Abocu
They forced me on my knees and made me bow my head.
I watched as Morga ripped open the envelope and lifted a card between his finger and his thumb. His eyes met mine. There was not a twitch in his face, and his eyes, his eyes were that of lavender, except it wasn't as lively as the flowers that danced under the sun, it was completely dull.
"Pick death or work for us"
The red threat hung on the juncture of my neck, ready to slit off my head if disobeyed. He threw the card on my face and my jaw hung low as I saw just what it was. I picked it up and examined the card closely, it was an invitation card to the Capital City, Zurgo X, where not any creatures could enter due to the handling of confidential matters.
"Steal the research papers and bring it to us"
I gritted my teeth. They knew my oath, they knew my weakness, for I kept every word even after thousands of years. I remembered the cunning old man Xeol, who built an entire empire from nothing.
"What does it entail for me?"
Shua laughed and touched my chin, tilting my head up to look at him. This close I saw every pore in his debauched face.
"Your life. What else?"
I laughed. I laughed till confusion fell on the room. With a flick of my fingers, the red threat loosened and disappeared into thin air. I stood up and gripped the neck of Shua with my one hand. He was too slow to react. The rest weren't any better.
"My life. First think about yours. And keep your filthy hands to yourself"
The six snakes wrapped on the sword in the middle of the throne room slithered and took shape of human. They looked at me and hissed. The first was Huona, I remembered. She was the beauty with green scales, deceiving innocence with her charm. The second was Yist, the black snake that slithered under the shadows.
The third was Era, the one with white edges on his black scale, a gift from the deities to hold the sword. Giselle and Arya, the protectors and the last, Suki, the mischievous one. It had been a long time since I met them.
They bowed when they noticed just who I was.
I let the man go. He fell to the floor, coughing. Amroma laughed and stood up from the throne she sat.
"Interesting, the bunny has teeth"
I watched her keenly as she made her way towards her husband. The sudden shift in the air and the distinct smell of magic made my eyes widen. They were no ordinary humans I realised; they were mages. I looked at her face and her countenance changed to one icy cold, bled of all life and like a skeleton stitched with skin.
Morga stood unmoving and unblinking next to his wife.
"You fucking stripper!!!"
Before I could fend for myself, Amroma threw Shua over to the wall with a gust of air. She licked her lip looking at me and I grimaced.
"Now, what creature you might be?"
"My lady"
Huona spoke for the first time. Her eyes were stark red as she looked at us, her eyebrows thick with her scales.
"If you break the oath, it would be no different than us breaking the oath. For he withheld his strength for the oath's sake"
A frown appeared beneath the veil.
"What oath? I remember him selling off to us for our use"
She leered.
I still remembered that day. The little Xeol was on his way to conquer the depths of this world with his right-hand woman, Alti Gurose. It was mid- November when the little warrior disturbed my peace in hopes to heal the place of the curse. He strived for the power, for the golden sceptre too much. I beheld his face and blessed him, made an oath with my blood to never harm if I ever crossed paths with one of his children.
I signalled for them to keep their mouth shut about my identity. There was no use if the Ejurs never regarded me as their king. The snakes bit their tongue and retreated.
"I'll accept your proposal. What do you want me to do?"
What they asked for, there was too much at stake, too much to lose and yet I received it. For better or for worse.
I boarded the one and only train that travelled throughout each realm carrying selected passengers of all creatures in their required compartment once a year. The ride was meant for a whole night. It was a dream of many to be apart of this auspicious time.
"Here you go, gentleman"
The man with purple fedora and a good old moustache rocking the purple suit, stood collecting the invitation card. His companion, a smiling balloon inflated and deflated on its own as it checked the legitimacy of the card. After receiving a receipt, I sat on the allotted seat opposite to a man who wore a triangular hat made up of straws and a blue beach themed t shirt with a cargo pants.
There were only four of us in this compartment. The girl sitting beside me wore a tracksuit, her face covered with her hair as she was hunched over her knees, and the man that sat opposite her, wearing a formal attire holding a leather case. He looked like he was on his forties. As the ride began, within the first hour, the alarm broke and blared red over our heads.
"Everyone, get down! Get down!"
The speaker yelled as the control room got hijacked.
Shit!
It wasn't always that this train specifically had such disturbances. It smelled trouble and fuck if this would make my job a lot harder. The group of hijackers were going through compartments to compartments, making sure none of us got up. They had weapons with them, different weapons for each creature boarded on the train.
"C'mon, drop everything you have"
I slowly knelt on the floor as the door opened and dropped my chain necklace with some of my rings. It was all I had at the moment. Their faces were covered in black cloth with a hand sign engraved on it. In a blink of an eye, the head of the girl in tracksuit sliced open and blood ensued seeing her disobedience.