Hao. The Awakening of the Chosen (Finish)

Chapter 11.1

Viktor was surrounded by a patrol; the rest of the group had managed to stay atop the hill, silently and undetected. The patrol consisted of two advanced soldiers, two regular soldiers, and an officer in charge of the operation."Stop right there, identify yourself, fugitive!" the officer shouted."I'm Viktor, and I'm not a fugitive, I came to talk to you," I said to them."No one comes here unless they are exiled or expelled from the bubble," the officer repeated."I have a very important mission and I need your help, please let me speak to your leader," I pleaded."How many more of you are there?" the officer asked.At that moment, the rest of the group peeked over the top of the hill. Lua's father was the first to descend, followed by his wife and Álvaro. They came down with their hands raised."We will escort you to the city; the council will decide what to do with you," assured the officer.The two advanced soldiers positioned themselves at the back of the convoy, and they advanced slowly but surely. Along the way, we had time to get to know the guards a bit more, especially Sonsoles, Lua's mother, who insisted a lot to the officer to at least reveal her name. Finally, she relented, revealing her real name, Astradia. She explained that her people had been too quiet lately due to recent political changes, saying she still didn't know who they had allied with, but there was a ceasefire with us.Suddenly, a high wall came into view. According to the officer, they had been using technology for centuries to shield their cities from possible Antler attacks. This surprised Mauricio, Lua's father, as they had just collected some news in the newspaper. They reached the city gates, where, through facial recognition by the officer, the gates opened, allowing the convoy to pass through.The city was enormous, composed of various areas, hermetically sealed by energy gates, even more advanced than those of the Antler themselves. The convoy headed straight for the parliament.Waiting for them at the doors were all the city's governors, five in total, named Hugo, Antoine, Meri Karmen, Marivi, and Veronikka. According to the accompanying officer, they were the ones making all the decisions for the city and were above the High Inquisitor, Luther.As we approached the governors, they didn't treat us like prisoners but as guests, inviting us to enter the parliament, where they would ask us some questions about our situation. We accepted, but the group left me as their representative.Upon entering, I saw a semicircle with dozens of seats occupied by high-ranking officials and civilians. I sat in a seat that was above the rest but facing the semicircle. When I was given the floor, I introduced myself and made sure everyone could hear me."Good suns to all. Before anything else, let me introduce myself. I am Viktor, son of Halfonso Valtorium and Kerry Xylonis, I suppose you know them. About a week ago, they were captured by the council of sages.""To us, what happens within the dome doesn't matter!" interrupted one of the generals."As I was saying, they were forcibly captured, accused of treason and other slanders. The thing is, a friend and I ventured into their stronghold to try to rescue them. We arrived too late, and my father was cold-bloodedly murdered by one of the puppets of your High Inquisitor, Luther," I tried to continue."Those are lies!" shouted a civilian, and others booed at me."As you've heard, these eyes saw what they saw. As if that weren't enough, they mistreated my mother, and to this day, they still have her as a prisoner. Furthermore, the other day, I spoke with my brother, Lukotico, who was sent to the Samiz realms to free them from Luther's yoke. I come here today to ask for your consideration and to observe together the history of our past, up to the treaty in the convention after the ten-year winter war. One of the points of that treaty was that neither of the factions, neither the Antler nor the Night Whispers, were allowed to enslave the Samiz; they were supposed to live freely, without our technology or power. And I come to denounce Luther, the High Inquisitor of the Republic of Light, or as you're commonly known, the Night Whispers. Help me to stop Luther, or else the next to be executed by him will be you, I assure you," I concluded my speech.Everyone present gasped in disbelief. Their highest representative outside had betrayed the principles of the Night Whispers.One of the Night Whispers governors, Marivi, accompanied us to our rooms while they deliberated on future actions and whether they considered my testimony credible and reliable.Each of us had a different room to rest in. I took off the clothes left on the bed and found new, clean clothes. There was a knock at the door. Still not dressed, I quickly grabbed some underwear, put them on, and rushed to open the door. It was Hugo, and upon seeing him, I was almost in shock. Before, I hadn't been able to see him properly since Marivi had escorted me the entire way, but having him in front of me now, I didn't know what to say; the words escaped me. He was almost two meters tall, pure muscle. At first, I was scared, thinking about what I might have done wrong for him to come here to tell me something, but I was surprised when he started speaking."Good suns, Viktor, I'm Hugo, one of the five governors of the city. I didn't come because you got into trouble, seeing your frightened face—don't worry," I tried to excuse myself, but the words still wouldn't come out of my mouth, "I've just come to tell you a story, to see if you know it. Before I start, I want to congratulate you on today's intervention; you were magnificent," he smiled, and I blushed, "I expected a less intelligent young man. It's the first time I've had the pleasure of talking to an Antler.""The pleasure is mine.""Oops, sorry, I didn't realize. I caught you at a bad time; I'll come back another time if you want," he asked after examining me completely and seeing that I was alone in my underwear."No need," I said, while my conscience screamed at me to kick him out of the room."Well, it's going to be a long story, I mean," he smiled, "Can I sit here?" he asked, pointing to where I was seated."Sure, I'll make room for you if you want," I offered."What did your father tell you about the first Antler?" he asked."Well, not much. He said that a being named Omega came from a tree and helped build everything thanks to an artifact, but he died in a space accident, and the artifact was never found," I recounted."In part, that's true, but you weren't told the whole story. The story goes back 300 centuries, when Omega appeared. Yes, he emerged from inside a cherry tree, but only a few investigated that cherry tree—my ancestors did. They investigated it, and guess what? Inside, there was a great city composed of thousands and thousands of individuals, specifically ants.After Omega's death, his body couldn't be recovered because Omega's life cycle was limited by the ant queen mother. One day, the tree began to wither, and it was because the queen mother was dying, as was the entire colony, including Omega, who, legend says, didn't get lost in space but returned home, waiting to be reactivated by a worthy successor of the queen mother.The artifact you're looking for is called the Staff of Wishes. Legend has it that even before the Antler set foot on the planet, it already existed, probably from some primitive tribe. But there's a secret I must tell you. That staff isn't lost.Remember when I told you that my ancestors investigated the tree? Well, those same ancestors stored it in a secret place, which can only be discovered by a successor loyal to its principles. My faction has gone several times to the place to see if they could open the artifact, but it has always been in vain. Later, if you come to my office, I'll show you on a map where you should go," he concluded his story.When I got up to open the door for him, he gently grabbed my jaw and whispered in my ear, "This information isn't free; I'll come to collect it."I felt a shiver run down my spine, but it didn't escalate. Hugo left the room, and finally, I was able to close the door.I was bewildered and had to go talk to the rest about what Hugo had just told me. I ran out of the room, and I saw a guard looking at me perplexed. I checked my body and realized I hadn't changed, so I apologized and hurried back to the room, where I grabbed the first clothes I saw and put them on.Now dressed, I rushed to the room of Lua's parents, who were there with Álvaro. I told them the whole story and proposed that we go for the artifact the next day. They were thrilled with the discovery and accepted eagerly, except Álvaro, who didn't fully embrace the idea.I decided that after dinner, I would go to Hugo's office to ask for help and directions to the artifact's location.Dinner was served in one of the parliament's halls; the size of the table seemed infinite. We sat with the governors, arranged by Meri Karmen. I had the good or bad luck to dine with Hugo directly across from me. Veronikka and Álvaro sat on either side of me.The dinner began with a toast to our health, and everyone raised their glasses. As we were about to sit, one of the servants spilled some wine on Hugo's shirt. Without saying a word, he took off his shirt, revealing his entire torso, and handed it to the servant.The main course was smoked duck with honey, followed by a second course of trout with orange, and it ended with dessert, a bowl of freshly harvested strawberries mixed with goat's milk.Throughout the meal, I spoke with Veronikka while Hugo looked at me playfully, gesturing for me to join his game. His look said it all, but I didn't want to play along.As the second course was served, I had to look straight ahead to eat. Hugo took advantage of this moment to look at me and lower his gaze to where I couldn't see beyond the table. Then he looked up again. He picked up a jug of beer and spilled quite a bit of liquid over his body, making himself stand out even more. Strangely, it seemed like everyone else in the hall had been frozen, no one noticed what Hugo was doing.At one point, in an attempt to avoid Hugo, I started talking to Álvaro. Hugo took this as jealousy and saw it as a challenge. He stretched his leg out, and Álvaro noticed this action and looked at Hugo.The dinner ended, and I went to my room to rest. I didn't want to create a scene in front of Hugo after the spectacle he put on during dinner.The next morning, I went without fail to Hugo's office, knocked on the door, but no one answered, so I entered. Hugo was lying on his bed, completely naked. I turned to leave, but suddenly, he called out to me from the bed."Viktor, come, don't be shy," he said.I approached him and asked him to show me the map marking the location of the relic. He refused to reveal it, saying that the price to pay was very high. I insisted, and finally, he agreed. He got out of bed, and when he turned around, he grabbed my arms and pushed me onto the bed, lying on top of me.I felt weird at first, but then I remembered Lua and promised myself to do this for her, to save her. I swore to take revenge.When it was over, I quickly left his room and headed to Lua's parents' room. They were waiting for me along with Álvaro. We set out to retrieve the relic the next day when Hugo came running, dressed."Good morning, everyone. Why did you leave so quickly, Viktor? I've decided to accompany you; who better to guide you than me," Hugo said.Everyone seemed fine with it, except me, as I would have to endure him throughout the entire journey.After getting everything ready, we left the palace, but not before speaking with Marivi, who promised that upon our return, Luther would be in the parliament, resigning from his position.The group was finally made up of Lua's parents, Álvaro, Hugo, and me.The other governors said their goodbyes, and the city gates opened for us, closing behind us as we passed through.We had a long journey ahead to the artifact, so Hugo provided each of us with a spiritual creature—in this case, a hippogriff. We got on them with a little help; they were quite large for us.The experience was very gratifying, I must admit. Feeling the wind on my face at such high speeds was fun, a part I had to thank Hugo for.We arrived at the artifact's location quite quickly, and there was no one around. We descended to the spot and dismounted with the help of Hugo.According to him, we were situated right in front of the cave where the artifact was hidden. Legend said that one loyal to their principles and with a worthy goal would be able to pass through the stone of the cave and retrieve the artifact. Those who were not worthy would suffer a terrible death.What I least expected was for Álvaro, in a fit of egocentrism and greed, to jump onto the stone, crashing against it and falling into the abyss. I felt his loss deeply; he had been someone very special for many years, although we were not going through the best of times now. But I had to focus; the mission was clear. I thought of my goal, to save my family and free my people from the treacherous sages and Luther, of course. I jumped.