The Pawn

The Arena

Everyone is ushered out to see the drunk guy fight Lily at the arena. I'm having trouble trying to follow Lily, since I don't even know where she is now. She must have gotten lost in the crowd, like I did. At least people give me my space when they hear the swish of my cane on the dusty ground. While I try my best to follow everyone, Angel tells me the directions on where to go, making me walk faster or slower depending on the speed of the crowd I'm in.

I know many people are talking around me, not even paying attention to me. But I can't risk getting their attention, just talking out loud to no one. I whisper instead. "Hey, how do you know what's going on out there?"

I can see through the gemstone of this awful necklace. Think of it as another eye.

"Oh."

I hear Angel chuckle darkly. It's so thrilling. Enthralling. And entertaining, as well.

"What?"

To see the joy in seeing a human get punished. I don't care what crime it is, I'm happy to see punishment. And the raw anger... That woman leading the way is living their dreams: to thrash and break the living soul out of that man.

Shock runs through me, despite me trying to hide it with my normal expression. Lily's going to destroy someone like that?

Why so shocked, boy? You should know the extent of humanity's wrath.

Angel clearly must have known, probably because of how sweaty I am. "Even if he scared me- I-I mean, terrified me... does he really deserve that?"

Oh, please. Read the room, boy. Everyone in this crowd hates him. He's rude, brash, detestable, and overall, unclean. Ugh! Have you seen him? He's sweaty and his shirt is stained. With what, I don't even want to know. But what I do know, is that they want to enact their wrath upon them. Don't you want to do the same? Think about it, Aster. A human terrified you. A human made you feel it for the first time in this mortal world. What did you feel when he shouted?

"Really really scared."

No, you weren't scared. That was terror. Sweat sprang to life upon your hands, and you felt like you were in danger.  And seeing from the outside, if he shouted at you, could you give any sympathy to a man that shouts at a small child like you, who looks so terrified? Wouldn't that prove good evidence for proper punishment?

I don't want to admit it, but... what if Angel is right? Father always taught me to value my manners. But wait, wasn't he shouting at Lily, not me?

"Lily asked me if he was drunk. What does 'drunk' mean?"

It's when humans make themselves intoxicated. It makes them do foolish, animalistic things. And that's disgusting. Well, except bar fights. That's entertaining. Oh, look. I can see the arena. Keep walking until I tell you to stop.

"Okay."

If there's one thing I like about humans, it's that they can get angry and enact violence. But only to each other. Not to me.

"Why?"

I'm an Angel of Wrath now. Do you want me to spell it out to you? I can feel stronger whenever I'm around it.

And then Angel's voice suddenly becomes sweet and soft. It's jarring.

So don't hesitate to get angry at me, boy. It only makes me feel better.

I don't trust Angel. What if Angel's gonna get angry at me again if I shout at them? I say nothing in response to this.

There's a sharp rise on the ground, so it must be the entrance to the open door. Angel tells me to watch out so I don't bump into people. It's crowded and sweaty for a while, but it begins to clear out when I hear the thunderous footsteps cluster to the far left of me. From it fading away, I think they're going upstairs.