Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Usurper Part 1

Dying, The First Time


Being murdered hurt less than I feared it would.

Sayam strangled me while I was finishing the documentation on my latest work. As he choked the life from me, Samir flipped through my paperwork. He stopped and turned back to us as the edges of my eyes faded.

"Let him go."

Sayam released me and I fell to the floor at Samir's feet. He kicked me in the mouth with the very toe of his shoe and I swallowed a half dozen of my teeth.

"You disgust me Rajid. I came to you. Offered you a position with us. But you refused."

He kicked me again, once more in the mouth. My lip split in several places and blood dribbled onto my lab coat.

"We have seen her Rajid. With the suit you have created, we will serve her as none have before. She is going to make me Indra, Rajid."

"You are mad Samir. You have not seen Kali."

"Sayam, keep him still. He will live to see what he has wrought."

The big man put a foot between my shoulder blades and pinned me to the floor, grunting only once as he ground his foot deeper, my ribs creaking against the floor.

"With my foot just so, it would be unwise to move. Squirming would sever your vertebrae before their due time."

Sayam leaned down, his thick voice oozing out his throat.

"Be still Rajid, for it will be over soon. You know how this must happen."

I tried to blink back the tears that were welling in the corners of my eyes as ripples of pain lanced through me. Through the blurring of my eyes, I watched Samir. He strode without hesitation to the golden suit I built with my own hands. Samir leaned in close and spoke softly.

"Your son will council.
You will reign.
But I will lead you
and dethrone you
and give you your throne again."

The golden suit spread it's four arms wide. The main trunk hissed and popped as it too swung open. Samir turned to face me one last time, wearing a smile.

"And so I become Indra, just as she promised me."

I opened my mouth to speak but Sayam pushed down harder, two ribs cracking under his weight. Samir climbed inside and the suit hissed close, sealing tightly. Every intricately carved piece began to move as Samir became one with the suit. By now, the thousands of needles within would be sinking into his skin, hooking to his muscle. Samir would never be able to leave the suit now without being skinned alive.

"Sayam, let him up."

Samir strode forward, golden skin gleaming. With one arm, he grabbed me by the throat and held me in the air, as his other arms took turns pummeling me.

I say the actual murder hurt less than I had feared, but all things leading up to it made up for it.

When he grew bored, he flung me against the wall. I felt part of me crack open and the warmth of my blood staining my clothing. Sayam stood motionless, observing, learning, analyzing. I wanted to shake him, to tell him to analyze what this would do to our children. What John and Richard would say to each other when playing.

But I said nothing to Sayam. I lay dying instead. It took too much strength to do even that.

"I am Indra!"

He drove a golden foot as large around as a soup bowl into my chest. What few ribs were still intact shattered, the shards embedding themselves in my lungs.

"Y...you are a man... Only a man..."

The suit's eyes blazed orange as he clenched each of his four fists. A storm cloud grew above him, rain clotting the air around him. Sayam simply watched, unmoving.

"I am a God Rajid. But you will never learn. Die then, and know that winter is coming to Chrysalis Falls. Kali's winter."

I rose up, a barest half-inch, my mouth opening slightly.

And spit on him.

Lightning struck me from four hands at once.

This was the murder that hurt less than I feared. I was already numb and it came as a relief. Even as I burned. Even as I grew singed. Even as I blackened.

I fell forward, hitting the floor and crunching. With seared eyes, I watched Samir put a hole in the wall of laboratory. I watched as he grabbed Sayam around the waist and took flight into the night sky. I watched as the rain outside turned to snow.

I closed my eyes and stopped fighting.

There was peace in darkness. Peace for a moment.

I was being strangled again, choked awake. I opened my eyes and met the copper orbs of a green-skinned man. He was holding the noose around my neck.

"Rajid Arkhan. I am Yama. The Council of Kismet has sent me."

"Y-yama? God of Death? King of the Underworld? What do you want from humble Rajid?"

"Everything Rajid. I want everything you have, you are, and that you will become."

"All I have is yours to command."

"Then let us talk of revenge."

It was getting cold and the snow was falling faster.

It was a good night to talk of revenge. After all...

What else is there to talk about when murdered?

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