Scales and Swords ✓

62: Ordered Chaos

Ogalsia wears a mask to cover its hideous truth. Sunflower gold, prosperous and perfect, repressive and rotten. Even as it decayed it held fast to the image it had for so long projected. But there's a tension in the air that no speaks of. There's an underlying truth that everyone refuses to acknowledge. Ogalsia was slowly decaying from the inside out, and would only last for so long before it gave in.

And Kreatier had caused its degradation. But as much as we could parade our victory, no one truly wins in war. Not to the mother who sent her child off to battle. Not to the spouse receiving news that their beloved has been slain. Not to the children who wait up in bed for their parent to return, not knowing that they're bodies now litter the battlefield. Today is just the same as yesterday but without their heart.

Kreatier may not have been falling apart but it certainly was a volcano just waiting to burst. Erupt into total and utter chaos from the inside out. Because unlike the people of Oglalsia we had freedom, and we'd fight tooth and nail to keep it. But Ogalsia didn't know this, at least not yet.

"I wish you all safe travels ahead," said General Sorge with a salute to his comrade Cyr. There was an uneasiness in the General's smile and the way he moved. He wasn't quite present. Letting on only so much. But I knew, he had lost a herd of servants. His slaves. And he was not happy about it.

"Is he a good man?" Nareem asked Cyr.

Cyr's gaze remained distant as he answered. "Nareem my boy keep in mind that pure things are rare. If he is no good than neither am I. But that's just how mortals function. We are bound to fall by our flesh. Just as the Beast fell."

Nareem swallowed that and stared long and hard at Cyr. There wasn't much else to look at, save for the murky swampland beyond the carriage. While Nareem, Cyr and I rode in the carriage, Philip, Dolce and a guard of General Sorge were our coachman. Philip and I hadn't spoke since the night before, perhaps because we just kept missing each other. Though I wondered if that was intentional.

"Are you a Haqa?" Nareem asked. The words seemed to leave him unintentionally. He winced. "Forgive me that was rude of me."

Cyr smiled. "I admire your curiosity. Yes, I am a Haqa, I was baptized when I was still in the Kreatian army."

Nareem hesitated but after a moment of deliberation asked, "what is it that Haqas believe?"

"That all mortals are born from the consequence of the Beasts actions. But the beings that banished the Beast are the same beings who wish to one day welcome their creation back into their domain."

"What does that mean?" I said, joining in on the conversation. For the first time I truly wondered what it meant to be mortal knowing that my life was hanging by a string that death could snap just like that.

"It means that though we are broken and filled with pride despite our very limited grasp of what is and what was and definitely what is to come we are loved unconditionally. Pride may have been the beasts downfall but humility brings us closer to the creators. The Pure."

"If I had stayed dead, where do you think I would have went?"

"I wouldn't know. But I should ask, are you willing to walk away from your pride and seek purity?"

And maybe then did I finally receive my answer. Maybe there wasn't something so much more important than the love for another.

~~~

Ogalsian towns are indistinguishable from one another. All steel and brick in the same order. Locals clothed in the same unflattering suits of dull colors. The children walked in ordered groups, with simultaneous steps, like packs of little soldiers. Smiling faces were a rare sight. Laughter was nonexistent otherwise it was a sound
confined to the home. That was evident of the many Ogalsian towns we passed through on our way to the capital. The trip was a day long and we were only half way there. By the fifth town we stopped to stretch our legs and get something to eat.

To say we looked out of place would be an understatement. A uniform wasn't enough, you didn't walk or talk the way they did. They kept to themselves and moved with a goal. If loitering wasn't a crime than it was a sin.

Ogalsian food was largely centered around beans. Bean soup, bean bread, bean pudding, anything that bean could be mashed into, bean was staple. We took a seat to the corner of the diner and ordered our bean meals.

"What's lunch like in Kreatier?" Asked General Sorge's guard, Sid, a thin blonde man with eyes the color of a storm cloud.

Nareem spit out his mashed beans at that. "You can't just say that in public!" He glanced at the almost empty diner. "What if someone hears you?"

Sid rolled his eyes and poked his bean jelly with his spoon. "Relax will you. They might be listening but the uniform keeps snitches of our backs."

"What's so different about our uniforms?" I asked.

Sid eyed me. "Well sweetheart, what you got on right now is the official military uniform. Dawned only by military personal when not in battle." His gaze travelled the length of my body, before settling on my face again with a smirk. "Kreatian women are quite the sight, I must admit."

A throat cleared and all eyes fell on Philip. He roughly cleared his throat and downed a jug of water. Slamming it back onto the table he stood and excused himself.

The air twisted itself tense.

"December," Cyr said, eyeing the door, "won't you see if Marigold is feeling well?"

Philip was leaning against the carriage, scowling at nothing when I found him.

"Everything alright?" I asked.

He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Just fine." He cast his gaze to the ground. Where a smile usually crinkled his eyes was an impassive countenance. The warmth of the night before seemed almost a dream.

I hesitated but decided the earlier the better. "About last night—"

"You didn't know what you were saying, you were sick."

His words took me aback briefly. "I was well enough to know it wasn't a dream."

He cocked a brow. "What is it that you don't belive was a dream?"

If it were a joke it was horrible one. But when a beat passed and his countenance remained cold and distant I knew he meant it. "Why are you doing this?"

"Sunflower causes hallucinations." I couldn't not believe that he spoke with a motive. "You were talking to thin air. Whatever you thought happened, was all in your head."

My certainty dwindled. The flickering apparition of the man in the fields didn't seem quite real, but that was all, wasn't it? Everything else was real...surely?

"Is all well here?" Cyr and the others exited the diner's doors.

"I'm quite alright," Philip answered. "But I'm not sure December is. The Sunflower might still be in her system."

Cyr regarded me expectantly. My gaze swung between Philip and Cyr, landing on Philip who had receded to silence and the suddenly interesting dirt at his feet.

I climbed onto the carriage with not another word. I wished that I could allow myself to be furious but I had known since the moment we kissed that heartbreak was inevitable.

~~~

Ogalsia's royal palace is a forboding fotress built on a hill, connected by a staircase of what looked like million steps, surrounded by walls as high as a giant's hip. If it was anything like the rest of the capital it would have dread laced into every breath you take. Overwhelmed by a suffocating sense of predictable patterns with a disregard for the unlikely. Order is fundamental. But only knowing order leaves you unequipped for chaos.

If you feel like you're being watched, more often than not that is the case. People don't quite hold your gaze but they take you in and keep you in mind should you seem anyway out of place.

Through the capital and up the hill we entered the palace gates. At first glance it's as bland as the steel and brick buildings beyond its walls. With people busy about their own business. But when you look closer there's a military uniform around every corner. Soldiers of the Ogalsian army. I wondered if Philip had ever met any of those faces in battle.

Sid led the way through the palace, which was as grand as any castle. And finally we met King Arthur's enemy.

A/n: ugh this chapter was a mess. But hope u enjoyed 🎉