Omega Wars Chronicles

Chapter 100: Taboo

   In a wasteland filled with skeletons, a man of short stature dressed in a black cloak stood and observed his surroundings for a while and after the observation, the man pulls down his hood, revealing himself to be Trengal of the Keigra tribe. Trengal stared at the skeletons in disgust until a vulture descended on one of them and stared at him.
  "That's it. I'm done staying here." Trengal said.
   Trengal turned his back and took his leave.
  "Of all the places Cifer said we should meet, he chose this place." Trengal said within, "I always knew he had strange tastes but this is on a whole new level."
   "Going somewhere, human?" A feminine voice asked.
  Trengal turned back and saw the person to be Sethra who at the moment stood with crossed arms.
  "You're not Cifer." Trengal said.
  "No, I'm not. Cifer requested i meet you here in his stead." Sethra replied.
  "Sorry, but may i ask who you are?" Trengal asked.
  "My name Sethra. That is all to know." Sethra replied.
  "Okay. I am-"
  "I know who you are, human." Sethra cuts in, "Cifer told me everything about you."
   "Oh. Okay." Trengal said.
  "But you should know that i am of little patience, unlike Balog, Absolom, Cifer and Mikrea, if you do as much as irritate me, i will kill you." Sethra warned.
  "Oh... Okay." A slightly terrified Trengal replied.
  "Before we start, there is something I'd like to ask: do you know where we are right now?" Sethra asked.
  "I'm not sure. The skeletons and the vulture rings a bell but the environment says a different thing. I'd say we are in the accursed land that was destroyed by they-that-shall-not-be-named." Trengal answered.
   "They-that-shall-not-be-named?" Sethra asked.
   "Yes. They-that-shall-not-be-named." Trengal replied, "It's a taboo to say their name."
  "Even though they were once a part of you?" Sethra asked, "Correct me if I'm wrong but even this land you call accursed was once a part of Agaroth too."
   "Yes, it was." Trengal answered.
  "Then why do you restrict your words concerning them?" Sethra asked.
  "It's complicated. Each time they are talked about, they remind us of our great shame and terror." Trengal replied, "The stories of those people were so terrible that they weren't considered humans. So mentioning their names and what they've destroyed is like a big stain to us."
  "Hm." Sethra said with a raised brow.
  "From what I heard, the story of this land is that it was once inhabited by a tribe, not just any tribe but one of the higher ranked tribes of you humans." Sethra said as she walked past Trengal, "This land flourished excessively until they had an intertribal war with your they-that-shall-not-be-named and the inhabitants of this land were destroyed."
   Sethra paused and stared at the sky while smiling.
  "They say when your they-that-shall-not-be-named destroy a race, a clan or a large number of people, it rains blood as a testimony of their destruction, but this tribe when it was destroyed, it rained bones." Sethra said, "Now even after 300 years, when it rains in this land, it still rains bones. Tales have it that those bones are the bones of the people that once inhabited this land and because of that this land became the most accursed in the whole of earth realm, earning its name from other races as Mal'torr."
  "Quite interesting if you ask me." Sethra said as she glanced at Trengal.
   Filled with shame from the story, Trengal turns his face away and Sethra smirks at him.
  "Oh, you should also know that it was in this same land i killed Rikon." Sethra said.
  "What?!" Trengal said in shock, "Rikon? Rikon of the Graundar tribe? But that's impossible!"
  "I split his body in half. He refused to bend the knee and chose to fight me. Even after seeing the gap between us in power, he still chose to continue fighting." Sethra said, "Oh and you are standing on the spot i killed him."
  Hearing her words, Trengal gazed at the spot he stood and hops back in fright.
   "Tell me, human: why exactly are you here?" Sethra asked as she walked towards him.
   "I thought you knew?" Trengal asked.
    "I want to hear from you your reasons for working with us." Sethra replied.
  "I... I am sick of people. I am sick of the human race." Trengal replied while facing the ground with a scowl, "They are all the same...  Both minor and majors. They preach honor and dignity but they do the exact opposite. They feel because they have power, they can mess whoever they want up and get away it. I have seen it from the higher ranked tribes and the lower ones.
   All my life i have been treated like trash by people from different tribes but it never bothered me. A lot has been taken from me but it never bothered me until that moment..."
   "That exact moment he took her from me." Trengal said as he recalls the incident of his wife Lizira of the Keigra tribe sitting on the thighs of Chief Grai of the Keigra tribe (chapter 36).
  "Took who? And who did it?" Sethra asked.
  "My wife Lizira." Trengal answered as he raised his head, "The Chief of my tribe took her from me. No... From the way it looked, it was as if she went to him herself."
   Sethra stared at Trengal in puzzlement while Trengal resumes gaping at the ground.
  "I don't know about other races but i know that in Agaroth, divorce is considered as a thing of dishonor because it shows the husband is unable to take care of his wife and the wife is unable to keep her husband, but the sad part is that there was no divorce." Trengal said, "If there was a divorce and she went to him, then it would be understandable for me but there was none. When i saw that incident... That moment, it was as if my remaining pride as a person was taken and smashed to the ground, and it wasn't enough, chief Grai took the work he appointed me and handed it over to her all because i didn't mention his name when introducing chiefs. I am not angry about the work, I have had a lot taken from me but my wife..."
   " To take my wife from me and still do that..." Trengal said as he tightly clenched his right fist, "That was the height of it."
    "Chief Grai is one of those people that feel because he has power he can take from people whenever and however he wants." Trengal said, "Several times my pride has been ripped from me by different people from different tribes, both minor and major but Grai... What he has constantly done to me till that moment..."
   "This Grai... I heard from Cifer that Grai once made you crawl underneath someone and bark like a dog in order to have your life spared. Is it true?" Sethra asked.
  ".... Yes, it is." Trengal answered reluctantly, "I only did that because Lizira was terribly ill and she needed someone to look after her. If i had refused then i would have been killed and Lizira would have died, but now i wish i hadn't done that. I wish i had just let that man run me through."
   "Hmmm. You've really been through a lot." Sethra said, "But you've been through this much then why do you still have ties with them?"
  "I helped Cifer, didn't i? I delivered a lot of information i knew about Agaroth. So how do i still have ties with them?" Trengal asked.
  "You still have ties. When we talked about this land and those destroyers, you spoke like you were still one with Agaroth. You even showed shame when we discussed about them and their actions" Sethra replied, "Taboos. What to say and what not to say. If you truly want to show you have cut ties from them, then you need to stop following what is restricted and what isn't. And I'll have you start..."
   "By saying the name of those destroyers." Sethra said with a smile while discharging an ominous aura with her irises glowing.
   Trengal's eyes widened and he tightly clutched his right arm as he could feel the overwhelming pressure coming from Sethra.
   "This power... I've felt it before with Cifer." Trengal said within, "Just as Cifer, it's on the same level of a chief from a higher ranked tribe. She really did kill Rikon. The others she mentioned ... Are they on the same level as her?
   Cifer also said they have a master they serve; could he be on a level higher than the chiefs? Did that abnormal power come from him?"
    "Well I'm waiting, human. Say their name." Sethra said.
  "The beings of the tempest... The blood reavers..." Trengal said reluctantly.
   "Go on." Sethra said with a smile.
  "The Tageiras." Trengal said.
  "Good. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Sethra asked.
    Unable to answer, Trengal gazed at the ground again.
  "There is still much I'd like to do but i don't have the time for them, so I'll go straight into what Cifer requested of me." Sethra said.
  Sethra stretched forth her arms and an object shimmered in between her hands which turned out to be a silver chalice.
   "To show you have truly been accepted into our fold, you must drink from this cup." Sethra said, "Cifer requested this from our master and our master approved."
   Trengal slowly took the chalice from the hands of Sethra and stared at the black drink within.
   "Go ahead. Don't you want to cut all ties from the human race? Don't you want to cut all ties from Agaroth?" Sethra asked.
  Trengal stared at the chalice one last time and gulped the entire drink which made Sethra smile again. After he had drank everything, Trengal dropped the chalice and stared at Sethra; suddenly, Trengal felt a sharp pain in his chest that made him groan and drop to his knees. Trengal began to pant for air as his eyes turned pupilless while blood rushed out from his lids, and as Trengal was screaming in pain, Sethra grinned.
   "Welcome to the black skies, Trengal." Sethra said with a darkened voice while grinning as her irises glowed.