Zepsis

Zenzo, 12 years old, currently living in Aireven, the city of criminals.

It has been over a month since I lost grandpa.

My life, which had turned upside down as soon as I met the Oracle, would be over had it not been for his intervention. I learned about it in the newspaper.

It was a painful read, but I eventually finished it and saw which felonies he allegedly committed. Out of all of them, I could only believe the first one, distortion of the marble room.

The day I fell through the floor, I didn’t understand how it crumbled from underneath me, but now it made sense. It was him.

The only problem was that after I fell, no guards followed me and the hole was gone when Gyorn checked it on Xax’s orders.

In my involuntary conversations with Xax, he explained his theory to me; that it was probably my grandpa who made the hole and closed it shortly after to prevent the guards’ pursuit.

He also told me that grandpa likely kept his true magical abilities secret from everyone and that he was far more impressive than an intermediate class mage. That’s why he was able to cast such an advanced form of magic.

Then he mentioned that his mastery was good enough to be recorded on some special list for mages and that since no one with the name Euliseus was affiliated with our country, he must’ve been born somewhere else.

Leaving the first felony aside, grandpa was anyone but a murderer. I could never picture him killing a person, especially half of the royal guard.

Surprisingly, Xax already had this muddy accusation covered, as his right-hand man, Braun, was probing for details pertaining to this felony and its factuality for weeks.

“…Braun found it strange. Since he was on the surface when this happened, he said it seemed like your grandpa complied with the guards and there wasn’t so much as a scratch inside the room… uhm… so to clear your grandfather’s name, at least among the people of Aireven, we have Braun investigating it in full right now…” Xax said.

“…among the people of Aireven… then the people on the surface will continue thinking of him as a murderer?” I asked dispiritedly.

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do regarding public opinion outside Aireven…” said Xax with a dark expression on his face, “the moment we try something, we will be swatted down like flies, and even if we succeed in having people listen to us, no one will believe what we — criminals —have to say…”

There was a pause when both of us were thinking about the same thing – ironic how the ones that would be fighting to spread the truth are ‘criminals’.

“Do you know who holds the highest authority in the world?” Xax asked, a short moment after.

“…no”

“Do you know who Kings are?” he asked me.

“…no”

“Do you mind me telling you a long story about them?”

…

“…no” I responded after a little hesitation.

“Long ago, countries were ruled by Kings under a system of government known as monarchy… they were people of nobility, possessing royal blood that was passed down for generations. The crown moved from one heir to another… they were the supreme rulers of their nation…

“It so happens I was born into Neverian nobility, which reigns over Acolatum...”

And so, he began telling me about his past.

How he was abandoned by his parents.

How he met Braun on the streets of Marxes and Gyorn in the mines.

What happened to all of them when he was about to inherit the throne and the events that followed.

It was total chaos… complete disarray.

“19 years ago, I was set up and incriminated for killing my own mother, the Queen. Consequently, I never inherited the throne, even as the last surviving member of the royal family...

He stood up and started pacing back and forth.

“I was processed… and convicted… of treason by some unknown authority.

“Since they couldn’t locate me to prepare my execution, I was forever exiled from Neveria.

“Even now, guards have orders to kill me on sight if I am ever seen trespassing on the grounds.

“Born and possibly destined to rule the kingdom, I was instead forced to watch its demise.”

He turned to me.

“Their cunning, little ploy turned into a massive one. It led to the abolishment of Acolatum’s monarchy.

“But this wasn’t an isolated incident… it kept on happening all around the world.

“Same people, latent patterns, and terrifying results... within a couple of months, all monarchies existing beforehand, ended…

“Information channels were silenced… People thought that it was just their country that was abolishing its old ways…

“…an idea was proposed to them… ‘what if we all have the same ruler...total equality…no discrimination…no poverty’ – all the things people wanted to hear… they already lost their monarchy, so… ‘why not?’ they thought…

“…slowly, one by one, every continent supported the idea… except the wealthiest one… the one where it originated from… Leviathan.

“…under the guise of being something special, it was the rise of Zepsis, the World Government…

He paused.

“The last King, perished 18 years ago…”

“With Zepsis came the Oracles… then the tradition all 12-year-old children must follow, which you are familiar with… people didn’t understand what was happening; some still don’t understand…

“The entire world was taken over by a single entity.

“The same entity that gave you that ridiculous bounty…”

After a while of not being able to feel anything, the last sentence prompted a reaction of hatred out of me, but not enough to be clearly seen to Xax.

It was all because of them…

At that moment, Gyorn entered the room.

“Xa—” he stopped upon remembering that I was also there, “Sire, w—"

“It’s fine Gyorn, he knows. I told him.”

“Oh… We’ve got a big problem, Xax… Braun sent a message requesting help… He probably dug too deep…”

“Are you going to go?” asked Xax seriously.

“Yeah,” Gyorn replied.

“Alright, be careful,” Xax warned him.

“I’ll be fine,” Gyorn said, turning to face me, “After I bring your biggest sympathizer back, give him a moment. He’s been wanting to talk to you for a long time.”

He took his leave.

“Unfortunately, I have to go too. Can I trust that you will join me for our expansion project later?”

“…sure.”

He was talking about some of the work men do in Aireven – expansion of the hideout by mining and, now with my magic.

Half an hour later, I was with Xax again.

“Alright gentlemen, today we are expanding the housing areas. In groups of 4, take your tools and head to those walls,” he pointed at the edge of the cave. “Our plan is to clear this space and make it a little wider for more residents.”

“Zenzo, you are coming with me,” he said.

It got busy.

Sounds of clanking were filling the cave and reverberating across the walls. It was as if someone was working right next to you, yet when you turned, no one was there.

When we arrived at the side directly opposite of where he sent everyone else, he took off his tailored jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and picked up a pickaxe. He had a lot of scars on his arms and he, surprisingly, wasn’t slim at all like I initially thought.

“What you will be doing, is swinging this pickaxe alongside me until you are out of breath. Then you will continue by using your magic, with precise control.

“I am sure you’ve realized it already, but the supposed fact that only a third of the world wields magic is nonsense. Also something Zepsis spread to confuse the masses...

“The truth is that there are only 1 in 100 people who can perform even the slightest of magic,” he said, “you’ve probably noticed it by now, right?”

“…not a single person in here…?” I asked.

“Just you…” he replied.

“…why are you helping me practice?

“You will be extra useful to us. Naturally, in a nonexploitative way… It will of course benefit you greatly as well due to your situation...”

“…okay.”

And so, I began swinging the pickaxe next to him, which wasn’t as easy as it looked. It was a remarkably good exercise to strengthen my body.

It was also a great way to release all of my pent-up anger. I kept swinging the pickaxe for an hour straight, until my hands completely gave out.

Xax could’ve kept going but stopped for me.

“Alright, now let’s see you cast the wind element to carry some of this rubble in the cart over there,” he said, pausing shortly. It didn’t look like he was struggling, even a little.

“…aren’t you tired?” I asked exhaustedly, “…how did you not even break a sweat?”

“…I’ve been doing this for more than a decade. You see this area we are in right now?”

“…yes”

“All Gyorn’s doing,” he grinned at me. “You remember the water reservoir?”

“…yes”

“That was me,” he said, “remember those tunnels and prison chambers?”

“…Braun?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“…when did you have time to do all of this?”

Xax laughed. “While we did do a lot, this was a cave already. We just expanded it to what it is today.”

“…why do you keep telling me things you keep a secret from others?”

“Because I want to show you that if anyone trusts you, it’s the three of us.”

I didn’t understand his logic, but I was not someone to spread secrets, so he was right in thinking that I was going to keep it to myself.

I continued practicing my wind magic on large rubble.

Controlling anything smaller was a lot harder than it seemed, because the span of the wind element had to encompass everything, without any volatility, or else there would be gaps for rubble to fall through.

Xax outlined 4 stages for my magic practice, large rubble, small rubble, group of each, and then, hardest of all, dust. As it looked now, dust would be impossible.

According to him, practicing with the wind element would better my control in all other elements too, so I was diligently learning to do that.

While my physical training was bearing fruit and I felt my body strengthening, my magic training was barely improving – it seemed impossible.

Apart from my training, another notable event was someone’s complete personality transformation.

“Ahem… I brought you… your food,” said a girl who used to have nothing but loathing for me.

It was Anna, the person who used to harass me the most when I first came here.

Her contemptuous gaze disappeared and turned gentle and apologetic. The food she was bringing me received an improvement as well, which was part of the reason my body was growing.

Overall, though I didn’t say it, I was grateful to her.

However, the more time I spent in Aireven, the more awkward she continued becoming around me.

“Um… I know you are training with father… how is that going?” she tried to spark up a conversation.

The question was too out of the blue, so I had to think about my answer.

“…your dad is a lot stronger than I thought,” I replied.

“I know, I have been telling him to get rid of that stupid, tailored suit of his for months,” she said, “it makes him look like skin and bones…”

There was another awkward pause.

“Is your… magic training doing ok…?”

“…it’s fine.”

“What about your wounds from the fall? Have they… healed already?”

After a short silence during which she kept glancing at me, I couldn’t stop myself from asking the question that has been bothering me the most.

“…why are all of you so nice to me?”

It was her turn to be caught off guard.

“I am sorry… for how I treated you when you first came here…” she said, frowning, “we—”

“I don’t need your pity…” I said, “…I don’t need your sympathy… none of that will bring him back to life anyway…”

“…but —"

“Everything that’s happened to me made me realize… I am not allowed to have loved ones…”

At that moment tears started filling up her eyes.

“I am destined to spend my entire life alone… so please, stop being nice to me… and pass the message on to everyone else…” I said.

“That’s not true!” she shouted.

“When I was born… I had an incurable illness…

“No known magic or medical treatment could help me…

“I was going to die, but my parents sacrificed their own lives to save me…

“Then grandpa… because of me… exec—“ I fell on the ground clutching my heart and chocking, I couldn’t breathe.

It was another panic attack.

…

I woke up the next day and was still healthy, the only issue was that the pain in my chest grew stronger.

After a little rest, I was approved to go back to work.

I was once again going to start my practice with Xax. As I approached him, he seemed a little downcast.

“Anna was quite scared and forlorn yesterday… Zenzo,” he said.

“…please… just treat me like any other resident…”

“Zenzo… my boy, as long as you continue living, you will eventually find people who will inevitably care for you…”

“…is that supposed to be all of you?”

“Who knows? Maybe it is,” he said giving me my pickaxe, “But deep down, we all need someone like that in our lives to keep going…”

I started swinging the tool to stop thinking about anything else. I just wanted to concentrate on the rocky wall in front of me.

I kept on striking the wall, steadily breaking it down, blow by blow.

Suddenly an image popped into my mind where the wall was the execrable World Government that ruined my life.

I swung as hard as I could and broke my pickaxe.

As if it was a bad omen, the wall remained unscathed…

Somewhere in the middle of my wind element practice, there was a little commotion happening at the entrance.

Among all those gathered there, stood Gyorn who was dragging another man by the collar, and Braun.

“Sire, we are back,” said Braun, “I have a lot to tell you… but first, we have to deal with this man.”

“Understood, follow me. Everyone else stay here and continue working…”

When I thought I was going to continue my practice, he added “Except you, Zenzo. You are coming with us.”

I didn’t know why and what my presence in this matter was going to do, but I followed them anyway.

We arrived in Xax’s room and Gyorn dragged the unconscious man in front to face Xax.

“Hey… wake up,” said Gyorn as he was slapping the man awake.

Suddenly, the man came to life and Xax instantly realized what was going on.

“You see his eyes Zenzo? A shade of orange… Everyone working for Zepsis, without exception, has them – eyes of the Devil.”

“…what if someone is born with them?” I asked.

“That is what’s interesting about our world… you can’t,” Xax responded.

I looked at the man. He didn’t appear like he was from Acolatum; a foreigner – maybe from a different continent entirely.

Xax nodded to Gyorn, and they removed the gag around his mouth.

Without so much as a second of restraint, the man began shouting in his language.

“ASUR SHA NAT WAN WER BHAIT BAHTAHT VORRN KHER VOHN—”

“Gyorn,” said Xax.

Gyorn lightly swung his hand and knocked the man out.

“Thank you, Gyorn. So, what happened, how did you two meet this man?” Xax asked them.

“Honestly, I don’t know where to begin, sire —”

“It’s fine Braun, Zenzo knows about us three,” Xax said.

“What? Oh… he does?” he asked surprised, “…alright… ahem… as I was saying, I don’t know how they realized that I was digging into them,” Braun said. “Before I knew it, I started being followed every day…”

We didn’t know that the story was about to get even more intriguing.