside there were a lot of things going on.
There were countless servants dressed in rich white robes scampering around with baskets of fruits, carrying sacks of foods made from various animals.
From every corner of the castle's rooms, there were soldiers in polished ivory armor standing in complete stillness in front of towering marble pillars that connected to the swirling staircases, without speaking a single word.
The men of the castle were either carrying the sacks of foods to the dining areas and cooking with focused attention, or in other rooms speaking in an incoherent language to a few soldiers who maybe were planning to go out and hunt for food.
And the women…
In lady Kalah's dazed eyes, the women of the castle had smooth skin and wore flowing white robes and were tending to their children with soft smiles on their faces.
Everything about the castle was unlike anything lady Kalah or prince shiro had ever seen within the royal families of the six nations.
The two men had dragged them both down a staircase, and from there lady Kalah could see that along the walls there were hand- drawn illustrations of what she thought to be ancient deities from the early days of the world before the hundred year war began.
Once they reached the bottom of the staircase, the men dragged lady Kalah and prince shiro a little further until they stopped at the center of a square shaped platform, surrounded by streams of clean water.
On the other sides of the streams of water, there were about twelve soldiers resembling the same two that pulled them from the water and brought them here.
For a moment, she thought that they could have been the same as the man that defeated the supreme generals several months ago, and a moment later the questions in her mind would be answered.
A door suddenly opened from a dark corner of the room, and an elderly woman came in carrying a sleeping infant.
Her worried eyes darted around as if searching for someone specifically, and she even began calling out in a tired yet shaken voice, and extended her trembling arms.
After a few of her desperate calls, someone familiar to prince shiro entered the room. The man had on a black long sleeved tunic with an opened high collar and a long cape made of bear fur, with black ropes wrapped around his waist and forearms.
He stopped in front of the woman and looked down at the sick infant. Slowly, he brought his hand to the child's soft cheek and said something as if talking to the child directly.
The elderly woman could feel something changing about the child. Its face looked much healthier than when she came in with it, and after the man walked past her, she thanked him and left.
The man then went up a few steps until he sat himself down on a long chair, crossing his legs and resting his head on his fist.
That was when lady Kalah and prince shiro finally came to their senses, and the first thing prince shiro could hear was the sound of fading vibrations coming from the man's soul, which sounded a little similar to that of a roaring tiger.
It was the same as the man who bested the world's strongest sorcerers. Airu.
As soon as he realized this, Airu suddenly spoke in a monotone.
"I remember the both of you. it's been a long several months since that day."
Airu's dark pools of eyes met prince shiro, and he said:
"I remember telling you to make sure you recorded everything you heard that day, as well as what your people did to cause this course of action in the world…"
"And yet I've come to learn that as of recently, the special powers have altered history yet again by spreading lies."
King Airu cracked his knuckles and rolled his head around. Shifting in his seat, he continued:
"Before I was elected king of the old earth, I also wanted revenge on the mainland for what their hundred year conflict caused… but now all we ask is that you all leave us be. So why do you come over here even after spreading more lies? To invite warfare, or learn about our military power?"
Prince shiro sat in silence as if he waited for lady Kalah to speak to him, and she did.
She strained as she sat cross legged, and said:
"I'm sure you don't feel like giving me the leeway to tell you about my harsh life, so I'll just cut to the chase…"
"The ones who aid the special powers are the royal families of the six nations. With the amount of status, power and influence they have, there won't go by a single era where war and needless death doesn't happen."
King Airu's eyebrows raised slightly, though his dull expression remained.
"You're lady Kalah of the flower family… last I recall, you're related to lord Kahal who's actions of making a deal with the devil's bride caused a worldwide malediction that killed many of our people. Why should I trust anything you say?"
Lady Kalah gritted her teeth and took a deep breath.
"Because I should not be judged by my brother's actions. And me defecting from my position in the flower family should be proof enough that I want the same thing as you."
"I simply want to force the royal families and the special powers out of their positions as the mainland's leaders. Even if it means killing them."
Prince shiro snapped his head toward lady Kalah. His expression was tense, while king Airu however looked at her intently. Maybe he had been intrigued by what she had meant.
"Once the war ended, spirit king Kesean came to us with a prophecy that a second blood war is inevitable. And will be even bigger in scale than the first…"
"But we still don't know the exact cause of this second war, so to the mainland anything and anyone could be a cause. Especially a race of people whose existence was unknown until after the war."
King Airu's sighed, and shook his head. But he didn't interrupt her words.
"I'm sure no matter what we try to do to convince the special powers to stand down, they won't. Which'll just lead to more innocent people dying, and I'm trying to avert that…"
"So I'm here to ask that you help me prevent that."
While she waited for king airu's response, her mind went back to his words several months ago about his cause being the stepping stones to a better future.
And then, she said:
"You said it yourself, that your reason for rebellion is to lead your people to a better future… well, I also want that for people."
King Airu blankly stared at her for a few seconds, and then leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, his hands together as he finally spoke.
"You ask that I aid you in spilling the blood of others for the sake of preventing bloodshed?"
Lady Kalah felt a sense of frustration bubbling up within her mind.
"Do you hear the contradiction in your words?"
Lady Kalah only nodded. And king airu took a deep breath, bringing his fingers to his pale face and traced his fingers along the black cracks branching along his skin. Feeling that they've grown longer since the battle at the island.
"Do you believe that this course of action will better the public's view of us "foreigners" while also saving the lives of bystanders?"
Lady Kalah paused for a moment, and then said:
"If we work together in overthrowing those in power."
"That's not what I asked you, lady Kalah."
King Airu stood up from his seat, and slowly walked down the stairs toward where lady Kalah was and once he stood in front of her, he lifted her chin up until their eyes met, and said:
"If we were to assist you and prince shiro in lining up every member of each royal family, the six special powers, every child belonging to those bloodlines… how much do you intend to kill?"
Everything in the space grew silent. Prince shiro's blind eyes turned to lady Kalah as they awaited her answer.
"…As few as possible."
King Airu looked into her scarlet eyes, and thought about her answer. And soon he said:
"I almost expected you to say that you would kill all of them with no mercy so long as they belonged to a bloodline of evil people."
Suddenly, a few armored guards approached lady Kalah and prince shiro and put a strange thing around their necks. It looked like some kind of animal that resembled a sponge, and it exhaled and inhaled each second it spent around their necks.
King Airu had then ordered the two to stand up and follow him through a corridor leading outside of the room, and they found themselves walking along the roads of this kingdom underwater.
Some people stopped and stared at them, children looking with curious eyes, adults looking at them with contempt.
During their walk, king Airu suddenly spoke to lady Kalah.
"Growing up, my uncle often told me a story about an individual who got caught up in a spider's web…"
"This individual would be dangling from a spider's thread between two places. Paradise and Hell…"
"The warrior was faced with the difficult decision of deciding between a path where his actions would lead the world to a better future in paradise, or one that would invite death and destruction, resulting in the hungry mouth of hell opening up."
Lady Kalah stopped moving, and asked:
"…And which one did the warrior choose?"
King Airu had also stopped, and looked over his shoulder at her. His expression was blank yet had a shadow of curiosity as he responded.
"I'd like to know that myself."
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Continued in chapter 131: Spider's Web
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