Sangriala

Chapter 15: Doomsday

It was first hard to understand where the sudden rumbling sound came from, until it was promptly followed by a shower from the sky. Sunshine no longer shone through the windows to the Palace. The long-awaited thunder, which the heat of the morning had anticipated, had arrived.

"I should have acted", whispered Max, quietly but aggressively. "When we were left alone with him. Should've avenged for Tom and Marvin. And everyone else he's had destroyed. I could have grabbed a pen from the desk – I had checked out where they were, and I saw they were sharp. Could have struck it right through his only damn eye. Even if he didn't get killed, he'd have been blinded, and we could have... This could all be over."

Max shook his head. "I don't know what went into me. It was as if he'd anticipated my thoughts. He said those very things I'd thought of. Just like you'd have done." A nod at Roland at his side.

"Well, he is genetically the same as me", Roland admitted.

"And I couldn't, because I had promised you, bro", Max lamented. "You'd have stopped me."

"Likely", admitted Roland. "Killing him would certainly have had us killed while not actually solving any of our problems. I'd likely have stopped you." He cast a glance at Max, with a modest smirk. "But when did you ever need a permission from me – for anything?" He said this with a friendly smile, with no trace of dissatisfaction.

Max didn't instantly answer. But it reminded me of something. There were people who never needed anyone else's permission for their actions. In a secret way I envied them. I had grown up being cautious, wanting a second opinion, something to reassure me that I was doing the right thing. However much that was exactly what I wanted – to do the right thing – doubt always seemed to haunt me at crossroads. Especially those that involved inevitably hurting someone.

I wondered if that was what had got the Grand Master killed. A cautious man who left for an island rather than picked a side in Elysium.

There was something else, too, that I should have noticed and remembered, but as in so many turns of this adventure, events rolled on and over us so fast that I didn't have the chance to stop and think. Or to have a second opinion.

"Mir's card was there on his desk", I said.

"Yes", said Roland. "I saw it. Didn't want to bring it up."

"Why?" I asked, and I sensed frustration in my voice. "What were you trying to do anyway, Roland? I thought you had a brilliant masterplan to solve our problems and get us out of here, but it seemed like you just engaged him in a philosophical debate."

"A game of chess on spirits", commented Max, whom I was sure understood my point.

"Brothers", said Roland. "Trust me when I say that I know this man better than you two. I love you, and you shall stand by my side till the end, yet this is something I have to do." Then he flashed his green eyes at me. "And it isn't about getting out of here, Mikael. You heard him. He would send us back where we came from. But is it enough? Isn't it my moral obligation to use my leverage on the man who has so much power that the fate of the entire mankind may depend on the choices he makes?"

"You had that debate with him already", I said. "This isn't our war."

"What if it is?" asked Roland and stared at me intensely.

"Bro", said Max. "I have to stand with Roland here."

So, they teamed up against me. Though, I had only myself to blame. I wanted the second opinion. And wasn't it I who had dragged them to Elysium in the first place? They had stood by my side and they had helped me to rescue Mary. Not for once had they abandoned me. I suddenly felt I was unfair at them.