I followed Korrok to a long vehicle with an architecture that a human could fit into, but not comfortably - a kind of motorcycle. I turned it on and felt its power roaring, eager to run, and realized I was smiling when Korrok chuckled behind me, loving how much I was enjoying this. But it was only a temporary power - as temporary as I was to him.
My smile turned into a grimace.
"What's the mission?"
Korrok handed me a little tablet. White, square... Harmless.
"See the palace?" He pointed to the structure on the horizon we saw from the top of the shed. That was the center of the Aulic control in the Blood District, and each district had one, all responding to the one in the Power District. "See the tallest tower?" I nodded. "They turned it into a reservoir of blood... And all we need is for you to drop this pellet into it."
I stared at the square in my hand. Not so harmless, apparently...
Was he really asking me what I was thinking?!
"Do you want me to poison the palace reservoir?!"
"Do you know what they will do with that blood?!" Korrok approached and then I became small. His eyes alone were almost the size of my head, close enough that I could see the red liquid flowing through them. My silence motivated him to continue: "They are creating an army of super soldiers, Phaga. And do you know what they're going to do with it? Butcher us!"
I cringed.
I didn't know the war had escalated to this point. I thought the Aulics would only use the blood as they always did: as a fortune, since the Blood District's economy was based on it. But the formation of an army was another story... And a frighteningly possible one.
A well-fed vorrampe was the kind of monstrosity I, personally, would choose to guard the gates of hell if I were ruling behind them; and each of those creatures didn't need much blood to get to that point. I wondered what the Aulics could do with all those liters stored in the tower...
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"The Aulics started to recruit more soldiers than usual recently." His pause brought a shiver down the back of my neck, which spread to the tablet in my hand. "Also, they were buying containers from the Oasis; and we managed to steal one of them. It was full of blood."
"But there are no more humans there." The fountain had dried up.
"I know. And it was because we ordered the rebels to get them out of there." That explained a lot. "But, before that, other Aulics passed here, probably because the other districts want a piece of this army too." I swallowed hard. "We can't let that happen."
"Sounds like a difficult situation." I sighed. "But what do I have to do with it? Give me another job. I don't get involved in this war."
I wasn't going to make the mistakes of those who came before me.
Wars were but a reflection of the power of nations and their thirst for more. I wanted to stay away so I wouldn't have to carry on my conscience the weight of the deaths I could cause for them.
The ones I already had were enough.
Korrok's claws landed on my shoulder - a frighteningly friendly gesture, if he couldn't rip me apart.
"You deliver, Phaga... All you have to do is deliver this message to them." Korrok hissed, pointing with his eyes to that tablet in my hand. I would only be doing one task, away from its repercussions; and guilt... "Consider this your revenge on what the Empire did to you."
Revenge...
I was already tired of looking for it.
But, looking at Korrok's determination, I wondered what he would do if I made him angry...
"How many would I be killing?" I asked.
"You? Nobody." He laughed. "I wouldn't let you take credit for my kills... Besides, I have other friends who could do this job. But if you don't, then there will be one more kill on your account..."
Donecea.
The decision didn't matter; the weights continued to accumulate.
And I kept sinking.
I closed my hand around the tablet.
Apparently I had a message to deliver.
• • • ֍ • • •
I mounted my motorcycle and raced along the white roads towards the palace, its spherical wings crystal clear and covered in waves colored like spilled oil rising over the horizon. It was surrounded by a copper wall which I skirted around discreetly, noting where stood the guards who guarded it. I waited for a while, until I found a spot on the wall that was unoccupied for a few minutes, and, as soon as the guard disappeared, I took the opportunity.
I took four magnets out of a motorcycle compartment and tied two at my feet to scale the wall and cross the peribolus on the other side - apparently the vorrampe Aulic really feared what was outside... I did not remember the wall being there the last time I went through the Blood District. How many attacks took place there before it emerged? And how prepared were the guards for new invaders? I tried not to think about it too much.
I approached the copper surface and looked up to where the tower of blood rose, its nearly unreachable top trying to paint the clouds red. I placed the magnets on the metal wall and climbed up, trying to hide in the shadows so as not to be detected by the guards below, who circled the entire wall. I reached a lower window, broke it with my elbow, and jumped in before someone noticed the clatter of shards. I landed on the steps of a staircase that surrounded the pool inside the tower.
I watched the surface of the tank that protected the most precious liquid for the vorrampes. So much blood, while so many thirsted outside... They would kill for a dip, a sip, a glimpse, - they had almost killed me - but they were doomed to live in a pale desert while the Aulics built armies... How many had other worlds been destroyed like this?
No. That wasn't my problem.
I ran up the spiral staircase around the pool until I came across a guard on the way. He didn't see me, so, before he could hear my racing heart, I grabbed him by the lapel of the white uniform and threw him out the window with strength borrowed from something hidden inside me, scattering the shards everywhere. When he landed at the base of the tower, the others would know something was wrong. I didn't have much time anymore.
I inched forward until I reached the top of the tank, where it opened up into the floor like a pool of blood filled to the brim. I couldn't take my eyes off the slimy ruby, screaming to me everything the Aulics could do with a power like that in the veins of bloodthirsty vorrampes... Telling me about all the souls they could slaughter for raising their voices or for not being what they wanted.
I raised my hand over the liquid, not sure if I really should open my fingers and let the tablet fall, even though everything in my mind urged me to do so.
But I would be killing so many...
Then a door burst open.
Hundreds of Aulic's soldiers burst into the tower, staring at me with pure bloodlust. They were much larger than the other vorrampes I'd seen so far, - even Korrok - red, turgid and apparently very well fed.
I got ready to run when they fired in my direction.
The shot grazed my abdomen, dumping a red cloud into the tank and adding a part of me to it. I staggered to the edges and stared where I mingled with the remnants of so many other souls lost in there, my pains mixing with those I would feel, with those that I would cause... If fate had spoken, that would have been its way of telling me what to do.
I was already part of this war.
I dropped the pellet into the tank and watched its pallor fade into red.
And I hated myself for not being as sorry as I wanted to be.
I ran toward a window and shattered it with my shoulder, throwing myself out of the tower. I pulled out the magnets and slammed them against the wall to slow my fall, my arms burning and the sparks of metal scraping flying across my face.
I slipped inches off the ground and it touched my feet as if I hadn't fallen from the sky.
I crossed the wall and took the motorbike back to the focus of the rebellion, the violent fire of the palace soldiers at my back until I was out of sight among the white buildings of the city.