Defying Equilibrium

Chapter 7: Hatred taught is hatred learnt

Oscar shot up out of his chair the second that Ahmed uttered those words. I'm so stupid, Oscar thought. I naively just trusted him. He is nothing but an enemy.

“You're thinking that you were stupid to trust me. You're thinking that I'm your enemy.” Ahmed chuckled at Oscar's shocked expression. “I'm not a mind reader,” he added. “You're just predictable.”

Oscar scowled and glanced at Dare, who was still silently snoring on the table. Oscar realised that Ahmed stood between him and Dare, and if he made any sudden moves to attack Ahmed, the Swordsman could easily stick a knife in Dare's back. He had been much too careless.

Ahmed held up his hands in a gesture of innocence. “I will not hurt you.” He said calmly. “If I had planned to kill you, you would be dead already. That's an undeniable fact.” Oscar had to admit that this was true. He had numerous opportunities to kill them, but he saved their lives instead. Why? thought Oscar. Why would a Swordsman save us? They hate us, and we hate them. That's the way it's always been.

“Did you stop to think before you began to hate me?” Ahmed asked.

Oscar was taken aback. “What the hell do you mean?”

Ahmed sighed. “Hatred is taught, hatred is learnt. Nobody is born to hate someone else, they have to learn that hatred first. You have been taught to hate Swordsmen, so when you found out that I was one, your instinct is to hate me.” Ahmed looked Oscar right in the eye. “Tell me honestly. Do you hate me?”

Oscar thought for a moment. He had been taught to be wary of Swordsmen, yes. He had been taught that they were cold blooded killers, and he had learnt to fear them. He had never taken lessons in hatred, but when he thought about Ahmed, he felt a sickening rage in the pit of his stomach, that shouldn't be there. “Yes,” he replied. “I do hate you. I...well, maybe I shouldn't...but I do.”

Ahmed nodded. “It is to be expected. It is hard to reject what you have been taught.”

Oscar dropped into a chair, confused. Who was this Swordsman? What did he want? “If Shielders are taught to hate Swordsmen, then surely Swordsmen must be taught to hate Shielders. So do you hate me?” Oscar turned Ahmed's words on him.

Ahmed chuckled. “I should, but I don't.” His expression darkened. “I reserve my hatred for those truly worthy of it.”

“I don't want to hate you,” Oscar said after a while. “If what you are saying is true, that this war serves no cause, that we are all just pawns in this eternal battle, then it makes me sick. I hate my own hatred. Is that possible?”

“Anything is possible where there is hatred.” Ahmed said sadly. “Hatred transcends all other desires, because hatred is nothing but focused pain and desperation.” His expression was wistful. Oscar wondered whether Ahmed had learnt that lesson from experience.

“This is all so...I just...” Oscar was speechless. This was too much information to process in one day. But at the same time, he desperately needed to know more. “But why?” Oscar had to ask. “Why are you in Shielder territory? Why did you save our lives? And why are you telling me this, of all people?”

“Because this cycle of hatred must end!” Ahmed stood suddenly, startling Oscar. His blue eyes were like fire, bright with passion. “Can't you imagine a world without this eternal war? That is why I am here, and what I fight for.”

Oscar tried, but he couldn't imagine it. Almost everything in their lives revolved around the war, and around the rule of Equilibrium. “But why us?” he whispered to himself, but Ahmed heard him.

“When I saw you two fighting that Guardian, I saw the kind of loyalty that doesn't exist.” Ahmed sighed at Oscar's confused expression. He was a man who disliked having to explain himself. “You would not leave him behind, and he would not leave you behind. There was once a time when people were willing to die for each those they love, but not anymore. Just as hatred is, selfishness can be taught too. If you'd seen the battlefields to the east of here, you'd know. Desperate people will do anything for the means of self-preservation. Loyalty is a long dead concept.”

Ahmed was quiet for a while before he turned and looked at Oscar. “Do you want this war to come to an end?” he asked.

Oscar thought of Louise, who may be dragged into the war soon, and he nodded. There was no sense in fighting a war that couldn't be won, anyway.

“You two have the potential to end this war.” Ahmed said. Oscar looked up at him, eyes wide.

“Us? But...how?” he asked. Surely Ahmed didn't mean for them to go against the whole Swordsmen army on their own?

“I am not suggesting that you single-handedly take on an army,” Ahmed added. How does he always know exactly what I'm thinking? though Oscar, a little annoyed.

Ahmed turned to gaze out the window. “What I mean is you have the power to change people.”

What the hell does that mean? “Unlike you, I can't read minds,” said Oscar. “So can you stop with the vague one-sentence answers please!”

Ahmed laughed. “You can keep a handle on your temper for the most part, but you can't help it sometimes, can you? It would be interesting to see what happens when that control snaps.” He turned back to look at Oscar, who was glaring at him. “Alright, fine. What I mean is that you can change opinions on both sides. Make people see the horrors that the war really creates, and the puppet-masters behind it all.”

After that, Ahmed showed him to his spare room. Oscar still didn't completely trust the Swordsman, and he thought he would be tossing and turning all night trying to process what he had just learnt. However, the day had taken its toll on him, and he fell asleep before his head hit the pillow. Exhaustion had caught up with him, and he slept without dreams.

Dare however, slept fitfully. Dare usually slept like the dead, but he couldn't seem to settle down. He couldn't stop thinking about the fight, and how helpless he had been. I'll never let that happen again, Oscar, he vowed.