The Proposition Of A Desperate Father

Seeing the rose colored eyes looking straight at her caused Sayane to scream as though she had seen a demon. It was him. She knew it was the same being that had tortured her and questioned her on the day she arrived in this world. Now, he was right there before her. As Sayane screamed and froze, Azag let out a roar of rage.

“Sayane, RUN! Esca!! Lock down!!!” Azag screamed as he slammed his palm into a lever on the side of the door. Metal barricade walls fell at the entrance, sealing the Silencer in the tavern with them.

In the corner, Esca’s eyes activated and glowed green as its gears whirred with frightening awakening. Then, the snake did something else unexpected. He fell to his knees with his hands raised in surrender.

“Wait! Wait wait wait!!!” he screamed.

“Sayane go!! Now!!!” Azag roared as he lurched forward.

Beside them, Esca rose with a growling hum.

The snake opened his palm to reveal a small vial.

“Wait I beg you! I mean no harm!!! I need your help, songstress!!!!” the snake begged as it downed the liquid from the bottle.

“My daughter is dying!! I need your help saving her!!!!!”

Sayane paused just as Azag reached the snake and pressed the detonation trigger on his cane.

Something in the snake’s voice felt real, and Sayane shouted out without realizing she was already moving forward.

“Wait!!!” she cried out to Azag.

Azag’s cane struck the snake in the head with full force, knocking him to the ground as blood spilt from his mouth.

“Please, WAIT!!! I’M NOT LYING!!!” the snake begged.

“Azag, hold!!” Sayane commanded.

Azag roared but stopped his swing.

The snake held up the vial.

“This is truth serum! You know it works, songstress! I am not lying!!! I have been looking for you ever since that day!!”

“Ever since the day you tortured me and planned to steal my song!!! Your partner murdered several creatures and almost killed me!!” Sayane challenged.

Dark blood dripped from the snake’s mouth as he forced himself onto his palms. As he looked at Sayane, she could see his eyes were wild with desperation.

“I wasn’t there though! I didn’t come to retrieve you, only Otrax! That’s because I was pleading for your life! You said you were a songstress, and I wanted to use you to help my daughter!!” he shouted as he held up his hand in protection.

Azag stepped forward and pinned the snake to the ground with his foot.

“Give me the vial,” Azag ordered.

The snake held the vial with shaking hands. Azag took it and held it to his mask, breathing in the scent. Then he raised his mask and took a sip.

“Azag?” Sayane asked in confusion.

“Let us see if this is an actual truth serum. Sayane, ask me anything. Make me tell the truth.”

Sayane paused and for whatever reason, the only question she could formulate was:

“Did you want to kiss me, back there?” she blurted out.

Azag stood up in shock and almost laughed, but he focused.

“Yes,” he replied.

None of this was planned, but his answer did bring Sayane a bit of joy in that moment.

“What is your full name?” she asked Azag.

“Azag. Only Azag. My people, the Rabal, abandoned me on The Path of Tribulation because I was born with broken legs. They left me to die. So I cursed them all and forsook my clan name. Azag is all I will ever be…”

Sayane did not mean to ask a question that brought up such sensitive answers. The more she learned of Azag, the more tragic he became. But now was not the time for such attention. She shook her head to refocus and looked to Azag, who nodded.

“It is real,” Azag said.

“Why are you here, Silencer? Why should I not allow Azag to kill you now?” Sayane asked.

“I have been seeking you for a month. When The Silence agreed to start hunting you, I knew I had to help. I had to find you first. My daughter is dying, and none of our treatments are working,” the snake admitted.

“Why by the sounds would I help you?!” Sayane asked.

“Please, she is just a child. I have already lost my mate, her mother. I was just a lowly vault guard. We do not live in grand areas. The Silence’s war factories pollute our water just like the runoff falls down to pollute yours.”

“So why don’t you take some explosives and go blow up that factory?” Azag growled.

“Because The Silence would only build another!”

“You tortured me on the day I arrived. You were wretched. What makes you think you are worth helping?” Sayane asked.

“I do not care if you help me! Kill me after this if you wish, but please, try to heal my daughter! She is innocent!” begged the snake.

His words struck Sayane. Though she looked at him with nothing but loathing, he was correct. A child couldn’t be judged for their parent’s actions. Azag was not so moved. His large foot kicked forward, slamming the snake into the floor with severe force.

“The Silence has murdered millions of innocent children!! You dare act like your child deserves any more consideration?! Where was your concern for innocence when all those others were slaughtered by your empire?!”

The snake gasped through cracked ribs but forced himself back up.

“I did not care. I still do not care for your kind. We were raised for our entire lives to believe that all underlings were barely above beasts. Without emotion, without hearts. Propaganda poisoned our minds and I lived for decades believing it. Now, that same empire has allowed the suffering of its own, and I am finally able to see that so much of what I was taught was a lie…”

His confession was complex and full of revelations, but Sayane was most caught by his acknowledgement that he was only acting selfishly. She knew it was the truth serum doing its work, but it was a relief to have everything out in the open regardless.

“So you are only here to help your daughter? You expect me to heal her then let you return to your life of serving this evil empire? No,” said Sayane.

The snake shook its head.

“I damn that empire. I will never again serve them. Heal my daughter, and I will do whatever it is you ask. Even if it costs me my life, I will honor your demand. You have my vow.”

Now he was crying. Every word was true. Looking down at him, Sayane saw nothing but a broken father and husband. Memories of her torture only a month ago were moved aside so that raw empathy could step forward. Still, Sayane was not reckless.

“You were hateful. Only a month ago, you abused me and smiled at my pain…” she whispered.

“I was hateful to all. Life had robbed me of my joy, and as I faced the prospect of losing my daughter, I saw nothing but cruelty. Only now do I see that The Revolution is the same in its sorrow. To feel hate towards The Empire is understandable.”

“Only now? It took your own loss to find empathy?” Azag growled.

“Live all your days in the bubble of brainwashing, propaganda, and military dictatorship. See how well you hold a clear mind…” the snake challenged.

Faced with this new challenge, Sayane found herself at a loss. No child deserved to suffer. Though she despised this being, the truth serum revealed he was beginning to change. Fatherly desperation had led him to her, where he now begged with his own life to save his daughter. Knowing he was speaking the truth, Sayane dared to open her heart to hear his request.

“You want me to heal your daughter. I cannot guarantee I will be able to. I am still learning what power I possess. What will you do if I fail? Will you resent me? Blame me? Try to murder me in spite?” she asked in sincere concern.

Ruby colored tears ran down his darkened skin as he shook his head.

“If I lose my daughter, I will simply slit my throat and leave this wretched existence. But, if you try, even if you fail, I will honor your name through all time. No one in The Empire has dared to show grace or compassion. If any one person in The Revolution or The Underworld did, I would give them my life to use however they see fit.”

As he spoke, he turned over and put his palms out upward in a sign of submission. Bending down, his head touched the stone in complete surrender. Azag even seemed surprised, knowing it was true.

“It is an honest offering of servitude, Sayane. He is telling the truth…”

Silence hung in the air, save for Esca’s whirring motors. Sayane looked down at the snake and felt conflict raging within her.

“What is your name, Silencer?” she asked.

“I am a Silencer no more. I cast that life aside and reject all ties to the empire that never cared for me or my loved ones. So you may call me Echo,” the snake said without moving.

“And how would you best serve me, Echo?” Sayane asked.

Echo’s hands lifted to show more submission, and he looked to Azag.

“I have something in my satchel. It is not a weapon or any device of harm. May I retrieve it?” Echo asked.

Azag glanced to Sayane, who nodded.

Echo rose slightly and turned his satchel to face forward. Upon unbuckling it, Echo reached inside and found what he was searching for. Sayane felt a growing sense of anticipation rise within her, as though she was about to see something that was both unknown yet known. When Echo’s hands lifted from his satchel, Azag let out a small grunt of shock.

Held within Echo’s hands was a strange, small device. Concentric plates folded over one another as though collapsed for transport. Grooved dials lined certain control panels. Dark metal casings held pulsing beams of yellow energy that ebbed with gentle consistency. All around them, the stone walls began to glow once more. Sayane herself felt an otherworldly draw to the device. Even though she had never seen such a thing, as she looked at it now, she felt as though she was reconnecting with a long-lost friend.

“Sayane, this is…” Azag started.

Without even being told, Sayane felt like she knew.

“This is a sacred sound tool. A banished instrument. I stole it from the Vault of Celeski, where we first met, songstress. If you help my daughter, even if you fail, as gratitude, I will help you break back into that vault, and help you take as many sacred instruments from The Silence’s grasp as possible…” Echo said with absolute honesty.