Veridis Quo

Chapter 60 - Compromising Alliance

Time has this funny effect, a distortion of perception. Similarly to the event horizon of a black hole, the closer an object was to the infinitely condensed finite mass, the stronger the dilation became. In theory, an object orbiting a spinning black hole on the edge of Roche's limit could outlive all stars in the known universe. While an hour passed around the materialized abyss, an eon could've gone by in a blink on Earth. Was it the key to immortality? A type 3 civilization harnessing the power of a black star? Maybe, though unlikely. A man living on the hour planet also experiences the same passage as the planet itself; relativity sucks, man.

It truly does. Relatives suck, most families being broken messes without even knowing. Relating to people's troubles sucks, empathy being a weakness and all that edgy jazz. Relations also suck, always ending in heartbreak. Old couples are the luckiest, but it does not exempt them from tragedy.

Relatively speaking, people suck in general. One could write a thesis about why sapience is a curse and intelligent life is inherently evil and blah blah blah- no one cares. Even if proven true, who has the time to ponder? Taxes had to be filed, mouths be fed, shit be done! Only supervillains were unemployed enough to deeply consider a nihilist's tantrum and rich enough to act upon it to the ninth degree. You can't have heroes without villains, right?

Nevertheless, people – animals – were prone to one of many common cruelties of intelligence; forgetting. Just because you forgot your car keys in another jacket didn't mean you had dementia, it was natural!

But natural did not always mean good. Primitive animals were heartless, to be eaten alive was a terrible fate. Instincts often had to be tied firmly lest society collapsed overnight. Good thing protection existed for the undisciplined. When nature-lovers poured their hearts out, they usually meant to emphasize the beauty of a natural landscape; the seaside, mountainous ranges, the flatlands, auroras in the polar caps. Nature was beautiful, undeniably artistic and imperfect. But like every model, it had an ugly side.

Cannibalism, an emaciated mother consuming her own children to survive winter. Parasites, a rich variety of grotesque brutality. Rape, the honest face of the excuse to breed more life in a wicked world. Because "I love her." Because "the instincts..." Because "it feels good!"

Pathetic. Utterly repulsive.

And what had to happen to make the black mare realize all of this?

Taking a long, strained inhale, the sigh that followed carried a dark cloud of misery, thinned by the ventilation. It didn't make the smell go away, though.

The other soul present in the room had her arms crossed in silence, an empty glare locked onto the former smoker's closed eyes. After being sober from tobacco products, the old gear kicked in, sending her back a year. A real shame, too, nearly accomplished the present year's resolution.

Could she be blamed? Life's been stressful as of late. Who were we kidding? It's been horrendous. Her plans? Down the drain. Her perfect successor? Kidnapped by one of the yakuzas of her nemesis district. Yamoto? Under a constant threat of invasion!

If she didn't have the harpy eagle to distract her – she had more than enough distractions – the mare had no doubt she'd find solace in the glass lips of the bottle as well.

She took another puff of the cigar as thick as a sausage between her fingers, the dried leaves giving off the aroma of a fresh cup of coffee. It was the good stuff, the best only for the best, and highly illegal in Yamoto. To import, of course, but who would tell no to the Sublime Beastar?

After what happened at that damned academy, she had every right to devolve into her bad habits. She simply had no words. As a public figure and one of the few uncorrupted by greed, she was fully aware of the issues that came along with operating a government. Specifically, incompetence. The police force was incompetent in catching carvs because they also visited the Black Market during weekends. Herb politicians were notoriously incompetent and cowardly, commonly going back on their "immovable words." She wasn't surprised with incompetence, more used to the permanent debuff.