HTG - Chapter 175

Kalon

Chapter One-Seventy-Five: Jukalla - Part Three

Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

Ruling Government: Republic of Hekate

Solar System: D-2,946

Planet: Ravena Minor

Location: Ara Continent, Ravena’s Temple

The last of the splinters from the door clatter to the ground. Inside the room, I see the largest man I have ever seen. A mountain of a man, muscles ripple through his bulging formal attire.

“Fuck,” Kotina curses under her breath, “Lord Arkon, I present, Kalon.”

Lord Arkon is standing in front of a large fireplace, his back is turned to us, and he is peering into the fire unmoving like a statue.  The flames coming from it are a vibrant purple hue.

There is something about his presence, something unnatural in the way that the air hangs around him. More unnatural than his size. I do not move, I am somewhat unnerved by him, unable to stop myself from looking at him and his massive frame. I do not know how much time has passed when he finally speaks.

“Approach,” he says, gesturing with a hand to a place beside him to peer into the depths of the purple flames.

I do as he bids and take a place beside him and admire the flame, it licks against the stone of the fireplace, I do not recognize what burns beneath it, a mass of black stones in a pile. I feel no heat from this ethereal fire, yet as I stare at it, I can’t help but be entranced by it. It is seldom that I have been around fire. My people regard fire as Hempki’s sacred art, to use it on anything but the dead on the pyre is considered wasteful.

Still, this fire feels strange, or is it that I feel strange looking at it? Each time it flickers, it’s like I feel it, almost like I can predict which way it will go. I am about to apologize for his door, but he speaks before I can.

“What do you see?” he asks, peering at the fire still.

I swallow, trying to understand his question. Peering closer into the flames, I do not see anything special besides the hue. The fire behaves as any fire that I have seen before it.

“Fire.”

“What do you feel?”

“There is no heat from it.”

His eye turns slowly to look at me, in his gaze I feel power compressed into a stare, like he is trying to peer through me. The moment passes and he turns, moving from the room toward another. Am I meant to follow him? What was the point of the questions?

I need to stop overthinking things. My feet move in a swift tempo as I move to catch up with him. He walks in silence, which I find peculiar for how large he is. There is only the faintest of tremors as he walks, as though his weight does not match his size. It is… perplexing. Perhaps he knows a technique to walk more silently. Does such a thing exist? There is much that I do not know, but I remember Solara teaching me of runes that could distort gravity, given enough power. When I pulse and feel the air around him, there are no distortions, only a perfect outline for his frame.

In fact… there is no fluctuation around him at all. If I had Netherium perhaps I could see his truths. I wonder how his aura compares to Tavjac of the Mordow.

He motions for me to sit across from him on a large back chair, in a room without windows. Beautiful paintings hang from the walls. These ones are not of conquest, they are of stars and nebulas, I find them all very pleasing to look at. Especially one of them, there are three stars in a rotation that seems to coalesce like all three are trying to become one.

“Do you know why I requested this meeting?” he asks, leaning into the chair slowly.

The chair surprises me with its lack of groaning.

“So that you can recruit me to your house?” I pause, remembering that Fennec told me proper etiquette is to call him by his title, “Lord.”

He tents his hands and does not answer.

If he is trying to unnerve me, it will be somewhat difficult, I find myself quite calm and relaxed in such a soft chair. His size and demeanor have become less taxing on my nerves too. Yet I am ready if he tries to test me.

“Before we begin,” he says, turning to a table next to him, there is a glass bottle and two cups, “I want you to understand that you are not required to join House Ravena.”

He pours into both glasses and hands one to me. It smells like liquor.

“Should you choose another house, your safety is guaranteed for the next year.”

“And after that?” I ask on impulse.

His eyes level in mine, “Your safety becomes your own concern.”

I place the cup on the table next to me after smelling it, it reminds me of one of the fruits that I ate when I stayed with Fennec.

Arkon does not drink from his cup either, he watches it swirl, like an idle habit as he muses his thoughts.

“If you were me, what would you do?”

He stops moving the glass for a few moments, “I would consider my options.”

“What are my options?”

“That depends on you.”

He spins the glass again, eyeing one of the paintings.

“Do you seek Lunara’s hand?”     

“I do, lord,” I say, sitting up in my chair.

He sets down the glass and looks at me fully before crossing his arms.

“You have no holdings, no worlds, no army, no ships and from what I have been told, you do not even possess a bank account.”

The words ring in my ears, but it doesn’t sound like he is saying no.

“All true,” I admit.

“Yet you seek the hand of the heir to a house that holds the fate of trillions of subjects?”

“I… do.”

“You know that your chances of rising are astronomically low? Likely, you will die and she will marry another of my choosing.”

Another of his choosing, is that a deal she made with him?

“I understand, lord.”

“Do you actually understand though, boy?” he asks me, leaning forward.

“Yes, lord.”

“Then tell me how you will accomplish it, tell me how you will rise in station.”

Silence fills the air. I do not know enough about their ways to describe the exact method. How would I rise?

“You do not know how one rises, yet you claim that you will.”

My nerves settle as the calm fills me, “I know little of your people, but I will learn their ways, and when I do, I will rise. With or without your blessing. Not for myself, not for Luna, but because I must.”

He tilts his head at this curiously, “Why?”

“The scales are not balanced.”

“And you think you can balance them?” he does not ask mockingly, his demeanor is placid, unchanging.

How do you tell the man whose daughter’s hand you seek that you dream of destroying the society which gives him power? How do you tell him that you want to watch the Imperium burn?

You don’t.

“I will certainly try.”

He leans back, grabbing the glass in his hand again, “If I gave you an army what would you do with it?”

I ponder the hypothetical, what does he want to hear? He does not seem like the type of man that is easily fooled, nor am I the type of man that wishes to trick or beguile my words. So I tell him the first thing that comes to mind.

“I would take them to Ora and free the Kuwathi cities.”

He swirls the glass, “And then?”

“Then…” I pause, thinking on it.

“Where would you take them? This planet?”

I remain silent, so that I do not make a greater fool of myself, because I don’t know what I would do. There has never been a thought past freeing them, because the task always seemed insurmountable.

“This planet is not set up for that many refugees. So, what would you do then?” He drinks from the glass a shallow victory, “Have you considered how you would even transport them here?”

He swirls the glass and measures me.

“Have you considered what bringing an army of house Ravena against a vassal of the Theocratic Imperium would do?” Have you considered the food they will require? The logistics, the personnel, the permits with the Republic of Hekate if you brought them here. There are thousands of things to consider. Conquering is not a hobby, boy.”

“I will not lie and say that I have a plan when I do not. Plan or no plan, there is a desire to learn, to grow, to rise.”

He tilts his head again, as though he is musing my admission and statement.

“I may be naïve to the ways of conquering, but I know that if you ask me to deliver you a mountain of bodies, I will ask how high.” I look him in the eyes without fear as I say, “Someday, when I have learned your ways, if you ask me to bring you a city, so long as the reason is just, I will bring you a world.”

He does not make an expression at this, but he shifts his stance a little bit and takes another drink.

“I am told you come from a planet in the Helenius houses domain,” he says as more of a statement.

“I do, lord.”

“Any allegiances I should know about?”

“Besides to my people, none, lord” I say, he ponders on this for a time then nods.

He stands, motioning to the door that I came from, “We will speak again after you have explored your options.”

I move to leave, but I pause, “And if I am certain that I will choose house Ravena?”

“One should not make decisions without weighing their options first.”

“What is house Ravena offering me, lord?” I think of what Fennec said, that I should know my worth.

He seems a just man, a fair man as Fennec said. However, behind the mask I think I glimpse darkness, I know this darkness, it rests behind my mask as well. It is a darkness that knows the cost that comes from weakness. In his eyes, I feel power, I see where I want to be someday, and on the day after, I will strive for something higher.

The darkness that is never satisfied with being second. For the second is at the mercy of the first. In our world, our existence, only the strong are truly in charge.

“When you have heard the other offers, I will give you mine.”

A smart choice, one that I can respect, it reminds me of choices that my old Clan chief Barnak would have made before he fell to his vice of choosing unworthy family to lead. He reminds me of how I saw Nekam before he sold me. I want to learn from him. Of all the nobles I have seen in positions of power, he feels to be the only one deserving of it.

“Understood, lord.”

As I walk from the room, I think on what was said. There is little to no doubt in my mind that I will choose Ravena’s house. From what Fennec and Luna told me, the Republic of Hekate do not keep slaves, and they actively try to improve the lives of their citizens, the Kuwathi included. Even if I wasn’t to consider Luna, this house seems like a wise choice. There were no hungry faces when I walked the grounds, save Adona. The people looked happy, like there was hope in their hearts.

Besides all of that, I get the feeling that Arkon can teach me something that not even Dargo could. A path toward helping my people become more than the dirt beneath the galaxy’s boot. Perhaps to a place where they do not have to dream to find peace.