Playtime - Chapter 8

Zoe watches as the council is deciding her fate.

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Zoe nibbled her lower lip as she enjoyed the show unfolding right in front of her with impish glee.

Alzador was looking all bashful while he got battered by trenchant looks and whispers. It pleased Zoe to see that her sudden outburst ignited the expected impact. A couple of well-aimed words were enough to shift aggro from her to Alzador.

Serves you right, you wheezing sleazebag. Zoe thought.

It felt good to see negative attention spraying upon someone else for a change. Especially if the object of attention was someone like Alzador, who profits from his impeccable reputation. No one ever questioned his chaste lifestyle, whereby Alzador chose to live the life of a spiritual Munk, mostly in solitude and in full service of the religious legacy of Imna, the Goddess of Light.

He fooled everyone, even Zoe, for a time that is. Zoe however, was relatively quick with seeing through this façade of sanctimonious babbling.

It was true that Alzador dedicated his whole life to the honoring of supreme divinity. Nevertheless, he could only generate such a ceaseless effort because this Imna, despite her eon's old existence, still looked like a young blond girl, according to the soothsayers' stories. The only mortals capable of perceiving her in her true form.

Alzador had never really seen Imna. He would never admit it openly, but he was no soothsayer.

Still though, there was this one day whereby Zoe, through an intentional accident, ended up in the hidden depths of Alzador's family crypt carved below his own home. But instead of finding dusty coffins with decomposed bodies, Zoe found something entirely different. There was a marble statue of a young girl with her hands on her hips, looking out over a quite sophisticated miniaturized, handcrafted landscape. This girl portrayed the image of Imna ruling like an omnipotent Goddess over her people.

Zoe was already familiar with Alzador's love for being miniaturized and placed under the control of a young girl. He allowed Zoe in the past more than often to shrink him down despite his capability of conjuring a counter-spell to parry it or reflect it even.

The discovery of this secret temple gave Zoe a whole new level of information about Alzador's inner world. This so-called sacred Munk got sexually fueled by the idea of being a microtized slave to a powerful young girl. Preferable one who is capable of subjugating whole planets with just the power of a single thought.

Zoe soon realized that her love for shrinking people and the extraordinarily raw power of her as a sorceress made her the perfect object of desire for Alzador. He was actually in search of a young Goddess he could worship. A girl who was tangible and real. Not some abstract apparition like Imna, who remained unperceivable for the bulk of the people.

And that's where Zoe came in. He finally saw his chance of fulfilling his ultimate fantasy by aiding Zoe to become the ultimate Goddess. He must have known for a long time that she wore the potential in her.

That's why he handed her the Stone of Dormancy and did he chose to aid her when her life was at stake.

It was pure lust Zoe recognized in his eyes when she was transforming into a Goddess that day.

Something did change his mind, though. Because here he was, condemning Zoe together with his high-powered friends from the council.

If Im going down. You're going with me. She pondered.

Alzador just looked at her, with an inscrutable look, in a way only he could while he got battered with stares and whispers from all sides. The deep grooves of the crow's feet etched at the corner of his eyes were partly veiled by thick, white strands of his bushy brows. It was a stare Zoe had received from Alzador on more than one occasion, mostly during a temper of devilment from her side.

He started to speak, "Onexius, can I ask a question?"

Onexius, who observed it all with an indifferent attitude, gave a lazy gesture with his hand.

"Thank you." Alzador cleared his throat and sat up straight. "tell me, did you made me promise to protect the realm from calamity by any means necessary?"

It did take Onexius a few seconds before he realized that this question was actually asked to him, even though Alzador's gaze was still aimed toward Zoe.

Zoe shifted some on her seat. What's your game here, sleazebag?

Alzador turned his head and looked at Onexius and cocked his eyebrows like he was waiting for an answer.

From that moment on, all attention immediately shifted toward Onexius. His face revealed that he did not like this turn of event.

"I don't see the relevancy of indulging into a question like that at the moment." Onexius low voice rumbled throughout the dome-like chamber of the high council.

"Oh, there is relevancy, alright." Alzador chuckled through his words.

Onexius observed Alzador for a moment and spoke, "Yes. Yes, I did. You gave me your solemn oath when you were just an apprentice."

"And did this oath also meant that I had to set aside my beliefs and convictions as a munk if the need was there?" Alzador continued.

"I don't think that-"

"Did I had to set aside my beliefs and convictions as a Munk if the need was there?" Alzador repeated.

Onexius sighed… "Yes… yes, you had."

"Well then, this girl here," Alzador pointed at Zoe, who leaped up in her chair. "is the realm's biggest threat. The universe's biggest threat even. Yes, I did things that weren't quite kosher. But I had to, for the sake of all existence as we know it. The prophecy has spoken. This girl, this scrawny petite girl, is downright dangerous. She has the potential to evolve into something that has the power to bring unending darkness and doom upon us all."

Zoe's eyes narrowed as she listened to Alzador.

"She will be an unstoppable force. Impossible even to escape from. Not even Imna, the Goddess of Light, will be able to match her might when her ascension is fulfilled."

The crowd cried out in shock by the mentioning of Imna. Clamor broke lose.

"That's blasphemy!" One person called out. "This is outrageous!" another one said.

Alzador ignored it all and continued, with a raised voice, "We can still prevent it, people. We must burn her and not just the physical part of her. The only way to preclude a new reincarnation of this bringer of dread is to erase her soul completely."

"The Cycle Breaker…" Onexius said, "that's quite severe, Alzador. Not even Baltimas the 3rd received such a punishment, and he burned toddlers in public for the core reason of lacking talent. I completely agree with your conviction regarding miss Zoe. She should not be able to greet another day, but to end her cycle?..."

"Would you change your mind if showed you this?"

Onexius watched with curiosity as Alzador pulled a scroll from his sleeve and handed it to a thrall, who in turn gave it to Onexius.

"Let the soothsayer assess its authenticity," Alzador said.

Zoe sat there in her chair, bound by the wrists and ankles, and in simple garments, watching as Onexius read the scroll. She scrutinized Alzador, trying to use her underdeveloped reading powers to penetrate Alzador's mind. It was in vain, and she knew it. She still tried it anyway.

"It's a confession," Alzador started to speak while Onexius was reading the scroll. "handed over to me in good faith." Alzador's eyes found Zoe's. "She thought she had found an accomplice in me. As soon as she came to power, it was her plan to defile you, Onexius, in public. You, and your family, by forcing you all into a sexual orgie with each other before sending you all to the Cycle Breaker to erase your existence."

"That's a lie!" Zoe finally came to live again.

Alzador ignored her. "I will recite her exact words, 'Let that hawknose be pumped in the arse by his own daughter. That'll teach him to mingle with my affairs.'"

"You love me, sleazebag! You know you do!" Zoe screeched, scratched and flailed in vain as she was forcefully pulled off from Alzador after she had jumped him in a fit of rage. She was escorted away from the court by multiple enforcers after Onexius sentenced her to the Cycle Breaker. "I'll come for you! In your dreams, in your dreaaaaams!!!"

Alzador just sat there as Zoe's fainting cries and curses still echoed between the walls. He closed his eyes, all zen, and put a hand in one of his pockets, the one where the Stone of Dormancy was safely tucked within merely a few seconds ago. The thing was absent now, though.

Alzador just smiled and in his head, he began chanting lines to embrace the new era.