Story:Kings of Strife/Part 42

Part Forty-Two
Now that he had the Crystal of Fire back in his possession, Vik started to wear a handcrafted eyepatch over his right eye once again. He had control of his power, as long as he wasn’t under extreme duress, but there was still a possibility that the object he now kept in a backpack on his person at all times could trigger something he wasn’t prepared for. Vik knew that he would never be able to live with himself if he somehow hurt his sister or his home without control over himself.

Rosaria saw him, two days later, as she came home from a lesson in the city. She dropped her books onto the table and walked over to her brother with joy, and happily embraced the stoic figure standing in the dark lounge, watching out a tall window. When she hugged him, she noticed the eyepatch, and her expression darkened with worry.

“What is that, Vik? Did you hurt yourself?”

“No,” her brother responded after some time. “My eye aches sometimes. This helps the pain and keeps my vision from faltering.”

“So you did hurt yourself,” Rosaria asserted. She crossed her arms and raised her chin into the air slightly. “Don’t lie to me, brother!”

Vik turned and looked Rosaria over. She was dressed smartly in a conservative uniform-like assembly with a light skirt, and he hair was prepared equally well. He felt a protective surge of energy once he realized that his sister was attractive, and it was his job to protect her – or was that the energy of the Crystal returned to him?

“I wouldn’t lie to you, Rosaria. Are your lessons finished for today? What will you be doing later?” It had begun to dawn on him that Vik knew nothing of his family’s habits, and despite spending most of his time sitting around the mansion in despair, he was incredibly bored. Exploring the forest was still not an option for him.

“What? Well, I suppose I was going to read some, or maybe take a nap. I’ll cook later, and Father’s meeting a guest tonight.”

“A guest?” Vik turned with interest.

“Yeah… They should be here pretty soon, actually. We should head upstairs.” Rosaria started to gather her belongings. “He doesn’t like it when anyone is around him as he works.”

Now Vik could remember what his father had said the last time they talked. ‘Working for the sake of Nneoh.’ Had he become a politician, or was he speaking with military men? These days, the two occupations were one and the same. Vik had a sneaking feeling in his heart, though, that his father was getting entrenched in forces he did not understand. “I think I’ll stick around for it,” he decided out loud.

Rosaria looked up to her older brother with concern. “What are you saying? Do you want to anger Father more? He’s just starting to recover from your return!”

“No, but I want to speak with him anyway. There’s something I might have to do.”

“What? You’re not going anywhere again, are you?” Rosaria gripped onto Vik’s sleeve lightly, looking at him with clear concern. She was hardly ever transparent with her feelings, except for when it came to her brother. “Don’t be stupid, Vik. You know how he gets.” The elder Hyusei paused, but did not falter.

“Let me ask you something, Rosaria. What is it you want to do with your life the most?” Vik looked down to his sister with his exposed left eye, and within him swirled a new but familiar form of resignation. She wouldn’t be able to dissuade him.

The younger Hyusei shivered and averted her gaze. “I don’t know. I’m thinking of going into political science and government, or maybe history. But… mostly, I want to help you.” She looked meekly up to her brother. “Or Father. Anyone I love, really.”

Vik couldn’t help himself from scoffing. Her answer sounded as if she wanted to save him from the affliction of his own ego and ambition. Idly, he wondered where the spite in his heart was coming from.

“You’re reminding me of Father, Vik. That’s… Are you alright?”

He was going to reply “Of course I am,” but the loud grumble of a truck engine started to grow close to the door. Both the Hyusei children looked to the heavy wooden door of the mansion, recognizing the approaching noise as their father, and looked back at each other. Rosaria gave her brother another harsh probing look before hurriedly going up the stairs near the foyer.

Now Vik was alone for a minute or two until his father and their guest arrived. He went into the formal dining area behind the foyer and started to set out the tableware, deciding that he would not be initially antagonistic. Truth be told, Vik didn’t know exactly what he was hoping to learn here, nor did he really think listening in on his father’s business meeting was realistic or productive. But he had an instinctual urge to be there, one he hadn’t felt since he fled Vainia’s ship at the Battle of Icarun. Last time his instincts had saved his life. There was no reason to ignore them now.

The door opened and shut, and Vik could hear the casual chat of his father and another man roughly equal in age. A dark smile crept onto Vik’s visage, accentuated by determination and readiness. The only Hyusei son set out two sets of silverware across from each other, and his own in between them, as well as a few pieces of room temperature bread and water goblets. It was a start.

He sat, and awaited the arrival of the two adults. His father always received guests in the formal dining room; rarely did they go up the stairs, and rarer still did they reach his father’s study in the third floor.

The door opened, and his father walked in smiling at a Serpent Knight.

Vik stood up in a huff, his mouth agape and his hands crushed into fists. The smug smile he had been breeding faded instantly. “You… What are you doing here?!” He was almost speechless, and in that moment Vik was glad for the eyepatch covering his right eye and protecting the entire mansion from burning to the ground.

His father looked at him quizzically. “That’s my question, Vikcent. Since when are you even awake during this hour?” The gray-haired man frowned and crossed his arms. “Excuse my son, Mr. Kaiser. He doesn’t know his place.”

Beside Vik’s father, the Black Knight stood in a casual outfit of grey alongside a black longcoat, and he wore black sunglasses over his eyes. Although he had shades obscuring his eyes and his beard was shaven into a much more manageable state, he was instantly recognizable to Vik. The two would never forget each other’s faces. The Knight smiled slyly, and Vik could practically feel his beady bright eyes staring right at him. “It’s nothing, Sir Hyusei. Children will be children.”

Vinum sighed and sat at the table. “This child is just foolish. Vik, what are these plates out here for?”

His son didn’t sit or break eye contact with the Black Knight, even as the man sat opposite his father. “I was going to eat with our servants, but I haven’t summoned them yet. That doesn’t matter right now. What are you doing with this man?”

“What?” His father looked up to him with irritated eyes as he pulled a flask from the pocket of his own coat. “I’m conducting business with Mr. Kaiser. It doesn’t concern you. Now, away from us! Hasn’t your sister taught you anything?”

“I’m not leaving,” Vik said as he sat down slowly. He was beginning to understand what was going on. This was a situation that his father had willingly gotten himself into with the intent of political advancement… but there was no way he knew just who this ‘Mr. Kaiser’ was. Vik had to do something about it. He had to. Then, Vik had another realization – the Knight was possibly drawn here because of the Crystal. He was tracking it.

Either way, Vik could not leave his father alone with this villain.

“I won’t tell you again, Vik. Leave.”

“No, no,” the Knight cut in after sipping his water. “It’s fine. You should really be more compassionate, Sir Hyusei.” The gray-haired man looked to his business partner with a look of disinterest. “Besides, what we speak of will be incomprehensible to your son. Either he will learn and be useful to us, or he will be a charming host to our little dinner. Surely you have no issues with this?”

Begrudgingly, Vinum Hyusei drank his goblet of water and started to pour his flask’s liquor into it.

The Knight disguised as Kaiser started to speak. “That eyepatch, son. Were you injured in your tour of duty?”

‘Tour of duty? Is that what Father says I was doing, to his friends?’ Vik glanced to the elder Hyusei, who was looking his son over as if for the first time. It likely was the first time that his father noticed the eyepatch. “Yes, I was. The pain comes and goes. This helps my vision.” The Knight nodded sagely at this response, and made nothing more of it. If anything, Vik admitted, Mr. Kaiser was good at his acting.

“And yet the child is still blind,” Vinum murmured. He shook his head as if to attempt dismissing the subject of his son. “Back to what you were saying, Mr. Kaiser. The Crystal Thief from Inusia has been caught? That one soldier from the war?”

“Yes, he was captured at Icarun. What a mess that was! But anyway, his crimes have been so damning that he isn’t even receiving a trial. Can you believe that? His execution is in about two months.”

“As it should be. I’ve grown tired of Inusia making a farce out of themselves lately. Maybe this will bring some hubris back to that country’s name, and maybe that’ll intimidate Nneoh into getting its own act together”

“Indeed, although it seems High Lord General Maebyss is quite serious this time. Not to mention the mess with our own General Garland. I’ve heard other, more pressing news, too…”

“Tell me, Kaiser.”

“Of course, we will be practicing incredible secrecy. You know I cherish the friendship we have, Hyusei, including the benefits we give each other.”

Vinum looked to his guest with a scowl. “Cut the bullshit, Kaiser. I’m not telling anyone and my fool of a son doesn’t have anyone to speak to. What did you hear?”

“The King and Queen of Mortis – you know them, Mateulikus the Fool and his sterile wife, of course? Right. They agreed to handing their daughter over to Inusian hands, on the condition that their country is left alone.”

Vinum laughed wholeheartedly. “The rulers of Mortis making demands and ultimatums? They’d be lucky if they weren’t executed right alongside their daughter. She declared war against the entire world. Traitors must be dealt with.” Kaiser and Vinum shared a laugh, and then a drink. “What a joke this world is,” Vinum Hyusei continued once he swallowed down his clear liquor. “It’s far too overdue for us to take control of it. This generation is a disappointment, in more ways than one.” The old soldier looked to his son, who was staring at the table, dumbfounded. Vinum shook his head and stood. “Excuse me, Kaiser. I’m going to the restroom.”

“Yes, of course, Hyusei, take your time. Don’t worry – I was gone for a while, but now I’m back.” The man known as Kaiser wove the older man’s courtesies away and took another sip from his cup. By the time he finished, Vinum Hyusei had left the dining room and closed the door behind him.

The Black Knight immediately looked over to Vik. “You won’t be going anywhere, of course.”

Vik was one step away from being shocked silent, but he still glanced up to his oppressor with black hatred in his heart. “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill all of you. Nobody is getting executed.”

“No, son, you won’t kill me. I’ll be doing the killing. If I find out you took one step outside this nice house of yours, I’ll kill your father, your maids, and your sister. And I’ll personally make sure your friend Silverius suffocates on his entrails.” Immediately, the Knight’s frigid eyes flashed with light and started to glow with the golden Tyrant Eyes. “Do you think I wouldn’t know? I’ll see you. I’ll know.”

Vik froze. His own right eye began to tingle, but he kept control of himself and forced himself not to shiver. “Why are you keeping me here? Why don’t you just kill me right now?”

A smile from the Knight, then a wink of one of his bright eyes. “I’ve got dibs on your death. Remember how L9 didn’t dare kill you, back in the Mirage Tower?” Another hearty laugh from the Knight rebounded around the classy room as he let his face rest on his fist. “You’ll die when I’m good and ready for you to. Until then, it’s easier for you to stay right where I want you to. You’d be smart to comply, considering you don’t even have your Tyrant Eye anymore.”

‘He thinks I’m a prisoner,’ Vik realized. ‘He doesn’t know that I have the Crystal again, or that I have power. He thinks I’m weak.’ There was much that this Knight knew despite the two not seeing each other for weeks, like Vik’s Tyrant Eyes or his fight with the Lance Knight back in the Mirage Desert. It made sense that the Knights communicated with each other. But despite this man’s boasts, he didn’t know of Cidolas’ retrieval of the Crystal, or at least not yet.

Vik recalled Cidolas’ cryptic words. “You are the Hero of Flame.” It was his job to keep the Crystal safe, to watch over what was decidedly his. That meant he couldn’t do anything risky, or put his life in danger, despite how hot the flames inside him burned at the thought of his family meeting any harm.

“Fine,” Vik finally mumbled from between grit teeth, “I’ll stay here. If you touch my family, I’ll kill you. If you touch Silverius, I’ll kill you. One day I will kill you.”

The Black Knight smiled with his teeth and sipped his liquor once more. “We’ll see about that. Don’t worry, I’ll be making business trips here quite frequently.”

The Hero of Flame stood slowly. There was much running through his mind, so much that his head felt heavy and his fingers clenched into fists so tightly his knuckles threatened to split, but the strongest thought on his mind was fire. Black fire, licking and burning over the blond Knight’s body until his bones melted and his laugh never existed, until he was erased like a thought seen as heretical, until every threat he ever made was rescinded from reality. Vik struggled to keep these thoughts to himself and out of reality. He could practically feel the nerves behind his right eye popping and trembling. He said nothing and only walked out of the formal dining room, past his returning father wordlessly, and up the stairs to the fourth floor of the mansion.

And so he stayed in the mansion, alone and not speaking, and the two months passed.

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