TA Chapter 11 Heads of State
Bantu Continent, Dugavu State, Mazi City, The Monument.
14th Blue, 2043. 12:32AM
Luthor Dugavu(POV)
3 years ago, the Kasisira band had come up with a banger that had taken the airwaves by storm. It was a song that had been created through their blood and sweat, to give us hope for the future. I had fallen in love instantly, constantly humming it every single second that reality had not been disturbing me.
Frustration had piled up over the years and I had forgotten it over the clutter of thoughts that had always plagued my mind about how I could come up with something that would allow us humans, to be on even ground with beasts.
Yet now, as if the clouds had finally dispersed and the sun had shined through, it had appeared within my mind once again.
I hummed it as I walked down the corridor, my joy clearly put on display through the downward curl of my lips. There would have been a spring in my step too, if it wasn't for how weird it would be, with Aila following behind me.
The moving images on the screen had halted upon the humans, now empowered, fighting back against the beasts. After that, it had vanished, then the asteroid had done the impossible. It had changed direction, vanishing far into the western horizon, leaving behind dissipating golden curtains that lingered for over 30 minutes before returning the darkness of the night to us.
It had become the talk of the city, with people speculating wildly about what it might have been.
Laughter bubbled up within my throat when I remembered the theory of one of the people who had been standing close to us on the balcony, 'That it had been a God's revelation to help us liberate ourselves from the beasts.'
For real! How could we, who have fought with our lives on the line believe in such nonsensical things? I had almost entered into an argument with him right there, but stopped myself because it would have devolved into something unpleasant considering the crowd.
"This is the first time..."
A voice wound itself into my ears from behind, tickling my eardrums like a whisper from the devil. For a moment, I almost jumped out of my skin at the breath caressing my ear.
"Aila!" I hissed upon turning my head, glaring at the culprit.
"What? Were you so caught up in your mind that you forgot to stay vigilant of your surroundings, mmm?" she teased, a finger to her cherry red lips.
Aila was a companion, a woman whose loyalty had long been ascertained. From my youth to now, she had been there, watching, hovering, protecting. She was just two years younger than me yet she gave off the feeling of a big sister. Though, she was shorter and thinner than me. She had skin the shade of dark chocolate, heavy lidded brown eyes, and dark hair whose length failed to make it below the tips of her ears.
"I have you to do that for me. What did you want to say in the first place?" I asked before turning my back to continue moving to our destination. We weren't late, but I wanted to get on with it so that I could finally bury myself in research.
If I was being honest with myself, I had been jealous of Maxwell's ecstatic grin as he headed for the research level. I couldn't do the same because I was the leader of a State. I had already shunned the duty of pacifying the masses, having offloaded it to one of the other heads of State.
"It is the first time I have seen you this joyful in a while." she answered after a while. The sounds of our footsteps echoed along the walls of the corridor, with the soft light lengthening our shadows into something sinister.
"Who wouldn't be happy after finding the answer to all that they have been puzzling over?" I asked back.
Yet before a response could leave her lips, the double doors to the most important room in the building finally appeared in our sights.
I stopped before them, greedily sucked in the air before letting it all out and all my excitement with it. Though I was very certain that it would return because of the topic we were about to discuss.
I pushed them open to reveal a large room with a single circular wooden table in the centre, directly beneath a large chandelier with strings dangling pieces of shattered mirrored glass below it, causing the light in the room to dance along everything else.
Five seats circled the table with three of them already filled with occupants who each, had a single person standing behind them.
"It seems that I lost the bet!" David, standing behind a bear of a man, sighed dramatically.
The man was corded with muscle, a powerful warrior who had clearly trained a lot and ate well to have such a body. A messy dark beard covered his chin, faint wrinkles marred his face, and his crimson pupils were filled with a powerful light. The way he was seated would have made someone believe he was the centre of the entire room if it wasn't for the other two. For a split second, an image of the chair he was seated upon being made of skulls passed through my mind.
"Luthor Dugavu, you are late!" he stated after leaning forward, resting his chin atop his fists, with his elbows coming to rest upon the table's surface.
"Does it matter?" asked Ravena, leaning back within her seat, clad in a bathrobe, with Ril standing just behind her.
"And you?! That is not the appropriate attire for a meeting between heads of State!" the man chasitied.
His actual name had long been forgotten, with everyone addressing him as Chief Lutalo.
I ignored them and simply walked over to my seat. I plopped down into it and directed my gaze to the other seated person, a quiet woman whose eyes were closed, with her head leaning back into the wooden uncushioned backrest.
She had snow white strands of hair cascading down from her scalp all the way behind her back. A small symmetrical nose and lips that matched perfectly with her perfectly oval skin. She was fair skinned, and by far the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on. She was the head of Mpale state up in the north, Snow Mpale. Behind her stood her aide, a man I didn't know the names of, except that his purple strands, contrasting with chocolate colored skin made him conspicuous.
"I was awoken from my beauty sleep. What did you expect?" asked Ravena, amusement in her gaze.
"I had thought you would squirrel yourself away in your research lab, Luthor." spoke David.
I directed my eyes to him, speechless. There were so many things wrong with not just his words, but his tone, and the fact that he had just spoken my first name as if we were of the same age, or even level.
"You do understand where we are, Mr. David?" asked Aila, her voice filled with a terrifying chill.
I was glaring at the man- No! Boy! Manners were a courtesy that should be offered to those that give you respect. Yet he had just chosen to disrespect me here, in this place?!
"You mean this clearly large room where we are preparing to chat about what we will do with what we learned of, this night?" he asked with a spread of his hands and fake innocence plastered across his face.
I inhaled deeply, counted to ten, then exhaled...
"You just disrespected a leader of a state when you're not one. That's one of the reasons it will be very hard for everyone not to take those of you from Lutalo state, as savages." explained Snow, her eyes still closed.
"Chief Lutalo... Surely you must know that I hold the greatest military might among the five States owing to dark technology... So, if I may ask... Is your son retarded, or do you really believe that I don't hold grudges."
My tone was deep and my gaze was sharply clashing with the Chief's across the table.
He didn't shift his gaze away, instead he stayed silent for a long few seconds, as if his mind was running through decisions.
"I apologize in my son's stead. It was simply the impulse of youth." when he spoke, his voice came out calm and collected, like he was commenting about the weather.
"I hold grudges, boy David. And trust me on this, you won't be forgiven until retribution is metted out." I bared my teeth before leaning back and closing my eyes. My excitement had just been smothered because of an idiot, and now, I had sunk into a foul mood.
The doors once again creaked upon their hinges with force as a man burst into the room. It had been deliberate because he had wanted to announce his presence.
He was short, chubby, and spotting a brown afro. His brown beard hung all the way to his chest, and his beady little black eyes were glinting with excitement.
The last of the leaders of the five States had finally arrived!