There stood a large George Colonial mansions with its white marble walls and repeating corridors, lanes of beautiful loutrophoros vases, their ceramic vessels peaked her interested more than anything in the entire mansion.
The walls occasionally lined with paintings of varying sizes, originating from Victorian artists to even romantic art pieces.
She stood facing a handsome man behind glass that was reaching out for something in futility, and in shame. His head was being bitten off by a large mystical, no, hideous creature that bore its fangs into the man's shoulders and ripped at his head with a ferocious grin on his blood laden lips, his eyes boring into whoever stood in front of it. Hungry and in euphoria imagining how it would tear its next victim to shreds, not knowing it is stuck in time for as long as the painting existed.
It was a memorial, a remembrance of how cruel the creature and its kind had been to prey on innocent people.
She was told, by the many people she had spoken to on the streets as she had gone on her daily bouts of personal journalism, about how they believed that this mansion was built on a graveyard.
That it was a burial site of all the Marlens that had died in war to protect their country. A woman had told her, that each night a ghoul would materialize in this building and whisper in its owner's ears about the tragedies the phantom that was once a human, maybe a family man turned soldier, maybe a patriot, had suffered.
And the owner would remember all of it, he was never scared of the ghosts, instead he always let them corner him and whisper in his ears, telling me how they wanted revenge, how they wanted to slit the throats of all those who had wronged them.
That they wanted revenge.
A short woman with a stubby nose and a nasal voice called out to her, her curly hair was hidden underneath the deep blue traditional topi that she wore.
"Mrs. Adonai, shall I show you to the hall?"
She had a wide smile on her face that seemed as genuine as a smile could get. With hands directing her to a large room, she took in its sights.
She had stepped into God's palace itself, with its crystal pearl chandeliers and French windows, walls the color of snow and luxurious white settees. All of it, so pure and heavenly.
Amongst this glamourous air, sat a group of men and women, numbering only five, waiting for her to take seat.
Thomas smiled at her, "It is a grand pleasure to have you here, Mrs. Adonai." He introduced her to the rest of the people seated there, two groggy women who stole whispers from one another, an obnoxious man with the most fakest of accents she had ever heard, and next to Thomas, on the only black chair in the entire room, sat an old man with a scarce patch of white hair on his head and a clean shaven face, his face droopy and eyes baggy.
He slowly raised his shaky head and observed her with suspicion.
Thomas moved his hands with a certain dexterity as he talked to him, "She is an envoy from the west; Kriheira to be exact."
She knew sign language and could make out what he was telling the man, but she didn't need to focus to know about it, he said out loud what he was gesturing to the old man, to make sure everyone knew what he was telling him.
After all, everyone treated the old man with unspoken respect. He nodded and looked at Thea again, his eyes not widening in the slightest.
"Shall we get started then lads?" Hannes chuckled and rubbed his palms together.
Thomas turned to him, his smile had vanished.
"I believe I had made it clear, that the one directing the flow of this meeting would be me, you are about to be promoted Hannes, but you shall never forget who is still in charge here. Do you understand?"
His lips twitched with the anger he was holding back, "Yes." He whimpered.
"That is great indeed."
"Start now finally? I am boring myself with this. You should know better than to hold such meetings knowing I would be here, isn't that right Vanessa?"
"Haha! I know, I know, I know! You're so right my sister."
Thea raised an eyebrow at what the old man gestured, it spelled out as, "Bitch please."
While Thomas nodded and said to the two, "Mr. Campbell says that it is truly time to proceed with the meeting and not let our musings keep our guest waiting."
He clapped his hands and the servants who had been standing behind them stoically came up and placed a pen and a notepad in front of each one of them. Even offered Thea a cup of tea which she immediately refused.
Nothing should get in the way as she notes down all the conversations that occur in this meeting.
He raised his index figner,"First and foremost, shall we congratulate Hannes on becoming the next head of the department of Justice in our country?"
The two women gasped, the taller one with long, white, coarse hair, batted Thomas on the shoulder multiple times, "Why say that? The man is not yet fit to be a minister."
"Why yes! Sister is correct!"
"Why do ya say that? Not chuffed eno-"
"While I know you have your concerns, I assure you that the years he has spent in the justice department under strict guidance of Mr. Campbell himself have been blooming very fairly."
Then the ominous middle finger emerged alongside the index, "The war is proceeding.." He continued with a grim air, "In a favorable manner for all of us, despite a few shortcomings and, 'tragedies', we are still holding our ground, and will win if we keep up at such a pace. Any questions?"
"May I?" Asked Thea.
"Of course, Mrs. Adonai."
"Why was coverage of the war stopped so suddenly? It went off the news in just a few days."
"The answer to your question, Mrs. Adonai, would be given really soon. After all, the elephant in the room which we were to address once again today was."
His ring finger rose with affirmation and an air of defiance, "Shall we bomb Aaergale and wipe our enemies all together?"
The air went cold, jaws dropped, heads rolled back.
Thea almost lost grip of her pen trying to assess what Thomas had just said.
"All of the heads of the major departments are present. I have gotten written affirmation of a few others," he puts several sheets of paper on the table, they have 'classified information' printed on top right of the sheets.
He glanced at Thea, "The department of security is yet to sign in, though I am sure they'd be very pleased to do so upon hearing a certain verdict."
He adjusted the papers and Hannes handed them to the sisters, all the while Thomas gestured something to the old man.
There was something off. Very off. The way he moved his hands. The smile.
He was lying to Campbell.
Telling him that the consensus they had reached was a stalemate, that would surely be overturned when they won the war by capturing the Aaergalian territory through the Gostul Gateway.
She did not say anything, she was here as a journalist. An envoy. An observer. She would be overstepping her bounds if she did anything so reckless.
As the banter shifted to more banal topics of everyday security of the country, of the cargos supplied to Kriheira on Thomas's orders, overseen by the acting president, Rohesia after the previous president had disappeared.
When the talk had shifted to that of the ongoing concern regarding the civil war, Hannes made a half hearted statement regarding how those who were unhappy with the decisions of the government should just leave the country, and he got barked at by the two sisters, who in unison made him regret his words.
But his attention wasn't on them, no.
The thing that made him pale was the death glare he got from Thomas.
A look that wasn't just reprimanding him for speaking something that was morally wrong, but one that was mentally beating him for even opening his mouth in the first place.
When the cries subsided, Thomas did not make haste in disbanding the meeting. And although they had only been at it for about two hours—Thea could take much more—she did not interject in between and let the parties sluggishly take their leave. The only people that remained were Thomas, the old man and Thea herself.
With a short bow, she tucked in her documents and took her leave, as she exited the room and into the corridor, she was stopped by Thomas's enthusiastic requests.
"Mrs. Adonai!" He yelled heartily, "Has your time here been fruitful? Have you enjoyed every moment of it?"
"It was informative" She replied, distant.
They were standing in the same hall where Thea had waited for an attendant to call for her,
"Well, now that no one is here to disturb us, neither some good for nothing old folks," He looked back at the hall's doors, "Nor drooling old men, I wanted to ask you whether you have reached a consensus regarding the, 'alliance'."
"Answer me, Mr. Thomas Trivola."
Thomas spread his arms wide and pressed his chin to his chest.
"Do you own this mansion?"
"I do, every single part of it, is owned by me."
"I see." She trailed her hand lightly on the marble, "For a man who is obsessed with caring for his people, you sure are using the money of the people in an interesting way, Mr. Trivola."
Thomas stared at her, startled, for a few seconds before laughing, "Ah! Is that what you are concerned about Mrs. Adonai. Well, to sooth your worries I must inform you that, none of what you see here is bought with taxpayer money. Aside from being a military men, I also engage in my own merchantry that has made me quite a fortune thanks to the grace of the goddess."
"Merchantry?"
"Oh yes! I own every auction house you see in this country, as well as many artifacts. Just like this one" He turned to face the painting of the hideous creature that satiated its hunger whilst chewing on a dead man's head.
Its features were glorified stereotypes of the Aaergalian, as indoctrinated by the Marlen government, with its brown fur and terrifying long nose, its large and red upturned eyes and the murderous manner with which it glared in front of it, towards anyone who saw the painting.
She felt watched.
Thomas adjusted the gun on his holster and turned back to Thea.
"Has Ms. Rohesia been doing well?"
"She is fine."
"Did you contact her before reaching your consensus?"
"I had Mr. Trivola. Asking redundant questions will not change the outcome."
"I see. So? What has the final, 'verdict' been passed?" He smiled.
"We are not going to be forming an alliance with Aaergale anytime soon."
She could've almost bottled the shift in the air around him, how his body straightened up, his smile vanished, and his facade finally broke.
"Is this how Rohesia repays the many great deeds our country has done for hers?"
"What you have aided in doing, Mr. Trivola, was never a noble cause, and you had been the one to contact her about the shipment through the cargos by sea."
"You reckon they will stay alive?"
"I do not wish to speak on this matter Mr. Trivola."
"Hmm."
"Back to what I was saying. You are aware that Marlen has had accusations of so many human rights violations with how it treats the Aaergalians, with how you treat them like subpar beings meant to be trampled upon. It would be a disgrace for Ms. Rohesia to accept such an alliance and I agree with her."
"Is that so?" there a vein bulging on his forehead, "Have you really such eagerness to join hands with Dekkenheim?"
"It is not a matter of who is favored more by the modern empire, even if we did consider it, do you believe they would be ready to join hands with men who have killed millions upon tens of millions of people, all to protect sanctity of the country against Aaergalians."
"Then a matter of pride? To not accept the grievances our countries faced over a century ago?"
She sense eyes on her,
"Mr. Trivola." The indifference in her tone was gone, "We will not be siding with you."
He stared at her with disbelief that was transforming into quiet rage,
"To make an alliance out of you is to open doors to nuclear warfare that shall affect our country as well."
"But you saw it with your very own eyes. The puppets we have for heads, how mindless and gullible they are. You can make changes as you wish to in our country as long as they justifiable, we would so happy in assisting you in such tasks."
"Offer denied. We are not talking of this any further.
"I see. Well, I shall hold no scorn against you." Which was definitely a lie, "Instead of such heated arguments, may I inform you more about this painting, named, 'A little death'"
That was the only thing she found mildly interested to be engaged in, and so she turned alongside Thomas as he pointed towards numerous details.
The art and coloring had ben fabulously done, how the painter had drawn the creature with rough edges and sharp hair, the man who was attacked was depicted as being more soft and accepting, along with the flickering eyes of the creature.
What?
Did it...?
"Mr. Trivola, Has this piece been altere-?"
"Shh. They do not understand us Mrs. Adonai, yet you should still refrain from speaking."
She turned and found Thomas, with his holster empty, pointing a P38 at the painting.
"El de moir." was the words he muttered as he fired the shots again and again into the painting.
"Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. BANG BAN-" Oop, it seems I once again am out of bullets."
It shattered the glass and tore through the Painting, shrill cries came in its wake. They were really sharp and high pitched.
They were of a child's, confirmed Thomas. He threw aside the remnants of the glass and tore through the painting, finding a small stone cavity behind it and there,
Lay a naked child with bullet wound all over her body, blood flowing from the child's intestines, stomach and mouth.
How scared she must have been, hiding behind the wall in such a situation.
But Thea couldn't let such thoughts take over her.
She managed to move herself and approached Thomas, planning to confront him, until she saw him inspect the girl's shoulder.
Where he found a burn mark of a bird.
He took in a breath and yelled at the top of his lungs. But he wasn't horrified or scared, he just yelled with a straight face and soon enough, all the servants had gathered in front of him.
"I ask for this to be cleaned up, please?" He added the 'please' in order to alleviate the atrocious looks the servants held on their faces, which had not worked.
"Oh well. It has been quite an eventful day," He came closer to one of the servants and muttered, "Well then Mrs. Adonai. I shall be taking my leave, for I have some more important matters to attend to. I wish you roam around as much as you wish to, and when you are done, you may head back to your hotel."
"Hotel? The negotiations are done Mr. Trivola, I have no intention of staying here any longer. You cannot stop me from my decisions."
"Oh! I understand your concerns Mrs. Adonai but, there is no way you may leave for Kriheria, after all, our planes have stopped boarding and all our ships are reserved for cargo." He grinned triumphantly.
She kept her composure all throughout the day, from arriving here, to witnessing the murder of a child in cold blood, she had been bearing it.
"Well then, I shall go now, Mrs. Adonai." The same servant rushed to him, and handed him a bouquet of flowers. "I have some comrades I must speak to." He gave her a final, fleeting smile.
Thea had never killed anyone in her life.
But what she had just seen.
She was holding back back by just a thread.